Lateral with Tom Scott - 195: Dumped pizza

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

Annie Rauwerda, Jen the Archaeologist and Emily Graslie face questions about emergent emoji, fiddly film and competitive careers. 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: Van Thompson, Andrew, Z. Vamosy, Robyn, Dave Byrne, Tain Prefect, Chelsea J., CJ Mina. 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

How did a sea creature called the Geography Cone get the nickname The Cigrette Snail? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. Today's episode of Lateral is like a stunning home for the mind. This intellectual property features open-plan thinking, original features, and several structural weaknesses in basic logic. It also boasts spacious guest opinions, an owner who insists everything has great potential,

and a question room that needs some serious renovation. although the corridors are highly appropriate as they are full of dead ends. Let's meet the brave buyers who've agreed to take on this mental fixer-upper returning to the show from The Brain Scoop, Emily Grassley. Hi, it's me. That's me. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be back. Ha! Let's do it. It was so excited to have you back. How is everything going with with the Brain Scoop? It's been a while. We should talk about what the Brain Scoop is.

I have a YouTube channel that's the behind-the-scenes research and science of natural history museums. But also I've been branching out to other science facilities, national parks, that kind of thing. Science and nerdery, interviews, shenanigans, and more. What is the best thing you have seen for that recently? My favorite fish fact. My favorite fact in the world has to do with fish. So there are around 68,000 species of vertebrate animals. in the world, which is only 5% of all animal life because there's like 300,000 species of beetles.

Anyway, half of all vertebrates are fish. There's like 34,000 species of fish. Half of all fish live in fresh water. So that's like 15 to 18,000 species. But as you know, the planet is 97% salt water. So it's only less than 1% of all available freshwater environments in the world. how is half of all fish species. That is a good fish fact.

I appreciate your fish fact. It's been on my mind. So that's what I've been thinking about. I also, unfortunately, now have to just throw out a question from later. So just put that one away. Sorry. Good luck with the other questions on the show today. Also joining us from the depths of Wikipedia.

Welcome back, Annie Roeder. I've emerged. I'm here. I'm so happy to be back. I'm going to ask the same question that I always do, which is like favorite Wikipedia thing you've found recently? Once again, it's like choosing your favorite child. They're all my favorites. But I don't have a particular item on this list that is my favorite to tell you,

but just the whole list of circus disasters is incredible. Wow. You seem like a guy that would know probably most of them, but I imagine there might even be some new ones for you. The greatest compliment and insult in the same sentence. And I can't be mad. That was not an insult? I can't be mad because you're right.

I probably do. Well, joining the two of you today is a brand new player to Lateral. Jen the archaeologist, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for having me. This is your first time here, so you should absolutely plug the YouTube channel, plug everything you do. You are Jen the archaeologist. What do you do?

I post on both TikTok and YouTube, primarily on TikTok. I do short-form content mainly because I am getting a PhD, so I don't really have time for long-form content. content at the moment. But yeah, I post daily. If you like archaeology or history, come check me out. Good luck to all three of you on the show today. It's time to step inside and imagine the possibilities with question one. Thank you to Dave Byrne for this question. As a young boy, Leonard was told to keep his eyes closed during a religious ceremony, but he peaked. How did this lead to the creation of an emoji? One more time. As a young boy, Leonard was told to keep his eyes closed

told to keep his eyes closed during a religious ceremony. But he peaked. How did this lead to the creation of an emoji? I don't know. I just think of, like, I think of winking. I don't know what that has anything to do with an emoji. Like, yeah. Yeah, like peeking through fingers maybe or...

See, that feels too obvious for a letter. Is Leonard important? Yeah. Jen, it's not that, but that's starting to move along the right lines. The idea of Leonard being important? The idea of looking through your fingers. Leonard doesn't matter. Nobody cares about that guy.

Oh, Leonard absolutely matters. Okay, I was just kind of joking. Everyone matters, by the way. Is it Leonard Nimoy and is it this? Yes, it is. Yes, Jen. Do you want to describe what that is for the audience at home? So for Star Trek fans, it is the Live Long and Prosper sign.

Yes, that is... So what is the... What is the connection between that in emojis and Leonard Nimoy? There is an emoji that is this. There is a Vulcan Hand Salute emoji. It probably doesn't have that exact title. They probably have something very clinical to describe it. But yes, the index and middle finger together and the ring and little finger together.

