WEBVTT - Send in the Exploding Termites 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:13.600 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.400 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:23.000 have you ever become so angry or threatened that you've exploded, 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:30.480 like literally exploded? No? No, no, but you've seen it before, 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.640 at least in cartoons. I've seen it a lot in cartoons, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:39.360 And because my daughter plays Angry Birds and especially the 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.599 Star Wars versions of it, I'm very aware of one 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:47.480 character called Bomb and when enraged, the feather on top 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.680 of its head we'll start to smoke and then it'll 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:56.440 just detonate. Yeah, this is glorious explosion. You know, I 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.040 hadn't really thought about about video games as much going 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.600 into this, but us, there are a lot of exploding 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:06.120 characters in games. Um, little bomb men, I seem to recall, 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.920 and oh, of course, bomber Man. It's all about characters 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.319 getting blown up. But but yeah, there's a lot of 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.240 exploding characters going on in your in your cartoons and 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.480 your video games. Um. One example that always comes to 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.600 my mind in John Carpenter's film Big Troubling Little China. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.600 There's a part when the city of this warrior sorcerer 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.720 named Thunder of the Three Storms, and he discovers that 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.200 his his evil master lo Pan has been slain uh 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:36.000 there in the caverns and chambers of his underground uh stronghold, 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.040 and so he gets so mad that he just puffs 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.840 up and just explodes with anger uh in an attempt 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:43.880 I guess to to take out invaders. But it's a 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.160 you know, it's a gory, kind of goofy moment, but uh, 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.600 it's actually a real thing. It is a real thing, right, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.600 because that was a fictional account, and yet in nature 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.560 we have some very real instances of this happening, which 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.520 kind of leads the whole idea that the truth is 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.840 truly into in fiction. And we've tried in this territory before. 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.320 And I'm thinking about c cucumbers, right, because we said 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.240 that if you ever get in an undersea bar fight 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.560 with a c cucumber, beware because you will probably have 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:15.800 its guts pummeling your face because they're ejected from the 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.799 c cucumbers an us. And if you were to get 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.120 in a fight with say Harry Frog the t robust us, 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.840 well then watch out because they can actually make shifts 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.480 from their own bones, which they puncture their way out. 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.960 The shivs the bones out of the frog's toepads to 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.079 create these claws. Yeah, I mean, you see it this 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:42.440 time and time again. Whatever the weird grotesque body horror 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:45.840 type thing is that we can dream up in our 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.840 fictional world and our pop culture, nature has already evolved 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.080 it to a to a terrifying degree. And uh, and 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:57.520 indeed that's what we see with autopsis, the biological act 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.240 by which an animal, specifically an insect, ruptures their own 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.880 internal glands and organs with enough force to cause their 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:09.000 insights to literally burst out through their exoskeletons. It's a 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:15.000 purely muscular exercise caused by deliberate contractions around in gorged tissue, 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:20.240 and it creates absolute mayhem. Now, it's worth noting the 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.919 insects that practice autithosis do so out of something called 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.960 youth social organizations. So this kind of organization is predicated 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:34.040 on three things. Brood cooperation, overlapping generations within a colony 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.280 of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:43.160 non reproctive reproductive groups. And so these set the conditions 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.960 for this kind of self sacrifice. And the examples that 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.560 we'll talk about today. All right now, before we get 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:54.200 into the exploding eurosocial insects, m I'm just gonna talk 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:58.760 quickly here about chemical weapons in in animals, chemical weapons 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.960 specifically insects in general. Now, number of animals out there 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.640 use chemical weapons against their adversaries. H And as we've 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:10.240 discussed before, a lot of human chemical weapons, also human 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.760 spices and other agents are simply nature's chemical weapons that 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:18.800 we've hijacked for our own ends. Some animals synthesized toxins, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.360 while others extract and modified toxins from their environment or 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.719 their diet. So just looking at insects and arachnets, you know, 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.000 obviously have we have scorpions, we have spiders, we have 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.240 lost but we then we also have some stranger examples here, 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.160 and they're like foam grasshoppers that excrete foul bubbles from 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.440 their armpits. And uh and of course we always have 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.800 to mention the bombardier beetle. And this is the one 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.120 that heats, that sprays a heated exploding acid from its 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.520 anus where it has to two chemicals that is stored 