Lateral with Tom Scott - 16: The 2-year-old newborn

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

'SuperSaf' AhmedMia, Ali Spagnola and Mehdi 'ElectroBOOM' Sadaghdar face questions about scientific statues, slashed screens, and a silly sequence. LATERAL is a comedy panel game podcast about weird questions with wonderful answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit https://www.lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Joe Zeng, Josh Halbur. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Which movie did James Cameron pitch by writing the letter S and two lines? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. A very special welcome to this celebratory episode of Lateral, which I can confirm is the 100 billionth podcast that anyone has put on the internet, so slices of celebration cake are on our way to the guests right now. I can confirm is the 100 billionth podcast that anyone has put on the internet. So slices of celebration cake are on our way to the guests right now. And they are from Super Saf TV. It is Saf. Hey. How are you doing today? Good, good. Jet lag, but I'm looking

forward to this. I'm not sure how well I'll perform, but I'm here. I'm here. It's fine. Get the excuses in early. I'm glad you've been out having a good time. Also, from Electroboom, it is Mehdi. Hi, how are you doing? Doing well, thank you. What have you got going on at the minute? I was just filming before I joined the podcast and some things blew up. You'll see in my next video.

And from her own YouTube channel, artist and musician Alice Spagnola. Hello. Hello, how are you doing? What are you working on these days? Well, I slept really well last night and I'm still not sure how I'm going to perform. It's absolutely fine. There are no points other than bragging rights, no competition here other than working together to find the answers to some interesting questions. Questions that are full of precarious statements built like a house of cards. So let's see who's going to be the ace and who's going to be the joker. We'll start you off with this. Why is this a sequence? Granny Smith, Hello Kitty, a Smurf. I'll give you that one more time. How is this a sequence? Granny Smith, Hello Kitty, and a Smurf.

Granny Smith, Hello Kitty, and a Smurf. Good luck, folks. Who's Granny Smith? Granny Smith, is that like apples, right? Is that a brand of apples? Yes. Okay. That is a breed of apple. Breed of apple.

So then we've got Granny Smith. Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty. And then a Smurf. And a Smurf. Smurf. They all have, like they're all round, I guess.

They're all very specific colors. And Granny Smith is green. Hello Kitty definitely says pink. Smurf says blue. And that feels like CMY, the CMYK. RGB, maybe? Yeah. RGB.

You're thinking technical. I like that. It's like you're thinking of the colour spectrum. It's like, okay, what is it? Well, I do have an art degree. That's immediately where I go. This is incredible teamwork to start off with. Considering you three have never met before this show,

it was a wonderful series of deductions that unfortunately took you in completely the wrong direction. Sorry, Jamie. We're not doing comments now. But you are right that it's a physical property of these things, in so much as they're like actual physical things. Physical property. Well, besides the apple, the other two are kind of cute, I guess.

Yeah. Oh, the Auntie Smurf? What was her name again? Granny Smith. Granny Smith, sorry. Not Granny Smurf, that's a completely different character. What was her name again? Granny Smith. Granny Smith, sorry. Not Granny Smurf. That's a completely different character. The Granny Smith as in the apple,

then Hello Kitty and a Smurf. This is a bit of pop culture knowledge that you may or may not have here. I probably don't. Stay out of it, I guess. So Granny Smith is probably a character because the other two... No, we are talking about the apple there.

Ah. Can I be Google? He's X-rated. Not yet, but at some point we might... Can we get another clue? Yeah, it's very much

an increasing order here. Increasing order. They're all measured in the same kind of unit. It's not a real unit, but there's something to it. Oh, Smurfs are three apples high.

So... Which means... Hello Kitty must be two apples high. Absolutely right. I was wondering if anyone was going to have that little bit of pop culture knowledge. I only got introduced to you recently. Yes. Granny Smith is an

apple, so it's one apple high. Hello Kitty is apparently two apples high. And also, according to the notes I've got here, is actually called Kitty White and lives in suburban London. The character has way more than I thought. And then yes, a Smurf is, according to the show, three apples high. three apples high. Three apples high. When you say there are apples high, what do you mean? It's their height or what is it? So I never watched the Smurfs.

I actually, I'm not sure if the Smurfs were a cartoon first or like a comic book first. Or a product. I mean, yeah, it's an American kid series, so it's a marketing attempt, but yes. Well done, Ali. You're hopeless out on that one. I would have never got that. Like, never ever got that. It only required a complete red herring to start.

