WEBVTT - The 2022 Ig Nobel Prizes, Part 2 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:14.400 My Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.079 your Mind. My name is Robert Land, and I'm Seth 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:21.960 Nicholas Johnson. That's right, Joe is still out on parentally. Uh. 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.200 He and his wife are somewhere in the zombie land 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:29.800 of of of early parenthood. Uh, they're because they're completely 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:31.400 in the dark. I haven't heard from him in a 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:33.519 few days, so I think everything. I think he's in 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:37.440 the upside down basically right now where where up is 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.000 up is down, down is up. Uh. Sleep takes place 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:45.320 whenever it can be obtained. Uh. Now how long does 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.519 this period last? Do you know? Rob like like like 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.120 the like baby won't sleep through the night phase. I 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.240 I have no idea. Um, I'm not certain either. I 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.200 think to some extent it varies from child to child. 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.000 And yeah, I'm more knowledgeable what's sort of like general 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.960 trends in in child sleep habits. And I know that 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:06.759 that that, of course is going to vary a lot 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.280 from kid to kid. Uh. My wife and I are 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.759 fortunate that our our child has always been a very 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:17.720 very committed sleeper. But but I know that's that's not 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.440 always the case, well, well, best of luck to Joe 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.200 right now in his uh, you know, parental duties right now, 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.080 and I'm sure he is spending his free time listening 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:33.399 to this podcast. So hello Joe. All right, So if 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.960 you joined us on Tuesday, then you know that we 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:40.440 began discussing some of this year's winners of the ig 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.880 Nobel Prizes. Uh. This is a series of awards that 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.800 are given out each year by the scientific humor journal, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.960 the Annals of Improbable Research, that has been edited for 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.560 many years now by Mark Abrams and their stated purposes 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.240 to quote honor achievements that make people laugh and then 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.000 make them think, and so every year on stuff to 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.320 bow your mind. Since I don't know how long I 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:06.720 don't know how long I've been doing this, we generally 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.560 look at at least some of the winners from from 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:13.080 that given year and discuss them, talking about, you know, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.080 why they're funny, what's important about the studies, what's interesting 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.440 about the studies. And it's generally a great exercise because 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.800 a lot of times the stuff that wins it gets 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.600 into an area that we might not otherwise explore, or 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:28.519 we wouldn't devote an entire episode to certainly, and uh yeah, 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:32.320 I always learned something new. So this is the second episode. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:33.920 But this is one of those situations where if you 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.600 missed Tuesday and you're already listening to today's episode Thursday's episode, 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.600 you're still probably good to go, because we're just looking 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:46.399 at individual winners that revolve around generally one study. Maybe 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.079 you're a handful of studies, but each one is kind 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.160 of a self contained topic. So go ahead, feel free 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:53.639 to listen to this one and then go back and 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.720 listen to Tuesday's You'll be just fine. So last time, 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:59.359 I think we talked about three different studies, and once 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.600 again we're gonna talk about three more today. Uh seth, 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.440 why don't you start us off with your first selection? 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.760 This one is the winner of the Safety Engineering Prize. 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.400 This was a paper written by Magnus Gens and it 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:19.160 was for developing a moose crash test dummy. And uh 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.680 that this was out of Sweden. This was published by 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:27.240 the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, and it's 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:30.280 it's just fun to picture crash test dummies in general. 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.440 Do you remember in like the gosh, late eighties, early nineties, 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.480 there was a crash test dummy trend for some reason. Yeah, 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:39.920 I I definitely remember this because I remember being a 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:44.000 bit into it. There were commercials right and had crash 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.920 test dummies, but they also at least made action figures 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.760 and in little crash sets, and I think I might 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.400 have even had one of the action figures. I had 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.520 a couple of myself. I had a car and two 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.200 of the action figures of the dummies, because I believe 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.480 they made an anime series based on it as well. 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.680 My memory is kind of fuzzy about this, but I 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:06.680 definitely remember the toys, and I definitely remember the live 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.720 action commercials, and yeah, that the toys were interesting because 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:11.960 they often had some sort of action where if you 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.040 like pressed a button on their chest, you know, their 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.360 arms would fly off or or like the doors would 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.919 come off the cars or something. And yeah, hey, trends 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.400 for children are very strange, but there was definitely a 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:26.640 crash test dummy trend for children, uh, late eighties, early nineties. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:28.800 But but anyway, Oh no, no, I have to keep 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.240 going on this because it raises the question now that 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:32.960 I think I haven't really thought about this in a 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.680 long time, but do you think that this was a 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.200 situation where our desire as children to have action figures 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.240 of dummies that were used in crash tests like industrial 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:49.000 crash test. Was this entirely manufactured this desire and marketed 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.239 to us, or did they anticipate the fact that children 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.839 would see these ads and say, hey, I want one 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.720 of those. This looks fun. I'm in I think this 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:02.560 was a Geico Caveman situation where a company probably paid 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.039 just for some standard like you know, public service announcement 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.800 ads made some very colorful, friendly looking live action p 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.600 s as, and when they aired on television, for some reason, 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.279 children really glommed onto it. Maybe they were aired during 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:20.440 the Saturday morning cartoon breaks or something, and for some reason, 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.480 maybe the bright colors, maybe the action, the goofy like, 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.760 you know, almost like live action Looney Tunes esqueness of 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.600 like the explosions and whatnot. Maybe that just appealed to 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:36.520 children so hard that some enterprising, you know, business person went, 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.200 I know, let's sell this to those kids, you know. 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.440 So I I think it was a television commercial they 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.599 got too popular for its own good, and then they 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.800 took advantage of it. That that's my guess. Imagine if 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.240 they had known, they could have introduced a moose trash 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.360 test down me as well, a talking moose that would 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.480 have been amazing, like a funny sidekick Bowwinkle style. Everyone. 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:02.880 I love that. So, so that is what we're discussing today. 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.200 Just picture a moose crash test dummy and why they 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.560 would need it. And here's a little chunk from the 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:14.240 abstract from this paper quote. In certain areas of our 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.520 planet there are big wild animals. One big species is 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:22.600 the moose called elk in certain regions. Scandinavia has a 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:26.160 very large moose population and car moose collision is a 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.240 huge problem with many fatal outcomes. In order to reduce 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:34.279 the number of injuries caused by passenger cars colliding with moose, 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:39.280 a valid and repeatable method to arrange staged accidents is needed. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:44.159 A moose dummy was constructed after thorough research work. Yeah, 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.680 so a couple of things, Like, first of all, like 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.159 the moose is very large. The moose is much larger 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.040 than a deer, and and hitting a deer with an 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.080 automobile is already a serious concern. But on top of that, 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.599 you also have behavioral differences with the moose, like a 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:00.360 moose uh has a different or can have a different 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:05.400 um attitude toward vehicles and in encounters. I've certainly heard 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.360 tales of vehicles being charged by a moose before. Oh yeah, 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.200 and and they're huge, which we we will get to. 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:15.320 We'll get into some very specific stats very soon. So, so, 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:20.080 the two primary goals of this research were accuracy, and 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.560 they wanted the cars that collided with the dummy moose 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.040 to have a comparable damage to real cars that collided 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.000 with real moose. So you know, I think most crash 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.760 test folks have that goal in mind. And the second 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.160 was repeatability. They wanted this moose dummy to be able 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.840 to endure many crash tests before it had to be replaced. Again, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.520 makes sense. These are very expensive to construct. You know, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.080 you want to get your money's worth out of them. 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.920 So first and foremost, animal collisions with cars are very common. 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.800 They're dangerous, and they're also very unpredictable. Animals simply don't 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.240 tend to follow the rules of the road. Uh, no 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:57.520 matter how many signs we put up for them. You know, 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.440 cross here, your dumb dear, this is your cross swak. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.840 But but they just don't pay attention to that. Yeah, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:06.320 add into that, having a disrupted environment which there are 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.360 fewer predators to actually keep the numbers of say, dear down. Yeah, 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:12.440 it becomes becomes a huge issue. No, No, this is 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.320 their faults. We gave them a side cross here, this 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.120 is your crosswalk, and they just don't they don't do it. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.640 So not. Now. Moose collisions are particularly dangerous because they 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:28.160 are very top heavy, very tall, and have relatively spindly 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.280 legs for a creature of their size. So the average 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.080 moose is about six ft tall at the shoulder, and 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.800 it can get obviously much bigger than that, and they 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:41.160 can weigh as much as fourteen hundred pounds, and like 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.920 I said, most of that weight is you know, pretty 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.200 high up in the air. And if anyone out there 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.600 has ever like seen a moose in real life, it's 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:53.040 it's actually kind of kind of like, I don't know, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.760 it's it's it's awesome. It feels shocking to see a 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.880 creature that large in person. Yeah, I have. I have 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.680 very vague memories of my childhood and Canada of seeing 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.440 these seeing a moose and it was quite I mean, 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:10.440 I wouldn't say it was terrifying, but yeah, it was 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.320 kind of on inspiring. They're just so huge, Yeah, for sure. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:18.000 So this study took place in Sweden, where annually thirty 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:23.960 thousand car accidents involving cloven footed animals occur. That means 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:29.640 ninety accidents daily, and thirteen of those ninety involved a moose. 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.160 Unrelated to this study, the row deer is actually the 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.200 cause of the majority of these collisions, but they are 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.679 much smaller and lighter, so they cause far less damage. 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.640 Those thirteen out of the ninety daily accidents are the 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.640 ones that are I'm not gonna say almost always fatal, 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.920 but are often fatal because, like I said, fourteen hundred pounds, 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.360 six ft tall, and it's it's they're they're like a 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.319 very heavy anvil on top of a very small spindle 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.640 legged table. Like there, it's it's just not it's not smart, 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:06.080 you know. So our researcher then has pages and pages 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.440 of research to determine like the physiology of the moose 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.800 to be replicated by the dummy UH formulas to determine 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.880 the velocity during collisions typical car sifty practices that might 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.319 be found in the average vehicle models, etcetera, ETCeteras. Now 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.640 that they're going to start to build up this dummy 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:25.440 moose one version, they take a bunch of water filled hoses, 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:27.280 you know, to try and get that weight and that 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:33.240 kind of like oh um that that animal pu push 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:37.600 but also solidity didn't quite work. They tried another version 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.120 with wires and would but but once again it was 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.600 a bit too fragile that couldn't get the weight quite 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.720 right with it, but ultimately ended up working. Were these 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:52.439 big thick slabs of rubber kind of cross cut um. Specifically, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.760 they were thirty six rubber plates assembled vertically and assembled 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:00.400 together through through through locking wires. The the way I 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.520 can describe this is um. I remember as a child 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:08.040 there were these like model kits where where they were um, hundreds, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.439 if not thousands, of these little flat you know, shapes 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:13.800 that you would then stack on top of one another, 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.079 and it would build like a three D model of something, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.160 usually a bust or something like that. You know I'm 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.920 talking about rob Yeah, I had one of these of 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:26.880 jar Jar Binks before the film came out. I didn't 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.720 I didn't know who this character was. After the film, 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.079 I perhaps would not have cared to build a model 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.840 of this character. Uh So you can see these pretty 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:40.840 easily online too, if you just search um crash test moose. 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:42.960 I'm sure you'll be able to find them. You can 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.920 also find actually some pretty good footage on television shows 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.960 or things like that of people using them, and it's 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.640 it's it's pretty beautiful. You'll know we're talking about the 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.480 same one if you see this. There's basically like it 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.880 looks kind of like a swing set hanging above the moose, 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:03.120 and then there's a releasing mechanism with electrical magnets that 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.439 will hold the moose like the correct height pre collision, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.480 but then ensuring that the mechanism won't contribute to the 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:12.120 results of the damage. It will be completely free and 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:16.520 clear when the collision actually occurs. Because once again, these 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.600 animals are a mystery. So the dummy cannot stand on 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:21.760 these little spindle legs on its own. It needs a 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.600 little support structure to hold it at the correct height 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.960 before the car actually gets there. Yeah, the sense I 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:29.840 kind of get from the image here. It's like if 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.200 you if you three D printed the torso of a moose, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.040 like from from romp to next dump, and then you 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.000 you hung it from like a swing set structure of 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.040 some sorry. Yeah, and and to represent the legs they 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:47.559 got these uh, big wires hanging down, and they covered 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.920 it with more rubber disks to represent the weight and 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:52.880 the size of each leg. And there there are subtle 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.080 variations between front legs and back legs. But but but 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:01.040 you know, uh, the body was the big concern of this, know, uh, 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.680 more or less it's um it's that big weight. It's 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:09.080 that big high center of gravity weights that just falls 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.680 on the car. Because I mean, if you think about it, 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.640 um here here's more or less what happens to think 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.600 about a typical car's height in relation to a moose 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.360 and its anatomy, especially when you think about like where 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.880 a bumper is on a typical sedan. So so the 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.040 bumper is gonna come in real low, it's just a 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.600 couple of feet from the ground, hits the moose in 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.559 its tall, thin legs, and as a result, the animal 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.920 will then rotate over the engine hood and crashed through 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:39.800 the windshield pounds, which then releases all that weight directly 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.760 onto the driver and the passenger. That's why it's often 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.959 so deadly. It's it's not because it's heavy. It's not 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.680 because they stand in the road and sometimes charge at you. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:53.760 It's because they're heavy and they're tall, so that our 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.080 cars are almost like engineered to get hurt the most 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.120 from this creature. It's it's it's a it's a difficult thing. 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.400 So ultimately this stummy was successful. They were able to 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.560 you know, repeat their crashes multiple times with this giant 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.480 rubber body. And also it was able to accurately duplicate 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:18.080 the real life damage from these creatures. So. Um, currently, 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.400 if if you see the images of this, I haven't 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.600 seen any with a head yet. They say that eventually 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.320 they do plan to build one with a head and 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.720 antlers because apparently there's a pendulum like effect when the 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:34.640 body is hit, then the head follows afterwards, etcetera, etcetera. Um, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:38.000 but that's secondary damage. Like I said, they're focusing on 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.560 that big, hulking pound body. And this study came out 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.440 in two thousand one, so maybe they have done the 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:47.560 head since then. Yes, yes, perhaps so. Uh So, So 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.480 why is this funny? Um, it's a it's a most stummy. 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.720 It's it's very specific, it's very silly, and ultimately moose 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.680 are just kind of like an interesting, odd creature. Um. Also, 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:00.760 I can say that as as a lifelong fan of 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.920 the TV show MythBusters. I have to mention that this 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.880 subject was also tackled in season six, episode one of 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:12.280 that show. This was in their Alaska special UH. Specifically, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.040 what they did is they tested the myth that it's 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.400 better to hit a moose going quickly rather than slowing down. 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.400 So so, like I, I I believe in this show they 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.600 may have used the exact same crash test dummy from 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.000 this UM from this UH, from this paper. However, I 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.120 couldn't find the exact footage, so I can't confirm that 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:33.520 I'm just going based on memory that myth was busted 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.440 going really fast. The The myth was that if you're 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.920 going really fast when you hit the moose, that like 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.840 like the aerodynamic kind of curve of a car will 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.520 just fling the moose directly over your car and you'll 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.760 be perfectly safe. That is not the case. Like I said, 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:53.360 it's four pounds, Nah, it's it's it's crushing that front 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.320 of your car. Unfortunately, you can, like I said, you 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.040 can see footage. You can look this up on YouTube. 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.280 It's wild to see. UM. So yes was busted. Don't 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.360 think that going extra fast will make you safer when 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.200 when running into a moose and which brings me to 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.880 why this is important. This can genuinely lead to saving lives, 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:15.520 particularly in areas like Scandinavia or the Pacific Northwest regions 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.760 of of the of North America, basically anywhere that a 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.640 moose can be found easily. This data can you know, 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:27.680 be duplicated and given to car manufacturers, so they can 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.160 know which parts of their cars, especially cars that are 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.240 sold often in these regions where they need extra you 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:38.000 know enforcement, you know, Uh, can they make a moose 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.840 proof windshield? Is that even possible? Will will cars have 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.000 like not not not a cow catcher, but a moose 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.800 catcher in the in the near future who knows, who knows? 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.400 But but now they can test it over and over 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.840 again and hopefully make safer cars for these regions that uh, 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.480 you know, are I want to say moose proof, but 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.880 that's probably a bit too ambitious. Well, I mean, the 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.200 moose test is definitely a thing. Um. Just doing a 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.360 little searching around, I found this is a website called 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.040 hot cars dot com and they have an article five 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:14.000 cars that have passed Sweden's moose test and five that failed. 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.040 And yeah, these are all different vehicles and they just 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.000 look like normal automobiles are just about normal automobiles with 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:24.560 enough like safety protocol and um like structural integrity I suppose, 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.399 and in some cases larger looking vehicles but sometimes not 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:32.199 so large um that that have done well. So I 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.199 guess in a way, I'm not disappointed that there are 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:39.359 no crazy Swedish moose proof vehicles that look like the 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.120 front of a train, but it is great that they've 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.439 been able to take this data and then use it 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.520 to ensure safety in various vehicles. This is a complete tangent. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.240 But have you ever seen Land of the Dead, the 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.840 George A. Romero film? Is that the one with the 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.399 tower and John Lacosama. Yes, yes, exactly, I have, but 0:17:58.440 --> 0:17:59.880 I haven't seen it since it came out, so I'm 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:03.040 a little foggy. There's a vehicle there's a vehicle in 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.960 in that film called Dead Reckoning, which is like their 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.399 major like vehicle for like going out into the world, 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:11.960 and it's basically zombie proof. And in the end of 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.399 that movie they all hop in Dead Reckoning and they 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.000 drive to Canada and that's like they're like, hey, where 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:18.840 we're okay? And I think you know what, I think 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.880 Dead Reckoning is moose proof. So that would be that'd 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.720 be a real kicker, that'd be a real down or 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.400 ending where they escape in this vehicle, then they hit 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.840 their first moose and they're just done for. They could 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.720 survive the zombie hordes, but they can't survive a zombie moose. 