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

No Such Thing As A Whale In Your Car

May 14, 2026 • 56m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

This episode of No Such Thing as a Fish features Manu Onryo as a guest host, discussing fascinating facts about seaweed contraception, the voice actor behind Disney's Three Little Pigs who lived in a wooden house, Spain's continental rotation, and the surprising history of sperm whale brain oil in cars and consumer products. The conversation spans topics from food science and geology to whaling history and continental drift.

Seaweed Contraception and Food Science

Manu introduces the fascinating fact that seaweed-derived agarose can be used to create decoy beads that trick sperm for contraceptive purposes. The discussion explores how agar-agar, a gelatin made from seaweed, is used in everything from petri dishes to food products. The hosts sample agar agar jelly and learn about its widespread use in commercial foods, from jelly beans to chocolate milk, and discuss future possibilities for seaweed farming to address global food security.

  • Agarose beads coated with ZP2 protein trick sperm into binding with them instead of eggs, potentially offering non-hormonal contraception
  • The same technology can select strong sperm for IVF by attracting the strongest swimmers
  • Fanny Hess suggested using agar-agar to Robert Koch in 1881, helping him isolate the tuberculosis bacterium, though he didn't credit her
  • Most commercially produced foods contain phycocoloids (seaweed extracts) for thickening and stabilizing
  • The kelp highway hypothesis suggests early humans settled the Americas by following kelp forests from Alaska down the coast
  • If we farmed seaweed on just 0.03% of the ocean surface, we could add 10% to the world's food supply
" It's like having a Wetherspoons and then next door to the Wetherspoon's you've got another Wetherspoon's that's made entirely out of jelly but they kind of cover it in the smell of stale beer and desperation so that people are tricked into thinking it's that and then all the men sort of waltz towards his Wetherspoons but they get stuck to the outside. "
" He's a drunk and a loser but he's no fool. "

Pinto Colvig: The Voice Behind Disney's Three Little Pigs

Andy reveals that the voice actor who played the practical pig who built his house of bricks in Disney's 1933 Three Little Pigs actually grew up in a wooden stick-built house. Pinto Colvig was a prolific voice actor who originated iconic Disney characters including Goofy, two of the seven dwarves, and was the first Bozo the Clown. The conversation explores the cultural impact of Three Little Pigs during the Great Depression and its song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" becoming an anthem of resilience.

  • Pinto Colvig voiced the practical pig in Three Little Pigs and grew up in a wooden stick-built house at 410 South Oregon Street, Jacksonville, Oregon
  • Colvig was the original voice of Goofy and voiced Sleepy and Grumpy in Snow White, plus was the first Bozo the Clown
  • Three Little Pigs won the Oscar for Best Short Animation in 1933 during the worst year of the Depression
  • 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf' became a cultural anthem during the Depression, similar to 'Things Can Only Get Better' by D:Ream
  • The creative team spent three hours trying to find a rhyme for 'wolf' and eventually gave up, having two pigs play instruments instead
  • Colvig's Snow White recording sessions involved spending nearly a week slurping buttermilk to create soup-eating sounds in seven-part harmony
" They spent nearly a week just slurping buttermilk and created this incredible song. "

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