Lateral with Tom Scott - 191: Half of a mountain

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

Ella Hubber, Caroline Roper and Tom Lum from 'Let's Learn Everything!' face questions about inward injuries, backwards bars and Luneburg lenses. 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://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: Ben, Joel, Madeleine, José Sousa, Jim Fishwick, Kai Sheppard. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whenever Yogi was at home, he wore white. When he travelled, he wore grey. Why? The answer to that, at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. This is a studio. On most days, it contains one host, a microphone, and a manageable amount of confusion. But today is different. That's because the hosts of Let's Learn Everything have entered the building.

At first, the signs may be subtle. a casual mention of chemistry, someone being reminded of a fact and going off on a long tangent. But exposure can escalate quickly. Experts warn that prolonged proximity to professional curiosity may result in spontaneous learning,

unexpected tangents, and the uncontrollable urge to mention fruit flies. If you encounter, members of Let's Learn Everything, don't panic, remain calm. Avoid eye contact. Don't ask follow-up questions unless you've cleared your afternoon. Nevertheless, containment has failed, and here they are now in the studio.

Please welcome the members of Let's Learn Everything! Yes! We'll start with Caroline Roper. How are you doing? You know, I've got to be honest, like, you've come crawling back to us, finally. I'm really surprised that you remember our name, to be honest with you. It has been a while, hasn't it? Yeah. It's been too long.

After all those episodes we've missed, and don't think we didn't know this, Tom Scott, but he didn't include us on some episodes. Tom Lum, who absolutely did not cancel at the last minute because he was ill a while back. How are you doing? Tom, that's not how I remember. I remember it clear as day.

I went to sleep with an 104-degree fever, and then you told me I could never be on the show again. You turned into my dad, flew away, and all my teeth fell out. I remember pretty clearly. It is a joy to have you back, as ever also, you should plug the live show. Yes. All of us?

Good. Well done. Ella Hubbert also from Let's Learn Everything. How are you doing? I'm so good. We are Let's Let's Let's Let Everything and we're doing a live show. Our first one. As you can tell by our confusion of it.

It's going to be part of the cheerful earful, which is how y'all do it. It's going to be in London around October-ish. You can go to Let's Learn Everything.com. slash live to see all the details. There's the plot. Right, professionally done. Absolutely done. Ella, I have to ask how you're doing after a long while away?

Yeah, I'm right. Cool. Good luck today, everybody. Let's broadcast some more public information starting with question one. Thank you to Jim Fishwick for this question. Why are children in Sydney, Australia, taught the sequence. Sheep, toilet, cow, toilet. I'll say that again.

Why are children in Sydney, Australia, taught the sequence sheep, toilet, cow, toilet. Sheep toilet, cow toilet. Maybe if I say in an Australian accent, that would be a sweet word. Yes. Not, not. I mean, that didn't sound bad to me.

What was your key phrase there for cluing in on an Australian accent? No, just the word no. Nye. Yeah. Mine is razor blades. Have you heard, is risalblides? Nice. Nice.

Sheep, sheep, toilet, car, toilet. Sheep toilet, toilet, sheep toilet, toilet. I think if we say it probably 100 times, I think we'll get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's just get this. Just start doing the reps in. That's how lateral thinking works. Sheep, toilet cow toilet.

Okay, so obviously my first thought was, I'm surprised it's not a venomous animal, although that would be my first thought for like a mnemonic for children in Australia was like... I went another way. I went, I'm surprised it doesn't. spell out a swear word. Um, so very different ideas of the Australian. We're running through the Australian stereotypes here. Yeah.

Sheep for children. Okay. Sheep before toilets, you're doing soy. Wait, the kids. Let's go on and continue. Okay. Is it, is it some, it's a mnemonic? Is it a mnemonic?

Yes, it is a mnemonic. Yeah. So like, Roy Gabbiv, Richard of York gave battle in vain, so S-O-S-T-C-T. Ooh. Like, sunscreen, you know, that's a big one there, like they do like slip-slapslap. Mm-hmm. Sunscreen tan? Cannot tan.

I wouldn't go for the first letters there. It's not that sort of mnemonic. It's a mnemonic in the form of memory aid. It has it twice. Wise. Sheep has, sheep have wool, cow have milk. They're both mammals. They are, wow, really just, just having nothing for this is really... Well, you don't have nothing there. You don't have nothing. What does he have? Wool. Would this work in the US, for example?

