Why do people still believe in horoscopes, even when we know they’re not true? (If this is you, I'm curious, not judging.)
For nearly a century, people have turned to horoscopes for all sorts of advice, and they’re actually more popular now than ever. But how is this still so widespread when it’s been clearly debunked time and again?
Turns out, there are a lot of reasons - and the story is more complicated (and fascinating) than you might think.
In this episode let's get into:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
I have the best news: we already have the solution to all of our problems.
This could save over 8 million lives a year, make us live longer with fewer sick days, save billions of dollars, and make us all a lot happier to be around... I feel like this should be front-page news?
The problem is, it’s boring. Because it’s cycling.
It turns out the issue of cycling is actually far, far more complicated than most of us realise. The health, economic and community implications are massive, but we still don’t have huge swaths of the community cycling in droves.
So why is this, and what can we do to change it?
Well, that’s what this episode is all about.
In this episode let's discuss:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
So, bottled water is kind of a scam. People think it’s healthier and safer, despite zero evidence to back that up. So… is it all just one giant marketing con? Well… kinda.
In this episode, I’m taking you through the wild history of bottled water to show exactly how we ended up here - and why it’s so, so, so ridiculous!
Quick note: I originally did the research and writing for this podcast in July 2024, so the stats I mention are current to that period.
In this episode I go through:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
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You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Welcome to another This or That episode!
I break down the least impactful options from things you’ve been asking about.
This episode is actually a repost, because some of you have sent in these questions - clearly, we all have choices that keep us up at night. And often, what we expect isn’t actually the truth!
In this week’s selection we have tea vs. coffee, and which is worse for the environment, what the best and worst options are for the milk you use with your drink, and finally, what exactly are bioplastics? And, whether we should even be using them...
Let's talk about:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Welcome to a This or That episode!
I break down the least impactful options from things you’ve been asking about.
This episode is actually a repost, because some of you have sent in these questions - clearly, we all have choices that keep us up at night. And often, what we expect isn’t actually the truth!
This week’s selection has a pretty controversial topic, and one that maaay just surprise you.
See if you can guess the answers before I reveal them - and then let me know if you got them all!
In this episode let's cover:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becausewhypod/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Welcome to the first episode under the brand-new banner, Because Why?! The show where my curiosity gets the better of me, and I drag you along for the ride. (You're welcome?)
We’re still talking about the environment, but now the scope is much wider: science, ethical business, politics (even when it makes my eye twitch), and the weird, wonderful, and occasionally infuriating claims floating around out there.
In this episode, I’m kicking things off with wellness trends, dodgy health claims, and overhyped “miracle” fixes people keep getting sold.
From seed oil scaremongering to the microplastic “hoover,” cold plunges, cortisol face, and the mysterious world of “structured water,” let's dissect the pseudoscience to establish what’s true, what’s nonsense, and why these ideas catch on in the first place.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
If you want to keep doing cold plunges, I’m happy for you! Just... be careful. And if you’ve got $20,000 burning a hole in your pocket, maybe think twice before signing up for a microplastic blood cleanse.
The boring truth is usually what works: sleep, balanced diet, exercise, social connections.
Thanks for joining me on this first episode of Because Why?!
Mā te wā - see you next week.
You can get involved with the podcast online in the meantime, of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becausewhypod/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Sources:
Seed oils: (word count prevents proper referencing.)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2012.03.029
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-8-36
- https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000510
- https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011737.pub3
- https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.010236
- https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30307-8
A few weeks ago, we had the amazing physicist, science writer, and communicator Laurie Winkless on the podcast. She was so great, one episode wasn’t enough... so she’s back to do some mythbusting!
In this episode we talk about:
Quotes from the episode:
“People want simple answers, and the reality is that few things are simple.”
“The less you know, the more arrogant you are about the little bit you know.”
More about Laurie
Find her via her website or on social media.
You can get involved with the podcast online too of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/
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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/
For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Welcome back to Part 2 of a fascinating kōrero with science journalist and author Bethany Brookshire. This one gets a smidge more controversial...
We talk about the animals we hate because they’re successful (looking at you, pigeons), the cultural weirdness of how we define pets vs pests, and how control - or our lack of it - shapes our relationship with the natural world.
Plus, there's a story involving Burmese pythons and a pair of trousers (you’ve been warned) and yes, we talk about cats in Aotearoa.
In this episode we cover:
For more about Bethany find her via her website
And don’t forget to head to our Instagram for a chance to win her book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains
You can get involved with the podcast online too of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
You know when you see someone on social media and you just KNOW they'll be amazing to chat to? Well, that's Bethany Brookshire for you.
