Expanded Perspectives

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show talking about they're favorite Holiday drinks and then in Italy, the legend of La Befana is one that is popularly told around the time of the Epiphany. What does a Catholic holiday have to do with modern Paganism? Well, La Befana happens to be a witch. According to folklore, on the night before the feast of the Epiphany in early January, Befana flies around on her broom, delivering gifts. Much like Santa Claus, she leaves candy, fruit, or small gifts in the stockings of children who are well-behaved throughout the year. On the other hand, if a child is naughty, he or she can expect to find a lump of coal left behind by La Befana. Then, Researchers at Oregon State have patented a new strain of seaweed that tastes like bacon when it's cooked. The seaweed, a form of red marine algae, looks like translucent red lettuce. It also has twice the nutritional value of kale and grows very quickly. Did we mention it tastes like bacon? According to Oregon S

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about a person who had a very strange encounter with what appeared to be a 7ft tall monkey who was in control of an Owl with the face of person. Then, Dr. Hirotaka Sato, an aerospace engineer at Nanyang Technological University. Sato and his team are turning live beetles into cyborgs by electrically controlling their motor functions. Having studied the beetles' muscle configuration, neural networks, and leg control, the researchers wired the insects so that they could be controlled by a switchboard. In doing so, the researchers could manipulate the different walking gaits, speeds, flying direction, and other forms of motion. Essentially, the beetles became like robots with no control over their own motor functioning. Interestingly, though the researchers control the beetles through wiring, their energy still comes naturally from the food they eat. Hence, the muscles are driven by the insects themselves, but they have no willpower ove

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about how recently Egypt has unearthed a city more than 7,000 years old and a cemetery dating back to its first dynasty in the southern province of Sohag, the antiquities ministry has said. The find could be a boon for Egypt’s ailing tourism industry, which has suffered a series of setbacks since the uprising that toppled the autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but remains a vital source of foreign currency. The city is likely to have housed high-ranking officials and grave builders. Its discovery may yield new insights into Abydos, one of the oldest cities in ancient Egypt, the ministry said in a statement. Experts say Abydos was Egypt’s capital towards the end of the predynastic period and during the rule of the first four dynasties. The discovery was made 400 metres away from the temple of Seti I, a New Kingdom period memorial across the Nile from present day Luxor. Then, space is still the final frontier, and as NASA scientists prep

This week on Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about how six years ago, divers discovered the oldest known stationary fish traps in northern Europe off the coast of southern Sweden. Since then, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have uncovered an exceptionally well-preserved Stone Age site. They now believe the location was a lagoon environment where Mesolithic humans lived during parts of the year. Other spectacular finds include a 9,000-year-old pick axe made out of elk antlers. The discoveries indicate mass fishing and therefore a semi-permanent settlement.  Then, Medieval archer's 'unique quiver' and arrows with iron tips found in hole in a cliff, along with his wooden sarcophagus. Two local residents accidentally stumbled across the burial site, close to the village of Kokorya, which contains the bones of an adult man, his birch bark quiver, arrow shafts and iron arrow heads, intricate ornaments and utensils made from the roots of trees, as well as the remnants of silk ribb

This week on Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about how if you want a decent night’s sleep stop fiddling with your phone, researchers have warned. A US study has found that greater screen time, particularly at bedtime, is linked to disrupted sleep patterns - including taking a longer time to drop off. “The more screen time, the worse the quality of sleep,” said Gregory Marcus, co-author of the research from the University of California, San Francisco. The research ties in with a growing body of evidence that suggests that using electronic devices can get in the way of shut-eye. Then, on a quiet day in March, 1966, seven eyewitnesses reported an unidentified flying object maneuvering over Livingston and Washtenaw counties in Michigan. But these were not just some crazy people who watched all this there were police officers, sherrif deputies and over a 100 other people. an official investigation declared it was an optical illusion created by swamp gas. But some say that's just what the