Wool. It wouldn't work in the US. This is Sydney specific. And Tom, you said wool. I sure did. Is it some way of reminding you to check these places for spiders? or insects or something like that. I'm thinking like, bedding, and then the toilet, and then you check the fridge. It's toilet twice because you really don't want it to be toilet. You got to do.

You go through the stereotypes, but you do have to check for Black Widow spiders and toilets sometimes, I believe, in Australia. Yeah. Not a daft suggestion, just not the right suggestion. Sheep does turn into wool in this mnemonic. That is correct. Okay. Tom, how, how, um, you...

useful is this actually or how silly is this? Can I ask? To people in Sydney, very useful. So, okay, what could the other things be, guys? Well, nice, yeah. Water or flush. Leather? Bowl or... Wool bowl leather bowl. Nailed it.

It's like a tundraister. Wool bowl, leather bowl, level. Is it that? My thought is like, could this something to remember maybe like, a transit line or something like that. Getting closer, Tom. Yep. Okay. Like the locations of cities.

It's definitely geography. You're getting closer and closer with that. So geography within Sydney, like suburbs or something? Or Sydney and neighboring areas? A suburb, actually, yes. Oh. Oh? Is it one like Woolwich or something?

Now we're getting close, Ella. Yes. Oh, what did you say, Ella? Woolwich. Why would you need a pneumonia? for something like that. And also that means there's two suburbs in there that are the state, or there's one that's in there twice for some reason.

Or is it they, that's supposed to represent different ones? Have a think what other words might work for toilet? Lou. Lou. Bog. Oh, Lou. Yeah. Lewisham.

I'm just, I'm saying places in London, hoping that that's a suburb in Sydney. Honestly, you're pretty close here already. I'm tempted to give it to you. You haven't said these out loud yet. Wooloo-mooloo. What was that, Caroline? Woolo-mooloo.

Woolamoloo. How has anyone heard of the Sydney suburb of Woola-Muloo? No. And yet, Caroline, you said it anyway. This is how you spell and say Wulamaloo, which is a suburb of Sydney. It may come from the Aboriginal place name for a place of plenty, possibly young black kangaroo, no one's sure.

This is from question writer Jim who says that he can can attest to this as someone who grew up in Sydney. The place is called Woola-Maloo, two ELs in the first bit, one L in the last bit. So it is actually the words, wool, loo, moo, loo. And the mnemonic for that is sheep, toilet, cow, toilet. Right. I see why that's so helpful for kids who are like learning to spell and stuff like that.

Yeah, for spelling, spelling makes perfect. Yeah, well, let's say, in the US we have Connect, I-Cut, for Connecticut. Nice. And I love also, for Mississippi, all we learned is that how to spell is M-I-S-S-I-S-I-P-P-I. And it's like, that's not a mnemonic. That's just, you had fun, how difficult it was. Oh, I heard M-I-S-I-D-S-I-WP-I, which has more of a cadence to it.

Oh, that's lovely. A little gallop. And in the UK, they're just like, it's Worcestershire. Good luck. Yeah, good luck. Worley! Worley! Caroline, we'll have your question, please.

This question has been sent in by Madeleine. In 2002, over a period of a month, Chris spent hours listening to the same song played backwards. Why? One more time. In 2002, over a period of a month, Chris spent hours listening to the same song played backwards. Why?

Sorry, folks, I've worked this one out, possibly, because I'm old enough to remember some specific things from 2002. Good luck to the Gen Zias. I believe that you probably do know it as well. Well, Caroline, as I've said multiple times, Caroline is the only Gen Zia here. Oh, apologies. Hi.

Apologies to the younger millennials. Thank you. Not that I want to be labeled thusly, but there you go. 2002, I don't have many memories from 2002. I was seven. Congrats. Thank you. Music, 2002.

I was just sort of like, they could have just, just had nothing else to do in 2002. I remember watching episodes of SpongeBob backwards just because I thought it was fun. I mean, the internet existed. Yeah, yeah. But it existed to upload episodes of SpongeBob backwards for me to watch. I assume the song is important, Caroline. Yeah. Okay, I'm just going to list every song I know from 2002.