Bethany is a science journalist, animal behaviorist and author who writes about the animals most people hate. Rats, cockroaches, spiders, pigeons... And how our feelings about them are mostly cultural, not scientific.
We talked about where fear and disgust come from and how cute a mouse eating a fruit loop is.
Also, how US science funding is collapsing and how bad that's going to be long term, why postgrad burnout is real, and how she wrote a brilliant book.
Part two gets a little more controversial, as we talk cats in Aotearoa.
What we cover:
Bethany’s journey from academic to science journalist.
Fear and disgust; how we learn what animals to hate.
Rats, lab mice, cockroaches, snakes, spiders… and Fruit Loops.
The collapse of US science funding and what that means long term.
Quotes from Bethany:
“I always tell people my life is an entire story of failing upwards. Or at least failing sideways.”
“There is a feeling of disgust and fear around animals like spiders and snakes that we think is evolutionary. It’s not.”
“Startlement can become joy, or it can become fear. It depends who’s around you when it happens.”
“I have the self-confidence of a mediocre white man.”
“Giving a mouse a Froot Loop is like watching a human try to eat a car tyre.”
You can find more about Bethany at https://bethanybrookshire.com/.
Today's guest is Laurie Winkless. She's a physicist, a science writer and she's the only person I know who's actually made writing about friction interesting. You could say she's a science friction writer...
She’s appeared everywhere from Forbes to Wired to BBC, and she has written two books. Oh and she won a scholarship to do some training at NASA. As you do.
I am very excited to talk about her transition from scientist to science communication and why she thinks that's so important.
In this episode she shares:
- Her background and how she got into physics
- What actually is a PhD and if she'll ever get one
- What science communication is, how she got into it and why we need more people in it
- Why she brings creativity into her job and why sexism prevented her from doing it earlier
- Her (brilliant) books and what you should know about them
- How she wrote her first book
- Her very interesting favourite friction fact.
- One science myth that she wishes would die
- What shark inspired swim suits are and why they help swimming
Key Quotes
“Most of the noise that we hear on the roads is not actually from the engines it’s from the interaction between the tyre and the tarmac.”
“So much of the universe is defined by the interaction between surfaces.”
“I think sometimes people are afraid to be a bit weird.”
More about Laurie
Find her via her website or on social media.
And don’t forget to head to our Instagram for a chance to win one of her signed books.
You can get involved with the podcast online too of course.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatwhatsicall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwest
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/
For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
I wanted to talk about politics and combating polarising opinions… but I didn’t want to get dark about it.
So, to help, I’ve called in my friend and optimism security blanket, Dave Richards. He’s one of those people who has realistic but optimistic insight into the world. He’s lived all over the world, has a deep cultural understanding, and just makes me feel better about the state of things.
So I thought I’d have him join me for a bit of a wide-ranging, mostly optimistic chat about the state of the world.
In this episode we talk about:
If you want to check out Dave’s incredible photography head along to his Instagram.
Giveaway! This week, I'm giving away copies of Talking Across the Divide, by Justin Lee. It’s a brilliant read on how to actually talk to people you disagree with - something we all probably need a bit more of. Join me over on Instagram to enter.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
About half of the oxygen that you are breathing right now is made in the ocean. And last year, scientists found that some of it is made three kilometres down in total darkness by microbes that live on the seabed.
We had no idea about any of this before then, and now, next month, the United Nations International Seabed Authority is deciding whether they will let industrial rigs strip minerals out of the seabed. But is that a good idea when it turns out we know so little about it?
Surely there are smarter options, right? And what do we even need those minerals for anyway? Well, that’s what we’ll be discussing in this episode.
In this episode let's talk about:
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/
For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the last few episodes have been somewhat… bleak.
There’s been a lot to discuss around climate change, governments, and corruption, but I realised if we kept focusing only on that, it was going to get all-consuming.
So this week, I’m welcoming back Kate to help me share some good news stories instead!
In this episode, we cover:
When I talked about “marine saviour pirates,” I was thinking of Captain Paul Watson - he founded Sea Shepherd and now runs the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
Giveaway! This week, I'm giving away copies of Rewilding the Sea by Charles Clover - a fascinating look at how rewilding our oceans can restore ecosystems, protect marine life, and even help tackle climate change. Join me over on Instagram to enter.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
You reckon you’re immune to propaganda and disinformation, right? A critical thinker who sees through the rubbish.
I thought the same - until I realised I’m way more likely to believe something if it backs up what I already think.
That’s not a personal flaw. It’s how we’re all wired. But we need to get better at spotting it, because it’s fuelling polarisation and making it harder to have real conversations with people we disagree with.