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives we talk with documentary film maker Seth Breedlove about his latest movie "The Boggy Creek Monster". As well as some of his previous movies "The Minerva Monster" and "The Beast of Whitehall". These documentary films are all made by "Small Town Monsters". Small Town Monsters is an independent film series that explores lost and bizarre history around the United States. In addition to film, STM is also merchandise, and other media devoted to this same subject matter. The legend of the Boggy Creek Monster has long captivated the people of Fouke, Arkansas, a little town about 150 miles outside of Little Rock. It is said that Fouke is the first place that this cryptid was spotted. According to legend, the Boggy Creek Monster stands between seven and eight feet tall on two feet and weighs close to 300 pounds. Its chest, legs and arms are covered with thick, long hair. The first reported sightings go all the way back to 1834, when it is said that the large, hairy “wild man”

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start off talking about how recently while sifting through the remains of an Iron Age burial plot dating from 400 to 450 B.C. in what is today Germany, Bettina Arnold, an archaeologist and anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and others uncovered a cauldron that contained remnants of an alcohol brewed and buried with the deceased. So she decided to team up with Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery to re-create the ancient brew, using a recipe inspired by evidence collected from the archaeological remains. Then,a remarkable 7,000-year-old megalithic site that served as an astronomical observatory has been found in Muduma village in Telangana, India. The discovery has been hailed as one of the most significant archaeological findings in India over the last few decades. According to Times of India, the team of archeologists described it as  ''the only megalithic site in India, where a depiction of a star constellation has been identified''. The anci

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start off the show talking about how Australian researchers have discovered that peptides contained in the milk of Tasmanian devils can kill some of the most deadly bacterial and fungal infections, including golden staph. Then, Russian researchers have stumbled on the site of this lost weather station, along with a handful of wartime relics from the 1940s. Among the artifacts discovered on the island are objects bearing Nazi insignia and swastikas. Most importantly for the researchers, many of the items also appear to be marked and dated to give further confirmation that this is the real deal. Then, Cam re-tells a terrifying experience one camper had in Michigan with what is believed to be a Bigfoot like creature. Then, a recent article claims the Earth faces another ICE AGE within 15 years as Russian scientists discover that the Sun is cooling. Experts say that solar activity as low as it currently is has not been seen since the mini-ice age that took place

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives week talk with friend and author Joshua Cutchin about his latest book "The Brimstone Deceit". Witnesses the world over claim to see spirits, UFOs, Sasquatch, and other phenomena that are not supposed to exist. Most cannot believe their eyes, yet some of these observers have also detected evidence of a more ephemeral nature--odors abound, in particular the stench of brimstone. In the first book of its kind, Joshua Cutchin, author of the highly praised A Trojan Feast, documents these uncommon scents and poses a startling possibility... that smell is a sense ripe for deception. We trust our eyes and ears, but should we trust our noses? Prior to pursuing his dream of becoming a full-time author and musician in 2015, Joshua Cutchin served as Public Affairs Director of the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music for three years. During his tenure at UGA, Joshua authored over one hundred articles, press releases, and blog posts. In addition to appearing in local

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about how a reeally astonishing trail cam footage showing a UFO followed by the mysterious appearance of a very large, mechanical-looking object has been sent to MUFON (case 79614) and reported on many UFO sites. Then, nuclear weapons are already scary enough, but when you dig deeper and find out how powerful the weapons truly are, they get even more terrifying. The weapons we’ve built after the first atomic bombs are so strong that you can basically use Hiroshima as a unit of measurement. The largest nuclear explosion in human history, the Tsar Bomba, detonated with a force of 50 megatons or the power of 3,333 Hiroshimas. Then, an eagle cam appears to have captured an ape-like creature walking around on the ground below, prompting speculation that it could be the elusive creature. The shadowy figure was filmed near the Platte River State Fish Hatchery in Beulah, Michigan, back in May, The Detroit Free Press reported. The camera had