That is the Vulcan Salute. And you're right, the Leonard in this question is Leonard Nimoy. Let's try and track a little bit more of the process here. where might he have found that gesture? And this is during a church service. It's during a religious ceremony. Oh, because I was thinking like, this is the church, this is the steeple,

but that's completely different hand simple. All right. And then praying is another emoji, or is it clapping? That's the question. I don't know of any religious ceremonies that have this, except for Star Trek ones.

Like, if he's holding his hand, in front of his face for some reason, if he did that, he would then be able to see through them. But I don't know what ceremony would involve holding your hands in front of your face. I'm not going to ask for deep religious knowledge here, but I'm going to ask, there's maybe one more connection. You have all said church, not technically the right term. Temple? I'm just going to name terms. Mosque. Facility. Ooh, Tom, it better be a facility.

Just facility. I'm not quite sure that's right. Funeral home? Church is close, but you've all been in the Christian tradition so far. Oh, was Leonard Nimoy Jewish? Yes. And when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue. Okay. I'm not going to ask for the details and ceremony here, because first, no one here's going to know it. And second, traditionally, worshippers close their eyes, while there is a sacred hand gesture

symbolizing a Hebrew letter, representing the Almighty. Young Leonard disobeyed and looked. And years later, while filming Star Trek, he felt that his character needed a uniquely Vulcan gesture, and he drew from that childhood memory and introduced the Vulcan salute. Which, like you said, is now an emoji.

So this is supposed to be a secret? The secret did get revealed at some point, yes. Each of our guests brought a question along with them. We will start with Emily. So this question was sent in by Robin. Robin often learns music backwards. No one around her thinks this is particularly strange or noteworthy. Why?

So, once again, Robin often learns music backwards. No one around her thinks this is particularly strange or noteworthy. Why? Robin has a bunch of awesome hippie friends that don't mind if you live to the beat of your own drum. I mean, that might be true, but I don't think that has anything to do with the answer to this question. Okay.

Is Robin a bird? Is Robin a literal Robin? That is, no, but that's a really fascinating conclusion. Robin is left-handed, so she has to learn the music backwards on the strings of the guitar, and no one else notices unless they're also left-handed? That's somewhat

The ambidextrousness has something to do with the answer Because I assumed when you said it was going to be like backwards temporarily as opposed to physically They're related in a way So they're not playing the recording of her performance in reverse They're not doing that Okay, it's physically backwards

Drums? I mean that would have a matter of which direction Well, that's you're similar. Okay, I'm hearing percussion. I'm hearing percussion. The triangle. She plays the triangle. No, I mean, she might, but not in this instance.

We don't know what else Robin does with her time. The xylophone or something like that. Yeah, bingo. Exactly. Okay. Is there two people? So it's like one that's, is it one that it's like so complicated that you need two people? so one person playing on one side of the cellophone

and one person on the other? I know that those exist, so that could be like a second answer to this, but I think you have hit it where there are people on opposite sides of the instrument. But why? If it's not to like combine into a single piece. That has to completely mess up everything about learning it.

Like having the high notes on the left. If you're learning it. Well, just switching over. It's like those backwards bikes where the handlebars suddenly go the wrong way. If you've got it locked in on one side, it's going to be really difficult to learn it the other way. But what if you don't have it locked in on one side?

What if it's a spinning xylophone? You switch every time. You were getting so close, and then it kind of went that way. On which axis, Annie? I can picture what you're talking about. It's like if you had somebody in the middle of it and it was like spinning and it had like this scale.

And then you could be like playing. It's like Rob Swanson and the, or Ron Swanson in the, that scene in the office where people come in and he's in a circular desk. Anyway. Wait, Ron Swanson parks and wreck, but that was very, um, actually of me. I,

okay, so what I was imagining was, um, what's her name? Robin is standing. She's standing by herself, but the xylophone is kind of like on a, it's like a lazy Susan zylophone.

And so some, Sometimes when it's backwards, she plays backwards. Sometimes when it's forward, she plays forwards. Does this make sense? It's not something that I think should exist for any reason, but that's what I had in my head. I'm following you, but no, that's not the answer. Like, I see what you're saying. When you said spinning, my axis was that it's actually rotating kind of in front of her like it's on a giant wheel.