And with AI making it even harder to tell what’s real, it’s only going to get trickier.
If we want to tackle big issues together, we’ve got to become more sceptical, more media literate, and better at asking:
Where’s the evidence? What’s the source? Is there consensus?
This episode is designed to help you do exactly that - understand and analyse the information out there.
In this episode I talk about:
Giveaway! This week, we're giving away copies of Six Conversations We’re Scared to Have by Deborah Francis White - a practical guide to having honest and respectful discussions on tough topics like politics, climate, and social issues. Join me over on Instagram to enter.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/
For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Well, we are officially halfway through the election cycle. The coalition government has been in place for about 18 months now. David Seymour is our Deputy Prime Minister.
So, how are things going?
I did my first ever political roundup episode - I think it was episode three - and it ended up being one of our most popular ever.
Interestingly, you lot seem to care about what's going on out there, which is nice. So I thought we’d do a check-in, because it's been a year, right?
Just to set some guardrails: I'm very much talking about environmental and social issues. I'm not really diving into the economy (though it might get a mention), or the cost of living, or anything else like that. All big problems, all important topics - but I'm absolutely not educated enough to speak on them.
Much like the first time I did this, I'm going to try to be unbiased. I will probably fail, because I’m human, I’m violently sarcastic, and I’m obviously quite left-leaning.
Everything in here is factual. It’s been fact-checked. But as my mother would say: I might have a tone. Please forgive me.
In the episode let's talk about:
The University of Canterbury submission's on Gene Technology Regulation:
https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/0e1aa118-5e68-4b43-b395-2a4487d90aa4/content
https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/fb5002ba-2e21-4a45-be4e-56d6259b4571/content
https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/05dd6485-82e0-4f54-844b-8860e8548b68/content
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/
For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
Are you tired of arguing about climate change with your uncle, or your co-worker, or that weird person online?
Welcome to the club. Now, if you really want to keep banging your head on that wall, I'm not here to stop you, but I am here to try and give you some facts that might help - because even though you are almost certainly not going to convince those people, it is often worth trying to combat some of that misinformation.
You are probably not going to convince the guy who thinks that all scientists are evil and funded by, like, solar - but that's not really why we do it. Misinformation is fricking annoying, and it spreads four times faster than facts. But most importantly, it also stops us doing what we need to do to stop the planet heating up and boiling the oceans. Every fraction of a degree makes a difference.
So today, for this episode of Microgreens, I thought I would talk about some of the myths I see quite often in my comment section, parroted by climate change deniers - but also how you can talk about things like climate change a little bit more effectively.
Let's talk about:
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
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For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
We are officially out of time to prevent hitting 1.5 degrees. Yep - earlier last week, the World Meteorological Organisation said that we are going to hit 1.5 degrees of global heating by 2027, which is just two years away.
So I thought we’d have an episode about what that really means - because what actually changes at 1.5 degrees? And what happens if we go beyond that?
In this episode:
Episode Sources:
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) – Global Annual-to-Decadal Climate Update 2024
https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/global-temperatures-set-reach-new-records-next-five-years
NASA Earth Observatory – “Earth Is Storing More Heat” (summary of Cheng et al. 2023 Earth-energy-imbalance work)
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152431/earth-is-storing-more-heat
von Schuckmann, K. et al. 2023 – “Heat stored in the Earth system: where does the energy go?” Earth System Science Data
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023
Cheng, L. et al. 2023 – “Record-setting ocean heat content and Earth system imbalance in 2023.” Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-023-2385-2
Dessler, A. E. 2021 – “Water-vapour feedback.” Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-082420-064024
Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Rapid Mapping EMERG0325, Emilia-Romagna Floods (2023)
https://rapidmapping.emergency.copernicus.eu/EMSR632
Bureau of Meteorology (Australia) – State of the Climate 2022
https://www.csiro.au/state-of-the-climate
NIWA – Climate-change projections and extreme-rainfall trends for New Zealand (2024 update)
https://niwa.co.nz/climate/research-projects/climate-change/extreme-weather
NOAA Coral Reef Watch – Global Coral Bleaching Event Status Update, April 2024
https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov
Gatti, L. V. et al. 2021 – “Amazonia as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change.” Nature 595:388–393
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03629-6
Trathan, P. N. et al. 2023 – “Climate-driven population decline of emperor penguins.” Communications Earth & Environment 4:148
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00772-3
Met Office (UK) – “One billion people face deadly heat stress at 2 °C warming.” Press release, Oct 2021
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2021/cop26-heat-stress
IPCC – Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (2018), Chapter 3
https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
IPCC – Sixth Assessment Report Synthesis (2023)
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/synthesis-report/
University of New South Wales – West Antarctic ice-sheet collapse threshold study (2022)
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/west-antarctic-ice-sheet-may-have-passed-point-no-return
Project Drawdown – “The Powerful Role of Household Actions in Solving Climate Change” (2023)
https://drawdown.org/insights/the-powerful-role-of-household-actions-in-solving-climate-change
FAO – “Climate change could push 183 million more people into hunger by 2050.” News release, Sept 2021
https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/climate-change-could-push-183-million-more-people-to-hunger/en
World Food Programme – “What if the world warms 3 °C? Hunger and the climate crisis.” 2022
Find the rest of the sources on our website and Substack!