That's okay. If we didn't have the red herrings, we wouldn't have a show. So thank you very much. You are right. Granny Smith is one apple high. Hello Kitty is two apples high, and a Smurf is three apples high. The fourth in the sequence would obviously be a Smurf with an apple on its head. All our guests have brought a question themselves,

and we will start with Mehdi. As usual, I don't know the question, I definitely don't know the answer. So Mehdi, over to you. My question says, in Madrid's plaza, the Toros Laventas, there is a statue of a local man taking off his hat in salute. He's facing the bust of a British Nobel Prize winner.

Who was that and who paid for this memorial? In Madrid's plaza, the Toros Laventas, there is a statue of a local man taking off his hat in salute. He is facing the bust of a British Nobel Prize winner. Who was that

and who paid for this memorial? Wow. So we need to know the bust or the guy that's saluting. I feel like one will give us the answer to the other. Yeah. Is it about the Nobel Prize winner or is it about the bust? Because wouldn't it just be the guy then instead of,

oh, they probably weren't alive at the same time to have had that scenario? I'm trying to think of... My brain has blanked on any British Nobel Prize winner. Like, I just don't have an index on that, so... Yeah, me neither. Yeah, no. So it's Madrid as a city kind of giving its thanks to someone who won the Nobel Prize,

but why would that be? And who actually paid for it as well? Like... Hmm. Hmm. Where was Madrid? It's in Spain, right? Mm-hmm.

Yeah. You're not answering this question, Betty. You've got the answer in front of you. Oh, yeah. But if the man with the answer is still trying to figure this out. Did the Nobel Prize winner commission it? Because that'd be hilarious. It's like, pat on my back.

Let's get this sorted out. I'd totally do that. To be fair, if you've won a Nobel Prize, yeah, you know what? Commission a bust of yourself. You're fine. I want to be remembered. You know that there's some YouTuber out there

who has just commissioned a bust of themselves. Actually, it's JerryRigEverything, if you know his channel. Oh, yeah. If you want yeah take a look at my bust of myself that i created over there wait do you actually have it did you like get your face casted oh wow i'll be the local man taking my hat off so yeah i've also just realized i have a video where there's a where there's a robot copy of myself so i literally have that as well from a 3D scan. So it's a YouTube thing then, is it, right? Yeah, it's a YouTube thing.

We all do this. Because, yeah, Zax is brilliant because it's just outside Dan's house, Dan from What's Inside, and it's just like a massive... Yeah, he 3D printed a statue of himself that's like 40 feet high out of concrete. That was hilarious. And just left it in a friend's garden. Hilarious.

None of those people have won the Nobel Prize, though. Yeah. I'm working on it. Is it like Nobel Prize for physics, chemistry, or like economics, or peace? Peace sounds obvious now I say about it. Oh, you want some clues? Yeah, let's get something. Let's see.

The Nobel Luriette? What is the meaning of Luriette? Luriette. Winner. Oh, winner. Okay. You have to make it hard like that, I guess. The Nobel Luriette was a scientist, obviously.

So that's not much of a clue. Oh, no, because it might not have been. It might have been an economist. Actually, economists just got angry at me because they all say it's a science. And it could have been like for peace or something like that. I was thinking it was going to be a wartime thing, but it's a scientist. Did something happen in Spain that this guy helped with the local population or something that the local man is taking his hat off?

I can't tell if that's you giving us a clue or if it's you just wondering it. Well, see, I have the answer, but the answer is the name of a person. I don't know what he did, so I have to read more. Oh, no. I was thinking it must be somebody super famous

because we'll recognize that. He is famous, but you know. Famous enough to have a bust in Madrid. So he did something that helped Madrid, which is why they commissioned this, maybe? Well, there's a clue here that says that the action of this man indirectly helped the local population as well as the world at large. How did he specifically help Madrid? The statue is in Madrid.

I don't know if it's just maybe it's for the whole spain right or the world indirectly helped the local population indirectly so he maybe didn't intend to specifically help them but whatever he did indirectly helped the local population which is why they've probably built this in his honor i'm trying to run through like spanish history here and i'm not sure. I have some clues here but I don't know if the clues are helpful or not. It says the statue of the local man is wearing an elaborate

coat. So what does it have to do with anything? Textiles. An elaborate coat. Weather. Bullfighting? I'm thinking like it's... but then you've got a cape rather than anything else. And I don't know how a Nobel Prize winner would help you.

