After Things Podcast

The episode opens with a long discussion of Reza Belucci, a Florida man who attempted multiple ocean crossings in improvised human-powered contraptions, including a hamster-wheel-like vessel and later a buoy-based setup aimed at London. The hosts debate the Coast Guard's intervention, whether he was in legitimate danger, how jurisdiction works offshore, and whether his stunt reflects reckless behavior or a stubbornly American spirit of self-determination. The conversation then pivots to a NOAA deep-sea find: a gold-colored orb attached to a rock off Alaska. The hosts speculate about whether it is an egg casing, sponge, coral, amber, or another biological object, and note that rover lighting makes it look fake or CGI-like. A later story about Peruvian villagers reporting 'flying aliens' becomes a more grounded theory involving illegal gold-mining gangs using flyboard or jetpack-style devices, which leads into broader speculation about the technology's capabilities, cost, and uses. In the final segment, the sho