And kind of spinning around, like on a steering wheel kind of axis. Also, also probably not. The instrument itself remains stationary. So it's basically reversed, right? Like high notes are on the left, low notes are on the right. And it is a xylophone, to be clear, or something like that. Yes. Or that kind of percussion instrument, right?

But why would she be standing on one side of it facing the correct side? Does she have some sort of physical difference or disability that is involved? Other than being left-handed. Well, maybe she's teaching it. Okay. Because, because, because, because, I said high notes on the left and low notes on the right, and then my brain filled in from her perspective.

Yes. I was going to say you could just flip the camera, but that doesn't work either. You have to be on the other side for that to make sense, don't you? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So to teach a percussion instrument oftentimes, rather than standing side by side,

she as the teacher will stand opposite of the student. And so she has had to learn how to play backwards. But it's just a standard thing that once you're at the level of percussion playing, it's like par for the course. Most of those musicians can learn it back way and front ways. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah.

Good for Robin. Robin. Robin, come on the show. Yeah. Thank you to Tain Prefect for this next question. The BFI South Bank in London is the only cinema in the UK that is allowed to show a certain kind of historic film. Why? I'll say that again.

The BFI South Bank in London is the only cinema in the UK that is allowed to show a certain kind of historic film. Why? Is it because they're the only one who has the technology, like the player? Like if it's a really old... It's like a VHS, something ancient. But like way, like way back. I'm talking about like, you know, when they actually had to cut the film together in the booth

because it was still on film reels. So is it on like a special? Or maybe is it... What about like talkies? I don't know. Yeah, like remember when silent films, they would have the organist guy or woman maybe. I don't know.

I never went to one. Also, I was just so you know, I was just kind of joking. about the VHS is because I did those as a kid so it's not that old. I am sure there's a hipster cinema somewhere in New York that is still playing with a live organist. There probably is, you're right.

I live in the greatest city in the world and I haven't even explored it. Some old film types are dangerous and flammable and I know this because oh shoot, Paul Thomas Anderson, he just had that new movie. It was a really long run time. Everyone loved it and it's called shoot, I forgot the name of it.

There was that recent Paul Thomas Anderson movie where they had a few showings that used a really old historic movie technology and multiple cinemas had a problem where it caught on fire. We are rattling through the questions today, aren't we? Absolutely right, Annie. Okay, wow.

It's bad, I don't remember the name of the Paul Thomas Anderson movie because it just came out. It was a big one. Emily, you were spot on with historic technology and trying to identify this was not. This was not a genre of film, which was, I think, where the question was hoping to mislead you. It was, in fact, about technology. And, Annie, you got the technology.

Cellulose nitrate film stock is extremely flammable and dangerous. It requires specialist licensing and equipment and training in the UK. And the British Film Institute is the only place that has all the permits required. That's cool. I'm going to go there. That's a cool fact. Yeah, watching a film with the added threat of... of mortal peril would really heighten this cinematic experience for me.

Well, and now I'm so curious about why in the U.S., it seems like anyone who wants can just play it, and cinemas are burning. How is there no regulation there? Different laws. There's a lot of stuff that the U.S. takes a lot less seriously than the rest of the world. God bless America. Salilose nitrate is 15 times more combustible than the equivalent weight of wood. So as fuel goes, it is ideal. So pack that

if you're going to, you know, be stranded somewhere. Just bring a bunch of cellulose film as a fire starter. Yeah, perfect. Next time I feel like my plane's going to go down. Yeah, you're like, where can I get some historic film? Like, yeah, I got to source that

ASAP. I'm going camping. Instead of dry or light, just old film. That's actually a good question, Emily, like sourcing historic film is more difficult than it might otherwise be. Because it's all caught on fire? Because it's all caught on fire, yes. There have been several cinema fires and warehouse fires over the years. A lot of historic film has gone up in flames.

Wow. When I worked at a museum, we had a photo archive, and I know that there was like really special handling. Like, they didn't even want to show you some of the film. It's like you would look at it the wrong way. and like ignite it for, I don't know. Yeah, the BFI has a cold store and they have to bring the film up to room temperature over 24 hours to avoid disrupting

any of the stuff that's on there. The margin of error that must have gone through for them to learn all of this special handling. Yes. Jen, we will go to your question, please. Okay, this question has been sent in by Z Vamozy. In 2026, a common method of dating U.S. archaeological sites for the future became five times more expensive. How?