Let's do it. Perfect. Great. I think there's a, I assume there's some kind of message. And we talked about backmasking on an episode of the show. I'm surprised. I don't know it then, actually. Huh?

I didn't come across in my research. There's a reason why it didn't come up in your research. Okay. Because it doesn't actually say anything. Was it like, you know, there was a rumor going around that, you know, if you play this song backwards, it heals you or something? Is it? Part of me wonders if it, because I feel like this is also the era of like weird contests.

And so part of me is wondering like, is there a, oh, hold on, never mind, I found it out. I know it also. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh! Oh, the penny dropped, didn't it? Just guessing at numbers and figures and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden the penny drops. I need Ella to, I feel like Ella could. I feel like I could and I need somebody else to do this.

I don't like doing this. Nobody said it was easy, but we're okay. We're okay. You can do this. Science in progress, like really. I was just like, oh, yeah. Okay, Tom, I was trying to be subtle by dropping the lyrics in. Yours was less subtle than mine.

Really? You think so? Quit. That's a cold play song? It is, yes. I guess it is. Oh, I guess it is. The scientist? Is it called the scientists? It is. It is.

It's called the scientists. Yeah. So why might somebody be, why might somebody be, why might somebody be? named Chris be listening to this song backwards over and over again. I didn't realize there was a with the Chris also. It's Chris Martin of the Leasy of Coldplay. But why would he be listening to it backwards? I don't know. What do you think? I have no idea. What would he be doing? I'm not going to drop more lyrics in. I was really tempted to. I'm not going to. Actually, there is a lyric that would be helpful here. Nobody said. I'm going to have to sit and sit the whole. I'm going to have to sit here

and sing the whole song. Let's go back to the start. Oh. Oh, cool. And let's go to the start. Wait, I don't, I don't, it's not like he had to manually rewind it on a tape to listen to it again, so he heard it backwards a lot, surely.

He, I believe he did have to learn it backwards. Mm-hmm. He did have to learn it backwards. Oh, the video is recorded in backwards. Yeah. I think I've seen the video once. Yeah, I had never seen the video. before answering this question.

Knew the song, of course. But yeah, so as we've all said, Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, had to memorize the song in 2002 so that he could perform it backwards for the music video. It was also, he had to do it backwards and in double speed

so that the video could be slowed down as well. So I do not envy Chris Martin for having to do that one. Does it look good, the video? Is it convincing? Yeah, it does look good. Yeah, it's pretty good actually. I hope there's a tape out there, somewhere of the original kite forward motion.

We're going in the ass, Neil Glau. Kai Shepherd sent in this next question. Thank you very much, Kai. In 2011, Japan's Mount Hiori lost more than half its height. When it was re-measured, locals were delighted. Why? I'll say that again. In 2011, Japan's Mount Hiori lost more than half its height.

When it was re-measured, locals were delighted. Why? It lost half its height and then was re-relivenged. remissioned and gained more height or was just lost half of its height upon remeuring? That's a great question. The sequence of events is as in the question. It lost half its height and then when it was re-measured, locals were delighted. Okay, so it gained its height back perhaps?

Well, we don't know that. Maybe it got even more. Yeah, my thought was that when it lost half its height, that's because it was measured properly for the first time maybe, and they realized, oh, this isn't as tall as we... actually thought it was. Somebody's been exaggerating about this the whole time. There's like a record that they were holding,

that they lost when it lost half of its height. Record, correct. Rest of it, not so much. A record that they gained when they lost half of its height? Yeah. Which is why people were celebrating. Yes. Did it go from like the tallest hill to the smallest mountain? Oh.

Oh. Yeah, kind of. You've got the second half of it. Oh. Yep. It's the smallest mountain? It is the smallest mountain in Japan. It is officially now... Oh!

There's still a few elements of this you haven't quite got. How did it lose half of its height? If you have a mountain, like within city borders, you get special privileges of a city in Japan. Was the other mountain that was in contention deemed no longer a mountain or something like that? Nothing changed with the other man. Did something happen to the mountain in 2011-ish or any volcanic activity or... Yeah, it erupted?

Along those lines. An earthquake? An earthquake, Tom. Yes. In 2011 there was an earthquake and Japan's Mount Hiori lost more than half its height. So when it was remeasured, why were the locals delighted? Because now it broke the record for the shortest mountain in Japan. It was once again Japan's lowest mountain.

