WEBVTT - Organisms: Heavyweight Division 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.640 Works dot com. Hey, wasn't it stuff to blow your mind? 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.320 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Ducla. Julie. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.040 What is the largest organism? Honor? I'm going to cut 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:20.640 you off. It's a blue whale, all right, we can 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:24.360 just go home now, yep, that's it, all right, Hey, 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.639 thanks for listening. Well, okay, most people think it is 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:29.920 the blue whale because it's to be fair, and it 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:33.280 is the largest sea animal, right, yeah, for sure largest 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.040 my mammal by by far larger than any dinosaur that 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.920 we do. We know of two hundred tons blue whale 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.280 an extensive length of a hundred and ten feet, which 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.559 is pretty massive. Um. And you know, just just to 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.159 put that into perspective, two hundred tons is about as 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:55.000 heavy as eight DC nine aircraft or fifteen school buses. 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:58.920 A hundred and ten feet is longer than a basketball court. 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.520 And about one hundred people can fit in a blue 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.280 whale's mouth. On people, you can have a party in 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.119 a blue wheels. You could crawl inside its heart, right, yes, 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.520 you can actually, and that that's not an exaggeration. A 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.280 human could crawl through its major arteries and hang out 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.160 in the heart. I mean, that is that is huge. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.520 What in the world could be bigger than a blue whale. 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.679 Like imagine a blue whale going for a medical check 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.399 up and like, I'm sorry, your your arteries are clogged, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:26.000 and they're like, oh, is it cholestaurant. It's like no, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.320 it's um, it's thirteen year olds. They're just clogged the 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:32.959 kids in your arteries, right. I mean, if you're gonna 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:34.720 eat thirteen year olds, just make sure they're not on 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.520 a diet of potato chips and yeah, and of course 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.640 they don't eat thirteen year old they eat very small creatures. Yeah, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.440 something like you know, millions and gazellions. That's not the 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.720 actual stature, but of krill. Yeah, we've talked about before, 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:50.720 like when you have a super large organism. They are 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.240 essentially crowned atop a throne that sits on a pyramid 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.840 of bones and the various and these bones represent all 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.280 the animals that and and b lower down on the 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:04.280 pyramid the vegetation that has to has to die for 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.160 that animal to live. And the pyramid or blue whale 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.680 is pretty vast because it's all these these these tiny 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:11.920 organisms that it eat at the bottom, at the base 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.000 of the pyramid. Yeah, but it turns up. But there 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.000 there is an organism much much larger than a blue whale, 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.200 and it's pyramid of destruction is really spread out for 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:26.120 you know, thousands and thousands of acres. Wow, now I'm excited. 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:27.920 What could this possibly be? Is it is it's some 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.680 sort of even larger whale. Is it a super whale, 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.760 like a godzilla, well, a kin cong whale. I don't know. 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.720 It's it's something enormous, right, yeah, yeah, okay, so yeah, 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.040 we'll just cut to the chase. It is a fungus 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.160 amongst us, like a giant mushroom that stands as tall 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.240 as the city. Yes, it is a cousin to the 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:47.760 white button mushroom. You know, there's cut little mushrooms that 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.760 you see in the package of the grocery store. Is 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:54.560 called Amarillaria a stoier okay, And it's known as honey 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.280 mushroom for its yellowish cap and I think it's got 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:01.560 a fruity little essence to it. Do not eat any mushrooms, period, 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:04.080 but let us just go I mean, except for the 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.080 ones that your mom cooks for you. And gets at 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.480 the grocery store. But I'm saying don't eat any wild 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.960 mushrooms by any means, though apparently the ones we're talking about, 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.160 they are edible for most people. But again, don't just 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.480 don't know, don't eat any wild mushrooms because we talked 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.520 about mushrooms. Yeah, yeah, thank you that we had to 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.440 mention that we care about your health. But this fungus 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.800 actually causes amalaria root disease, which kills you know, wide 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.680 swaths of conifers in many parts of the US and Canada. 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.960 And so it's easy to spot where it has been 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.040 because death follows and its footsteps. Yeah, but not so 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.480 easy to spot where it's going or where it actually 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.080 maybe in other parts. And the reason is because it's 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.520 just a really pervasive disease and it's difficult to deal 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.800 with because it uses these dead trees as a food base. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.760 But it also will live in the stumps of trees 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.000 that have been cut down because they're dead, right, And 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.920 not only that, but it and grow through direct root 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.040 contacts and graft with uninfected trees. Okay, so it can 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:10.600 travel on via underground networks to uninfected trees and strangle 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:14.080 those to death by stopping out all of its nutrients 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.200 and then um it also and this isn't isn't quite 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.400 as common, but it can propagate through spores. So you know, 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.159 you've got spores through the wind that are carrying and 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.400 you know, maybe like a mile later, you know, boom, 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.800 there you have a spot infecting that area. So I 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:33.840 think it's interesting, especially that it can live in that 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.280 stump for fifty years waiting for new growth. Yeah, it's 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.440 so long lived. And like exaggerated earlier about a mushroom 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.599 as big as a building, its size is not of 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.120 that nature. It's it's spread out over long distances. In fact, 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:50.120 like we're talking acres and acres, Like there's one particular 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.279 individual that covered over acres I believe near Mount Adams 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.720 in Washington. Yeah, definitely acres and acres. There's one patch 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.280 that actually covers two thousand, three hundred eighty four acres 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.719 in the soil of Oregon's Blue Mountains. And this is 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.360 according to Scientific American their article strange but true, the 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.680 largest organism on earth is a fungus. Wow. I think 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:12.760 they really have to embrace that in Oregon, Oregans not 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.400 which which state is Big Sky country Montana believe. Okay, well, 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.520 Oregon should be a big mushroom, big fungus country. I 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:22.320 think there are actually fungus fest and I believe this 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.120 ties back to the first occurrence of discovering these massive 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:33.080 fungus underground systems come out for Fungus Fest. Fungus Best 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.800 Queen Man. I wish I had that sash, But yeah, 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.400 I mean this stuff is is pretty crazy. It just 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.000 moves from roots system to roots system old roots systems. 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.120 It's some serious fungus. I guess if you could say 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:47.960 that it has a cousin in the form of our 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:51.520 malaria gallica, which is less easy to find because it 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.159 doesn't like wipe out things and it's a path quite 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.160 as much. But it's so widely distributed in the rocky mountains. 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:58.920 And again it also you know, it's it's it's in 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.240 the ground. It's feeding on things and uh on hardwoods 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.000 and uh it's pretty widespread too, but it's it's harder 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:09.760 to really pinpoint exactly how big uh those organisms are. Yeah, 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.520 and the fungus was actually discovered when a team of 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.000 fortunate forestry scientists set out to map out the population 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:20.160 of this pathogenic fungus in eastern Oregon, and they paired 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.960 fungal samples and Petrie dishes to see if they fused, 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:24.880 which is a sign that they were from the same 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.680 genetic individual. Yeah, that's the really key thing here. This 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.720 is not a population. This is one genetic individual. Right. 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.520 It seems like it seems sort of unfair to say, oh, well, 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.200 how could this be one organism, But and in fact 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.920 it is the same genetic individual. And they also use 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:45.320 DNA fingerprinting to determine where one individual fungus ended. So yeah, 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.000 there's a biology professor by the name of Tom Volk, 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:53.360 And in terms of talking about what constitutes an individual organism, 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.839 he says, it's one set of genetically identical cells that 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.960 are in communication with one another, that have a sort 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.919 of common purpose or at least can coordinate themselves to 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:08.359 do something. And isn't that very much like you know humans, right, 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.200 I mean, you have all these functions in your your 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.480 body that are coordinating with one another. For me to 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.720 even like be gesticulating with my hands right now, like 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:18.720 I like to do. Yeah, well, we're not as good 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.640 about coordinating things, I guess within our own body. Yeah, 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.080 But I mean if I mean I think you're talking 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.440 about human culture as a whole. No, no, no, I'm 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.360 talking about like within my own body, within my own 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.000 little meat sack. I have old sorts of signals and 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.360 we're all hopefully on the same page and trying to 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.160 you know, I'm an individual, right, right, individual organism right, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:40.960 and see what you're getting. A's like, how many individuals 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:45.080 make an uber individual? Right? Right? And individual? I met 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.720 a individual? I like that. Yeah, And that's important to 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.080 note because you would think that, like the mushrooms or 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.200 the fungus um, that you think of it as more 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.680 like this collection of when in fact, it's one organism 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.880 working in concert, and that is why it is so huge. Yeah. 