Bacon, sports cars, rollercoasters, knuckle cracking, and more (RecSci Quick Bites)

Sexist birds and intimidating runners with hills

Does the sex of the bird affect how soon they fly away when approached by humans? What about the sex of the human? Coming across a steep hill while out jogging can be intimidating. Does being tired affect how runners perceive the size of hills? In this episode, Lu and Tirth discuss how European birds are sexist towards humans and how just tricking people into believing they have to climb a hill can cause them to exaggerate its steepness. Timestamps: * 0:00 Intro * 0:48 Ways to improve the podcast * 7:25 Bird study * 17:08 Hill study * 26:44 Let’s read some mail * 29:23 What did you learn today, outro Article links: * Morelli et al., 2025. Sex matters: European urban birds flee approaching women sooner than approaching men. People and Nature. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.70226 * Bhalla et al., 1999. Visual-Motor Recalibration in Geographical Slant Perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-03275-014 You can find Recreational Science (#RecSciPod) everywhere great podcasts are found! Follow us on social media @RecSciPod! * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@RecSciPod * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/recscipod * TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@recscipod * BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/recscipod.bsky.social * Threads https://www.threads.com/@recscipod Theme music by Dasein: * Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/5fNAhYtrSM9nW9GpCiDpST?si=ea49670388f24e5c * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WQ6G62lfM * Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/song/cas/1706824849 Recreational Science is produced by Scientafic (https://www.scientafic.com/recscipod)

Kids vs traffic and food preference in fetuses

Crossing the street alone is a difficult and dangerous task for young kids. Is it even more perilous for overweight and out-of-shape children? Kids are notorious picky eaters. When does this start? In the womb? In this episode, Lu and Tirth play another game of Family Feud But Science and discuss practical athleticism in overweight children and whether fetuses are picky "eaters." Timestamps: * 0:00 Intro * 0:38 BTS * 1:48 Family Feud But Science * 15:00 Fat kids study * 26:23 Fetuses study * 35:03 Let’s read some mail * 39:22 What did you learn today, outro Article links: * Chaddock et al., 2012. Role of Childhood Aerobic Fitness in Successful Street Crossing. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2012/04000/role_of_childhood_aerobic_fitness_in_successful.23.aspx * Ustin et al., 2022. Flavor Sensing in Utero and Emerging Discriminative Behaviors in the Human Fetus. Psychological science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09567976221105460 * Ladas et al., 2007. Colonic gas explosion during therapeutic colonoscopy with electrocautery. World Journal of Gastroenterology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4171316/ You can find Recreational Science (#RecSciPod) everywhere great podcasts are found! Follow us on social media @RecSciPod! * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@RecSciPod * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/recscipod * TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@recscipod * BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/recscipod.bsky.social * Threads https://www.threads.com/@recscipod Theme music by Dasein: * Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/5fNAhYtrSM9nW9GpCiDpST?si=ea49670388f24e5c * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WQ6G62lfM * Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/song/cas/1706824849 Recreational Science is produced by Scientafic (https://www.scientafic.com/recscipod)

The ideal booty call and a potent jet lag drug for hamsters

What do men and women look for in an ideal partner for a one night stand, friends with benefits relationship, and marriage? What’s the best way to find out? An economics experiment, of course. Do hamsters experience jet lag? Do hamsters respond to Viagra? Does Viagra cure jet lag in hamsters? In the season 2 premier, Lu and Tirth catchup on all the life changing events that took place during the offseason and discuss giving people “mate dollars” to build their ideal mate and using Viagra to treat jet lag in hamsters. Timestamps: * 0:00 Intro * 0:52 Big updates from the offseason * 6:45 Booty call study * 19:09 Jet lag study * 26:54 Let’s read some mail * 29:22 What did you learn today, outro Article links: * March et al., 2018. Netflix and Chill? What Sex Differences Can Tell Us About Mate Preferences in (Hypothetical) Booty-Call Relationships. Evolutionary Psychology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1474704918812138 * Agostino et al., 2007. Sildenafil accelerates reentrainment of circadian rhythms after advancing light schedules. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0703388104 You can find Recreational Science (#RecSciPod) everywhere great podcasts are found! Follow us on social media @RecSciPod! * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@RecSciPod * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/recscipod * TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@recscipod * BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/recscipod.bsky.social * Threads https://www.threads.com/@recscipod Theme music by Dasein: * Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/5fNAhYtrSM9nW9GpCiDpST?si=ea49670388f24e5c * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WQ6G62lfM * Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/song/cas/1706824849 Recreational Science is produced by Scientafic (https://www.scientafic.com/recscipod)

RecSciPod season 2 announcement

Season 2 will premier on May 19, 2026. We're fairly sure. Probably. Who knows? You can find Recreational Science (#RecSciPod) everywhere great podcasts are found! Follow us on social media @RecSciPod! * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@RecSciPod * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/recscipod * TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@recscipod * BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/recscipod.bsky.social * Threads https://www.threads.com/@recscipod Theme music by Dasein: https://open.spotify.com/artist/77H3GPgYigeKNlZKGx11KZ Recreational Science is produced by Scientafic (https://www.scientafic.com/recscipod)

Bacon, sports cars, rollercoasters, knuckle cracking, and more (RecSci Quick Bites)

In this bonus RecSci Quick Bites episode, Lu and Tirth discuss a medical use of bacon, the relationship between penis size and sports cars, the effectiveness of rollercoasters in passing kidney stones, the long-term effects of knuckle cracking, surname sharing amongst economist coauthors, the jollity of visiting mall Santas, and the best scientific abstract ever written. Timestamps: * 0:00 Intro * 0:57 Bacon study * 3:50 Sports car study * 6:48 Rollercoaster study * 8:25 Knuckle cracking study * 10:35 Author surname study * 13:44 Mall Santa study * 16:05 Best abstract ever * 17:08 Outro Article links: * Humphreys et al., 2011. Nasal packing with strips of cured pork as treatment for uncontrollable epistaxis in a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia. Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000348941112001107 * Richardson et al., 2023. Small Penises and Fast Cars: Evidence for a Psychological Link. Psyarxiv. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/uy7ph_v1 * Mitchell & Wartinger, 2016. Validation of a Functional Pyelocalyceal Renal Model for the Evaluation of Renal Calculi Passage While Riding a Roller Coaster. Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.7556/jaoa.2016.128/html * Unger, 1998. Does knuckle cracking lead to arthritis of the fingers? Arthritis and Rheumatism. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1529-0131(199805)41:5%3C949::AID-ART36%3E3.0.CO;2-3 * Goodmen et al., 2015. A Few Goodmen: Surname-Sharing Economist Coauthors. Economics Inquiry. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ecin.12167 * Trainkaus, 2004. Visiting Santa: an informal look. Psychological Reports. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.2466/pr0.95.2.587-588 * Berry et al., 2011. Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds be explained as a quantum weak measurement? Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8113/44/49/492001 You can find Recreational Science (#RecSciPod) everywhere great podcasts are found! Follow us on social media @RecSciPod! * YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@RecSciPod * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/recscipod * TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@recscipod * BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/recscipod.bsky.social * Threads https://www.threads.com/@recscipod Theme music by Dasein: https://open.spotify.com/artist/77H3GPgYigeKNlZKGx11KZ Recreational Science is produced by Scientafic (https://www.scientafic.com/recscipod)