Can I Have a Pet Fox? | Erika Ishii Asks Hank Anything

Main Ideas and Discussion

Curiosity as a Way to Understand People

Hank and Erika observe that the questions someone asks can reveal more about them than routine career questions. Erika likes asking what people enjoy, since it often leads to more personal, lively conversations.

Katana Sharpness and the Limits of Cinematic Sword Cuts

A katana can be sharpened very finely, but a practical sword must balance sharpness with durability. An extremely thin edge can be more easily damaged by hard impacts, such as hitting bone.

Cutting ability also depends on factors beyond sharpness, including the blade’s stiffness and mass, how fast it is moving, and how much force is applied over the edge’s small contact area.

Hank describes historical Japanese cutting demonstrations in which swordsmen tested blades on bodies and recorded the cuts on the sword. He says that full-body cuts were documented, though he could not confirm whether the dramatic diagonal cut shown in fiction was always completed as depicted.

The familiar image of a severed upper body sliding down while the person remains upright is not realistic: once the spinal cord is severed, the legs lose signals from the brain and the person would collapse.

Unsolved Historical Mysteries

Erika is fascinated by the Voynich manuscript, an illustrated handwritten book whose text has patterns resembling language but has not been deciphered. Its strange plants and creatures leave open whether it encodes information, tells a story, or was created for some other reason.

Hank wonders what life was like when multiple human species—including Neanderthals and Denisovans—overlapped with our ancestors. Their interactions, cultures, stories, and reasons for disappearing remain uncertain. The possibility that they had rich oral traditions and artistic lives makes their loss especially compelling to him.

Foxes and Domestication

Hank says urban foxes are showing some traits resembling early domestication: their skull shapes appear to be changing, and males and females are becoming less physically distinct.

He compares this with Russian experiments in which foxes were selectively bred for friendliness toward humans. Along with tameness, those foxes developed other dog-like traits, such as floppy ears, shorter snouts, patchier coats, and wagging tails. This suggests that several traits may change together during domestication.

These observations do not mean foxes are ready to become household pets. Urban foxes may simply be adapting to life around people, and the changes could disappear if the conditions driving them change. Developing a domesticated fox would likely take many generations; future genetic technologies might speed the process, but that is speculative.

Hank emphasizes that a wild animal is not the same as a domesticated pet. Erika’s wish is specifically for a fox “familiar”—a companion that chooses her.

The Placebo Effect

Hank says that placebo effects in clinical trials appear to have grown over recent decades, although the reason is unclear. Proposed explanations include more frequent contact with healthcare providers during trials and people having greater confidence in modern medicine because they have seen it work.

Knowing about placebos does not necessarily prevent an effect. In some cases, people told that they are receiving a placebo still report short-term benefits, particularly for issues such as pain, sleep, or mood.

Ritual and expectation may matter: taking a pill can cue the brain to anticipate relief, especially if similar routines have helped before. The discussion also highlights that pain does not always correspond neatly to visible structural damage.

The speakers stress that this does not mean people can simply think their way out of serious illness or chronic pain, or that crystals can replace medical treatment. The mechanisms of pain, expectation, and mind–body interaction remain complex.

Developing Empathy Later in Life

Hank argues that listening and trust are central to difficult conversations, but it is much harder to listen when there is no existing relationship or goodwill.

Disagreement is often rooted in fear and in perceived threats to oneself, one’s family, or one’s community. Reducing fear and helping people feel safe may therefore be part of building empathy.

The speakers criticize media and social-media systems that reward attention-grabbing, polarizing content. Such environments can reinforce existing beliefs, portray out-groups as threats, and make people less willing to trust unfamiliar perspectives.

They suggest that empathy is supported by curiosity, meaningful interaction across social groups, and a foundation of trust. These are difficult to build, especially when people are afraid or feel attacked.

Could a Person Shape-Shift Like the T-1000?

A true shape-shifting body would require material that can change form, strength, color, and transparency while also storing and responding to information—including whatever makes a person themselves. Hank considers this far beyond near-term technology.

He proposes a much more limited, speculative idea using existing ferrofluid: a skin-tight electromagnetic suit, linked to a brain scanner, could move ferrofluid from a surrounding pool over the wearer’s body. It might make parts of the body appear larger or form shapes such as a bulky hand, but it could not make the person smaller and would remain soft.

The broader point is that science can sometimes offer imaginative approximations of fantasy, even when the full version remains out of reach.

Sponsored Segment

Hank presents Ground News as a way to compare how outlets with different political leanings cover the same story, including differences in headlines and framing.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Hank Green — host of Ask Hank Anything
• Erika Ishii — guest and questioner
• Puzzle the Pelican — credited as the source of several submitted questions
• Ground News — sponsor featured in an advertisement

Other people, works, and organizations mentioned in the discussion: Ghost of Yōtei; Dragon Age: The Veilguard; Worlds Beyond Number (with Brennan Lee Mulligan, Aabria Iyengar, and Lou Wilson); the Voynich manuscript; Alan Turing; the Russian fox-domestication experiments; Andrew Huang; Iris van Herpen; and Bryan Johnson.