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  • What Doesn't Kill You Now Just Assimilates You Later

    What Doesn't Kill You Now Just Assimilates You Later
    Feb 20 2026

    A retired cop takes a security job at a classified desert research facility — and discovers something buried far older than humanity was ever meant to find. When a massive stone “wall” is excavated and brought inside, it begins to grow… and assimilate.

    After the story, we explore the real science behind biological assimilation — from deep-sea anglerfish that permanently fuse with their mates, to documented cases of human chimerism where two individuals become one body.

    What doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger.

    It assimilates.

    Trigger warning: body horror

    (FYI: The name of the anglerfish’s lure is an “esca”.)

    Citations:

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bizarre-sex-helped-anglerfish-diversify-and-dominate-the-deep-sea-study-suggests-180984449/

    Brownstein CD, Zapfe KL, Lott S, Harrington R, Ghezelayagh A, Dornburg A, Near TJ. Synergistic innovations enabled the radiation of anglerfishes in the deep open ocean. Curr Biol. 2024 Jun 3;34(11):2541-2550.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.066. Epub 2024 May 23. PMID: 38788708.

    Pietsch, T. Dimorphism, parasitism, and sex revisited: modes of reproduction among deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes). Ichthyol Res 52, 207–236 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-005-0286-2

    Yu N, Kruskall MS, Yunis JJ, Knoll JH, Uhl L, Alosco S, Ohashi M, Clavijo O, Husain Z, Yunis EJ, Yunis JJ, Yunis EJ. Disputed maternity leading to identification of tetragametic chimerism. N Engl J Med. 2002 May 16;346(20):1545-52. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa013452. PMID: 12015394.
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    58 Min.
  • Bonus 1 - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

    Bonus 1 - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
    Feb 5 2026

    This week, I narrate the opening one and a half chapters of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, setting the stage for Stevenson’s slow-burn descent into duality and dread—no science segment this episode, just the story.

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    35 Min.
  • Trailer

    Trailer
    Jan 31 2026

    Trailer for the UnnaturalSelectionPodcast
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    1 Min.
  • 1. Here Be Monsters

    1. Here Be Monsters
    Jan 30 2026
    The first episode features The Zoetrope, an original horror story about curiosity and distorted perception, followed by a discussion of real neurological conditions that show how easily the mind can turn reality into something terrifying.Trigger warnings: this episode contains psychological horror, distorted perception, injury, and harm to a child; listener discretion advised.https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/22/health/demon-faces-prosopometamorphopsia-wellnessCapgras, J.; Reboul-Lachaux, J. (1923). "Illusion des " sosies " dans un délire systématisé chronique". Bulletin de la Société Clinique de Médicine Mentale. 2: 6–16.Dalrymple, Kirsten; Davies-Thompson, Jodie; Oruc, Ipek; Barton, Jason; Duchaine, Brad (2014). "Spontaneous Perceptual Facial Distortions Correlate with Ventral Occipitotemporal Activity". Neuropsychologia. 59: 179–191. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.05.005. PMID 24859691. S2CID 6996193.Ramachandran, V. S. (1998). "Consciousness and body image: Lessons from phantom limbs, Capgras syndrome and pain asymbolia". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 353 (1377): 1851–1859. doi:10.1098/rstb.1998.0337. PMC 1692421. PMID 9854257.Santhouse, A M; Howard, R J; ffytche, D H (2000). "Visual Hallucinatory Syndromes and the Anatomy of the Visual Brain". Brain. 123 (10): 2055–2064. doi:10.1093/brain/123.10.2055. PMID 11004123.Sound effects from Pixabay.comTheme "Horror" by The_Mountain https://pixabay.com/music/horror-scene-horror-375975/All music and effects within Creative Commons license 0
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    36 Min.