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start off talking about how recently archaeologists were left baffled by the "strange" discovery of ancient Roman coins buried in the ruins of a castle in Japan. The four copper coins were retrieved from soil beneath Katsuren Castle on Okinawa Island, and were originally thought to be a hoax before their true provenance was revealed. Then, a recent study by Japanese researchers has added some much-needed extra data about the phenomenon of life after death. In 2014 a questionnaire was sent out to bereaved family members of cancer patients across Japan who died in hospital, palliative care units, or at home, in order to evaluate the quality of the end-of-life care they received. Part of that nationwide survey asked about deathbed visions. Remarkably, of 2,221 survey responses, the researchers found that visions of dead loved ones were reported in 463 cases (21%). Then, a Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia couple were scratching their heads after discovering an odd-loo

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about how a robot has been arrested while taking part in a political rally in Russia, after police intervened to prevent it from interacting with the public. According to reports, the activist robot – called Promobot, and manufactured by a Russian company of the same name – was detained by police as it interspersed with the crowd at a rally in support of Russian parliamentary candidate Valery Kalachev in Moscow. Then, an amateur archaeologist has tracked down hundreds of prehistoric rock engravings in Scotland in what has been described as a “phenomenal” contribution to the understanding of Britain’s earliest artworks. Then, a 31-year-old Ohio resident Amy Kovacs told Cryptozoology News that she was in her front yard talking to her husband and a friend when she spotted the unidentified flying creature. Then, a man in Marion County, Florida wrote Lon Strickler an email to his popular blog "Phantoms and Monsters" about the family of Bi

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys talk about how several cryptic posts from the Facebook page of a group known as the 'Flomo Klowns' put two Southern Alabama schools on lock down for a while Thursday morning. The Flomaton Police Department received information from a parent that her child had been sent threatening messages on Facebook from the group. Then, the world is still vulnerable to a potentially catastrophic asteroid strike, according to President Barack Obama's chief science adviser. NASA has made substantial progress in finding the asteroids that pose the biggest threat to Earth, but there's still a lot of work to do, said John Holdren, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. Then, an Arkansas witness at Bella Vista and his wife rushed to a bedroom window after hearing “jet-like” sounds and watched a triangle-shaped object just 100 feet over the rooftop. Then, evoking visions of mad scientists, French researchers are set to revive a mega-virus dormant fo

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start off talking about how a 22-year-old British student has invented a mobile fridge that could save millions of lives across the world. Will Broadway's "Isobar" has been designed to keep vaccines at the ideal temperature while in transit in developing countries. And Will doesn't plan to make money from his creation. His focus is to get it to people who need it, which is why he won't be trying to get a patent. Then, archeologists working on the Dampier archipelago off Australia’s north-west coast have found evidence of stone houses dating back 9,000 years – to the end of the last ice age – building the case for the area to get a world heritage listing. Circular stone foundations were discovered in on Rosemary Island, the outermost of 42 islands that make up the archipelago. The islands and the nearby Burrup peninsula are known as Murujuga – a word meaning “hip bones sticking out” – in the language of the Ngarluma people. Then, Hitachi Ltd. started trials of

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show talking about how Thursday, September 1st An unmanned SpaceX rocket, topped by an Israeli satellite, was being prepped for a test firing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when something went wrong. The 604-ton Falcon 9 rocket was being fueled with a potent mix of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant when an explosion quickly enveloped the launch pad in flames. But that's not the strange part. The strange part is that a video has emerged of what appears to be an unidentified flying object zooming behind the Falcon 9 Space X rocket moments before it exploded. Then, an Arkansas witness at Little Rock reported watching an “intense white, spiraling, flat, circular light that moved at incredible speed. Then, new evidence shows that Earth was just missed  by a 180 foot Asteroid which no one saw coming until the last minute. Then, what will the vacation of the future look like? To that end, Expedia.co.uk recently released its 