Once again. No way. It was already. That's so good. Mount Hiori is a tiny hill in Sendai that is officially recognized as a mountain by Japan's mapping authority. How tall do you think we're thinking here? If it lost half, it can't be too much. I don't have a good sense of scale for mountains.

10 metres, 100 metres. Originally six metres, about 20 feet. No, okay, come on, mountain. It lost that status in 1996 to a slightly lower mountain, and then the 2011-to-Hoku earthquake caused subsidence in the area. It reduced the height to three metres, and it was, once again, Japan's smallest mountain. Okay, well, what classifies it as a mountain to make it...

The geospatial information authority of Japan. Oh, okay. Isn't it originally most known for being a molehill at first and then they turned it into this? Wow. Hey. This is the only mountain that I'm willing to go climbing. Yeah. Tom, over to you please.

This question has been sent in by Jose Sousa. The sci-fi anime, the melancholy of Heruji Suzumia, did something unexpected with the narrative of their first 14-episode series. How did this lead to an anonymous person? poster on 4chan being credited in a scientific journal. I'll read that again. The sci-fi anime, the melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia, did something unexpected with the narrative of their first 14-episode series. How did this lead to an anonymous poster on 4chan being credited in a scientific journal?

I've got to sit out this one as well. Sorry, folks. What? These are stories I know, I'm sorry. It's a good one. I really like this one. I'll say, I'm going to assuage everyone's fears that this has nothing to do with any of the bad parts of 4chan. It could have been any message board.

I'll say right off the bat. That is helpful. I guess my first thought goes to like the first 14 episodes did some kind of code and then someone on 4chan broke that code. That's not exactly right, but you're thinking definitely in the right headspace. Yeah, what could that have been if not a code? What could have happened in those episodes? Something that was like good enough to, so someone solved something or, it solved the right route here.

They solved something that those episodes did. And then that was credited in a scientific paper. But whatever that is, it has to be significant enough to be a paper. Yeah. Yeah. It involves a little bit more of the creativity of the people watching it had sort of like a what if that was inspired by the show, I would say. But you're on the right track of thinking like, what could a series do that would be weird?

Because it's not a, it's to do with the show how a show can be. I'm so excited with this. I just want to tell you guys, but I can't. You guys will have this. It feels like, because it feels like several stages that we have. have to go through here. I literally had to write down the chain of things that happened. So there's an anime which has 14 episodes and then they do something weird with those 14 episodes. Yeah. And then 4chan message board people figure something out about it and then that leads to a scientific journal.

So what's weird about the 14 episodes? So is it like it appears normal for like the first 10 episodes and then all of of some something changes in it? Or is it weird all the way through, is my first question? That's a... You're on the right track. I'll say it's... And I know, because I, in researching this question, I had one of my good anime friends, info dump about this show for 40 minutes

so I could be properly prepared for this question and not lose cred. So I will say, it's weird from the get-go. It's weird immediately from episode one, famously. Oh, yeah, that's important, actually, isn't it? That is important. Yeah. Oh, is it the colors?

Is there something to do with like, it says, some kind of color theory thing going on? Ooh. No, that's a good guess, though. Is it anything to do with maths? Yes. Oh, I was going to guess psychology. Maths sacks. But, no, no, we like maths now, Caroline. We've done math topics on the show.

I think, I think, the phenomenon that happens, I think, doesn't require math to understand. It just can lead to mathematics as you think about it. Is it like that Simpsons thing where people think that the Simpsons predicted a certain mathematical equation? There were actual unsolved maths problems in the show that were like spread out throughout the narrative and then people figured them out somehow. Like I was just something I've been thinking about, the Riemann hypothesis is, I don't know. No, I think Caroline's more on the money with the sort of like, the episodes are really, weird and how the show progresses, I think, is a good thing. A way to think about, like, what would

be a weird way to air a TV show, I suppose? Something, something strange. That's a good guess, Caroline. You're warmer with that. You're really warm. Oh, it's out of order. It's like in different sequences and they've figured out the sequence of the show. on 4chan. Is that right? Or they're trying to. Like maybe, I don't know if it's like, maybe scenes, individual scenes are out of order.

