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In the very last Jeremy's Iron (before a long overdue name change), we discuss the effectiveness of facemasks in protecting us from the virus. We also discuss: Should "the arts" be prioritised in the economic rescue? How do we value a 75-year old's life? What is David Icke's malfunction? Next episode will be the first under our new podcast name: Pseudo. Where pseudoscience be, Pseudo go.

It's more common than you think. From Rome to Russia, Africa and India.... no culture appears immune to the appeal of the golden elixir. We follow the stream from ancient ritual to instagram craze.

What are crystals and why are we obsessed with them? Perhaps more importantly, where do they come from and which poor child dug them out of a dusty mine in Madagascar? We investigate the science behind crystals, how they are being marketed and the dark side of the mining industry that produces them. Also in this episode: Six degrees of Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos. Megxit Shakira's lyricism

The "gut-brain axis" is making its way from kooky alternative theory to routine medical treatments. We go exploring! We also discuss how drumming re-wires your brain. Also in this episode: How can we quantify how smoky Sydney is? Will Justin Z accept Justin B's kind offer of a poop transplant? Would you allow your child to learn the drums with the knowledge that it necessarily increases the chance of them drumming in a cover band?

For three weeks in November, the planet Mercury started moving backwards and alot of people went batsh%t crazy. Jeremy's Iron investigates! Also: Can bacteria talk to each other?? PLUS: Justin B obsesses over horoscopes while Justin Z wonders why he can't sing inside a church and why single people don't get to have singledom ceremonies. It's a water-tight show, really. REFERENCES: Julia C. van Kessel. PQS Signaling for More than a Quorum: the Collective Stress Response Protects Healthy Pseudomonas aeruginosa Populations. Journal of Bacteriology, 2019; 201 (23) DOI: 10.1128/JB.00568-19

In the Halloween tradition, we take on the personae of Tamler and Dave from Very Bad Wizards and do our own version of their Epsiode 174: More Chiang for Your Buck. It's like a cover version. For podcasts. In this episode we discuss: The Joker (film) Are morally virtuous people less funny (scientific paper) The multiverse and "Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom" (short story) Very Bad Wizards is a podcast about science and research and ethics. It's also about Peez's beats. We do all these things (and more) in an attempt to become our podcast heroes for one hour. Why? Halloween.

Justin B's article: genetic engineering of self-destructive mosquitos aiming to reduce mozzie populations! Justin Z's article(s): how translatable are animal studies to human medicine?? We also lock-in a Jeremy's Iron excursion to Shen Yun, 2020.

People are scared of fluoride. From rat poison to calcified third-eyes, negative associations of fluoride are rife. SO! We enlist the help of Sydney's hottest dentist Dr. Lewis Ehrlich to separate fiction from the tooth. We ask Dr. Lewis about: His invitation to become the Bachelor What is holistic dentistry? Do we really need fluoride in our toothpaste? What's the deal with charcoal toothpaste? Special Guest: Dr. Lewis Ehrlich.

Australia is one of the few countries that still fluoridates it's water. This is despite minimal conclusive evidence that it assists regular fluoride toothpaste use in the prevention of tooth decay or gum disease. Forget the fact that ingested fluoride is the ONLY medical intervention delivered en masse with no dosage controls! This is a spicy one so we've devoted two episodes to it. Part one features a break-down of the history of fluoridation, which is WILDLY FASCINATING, and a look at the available evidence for the efficacy on tooth decay prevention. Tune in next week where we interview dentist Dr. Lewis Ehrlich and investigate the conspiracy theories around fluoride's effect on the pineal gland.

We also look into the health benefits of being religious and discuss whether mathematics is a natural phenomenon or wholly man-made.PLUS!! Can you find our in-podcast references to the following songs:Black Eyed Peas - The WeekendA Perfect Circle - JudithThe Vapors - Turning JapaneseRitchie Valens - La BambaNo prizes for finding all four - but seriously, at this point we could float the podcast as a music digest for your dad. 

