Join Bret and Heather for their next Q&A on March 29th. Add it to your calendar here: https://www.darkhorsepodcast.org/calendar
00:00:00 Holding Screen
00:01:44 Next episode, winter will be coming.
00:03:32 Q: In light of your (Bret's) recent comments on the myth of the myth of race, what are some other Lysenkoist misrepresentations or outright falsehoods that you think the record needs to be set straight on?
00:09:00 Q from Heather for Bret: What's a shrift?
00:12:21 Q: B & H thank you for all that you do and greetings from overly warm and dry Northern Colorado.
My wife and I are raising a currently 9 month old daughter. The hospital staff snuck a Hep B vaccination past us in the minutes following birth. Aside from that we’ve not given her any vaccinations and have no plans to.
I wonder if you might discuss best practices for avoiding exposures and recognizing issues that need addressing as well as infectious diseases which pose the most actual threat.
I’ve come to respect the extremely thought out opinions of the two of you on most issues discussed today and I appreciate your thoughts on this.
00:26:22 Q: Why do humans love domesticated animals like dogs? I’ve been pondering this lately. I love my dog. He’s got a great temperament, is obedient, and can do enough impressive tricks for both our enjoyment. But he’s a freeloader, and doesn’t contribute to the household except through … well, I can’t quite put my finger on the explanation for the joy he brings us. He just does. But I’m curious how the evolutionary lens can explain this. Is there something about cross-species collaboration that explains why there is so much joy derived from a relationship like this?
00:39:59 Q: Can you explain how moles are formed and when in life? Why do some people have freckles? Are moles hereditary? Also, why do some moles become cancerous and how? Do people who have more moles also have less tendency to develop cancer? Thanks! Much love to you two.
00:55:03 Q: "My brother happily sent me a news story about a man who used AI to create a bespoke mRNA vaccine for his dog’s cancer. It sounds like the ideal story for warming up the public to new mRNA vaccines. I’m the family bummer: I find it very foreboding. I wonder who funded this story, to what end, and whether it’s as promising as it seems. Thoughts and reactions? Thanks, love you guys!
https://nypost.com/2026/03/16/health/tech-pro-saves-his-dying-dog-by-using-chatgpt-to-code-a-custom-cancer-vaccine/"
01:00:00 ...do what needs did.
We have "cartesian blinders being put on us so that we are trying to make sense out of scraps of information and hints." - @bretweinstein
WEINSTEIN: I mean, even if you have your villains who are engaged in the behavior that motivated this war in Iran, even if that's the story, presumably most of the people in the path of these ferocious bombings that he is describing are not deserving of going back to the Stone Age.
In fact, I distinctly remember him telling us that part of what we were up to was liberating the people of Iran from their tyrannical regime.
So if it's the tyrannical regime that justifies the ferocious bombing, then it's a tragedy that other people are going to be sent back to the Stone Ages with them. Right?
HEYING: It's it's not a narrative. It's an incoherent set of talking points.
WEINSTEIN: Yeah, it's a kind of cheerleading that is completely inappropriate from the perspective of the president.
Bret Weinstein discusses the Trump administrations "back to the stone age" recent remarks in the latest episode of The Evolutionary Lens, Episode 320 "Are we back in the stone age?" on DarkHorse.
Bret Weinstein explains, "If you stop businesses from starting here, and if you drive people so that they move elsewhere—even though it's difficult to do—then the point is the tax base dries up, which then forces you to become even more predatory for the people who stayed.
And that's really the thing, right? They're setting themselves up so that they have to go after more and more people, because the people who are starting new businesses are not going to do it here."
Bret speaks with John Cullen on the subject of the unanswered questions surrounding the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Youtube: https://youtu.be/7m31LcCTf10
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0LEGBkh2yXDTl3QqU38Qid?si=KtxnJF0IT3i4XGhE_Sm0cg
Locals: https://darkhorse.locals.com/post/8227721/the-drone-hypothesis-john-cullen-on-darkhorse
Rumble: https://rumble.com/v7g2ny2-the-drone-hypothesis-john-cullen-on-darkhorse.html
Bret and Heather discuss new cats, fat bears, and overwhelmed frogs. The tilcayo, a newly named species of cat from Bolivia, is part of a group of New World “tiger cats” that live on the outskirts of the Amazon basin. We discuss Carnivoran relationships, cats more specifically, and what is known about the history and ecology of the tilcayo in particular.
Then: it’s fat bear week at Katmai National Park in Alaska, where grizzlies are fattening themselves on salmon for the Winter ahead; we discuss hibernation, reproductive diapause, and general chonkiness in bears.
Finally: female Cope’s gray treefrogs have a harder time choosing good mates when there’s a lot of noise, and when there are too many suitors—kind of like how women often make bad choices when confronted with chaos and wingmen.
Rumble: ...
