Speaker 1: Guess what mango? What's that?
Speaker 2: Will So?
Speaker 3: One of my favorite Mo Williams books that I used
Speaker 3: to read with my kids was this book called Naked
Speaker 3: Mole Rat Gets Dressed.
Speaker 1: It is so much fun.
Speaker 3: Williams is the best, agreed, and this story is great
Speaker 3: because it's all about a naked mulrat named Wilburd. It's
Speaker 3: pretty fancy and prefers to wear clothes instead of being
Speaker 3: naked all the time. But now I was thinking about
Speaker 3: the book over the weekend, it made me wonder, why
Speaker 3: is nakedness the thing everyone knows about mole rats when
Speaker 3: they have all these other superhero like qualities.
Speaker 2: I mean, the naked bit is in their name, so
Speaker 2: it's kind of hard to avoid. But explain what you
Speaker 2: mean by superpowers?
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, they don't feel certain types of pain.
Speaker 3: They're totally immune from the sting of chili peppers or
Speaker 3: really hot temperatures for instance. They also don't get cancer,
Speaker 3: which is crazy and this isn't a superpower. But their
Speaker 3: buck teeth actually move independently and can be used like chopsticks,
Speaker 3: which is kind of just a cool move. But as
Speaker 3: I started thinking about the mole rat and its superior qualities.
Speaker 3: I started wondering, what if we could take the coolest
Speaker 3: superpowers of the world's most surprising animals and then try
Speaker 3: to Frankenstein the ultimate superhero animal. And while we can't
Speaker 3: promise it'll turn out Cuddley building, this designer animal is
Speaker 3: definitely going to be fun.
Speaker 1: So let's dig in. Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to
Speaker 1: Part Time Genus.
Speaker 3: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my
Speaker 3: good friend Mangesha ticketter Mango. Are you as excited as
Speaker 3: I am about today's topic, creating the ultimate superhero animal?
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. I mean, this is something we've talked
Speaker 2: about for such a long time, trying to concoct the weirdest, funniest,
Speaker 2: most badass creature. And over the years we've learned so
Speaker 2: many crazy things about animals. I mean, we're talking about
Speaker 2: electric powers, the ability to detect danger, X ray vision,
Speaker 2: the ability to regenerate or brain like. This stuff is.
Speaker 1: Comic book gold. It definitely is, all right.
Speaker 3: So for our listeners, this used to be a dorm
Speaker 3: room obsession of ours, debating the sexiest dinosaur or how
Speaker 3: ugly the world's ugliest badger could be, and probably not
Speaker 3: that ugly. I mean, even a bad looking badger is
Speaker 3: pretty good looking.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 3: But we decided it was finally time to tackle this
Speaker 3: topic of the ultimate superhero animal when some of our
Speaker 3: favorite librarians from the Hoover Public Library and Hoover, Alabama
Speaker 3: suggested we revisit a book that came out in twenty eleven.
Speaker 3: It's called Rat Sing, Mice Giggle. It's this terrific book
Speaker 3: by a neuropsychologist, Karen Shanner and jog Meat Conwall, an
Speaker 3: associate professor in neurology at Georgetown, and several of the
Speaker 3: great facts you'll.
Speaker 1: Hear today come from there. That's right.
Speaker 2: It's like when you ask your kid which superhero they
Speaker 2: want to be, and they say, I want to be
Speaker 2: a superhero that combines all the most awesome parts of every.
Speaker 1: Other superhero exactly.
Speaker 2: Like, that's what we're going to do here, but with animals.
Speaker 2: Are you ready? Oh?
Speaker 1: I'm ready.
Speaker 3: And before we get going, we should probably tell you
Speaker 3: that we've got a great guest on today, the wonderful
Speaker 3: YouTube star Emily Grassley, the host of Brainscoop, and we've
Speaker 3: got super fun listener quiz as well.
Speaker 1: So let's get to it.
Speaker 3: And to be clear, today's hunt is not about finding
Speaker 3: the biggest and fastest animals.
Speaker 1: We learned about his kids. No offense to the.
Speaker 3: Cheetah and the blue whale, both awesome animals. But we're
Speaker 3: looking for something a little more creative and surprising. So
Speaker 3: where do we even start.
Speaker 2: Well, we are creating a superhero, so I feel like
Speaker 2: we need to start off with some of the super
Speaker 2: sensory stuff, or maybe even with the ability to sense
Speaker 2: electrical charges. I mean that feels very superheroy.
Speaker 1: Oh, definitely.
Speaker 3: And you know, part of the reason I'm so excited
Speaker 3: about this category is because it's a chance to bring.
Speaker 1: Back the duck build platypus.
Speaker 3: It seemed like his kids, the duck build platypus was
Speaker 3: the weird animal that we all talked about. Then the
Speaker 3: Internet came along and we got to learn about all
Speaker 3: these other cool animals.
Speaker 2: Sure, like the Pacific Northwest tree octopus.
Speaker 1: Is that a real thing?
Speaker 2: Now? It was this amazing internet hoax by this guy
Speaker 2: Lyle Zapata. He had a whole Saved the Pacific Northwest
Speaker 2: tree Octopus campaign.
Speaker 1: It was elaborate, it sounds.
Speaker 3: Like it so My thing with the platypus is that
Speaker 3: as much as we dropped its name into conversations as
Speaker 3: a kid, I don't think we fully appreciated just how
Speaker 3: cool the platypus is.
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody knows that it's this.
Speaker 3: Weird egg laying mammal with the tail of a beaver
Speaker 3: and the feet of an otter and the bill of
Speaker 3: a duck, and that the male has a venomous spur
Speaker 3: on the back of its foot. That should be enough
Speaker 3: to make it an animal we should remember.
Speaker 1: Yeah, or avoid touching, right, But.
Speaker 3: None of that really makes it a superhero until you
Speaker 3: remember that the platypus is a master of electrolocation.
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy. It's actually the most electro receptive of
Speaker 2: any land mammal. That means it's able to detect electrical
Speaker 2: signals given off by other creatures. So even when it's
Speaker 2: hunting around for food at night in very dark waters,
Speaker 2: it's able to locate its prey by actually detecting their
Speaker 2: electrical feels using the forty thousand electro sensors and that
Speaker 2: big old snout it's so very proud of, right, It's
Speaker 2: basically making a map of what it's surveying in those
Speaker 2: dark waters.