But you do have money. You are going somewhere, yeah. It would help the loaded population. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you are onto something. Go with it. The first thing Tom said. Okay, bullfighting.

Bullfighter. Oh, yeah. Okay, bullfighting. Bullfighter. Bullfighting. Okay. Why? Who could have helped out Spanish bullfighting? How far back does bullfighting go? Centuries, I assume. Yeah. So what did he do that changed it?

How can a science Nobel laureate help bullfighters? Is it a medical thing? Like bullfighters kept getting injured. There you go. Bone mending. He invented the cast. Is it, who is it who invented penicillin? Antibiotics.

Because if you get gored by a bull, a lot of the time, the thing that's going to kill you is not the wound, it's going to be the infection. Yeah, that's the guy. That's the guy. Go ahead.

What's the guy's name? It's in the back of my head. It's Lister. Joseph Lister. No. Come on, you can do it. Who invented what you said? What did you say?

Penicillin. There you go. Fleming. It's Alexander Fleming. There you go. You got it. Finally. You do have a list of Nobel laureates in your head.

Don't sell yourself short. Yeah, but it's indexed by what they've done and not the nationality. There you go. Oh, that took a while to get. So it's indexed by what they've done and not the nationality. There we go. Oh, there we go. It took a while to get there. So it's because he indirectly stopped people from dying from infections after they got gored by bulls. Wow.

That's the thing. They live to bull again. That's what it says. Matadors who had been gored by the bulls had a better chance of survival after Alexander Ph Fleming's discovery of penicillin. So, yeah. Back to me for the next question then. Waffle House is a restaurant chain that has 1,900 locations concentrated in the Southeast USA. How does one federal agency keep things running under trying circumstances by using the Waffle House Index? One more time.

Waffle House is a restaurant chain that has 1,900 locations concentrated in the Southeast USA. How does one federal agency keep things running in trying circumstances by using the Waffle House Index? Keep things running. And Waffle House Index, what is that? Directory. So this is probably, yeah.

Index, what, like the location? Do they have access to their CCTV? I don't know. That's where mine is going. How many of you have been to or know of Waffle House as a thing? Not me. I'm familiar. I don't think I've ever been to one.

I've passed one. Okay, good. We targeted this question perfectly. That's great. Yes. Target demo right here. I do know it's known as a truck stop. Does this have something to do with truckers and the success of the trucking community? Perhaps. Not directly, but something you can figure out from Waffle House about, because it is a truck stop in that kind of place, is something about how it operates. So it's not about, I thought the CCTV that staff brought up was a good point,

but it's not about that, is it? No, no. No surveillancing. Okay. So if it's kind of like a truck stop, so then they can use the index to see what's going on in terms of traffic and supplies. I don't know. Tourism. If Waffle House is bumping, then this industry is also doing well. And that is... So you are actually a little bit closer with both of those. There is one specific federal agency that is tracking Waffle Houses as part of its work.

What a strange government body. So yeah, I mean, if they're tracking supplies of how things are coming in and out and what the demand is. So what agency would that be? Under trying circumstances. Under trying circumstances. Is it about food in general? The agency involves food, maybe? It's not the main part. Or transportation.

All of these things. Oh, my God. Let me just go through my index of government agencies in my head. Okay, it's not the FAA. It's not the FBI. Is it the FBI? It's not. It does start with F, but that's because it's a federal agency.

That's not really much of a clue at all. Feels a little redundant. Do we need F? We could just get rid of the Fs for all of federal agencies. So it's a federal agency that, okay. All right, which are the federal agencies, Tino, Ali? That keeps things running under trying circumstances. Trying circumstances.

Hmm. So like, for example, if there's a natural disaster or something, they get out, hail to people or something? Which agency would that be? Agency of earthquakes and natural disaster? Emergency? Yeah. If you don't know the name, it's FEMA,

the Federal Emergency Management Authority. I don't know if it's agency or authority, but it's a FEMA thing. And, well, how does tracking a pancake house help you? People aren't traveling. People aren't doing leisure activities whenever FEMA needs to be working hard. Is it related to tourism somehow? Kind of the opposite, really.