I can't, unless it's like second. No, Ella, you are exactly right. It's just full episodes. The full episodes are out of order. And then does it tell a different story if you put it together in a different sequence? Or is it trying to tell one story and the writers are trying to tell one story

and you have to figure out the right order? That doesn't seem like 14 episodes that seem that hard to, you know, mathematically. It shouldn't figure out. So I feel like that's... Well, I mean, sorry. Let me confirm what is correct. Because you guys are getting...

You might even get the math part right. So, yes, the episodes are aired purposefully out of order. This is divisive. Some people are like, wow, it's so cool because it makes you like rethink and you have to figure out the puzzle. All the people are like, just watch it in chronological order.

Like, there's a main condition of people that are like, because the source material that it's based on, is not out of order. They just decided to do this. Some people think they did it because they were like, oh, we'll spice it up, just scramble the order. Anyway, but there are debates about, what were you saying, Ella, about sort of like the...

The order that is supposed... Is there a debate about the order it's supposed to go in? Yes, I'll say there's... Is the maths part like they've calculated the number of how many possible... ways the show could be in order. Oh! The episodes could be in order.

You are exactly right. This is known... Wait, but how does that then lead to a scientific journal? Well, if you turn this from a nerd anime discussion to instead a discussion on super permutations, then it suddenly is. So, basically, what started to happen is people were like, you should just watch it in chronological order. Some people were like, no, you should watch it in the airing order.

airing order. Some people said, start with this one and then watching chronological order, which led to the sort of what if question, how many different ways are there to watch it? And specifically, how long would it take to watch every permutation, which is what a super permutation is, is a list of all the permutations. And more than that, I'm going to chime in here. It's the shortest possible way to watch all. all possible orders. So that doesn't mean like you watch one, two, three, then one, three, two. It is the shortest possible string that contains all the orders, even if those orders overlap.

Oh. So, for example, if you want to watch it fourth and back, you go one, three, five, six, and nine, thirteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, twelve, because it, it overlaps. And so you can have a technically shorter runtime. The shortest current low rebound is... 93,884,3,814,611 episodes, or roughly 4.3 million years to watch. And that's just the lower bound. They don't know what it could actually be.

They just know it's somewhere around there. And if there's anyone who can do it, it's the good people on poor chan. I remember the story as someone just posting that as a question and some discussion happening. And then some mathematician coming along going, hold on. As someone, I'm pretty sure that someone discovered some new maths in this thread and hasn't realized it. Wow. Yeah, they basically, in classic, honestly, this happens all the time in math history. Someone basically was like, here's the answer, and they posted a formula.

And then years later, they looked back, like mathematicians looked back and they're like, wait, they're right, wait. But again, it's like an anonymous post with no workshop. They're like, wait, what? How did you? And then turned it into a paper and credited this anonymous person. Thank you to an anonymous listener for this next. question. Fighter jets, such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35, are sometimes fitted with a Loonberg lens, a device that objectively makes the Jets' performance worse. Why is it used?

I'll say that again. Fighter Jets, such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35, are sometimes fitted with a Loonberg lens, a device that objectively makes the Jets' performance worse. Why is it used? I've got to set this one back. Do you know this one? Because I've seen Naruto. Oh, wow. Okay. And so I know the famous fight with Rockley and Garra, he takes the weights off and he's suddenly very fast.

And that's obviously... Sorry, I mean, we can trash this question. I don't have to... They put the weights on to make... to slow down the planes and then it makes them faster afterwards because they've been training. Are you doing a bit? Are you doing a bit, Tom? I feel like this is a bit.

It's a bit. Yes, yes. Yes, this is a bit. It's a bit. It's a bit when you have to explain at the end to everyone that is a bit. And I've always said that. I've always said that. My question is, is it something that, even if it impacts the...

How good the plane is, is really important from like a safety perspective of like the pilots or something like that. So it's an essential tool even if it is making the plane worse. Yeah, in a way, it does help safety. Ah, okay. I suppose we need to understand what the lens... The purpose. Well, yeah, that's the whole point of the question. What am I saying?

saying. That's how the show works. Yep. I suppose we have to answer the question. Right, but I guess to answer, we'd have to think like sideways in a way. A lens suggests to me that it's focusing something light. Is it actually a lens or has it just been called a lens for funzies? Is it for photographing or like viewing?