Speaker 3: That's right, So let's bring some respect back to the
Speaker 3: platypus by adding this ability as the first on our
Speaker 3: list of superhero animal traits.
Speaker 2: Totally agree.
Speaker 3: Now, you mentioned that it's the most electro receptive of
Speaker 3: the land mammals, but according to the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation,
Speaker 3: sharks are actually the most electrically sensitive animals known. Now,
Speaker 3: I know sharks aren't exactly underappreciated. I mean, they get
Speaker 3: their own week on TV every year.
Speaker 2: I'm kind of surprised TV Land doesn't run a Happy
Speaker 2: Day's Marathon that same week and call it.
Speaker 1: Jump the Shark Week.
Speaker 3: Brilliant idea, and now they should do that. So and
Speaker 3: this only makes them more intimidating. So they've got this
Speaker 3: gel and their snouts and their heads that helps them
Speaker 3: detect incredibly low currents of electricity, which then helps them
Speaker 3: find even small fish that might be hiding from them
Speaker 3: under the sand.
Speaker 2: As though sharks needed one more advantage. So that's another
Speaker 2: type of electrolocator. And I think between the shark gel
Speaker 2: and their snout and the platypus beak, I'd rather have
Speaker 2: the beak on style points right, But maybe a little
Speaker 2: of that special gel to spread on my hands. Sounds good,
Speaker 2: but what about the ability to actually generate electricity. I
Speaker 2: don't think most people will be surprised that this title
Speaker 2: is going to the electric eel, but there are a
Speaker 2: couple of interesting facts that most people probably don't know.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like what, well, first, electric eels are not
Speaker 2: actually eels. They're a type of knife fish.
Speaker 3: It's them on our long list of things that aren't
Speaker 3: things like how the koala bear isn't a bear, or
Speaker 3: a strawberry isn't a berry, but apparently a banana is.
Speaker 2: Don't get me started on the banana. So according to
Speaker 2: the Stanford Researcher, tomatoes and bananas are scientifically berries, while
Speaker 2: strawberries and raspberries aren't.
Speaker 1: Sounds like I got you started on the banana.
Speaker 2: I mean, my whole world is upside down. But back
Speaker 2: to eels. While there are multiple types of fish that
Speaker 2: can produce electric charges, did you know that freshwater fish
Speaker 2: like the electric eel, typically produce electricity at a higher
Speaker 2: voltage And it's because they don't have the advantage of
Speaker 2: salt water, which conducts electricity more effectively. So an electric
Speaker 2: eel puts out an insanely strong shock, it's like six
Speaker 2: hundred volts.
Speaker 1: That is crazy.
Speaker 3: So to put that in perspective, Atlantic torpedo rays can
Speaker 3: generate shocks of over two hundred volts, which is enough
Speaker 3: to power your microwave at home.
Speaker 1: So six hundred volts, that's three microwave.
Speaker 2: This is such a dumb tangent. But I read this
Speaker 2: profile on Scott Adams, the guy who created Dilbert, and
Speaker 2: he has three microwaves in his kitchen, stacked on top
Speaker 2: of one another, and when the writer asked him why,
Speaker 2: he said he needs them to make a lot of popcorn.
Speaker 2: At the same time, he could power all of that
Speaker 2: with a single eel.
Speaker 3: I want to confess that you'd shared that fact with
Speaker 3: me a week or so ago, and I actually set
Speaker 3: that up because I knew this was the perfect three
Speaker 3: microwave fact.
Speaker 1: So back to the knife fish.
Speaker 3: So we're taking the platypus bill, the shark gel, the
Speaker 3: electric eel's ability to shock the snot out of something.
Speaker 3: Maybe we keep that in our super animal's power pack.
Speaker 1: I don't know. So I think we're off to a
Speaker 1: strong start.
Speaker 2: Definitely, but we're not done with our supercharged powers. That
Speaker 2: may cover our electric powers, but we also need the
Speaker 2: ability to harness the powers of Earth's magnetic field. Have
Speaker 2: you ever wondered how some animals travel such crazy long
Speaker 2: distances but managed to get where they're going with such accuracy?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've always been baffled by this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, me too.
Speaker 2: And before smartphones, I used to get lost all the time.
Speaker 2: Like I felt like every time I tried to navigate
Speaker 2: my mom anywhere, we'd end up in Scranton and we
Speaker 2: were never going to Scranton.
Speaker 1: Is anyone ever going to Scranton?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So it turns out several animals and evolved to
Speaker 2: detect Earth's magnetic field and then use it to navigate,
Speaker 2: Like birds are the most obvious with migrations, but think
Speaker 2: about creatures like the monarch butterfly, and then there are
Speaker 2: several species of fish, turtles, and plenty of others, all
Speaker 2: using their internal compasses to determine where they're going. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I think it's funny that even animals that don't
Speaker 3: travel long distances, like cows, will frequently be found standing
Speaker 3: north to south, and that termites orient their mounds in
Speaker 3: the same way. It's really bizarre, and it's funny when
Speaker 3: you look at something like the monarch butterfly, which has
Speaker 3: a brain smaller than the head of a pin. It's
Speaker 3: still equipped with an internal compass and timekeeper. Actually, you
Speaker 3: know what the strangest thing I learned researching this. Some
Speaker 3: scientists think that many bird species are even capable of
Speaker 3: seeing the Earth's magnetic field.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad you mentioned birds, because there's actually a
Speaker 2: migrating bird that I think we should use for where
Speaker 2: we get our magnetic field detection sends from.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, which bird is that?
Speaker 2: Well, there are lots of birds that make really impressive
Speaker 2: flights each year, but I'm thinking of the bar tailed godwit.
Speaker 3: So I have to admit I don't know anything about
Speaker 3: the bar tailed godwit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it takes a big man, I'd admit that.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, But listen to this.
Speaker 2: The godwit actually flies from Alaska to New Zealand every
Speaker 2: single year.
Speaker 1: Alaska to New Zealand. That is not possible.
Speaker 2: Well believe it. The trip is over seven thousand miles long,
Speaker 2: or since we're measuring things in microwaves, that's about fourteen
Speaker 2: point eight billion microwaves. Been.
