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In this Wildly Curious minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole kick off their new Niche Scientists series with a deep dive into Dr. Richard Stephens—a psychologist who studies something we all do (sometimes loudly): swearing.

From pain tolerance to powerlifting, Dr. Stephens’ research shows that strategic cursing can actually make you stronger, tougher, and maybe even a little bit smarter about when to drop an F-bomb.

🤬 Can swearing really reduce pain?
💪 Does cursing make you physically stronger?
🧠 What happens in your brain when you let it fly?
🚫 And why swearing too often makes it less effective?

It’s the perfect mix of science, psychology, and sass—because sometimes the best way to say “ouch”... is to not say “ouch.”

🎧 This is our first episodr of our Niche Scientists minisodes—short, weird, and full of science you didn’t know you needed.

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Subscribe and stuff your brain before you stuff your turkey. 🦃🥧

In this Wildly Curious Thanksgiving special, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole serve up the surprisingly scientific and hilariously human history of America’s favorite feast. From how pumpkins nearly went extinct after the Ice Age to why turkeys were almost wiped out (and then made a comeback), this episode is a buffet of weird facts, origin stories, and seasonal science.

🍂 How mastodons helped evolve pumpkins
🦃 Why Benjamin Franklin thought turkeys were “more respectable” than eagles
🥧 The secret history of pumpkin pie (and the rise of pumpkin spice)
🇺🇸 How Thanksgiving became a national holiday—and a marketing goldmine

It’s history, biology, and nostalgia all rolled into one big, slightly chaotic, pumpkin-scented audio pie.

🎧 Listen in for the laughs, the learning, and the reminder to use your pumpkins wisely.

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Season 13 is here… and it’s fight night. (Hypothetically, of course.) 🥊

Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole are back with Could You Fight That? Part 2, the follow-up to one of Wildly Curious’ most beloved (and ridiculous) episodes.

This time, the matchups get even wilder—from kangaroos and cassowaries to anteaters and octopuses—as the duo debates whether they could theoretically survive these encounters.
It’s all fun, all hypothetical, and all rooted in animal science and pure chaos.

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This episode is 100% for fun. Do NOT approach or engage with wildlife—ever. Be smart, be respectful, and please don’t be the next person trending for trying to hug a bison.

🐜 Giant anteater vs. human tactics
🐺 Lone wolves, red kangaroos, and cassowary chaos
🦑 Octopus escape plans and questionable chokeholds
😂 Laughs, science, and bad life choices (imagined only!)

🎧 Kick off Season 13 with science, strategy, and sheer nonsense.

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Subscribe and listen closely… if you can. 👂

In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tune into one of the strangest modern mysteries: the Taos Hum.

Since the 1990s, people in Taos, New Mexico have reported a low, constant humming sound that only a small percentage of the population can hear. The rest? Silence.

🎧 What is the Taos Hum—and why can only some people hear it?
🌍 Is it microseismic vibrations from the Earth itself?
⚡ Could it come from hidden electrical or industrial sources?
🌬 Or is it all in the mind—a psychological echo that science can’t detect?

From tectonic tremors to infrasound, Katy and Laura explore every theory behind the hum that refuses to be recorded—and why some ears might just be more tuned to the planet than others.

🎧 This is part of our Nature Mysteries series—short, eerie, and full of science that’ll make your brain vibrate.

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Subscribe and embrace the glow of curiosity. 🔦

In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole investigate one of the most baffling natural light shows on Earth—the Hessdalen Lights of Norway. For over a century, glowing orbs have danced through a remote valley, pulsing, hovering, and splitting apart with no clear cause. Scientists have studied them for decades… and still, no one really knows what they are.

✨ What are the Hessdalen Lights, and how long have they been appearing?
📡 What did researchers discover using radar, magnetometers, and lasers?
🧲 Are they ball lightning, plasma, or something stranger?
👽 And what happens when you shine a laser at one (spoiler: it blinks back)

From magnetic anomalies to possible plasma reactions underground, this episode explores one of nature’s most haunting unsolved mysteries—where science meets the supernatural.

🎧 This is part of our Nature Mysteries series—short, weird, and scientifically unexplainable (for now).

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Subscribe and let your curiosity get lost at sea (but like, safely). 🌊

In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into one of Earth’s most famous unsolved legends: the Bermuda Triangle—also known as the Devil’s Triangle.

For over a century, this stretch of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico has been blamed for the mysterious disappearances of ships, planes, and the people aboard them. But is it really cursed—or just misunderstood?

🛩️ What really happened to Flight 19 in 1945?
🌊 Could methane bubbles or rogue waves swallow ships whole?
🧭 What’s up with those compasses that go haywire?
🌪 And why the Bermuda Triangle might not be as dangerous as everyone thinks

From magnetic anomalies to human error (and a sprinkle of 90s X-Files nostalgia), this episode separates science from sea legends—because sometimes the truth is stranger than the conspiracy.

🎧 This is part of our Nature Mysteries series—short, weird, and full of scientific “wait, what?!” moments.

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Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it.

In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tackle one of the biggest unanswered questions in planetary science: how was the Moon formed?

We look at what we do know—like why lunar rocks look almost identical to Earth’s, why one side of the Moon is thicker than the other, and why it’s slowly drifting away at 1.5 inches per year. Then we dig into the wild theories scientists are still testing:

🌑 The Giant Impact Hypothesis (a Mars-sized planet colliding with Earth)
🌋 Evidence that the Moon was once covered in a magma ocean
🧲 Why the Moon has less iron than Earth
🌀 And how some new models suggest the Moon formed in just… hours

It’s science, it’s speculation, and it’s the perfect reminder that even our closest neighbor in space is still one big mystery.

🎧 This is the first in our Nature Mysteries series—four bite-sized episodes digging into the weird questions science hasn’t solved (yet).

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Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it.

In this final Swarms Minisode of the season, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole lose their minds (in the best way) over the most chaotic, moon-synced crab love party on Earth: the migration of Christmas Island red crabs.

We’re talking:
🦀 50 to 100 million land crabs
🌧 Timed to what we're convinced is a witches curse....
🚧 Roads shut down
🌊 Pina colada breaks (probably)
💥 And babies launched off seaside cliffs like nature’s carpet bomb

This migration is so massive, locals build crab bridges and the entire island turns into one giant crustacean mosh pit.

But here’s the kicker—these crabs know how far they are from the ocean… AND what phase the moon is in. With brains the size of a Tic Tac.

🎧 Listen in for weird crab romance, the female egg drop of the century, and a surprising twist: these babies? They’re not just adorable—they’re lunch.

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🎉 Support us on Patreon to keep the episodes coming! 🪼🦤🧠 For more laughs, catch us on YouTube!