Is it a lensing effect? It is a lens. It is an actual lens. And I think you're right to think about light and things like that. Okay. My first thought was the bad Naruto bit I had to explain. My second thought was, Luna, maybe think like a bird. And so this is to avoid birds in the sky. And that is worth slowing down.

It reflects ultraviolet light. So the birds are informed of the planes. Wow. That was so many facial expressions, Tom. I know. I know, because you got some key words there. Reflect. Mm-hmm.

Ultraviolet. Bird. And inform. And bird? Not bird. Wow, okay, so it has to do with birds. Oh, great. It reflects a type of light from the plane.

Like, you put it on and it reflects light from the plane. Oh, what if it reflects, like, radar and stuff? it can't be detected. Tom, you're right, this is designed to reflect radar. But that's not the reason. Have a think about how radar works and what a plane might want to do or be designed to do. Well, you don't want to be reflecting radar

because then the signal is going back. It wouldn't, reflecting radar wouldn't make it invisible. It would make it more visible. Oh my God, you're so right, yes. Yeah. So this is when they need to use the plane but they want it to be seen. Yes.

Like a decoy plane? A decoy. That's a good question. This is the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning 2. They are designed to have an extremely small radar cross-section. Why might you attach a Lundberg lens to reflect radar better? So you can tell people you're flying above like, hey, I know we're called the like lightning bolt killer plane, but we're just casting by, like, please don't.

Yeah, basically. It's so air traffic control can track them. It's so friendly forces can monitor them. And it prevents other countries from measuring the jet's true stealth capability. Spot on. Much like Rock Lee in the tuning exams in Naruto. Great. Ella, your question, please.

This question has been sent in by Joel. Why are the UK's Royal Navy Submariners more likely to get head injuries when sailing away from home than on the way back. I'll say that again. Why are the UK's Royal Navy Submariners more likely to get head injuries when sailing away from home than on the way back?

Good news, I don't know this one. Yay! Eventually you've got to run out of questions that you don't know on the show, I would imagine. I wouldn't be surprised if you were on a... You're like, well, I've been on a submarine leaving, but I haven't been on a submarine retirement. I've never been on a submarine.

Really? Not an actual working one, you know, the museum one in Dry Dock, maybe, but no. And the ride at Disneyland that isn't technically a submarine. Would you like to go on a submarine, Tom? Depends on the submarine. If it's Ocean Gate, no. I did actually think about that.

Like, I was never offered to go on a video Ocean Gate or anything like that, but, like, if I'd have been offered that, Would I have taken it? You definitely. You wouldn't not be offered that. Right. And like, if I'd have been offered that and gone out there and gone, yeah, we're going to go down,

like, would I have been, not brave enough to do it, but brave enough to look at what was going on there, and smart enough to look at what was going on there, and say no at the point when I'm already there? When you saw the video, if you saw the video controller, would you have to, like, I'm not doing that. I feel like I've done sketchier things than that, and I do wonder if I'd have learned it. Like, the wherewithal and the bravery to turn someone down at that point, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I'm guessing it's not because a submarine got crushed. No, it's nothing to do with crushing.

My first thought was, like, some kind of Doppler effect with radar, where it's like when you're leaving the sound waves are not going to bounce against the shore and hit you, and make you dizzy, but part of me thinks it might be dumber and it's like you hit your head on something. Okay, but if you hit your head on something, that might be because you get shorter during the voyage. I'm missing this is astronauts, not submariners,

so it's kind of the opposite. Wow. But no, astronauts get taller during their voyage because no gravity. So I'm wondering if there's something that makes submariners shorter and thus they're less likely to hit their heads. I do really like the idea of just it takes time for them to get used to being on a submarine

and therefore they're just going to bump their head a little bit when they first start off. But is it, it's on the return you said, Ella, right? Yes, yes, it's on the return. I can confirm that the, I mean, I don't know if your physicality changes if you spend time on a submarine, but it's not that. Okay. I'm like, does something in the orientation change when, oh my God, it does. Wait, do submarines go, I assume they don't, like, they have a forward? Do they have a front and then they turn around or do they like return backwards?

I think they have a forward. Okay, okay. Submarines definitely have a fore and aft. There is a big old propeller at the back. Yeah, that's sure that makes sense. Actually, it goes out upside down so they're already... Well, does... the propeller rotate them ever so slightly clockwise in a way that...