Speaker 1: That's good science right there.
Speaker 2: It's the longest NonStop flight observed among birds. So that
Speaker 2: is such a crazy long trip.
Speaker 1: I just can't even wrap my head around that.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, this is definitely the bird we want to
Speaker 3: borrow magnetic detection powers from.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad we agree on that. So anything else
Speaker 2: before we get to things like the best weapons and
Speaker 2: the scariest features and immortality.
Speaker 3: Well, I think we should probably create an animal that
Speaker 3: has the ability to sense when danger is nearby or
Speaker 3: something's going on around it, like a spider sense exactly.
Speaker 3: So spiders have this amazingly fine tuned sense of touch
Speaker 3: that helps them know what's happening all over their web.
Speaker 3: So when something, even a tiny something, touches the web,
Speaker 3: a single hair on that spider could detect the smallest vibration.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: There's even a a certain type of vibration that allows
Speaker 2: a female spider to know that a suitor has arrived,
Speaker 2: and she can send a certain jiggle back to him
Speaker 2: to let him know it's time for one of those
Speaker 2: upside down spider kisses, you know, like from the Toby
Speaker 2: Maguire Kirsten Dunt's version of Spider Man.
Speaker 1: The jiggle.
Speaker 3: I like that, So I think I want to put
Speaker 3: in a vote for a different creature for best spidy sense,
Speaker 3: even though it's not a spider.
Speaker 1: And what's that the alligator?
Speaker 3: So this is something I didn't know before reading up
Speaker 3: for this episode, but alligators have these tiny black dots
Speaker 3: all over their faces and especially around their jaws.
Speaker 1: And really only in the past couple.
Speaker 3: Decades of researchers started to better understand what these things are.
Speaker 1: They're these little receptors.
Speaker 3: That helped the alligator sense movement from the other things
Speaker 3: in the water.
Speaker 2: That's so crazy. I always assume that they were just
Speaker 2: freckles or blemishes, but now that you mention it, with
Speaker 2: those receptors being around the jaw, it kind of explains
Speaker 2: why we see alligators floating with just a little of
Speaker 2: their mouths above the water.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 3: So these receptors help them detect even the smallest disturbances
Speaker 3: in the water, and they also help the alligator know
Speaker 3: where the serviances came from.
Speaker 2: That's so weird. So today's episode of Part Time Genius
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Speaker 3: While you're processing just how crazy alligator receptors are, why
Speaker 3: don't we take a break for a quiz? So our
Speaker 3: guest today is the host of one of our favorite
Speaker 3: YouTube channel, the Brain Scoop, which is hosted at the
Speaker 3: Field Museum in Chicago, and it just made too much
Speaker 3: sense to have her on today because she's taught us
Speaker 3: so much about crazy cool animals.
Speaker 1: Emily Grassley, Welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 5: Hey, thank you for having me so.
Speaker 3: Emily, I think you have one of my favorite job titles.
Speaker 3: You're the Chief Curiosity Correspondent at the Field Museum, which
Speaker 3: kind of sounds like you just get to sit around
Speaker 3: and ponder things.
Speaker 1: So what exactly does this mean?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so, you know, I love my job title, and
Speaker 5: it's my primary role at the museum. Of course, is
Speaker 5: you know, writing and producing and hosting these educational YouTube
Speaker 5: videos about natural history and the work and research of
Speaker 5: the Field Museum. But really, you know, it is kind
Speaker 5: of my job to hunt around the museum and find
Speaker 5: topical stories of interest and to help shape those science
Speaker 5: stories in any kind of way that I can, so
Speaker 5: I do a lot of public speaking and a lot
Speaker 5: of outreach and a lot of community engagement type things for.
Speaker 6: The Field Museum.
Speaker 5: And yeah, I mean I'm usually they're corresponding to my curiosities.
Speaker 2: Which is so great. So this episode we're combining the
Speaker 2: real abilities of real animals to build this ultimate animal superhero.
Speaker 2: And we wanted to hear if you have any favorite
Speaker 2: animal skills or talents that you could tell us about.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, so many. I mean, you know, like
Speaker 5: our humans, our real strong ability is our brain, right
Speaker 5: like it, we're actually pretty limited in like physical prowess,
Speaker 5: just innately. Of course, I'm not like talking about you know,
Speaker 5: Olympic athletes, but the one good physical trait is that
Speaker 5: being bipedal and with the respiratory system that we have,
Speaker 5: we can run really long distances, right, Like we can
Speaker 5: outrun almost any animal and endurance wise.
Speaker 3: But that's not always got coaches.
Speaker 5: But you know, like we can't breathe underwater without creating
Speaker 5: systems to accommodate that. We can't fly without creating systems
Speaker 5: and machines to accommodate that. So I think it's just like,
Speaker 5: look at any environment of the natural world, and it
Speaker 5: has been colonized through evolutionary adaptation for some organism to
Speaker 5: thrive no matter what it is. Like the most hostile
Speaker 5: environment I'm talking about like deep sea hydrothermal vent, there's
Speaker 5: still life down there. So when you're talking about like
Speaker 5: cool animal adaptations, it's like you could really like combine
Speaker 5: them all and you would have something that can you know,
Speaker 5: exist at high altitude to be able to fly, breathe underwater.
Speaker 5: It would be an extreme aphile, something that could live
Speaker 5: in a hydrothermal vent area. It would be able to
Speaker 5: eat almost anything, digest anything around it, live forever. You know.
Speaker 5: Like there's just like so many cool different animal adaptations.
Speaker 5: I don't know if I could pick one.
Speaker 3: I think I think she's gonna I think she's gonna
Speaker 3: like this this episode.
Speaker 2: Are there any favorite animals that you've been studying recently?
Speaker 5: There are just a group that I just learned about
Speaker 5: that is blowing my mind. These are called uh solifuges
Speaker 5: or camel spiders, and they're are racknets. They're not spiders,
Speaker 5: but they are iraknids. They're in that group. They're they're
Speaker 5: not scorpions, they're not spiders, but I was recently talking
Speaker 5: to an expert who works on this group describing new species,
Speaker 5: and she described them herself as the spawn of Satan.
Speaker 5: Look it's because how you know, really how they look.