You wouldn't... There are no doubt some very strange people who would be tourists for this, but not the majority of people. Is it because like in trying circumstances, they want to make sure people have resources and somehow get people to those locations? Not quite. Southeast USA is a fairly major clue here. So they have more like like what do they have hurricanes and stuff is that yeah okay so southeast so it's they they track um emergency whenever if there is a hurricane they'll kind of see where where those 1900 is a 1900 stores 1900 yeah so there's a hurricane now they'll obviously there'll be an impact on those stores so they're tracking which stores will have those impacts because the

truckers can't get in yeah it's it's not to do with truckers it's just to do with the waffle house themselves you know that's that's close enough saff the waffle house index is how many waffle houses which are normally 24 hours, are actually up and operating. They are famous for their resilience, for their getting through no matter what. They will try and get supplies. They will open the restaurant in any circumstances they can. So FEMA has a traffic light system.

Green is like, Waffle House is open, full menu, everything's good. Yellow is, maybe they've got no power they're still they're still serving uh red is the restaurant is closed because it's severely damaged we probably need to get some people out there so waffle house index is the shorthand that female unofficially uses okay that's how badly an area is broken by a hurricane. All right. Cool. That's some news to me. Like, I had no idea about that. And the traffic light system is an interesting way to track it as well.

I'm going to start using Waffle House as a compliment. If someone calls me Waffle House, that means I'm super resilient. That sounds great. You're such a Waffle House. Thank you. Oh, how does that sound insulting? And yet. Yeah.

Oh, have you seen them? They're built like a waffle house. Like, that sounds rude. And yet. We go to Ali for the next question. What have you got for us? Okay. In his black and white photography series magnetism ahmed mater uses a cubicle

magnet and a large scattering of iron fillings all around what is he trying to convey again in his black and white photography series magnetism ahmed matter uses a cubicle magnet and a large scattering of iron fillings all around. What is he trying to convey? Well, so we all looked at Maddy here, right? Just the... Well, I assume it's nothing

new, but I assume this guy you're talking about is old too. I don't know him. But I assume he's trying to show the magnetic field lines with the magnetic with the metal you know iron i think hmm hmm so it's a piece of artwork well i think that he tried to make i think i might know this one is he an artist well i mean because he's a he's a photographer right so he's, because he's a photographer, right? So he's taking and he's using...

Okay, I think I know, but I don't want to ruin it. I'll let you guys go around in circles. Okay, you're going to do the thing. All right, take the risk. If you're wrong, we will gently mock you afterwards. Okay, take the risk, bank that answer. The other two of us will try and figure it out. Mehdi, so if you put a magnet near filings, will they follow the lines?

Surely they'll just like glom onto the magnet. Well, it depends on how much you have. If it's on a piece of paper and there is not enough of them, they will show the magnetic field lines. But if there is a lot of them, they'll like spike out, like a clump of filings that spike up. you know, like a clump of filings that spike up. Like I've seen these sand clocks,

sand timers that use that. There's a magnet on the bottom and the sand is actually metal or iron filings and that pours it onto the magnet and they go like this. That's so cool. I want one of those. I want one of those in my office. Magnets are just fascinating, though.

I just love, like, since I remember just like being in school and just being fascinated by magnets, you could spend hours and hours. But yeah. Yeah. And you'll be surprised by the amount of free energy videos you get out of magnets on the internet that annoys me to no end. Yeah. Unlimited energy. I will say, Mehdi, you magnets on the internet that annoys me to no end. Unlimited energy.

I will say, Mehdi, you're on the right track with the field that you're talking about. So the question was, he's trying to achieve, right? With those? Right. But he's not just taking a picture of the magnetic field lines. There's something else going on here.

Yes, the picture is representing something. And I know what it is. sorry so it's it's this is the first question that i'm like yes so i'm i'm pretty but i might be wrong because there's going to be pride before a fall here yeah that's going to be so like i was like oh i was totally wrong but i It's happened to me. It's happened to me in an earlier show. Does the sculpture represent the struggles of common human in the society? Probably not at all. I mean, art is subjective. Is it representing something physical or something like metaphorical?

It is a physical thing. So it's going to look like you've got the core of an apple or something like that with that kind of circular lines radiating out? Or have I got my magnetism wrong there, Matty? Yeah, well, I mean, it's not going to... Well, when you put a bunch of them on top of a magnet, there'll be lines going out of the surface pretty much in all directions, like a clump of spikes, I assume.

So if you take a photo of that, what could it represent? Ali, I think we need a clue here. Okay. We were already on the right track here, but there are no filings directly next to the magnet, so there's some space around it, and it's all laying on a white surface. So are they trying to go towards the magnet then?