Wow. Turning and coming back. Is this a clever thing or very silly, Ella? It's quite... I mean, I would say it's quite silly in its way. It's important. It's vital for the ship. And it's, well, rather the submariners.

Uh-huh. But it's not like some, you know, very clever seafaring thing that's happening. Yeah. Do they have less food and stuff on board, so it's lighter? I'm not saying anything. If they have less stuff on board, like, there's not much room on a submarine, Tom. Yeah. Yeah.

Elaborate. Okay, so if there's less stuff physically just like everywhere, there's less stuff for you to, like, accidentally walk into and things like that. Is that sort of what it is? Kind of. You're almost there. What are you thinking, Tom? I was thinking like perishable supplies,

like anything that's stored that gets used up over time and eventually it's like crushed and compacted down and put in the waste. Like there's just less stuff hanging up in the storage compartments I've had so they get closed up. So not hanging up.

You're right that there is less food and perishables and stuff and that leads to they're not hitting their head anymore, but why? They consume banana peels and then they slip on them as a result of their

So wait, so sorry. They hit their head less on the way going back. They hit their head less on the way back. Oh, okay, okay. Where would they be storing things? Where would they be storing things? Dress can. The closets?

Like storage closets? There isn't very much space on a submarine, right? The spare bedroom. So you've got to use whatever space you have available. This is it. When you asked that, I was like, it's got to be everywhere. Including like above your head, like in corridors and things like that? Corridors, yes.

In corridors. So they're putting stuff above them in the corridors and then as they use the stuff up there's less stuff above them in the corridors I mean you're basically there but flip it below deck? Yeah, below the corridors they put it below the corridors

the food is stored under the corridor and as it's eaten the floor lowers Wow! Wow! That makes so much more sense actually Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I gave it to you. You were basically there. So UK submarines are nuclear-powered,

so that means they spend a lot of time out at sea. And so you need to store a lot of food. There is not a lot of space. And so they have removable corridor panels that they put food under, and it raises them slightly. And so as they eat, they get rid of the food,

the stores kind of disappear and the corridor goes back to the normal level. and they don't hit their head as much. That's wild. We have unlocked the shiny bonus question. So, we seem to do that a lot with you three. It's almost like you're very quick at solving things. Thank you to an anonymous listener for this question.

A woman with a mild wheeze suddenly developed severe chest pain and had to be hospitalized, all because of a piece of plastic about two inches, five centimetres, wide. How did that happen? I'll say it one more time. A woman with a mild wheeze suddenly developed severe chest pain and had to be hospitalized, all because of a piece of plastic, about two inches, five centimeters wide.

How did that happen? Did she inhale the cap on her inhaler by mistake? Not quite. Okay, let's speed on this one as well. I thought you were just gonna give us, just like, miscellaneous medical prognoses that need answers, It's outsourcing the problem solving to us. It does sound a bit like a chubby emu video, doesn't it?

Yeah, yeah. You're just giving us someone's prognosis, and you're like, so what's your diagnosis? Should we give them? What do we think? Tunnel. She has asthma. That's the wheeze.

Yes, that is the wheeze. Nice. And the plastic is not the cap of the inhaler. Yeah, very good color. No, because it'd be very difficult to inhale that, wouldn't it? I mean, you'd be doing really well. You forget to take it off. Yeah.

Oh, you see, in my head, the woman's like, drunk, I don't know, and just puts like the whole thing in her mouth and then breathes in and then it's just like, what? This is crazy. So, yeah, maybe that's not the way to go. Five, I'm trying to picture two inches, five centimetres. This is about the size of my nose, maybe, perhaps. The piece of plastic is the lid of the inhaler, though. That was the cause of it.

Oh! She's not inhaling it. She's doing so, so it's causing chest pains. So it is the cap that's wrong. Oh, did like the inhaler like, you know, it pressurised and exploded, it launched the lid off into a chest or something. Oh, good heavens. No, nothing wrong with the device. Fell over, landed fully flat on the floor, inhaler,

pointing up, sticking into the ribs, chest pain. Um... There are more elaborate ways we can imagine harming this woman, if you would like. You've got three Kevin McAllister's here, just waiting to Home Alone someone. I love Home Alone as a verb as well. Sure it is. The piece of plastic, the cap, actually just stayed inside her handbag. Wait, so is the cap off and something got into the opening of the inhaler?