Speaker 5: So they're they're pretty small. Actually, they're you know, six
Speaker 5: to eight inches. They're not huge, but they have these huge,
Speaker 5: fleshy like maggot like aftomens. But these things can run
Speaker 5: super fast, and they're nocturnal, so they are only active
Speaker 5: at night, and they're usually found in desert like environments,
Speaker 5: so if they're active in the day, they don't want
Speaker 5: to be in the sun, and so they will chase
Speaker 5: after people, not because they want to like attack the person.
Speaker 5: They're like chasing you for your shadow. So people will
Speaker 5: see these and they'll see.
Speaker 2: It coming at them.
Speaker 5: And they'll try to run away and it'll just keep
Speaker 5: coming and they're like, what does this try to do?
Speaker 5: But they also have their jaws are super interesting. It's
Speaker 5: like two lobster claws on the front of their face
Speaker 5: and they independently move. So like, these things are pretty
Speaker 5: pretty amazing. They're pretty terrifying, and they're just really cool
Speaker 5: little creatures.
Speaker 3: I think we should have included this in the episode
Speaker 3: I'm glad you've added this to it.
Speaker 1: This is this will be good superpowers to add to it.
Speaker 2: So back in April, you were the keynote speaker at
Speaker 2: the March for Science in Chicago, and we were just
Speaker 2: curious what that experience was, Like, Oh.
Speaker 5: My gosh, one of the most simultaneously like gratifying and
Speaker 5: terrifying experiences in my life. Yeah, you know, because like
Speaker 5: I I'd never obviously been in front of that many
Speaker 5: people before. You know, I do public speaking, but it's
Speaker 5: just like bite sized doses, right, It's like it's a
Speaker 5: college class here in a science communications event there. And
Speaker 5: I don't think before then I'd ever really talked to
Speaker 5: more than a thousand people. And that's a pretty big audience.
Speaker 5: But there were more people at the March for Science
Speaker 5: in Chicago than in the town that I grew up in. Wow,
Speaker 5: you know, like a larger population in a couple square
Speaker 5: blocks city blocks than in rapid city South Dakota. And
Speaker 5: so to stand up there and to deliver this speech
Speaker 5: that I felt pretty emotional about about taking ownership and
Speaker 5: pursuing curiosity, and then for the audience to just be
Speaker 5: so warm and so receptive and like you can hear
Speaker 5: a pin drop?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 2: I mean, there wasn't.
Speaker 5: There wasn't like heckling or you know. It was just
Speaker 5: like such a warm, inviting environment. I found it to
Speaker 5: be really inspiring personally to see so many people there.
Speaker 2: In support of science. It was it was awesome.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 3: Well, something almost as inspiring, I think, is this quiz
Speaker 3: that you're about to play with us so awesome. We
Speaker 3: appreciate having you on. So what's the quiz we're going
Speaker 3: to be playing today?
Speaker 1: Mango?
Speaker 2: Because Emily knows too much about real animals, we thought
Speaker 2: we'd give her one about fictional animals. So this one's
Speaker 2: abouttional bears.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 3: So all the answers have the word bear in it,
Speaker 3: and we're trying to get Emily to say as many
Speaker 3: correct fictional bear names in thirty seconds as possible.
Speaker 1: Emily, are you ready?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, I guess we're gonna prompt you.
Speaker 2: Yes, don't worry, I'll tell you.
Speaker 3: We'll give you a clue and you have to tell
Speaker 3: us the name. So Mango, you got the time?
Speaker 1: Are ready? All right? Here we go.
Speaker 3: Number one Bear who's good at putting out forest fires.
Speaker 2: Bear?
Speaker 3: That's right, Bear, who hangs with Christopher Robin and eats
Speaker 3: lots of honey. Who Bear Bear, known for stealing picnic baskets? Bear,
Speaker 3: comedian Bear from the Muppets. His catchphrase is waka waka.
Speaker 5: Oh oh jeez, I know him. I can't think of
Speaker 5: this one.
Speaker 3: That's Okay Bear who hails from Darkest Peru and loves marmalade.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, I have no clue.
Speaker 3: That would be Paddington all right, sidekick to picnic baskets stealing.
Speaker 1: But she did pretty well.
Speaker 3: And I think she probably knew Fozzy right, the comedian
Speaker 3: bear from the Muppets.
Speaker 1: I think we should. Probably it was in your brain.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't there right now.
Speaker 5: So yes, I was thinking of snuffle up again, and
Speaker 5: that's not a bear. I know what scientific order you
Speaker 5: would put that one in.
Speaker 3: Speaking of animals with superpowers. Yeah, So, how did Emily
Speaker 3: do today? Mango?
Speaker 2: Emily got four right, which wins her the grand prize
Speaker 2: of our Endless Admiration.
Speaker 1: Oh congratulations that yes, absolutely well.
Speaker 3: Everybody should be sure to check out Emily's delightful YouTube show,
Speaker 3: The Brain Scoop. Emily Grassley, thanks so much for joining
Speaker 3: us on part time genius.
Speaker 5: Oh, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to.
Speaker 3: Part time Genus or PTG, as I hear people are
Speaker 3: starting to call it. So, we're talking about creating the
Speaker 3: ultimate animal superhero using actual traits and abilities of real animals. Now,
Speaker 3: so far of this animal is part platypus for its
Speaker 3: forty thousand electro sensors, part electric eel for its crazy
Speaker 3: high voltage shock, part bar tailed godwould which I did
Speaker 3: not know about, for its ability to see the Earth's
Speaker 3: magnetic field and it's insanely long annual migration, and part
Speaker 3: alligator for its thousands of tiny pressure receptors which give
Speaker 3: the sort of a spidy sense of what's happening around it.
Speaker 2: I have such a clear picture of this hybrid animal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're doing a good job so far,
Speaker 3: but our creation definitely needs some more amazing abilities.
Speaker 1: So what do you think we should add next?
Speaker 2: Maybe we should sprinkle in some xtra vision.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, that would definitely be cool, But we're
Speaker 3: talking about real animal traits here.
Speaker 1: You can't just say stuff that sounds cool.
Speaker 2: I know, and I know what I'm about to say
Speaker 2: isn't technically X ray vision. But dolphins have this thing
Speaker 2: that's about as close to it you can get with
Speaker 2: their echolocation system.