Justin B's article: Blue light and effects on sleepJustin Z's article: Vegan Babies. This week we put the vegan diet squarely in the spotlight where it relates to the physical health and neurodevelopment of toddlers. We try to take a balanced reading of the research keeping in mind we (a) don't have babies (b) are reasonably unlikely to have them in the near future and (c) are not vegan or vegetarian.We also take a hard look at the science behind blue light and it's affects on our circadian rhythms. Swipes taken:TED talksLizard brainsIdeologuesSelf-aggrandising pursuits like making a podcast

Our friend’s wife got the flu. Conveniently, they found an old half-used antibiotics packet in their cupboard. So they agreed she should take a couple of anti-biotic tablets for a few days just to be on the safe side. Yep. This actually happened. And we’re sure it happens all the time. No wonder antibiotic resistance is a problem. Ignorance around antibiotic resistance is rife and bugs are slowly winning the war against the old guard of traditional antibiotics. This is bad. But! There is hope! And it comes in the guise of a bacteria-eating virus. This is our main topic for the episode. We also deal with: Youth mental health and screen-time Why are Australian men now the longest living in the world? Do caesarean sections increase the chance of the child developing autism?

It took 4 billion years for the first cells to evolve into the talking, walking, podcast-making, online shitposting, creative and utterly insane humans that now populate the earth. BUT! Is that ACTUALLY enough time for Darwin’s theory of incremental mutation to work its slow brand of magic??? A whole lot of smart people reckon it’s not. Justin and Justin try to find out whether they have a point! Spoiler alert: they don’t. Justin Z also talks about his own recently published research looking at the health and educational deficit faced by twins. PLUS!< What makes Malcolm Gladwell so delightful? Survival-based selection vs Sexual selection Was the primordial soup more of a bisque or a gumbo? REFERENCES Zeltzer, J. , Shand, A. W., Kelly, P. , Hopper, J. L., Scurrah, K. J. and Nassar, N. (2019), Early birth is a key factor in educational disadvantage of twins: a data linkage study. Acta Paediatr. Caitlin E. et al (2019) Prebiotic amino acids bind to and stabilize prebiotic fatty acid membranes. PNAS Aug 2019, 201900275; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1900275116

Believe it or not, we actually went to Russia to find out.Hopefully you’ll forgive the “on-location” sound quality as we discuss the difficulties of conducting and publishing research in Russia.We also answer the following questions:What caused the mystery radioactive fog that descended on Europe in 2017? Can machine learning identify autism in babies from merely analysing eye movements?How does Burger King possibly have a 4.5 star google review ratingJeremy’s Iron is an excuse for two mates to geek out over science, research and publication. It’s a conversation between a biostatistician (Justin Zeltzer) and an orthopaedic surgeon (Justin Bobyn). Jeremy’s Iron is available on iTunes: HEREJoin our Facebook page: HERE Masson et al (2019) Airborne concentrations and chemical considerations of radioactive ruthenium from an undeclared major nuclear release in 2017 PNAS https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1907571116Cohen et al (2019) Foetal oestrogens and autism Molecular Psychiatry https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-019-0454-9Artoni et al (2019) Deep learning of spontaneous arousal fluctuations detects early cholinergic defects across neurodevelopmental mouse models and patients PNAS https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/07/16/1820847116

In an experiment that would make most researchers shudder with its methodological flaws, Justin Z and Justin B go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all 50m swim sprint. Why? We're both in our mid 30s, single and have too much time on our hands. And with content like this its probably staying that way.Jeremy’s Iron is available on iTunes: HEREJoin our Facebook page: HERE

Scared of soy?? Us too. This episode unpacks the man-boob myth and also looks at the effects of soy consumption on pre- and post-menopausal women. Justin B grabs a strong Aeropress coffee just before the show - clearly his usual frenetic enthusiasm was going to be insufficient for this one. So we make it rain in the first half of the show as we deliver a some long overdue listener shout-outs, investigate the placebo effect, cross-examine Wim Hof,  discuss the downside of having a twin and castigate Spotify DJs. Soy chat starts around 29mins. Jeremy’s Iron is an excuse for two mates to geek out over science, research and publication. It’s a conversation between a biostatistician (Justin Zeltzer) and an orthopaedic surgeon (Justin Bobyn). Jeremy’s Iron is available on iTunes: HEREJoin our Facebook page: HERE References:Kaptchuk TJ, Friedlander E, Kelley JM, et al. (2010) Placebos without deception: a randomized controlled trial in irritable bowel syndrome. (link is external) PLoS One. 2010;5(12):1–7.Martinez, J. and Lewi, J. (2008) An Unusual Case of Gynecomastia Associated with Soy Product Consumption. Endocrine Practice. Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 415-418 Messina M. (2016) Soy and Health Update: Evaluation of the Clinical and Epidemiologic Literature. Nutrients. 2016;8(12):754. Published 2016 Nov 24. doi:10.3390/nu8120754Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (2015) Scientific opinion on the risk assessment for peri- and post-menopausal women taking food supplements containing isolated isoflavones. EFSA J. 2015;13:4246.Siepmann T1, Roofeh J, Kiefer FW, Edelson DG. (2011) Hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction associated with soy product consumption. Nutrition. 2011 Jul-Aug;27(7-8):859-62. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.10.018. Epub 2011 Feb 25.

