The Meandering Pod

CHINA, KAZAKHSTAN, & KYRGYZSTAN - Peddling, Panting & Panicking

Hey guys! Click play if you want to hear an hour update of the last 6 weeks - recorded unedited on Cams phone. We’re currently bikepacking together in Kyrgyzstan, and many things have gone awry! However, it is beautiful and we’re leaving problems behind in the dust. Apologise for the chaos.  Book recc is The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan! Amazing book of world history telling an alternative to the typically western centric world history we’re told. In fact, much of historical power and wealth was held in the east - in Persia and Central Asia - where we are now.  Hope you enjoy, and sending some love to you all.

JAPAN – The Fallout from Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear

Welcome back for another episode of The Meandering Pod!!! This week, we’re hopping back for a final episode about Japan – specifically the worst disaster it ever faced. Although many people may would remember hearing about the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, it’s been 15 years now and not many would still be across the details.  Today, we’ll be doing a deep dive on the multifaceted fallout experienced after Fukushima – for Japanese society, it’s energy transition and the nuclear industry generally. We also are very grateful to have interviewed Dr Alexander Brown, about the post-Fukushima protest movement in Tokyo.  Enjoy the episode and share with a friend if you feel like it!  More on Dr Alexander Brown:  * His PhD [https://ro.uow.edu.au/articles/thesis/Power_struggles_the_strategies_and_tactics_of_the_anti-nuclear_movement_in_contemporary_Tokyo/27828147?file=50591619] * His book – Anti-nuclear Protest in Post-Fukushima Tokyo: Power Struggles * An article [https://apjjf.org/2015/13/6/alexander-brown/4279] he wrote about an art installation, Japan and its link between nuclear weapons and power  * His Substack [https://contestingthenuclearage.substack.com/] channel Contesting the Nuclear Age  The ‘protest song’ was a snippet from a freestyle performance of the artist Akuryō freestyling at an antinuclear protest in Japan on July 29, 2012 (the mp3 was downloaded from a YouTube account called protestreserach (video originally by ken23qu on youtube). The full clip is available (with subtitles) to watch here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvquM5xanQ4&t=32s]. Ethnomusicologist Noriko Manabe wrote this article [ https://apjjf.org/2013/11/42/noriko-manabe/4015/article] about music in Japanese anti-nuclear demonstrations (as well as a book), from which the clip was discovered. Interesting content about Fukushima: * Graphic novel – Guardian of Fukushima * TV show – Fukushima 50 * Animated YouTube video – * More songs – "humanERROR" by FRYING DUTCHMAN [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5p283KZGa8] and 'It was always a lie' by Kazuyoshi Saito (a cover of his own song but with Fukushima plant protest lyrics) Key sources: * BBC: Fukushima disaster: What happened at the nuclear plant? [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56252695] * Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Why Fukushima Was Preventable [https://assets.carnegieendowment.org/static/files/fukushima.pdf] * ScienceDirect journal article: The Fukushima nuclear accident and its effect on global energy security [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421512010282] * IAEA: Nuclear Power 10 Years After Fukushima: The Long Road Back [https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/nuclear-power-10-years-after-fukushima-the-long-road-back] * Namazu Myth [http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2011/01/namazu-earthshaker.html] Explained * BBC: UK nuclear support 'rises after Fukushima' [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-14847875]

SOUTH KOREA - How 5 Billionaire Families Control The Korean Economy, Society and Politics

Did you know 5 families control more than half of the Korean economy and ALL of its politicians? Meet the Chaebol - the driving force behind Koreas economic miracle but also the root of many of the countries present day issues from corruption and inequality to a hyper competitive social structure and declining birth rate. In this episode, for the first time in Meandering history, Cam and Dom jump on the mic and dive deep into terrifying control Korea’s oligarchs have over the people - as well as the terrifying control the global tech oligarchs have over all of us, as the world transitions from Capitalism to ‘Techno Feudalism’ as outlined in Economist Yanis Varoufakis’s book by the same name.

JAPAN, KOREA + CHINA – Boogying in Beijing and Shaz Shenanigans

Welcome to another group episode of The Meandering Pod! Not much time has passed but a lot has happened – strap in while we update you on the shenanigans our group got into while travelling from Japan to China via Korea. This episode also features superfan SHAZ, who joined Lotta + Dom, then Bec + Cam on our meandering (mis)adventures. Stick around to hear about our East Asian foods, and for another Brick #1 sparring session, judged impartially by Shaz :) RECOMMENDATIONS: Books: (Japan) - The Shut Ins by Katherine - Cold Enough For Snow by Jessica Au (Korea) - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee - The Vegetarian by Han Kang - Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) (China) - Beijing Comrades by Bei Tong (East Asia) - Three Tigers One Mountain by Michael Booth Movies: (Korea) - The Taxi Driver by Jang Hoon

JAPAN - This Protist Is Smarter Than You

How much do you know about protists? How much do you know about their behaviour and intelligence? I’m gonna guess very little, as that’s where I was not that long ago. The world of these obscure creatures is incredibly complex and fascinating, as they interact with their environment and make decisions and weigh up risks.  In this episode, I interview researcher Alid Al-Asmar about slime moulds (the “blob”) ciliates (unicellular beings with eyelashes) and his personal favourite - nematodes (little round worms). Dom joins me for the end for a comparison of his intelligence to that of protists. Brutal, but demonstrates my point.  Below are the articles I cite in the show. Does being multi-headed make you better at solving problems? ScienceDirect.comhttps://www.sciencedirect.comDoes being multi-headed make you better at solving problems? A survey of ... [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1571064518300605] A ciliate memorises the geometry of a swimming area royalsocietypublishing.orghttps://royalsocietypublishing.orgA ciliate memorizes the geometry of a swimming arena | The Royal Society [https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsif/article/13/118/20160155/64658/A-ciliate-memorizes-the-geometry-of-a-swimming] C. Elegant transfers across a gap under an electric field as dispersal behaviour National Institutes of Health (.gov)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govCaenorhabditis elegans transfers across a gap under an electric field as ... [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37348502/] Maze-solving by an amoeboid organism Naturehttps://www.nature.comMaze-solving by an amoeboid organism [https://www.nature.com/articles/35035159] Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design Science | AAAShttps://www.science.orgRules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1177894] Geometrical preference of anchoring sites in the unicellular organism Stentor coeruleus PNAShttps://www.pnas.orgGeometrical preference of anchoring sites in the unicellular organism ... [https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2518816123]