Speaker 3: Okay, right, right, So when an animal uses echolocation, they're
Speaker 3: sending out pulses of sound and then the sound bounces
Speaker 3: back as an echo. They use that information to understand
Speaker 3: the objects around them exactly.
Speaker 2: But dolphins are insanely good at this. Like in ratsing
Speaker 2: mice giggle. The authors describe this ability. Let me just
Speaker 2: read this paragraph for you. Dolphins are able to discriminate
Speaker 2: between two metal discs placed in front of them, in
Speaker 2: which the only difference is the texture on the surface
Speaker 2: of the backside, the sign opposite to the surface that
Speaker 2: the dolphin is scanning with its echolocation pulse. Disability to
Speaker 2: detect internal structure is simply mind boggling. It's more like
Speaker 2: Superman's X ray vision underwater. In fact, an echolocating dolphin
Speaker 2: can detect a one inch object from over two hundred
Speaker 2: feet away.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, yeah, that really is crazy. So we need
Speaker 3: some dolphin X ray vision for sure. And I want
Speaker 3: to apologize for doubting you on that one.
Speaker 2: Hey I doubted it too, but now I'm a believer. Good, Okay,
Speaker 2: So what trait do you want to add? Next.
Speaker 3: All right, So no doubt when we create our animal
Speaker 3: superhero and it decides to say of the day, despite
Speaker 3: all its other crazy abilities, it'll probably face injury from
Speaker 3: time to time. So I think we need the ability
Speaker 3: to regenerate post injury. So when I say regeneration, what
Speaker 3: animal comes to mind?
Speaker 2: The starfish, of course. I mean they can regrow pretty
Speaker 2: significant chunks of their body.
Speaker 3: Yep, that's one of the things that always comes to mind,
Speaker 3: and it's obviously moderately impressive, but it's not the one
Speaker 3: I'm thinking of.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about the salamander.
Speaker 2: What just because they can regrow their tails.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's even more than that.
Speaker 3: Not only are they capable of regenerating their tails and
Speaker 3: their retinas and intestines.
Speaker 2: What they can regrow their intestines.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's so much more impressive than that. So
Speaker 3: when neuroscientists removed a salamander's brain, ground it up, and
Speaker 3: then return it to its normal spot in the brain cavity,
Speaker 3: the salamander is able to return to pretty normal function
Speaker 3: and relatively short order.
Speaker 2: Good god, I mean, first of all, what the hell scientists? Okay,
Speaker 2: that doesn't seem like it should be an experiment, and.
Speaker 3: Also what again, I know it's crazy, and so it's
Speaker 3: weird to imagine scientists just the sitting around deciding, like,
Speaker 3: you know, what I want to do with the new
Speaker 3: office blender.
Speaker 1: So it's pretty gross.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, well, I guess the ability to regrow
Speaker 2: brain is way better for a superhero animal than having
Speaker 2: to wear a helmet. But staying on the gross track,
Speaker 2: I'd like our critter to be able to look and
Speaker 2: act scary, to hopefully avoid real battle whenever possible, and
Speaker 2: you know, just get the job done with intimidation. And
Speaker 2: I've got two really good ones for this, the kind
Speaker 2: of scare tactics that'll leave a foe saying Okay, this
Speaker 2: superhero is clearly not stable, so I think I'll just
Speaker 2: move on, all right. I can't wait to hear these.
Speaker 2: So the first is the hairy frog. First, I just
Speaker 2: like the name hairy frog. But you know what it
Speaker 2: does when it feels like it's in dangers that it
Speaker 2: breaks its own bones, which then stick through its skin
Speaker 2: making claws. Oh, I mean, this is like Wolverine, but
Speaker 2: so much more insane.
Speaker 3: Good God, that's definitely crazy. I mean it seems like
Speaker 3: that should do the trick right there. But I guess
Speaker 3: go ahead and tell me the other one.
Speaker 2: The other one also has a great name, the Texas
Speaker 2: horned lizard. Nice, and it's just as crazy. So if
Speaker 2: one of these feels threatened, it can actually shoot this
Speaker 2: tight stream of blood right out of its eye. Oh
Speaker 2: and we're not talking just a little squirt, We're talking
Speaker 2: more than six feet And the blood contains this chemical
Speaker 2: that has this horrible taste which makes predators just want
Speaker 2: to get out of there. It's called auto hemorrhaging. By
Speaker 2: the way, Wow, those are both so gross.
Speaker 1: Swell done on that.
Speaker 3: So the hairy frog and the Texas horned lizard, and
Speaker 3: both of those seem like really necessary skills, I have
Speaker 3: to say, though, hopefully they don't.
Speaker 1: Have to be put to use that often.
Speaker 3: So you know something we need to keep in mind though,
Speaker 3: is that all the popular superhero movies always show the
Speaker 3: hero as a good lover too, right, So we need
Speaker 3: to make sure that.
Speaker 1: Our creation knows how to woo its lover.
Speaker 2: That's a pretty good point. We definitely want our hero
Speaker 2: to have a healthy dating life. So what animal are
Speaker 2: you thinking about?
Speaker 3: Well, it just so happens I have the perfect creature,
Speaker 3: and it also happens to be the loudest animal on earth,
Speaker 3: at least relative to its size.
Speaker 2: Well that doesn't sound that sexy.
Speaker 1: Oh just wait, So have you ever heard of the
Speaker 1: water boatman?
Speaker 2: Never?
Speaker 1: Well, the water boatman also known as the singing penis bugs.
Speaker 2: I definitely haven't heard of that. I'm pretty sure I
Speaker 2: would have remember that name.
Speaker 1: Well, let me introduce it to you.
Speaker 3: So this little critter just hangs out at the bottom
Speaker 3: of the river and produces a love song that's as
Speaker 3: loud as an orchestra. We're talking one hundred decibels and
Speaker 3: this thing is only about the size of a grain
Speaker 3: of rice.
Speaker 2: Oh wait, it's penises. I don't understand why it's called
Speaker 2: a penis bug.
Speaker 1: Mango quit saying penis so much.