Our sophmore interview on Jeremy’s Iron is with renaissance tech bro Dylan Baskind. He’s the CEO of Qwilr - an online document-creation platform. He’s also the lead singer of Winter People and a visual artist. But what brings him to the podcast is his regular meditation habit. We ask him how meditation affects his high pressure work life and also how regular meditation might adversely affect the creative process. Special Guest: Dylan Baskind.

Meditation is practiced by billions across the globe. Each person with their own personal relationship to their practice. There are countless stories of meditation’s positive effect on people’s lives. From tales of rapture, to people who have come back from the brink through meditation to those that just feel that meditation makes them 10% happier. Great! Meditation works then. Cool! No need for a podcast about it [resumes online shopping for bulk-buy Golden Gaytimes] Wait. You’re saying there’s NO DEFINITIVE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT MEDITATION WORKS? How is that possibly true? Well in this episode, Justin and Justin creep through the sticky weeds of why the effectiveness of meditation is decidedly hard to tease out. Or maybe…. just maybe… it might not be as amazing as we think! We also talk about retired search engines, poop transplants and we announce an interview with Dylan Baskind (CEO Qwilr Industries). Note that the interview will be released as a separate episode to follow shortly! REFERENCES Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011) Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps, Contemporary Buddhism, 12:01, 281-306, DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2011.564844 Van Dam, N. (2018). Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2018 Jan;13(1):36-61. doi: 10.1177/1745691617709589. Epub 2017 Oct 10.

Montessori and Steiner schools have been preaching “student-focussed” education for more than 100 years. What’s more, their rejection of teacher authority and strict curricula is progressively encroaching on mainstream schools. BUT is there any evidence that their progressive take on schooling provides any longterm benefits to students?? Justin and Justin hope to find out! In this episode we discuss the education principles of Montessori and Steiner schools and investigate any available scientific research on long-term effects to students. Also in this episode: Do elderberries protect you from the flu? What is the gut-brain axis? Does Justin Z have a gambling problem? Who are the other members of the band Genesis? REFERENCES Fischer, H. et al. (2013) The Effect of Attending Steiner Schools during Childhood on Health in Adulthood: A Multicentre Cross Sectional Study PLoS One. 2013 Sep 12;8(9):e73135. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073135.  Lillard, Angeline & Heise, Megan & M. Richey, Eve & Tong, Xin & Hart, Alyssa & M. Bray, Paige. (2017). Montessori Preschool Elevates and Equalizes Child Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study. Frontiers in Psychology. 08. 1783. 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01783. Sobo, E. (2015) Social Cultivation of Vaccine Refusal and Delayamong Waldorf (Steiner) School Parents Med Anthropol Q. Sep;29(3):381-99. doi: 10.1111/maq.12214. Epub 2015 May 15. Yang B, Wei J, Ju P et al. (2019) Effects of regulating intestinal microbiota on anxiety symptoms: A systematic review General Psychiatry 2019; 32: e100056. doi: 10.1136/gpsych-2019-100056 Jeremy’s Iron is an excuse for two mates to geek out over science, research and publication. It’s a conversation between a biostatistician (Justin Zeltzer) and an orthopaedic surgeon (Justin Bobyn).

So you think you’re eco-conscious hey? You don’t own a car, you keep a kitchen compost and you even reuse those brown paper mushroom bags to discretely drink your canned beer on public transport. Good for you! Unfortunately it adds up to about nothing if you take just one domestic flight. Fly shame is real, and many people are going cold turkey on holiday making to reduce their environmental impact. In this episode, Justin B tries to convince Justin Z not to become one of these people. We also talk about new interesting findings in evolutionary biology, how a jet engine works and the magic castle in Los Angeles. REFERENCES Roberta Bergero, Jim Gardner, Beth Bader, Lengxob Yong, Deborah Charlesworth (2019). ; Exaggerated heterochiasmy in a fish with sex-linked male coloration polymorphisms. PNAS 2019,2018 18486; DOI:10.1073/pnas.1818486116 Bell, R. C., Webster, G. N. and Whiting, M. J. (2017) Breeding biology and the evolution of dynamic sexual dichromatism in frogs. J. Evol. Biol., 30: 2104-2115. doi:10.1111/jeb.13170