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.599 in separate chambers. Then it fires them into a reaction chamber. Uh, 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.599 and then this is where you have enzymes breaking down 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:01.039 H two O two, releasing free oxygen um to oxygenate 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:06.480 the chemicals, and it just creates this explosive, hot excretion 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.560 that this beautiful chemical weapon to spray right in the 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.080 face of an attacker. When we come to it's it's 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.080 in the social insects, zero social insects. This is where 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.480 we see, uh, the evolution of far more sublime, far 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.479 more terrifying weaponry. Yeah, because foaming armpits, that's that is 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.560 pretty great. That's but that's more like a fireworks display, 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.480 whereas the examples of audi posas are more like the 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.120 fireworks are the exploding of the ones self, right, offering 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:40.240 of oneself as the fireworks displays. So let's meet Borneo's 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:45.040 Campa notice cylindricus. This is one of several ant species 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:50.000 known as the comic caze ants, and Jonathan Neil, An, 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:54.159 Associate professor of entomology at Purdue University and author of 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.520 the textbook Living With Insects, writes on his blog that quote, 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:02.000 when exposed to European ants in the lab, the exploding 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.440 Cappa notice ants would grasp the invader by the leg 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.960 or the antenna, press its body to the head of 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:14.120 the invader and squeeze it's abdomen until the abdomen ruptured, 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:18.960 spilling glue over the eyes and mouth parts of the invader. Aunt. 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:22.880 That is just utterly terrifying. Like I think of any 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.599 grotesque moment in a monster movie that I've seen, and 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.960 I don't think anything comes close to that, Like nothing, 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.400 And I've some thought to this like that, Like nobody really, uh, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.560 I mean, horror horror filmmakers out there, look look to 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.120 the insect world, because there's some there's some stuff here 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.640 that just has not even been plunged. Yeah, it's reminiscent 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.880 of xenomorphs, at least some scenes with xenomorph right, because 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.560 it's got the gluey kind of aspect to it. But 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.640 let's discuss what it might be like to have this 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.520 faithful of yellow goo, which which is the actual term, 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.880 scientific term from the campanas, because it is chalk, a 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:05.960 block with chemical irritants and strong adhesive. So it delivers 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:10.320 this kind of one too punch of chemistry and really 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.560 stops the invading ants and its tracks, right, because if 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.280 your mouth is stuffed full of this glue, you're not 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.520 going to be able and your you know, your your 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.920 arms and your legs or rather just legs, or you're 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:23.680 not gonna be able to do much damage. Right, You're 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:25.840 going to pretty much freeze in your track. Yeah, you've 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:31.200 just been completely incapacitated by this noxious concoction. Yeah. Now, 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:34.400 the camping, Honest, they are pretty touchy. They're known to 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.560 self detonate far from the colony or when lightly touched 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:47.360 with forceps in the lab well, probably completely terrifying some 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.520 giant metal ant coming down at him right in times indeed, 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.760 and researchers positive that the yellow goo initially help the 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.280 ants break down the microbes and microbial byproducts they fed on, 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:03.520 like from one guy, right, But then it evolved into 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.360 this sort of exploding adaptation. And so if you look 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.200 at the mandibular gland in these ants, which are commonly 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.840 used for digestive enzymes in most ant species, you will 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.640 see that it is greatly expanded in campanadas, and the 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.640 glands are so large that they actually extend into the 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.080 abdominal cavity, pretty much filling it. Yeah. I'm reminded a 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:30.240 bit of our episode on the Electric Eel in which 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.920 you have you have tissue that evolved initially for for 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.880 one purpose, uh, namely having to do with the communication 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.600 and sensing, and then as it becomes weaponized, it just 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.480 fills up most of the fish. Yeah, and and you know, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.800 humans don't necessarily have this allthing. You can argue that 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:53.280 some people's uh microbes, get microbes contribute to such a stench. 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:59.320 On the other end, when when releasing platos, that it 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.480 could be a fence mechanism. Yeah, and I guess you 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:05.800 could also make an argument it's kind of like the 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.400 you have, like somebody who's really into karate or something like, 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.480 so their whole life becomes about like just honing their 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:17.560 body and their behavior towards this one offensive, defensive purpose. 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.319 It's kind of like what we see on an evolutionary 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:24.199 scale with some of these examples. All right, let's explore 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.640 termite world. Here. We are talking about some four thousand 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:33.719 termite species, and they exist on every continent except Antarctica. 