In 2026, a common method of dating U.S. archaeological sites for the future became five times more expensive. How? Like, the only thing that, or the first thing that comes to mind is like some of those isotope sample things that you need to run, processes in a lab sometimes those because of corporate greed they really increase the fees on lab materials but that's not a very like RAM is getting really expensive

is it RAM related for computers is it the same chemical that they use to make RAM I'm gonna sit out of this one because I think while I don't know it I think I've worked it out so I'm gonna leave it to Amy and Emily okay I would focus on the for the future portion of the question.

So we really, and I know that they talk about like how the difference between the proposed Anthropocene and the Hollis, well, they don't really have, they haven't decided exactly, but they're thinking about doing like nukes because that happened kind of recently. What? Like, I don't know, you know how like once like atom bombs have, or once nuclear weapons are used or that it changes a bunch about the fossil record? For like carbon dating or. Yeah.

Types type, like that type of, that's what I was kind of thinking. And if I'm totally off, tell me if I'm off. This is not, I'm not, well, I'm not the archaeologist here. That's probably why the archaeologist got this question. Yeah, probably. How, okay, what would make it more expensive if it's not like lab-related technology? They also have, like, defunded so much stuff in 2026. I know, I'm like, is it, is some?

Could it be like you can't get into the national parks as well anymore? Or like terrorists. Terrorists? Oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that. Like, these are all really sad answers. I don't feel like this is really what they were looking for. I feel like it's more science, like, process-related. I'm pretty sure I've got this.

I'm just amazed that the one Britain here is the person who's figured this one out. This is U.S. archaeological sites, right? Yes. Specifically U.S. archaeological sites. Only the American ones. Okay. I would think more along the lines of excavation and what an archaeologist might do during an excavation.

Is it because they defunded a bunch of scientific research? Well, they did do that, but that's not... We're traumatized. I think that, like, Annie and I can't come up with another reason. Like, anything should be possible. Emily, I think we can do this. I think we can lock in, but maybe not, actually. So when you are done with the site, what might you do? like preserve it? I have no idea.

I'm just imagining like they put a flag and they say like, we, we just excavated this. We found it. Guys, here we did. Here we did. Don't touch it. Stay out. Check mark. What would they do?

To publish? To publish about it is it because it's more expensive to publish in scientific journals? Again, like these are sad answers. I mean, they might be true, but I don't think it's what they're looking for. It's five times more expensive, but still very cheap. If I can pitch in with a clue, Jen, a few years ago, same price rise happened in Canada. What's something that became cool in Canada

and then spread to the US? Justin Bieber, kind of. I mean, it's more that something was discontinued. This is how archaeologists are marking the site, right? Is it chalk? Is it some kind of like, like in Japan, where you guys know about that special chalk that all these mathematicians like hoard

because it was a special formula. It, like, might smoother or something, yeah. Yeah. But it's not bad. Because, like, the parent company was retired. Anyway, no, if it's not that. Hmm. It's not the special Japanese chalk. What could it be?

I don't know. So what information would you want to pass on to future archaeologists about a unit you just excavated? What you found there, who you are, when you were there. Mm-hmm. When you were there. stick with that. Okay, so how would we say when we were there? I would write a note and I would say,

hey, I was here on this day. I'm like, are time capsules? Is the fee of time capsules in the ground? You're so close. Is it because of like precious metals to our... Climate change? Stick with time.

Now we're just kind of kind of saying like cute, like we're just saying buzzwords that get people angry. What's something that has a year written on it? A dollar bill? A penny. Mm-hmm. A penny. A penny.

It's a penny. It's pennies. And what has happened to the penny? It's going away. Because they discontinued it. And they didn't announce any solution for replacing the situation. Yeah. So why would it be five times more expensive if pennies are discontinued?

Because you do it with nickels. Oh. I wasn't I wasn't thinking like that at all Yeah, me either I've never actually done this in an archaeology unit But I have heard of this So when back filling in a unit Typically we put something in the unit

To mark that we have excavated there And some archaeologists will put a coin And the cheapest is of course a penny So that's one you can easily throw away into this unit But since the penny is gone Now people will use the next highest coin Which is a nickel so technically five times more expensive.