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the boys talk about the Hound of Mons. A fascinating chronicle was published in 1919 by Canadian veteran F. J. Newhouse, describing the story of the gigantic otherworldly hound that mauled over British soldiers in No Man’s Land. The publishing claimed that this hound wasn’t your typical Hellhound or phantom, but the intentional creation of a horrific German experiment. According to Newhouse, Dr. Gottlieb Hochmuller had been performing an array of experiments to develop a powerful weapon to sway the war in Germany’s favor. He roamed from one asylum to another, and finally found a man who had gone mad in his hatred for England. He then extracted the brain out of the madman with the consent of the German Government and inserted it into the skull of a Siberian wolfhound. While the madman died, the dog, with tender nursing, grew powerful and notorious. Once ready, it was set free to hunt down British soldiers in the battlefield of Mons. But is there any truth in this unbeli

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start off talking about Zenkerella insignis, the critter caught on Bioko, is one of the world's most ancient and mysterious mammals. Until now, it was known only by its fossils and 11 scattered specimens, many of which had been languishing in natural history collections for over 100 years. Researchers who were interested in the species (and there aren't many) had little to go on aside from a hind limb here, a few teeth there. No scientist in history has ever seen it alive. Then, according to biologist Elizabeth Congdon, an assistant professor at Bethune-Cookman University, the state of Florida could have a serious capybara problem—and it might be the fault of exotic pet owners. Then, it's been a year since two treasure hunters claimed to have found a Nazi gold train buried under Poland and yet no Nazi gold train has actually been produced. That isn't stopping a team of 35 people, who plan to resume the hunt Monday, Deutsche Welle reports. Then, care to learn m

On this episode of expanded perspectives Cam and Kyle start off talking about how giant traps called desert kites—some of which are 8,000 years old—were built across animal migration routes by Old World pastoralists. Then, last Sunday, Scotland achieved something great - for the first time on record, wind power alone generated 106 percent of Scotland’s electricity needs in a single day. Environmental group WWF Scotland has just confirmed that on 7 August 2016, wind turbines in Scotland pumped 39,545 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity into the National Grid, while the nation's homes, businesses, and industry needed just 37,202 MWh. Then, most of us are pretty good at acting on the fly: swerving to avoid an obstacle in the road, ducking to keep from being hit, or reflexively catching a fly ball. We can do this because the brain is constantly running simulations of the physics involved as we scan our environment, according to a new series of brain imaging studies. All that processing is done by a handful of reg

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys talk about how one of the last known groups of woolly mammoths died out because of a lack of drinking water, scientists believe. The Ice Age beasts were living on a remote island off the coast of Alaska, and scientists have dated their demise to about 5,600 years ago. They believe that a warming climate caused lakes to become shallower, leaving the animals unable to quench their thirst. Then, what do you so with land that’s been rendered inhabitable by humans? The Ukrainian government has decided the best use of the 1,600 square mile “exclusion zone” surrounding the former Chernobyl nuclear power station is to build one the world’s largest solar power plants, according to Electrek. Then, Australia is to shift its longitude and latitude to address a gap between local co-ordinates and those from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Local co-ordinates, used to produce maps and measurements, and global ones differ by more than 1m. Then, Cam brings up an unu

On this episode of Expanded Perspectives the guys start the show off talking about how Amazon is partnering with the British government to expand its testing of delivery drones, paving the way for commercial air deliveries for UK residents. The expanded testing, announced today in a press release, involves Amazon working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority to focus on operating drones outside of the line of sight of pilots, improving sensors for obstacle detection and avoidance, and having one pilot operate a team of multiple, semi-autonomous drones in unison. The project is the latest regulatory victory for Prime Air, the online retailer's ambitious program designed to bring cheaper and more forward-thinking delivery logistics in-house. Then, could what happened in Fukushima happen 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of New York City? That’s what many activists and former nuclear regulators fear for the Indian Point Energy Center, a nuclear power plant that has operated in Westchester County for more than four d