Speaker 3: But it's called that because the water boatman sings by
Speaker 3: rubbing its penis along its abdomen, you know, the old
Speaker 3: washboard ab move. And it's so loud that you can
Speaker 3: hear this from the bank of a river. So think
Speaker 3: about how loud that has to be. You know, when
Speaker 3: you used to go underwater as a kid and scream
Speaker 3: things to see if another person could hear what you
Speaker 3: were saying, well, screaming at the top of your lungs,
Speaker 3: you couldn't possibly get someone standing outside the water to
Speaker 3: hear you.
Speaker 1: It's that loud.
Speaker 2: Ah, I need a minute to recover. Maybe you should
Speaker 2: break for a quiz.
Speaker 1: I agree, so Mango.
Speaker 3: I know our show today is about creating the ultimate
Speaker 3: animal superhero, combining the real abilities of lots of different animals.
Speaker 3: But for today's quiz, I thought we'd talked to two
Speaker 3: people who handle a wonderful animal that really doesn't need
Speaker 3: much improvement.
Speaker 1: Dogs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got two incredible dog handlers on the line.
Speaker 2: We've got Julie from New York City and Mark culling
Speaker 2: in from Alexandria, Virginia.
Speaker 3: So Julie, let's start with you. We're thrilled to have
Speaker 3: you on. I know you're a very serious dog walker
Speaker 3: in the city, and I'm curious to know, like, what's
Speaker 3: been the most bizarre experience for you as a dog
Speaker 3: walker in New York City.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a great time being a dog walker in
Speaker 4: New York City and there's lots of stories, but one
Speaker 4: that comes to mind is it's really hard to get
Speaker 4: an uber or taxi with a dog during rush hours.
Speaker 6: And it was instead of one.
Speaker 4: Winter one time, and all the ubers and taxis were stopping,
Speaker 4: but then they would see I had a French bulldog
Speaker 4: with me, and they would say, no, I don't take
Speaker 4: dogs in my car. So finally, after a half hour
Speaker 4: in the freezing cold standing outside, we finally got an
Speaker 4: uber that would take us. And I was just like, oh,
Speaker 4: thank goodness, I'm freezing, the dog's cold, blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: And we're on our merry way to go back to
Speaker 4: Brooklyn to dog sit him, and the dog starts to
Speaker 4: fart like crazy, and he's like rolling down the windows
Speaker 4: to kind of air out the car and just realize
Speaker 4: the driver doesn't realize it, and of course he realizes it,
Speaker 4: and he just kind of is so dramatic, like like
Speaker 4: poles over in the middle of Manhattan and just yells
Speaker 4: at me and he's like, get out of my car,
Speaker 4: get out, And I was like, oh no, And I'm
Speaker 4: just looking at Joey the French bulldog like Buddy Joey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Joey's always causing problems like that.
Speaker 1: That's pretty great. Oh wow, Well, Mark, what about what
Speaker 1: about for you?
Speaker 3: I know you're in the DC area. Have there been
Speaker 3: any any big surprises for you as you've as you've
Speaker 3: become a dog walker.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know. I'm originally from so I'm more of
Speaker 6: a Midwestern guy. When I first moved down here, I
Speaker 6: was just blown away by the amount of strollers, the
Speaker 6: amount of dogs and strollers tonight on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: The dogs actually live in a good life.
Speaker 6: And we're all we're all out here trying to work,
Speaker 6: but we should all just be little, tiny dogs and strollers.
Speaker 1: It's not a bad life, all right. Well, thank you
Speaker 1: guys again for joining us today. Mango, what game do
Speaker 1: we have them playing today?
Speaker 2: So this is a really stupid game. It's called the
Speaker 2: Most Powerful Quiz Ever. And basically we used Atlas Obscure
Speaker 2: to locate some very punny dog store names across the
Speaker 2: US and turn them into quiz answers.
Speaker 3: All right, We'll sure there are lots of wonderful places
Speaker 3: given punny names like Citizen K nine and Howl to
Speaker 3: the Chief. So we're going to give you some clues
Speaker 3: to figure these out and see how many you can get, right, So,
Speaker 3: are you guys ready? Oh yeah, all right, So Julie,
Speaker 3: I'm going to start with you, and if you don't
Speaker 3: know the answer, you can throw it to Mark. Remember,
Speaker 3: you guys can work together. So here's the first one.
Speaker 2: You got it.
Speaker 3: Store pund that combines the movie about Darth and her
Speaker 3: friends trying to get to the Emerald City plus a
Speaker 3: word for a dog's feet one for one. Okay, well done,
Speaker 3: here we go. Question number two, This one's for you, Mark,
Speaker 3: all right. Store pun that combines another word for wolf
Speaker 3: with a pink Floyd album title.
Speaker 6: Oh, okay, bark Side of the Moon.
Speaker 2: Yes, Bark Side of the Moon's located in Chicago.
Speaker 3: These guys are so smart. I thought these were going
Speaker 3: to okay all right. Question number three, This one's coming
Speaker 3: to you, Julie.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: Store pun that combines what a dog will do at
Speaker 3: the Moon plus a popular and affordable hotel chain. So
Speaker 3: what a dog will do at the moon plus a
Speaker 3: popular and affordable hotel chain.
Speaker 1: This is a hard one.
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, plan at the Oh gosh, Pal, I
Speaker 4: can't even think of I'm blanking on hotel chains.
Speaker 1: That's all right, Mark, idea to you.
Speaker 6: I'm trying to think myself. You want the rich, the rich? Howelton,
Speaker 6: But you said it was affordable.
Speaker 3: We were looking for holiday and I think they deserve
Speaker 3: a bonus point for that one.
Speaker 2: Well done. Okay.
Speaker 1: Question number four, We're coming back to you, Mark. Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. Doggie Daycare. That's named for the author
Speaker 1: of To the Lighthouse.
Speaker 3: Although her last name is replaced with a word for bark,
Speaker 3: her first name is the state that you live.
Speaker 6: In, Virginia. It's got to be Virginia.
Speaker 1: I hope, yep.
Speaker 6: I'm going to toss this one back to Jewels here.
Speaker 6: You know, I don't really yes, so Virginia.
Speaker 1: Say that again.
Speaker 6: Virginia woo, yes, Virginia Wolf.
Speaker 1: Here we go. Last question. You guys can this is real.
Speaker 3: This is terrible, So you guys can work together if
Speaker 3: anybody knows this one?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Question number five, last one.