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.280 All Right, For the next one, I'm gonna be talking 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.600 about the Art History Prize. So I suppose the other 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.720 side of covering Ignobile Award winning studies is that sometimes 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:55.560 it forces us to cover topics that we might not 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.840 otherwise cover um at least these days, and that's certainly 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:03.240 the case with the r History winner. For two honored 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.639 are this page is This paper from was published in 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:11.520 the Journal of ethno Pharmacology by Peter de Smett and 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:16.680 Nicholas Hellmuth, titled a Multidisciplinary Approach to Ritual Enema Scenes 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.600 on Ancient Maya Pottery. So, just to kick things off, 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:21.800 why is it funny? Well, I guess it's supposed to 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.920 be funny because it features enemas, but I also kind 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.040 of have to I mean, just in general, yes, I 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.960 buy that logic. I didn't particularly find this one to 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.040 be a humorous inclusion, but I mean everyone's sense of 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:36.600 humor is going to vary on this sort of thing, 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:39.760 and I suppose it's it's the juxtaposition to that, if 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.960 you are to see depictions of enemas, you don't expect 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.680 it to be on your your pottery, on on your 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.399 on your fine china. Yeah. Yeah, I suppose so like that, 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.520 it's art history and that and and that's the thing 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.480 because because the next question why is it important? Well, 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.199 it's kind of a double whammy here, because first of all, 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:01.080 the discipline of ethno pharmacology is highly fascinating. It can 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:03.919 also be illuminate. It can also be rather illuminating and 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.840 potentially illuminating about the use of various substances that Western 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.440 medicine has not quite come around to yet. And then 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:14.480 also we're talking about Mayan history here, my in history 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.160 and culture, so I feel like it is the sort 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.000 of thing that shouldn't be ignored. So I'm not going 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.560 to lean as much into the humor on this one, 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.280 but it was all very fascinating and I want to 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.680 explain it all a bit, maybe demystify it. So to 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:30.600 kick things off, though, I feel like what we should 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:34.199 have a little refresher on Mayan civilization that kind of 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.080 refresher is very much in order. So we're talking about 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:42.520 the Mesoamerican civilization that occupied southern Mexico, Guatemala, and northern Belize. 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.280 The Mayan pre Classic period is measured back to two 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.680 thousand b C, with the Classic period running to fifty 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.359 c Eed and nine and the post Classic period running 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.399 up until fifteen thirty nine. This was an advanced civilization 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:04.639 with agriculture, a sophisticated right system, mathematics, calendar and astronomical systems, 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:09.640 and a highly developed architectural and artistic style, as we've 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:11.800 discussed on the show before. Of course, the arrival of 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.520 Europeans to to this region constituted a kind of outside 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:20.040 context event that designated the civilizations and cultures of the Americas. 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.720 But many aspects of Mind culture survived and are cherished. 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:27.400 I believe something like thirty Mind languages are still spoken today. 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:31.520 And there has been a pan Maya movement that's an 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:35.560 ethno political movement in Mexico and Guatemala by often marginalized 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:37.760 Maya people there. And of course, on top of this, 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.800 there have been many efforts to better understand and celebrate 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.520 the culture and history of the Mayans. Despite all the 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:48.080 Spanish initially destroyed. Okay, so that's your refresher on the Mayans. 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:53.920 Now let's get into a refresh on enemies. So strictly speaking, uh, 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:57.080 an enema is an injection of liquid into the lower 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.719 bowel through the rectum, and the most often reason for 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.919 this procedure is to relieve constipation or to prepare for 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:08.800 medical procedures. It's it's simply stool evacuation. It's liquid aided 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.000 stool evacuation. Now, the mere act of waste leaving the 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.199 body already kind of has a myriad of real and 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:19.600 imagine benefits, because obviously waste leaving the body is a 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.280 good thing. We've kind of talked about this in the 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:25.199 last episode. What happens when a scorpion loses its anus 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:29.880 and it cannot relieve itself, Well, its stuff builds up 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.679 and uh and it's it's not necessarily great for the scorpion. 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.240 So excess materials do need to leave the body after 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.560 our bodies have extracted as much from the matter as 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.640 can be extracted. But then on top of that, again 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:48.840 we have this, we have this deep history of humanity's 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.560 attempt to to understand our bodies and also conflating and 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.720