Wow. I mean, that may sense. I just didn't know that was a cool thing that archaeologist did. I feel like now I'm part of the cool kid club. I'm so excited. I'm going to be leaving pennies everywhere so that people know. People can know what year I was there. Coins are actually one of the most precise forms of absolute dating that we can do

because we know that if we find a coin with a year on it, we know that that site can't date to before that time. That's pretty cool. Thank you to Chelsea Jay for this question. When Tim was away, a delivery company dumped seven pizzas over his backyard fence, making a racket as they did so. Tim was very thankful for this. Why?

I'll say that again. When Tim was away, a delivery company dumped seven pizzas over his backyard fence, making a racket as they did so. Tim was very thankful for this. Why? I feel like I know the answer to this. All right. So I'm not going to say anything.

Annie and Jen, it's on your house. you. Was he getting robbed? And like he wanted someone to like make noise like someone was there. So we called the delivery man. So I was completely off. I just my only association, when people talk about that many pizzas, I think my very elegant mother just brought us nine pizzas. Just, did you know like the planets? The planets. That's not. That has nothing to do with it. I was just, I was just, in my head, I was like, I'm just going to get the ball rolling. But Jen had a ball that was actually, It seems like it was rolling toward the goal already. If you think you're being robbed

and you could call someone and not the police, I guess, for whatever reason, if you don't trust the police, you might call the pizza man. You are right that the delivery company was the pizza delivery. Okay. Yeah, I was imagining that he had a ring camera or something. I don't have one of those. But I imagine that you can see when you're getting robbed.

He wasn't getting robbed. Okay. But he wanted to make a bunch of noise. Yes, yeah. He didn't have an alarm clock, and he needed to wake up. Were there, like, animals? Like if a dog or an animal was getting into his house or something? I keep thinking vaguely along those lines, Jen. Yes.

Okay. A bear. He wants the bear to get out of his house and eat the pizzas. That are being thrown over the fence into a backyard, I imagine. I feel like I know what this is. That's okay. I want to say it, but I'm not going to say it. That's okay. I think you got this one early, Emily.

Like a raccoon or? Seven pizzas. What might, bearing in mind, Tim's away? Just a bunch of raccoons, seven raccoons. One pizza for each day of the week. Yes. This was over seven days. This was one pizza per day for seven days. And can you make a racket as you throw it over the back fence? He forgot to feed his dog or something like that. Jen, you are very close.

Very, very close. He forgot to feed his goat. I mean, name an animal. Name an animal that you can throw an entire boxed pizza at, and it'll probably be okay. A raccoon, goat? Pig. Pig, yes.

Spot on, Joe. I was going to say raccoon. My thought was, but the fence would be the dumpster, and the pizzas were from the delivery man, and it was the garbage man who, delivered seven pizzas into the dumpster. That was what I was going to say. No, in this case, this was someone online explaining that they were suddenly called away

and couldn't find a pet sitter for their pot-bellied pig. Okay. My very elegant man just served us nine pizzas. Close enough, yeah. The owner placed one order per day for seven days using DoorDash, adding the instruction, and I'm going to quote this directly, please yeat it over the backyard fence, make some noise. He texts back and forth with the drivers,

and by the time that Tim returned, the pizzas and their boxes were gone. And the pig had gained a little weight. What kind of pizza did the pig love? I do not know. But I want, I want, you know. You'd hope not ham. Yes, yes, you would hope not ham.

That's, that's fair. Annie, let's go to your question, please. This question has been sent in by Andrew. When novelist Emily St. John Mandel got divorced in 2022, she found that she couldn't properly move on with her life without the help of Slate. Why? I'll repeat. When novelist Emily St. John Mandel got divorced in 2022,

she found that she couldn't properly move on with her life without the help of Slate. Why? I can't believe I have to say. it out of the second one. Sorry. I saw the news article. Does it have to do with Slate as like a building material? I have a slate roof on my house and it is a pain

in the butt, but I could let that go. If my husband croaked, I probably wouldn't need to take the roof with me. This is a different type of slate. I was going to ask if it was the difference between like Slate the physical rock or

slate like the, isn't there like a news outlet called Slate or something? like that? There's that. Okay. Is it that? This is the news outlet. Okay.