There’s a worm that shoots out glowing green slime, a squid that can turn itself invisible, and a fish that literally walks on land. To celebrate World Oceans Day last week, today’s episode is all about the ocean’s weirdest and most wonderful creatures.
I'm joined once again by Melissa Márquez - an amazing marine biologist, shark scientist, and science communicator. She’s been on TV, given TEDx talks, written books - she’s just awesome. If you want to learn more about her, make sure you check out our main episode released earlier this week.
But this week, we dive into the weird and wonderful of the ocean.
In this episode we talk about:
“Some squids don’t just hide, they actually turn invisible by bending light around their bodies.”
“This fish literally walks on land… it’s like evolution just gave up and said, ‘sure, go for it.’”
Episode Sources:
Blobfish deep-sea morphology: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/blobfish Humboldt squid size, colour flashes and behaviour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_squid Bigfin (Magnapinna) squid fact-sheet (NOAA): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex2107/features/bigfin-squid/bigfin-squid.html
Goblin shark protrusible jaws: https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/goblin-shark-facts
Gulper (pelican) eel with bioluminescent tail: https://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150608-the-scarfaced-eel-with-a-giant-mouth
Bobbit worm ambush and size: https://www.wired.com/2013/09/absurd-creature-of-the-week-bobbit-worm/
Giant isopod fasting ability: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/giant-isopods-curious-crustaceans-on-the-ocean-floor.html
Black seadevil (Johnson’s abyssal seadevil) deep-sea video: https://www.sci.news/biology/science-black-seadevil-anglerfish-02294.html
Sea pig cloacal breathing and pearlfish commensalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotoplanes_globosa
More About Melissa. Follow her on Instagram.
Find our full podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/
You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/
For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/
June 8th was World Oceans Day, and if you listen to this podcast, you know this is a day I am very much here for - because I am obsessed with the ocean… for good reason.
But rather than going on about it myself, for this episode I thought we could celebrate World Oceans Day with the help of another ocean obsessive: Melissa Cristina Márquez.
Melissa is a marine science education expert based in Australia, and is known as "the most enthusiastic shark scientist" people ever meet. Her work has been featured in Science, NPR, Vogue, Allure, InStyle, GQ, Seeker, Popular Science, and showcased on Disney+, BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Acciona, and Good Morning America.
As well as being a scientist and educator, Melissa is also an author of children’s books including the Wild Survival series (Scholastic) and Mother of Sharks (Madre de los Tiburones), with her latest, Sea of Constellations (Océano de Constelaciones).
In this episode, she shares:
Key Quotes
“If we're going to coexist with nature again - how we used to - we need to be a part of nature again, instead of apart from it.”
“Science, in order to be effective and actually benefit people, needs to serve the people it's trying to benefit.”
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Imagine a fungus slipping into your bloodstream, hijacking every single neuron and freezing you alive while it knits its own flesh with yours.
If you were an ant or a spider, that could be you — but thankfully, Ophiocordyceps doesn’t (yet) affect humans.
In this Microgreens episode, we’re peering into the terrifying and slightly creepy world of fungi.
In our main episode, we covered why fungi are important. Today, we’re getting into their dark side...
In this episode I share:
Episode quote:
“In fact, we are closer related to fungi than they are to plants.”
Episode sources:
Hydnellum peckii overview and atromentin info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydnellum_peckii
Zombie-ant fungus life-cycle (National Geographic): https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants
50-million-year fossil zombie fungus: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/allocordyceps-baltica-09786.html
Fungal bioluminescence pathway transferred to tobacco (open-access paper): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7681015/
Dead man’s fingers ecology note: https://purduelandscapereport.org/article/dead-mans-fingers/Lion’s mane
(Hericium) neuro-protective review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5987239/
Slime-mould maze-solving experiment (Nature 2000): https://www.nature.com/articles/35035159