And they're like from the sides or? You had it right. They're naturally forming something and showing that field. So what does that natural formation with the magnet in the middle represent? What does it look like? Oh, it looks like, Haj, it looks like the pilgrimage to Mecca. That's the one. We got it!

Because you've got a big black cube in the middle and the filings of the pilgrims go around it. Yeah, so the Kaaba is the black cube that you're referring to. And that's where Muslims kind of use that as a direction for prayer. So when you go for the Hajj in Mecca, then they will be around it. And I remember, I specifically remember seeing this, it's a really cool piece of artwork

where there's this cube and then you've got the filings around it kind of representing the Kaaba in Mecca, which you would do during Hajj or Umrah as well, which is throughout the year. So yeah, that's why I was like, oh, I know this one. I know this one.

But good work. Good work, Tom. Thank you. Thank you for letting us go through that. We got two light bulb moments out of that question. That was wonderful. Thank you.

The magnetism from the central cube causes the filings to form into natural circles, mimicking the pilgrims circling around the Kaaba. Seven times in an anti-clockwise direction called the Twaf. Next question's been sent in by a listener. Thank you very much to Joe Zhang.

A baby is born and a few minutes later, she becomes two years old. How is that possible? One more time. A baby is born and a few minutes later, she becomes two years old. How is that possible? Are we counting the pregnancy time as well?

Oh, no, not in, well, no, I'm just going to give you a no for that. Okay. I mean, if it's like an animal, because I know like certain animals have longer pregnancies compared to obviously humans. So we have like nine months. pregnancies compared to obviously humans so we have like nine months now if you count from the moment of like conception or like i don't know that's that's what that's where my mind's kind of heading that that's what you you are you are right that it's a counting okay thing okay this is not some weird science fiction time dilation stuff you are right that it's it's in the counting okay okay i was imagining the kid was born on a planet that

revolves around a black hole so it turns like that that's a second that's really thinking outside the box there maybe i like it i like it he's he's going into the expanse and like we're going into like some really scientific stuff there that's really cool well is it a kid we sure we're talking about a baby human or is that some sort of metaphor or the pun some for some is it like a baby goat or something okay i mean you've got you've got the hang of the show that you should always interrogate those parts of the question uh but in this case no this is this is very literal um the baby is born a few minutes later she becomes two years old so it's significant when the baby is born. A few minutes later, she becomes two years old. So it's significant when the baby is born

because then something happens to move that clock weirdly. If it's the end of the year, a few moments later, it'll be a new year. Well, it's not, no. A whole year has to go by. So the baby's Chinese because Chinese New Year, everyone turns a year older. Is that right?

You are very close between the two of you. You're certainly in the Far East. It's not China. But yes, this is about a different numbering and ordering system for dates and ages. I know in, is it possible? I know in Japan, I think the beginning of the calendar starts with the new emperor or something. So if they are switching the emperors, maybe they change the year and something happens in that line. There's got to be two changes.

The kid's born and then year one happens. And then right a few minutes later, year two happens. So where does year one and year two come so close together that then if you're born right before that, boom, boom, now you're two? Yeah, you've pretty much got all the parts of here. You haven't quite named the country. You got very close a couple of times. I know how to Google. I just don't know the answer.

So we've said China. It's not Japan. Is it Korea? Yes, it is. This is South Korea. to google i just don't know the answer so we've said china it's not japan is it um korea yes it is this is south korea so you've all got parts of this one let's let's put all that together this is in south korea how does it work out that someone could be born and then be two years old a few minutes later the emperor thing you were talking about not quite quite. Okay. You're right. There are two differences going on here, though. Each one responsible for one of those years. So one must be the calendar year. And then what else puts a year ahead? What other lever can Korea pull to

change the year? It's a year they want to forget. So they just skip over it. 2020. They skip 2020 like everybody else. Like, let's forget about 2020. Could it be like Chinese culture that they don't like number four? I know, but it might be something similar in Korea that they don't like some number, so they skip that number. I know the number, was it the number

four in certain cultures is considered bad luck, so they skip that number. Yes, I think you've sort of said this, Ali. I'll just put the words in the right order for this bit. If you're in South Korea, in the traditional system, you become a year older on New Year's Day, regardless of your actual day of birth. So if you were born a few minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve, you would immediately age up. That will get you to one. What gets you to two? So they just age up by year. They don't have to wait. It's not from January to January. It's

