1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to How Stuff Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here at House to Works. Every week, 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:12,640 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous developments we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: This week, Florida has a new invasive species, one of 6 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: the deadliest species of crocodile on the planet. No worries, 7 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: though also a former fast food CEO, says that raising 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: the minimum wage would lead to an entirely different kind 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: of invasive species taking over. He says that robots would 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: take those jobs. But first, senior writer and Stuff to 11 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind podcast co host Robert Lamb brings us 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: the story of a troubling, if bizarre study of farm 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: raised salmon. Some of these fish are highly depressed. Yes, 14 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: a new study published in Royal Society Open Science argues 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: that growth stunted anorects and dropout fish that float listlessly 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: at the surface of their overcrowded tanks are suffering from 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: severe depression. After all, we're not talking about a ritzy 18 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: aquarium or a stock pond here. These dropouts swim about 19 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: in cramped, unnatural, stressful aquaculture environments that have more in 20 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: common with cattle feed lots, over stuffed prisons, or those 21 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: human battery towers in the matrix. Now, I know what 22 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,040 Speaker 1: you're thinking. Even fish pain remains something of a contingious issue. 23 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: So how do we get to the idea of depressed fish? Well, 24 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: according to lead study author Marco Vendus, the doomed dropout 25 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: fish express behavior and brain chemistry in line with depression 26 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: in other organisms, namely high levels of the stress response 27 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: hormone cortisol. They found that dropout salmon's serotainergic systems, which 28 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: regulate cortisol, were overactive, over stimulated, and defunct. The fish 29 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: were so stressed that they didn't respond to further stress 30 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: human fish ethics, aside growth, stunted dropout fish are a 31 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: common and costly occurrence in salmon aquaculture, so farmers have 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: more to gain than a sadness free fish sticker in 33 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: tackling the problem, and they don't necessarily have to improve 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: tank conditions. If they can improve the fish themselves through 35 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: research into stress coping, genetic markers, and selective breeding, hey, 36 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: then you don't have to change a thing. Though the 37 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 1: paper also indicates that several common agricultural practices may play 38 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: a role, including the employment of stressful vaccinations soon after 39 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: multiplication the naturally stressful physiological adaptation of juvenile salmon from 40 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: freshwater to seawater. Vendus, a marine biologist at the University 41 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,079 Speaker 1: of Gothenburg, also believes these findings could eventually aid in 42 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: the medical prevention of human stress based pathologies, as well 43 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: as the depression you might be feeling right now about 44 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: the source of your fish sticks. Next up, more bad news. 45 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: The senior writer and my fellow Forward Thinking podcast co 46 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,920 Speaker 1: host Jonathan Strickland reports on a former McDonald's executive's conviction 47 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: that raising the United States minimum wage to fifteen dollars 48 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: an hour would basically initiate the robot uprising. Ed Rendcy, 49 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: former president and CEO of McDonald's USA, recently said on 50 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: Fox Business that if the minimum wage in the US 51 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: rose to fifteen dollars an hour, it would make sense 52 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: for fast food companies to buy thirty five thousand dollar 53 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: robot arms and replace human employees. Rinsey went on to 54 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: say that keeping employee wages to a reasonable amount would 55 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: delay the robo apocalypse. His definition of reasonable is keeping 56 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: the minimum wage at seven dollars twenty five cents an hour. 57 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: So let's do the math. Let's say the federal minimum 58 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: wage goes up to fifteen dollars an hour and you're 59 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: scheduled to work a full forty hours each week. That 60 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: amounts to thirty one two hundred dollars before taxes. Employers 61 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: only have to buy each robot arm once. They have 62 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: to keep paying employee ease every year, so a little 63 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: after a year, the investment would appear to make sense. 64 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: Even factoring in maintenance and repair, an employer would probably 65 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: see a return on investment before a second year passes. 66 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: At the current minimum wage of seven dollars twenty five 67 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: cents an hour, an employee would earn fifteen thousand, eighty 68 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: dollars before taxes. If the boss replaced that employee with 69 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: a robot, it would take about two and a half 70 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,679 Speaker 1: years to see a return on investment. Actually, it gets 71 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: way more complicated than that. Many minimum wage employees can 72 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: only get part time hours, which saves employers on additional costs. Also, 73 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: a robot wouldn't just replace one employee, it would replace 74 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: all the part time workers for that particular position. By 75 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: the way ed Rindsey started working for McDonald's way back 76 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,799 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six. Assuming he made the minimum wage 77 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: at the time, he earned a dollar twenty five an 78 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: hour working the grill. Adjusted for inflation, that's equal to 79 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: nine dollars twenty three cents in a day's money. Um, 80 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: there's a lot more to go into here. For one thing, 81 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: robots must prove to be at least as efficient and 82 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: reliable as humans in kitchen jobs to be a viable option. 83 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: For another, numerous studies show the current minimum wage in 84 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: the US is unlivable. Then there's the fact that automation 85 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: is inevitable for many, if not all jobs. In that future. 86 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: We'll have to figure out how to separate work from income, 87 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: Otherwise no one will be able to afford the burgers. 88 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: All those robo cooks will be flipping. Finally, this week, 89 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: Jim McCormick, co host of both Stuff to Blow Your 90 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: Mind and Forward Thinking, walks us through a study that's 91 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: confirmed the presence of nile crocodiles surviving in the wild 92 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: of South Florida. Native to a broad region of the 93 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: African continent, the nile croc dial or Crocodilus niloticus is 94 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: among the deadliest apex predators on this planet, growing up 95 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: to six meters or almost twenty feet in length. This 96 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: is one of the few wild animals that will regularly 97 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: look at a human being and think, yeah, that could 98 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: be prey. The researchers side a figure that there were 99 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: at least four hundred and ninety three attacks on humans, 100 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: leading to three hundred and fifty four fatalities between two 101 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: thousand ten and fourteen. Now, crocodiles are more dangerous to 102 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: humans than the native crocodilians of Florida, such as the 103 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: American alligator. In this study published in the Journal of 104 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: Herpetological Conservation and Biology, four unusual looking crocodiles were captured 105 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: in South Florida between two thousand and four. Researchers use 106 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: DNA matching to show that at least two of these 107 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: were indeed nile crocodiles most closely related to a population 108 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: found in South Africa. Identical genetic markers indicate that at 109 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: least two of these animals were directly related to one another, 110 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: meaning they probably came from the same source. But what 111 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: was the source? It's a mystery, So whoever is bringing 112 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: nile crocodiles to Florida and releasing them. Please please stop, 113 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: okay stop. By tracking the growth, movement and foraging behaviors 114 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: of one of the animals, researchers also confirmed that nile 115 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: crocodiles can not only survive in the wild in Florida, 116 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: they seem to be doing extremely well. One specimen that 117 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: was recaptured after a period in the wild had grown 118 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: forty point five centimeters or about sixteen inches per year, 119 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: twenty percent faster than some nile crocodiles in their native range. 120 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: So it's possible that we have found a glorious king 121 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: crocodile incubator and it's Florida. The researchers stressed that there's 122 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: no evidence of an established population of nile crocodiles in 123 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: the wilderness of Florida, but there's also no way to 124 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: be sure that the ones we found in this study 125 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: were alone. In thirty years, are we going to be 126 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: reading reports of nile crocodiles feasting on our South Florida 127 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: cattle and Verglades tourists. I guess we'll wait and see. 128 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: I do want to emphasize that there is not currently 129 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: a known danger of nile crocodile attacks in Florida. The 130 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: real story here isn't about killer crocodiles, but about the 131 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: broader problem of invasive species. Florida already has the greatest 132 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: number of invasive amphibians and reptiles of any place in 133 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: the world, including animals like the Burmese python. And that's 134 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: our show for this week. Thank you so much for 135 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: tuning in. Subscribe now for more of the latest and 136 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: strangest science news, and hey, send us your idea for 137 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: a new stories, plus any suggestions you have for other 138 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: podcasts to listen to, shoot an email at now podcast 139 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. And if you dug Joe, 140 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: Jonathan and Robert's work, check out stuff to blow your 141 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: mind and forward thinking. Plus to access thousands of other 142 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: stories like these, check out our home planet now dot 143 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com.