Was her husband an owner and she needed to leave with the intellectual property? No. What is it with me and like the most bureaucratic answers to these questions? Did she write a news article about the divorce or something? Did she write as obituary? He's not dead. Just write as obituary anyway. Oh, did she need to, did she write for an advice comment?

column? Does she write a question for the person who answers when you write in and you're like, dear, whatever? I, my daughter, my adult daughter won't talk to me anymore. I see that article pop up all the time on my Facebook. Did he like slander her and then she needed slate to clear her name or something? There was no slander. Uh, so it has to do with the news article. does she know a journalist at Slate that she started dating and moved on because she found new love in media as a writer to writer. Yeah, so maybe she wrote an article. Keep talking about why any of this would be required for her to truly move on with her life.

Sometimes people just need to talk it out. You tell me Um Yeah Or like write an op-ed about it or Uh Advertise for a new thing Ad thing

I'm going to give you a clue Um Other publications could theoretically Have helped her too Think in what way Might a divorce person want to move on Especially if she was a public figure to respond to some kind of controversy

was she did this have to do with the cold play incident like the people that were cheating on their spouses yeah and she's telling her side of the story or something like that I've not heard that described as the cold play incident before

like there needs to be a list of like bands with incidents named after them like there's a cold play one a Dave Matthews band tour bus. I'm sure there's others. I'm sure there's a Wikipedia article about it. Yeah, bands that are the namesakes of incidents that don't really have that much to do with them.

Except for the tour bus thing. That was fun. Okay, why would they need a news, if it's not to like clear your name or advertise something like a book or a review? Clear her name is interesting because she doesn't need to clear her name, she does have to do something, like tell her side of the story or something.

There's, okay, she was finding it surprisingly hard to update her status via one organization in particular. Oh, is this a Wikipedia thing where it's like she needed to cite something to edit Wikipedia on the fact that she is divorced now? Yes, Wikipedia was asking for a credible source that she was divorced. I have some thoughts to add on this if you want. Would you like, yes, please. So when this happened, it was, this was 2022. So I was, I've been involved in Wikipedia for, I don't know, maybe six or seven years. So I was very much like watching all this happen.

And I think if she had said, hey, I'm Emily St. John Mandel. There's an email that you can email if you want. You can also go on the talk page. And if you say, this is a personal detail that isn't really a controversial thing. I can provide evidence. You don't always have to go to Slate. You should be able to like say the situation. and they'll trust you.

But I think she was being anonymous, as many Wikipedia editors are. And so they were like, well, how do we know you're being legit? You need to have a source. But if you are listening to this and you like, I don't know, if the name of one of your kids is wrong or some other like central personal detail that you want removed or changed, you can email, you can email Wikipedia editors or something on the talk page and you don't have to go to slate, but you can. That's another way to do it.

Wow. Maybe this explanation isn't helpful. Maybe it is. No, I mean, I had no idea because people ask me all the time. They're like, who edits your Wikipedia page to you? And I'm like, one, that's weird. Two, I have no. I don't know.

I don't know. I can check and I'll tell you if they're my friends. Emily St. John Mandel, the author of novel such as Station 11, that's a really good one, was previously married to writer Kevin Mandel. When they divorced in 2022, Mandel found she couldn't simply edit her own Wikipedia page. Wikipedia's rules require that personal and personal and about living people, be supported by reliable, published secondary sources. And as I said, there is a tiny caveat, which is like, if you're like, this is a big deal for

my life, I need to move, then sometimes people will listen to you. And self-edits are discouraged, especially from the subject. That's true. To solve the problem, she gave an interview to slate.com entitled, it's a very funny interview, a totally normal interview with author Emily St. John Mandel, which spelled out her divorce a new relationship in blunt language. Emily married Laura Barrasanzi in 2025. There were some very quick solves in this episode.

So we have unlocked the shiny bonus question. Thank you to C.J. Mina for sending this one in. Dylan has a brother and Ashley has a sister. As a result, all those children are more likely to be employed in the US in their competitive industry. What specific benefit do they offer to their employer? I'll say that again. has a brother and Ashley has a sister. As a result, all those children are more likely to be

employed in the U.S. in their competitive industry. What specific benefit do they offer to their employer? I was going to say, I think I know this one too. I'm going to shut my mouth. I guess what I'm going to say is like if you need a, you know, a kidney, if this is a job that really messes up your kidneys and you're like going to need a kidney donor, often family members are good donors of organs. I was also thinking like medical, you know, but I was also thinking like medical testing. Because I know like twins and stuff are really great for medical testing because you can give one something and not the other and if they're identical twins. But these are not identical because they are identical twins. Okay. Identical twins. So that would be good for