Speaker 3: This pet Styling Place has not one, but two puns
Speaker 3: in its title. The first part of the name combines
Speaker 3: a Harrison Ford archaeologist character with a thing dogs like
Speaker 3: to chew on, and the second part refers to a
Speaker 3: holy place he visits in the second movie, combined with
Speaker 3: another word for styling.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, mango. This is horrible. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: so let's see if we can figure out the character's name.
Speaker 6: So it's a hat it.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's hear it.
Speaker 6: I feel I feel pretty good about it. I'm fairly
Speaker 6: certain you're you're hinting at Indiana Bones and the Temple
Speaker 6: of Groom.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: That is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: And there's one located in Semi Valley, California.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is so impressive. Let's let's let's tell him
Speaker 1: what they've won, Mango.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Julian Mark combined for a total of five points,
Speaker 2: which wins them handredden notes to their mom or boss
Speaker 2: from us singing their praises. And this week we're also
Speaker 2: going to send you a Mister Tuniverse qew doll, which
Speaker 2: is the world's squeakiest strong man doll from BarkBox.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations guys, and thank you guys.
Speaker 2: So much for being on Part time Genius.
Speaker 6: Thank you, thank you both.
Speaker 3: Okay, so, before the quiz, we had just added some
Speaker 3: pretty incredible skills to our superhero animal. I mean, the
Speaker 3: ability to scare predators with the powers of the Hairy
Speaker 3: Frog and the Texas Horn Lizard while having the serenading
Speaker 3: skills of the water Boatman. Those make a pretty unbeatable combination.
Speaker 3: But we need to bring it all together with a
Speaker 3: few other amazing qualities.
Speaker 1: We've gotta have a good weapon, not.
Speaker 2: Just any weapons, the kind that makes our foes say
Speaker 2: do what?
Speaker 1: Wait, we want them to say do what.
Speaker 2: That means they're super surprised and confused and possibly scared.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, all right, well let's talk about something that
Speaker 3: could make a foe say do what?
Speaker 1: So what weapon do you think we should add?
Speaker 2: Well, do you know about the pistol shrimp.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good one, so tell me more so.
Speaker 2: An article from Wired called pistol shrimp the greatest real
Speaker 2: life gun slingers, And that's because they have the ability
Speaker 2: to shoot these bubble bullets out of a huge claw.
Speaker 2: And it's loud too. So if you consider that the
Speaker 2: average gun produces a shot that's about one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty decibels, well, this shrimp fires at an insanely lowed
Speaker 2: two hundred ten decibels.
Speaker 1: Holy cow, how does that happen?
Speaker 2: Well, they have two claws, but as I mentioned, one
Speaker 2: of them is enormous, up to half their body length.
Speaker 2: And inside the bigger claw is this crazy muscle system
Speaker 2: that builds tension and when its closer muscle contracts a
Speaker 2: tiny plunger slams down into the socket of this claw,
Speaker 2: and that's when the magic happens, Like water comes jetting
Speaker 2: out at over one hundred miles per hour.
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And in this explosion, these water bubbles swell and
Speaker 2: then collapse, and that's where the sound comes from. But
Speaker 2: what's crazier than the sound is that the collapsing of
Speaker 2: theb it creates temperatures of eight thousand degrees fahrenheit.
Speaker 1: Wow. I didn't know that, but that is incredible.
Speaker 3: So I was going to put a vote in for
Speaker 3: the bullet ant, which is also a pretty incredible creature.
Speaker 3: So according to entomologist Justin Schmidt, who's been bitten by
Speaker 3: over one hundred and fifty venomous animals, one hundred.
Speaker 1: And fifty, I don't want to be anywhere near this guy.
Speaker 3: So this thing is so bad that it feels like
Speaker 3: you've been shot by a gun. So Schmidt called it
Speaker 3: the worst pain known to man. But for sheer coolness,
Speaker 3: it's pretty tough to argue with a water bullet shot
Speaker 3: from a claw that blast temperatures of eight thousand degrees.
Speaker 1: So we'll go with that one.
Speaker 3: But I would just add that the fearlessness of the
Speaker 3: honey badger is something that we should probably consider as well.
Speaker 3: It's an animal that I feel like has gotten a
Speaker 3: lot of attention in the past decade or so, but
Speaker 3: for good reason. So the Guinness Book described the savannah
Speaker 3: dwelling relative of the weasel as the world's most fearless animal,
Speaker 3: and in an Esquire article I was reading, I saw
Speaker 3: them described as a tiny skunk or from the front,
Speaker 3: like a tiny bear wearing an old man's two pey.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know that sounds kind of funny, but
Speaker 3: these things have been witness chasing off lions and eating cobras.
Speaker 1: They're not afraid of anything.
Speaker 2: I mean, you kind of have to be fearless to
Speaker 2: pull off a tupey in the savannah.
Speaker 1: That's a good point.
Speaker 3: Also, can I just point out that the description sounds
Speaker 3: like a bad definition of a mullet two pay in
Speaker 3: the front, tiny skunk in the back. So perhaps we
Speaker 3: need a little more self control than the honey badger.
Speaker 3: But when aggression is necessary, you definitely don't want to
Speaker 3: mess with this one.
Speaker 2: Okay, agreed? And also, I really do love that this
Speaker 2: fearsome creature of ours is going to wear a two.
Speaker 1: Pegs me too.
Speaker 2: But finally, I feel like we need to wrap up
Speaker 2: with near immortality, like we need to know this creature
Speaker 2: is built to be indestructible. We talked about naked mule
Speaker 2: rats at the beginning of the show, but who else
Speaker 2: do you think we should consider? Well, naked mole rats
Speaker 2: are definitely a good one.
Speaker 3: I think I might prefer the scarlet jellyfish, though now
Speaker 3: I know we talked about regeneration earlier with the salamander,
Speaker 3: but scarlet jellyfish do something a bit different that's equally amazing.
Speaker 3: Chin Kubata researcher at the Caido Marine Biological Laboratory at
Speaker 3: Kyoto University. He's been studying these creatures for nearly four decades,
Speaker 3: and he describes them as being nearly immortal because, as
Speaker 3: he says, they rejuvenate.
Speaker 2: They rejuvenate, Like what's that mean?
