MSP91 [] Celebrating Science #2: Mosses, Magnets & Migraines.

Negative stories in your social media feeds getting you down? Let The Knowledge soothe your troubles with edible algae, miracle magnets and a keto-based migraine cure.

We're a little behind in posting episodes, so please enjoy the multiple feeds this week!

Episode Sources:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2213394-ketogenic-diet-may-stop-migraines-by-changing-the-brains-fuel/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2213755-cities-are-using-walls-of-moss-to-tackle-air-pollution-from-traffic/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/13/algae-spirulina-e3-blue-majik-health-benefits
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/13/algae-spirulina-e3-blue-majik-health-benefits
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2213622-tiny-magnets-could-help-rid-the-ocean-of-harmful-microplastics/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2213756-a-classic-quantum-theorem-may-prove-there-are-many-parallel-universes/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2213655-having-kids-makes-you-happier-but-only-when-they-move-out/

Unbelievably Matt is making good on his promise to show us that this world is a better place than our social media feeds might indicate. Today on MSP we have a lot of algae, some moss, quantum universes, children and magnets. Yes, it’s time to get your feelgood on.

Where are we going today? Are you going to start us off with physics or food?
I’ll go with a couple of food stories.
Leave the stuff that’s mentally hard to swallow until later.
We often hear about fad diets being the latest thing to help us lose weight and keep us in shape.
And as we talked about a few shows ago, diets on their own often make very little difference to your weight over the long term because the body adjusts to the calories coming in and adjusts the way it burns and stores energy.
But it turns out that the Ketogenic diet could be having unintended and quite profound health benefits for people with certain long term illnesses.

For people that don’t know, the ketogenic diet essentially restricts carbs and calories and promotes a mixture of protein and fats to derive energy from.
Yes, so it’s a bit like a more extreme version of the Atkins Diet that was popular a few years ago.
You’ll find loads of keto influencers on social media and it seems to be wildly popular with a subsection of fitness freaks.
What wasn’t perhaps anticipated was the effect it might have for migraine sufferers.
And it’s something else that underscores, that despite all the advances, how poorly we understand the way our own bodies, especially our brains, work.

Don’t tell me. You ran a little test?
Haha. I left that question in from last week.
And no, I didn’t.
I know I have a slightly fast and loose reputation when it comes to experimenting with humans, but my line is drawn a long way before we get to chronic migraines.
Besides, I signed a hypocritical oath sta