year to year. Yeah. So it looks like they're skipping a year, maybe, because I know in certain Asian cultures, certain numbers are considered or represent something else. So then they will skip over them. Now, I'm not sure if it's like in Korea, but I know in China, because when I'm looking at smartphones, there might be a phone that's got a version one, a version two. Then they skipped a three and then they'll skip the four because the number four represents well it's very similar to the word of death so then they'll go straight to five so i'm not sure is that also in korea south korea you are right that a number is being skipped uh you haven't quite got the right number a little bit of lateral thinking here because you've you've named a lot of numbers there

okay and you've not named the one they're skipping. Well, for that, we need to know the language, I guess. Which number would they skip? Zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. What was that first one, Matty? Zero. Zero. They skip zero. In the most common Korean system, you start at age one, at birth.

And so if that happens a few minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve, you are almost immediately two years old after birth. Okay. All right. I was completely off at the start when I was like... That's okay. That's how the show works. So yes, in South Korea, you are one when you are born.

And if that's a few minutes before New Year's Day, you are very soon after two. I think that's generally in all cultures a source of confusion. I always have this debate with my family once in a while that they say, oh, I'm like 51. No, you're 50 because you subtract this from that. And I say, no, see? And then I have to start from zero and come up until they realize that. Oh, see?

And then I have to start from zero and come up until they realise that. Yeah, there is a separate system used for things like the mandatory military service in Korea, where they do count from zero. And also they sometimes use the Western system as well. So it's possible to have three completely different ages, all of which are correct. Last guest question of the show then comes from Saf. Whenever you're ready. All right. Here goes.

A man cut a tiny hole in his window shade. He continues to cut out a series of holes of different shapes and sizes, even though the results stayed largely the same. What was he doing? Let me repeat that. A man cut a tiny hole in his window shade. He continues to cut out a series of holes of different shapes and sizes, even though the results stayed largely the same.

What was he doing? I can't guess. Should I guess? One thing I've learned from these questions is that if it's phrased like a man or something like that this may just be a riddle this may not be

a historical event this may just be a riddle could be I mean go for it go for it Mehdi take the shot it feels like a scientific experiment

I mean imagine you're making a hole that is far enough from a curtain or the wall and the light passes through it

it scatters and turns into a circle so it doesn't matter the shape that you are cutting it. At the end of the- I was thinking something like eclipse viewing or something like that, like trying to cast a pinhole camera or something like that. Is that what you're thinking? Well, it's the different shapes and sizes.

For a pinhole, the hole has to be very small. If you make it large, well, if you make it too large, then it doesn't matter anymore. But I mean, if it is larger than a pin, I suppose, then the light just scatters from the edges and turns into a circle when it drops onto a wall or a curtain. Is that anything to do with the answer? You're on the right track. It seems we're all thinking that it's light coming through that he's looking at. The result is the light.

I mean, you guys are on the right track. I'll give you that. So what are you trying to let through? And why doesn't the second or third or whatever hole make a difference? Because also, in my head, this is the sort of situation where someone's doing a haircut.

I'm like, oops, I guess I'll try that. A little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more. Is this that wave particle slit experiment where if you're shooting one particle at a time... I saw that on TikTok, by the way. It's so fascinating, but it's not exactly that. But that was really cool. but it's not exactly that but that was really cool Is the light only on the first circle

that he cut and then he's cutting other circles but the light's only going through that one spot so those other circles wouldn't matter Or maybe it's just a night time and it doesn't matter He's doing this in the dark so then whatever he does has no result If an artist cuts holes in the forest then whatever he does has no result. Exactly. If an artist cuts holes in the forest and no one to see it, is it art?

Exactly. And it's definitely a window shade. So it's got to be letting light through. It's not like... Yeah, I mean, that I think, yeah. So you guys are on the right track. Yes, it's light coming through, but what... All right, I'm in for a clue.

Yeah, I'm in for a clue. Yeah, I'm in for Clue. Okay, the holes did not make up an overall pattern or design. Okay? So he wasn't trying to make a pattern or anything like that. What would you be trying to make? There's something that you would cut into a window shade. Well, maybe he's just trying to look out of the hole and the new hole is not making a difference he still can't see the same as the other hole

is this a scientific experiment is this like historical experiment yes that's correct it is it is an experiment and i can give you another clue to, I mean, you said historic scientific experiments. So, yeah, I mean, to give you another clue around from this. This feels like, this feels like, who did the old light experiments? Newton did some. Okay. All right. You get it there. You get it there. Oh, is it Newton? Is Medhi right? Yeah, it is Newton. But what is he doing? What is he trying to discover?