medical testing because there's one that is, you know, if they're identical, then the DNA is the same. So hypothetically, if you test something on one, the other should be, you know, a good control. I'm not sure you can employ children to do that. Oh, and they're kids. And Dylan has a sister. Dylan has a brother. Ashley has a sister. They're child actresses. Child actors. Yes, they are. Emily, did you have that one? Yeah, I was going to say that are models. Oh, Dylan's, I shouldn't have got it. It's just Rouse twins.

And Ashley? Mary Kate and Ashley. From the awesome twins. Yes, absolutely. So why is that important for their industry? You can only work so many hours during when you're a child as a minor. Those darn politicians screwed up my business where I was hiring kids to work 12 hours a day in the factories. It's tough out here for robberians like me. Now they just volunteer. They're just volunteers.

That's Roblox, I think you've described there. Due to labor laws, children can only be on set for a limited number of hours per day. So for roles featuring young children, it is common to switch in an identical twin so the studio can continue shooting for longer. Which means there is one question remaining. From the start of the show, thank you to Van Thompson for sending this in. How did a sea creature called the Geography Cone? Get the nickname The Cigarette Snail.

Anyone want to take a guess at that? Okay, so the first thing that came to mind is that there are a number of organisms that will live, this is so inappropriate, that will live in the butt of certain sea snails and slugs. And I'm there's sometimes people just need a cigarette after.

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, see where you're going that. See where you're going. I'm going to divert us very quickly away from that one. So it doesn't have anything to do with. But I appreciate the lateral thinking.

That's good. That's good. But there are, but there are, There are fish that live in... Yeah, yeah. But... Does it, like, secrete nicotine?

It secretes something. Well, actually, secrete's not the right word. So, no. But in terms of substances, there's certainly a substance involved here. Is it like the ink that they shoot out or something? That looks like smoke, so it's like they're smoking or something. That seems very plausible to me. Jen, you kind of have been the goat of lateral, I think.

Unfortunately, in this case, it does not resemble a cigarette in any way. Not the cigarette itself, not the smoke, nothing like that. So is it something like cigarette adjacent, like camel or something like that? I would keep going on substance. Geography cone. Should we talk about geography cone? It's a cone snail. A cone snail.

So those are like the really poisonous ones, though. Venomous ones, yeah. Yes, they are. Yes. Does it cause lung cancer? It causes something. Respiratory failure or something. It is highly venomous.

Well, it's, I know they're highly, like, they will kill you if you get stung by one of these. Yeah. Okay. Certainly before modern medical treatment. So, like, you have long enough for one last cigarette? Is that it? You have long enough for one last cigarette. Absolutely right.

Oh. Oh. Oh, my gosh. new thing to be grateful for today. At least I didn't get bit stung, infected. Sting, sting, yes. I am so glad I haven't been... No matter how bad your day is going,

at least you didn't get stung by a geography cone recently. At least you didn't get stung by the geography cone. Thank you very much to all our players for running the gautlet of surprisingly dark questions today. Where can people find you? What's gone on your lives? We will start with Jen. Hi, I am Jen the Archaeologist.

on both TikTok and YouTube. I primarily post on TikTok, but I also post the videos on YouTube as well. I do short form just because grad school is hard. So, yeah, find me there. Annie? I am Defts of Wikipedia online on most social media sites. Instagram, TikTok, Blue Sky, Twitter, YouTube, maybe.

I'm going to write a, my book will be out at some point. Don't really know when. And that's me. And Annie, R-A-U, if you just want to see what I'm thinking about, which is not always Wikipedia, believe it or not. And Emily. Hi, you can find me on my YouTube channel, YouTube.com slash the Brain Scoop. I am also on Instagram posting shenanigans and short form of content at E-Grassly, G-R-A-E.

That's me. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcass.com. We can also send in your own ideas for questions and join the Lack. We are at LateralCast basically everywhere, and there are full video episodes every week on Spotify. Thank you very much to Emily Grassley. Hi, thanks so much for having me. Annie Roeder.

Thank you. And Jen, the archaeologist. Thanks for having me. I've been Tom Scott, and that's been Lateral.