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:02.600 We've talked about in the past of microbes in our 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:06.120 gut and bacterial colonies in our body, and how you 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.360 break it all down, and it's like, that's what we are, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.440 you know, we are all these tiny communities that make 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.960 a larger community than the being itself is engaged with 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.680 other beings and it's just an endless maze circle and 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.640 the spiral that kind of thing. Now, there are other 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.239 particularly large organisms. I found it interesting that a case 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.640 can be made for an aspen clone in Utah. This 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:30.200 comprises approximately forty seven thousand stems of roots, sprouts, origin, 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.560 and covering up out a hundred and six acres. So 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.440 it looks like you look at a picture of it, 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.800 and it's called the Pando clone and fish like National 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.560 Forest Southern Utah. It looks like a forest. You don't say, wow, 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:43.240 look at that organism. You go, oh, look at all 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.840 those trees. They're kind of boring looking, But actually they're 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.680 genetically identical their clones. So you can make the argument 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.920 that is one organism covering that that's territory, and yet 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:57.240 that still isn't as large exactly. Another big contender, of course, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:59.520 is the or if it's not really a contender, it's 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:03.320 pretty much by this fungus. But the genant sequoias, of course, 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.480 can get the pretty huge. They can exceed a thousand 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.880 tons and they're they're really impressive to see, but not 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.040 as impressive size wise as the fungus. Let's take a 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.079 quick break and when we get back, let's talk about 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.360 how this fungus communicates this message of hey, let's be 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.240 one big organism and take over the world when we return. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.000 All right, we're back, okay, So We've talked about this 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.280 fungus how it grows primarily along tree route via hype, 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:36.719 which are fine filaments that matted together in excrete digestive enzymes. Oh, 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.320 there you go. How cool is that the fungus also 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.720 has the unique ability to extend these flat shoestring like 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.120 structures and that bridges the gap between food sources and 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.200 expanding the reach of the fungus. Yeah. I saw a 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.800 picture of these root like hair like structures and it 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.520 looks just like it's kind of like nasty black hair 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.000 like maybe you just like unclogged a drain or some things. Yeah, 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:03.839 it's like it's it's pretty much what it looks like. Yeah, 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.520 like kind of you know, seaweedy. Yeah, also too, maybe 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.880 not quite as thick, but yeah, the very stringy and 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.600 uh yeah, it's not pretty stuff. But it does the job. 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.520 And I think it's fascinating that it does that, that 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.160 it it all pulls together to extend that reach so 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.200 that if there is no food source that can travel 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.240 you know, a couple of feet down or fifty yards 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.959 down to you know, basically strangle off a tree system, 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.880 uh and its roots and get those nutrients for itself. Yeah, 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.040 The plant world is a pretty it's a much slower 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.000 world than the animal world. It moves at a at 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.080 at a much slower pace, but it itself is a 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.760 pretty violent and competitive world. There was a great episode 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:50.960 of Believe It Was Life um the BBC Discovery compunction, 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.800 and they did a great job of taking footage of plants, 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.040 of vines growing and speeding it up, and you really 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.480 get to see the plant world more like the pace 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.040 that it is this by putting it more in a 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.360 human framework and h and it's just as as cruel 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:08.840 and vicious and competitive as the animal world. You know. Recently, 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.520 I was in Belize and we were inland in the 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.400 jungle area of the Lemoni ruins, and there was this 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.960 incredible tree, actually there were several of them, but one 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.600 with just completely stood out and it was I don't 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.200 it was an incredibly tall tree, like hundred feet tall, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:30.960 but it had been encased by this um vine like 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.319 a strangler fig type of thing. Yeah, and it had 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:37.600 grown so thick it had basically created a sarcophagus around 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.400 this tree with all of these very thick some in 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.800 some cases like a foot in diameter thick vines coming 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:49.160 down and that tree was dying underneath. It is completely lethal. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.079 But as you said, you know, these things happened really slowly, 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:53.840 and who knows, it could be another fifty years before 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.120 that tree dies. But to see that, to see this 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.440 this um, this vine choking off this tree, it's just 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:05.560 it's sort of brought to mind this idea of um, 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.760 the the invisible world, you know, happening before our very eyes. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.240 I guess you could say, and size really mattering in 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:17.079 nature because we've talked about morphological limits before, and we 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.920 when we think about size mattering in nature, we think 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.080 about predation, right, And like you said, you know there's 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.400 a creature standing atop the pyramid of bones, and in 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.200 terms of this fungus, it's a bit different, right because 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.200 again those bones will be sort of spread out and 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:36.600 there's no one real predator for this fungus other than 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.960 it's not but it's very broad. Yeah, it's very easy 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.000 to scale. But I mean, you know, of course, again, 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.520 if you if you want to survive, being larger helps, right, 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:50.640 because you don't want to be eaten by your prey. 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.800 But if you're a fungus, you've got your environmental conditions 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.880 to contend with, as prey, but you're also the predator 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.360 and your ability to say, pounce on the roots ums 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.400 these conifers, while other plants are doing, are very much 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.120 in the hight game of like I need. We knew 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.760 the sunlight is the key, so I'm going to get 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.840 that sunlight. Well, other plants, the plants as opposed to fungus. 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.520 But right right, so you still, yes, the size still 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.120 doesn't matter because you have to spread out in order 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.040 to conquer. All right, Well, we got a little extra 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:17.880 time on this one, so let's haul out some listener 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:21.600 mail and see what folks have been saying. Crack the seal. Oh, 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:28.360 thank you, Ernie. Oh yes, sorry, not that seale. Why 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.480 I was thinking he's cracking a seal? Like, oh, no, 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.600 he's a robot. He has no no, no, he doesn't. Yeah, 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.960 I didn't care. All right, So here's a little listener 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.160 mail from Jackie. Jackie rites in and says, Dear Robert 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:44.480 and Julie, fascinating thought that tidally locked perpetual darkness. I've 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:46.960 spent the last couple of days contemplating this in my 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.000 spare time. I'm particularly enchanted with the idea of everyone 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.520 living in the twilight zone, this of course being if 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.480 you had a planet that one side is always facing 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.480 the sun and the other side is always facing the 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.240 outer dark. Um, you would have one side of super hot, 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.360 one side it's a this frigid, and then you had 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.800 this ring, uh, this twilight zone that would in some 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:11.120 cases be habitable or something good theoretically support robb life. 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.320 Jackie continues, Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.480 the thought provoking and story inspiring episode, Julie. Your wish 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.560 for stories about this has just been granted to keep 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.720 up the great and occasionally inspiring podcast. So yeah, I 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:27.000 love it when we can inspire fictional imaginings of what's possible, 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.040 you know, in an other world. And and don't be 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:30.680 shy I send it to us. I mean, if you're 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.280 wanting someone to look at your stuff, I speak for myself. 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.000 I'm more than happy to look at it. Yeah. Yeah, 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.640 by all means, here's another one. Daniel writes in and says, hey, dudes, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:42.760 I'm listening. I kind of want to do it in 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.440 a dude voice, Hey dudes, and listening to your Tidley 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.080 locked episode. And you asked for an example of another 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.280 author who wrote on the subject. I was immediately reminded 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:51.880 of vun to get Sirens of Titans, where on the 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.320 tidally lock mercury the intense burning of one half in 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.400 the outther cold of the other meat to produce a 0:14:56.480 --> 0:15:01.080 planet wide vibration. Spoilers aside deepen the planet are creatures 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.840 who feed solely from this planet wide humming an excrete light. 