Eating Legos (for kids) and the fighting prowess of bearded men

Kids swallow little toys and other things they’re not supposed to all the time. Is it dangerous to swallow Legos? How long does it take for a swallowed piece of Lego to pass? There’s only one way to find out.

Why do some men have beards? Do beards signify virility and manliness? Do bearded men have higher power levels?

In this episode, Lu and Tirth discuss the rich history of self-experimentation in medicine, how long it takes Legos to pass through the digestive tract, and whether bearded men fight better.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

3:12 Hate caller follow-up

7:59 The rich history of self-experimentation

16:42 Lego swallowing study

23:23 Beard study

36:11 What did you learn today, outro

Article links:

• Tagg et al., 2018. Everything is awesome: Don’t forget the Lego. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpc.14309

• Dixson et al., 2018. Contest competition and men's facial hair: beards may not provide advantages in combat. Evolution and human behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513817302660
• Beseris et al., 2020. Impact Protection Potential of Mammalian Hair: Testing the Pugilism Hypothesis for the Evolution of Human Facial Hair. Integrative organismal biology. https://academic.oup.com/iob/article/2/1/obaa005/5799080

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