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.280 But scientists have identified only about half of the ones 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.800 they think that are out there, and most of those 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.800 species common names, and little is really known about their 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.840 biology or behavior. In fact, several years ago, uh DNA 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.199 testing revealed that rather than belonging to their own order. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.880 Termites should be classified as a cockroach family. Huh. And 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.240 that's interesting because you, I mean, I think most people 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:58.800 tend to think of them sort of in the same 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:00.920 camp as an ant, or at least very similar to 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:04.920 the ant, you know, with the social set up royalty 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.880 in place division of labor, right, indeed that the uth 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:13.240 social organization there now. Tracy V. Wilson, you may know 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.840 her from stuff you miss in the history class. She 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.120 actually has a great article called how Termites Work on 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.800 how stuff Works dot com, and she describes them vastly 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.240 quote in a lot of ways, termites are a paradox. 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.880 They're strong enough to eat a house, but their bodies 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:33.120 are soft, delicate, and prone to drying out. Soldiers whose 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.079 sole job is to defend the colony can't even feed themselves. 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.360 Adult termites develop wings so they can leave the colony 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.920 and find a new home, helping the termite population grow. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:46.200 But winged termites are terrible flyers, and most don't survive 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.280 the journey. And yet they do right, and they do 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.880 so as working as as a cooperative unit, and they 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.800 ensure that their nests are moist so that their bodies 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.920 don't dry out, they build shelters protection from the environment, 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.760 including predators, and as they slowly and methodically carry back 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.400 bits of waste and dirt to use as building materials, 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:12.679 they munch on wood for sustenance. Hence a homeowner's terror 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.840 at discovering that they've got termites in their midst. Yeah. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.560 I I highly recommend anyone interested in termites to to 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.679 read Tracy's article because it's a great house stuff works article, 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.840 and it really, I mean, it dives into the complex 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.640 and really beautiful biology of these creatures that we so 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.480 often just dismissed as a mere past. Just like termites. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:35.680 Don't want them, don't want to know about them. But 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.120 they're really kind of lovely in their own way. I 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.280 wish they would need our houses. But they're pretty great. Yes, 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.920 they're lovely, and but they're they're quite formidable. But it 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.280 turns out that they can actually be pretty spectacular on 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.240 an individual level as well. Yes, indeed, because we do 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:56.839 see termites a practice Autopsis um Autopsis evolved independently actually, 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.600 and of course a number of species, and we can 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.720 actually best fathom the evolutionary process by noting the varying 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:09.319 levels of lethality and toxicity in the various examples. According 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:13.439 to the journal Nature, some termites simply defecate on their enemies, 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.080 all right, so it's just a matter of just just 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.400 poop on anything that's that's a threat to you and 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:22.120 the family. But others adapted to shower their enemies with 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.679 filth by squeezing, squeezing their abdominal muscles till the excrement 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.960 bursts out through thin portions of the abdominal wall, so 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.719 that the next level in pooping on your enemies, right, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.840 But the the ultimate in this, the the peak of 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.200 the evolutionary mountain, as we as we thus far can 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:47.720 grasp it, is the termite neo capit Terminis tarracia, and 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:52.480 UH Tarracia stands at the forefront of the Autothis arms 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.480 race UH the species here they grow abdominal sacks of 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:01.280 toxic blue crystals grown throughout their lie and these are 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.959 the chemical weapons that they use to defend the colony. 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.840 That's right. They were discovered in two thousand and twelve 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.240 and French Guiana, where researchers said, hey, what is that 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.480 the kind of blue sack there? And what is making 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.000 it blue? And by the way, it is copper rich 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.240 proteins that give it that blue hue. And so what 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.800 the researchers found is that the older the termite, the 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.960 bigger this kind of backpack or ruck sack that they 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:34.160 carried on their backs of this blue crystal. And there's 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.520 a reason for this, by the way, the older the bigger, 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.000 and we'll get into that, but let's talk about this sack. 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.560 Because these crystals are created by specialized glands located on 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.800 top of the salivary glands, and so during aggressive encounters, 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.520 the termite ruptures its body wall, releasing the contents of 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:56.000 the blue pouch, which mixes with salivary fluid to form 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:01.200 a chemical so toxic that it paralyzes or kills most 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.440 of the invading termites that touch it. So it's it's 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.480 so much more dramatic and effective than just pooping on 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.240 your enemy, right, because this is kind of like taking 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.640 a stick of dynamite to a powder keg and saying, hey, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.960 take that. Yeah, I mean if they just explode into 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.040 blue toxic good, I love it. Yeah. In an interview 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:26.040 with Nature, Olav Repel and evolutionary Biologists says the sophistication 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.880 of this is remarkable. We have never seen an external 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.040 pouch like this before. That adds one substance that needs 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.360 to be mixed with another substance. Now, use the analogy 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.480 of you know, just running out there and touching the 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.600 touching the fire to the dynamite and explodes and explosive 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.800 and dangerous tasks. So so who do you who do you? 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.120 Who do you give this task to? Write? Uh? And 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.080 that's the beauty of this. We mentioned that those the 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.520 toxic blue crystal sacks, they grow throughout the creature's life. 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.760 So by the time the termite is elderly, it has 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:02.240 it has reached maximum blue crystal bloat. And at the 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.440 same time, it's it's it's it's run out of other 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.360 uses in the colony. It's mandibles are dull and useless. Uh, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:10.680 it's not gonna be able to go out there and 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:12.720 really get in the fight. It's not really you know, 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:14.760 going to be able to help out much working around 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.360 the colony. Now it has one purpose, and that is 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.360 to march out there with its bloated, over filled sacks 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:26.680 of explosive goo materials and to indeed explode, yes that's right, 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:32.120 and defend the colony. Right with this kind of suicidal, rupturing. Yeah, 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.480 I mean it's the perfect you know, well often come 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.160 back to to just the the inhuman beauty of the 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.560 insect world, you know, just completely devoid of of of 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.160 most of our our human qualities. There's a line in 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.920 uh from Jeff Goldbloom's character in The Fly where he 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.720 talks about that the absence of insect politics. You don't 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.640 find politics in the insect world. You just find this 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:58.640 this brutal and and just beautiful economy, UH at play 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.520 here where in this case, we have these old termines, 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.200 we have no other use but to go out there 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.040 and explode. And they do it that they do it 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:10.400 perfectly to make sure the survival of the genetic uh 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.800 packets are in place right for future generations. Yeah, it's 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.560 all about the greater good of the colony, not the individual. Yeah. 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.120 So we're gonna we're gonna just talk about exploding toads 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.240 a little bit. This is a this is a slight 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.360 deviation from the topic, but it's a tantalizing mystery that 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.760 involves exploding animals. So I think it's it's totally open, 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:34.040 open game. So back in two thousand five, what you 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.560 had happened is that you had an exploding toad epidemic 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:41.800 in northern Europe. More than a thousand toad corpses were 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:45.040 discovered in a in a pond and an upscaled neighborhood 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:49.800 of Hamburg, Good Germany and over the border in Denmark. Um. 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:51.760 So everyone who was curious what's going on is there's 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.480 this is some disease of the toads. It's causing them 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:59.280 to explode. Uh, is someone exploding our toads? What is happening? Well? 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.000 Frank and whose Mun, a Berlin veterinarian who collected and 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.720 tested specimens at the Hamburg pond, said that it appeared 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:12.240 that clever crows had pecked into the toads with their 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.960 beaks between the amphibian's chest and the abdominal cavity. And 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.719 what happened is that the toad puffed itself up as 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:25.720 a natural defense mechanism. But because these crows had, you know, 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:30.000 effectively removed the liver. Uh, there was a hole in 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.639 the toad's body and the blood vessels and the lungs 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.600 burst and then other organs oozed out, so that the 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.000 toad puffs up as a defensive measure. But the crow 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.240 just reaches in there gets the part at once, even 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.600 the nice juicy bit like a game of operation. And 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.720 then and then the toads left. They're trying to puff 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.520 up and defend itself and instead just splurting its insides 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.600 out through its hole. You know, I'm seeing a future 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:54.919 House to Works article, maybe sort of something like the 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:59.719 Five Unexpected Fates of Toads, because we've also talked about, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.959 well we're talking about frogs raining from the sky because 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:04.840 of water spouts out in the ocean, these sort of 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:09.400 tornadoes in the water. Yeah. Outside of a scientific understanding 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.400 of the world and a skeptical approach to two weird happenings, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.879 you would easily think that the toad is like ground 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.680 zero for the supernatural, like something weird happens. They're gonna 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.360 rain from the sky, They're gonna they're gonna they're gonna 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.040 swell up and explode. Which is which is playing with 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:31.159 our toads as always better than our toes. All right, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.919 so let's you know, we've got a few minutes here. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.320 Let's call the robot over then, and indeed do a 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:41.359 couple of listener mails. Alright, this one comes to us 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.240 from Larry. Larry says I was listening to your episode 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:45.880 on the weight of the soul, and I just wanted 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.800 to make a comment. Now, Professor Gary Nam's theory is 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.000 completely logical if you just have an open mind for 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.840 a minute. That takes us to the heart of my comment. 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.960 It seems that you, guys may be letting your views, 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.679 which seem to be more atheistic and agnostic, get in 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.320 the way of looking at this logically. Whether or not 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.920 your soul goes onto anything after this is beside the point, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.200 the point being that that what you call a soul now, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.800 don't get it caught caught up in the name being 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.480 a religious reference, is just the collection of energy that 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.440 makes up life. Now, having that in mind, Professor Nam 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:21.840 makes all the sense in the world. Thanks guys. I 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.720 love the show and I will always listen. Uh indeed, 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.880 that's you know, Geary Nam's research I did find really 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:33.280 fascinating because he kind of again the difficulty of approaching 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.280 the idea of the soul and trying to study it 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.399 or theorize about it scientifically. He uh, you know, he 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:41.760 over overcomes that to a certain extent, at least in 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:46.040 the in the theoretical uh phase. And and I do 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.680 I do buy a lot of what he's putting out there. 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:50.480 He kind of loses me the more he gets into 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.160 into black holes. But but I like the general approach. 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.720 I see, there's a brilliant thought experiment. But again, the 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.600 problem with it is the problem of science and the 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.840 metaphysical which is is very difficult to get actual data. 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.440 And uh, therein lies the correct of the problem exactly. 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.399 All right, here's another one. This one comes to us 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.240 from Dave. Dave says, you probably don't have time to 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:20.040 reply or maybe even read this and its entirety. Well, well, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.119 we're about to prove you wrong. Uh No. Nevertheless, I 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.320 thought I should send you both a message just to 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.280 let you know how much I love your podcast. I've 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:29.600 been an avid podcast listener for a few years now 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.400 when I stumbled across yours. Until then, I've been listening 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.240 to s g U and The Reality Check. When I 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:36.960 started listening to Stuff to Blew Your Mind, I was 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.480 impressed with the format of the show and the sharing 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.520 of science was done in a fun, never belittling way. 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.479 I really enjoy the rapport between the both of you 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.080 and look forward to my time so I can listen 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:50.640 to a few Stuff to Blew Your Mind episodes. I'm 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.640 currently going through your backlog and I'm about halfway through 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.159 a little more the Seven Deadliest. Anyway, I just felt 0:20:57.680 --> 0:20:59.879 compelled to drop you this message and let you know 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.320 that I really enjoy and appreciate the show and wanted 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.200 to thank you both and everyone else involved for putting 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.720 together such a great show on a regular basis. Thanks. 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.520 Thanks Dave. That's that's very nice. And Seven Deadly's one 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.040 of my favorites. Yeah, that that was a really fun 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.119 series to do, and uh yeah, I would really like 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.080 to uh maybe re explore that material in the future, 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.440 maybe in video form, who knows. Yeah. And also I 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:24.359 want to take this opportunity to tip my hat to 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:28.000 our producer, Noel Brown, to who puts us together every 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.200 week and get us out to you guys. Indeed, we 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.880 couldn't do without no all right. Hey. In the meantime, 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:35.920 you know where to go. Go to Stuff to Blow 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.000 your Mind dot com. That's where you'll find all of 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:41.080 our podcast episodes, videos, blog posts, and be sure to 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:43.520 check out the landing page for this episode if you 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.440 want to find a links to other great content, including 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:49.479 that How Stuff Works article by Tracy Wilson and if 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:51.800 you have exploding thoughts you'd like to share with us, 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:53.960 you can do so by emailing us that blow the 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:58.919 mind at how stuff works dot com. For more on 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.760 this and thousands of their topics, visit how staff works 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:08.080 dot com.