Devotees of the testudines rejoice! Whether you have one as a pet, admire them at the zoo, or giggle with the rest of the internet when they rock each other off logs, chances are high, we think, that you like turtles. We like turtles! And conveniently for us, turtle science is also extremely cool, so this was basically an ideal episode to make. Enjoy!

A wild teaser appears! This little snippet is the first part of our revisit of Big vs. Small and answering even more questions that we didn't get to in the episode. You can listen to the rest, and also a bunch more bonus content, on our Patreon. It's one of the best ways you can support the show and keep Tangents going and free for everyone. Head over to Patreon.com/scishowtangents and join in all the learning and shenanigans! Thank you so much to all our Patrons - we genuinely would not get...

From expressing ourselves through fashion to protecting ourselves from the elements, textiles seem to be self-evidently significant to the human experience. But it's our goal on Tangents to always poke holes in the obvious, tear through distraction, and weave humor with knowledge - and the facts this episode will blow your cotton-poly blend socks off.

It may be well-known that hope is the thing with feathers, but how much is known about feathers themselves? Turns out, plenty! From shrub grouses to shuttlecocks and all the pea-babies (diminutive for peacocks, definitely for sure) in between, come soar on the delightfully complex wings of knowledge with us!

Trash, rubbish, waste, refuse...we have a lot of words for the gunk that goes on the truck, because whether we like it or not, humans make a lot of garbage. Get comfy with some grossness as we root around in garbage's past, present, and future. We're all on a path, you guys!

Oops, all science this episode! Erstwhile editorial assistant Deboki Chakravarti steps in for erstwhile everyman Sam Schultz as we parse through fundamental puzzles about humanity: what makes us, us, and if it is hormones, does that make us cocktails or cauldrons?

It's the long-awaited cheese-stravaganza! And it's every bit as melty, crumbly, stretchy, and stinky as hoped for. We dip into some fetamology, we stretch our nokkeledge of cheese applications, and we unwrap the shocking tartrutho about a cheese we thought we knew!* *Here are the real cheese names I butchered into puns: feta, nokkelost, tartuffo. All delicious, go try some!

The question plaguing us this episode is, how dark can it really get? Turns out (according to some), not that dark! Unless you're at the bottom of the ocean or floating in the all too-eerie void of deep space, you're always gonna have some photons hitting your face. (I'm pretty sure I accidentally stole this rhyme right out of Hank's poem, but you'll just have to listen to know for sure...)

In this not-so-chill episode, everybody gets a little unsettled by the concepts around refrigeration. Quantum computers, thermoacoustics, molecular chemistry, elephants, the phantom letter "d" that gets added to the shortening of refrigeration...it's all just. So much.

Do you hear what I hear? Probably not, because in this episode, we're bringing things down several notches to learn about quiet. Does it have a scientific definition? Is it all just relative? Should crickets have podcasts? Join us as we (ok, maybe not so) quietly contemplate quiet.

Oil: it's a ubiquitous substance humans have been relying on for longer than you might think. We cook with it, we moisturize with it, we run machines with it - it keeps slipping into places we least expect to find it, for good and for ill...

What's that you spy on the horizon, just out of sight? If you have a telescope handy, you can hone your gaze on...more telescopes! From pocket spyglasses to Extremely Large (a real telescope name), join us and special guest Julian Huguet as we set our sights on the far-reaching world of these incredible devices. How we wonder what they are...

Batteries are all around us, in things we use all the time, and in all different shapes and sizes, so of course we know exactly how they all work, right? Nope! Not even close! The bizarre breadth of our battery banter includes Ben Franklin, tiny computers, and...shrimp?

Trick or Treat Month returns... and this time it's personal! Join us for another month of spooky themes and special surprise guest apparitions! Try not to get too scared! And so we close the ancient, flesh-bound spell book on another Trick or Treat Month... but we're going out on top, baby! Alexis Nikole Nelson has appeared, as if by magic, to lead us into the deep, dark woods and point out all the slimy, sticky, gross stuff on the ground that she says we can eat. I guess I trust her!

Trick or Treat Month returns... and this time it's personal! Join us for another month of spooky themes and special surprise guest apparitions! Try not to get too scared! Our yearly cavalcade of terror rolls on with a new Grand Marshall of Terror: podcaster, author, and mad genius Dan Schreiber! And he's here to tell us about the weirdest, creepiest, most otherworldly theories ever devised of! There are lots of science-y ideas out there, and not all of them can be right, after all!

Trick or Treat Month returns... and this time it's personal! Join us for another month of spooky themes and special surprise guest apparitions! Try not to get too scared! This year's ghastly Grand Guignol of science and screams begins where most human lives end: the tomb! And we dug up an old friend, Dimension 20's Siobhan Thompson, to guide us deep into the cursed catacombs of knowledge!

A big part of being a human is that you get progressively more gross as the day goes on. Various parts start stinking, hair grows all over your face, you're touching who-knows-what... luckily for all of us, someone a long time ago decided to invent hygiene! Otherwise we'd have to lick ourselves like cats!

The universe is dusty AF, frankly. It's on your body, in every nook in cranny of your house, some planets are just made entirely of dust pretty much, and space is full of it! It's everywhere, so I guess we might as well learn something about it...

From trustworthy to calming, sad to steadfast, and, of course, jeans - the color blue means a lot of things to a lot of people. Join Team Tangents as we delve into this deceptively complicated primary color!

It's easy to write off bacteria as no good, nasty, disease causing creeps, but consider this: without bacteria, we wouldn't have yogurt, or delicious sourdough bread, or a gut microbiome to digest those things! There are probably other good examples of ways bacteria are helpful to us, but I'm too hungry to think of them...

From eggs to tacos to Ninja Turtles, some of the best things in life come in shells. So cozy on up inside the nearest conch as we regale you with tales of shells from all across the scientific spectrum!

This week we're talking about our old friend, Mr. Distance-Over-Time himself: Speed! From the speediest hedgehog to the slowiest slug, we all have speed, and we can all come together and listen to this podcast to learn more about how and why that is.

Whether you're tracking the orbit of satellites, looking at your phone, or picking out a dozen fresh-baked donuts, the chances are pretty good that right this second, YOU are using numbers! Hate to break it to you, bud, but math is actually pretty important after all!

No new episode this week! Come back next week, June 13, and every other week after that for a new episode.