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No Such Thing As A Fish
No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As A Toilet Break For A Tuna

August 06, 2026 • 55m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

This episode of No Such Thing As Fish, recorded live at London's Royal Institution, features four fascinating facts about scientific history, extreme racing, Victorian social networks, and fish conservation. The hosts explore the building's famous giant pencil, the grueling Paris-Roubaix cycling race, a 19th-century social network called the X Club, and Cambodia's hotline for accidentally catching massive fish.

The Royal Institution's Giant Pencil and Scientific Demonstrations

The Royal Institution houses what was once the world's largest pencil, used by physicist Philip Morrison in 1968 for his 'Gulliver's Lectures' about scale in science. The building has a rich history of dramatic scientific demonstrations, including Michael Faraday's famous 'Chemical History of a Candle' lectures and Nikola Tesla's presentations. Scientists were historically locked in a room for 10 minutes before lectures to prevent them from fleeing, based on a myth about a scientist who got cold feet.

  • The Royal Institution contains the former world's largest pencil, approximately 9-10 feet long, used by Philip Morrison in 1968
  • Scientists were locked in a room for 10 minutes before lectures to prevent them from running away, based on a myth that never actually happened
  • Michael Faraday's 'Chemical History of a Candle' lectures became one of the most successful science books ever, nearly 200 years later
  • A 1938 Christmas lecture involved a boy coating his hands in water and dipping them in molten lead to demonstrate the Leidenfrost effect
  • The first public demonstration of the telephone occurred here on February 1, 1878, followed by a live recording and playback of the phonograph
" Of course you know very well that the theories of Euclid simply do not apply in the non-Euclidean geometry of a sphere. "
" If I'd inhaled with that in my mouth I would have died. "

Victorian Scientific Demonstrations and Public Engagement

The Royal Institution pioneered public science communication through dramatic live demonstrations, from Michael Faraday's candle experiments to controversial medical presentations. The lectures emphasized visual spectacle and hands-on experimentation, though some demonstrations would be considered wildly inappropriate today, including a 1983 urologist who demonstrated erectile function to an academic audience in Las Vegas.

  • Faraday believed science communication required live environments and initially opposed publishing his lectures as books
  • The first Christmas lecture in 1825 was boring with 22 sessions; Faraday reformed it to six lectures focused on demonstrations
  • John Tyndall put solid carbonic acid in his mouth and breathed over a candle, admitting he would have died if he'd inhaled
  • A 1937 Christmas lecture brought a live lion, snakes, crocodiles, and showed a film of baby seals being clubbed
" He pulled down his trousers in front of the entire audience of very dry academics who were wondering what the hell was happening in their lives. "

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