Bec is still very busy with Makeaway Takeaway, and she'll continue to be busy for about a month. She handled some surprisingly heavy horse manure, and will go to a skate park soon.
"I'm kick flipping in the cupboard right as I talk." — Bec
Matt's been busy with videos that become more and more elaborate and time consuming. Matt rambles a bit about the fourth dimension and physicists.
Six months ago, I found a hamster in my apartment. None of the neighbours claimed him [though the problem poser does not know if it's really a him]. I don't know if it's really a hamster or a mouse with its tail cut off, I don't know how old he is, but most importantly, I still have no idea where he came from. I live in Pakistan, we don't have hamsters. WHERE DID HE COME FROM??
Bec got a photo and video of Hammie and she can confirm that it is indeed a (short haired Syrian) hamster. She has experience with hamsters, in particular a Russian dwarf hamster called Pudding first mentioned in episode 012 (news). It seems he may have testicles. While you can cut a hamster in half and count the rings, it will probably not help determine its age. Hamsters tend to live two years, so Hammie is probably not older than that.
Hamsters are not illegal in Pakistan (unlike Australia) and there are hamster breeders in the problem poser's town, so it's likely someone's pet. Hammie didn't seem to be in best shape, so it may have been a neighbour getting rid of their pet. On the other hand, hamsters can run up to 9 km a night, as mentioned in 012 (news), so maybe Hammie came from a neighbourhood a few km away. Hamsters are also very good climbers and used to tight spaces, which explains how Hammie made their way into the apartment.
If you find a hamster, you should know this: Hamsters need a lot of space (because they like to run), and ideally not something tall made of bars (else they might slip and break their back). A big multipurpose plastic box (with holes and mesh for ventilation) or an IKEA Detolf display cabinet laid on its side make for good cages.
"There's some good hamster porn." — Bec
A full ding by the problem poser
Pudding's cage is 36 in by 17 in (91.44 cm by 43.18 cm). Hamster's should have a minimum of 6 in (15.24 cm) of bedding so that they can burrow. One bag of bedding is 49.2 l, which equals 3000 in³. The question is: How many bags of bedding, or what proportion of a bag, is needed to provide Pudding with 6 in deep of bedding?
If humans were able to grow trunks and leaves to use photosynthesis to harness energy from the sun, how big would our human leafy crown have to be to sustain our daily energy expenditure?
Matt needs about 2'500 kcal per day, which is 10'460'000 J per day, or roughly 121 W. Plants have a worse efficiency than solar panels and produce around 8.1 W per m³. This means Matt would need around 15 m² of leaves; roughly a square twice as big as his height. If you exert yourself carrying around a big trunk, you might easily need twice as much energy. Bec notes that this is why trees don't walk around. Matt notes the similarity to the rocket equation.
A "ding" by Bec
Professor Andrea Sella at the UCL, who is a professor of inorganic chemistry, recorded an answer. According to chemists, plastic is dry (hydrophobic, water forms beads) while ceramic is wet (hydrophilic, water spreads out). Matt and Bec take photos of angles of droplets on various materials. When you open your dishwasher, the water on the ceramics is spread out thinly and evaporates quickly, while the beads on the plastic evaporate more slowly.
An "A ding to Bec" by Matt
It is not Bec's card.