Spooky Science Lab

Episode 030: Death on Lake Nyos / Blanets

In this episode, Nick relates the real-life horror that befell the villages around Lake Nyos in Cameroon in 1986. Without warning, over 1,700 people died mysteriously in the night, while simultaneously the lake's water turned blood red. What caused this bizarre tragedy? Then, Dave probes the surprising existence of planets in stable orbits around black holes, known as "blanets." Could they support life, and if so, what would it be like to live with a black hole for a sun?Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/spooky-science-labHosted by Nicholas Kaufmann and David WellingtonEdited by David WellingtonAdditional voices by Jennifer Dikes and Alexa AntopolLogo by Errick NunnallyTheme song "Phantom Fun" by Jonathan BoyleConnect with us on social media at Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email us at contact@spookysciencelab.com!

Episode 029: Tiny Mushroom People / Space Tunnels

In this episode, Nick reports on a rare hallucinogenic mushroom from southwestern China that, impossibly, gives everyone who eats it the exact same hallucination: the sudden appearance of hundreds of tiny grinning, dancing human beings! Then, Dave explores the fascinating scientific concept of space tunnels, lanes of hot, sparse plasma that connect vast areas of empty space into a gigantic network. Can they be used for interstellar travel?Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/spooky-science-labHosted by Nicholas Kaufmann and David WellingtonEdited by David WellingtonAdditional voices by Jennifer Dikes and Alexa AntopolLogo by Errick NunnallyTheme song "Phantom Fun" by Jonathan BoyleConnect with us on social media at Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email us at contact@spookysciencelab.com!

Episode 028: Zombie Shrimp / Lost Continents

In this episode, Nick explores the mystery of how a parasitic worm makes amphipods change their color and behavior, and more importantly, why they do it. In true Spooky Science Lab fashion, the answer is deeply disturbing. Then, Dave examines the legends of lost continents throughout history. Did any of them, including Atlantis, really exist?Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/spooky-science-labHosted by Nicholas Kaufmann and David WellingtonEdited by David WellingtonAdditional voices by Jennifer Dikes and Alexa AntopolLogo by Errick NunnallyTheme song "Phantom Fun" by Jonathan BoyleConnect with us on social media at Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email us at contact@spookysciencelab.com!

Episode 027: Eye Worms / Are We Living Inside a Black Hole?

In this episode, Nick shares what might be Spooky Science Lab's most disturbing medical mystery yet, the story of a woman in Beijing who went to the hospital for what she thought was common eye irritation. What they discovered was anything but common: tiny worms living and laying eggs just beneath her eyelid! Then, Dave examines the theory that posits our universe exists inside a black hole. Is such a thing even possible? Surprisingly, the math says it could be!Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/spooky-science-labHosted by Nicholas Kaufmann and David WellingtonEdited by David WellingtonAdditional voices by Jennifer Dikes and Alexa AntopolLogo by Errick NunnallyTheme song "Phantom Fun" by Jonathan BoyleConnect with us on social media at Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email us at contact@spookysciencelab.com!

Episode 026: Spider Intelligence / Galactic Center

In this episode...spiders! Whether you love them or are creeped out by them, you can't deny they're fascinating creatures. But did you know they're smart, too? Nick introduces us to a species of sheet-web spider that has developed a very interesting trick to lure prey, one that indicates a more sophisticated level of intelligence than we thought. Then, Dave takes us on a journey to the center of the galaxy to explore a bizarre realm of ionized gas and dark matter. At the middle of it all sits Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole 4,000,000 times more massive than the Sun.Merch: https://www.teepublic.com/user/spooky-science-labHosted by Nicholas Kaufmann and David WellingtonEdited by David WellingtonAdditional voices by Jennifer Dikes and Alexa AntopolLogo by Errick NunnallyTheme song "Phantom Fun" by Jonathan BoyleConnect with us on social media at Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email us at contact@spookysciencelab.com!