Yes. So talk me through what might have happened here. So she's gone to use her inhaler, but there's something, because the cap was off, something's gotten in there that shouldn't be, what would that be, she's breed something in, but that would cause chest pains. Yep. And then hospitalisation.

Yep. A bug? A bug. A penny. I'm thinking like what's in the bottom of your purse, right? Some gum. Yep. Tampons.

I'm not going to ask you to list all the things that might be in a handbag. I'm going to give you that. But can you let us, though? Maybe. It was an earring. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I believe a tiny little stud earring. Oh, it punctured her lung.

So you've got all the key points. She has kept the inhaler in her bag uncapped. Did it cause it to like depressurize or something or like, yeah, explode? No, she, she, she, she, She then inhaled the inhaler. Yeah. There is one other thing that someone with asthma does to their inhaler. They shake it.

She kicked. Yes. And she shook it, and of course it rattled, because that's what an inhaler is meant to do. That's what they do. Yes, that's what an inhaler is meant to do. This was a medical paper published in 2015. She took her asthma inhaler from a handbag. It had been left uncapped.

An earring had fallen into the mouthpiece and got lodged. She shook the inhaler. it rattled as it should. Oh. And she felt a scratch in her throne. Yeah. Absolutely right. New fear unlocked.

She recovered fully, but if you have an inhaler, that's why you keep the cap on. And if you're in Australia, you have to check the cap for Black Widow spiders also. Yes, yeah. Similar incidents have been reported with coins and makeup pencils

and roll plugs and LED light bulbs. What? I assume that's one of the tiny electronic LEDs and not a big screwing light bulb. Something's blocking this. She's got a whole ass light bulb in your mouth. Wow. So we just have the question from the start of the show.

Thank you to Ben. Whenever Yogi was at home, he wore white. When he traveled, he wore grey. Why? Fashion, baby. I was thinking Yogi's a train and it's nice and clean when it's at the depot, but then it gets all dusty and, like, sooty when it goes out.

Something like that. It is a famous yogiogi, but it's not the bear. Is it Yogi Berra? It is Yogi Berra. I'm not familiar. For those who do not know Yogi Berra? Don't know who this is, yeah. Was he a baseball player or associated with baseball?

I know mostly just from all the quotes and jokes that my dad has told me of him. So I'm worried... Yogi Berra is a very... famous baseball player, and he is the name that Yogi Bear is a pun on. Oh. Yogi Bear was named as a joke around Yogi Berra, who was incredibly famous at the time. Is it just his home and away kits, the baseball of his team? That is the what, but not the why.

Now, so Yogi Bear is famous for coining phrases, like, what, it ain't over until it's over, and, like, lots of funny idioms, I think. So I don't know if this is going to be a bad pun. that my dad will then learn and plague me for years from this podcast, or if this is going to be something else. This isn't specifically yogi. It is a tradition in baseball that continues to this day. Home is white, away is gray.

Oh, I see, okay. So that's the what? We don't have the why. Easier to see. It's brighter, possibly. Cleaner or less clean. When you slide and stuff, you'll get more dirty if it's white. This is a tradition from the late 19th century,

so why might they have chosen gray for a way? Is it the travel side of things again? Oh, so you don't have to wash them as much? Because they stay less. So you don't have to wash them as much, and the dirt doesn't show. Spot on, that is why. To this day, the tradition in baseball is home is white and away is gray.

Thank you very much to the players from Let's Learn Everything. Tom, tell us about the live show first. We are going to figure out what it is. It's our first time doing a live show, but it's going to be silly. It's going to be Let's Learn Everything live. Ella, what is Let's Learn Everything? Let's Learn Everything is a podcast where we talk about anything and everything interesting. And Caroline, where can people find out about the show or get their tickets.

So if you head over to let's learn everything.com, you can find information to anything where you get your ticket. it's from, the link to our Discord server, our socials, all of the good stuff at Let's Learn Everything.com. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at Lateralcast.com. We can also send in your own ideas for questions or join the Lateral Producers Club. We are at Lateralcast, basically everywhere, and there are full video episodes every week on Spotify. Thank you very much to Caroline Roper.

Woo! Ella Hubba! Woo! Tom Lum! Woo! I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Latterline. control.