Speaker 3: Well, as Kubata describes, one day on my plankton net,
Speaker 3: there was a small scarlet jellyfish from the south. It
Speaker 3: had all these sharp sticks in its body, and I thought,
Speaker 3: poor thing. Removed all the sticks, hoping maybe it would
Speaker 3: get better and swim again, but it didn't and it shrunk.
Speaker 1: However, it rejuvenated.
Speaker 2: You just keep saying rejuvenated over but I don't understand
Speaker 2: what's that mean?
Speaker 1: All right, So here's the crazy part.
Speaker 3: What he observed is that when a scarlet jellyfish gets hurt,
Speaker 3: it goes to the ocean floor.
Speaker 1: Then it morphs from its adult.
Speaker 3: State, which is called the medusa, back to an infant
Speaker 3: state or polyp, and the polyp grows back into a
Speaker 3: medusa again.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 2: So it's basically Benjamin buttoning itself into an infant again.
Speaker 3: Well, it's more like it hits the reset button and
Speaker 3: then starts life all over again.
Speaker 1: It's really crazy.
Speaker 3: So Kubata believes there's much more to learn from these
Speaker 3: amazing creatures, and that they may hold the key to
Speaker 3: humans living much longer if we can just figure out
Speaker 3: what's happening that'll allows them to do this.
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but I feel like we've
Speaker 2: created a pretty incredible superhero animal to me too.
Speaker 1: In fact, I want to see this thing.
Speaker 3: So maybe we should challenge our listeners to see if
Speaker 3: anyone's up for drawing it. So let's recap the beautiful
Speaker 3: combo we've put together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's pretty easy. It's part platypus, part electric eel,
Speaker 2: a little shark gel, part bartailed godwit. There's a dash
Speaker 2: of alligator, dolphin and salamander, some harry frog and Texas
Speaker 2: horned lizard. Oh, and it's got the charm of the
Speaker 2: water boatman, the quick draw of the pistol shrimp, the
Speaker 2: aggression of the honey badger, and a reset button of
Speaker 2: a scarlet jellyfish. Easy enough, I feel like I could
Speaker 2: draw that my sleep. Well, you're not. You're not eligible
Speaker 2: for a prize, but any listeners that want to take
Speaker 2: a stab at drawing this thing will be. We'll choose
Speaker 2: the top three drawings and send you a part Time
Speaker 2: Genius shirt, and our top artist will actually get a
Speaker 2: part Time Genius Award and get added to our Hall
Speaker 2: of Genius, our ultimate Honor.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So you can either send your picks to us
Speaker 2: on Facebook, Twitter, or email us at part Time Genius
Speaker 2: at House Stuff Works, And you should also send us
Speaker 2: a message if you feel like we've left out a
Speaker 2: real superpower that just might make this animal even more heroic.
Speaker 1: We can't wait to see what you come up with.
Speaker 2: Well, I can't wait to see what you've come up with,
Speaker 2: because you know what time it.
Speaker 1: Is time for the part time Genius fact off.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's the PTGFO Animal Edition, all right, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to kick this off with a little fact
Speaker 2: about fingernail clan. Okay, did you know that scientists in
Speaker 2: the nineties experimented with giving prozac to clams. No, and
Speaker 2: while it didn't actually make them happier, it did cause
Speaker 2: them to spawn prolifically. By the way, this is a
Speaker 2: total aside, but one of the articles I saw about
Speaker 2: this was titled clam dunk, which makes no sense, but
Speaker 2: it made me laugh.
Speaker 1: Clam duck definitely belongs on a Novelty Beach T shirt.
Speaker 3: So if we're talking about pure strength, one of the
Speaker 3: most incredible creatures on Earth has to be the dung beetle.
Speaker 3: This is a friend you want to call over when
Speaker 3: you're moving because dung beetles can haul up to one
Speaker 3: hundred and forty one times their own body weight. That's
Speaker 3: the most in the animal kingdom, and as the website
Speaker 3: One Kind Planet put it in perspective, that's the equivalent
Speaker 3: of an average person being able to lift.
Speaker 1: Six double deck or buses full of people. Wow.
Speaker 2: Total respect for the dung beetle. So I'm generally not
Speaker 2: that impressed by bird calls, but the superb liar bird
Speaker 2: is something to behold. It's basically like the Michael Winslow
Speaker 2: of birds. And not only will liarbirds imitate other calls,
Speaker 2: but in a National Geographic Wild episode, they showed how
Speaker 2: it can recreate the sound of a camera taking a picture,
Speaker 2: or a chainsaw felling a tree, even a car alarm.
Speaker 2: The bird can basically imitate any sound it's exposed to.
Speaker 3: So we all know cockroaches are gross for a whole
Speaker 3: host of reasons, but here's something amazing about them. They
Speaker 3: have three knees on each of.
Speaker 1: Their six legs.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of knees, right, So it's crazy, But
Speaker 3: that dexterity allows them to make twenty five rotations in
Speaker 3: a second, the most of any animal.
Speaker 2: So this is more of an animal's kryptonite than a superpower.
Speaker 2: But did you know kangaroos can't hop backwards like they
Speaker 2: can swim if they need to, or jump about the
Speaker 2: distance of three times their height, but they'd never be
Speaker 2: able to foxtrot with you.
Speaker 3: Oh that sounds sad but also kind of a funny
Speaker 3: mental image.
Speaker 1: So I think you're gonna be the.
Speaker 3: Winner of today's fact Off, So congratulations.
Speaker 2: I am truly honored.
Speaker 3: That's it for this episode of Part Time Genius. Thanks
Speaker 3: so much for listening.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening to Part Time Genius. Be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe wherever you listen to your.
Speaker 3: Podcast, and because we're a brand new show, if you're
Speaker 3: feeling extra generous, we'd love it if you give us
Speaker 3: a rating on Apple Podcasts. Part Time Genius is produced
Speaker 3: by some of our favorite geniuses. It's edited by Tristan McNeil,
Speaker 3: theme song and audio mixing by Noel Brown. Our executive
Speaker 3: producer is Jerry Roland. Our research team is Gabe Bluesier,
Speaker 3: Lucas Adams, Autumn white Field Madrano, Austin Thompson and Meg Robbins.
Speaker 1: Jason hop Because our chief chair later