Oh, God, I'm blanking. What were Newton's experiments, Medhi? I'm blanking. Well, I can remember the, you know, the rainbow experiment he did with cutting a slit into a... Yeah. Oh, and he's wondering if... So once you have one thing coming into the prism, it's going to split that light. But adding a second slit or a third slit isn't going to create another rainbow, or is it?

But to have a proper rainbow, the slit has to be pretty tight. This one... Does it have anything to do with the rainbow experiment or not? So it's Isaac Newton discovering how refraction of light works. So you guys pretty much, yeah, already had it. That's basically what I said, totally. Yeah, exactly.

Isn't that the first thing I said, pretty much? Like the light scatters from the edges. Yeah, we'll take that. I mean, I win. Mehdi gets one. So Newton abandoned London after the Great Plague and returned to Cambridge, where he experimented with light and colour.

Putting small holes in his window blind during the daytime provided a beam of light. He put a prism in front of it and it turned into an oblong shaped rainbow of colors. So Medea had the rainbow set up there as well. Adding more holes to the blind simply extended the length of the oblong. So you guys were really good and you got Newton there newton there as well so well done i i'll give uh 80 of that to medley thank you it wasn't a riddle it wasn't a riddle it was an actual man so yeah good good work good work team which brings us to the last question the one i asked

the audience right at the start what movie did did James Cameron successfully pitch by drawing the letter S and then two lines? Anyone want to take a shot at that before I give the answer? Terminator. I don't know, just... I mean, name some Cameron movies, someone will get it. S and two line is a dollar sign, no? Yes, it is. Oh. Well, that ruins mine. So the dollar sign no yes it is oh so well that ruins mine so the dollar size and tool

well he got the dollar sign eventually he drew the s first starts with an s oh is it like uh i the oceans 11 or something oceans 11's Eleven was Soderbergh. Sorry. Yeah. How the hell do I know that? I'm no good at movie trivia. I'm trying to think of more James Cameron movies. Obviously, we know the big ones.

Titanic. Terminator. That made a lot of money. Titanic? Did he say... You've missed a big, obvious James Cameron movie. That I still think starts with an S. Nope, doesn't start with an S.

Okay. Might end with one, though. Alien. Nearly. Yes. Aliens. He took the logo for Alien, put the S after it, and then made it into a dot sign,

and that was his pitch for the $118 million grossing Aliens. So thank you very much to all our players. Congratulations on getting through that. Tell us what's going on with you. We'll start with Ali. Where can people find you? What are you doing? You can find me on my own podcast that is fitness and funny.

We're called Total Fit Heads. Do you want to plug the channel as well? Sure, yes. And I also make outrageous artwork and music on my YouTube channel, Ali Spagnola. Saf, what's going on with you? Just a lot of videos around tech. You can find me pretty much anywhere online.

I'm super Saf everywhere. YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. I'm on all of the ones which the cool kids are on. I'm also featuring on a podcast which is discussing more spiritual matters and things, which is called The Muslim Money Guys and Ethical Finance.

And that is, if you just search for The Muslim Money Guys, we've recently interviewed Paul Pogba, the footballer. Khabib, the UFC champion as well, we've interviewed recently. So you can check that out too.

And Bedi. Well, I do create videos around science, mostly electrical and with a ton of failures on my behalf in my videos. And which is on my YouTube channel, ElectroBoom or everywhere else. I'm either ElectroBoom or ElectroBoomGuy because ElectroBoom was taken.

Yeah. Thank you very much, folks. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com where you can also send in your own questions. You can find us at Lateral Cast, pretty much everyone on social media, and at youtube.com slash lateralcast

where there are weekly video highlights. Thank you very much to Saf from SuperSaf TV. Thanks. Thanks for where there are weekly video highlights. Thank you very much to Saf from SuperSaf TV. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Mehdi from ElectroBoom. Yeah, thanks for having me.

It was fun, although I didn't win all the questions, but it was good. And Alice Spagnola. Woohoo! This was awesome. Thanks. I've been Tom Scott

and that's been Lateral.