The scienceTASTIC crew is out scrounging up the capital to buy a slightly used space shuttle, but in this episode we've left you with some fabulous topics to discuss amongst yourselves.  I mean, pre-Industrial Revolution human-induced global climate change?  Don't get me started!  Perhaps you could gather with some friends at the local coffee shop to consider the psychological and physiological evalution of intentionally inflicted pain stimulus, or the paternal reproductive patterns of ancient reptilian species.  And what holiday party wouldn't get an extra jolt of cheer from a discourse on lateral excitation of bridges by balancing pedestrians or how religious beliefs influence perceptions of the physical world (January 2009 Scientific American)?  Just try not to stay up all night with that one!

What we didn't get to: a leaky methane pool, Breakthrough of the Year,  killer sandwiches, that Milgram experiment, and, you know... that show... about the dinosaur... on the History Channel.

Are your ears listless and bored?  Is your brain aching for scientific knowledge and pop culture references?  Well then, this episode of scienceTASTIC is the cure for what ails you.  As a matter of fact, Mike shows empirically that befriending this show will make you happier.  However, not even anti-aging cream will make you younger, so says Mark and his quote-unquote sources.  But, hey, maybe you could just swap bodies with someone younger.  Joe tells us all how (and here's the original paper).  In lap two, we play with wooden toys that won't give you a splinter, learn that if a tree falls in on Mars only crackpots will hear the sound, and catch a whiff of something that makes us all tremble.  It's audio for all of your senses.

What we didn't get to: some environmental b.s., fun facts galore, planes that fly like birds (in more ways than "they fly"), and deep space genetics.