Robot Hands Need Fingernails, Turn Mercury Into Gold, Tax Breaks For Snails & Apple Fumbles

Описание: What did we learn in 2025? Everything from why air pollution deaths are falling to the economics of human blood, radioactive shrimp, and why attractive servers earn more tips.

We're stealing (borrowing) directly from Tom Whitwell's legendary annual list: "52 Things I Learned in 2024." Tom is a reformed journalist, reformed consultant, and now designs electronic musical instruments while curating the internet's most fascinating facts each year.

Join Mark and Jeremy as they dissect their favorite learnings across AI, energy, labor, culture, psychology, technology, and... yes... shrimp farming.

Some lessons are encouraging (air pollution deaths dropping globally). Some are bizarre (the thriving black market for human blood products). Most sit perfectly in-between, the kind of facts that make you say "wait, WHAT?" and immediately want to tell someone else.


🧠 FASCINATING THINGS WE COVER:

AI & TECHNOLOGY:
Manipulative AI apps designed to extract data from nurses
Apple's embarrassing Air demo failure
HP printer ineptitude reaches new heights
Robot hands need fingernails to work properly
How to turn mercury into gold

ECONOMICS & LABOR:
The economics of human blood products
Why attractive servers earn significantly more tips
How your first name affects your career prospects
UK tax loopholes through farm ownership
McDonald's loses first place

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT:
Why air pollution deaths are falling globally
Radioactive shrimp near nuclear sites
The decline of peanut allergies
Namibian renewable energy politics

CULTURE & PSYCHOLOGY:
What "raw dogging" actually means
The serial killer epidemic that ended
Why people are paying for "relaxed mowing" services
Bin Laden's Casio watch preference
Using writing to escape your mind
Why LA has such big doors

WEIRD SCIENCE:
Meteorite-powered radio stations
Shrimp farming's unexpected explosion
Hong Kong's bizarre phone service quirk
Retrospect VHS technology


Read the full list:   / 52-things-i-learned-in-2024  [link]

💡 WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS:
In a world obsessed with predictions and "what's next," sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is look at what actually happened—the unexpected, the overlooked, and the downright bizarre.

🎯 TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro: Disruptors & Curious Minds
01:15 - Deaths From Air Pollution (Falling!)
01:56 - UK Tax Breaks Via Farms
02:29 - Meteorite-Powered Radio Stations
04:03 - How To Turn Mercury Into Gold
06:10 - Manipulative AI Apps Targeting Nurses
07:43 - Bin Laden's Casio Watch
08:31 - Radioactive Shrimps Near Nuclear Sites
08:53 - Apple's Air Demo Disaster
10:10 - Does Jeremy Wear Crocs?
11:13 - What Is "Raw Dogging"?
12:00 - The Black Market For Human Blood Products
12:36 - The Rise of "Relaxed Mowing"
13:20 - Bugles At Funerals
13:55 - Why Robot Hands Need Fingernails
14:40 - How First Names Affect Your Job Prospects
15:27 - Retrospect VHS Technology
16:04 - Attractive Servers Earn More Tips
17:21 - Hong Kong's Strange Phone Service
17:33 - McDonald's Loses First Place
19:26 - The Shrimp Farming Boom
20:35 - Why Peanut Allergies Are Falling
20:55 - The Serial Killer Epidemic That Ended
21:17 - Namibian Politics & Renewable Energy
21:50 - Why LA Has Such Big Doors
22:40 - Using Writing To Escape Your Mind
23:43 - HP Printer Ineptitude
24:25 - British Chaos
25:20 - Thank You Tom Whitwell

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Previous episodes: Space-based solar power, data center failures, AI hallucinations, Don Norman on design, Kevin Kelly on technology and humanity.


🌐 CONNECT WITH US:
Website: thinkingonpaper.xyz
Instagram: instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast


Follow the hosts:
Mark Fielding: linkedin.com/in/markfielding99
Jeremy Gilbertson: linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson



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