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.720 They have no eyes or ears, but instead or drawn 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.480 to any pulses of the movie. And then he does 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.280 a movie trailer, guy, boys, and even a beating heart. 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:17.000 Read it. Time to push the thirty second button back 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.400 six or seven times. Keep up the good work. So 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.040 that's that's that's cool. Sirens of Titan is the one 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.200 that's been on my bookshelf forever, uh Like, I think 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:26.600 it was one of my dad had, and I don't 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.640 think he ever read it. I'm trying to continue the 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.680 legacy of not getting around to read Sirens of Titans, 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.160 I guess, but maybe I should, Maybe I should change that. Well, 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:38.320 he had me excrete light about my interest is all right. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.640 Here's a little listener mail from Christie. Christie righton says 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.880 high Julian Robert. I recently heard the Sword podcast and 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:45.880 it hit a note with me. When I was a kid, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:47.880 my mom used to tell me all about the stuff 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:50.480 she grew up with, lots of antiquated stuff. One story 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.600 was a pair of double bladed ceremonial Spanish great swords. 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:59.640 Wow did you grow up? She told me they were 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.320 thing like six to eight feet long with scalloped edges. 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.840 I had a hard time believing her until I went 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:06.760 to my grandmother's house and saw them on the wall. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.800 They were just as advertised. Unfortunately, I don't know what 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.440 happened to them. Uh and I was ten when I 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.040 saw them, so I'm working from long term memory. They're 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.760 probably in a museum somewhere. I've read many books about 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.080 nights and swords this size being used, but until your podcast, 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:23.440 I had my doubts. Having listened to the podcast, I 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.560 understand they didn't weigh as much as they looked like, 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:27.720 but on the wall they look like they waited a ton. 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.920 I haven't heard too much listener mail on the subject. 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.760 I'm wondering how common the scaloped edges were and if 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.480 they were only for ornamentation or served a purpose. I 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:40.040 don't think you mentioned this aspect. Interesting. Thanks and keep 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:44.280 up the great work Christie. Scaloped edges. I don't know that. 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:45.960 I was gonna say. It'd have to see. I mean, 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:47.800 there are a lot of edges that actually had some 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.320 ornate etchings in it, and some I don't know the 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.920 the shallowness of the scaloping, you know, because that would 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.720 certainly affect the way that the sword cut. But who knows. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:58.880 I mean, it could be could be that it was 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:00.920 actually in working order. I can't help but imagine a 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.880 sword that is actually edged with scalops, like like fake scalops. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:10.320 It would be delicious end scalops. Now I'm just thinking, yeah, yeah, 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:14.560 potato scalops swords. All right. So that's that's all the 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.560 listener mail. We have violins and more. We should also 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.320 make a quick note if you're listening to this podcast 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.359 and you're and you're asking you something, where are the 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.320 seven Deadly Sin podcasts? Because we've at this point when 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.480 you're listening to this, I think we're like four into it, 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.199 and so there are three remaining we are gonna finish 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.640 the series, must Uh, Sloth and Anchor. Yeah, and those 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:40.360 are pretty garn exciting sins, right, Yeah, three really exciting 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.320 sins coming your way. So expect those in the weeks ahead, 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.320 and while you're waiting for those, feel free to drop 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.040 by our Facebook page where you may like us. We 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.480 are Stuff to Blow your Mind on Facebook, and if 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.200 you like us there, you know and follow us there. 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:54.960 And we were always updating that with all sorts of 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.440 cool stuff, wacky stuff, weird stuff, I mean, stuff that's 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.119 coming up in our research, stuff that's coming up when 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.159 we're momentarily distracted from our research. Updates about this, if 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.480 your cat on your head while you're working, standing on 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:09.000 my shoulders, um and trying to help me when I'm teleworking, 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:13.159 all sorts of of good stuff. Again Facebook, Stuff to 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.080 Blow your Mind. And then we're also on Twitter. You 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.600 can find us there where our handle is blow the Mind, 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.160 and you can also drop us a note at blow 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:28.560 the Mind at Discovery dot com. Be sure to check 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.720 out our new video podcasts, Stuff from the Future. Join 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.840 the House Stuff Work staff as we explore the most 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:36.680 promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow.