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Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of I Heart Radio. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology

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Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and welcome to Season three a k a.

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Speaker 1: This season break I had to do because I moved

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Speaker 1: to another country, so I needed time to fly over here,

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Speaker 1: and boy are my arms tired. Anyways, I'm back and

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Speaker 1: extremely invigorated for season three. I've got so many plans,

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Speaker 1: you guys, so many schemes, imachinations. You just have no

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Speaker 1: idea what you're in for. But anyways, today on the show,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about creatures who spit in the face of gravity.

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Speaker 1: These critters laugh at the general concept of physics and

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Speaker 1: take things to an extreme level, defying gravity, shrugging off

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Speaker 1: space flight, and being extremely improbable in general. Noticed how

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Speaker 1: I've carefully avoided saying that we're only talking about animals.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that won't be relevant later. And of course,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the episode, I will reveal the

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Speaker 1: animal behind the mystery sound from last week and the

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Speaker 1: winner of the first ever Guests Who's Talk and contest.

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Speaker 1: It has no prizes, no rewards except feeling smug, which

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Speaker 1: I think is actually a pretty good reward in smug

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Speaker 1: is good joining me today to talk about physics, gravity

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Speaker 1: and the animals who scoff at the Cosmos is part

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Speaker 1: of all physicist and co host of Daniel and Jorge

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Speaker 1: Explain the Universe Daniel whiteson, Hi, I'm here to defend

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Speaker 1: gravity against scoffers and everybody who is smugly ignoring it.

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Speaker 1: Daniel Whites and attorney at law coming into defend gravity

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Speaker 1: to object real heavy mood in the courtroom. That's right.

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Speaker 1: You know, Gravity is unionized. They organized and effective and coordinated,

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Speaker 1: and I'm here to speak for all of them. Well, dang, so,

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Speaker 1: welcome back to this show. I'm really excited to have

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Speaker 1: you on here today because we are talking about avity

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Speaker 1: and the animals who just think it's no big deal.

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Speaker 1: And in fact, later on in the show, we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about animals who are actually in space or

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Speaker 1: have been in space. Of course they had little help

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Speaker 1: from us humans, but it's still very interesting how they

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Speaker 1: adapt to space, something that they have never had to

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Speaker 1: deal with until we intervened and decided, let's just let's

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Speaker 1: just put you in space, little fellas. See how you

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Speaker 1: do well? You know, physics isn't just here to constrain you.

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Speaker 1: Physics isn't just here to say what you can't do.

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Speaker 1: We also do physics so we can learn how to

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Speaker 1: manipulate the universe and how to use it bended to

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Speaker 1: our will to accomplish our goals. So physics is also

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Speaker 1: a helping hand sometimes exactly. I mean, in fact, the

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Speaker 1: first little creature we're going to talk about uses physics

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Speaker 1: to its advantage. Actually should say the creatures we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about, because we're gonna we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about wall crawlers. So you know that Spider Man can

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Speaker 1: crawl up walls and mess with the multiverse, but real

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Speaker 1: spiders and get gos and other arthropods can crawl up

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Speaker 1: walls and mess around with the universe on the atomic scale.

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Speaker 1: So have you ever wondered how a spider or geck

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Speaker 1: or other little wall crawlers managed to climb up on

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Speaker 1: a straight vertical like they can go right up a wall,

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Speaker 1: even up glass, which seems pretty slippery and hard. I've

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Speaker 1: I've tried, and doesn't work for me. I have a

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Speaker 1: really fund mental image of you trying to climb the

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Speaker 1: outside of a skyscraper. Listen, you know, you never know

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Speaker 1: whether you can do it until you try at least once.

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Speaker 1: And I got maybe two hands on there, and then

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Speaker 1: it didn't keep working. But I'm not a gecko or

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Speaker 1: a spider who to thunk it. So well, that's how

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Speaker 1: you found out, right, maybe you were gecko or had

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Speaker 1: bitten by or had been bitten by a radioactive get go,

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Speaker 1: and you wouldn't have gecko woman. That's a good one.

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Speaker 1: That's a I think, yeah. And then I'd go around

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Speaker 1: and I'd use my razor sharp reflex is to swap

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Speaker 1: my tongue out at criminals. That's a that's a great

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Speaker 1: superhero we st right for Marvel. I bet Marvel already

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Speaker 1: owns that. I p probably they've just taken every animal

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Speaker 1: and plant and phungi and like added man or woman

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Speaker 1: to the end of it and copyrighted, copyrighted, copyrighted, so

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Speaker 1: nobody can do anything anymore. So. The ability of spiders

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Speaker 1: and geckos and other small critters to ascend walls is

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Speaker 1: thought to be primarily through Vanderwall's forces. So Daniel, you

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Speaker 1: probably know how Vanderwall's forces work, as everyone knows Vender's walls,

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Speaker 1: yet climb up them. That's right. Vander Wall's forces is

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Speaker 1: a force between atoms and molecules, named after a Dutch physicist,

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Speaker 1: Johannes vander Walls. And you know, I think it's funny

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Speaker 1: how Van Dare makes something sound like, you know, fancy

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Speaker 1: or you know, pretendial us or whatever. But in Dutch

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Speaker 1: it just means like from the you know, it's like

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Speaker 1: Daniel from the Irvine or something, Lothar of the Hill people.

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Speaker 1: The same thing in uh in Italian, you know, Davinchi,

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Speaker 1: it's like he's just he's from from Vinchi, exactly, no

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Speaker 1: big deal. It's like his address, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Well vander Walt's forces are these forces, you know, between

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Speaker 1: atoms and molecules, and they can help hold things together. Um,

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Speaker 1: they're kind of weak though, they're not like as strong

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Speaker 1: as the electromagnetic force, and they fall off very quickly

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Speaker 1: with distances, like you know, if Adams are too far apart,

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Speaker 1: they basically don't feel the vander Walt's force at all. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's exactly right. So you know, you don't as a

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Speaker 1: human really feel vander Wald's forces. Like if you put

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Speaker 1: your hand on a wall, you're not necessarily going to

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Speaker 1: feel like, oh yeah, I'm getting sucked into this wall

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Speaker 1: because they're so weak. They're unlike other bonds between two atoms,

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Speaker 1: Like if two atoms share an electron or have oppositely

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Speaker 1: charged ions, it forms a much stronger bond. But the

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Speaker 1: Vanderwalt's forces are these kind of it's a very mysterious,

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Speaker 1: very gentle force between two atoms. Of course, you know

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Speaker 1: more about it than I do. Only one of us

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Speaker 1: is a particle physicist. I hate to put you on

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Speaker 1: the spot here, but how do Vanderwald's forces work? Like

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Speaker 1: why would there be this very weak attraction between two

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Speaker 1: atoms or or also very weak uh repellent between two atoms. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: Vanderwaldt's forces are interesting because there's something we call a force.

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Speaker 1: But you know, they're not like fundamental force of the universe.

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Speaker 1: Like in particle physics we think about electromagnetism and the

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Speaker 1: weak nuclear force, and the strong force and the force

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Speaker 1: of gravity. These are the ways that particles can repel

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Speaker 1: or attract each other. The vander Walt's force is something else.

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Speaker 1: It's something that we've found through experiments, or that vander

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Speaker 1: Walls found through experiments. It's sort of like an emergent force.

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Speaker 1: It's like combination of all these things together has this

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Speaker 1: sort of an overall effect. And you know it has

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Speaker 1: also to do with like how the objects repel each other.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't just attract that sometimes can repel each other

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Speaker 1: because like two atoms have electron clouds, and when those

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Speaker 1: electron clouds get a little too close to each other,

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Speaker 1: they don't like necessarily to overlap, and so those electron

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Speaker 1: clouds can like repel each other a little bit. And

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Speaker 1: so it's something that like emerges from lots of little

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Speaker 1: effects altogether. And are these are these like quantum or

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Speaker 1: sub atomic effects? Like how how tiny are we talking about?

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Speaker 1: Like at what level is this interacting in the universe. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's something that only really makes sense to talk about

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Speaker 1: between atoms and molecules. So if you get down to

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Speaker 1: like the tinies little particles like quarks, they don't feel

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Speaker 1: vander Wall's forces against each other because it's something that

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Speaker 1: only sort of makes sense when you're talking about atoms

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Speaker 1: and molecules because it's an emergent phenomena. It's something that

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Speaker 1: only arises at that scale um sort of like the

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Speaker 1: way you know, ice cream doesn't make sense to talk

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Speaker 1: about like an ice cream particle. There's no particle of

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Speaker 1: ice cream, but ice cream is the thing we experience

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Speaker 1: and we enjoy in the universities, and that comes together

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Speaker 1: from other smaller pieces. It sounds like somebody has never

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Speaker 1: had dippin dots. Dipping dots are not made of fundamental

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Speaker 1: particles of ice cream. Mind blown realization. I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I don't know about that. That doesn't sound right. I

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Speaker 1: know you're a particle physicist, but there are some things

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Speaker 1: you don't know. Well, I actually did build a dipping

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Speaker 1: dots collider. We smashed dipping dots together very high energies,

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Speaker 1: and we look, we have the data. Okay, um, and

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Speaker 1: the dipping dots company is going to come after me

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Speaker 1: for docks ing them here on the podcast. But no,

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Speaker 1: dipping dots are just ice cream in another shape. Well,

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Speaker 1: I would sign up for being a volunteer at that collider.

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Speaker 1: Let those dipping dots collide right with my mouth. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: It's it's an interesting thing because it's such a weak force.

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Speaker 1: It's it's weaker than static electricity, where you know, if

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Speaker 1: you rub a balloon on your head and you have

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Speaker 1: that electrostatic force of it like clinging to your head.

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Speaker 1: It's like that doesn't feel that strong, but it's even

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Speaker 1: weaker than something like that. So it seems odd that

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Speaker 1: this could be used by something like a spider or

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Speaker 1: even a geck, which is relatively large when we're talking

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Speaker 1: about atomic forces, to crawl up a wall. But indeed

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Speaker 1: they do, and the way they do it is just

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Speaker 1: by the power of large numbers. So one kind of

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Speaker 1: like little connection between two molecules, uh through vander walls

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Speaker 1: is not very strong, but if you multiply that by millions,

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Speaker 1: suddenly you actually have something you can work with. So

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Speaker 1: with spiders, who are adorable and cute and we love them, uh,

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Speaker 1: if you look at their little feet on a microscopic level,

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Speaker 1: they have a bunch of little hairs, nearly a million

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Speaker 1: little tiny hairs on these feet, and they're so thin.

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Speaker 1: What they're able to do that say, like a human

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Speaker 1: hand can't do, is make contact really close with the

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Speaker 1: surface that they're walking on. So because they have these

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Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of little hairs on each little tiny

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Speaker 1: leg tip, uh, that those little teeny tiny like you

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Speaker 1: can only see them under an electron microscope, hairs brush

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Speaker 1: up against that surface, and each one experiences very weak

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Speaker 1: Vanderwall's force, and then you add that up to six

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand. Suddenly you've got a spider if she's got

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Speaker 1: amazing miracle sticky feet. It's like if you take a

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Speaker 1: spoonful of dipping dots, it actually tastes like a spoonful

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Speaker 1: of ice cream exactly, so many tiny little exclusions going

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Speaker 1: on in your mouth. And you take a spoonful of spiders,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna taste like a spoonful of spiders. Have you

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Speaker 1: done that experiment? In fact, the cumulative force of these

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Speaker 1: tiny hairs on the spider feet are so strong they

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Speaker 1: are pound for pound, much stronger than Spider Man himself,

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Speaker 1: a very real person. So the adhesive force of six

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand spider foot hairs, all taking advantage of Vanderwald's forces,

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Speaker 1: allows the spider a grip of a hundred and seventy

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Speaker 1: times its own weight. So that's like if Spider Man

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Speaker 1: could crawl up a skyscraper while carrying two horses, and

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Speaker 1: that's pretty impressive. I can't carry two horses across a

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Speaker 1: flat surface, not to mention up a skyscraper. Shamefully, I

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Speaker 1: can only carry one horse. So it's the same thing

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Speaker 1: with get gos. Have you ever seen a geck foot?

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Speaker 1: We used to have a gecko in my family. It

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Speaker 1: was our failed experience of having a pet. The gecko

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Speaker 1: was not just walking around anymore. Yeah. Yeah, they're very sensitive.

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Speaker 1: They're hard to take care of. I had a crusted

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Speaker 1: gecko in college. I don't think I was supposed to

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Speaker 1: have a pet in the college dorms, but we had

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Speaker 1: a crusted gecko, very cute. We fed it baby food.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if that was the best thing for

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Speaker 1: human babies. Yeah, it was like mango baby food and

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Speaker 1: supplemented with the insects we found in our apartment. How

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Speaker 1: did that happen to a bunch of college freshmen go

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Speaker 1: to the grocery store shopping for gecko food and not

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Speaker 1: find any, and they thought, well, they could probably eat

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Speaker 1: baby food. Yes, yes, that is what happened, because you

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Speaker 1: didn't find any like flies or worms or crickets in

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Speaker 1: the grocery store. Yeah, we just had plenty of abundant

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Speaker 1: pests in our party. And uh we did mix the

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Speaker 1: the baby food with I think some cricket powder, so

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Speaker 1: really lovely smell that we had go brewing in there,

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Speaker 1: real real nice kind of home cooking that college freshman's did.

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Speaker 1: But we actually, we actually took pretty good care of it,

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Speaker 1: all things considered. But it was a very adorable little thing.

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Speaker 1: In retrospect, I probably wouldn't recommend them as pets, just because,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a really hard to take care

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Speaker 1: of something like a gecko, and it's also hard to

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Speaker 1: determine whether they are like ethically sourced. So but I

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Speaker 1: was just a dumb college freshman, so what did I know.

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Speaker 1: But it's little feet were so interesting, and it could

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Speaker 1: crawl up vertically on walls, it could really grip to you,

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Speaker 1: it could just crawl up your arm um. And the

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Speaker 1: crested gecko actually is a really good jumper, so you

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Speaker 1: could jump from one hand to another person across the room.

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Speaker 1: It's very impressive. And it's little feet we're really interesting

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Speaker 1: because they look like ruffles potato chips. They have these

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Speaker 1: little ridges all over it, and when you zoom in

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Speaker 1: with a microscope, on each ridge of this gecko's foot

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Speaker 1: is millions and millions of little hair like structures called settee,

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Speaker 1: and each of these little hairs, again tiny microscopic, small

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Speaker 1: hair branches off into even tenier tinier nano scales called spatula,

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Speaker 1: and these are so tiny and delicate. When they touch

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Speaker 1: a surface like a wall or even a pane of glass,

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Speaker 1: just like the spiders and arthropods we talked about earlier,

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Speaker 1: they make very close contact with the atoms of that

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Speaker 1: surface and they experience Vanderwall's forces. And so like the spiders,

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Speaker 1: they by having millions of settee millions of these hair

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Speaker 1: like structures and double the number of the little uh

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Speaker 1: spetch juli, the nano scales that are on the tips

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Speaker 1: of the hair like structures, they are able to get

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Speaker 1: a pretty strong grip just using Vanderwald's forces uh and

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Speaker 1: which to me is kind of incredible. How it boggles

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Speaker 1: my mind from an evolutionary standpoint, because it feels like, sure,

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Speaker 1: as you know, someone really smart, like a physicist could

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Speaker 1: come up with, Hey, let's like we could take advantage

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Speaker 1: of Vanderwald's forces by having a bunch of teeny tiny

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Speaker 1: hairs and multiplying them by a million, and we can

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Speaker 1: run it through a computer program. In fact, I think

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Speaker 1: there are some researchers who have made robotic geckos using

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Speaker 1: artificial site um, very cool, but like from an evolutionary perspective,

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Speaker 1: like how many little steps you have to go through

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Speaker 1: before kind of happening upon like, oh, these little tiny

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Speaker 1: hairs on my feet are sticky and they stick to walls.

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Speaker 1: It's it's crazy, it's amazing. And how many walls were

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Speaker 1: there that these like ancient decos had to scramble up

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Speaker 1: to avoid predators? Did they like, you know, run up

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Speaker 1: prehistoric glass walls inside volcano shafts or something to avoid predators?

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Speaker 1: Why do you even need this crazy skill? Have you

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Speaker 1: seen dinosaurs the nineties sitcom? They had houses? I do

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Speaker 1: think it's super awesome though, because it reveals to you

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Speaker 1: a layer of the universe you don't usually see that

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Speaker 1: these surfaces that you think are super slick microscopically are

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Speaker 1: fundamentally different, right. They have all sorts of interesting like

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Speaker 1: wiggles and cracks and texture to the surface that if

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Speaker 1: you understand how to take advantage of microscopically, you can

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Speaker 1: do things that macroscopically seem impossible. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: a cool lesson. You know that that understanding how things

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Speaker 1: work microscopically is actually important, and that the way things

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Speaker 1: look is not the way things actually work. Absolutely, And

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Speaker 1: I jokingly kind of frame this episode of like animals

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Speaker 1: who defy physics, but really they are using physics to

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Speaker 1: their advantage. Physics is a neutral force, neither good nor evil. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's undefiable, right, Like, you can't defy physics, not like

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Speaker 1: some body of law that's going to come and strike

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Speaker 1: you down. You're just like you can't. Yeah, science fiction novel.

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Speaker 1: What if I say pounds sand physics? Is that defiant enough? Well,

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Speaker 1: you're using physics to scream your defiance at physics, my brain.

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Speaker 1: Really you're compliant bow my brain. Um. But yeah, So,

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Speaker 1: new research indicates that geckos might use, in addition to

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Speaker 1: Vanderwald's forces, another molecular force up their sleeves, static electricity,

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Speaker 1: which I talked about earlier as being a stronger atomic force. Um. So,

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Speaker 1: Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada gave

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Speaker 1: a bunch of geckos teflon foot massages to measure the

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Speaker 1: chart charge of their little feet, which sounds like the

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Speaker 1: most adorable research I can imagine, Like they just like

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Speaker 1: gently rubbed these little gecko feet against the teflon to

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Speaker 1: measure the charge. Uh, And they did, in fact find

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Speaker 1: that their feet were positively charged and the teflon was

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Speaker 1: negatively charged upon contact, so that that difference in charge

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Speaker 1: creates an attraction. And just like you know when you

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Speaker 1: rub a rub a balloon and your hair all sticks

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Speaker 1: up and uh, you know, it's says somehow these geckos

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Speaker 1: are able to take advantage of two forces, both vander

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Speaker 1: walls and the static electricity. That's pretty amazing, good job geckos.

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Speaker 1: See they are masters of physics. They're basically tiny little

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Speaker 1: physicists or engineers. I'm not sure. Move over, Daniel, Let

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Speaker 1: a gecko take your job. I'm climbing the walls already

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Speaker 1: over here. But this doesn't yet disproved that Vanderwall's forces

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Speaker 1: are actually the primary uh method for geckos to climb alls,

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Speaker 1: because geckos can actually climb up straight surfaces underwater where

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Speaker 1: they can't form these electro static connections like the static

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Speaker 1: electricity connections. So while the static electricity may help them,

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Speaker 1: it seems like it's more of a situational thing, like

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Speaker 1: if they can form a static charge against the surface,

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Speaker 1: they do and it probably helps them, but they don't

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Speaker 1: appear to need that they still rely on this you know,

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Speaker 1: very weak force that they just uh, multiply by a million.

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Speaker 1: So getck research is like an active area of inquiry,

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Speaker 1: Like there're people out there writing grants about geckos and

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Speaker 1: raising geckos for research. Is that ethical? Is it ethical? Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think it's that's a difficult question to answer.

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Speaker 1: I think it depends very much on the nature of

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Speaker 1: care that the get go are getting. It depends on

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Speaker 1: how you source the geckos. If you're getting them, if

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Speaker 1: you're breeding them in a lab, I don't think that

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Speaker 1: has too much of a negative impact on the environment

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Speaker 1: unless you accidentally release them and they become invasive. So,

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Speaker 1: you know, it depends on a lot of factors, the

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Speaker 1: ethics of geckos. But regardless of the ethics, we have

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Speaker 1: shot geckos into space. These are just the fact, regardless

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Speaker 1: of the ethics, whatever you say after that, I think

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Speaker 1: the geckos need a union and they need representation because

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Speaker 1: it sounds like nobody's really thinking about what the get

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Speaker 1: go wants in these experiments. Daniel Whites and attorney at

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Speaker 1: the Law of Physics here to and geckos so on

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Speaker 1: board the b I O n M one unmanned spacecraft.

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Speaker 1: There are a bunch of turners thick toad geckos or

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Speaker 1: there were, I don't know if this is a currently

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Speaker 1: running experiment. And they wanted to see the effects of

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Speaker 1: low gravity and and orbit on some reptiles, just see

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Speaker 1: how they do. How how do you like that on

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Speaker 1: the scale of zero to ten? Like how much you

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Speaker 1: like space? Um? And these geckos apparently weren't having such

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Speaker 1: a bad time because they were observed doing what appeared

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Speaker 1: to be play in space. So one of the get

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Speaker 1: gos went rogue, got out of its collar, and because

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Speaker 1: they were in low gravity, the collar floated away, and

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Speaker 1: the geckos started playing with it, like pushing it, kicking

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Speaker 1: it back and forth. One getto tried to put its

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Speaker 1: head inside the collar. One of them tried to like

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Speaker 1: stand on it. So they seemed to be playing around

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Speaker 1: in space, taking an interest in the bizarre physics of

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Speaker 1: this floating little tiny gecko collar. Wow, we're really projecting

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Speaker 1: human mental models onto geckos that we are torturing by

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Speaker 1: launching them into space and then acting as if they

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Speaker 1: liked it. You know, look, they're having fun. I mean,

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Speaker 1: maybe they're like panicked and they're like scrambling desperately to

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Speaker 1: get their collar back on. Who really knows what is

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Speaker 1: it like to be a gecko? What is it like

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Speaker 1: to be a geck in space? I don't know. I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't go into space? Would you? Would you get on

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Speaker 1: board and experiment to go into space if they told

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Speaker 1: you you could even play games in space as a human?

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Speaker 1: Maybe not, But as a gecko, I think I would because, like,

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Speaker 1: life as a gecko is already pretty perilous, so you know,

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Speaker 1: being a getck Go in space doesn't sound so bad.

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Speaker 1: I can already climb walls, so zero gravity shouldn't be

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Speaker 1: that weird for me. I guess I'd rather be a

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Speaker 1: gecko in space than a get go like trapped in

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Speaker 1: a lab somewhere massages or in some like cage in

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Speaker 1: some freshman dorm or something, being fed baby food instead

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Speaker 1: of okay, we were chilled, We were chill. Get Go

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Speaker 1: paid into the beer the beer budget too, so you know,

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Speaker 1: I got the party. So when we were to we're

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Speaker 1: actually going to talk about even more animals who have

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Speaker 1: escaped gravity by literally being shot into space, the reasons

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Speaker 1: they were up there and what they experienced while they

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Speaker 1: were there, probably some fear. Well we'll find out. So, Daniel,

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Speaker 1: do you know who the first animals in space were? Oh?

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Speaker 1: I know that there was a Sylviet street dog that

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Speaker 1: they launched into space. La. Yes, yes, that's about as

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Speaker 1: far back as my knowledge goes that was. It's such

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Speaker 1: a tragic story because while it's something really interesting in

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Speaker 1: terms of I am, you know, sort of scientific milestone,

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Speaker 1: I have so much compassion for dogs. I can't help

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Speaker 1: but feel just so emotional about that story, so so

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Speaker 1: sorry for like who must have been so scared because

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Speaker 1: you know, as as we know, like they were able

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Speaker 1: to launch like up into space, up into lower orbit.

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Speaker 1: But when they she came back down, the capsule burned

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Speaker 1: up and like died, which was very sad. But what

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Speaker 1: doesn't make me sad is sending fruit flies into space.

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Speaker 1: The first animals in space were not cute little dogs.

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Speaker 1: That was not chimpanzees, it wasn't even rats. It was

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Speaker 1: fruit flies. And they returned to Earth perfectly safely, which great.

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Speaker 1: I don't care as much about the fruit flies as

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Speaker 1: I did Like. So that's what you are talking here,

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Speaker 1: fruit flies in space, Ninete, what incredible fruit flies went

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Speaker 1: to space and came back and we can ask them

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Speaker 1: about it and the teeny tiniest of microphones, like, how

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Speaker 1: is your experience in space? Mr? Fruit fly? It's like

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Speaker 1: not that much fruit, So I wasn't that interested. Um,

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Speaker 1: So the US launched a V two rocket from New

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Speaker 1: Mexico with a payload of flies. The purpose was to

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Speaker 1: see how radiation affects living organisms at high altitudes. So, Danny,

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Speaker 1: you probably know, like why radiation is more of a

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Speaker 1: concern when you're in space than when you're on Earth. Yes, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: because space is filled with radiation. The Sun, for example,

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Speaker 1: is constantly pumping out huge amounts of radiation. This means

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Speaker 1: like really high energy particles like protons and electrons, and

404
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Speaker 1: also just really high energy photons. But this was not

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Speaker 1: something we knew early on. We thought that as you

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Speaker 1: went up in space, the radiation would drop. We thought

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Speaker 1: maybe the radiation radiation was coming from the Earth like

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Speaker 1: minerals in the Earth, and as you went out into

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Speaker 1: space it would fall off. So people were actually surprised

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Speaker 1: when they discovered that radiation increased as you went up

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Speaker 1: into space. Basically that the atmosphere is acting as a

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Speaker 1: huge shield, just like a big wet mattress or something

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Speaker 1: protecting us from all these tiny bullets from space. This

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Speaker 1: atmosphere seems pretty important. Well, good thing, we haven't done

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Speaker 1: anything bad to it, so yeah, no, exactly. The sun

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Speaker 1: is beaming down a lot of radiation. You feel it

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Speaker 1: every time you go outside and you feel warmth on

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Speaker 1: your skin. Maybe you get a sunburned. Don't do that

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Speaker 1: where sunscreen from a red head to you everybody. You

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Speaker 1: don't have to be a redhead to need sunscreen. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: when you get a sunburn, that is a radiation burn. Uh,

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Speaker 1: and it's a relatively mild one that you know, over

423
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,640
Speaker 1: time does increase the chance of skin cancer. But in space,

424
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:35,000
Speaker 1: with no atmosphere to protect you, the radiation from the

425
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: sun can really wallop you. That's right. Astronauts have to

426
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: be really careful because not only is there a lot

427
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,480
Speaker 1: of radiation, but it fluctuates, like the sun can basically

428
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 1: like burp and emit huge amounts of radiation, you know,

429
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: like these solar flares. They call this like solar weather

430
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,680
Speaker 1: or space weather, and then you can have like much

431
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: more intense radiation very briefly, and most astronauts and space

432
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: have like a panic room they can go into that's

433
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 1: extra shielded with like it or something to protect them

434
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: from these bursts of radiation. Makes me wonder if on

435
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: the I. S. S there's like some kind of belch

436
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,920
Speaker 1: and then someone's like, who burped? It's like the Sun.

437
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,880
Speaker 1: Well it's better than calling it, you know, the Sun's flatulence.

438
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: Blame it on the Sun. Astronauts. There's nowhere to hide

439
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 1: if you fart in the International Space Station. But you know,

440
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,120
Speaker 1: actually space has an interesting smell. You know, when you're

441
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,159
Speaker 1: come in from outer space. Space suits have an interesting

442
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: odor because they've accumulated various stuff that's out there and

443
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 1: they've been like activated by the various high energy particles,

444
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,159
Speaker 1: and so astronauts have reported that once you come in

445
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,879
Speaker 1: from outer space, they smell this is sort of smells

446
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,639
Speaker 1: a little bit like you know, overdone barbecue. But sometimes

447
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,120
Speaker 1: if you get interesting aromatics, you can have like smells

448
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 1: of raspberries or all the weird stuff someone's cooking somewhere

449
00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 1: in space. Space Gordon Ramsey yelling at some space chef,

450
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,920
Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah, So why didn't those fruit flies

451
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,440
Speaker 1: go up there and appreciate the raspberry smell of space? Yeah?

452
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 1: I feel like we should have just left him up there.

453
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 1: I hate fruit flies. I mean I don't. I don't

454
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: hate any animal really, but still when they get on

455
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 1: my fruit, it's very annoying. I have a friend who

456
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 1: does research on fruit fly brains actually, and she just

457
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 1: kills the fruit flies when she's done. They just you know,

458
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:26,680
Speaker 1: they knock about with C two and just squish them.

459
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 1: There's like no compassion there at all. Oh boy man,

460
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,879
Speaker 1: they don't get to retire to a field like a farm,

461
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: a fruit fly sanctuary. Here's a banana one for each

462
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: of you. Thank you for your contributions to science. Nope,

463
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: get knocked out and squished. Well, speaking of questionable practices

464
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,280
Speaker 1: towards animals. While I don't particularly have a huge amount

465
00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:53,959
Speaker 1: of sympathy for fruit flies, although I do not hate them,

466
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,000
Speaker 1: I don't hate any insect. They're all very interesting, uh.

467
00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 1: In the nineteen seventies, NASA, working with Italian researchers, sent

468
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 1: some bull frogs up into orbit on the Orbiting Frog

469
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: Odalith satellite to see how they dealt with motion sickness, which, god,

470
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 1: I feel so much sympathy for these poor frogs. As

471
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: someone who has a sensitive stomach and who gets motion

472
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 1: sick in cars? If I read for like a nanosecond, Ah,

473
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: this sounds like a nightmare. Well why frogs? Why would

474
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,720
Speaker 1: they use frogs? Are frogs particularly sensitive to motion sickness?

475
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: Well that's what's really interesting about this. So to talk

476
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,400
Speaker 1: about why. First, why is it called orbiting frog odalith?

477
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 1: The odalith refers to a structure in the inner ear

478
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: that allows vertebrates to detect motion and gravity. So in

479
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 1: humans and other mammals, odaliths are these little grain like

480
00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 1: mineral structures made out of calcium carbonate that are suspended

481
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 1: in a fluid. So when our heads tilt back and forth,

482
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,680
Speaker 1: or when we experience gravity on our bodies, uh, the

483
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 1: odalis move inside the fluid and press on cells inside

484
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: your inner ear. Like if you have imagine sort of

485
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: like a jar filled with little rocks, and the jars

486
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 1: filled with olive oil or something and you move it around, Um,

487
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: they will respond, uh, you know, not extremely quickly, but

488
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 1: gradually will respond to being tilted here and there and

489
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 1: and being dropped on the ground. Um. And so what

490
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 1: happens when these these little grains, these little odaliths move

491
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 1: flash back and forth in your ear? They press upon

492
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: what are called hair cells. So hair cells don't have

493
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 1: anything to do with like the hair on your head.

494
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 1: They are actually slender cells inside your inner ear that

495
00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 1: connect to nerve fibers and sends information to your brain.

496
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: So these odalis form like a little avalanche and press

497
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 1: on these slender hair like cells, and then that sends

498
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: a message to your brain that oh, I'm falling, this

499
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: is bad. Or you're in a car and you're moving

500
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: and these odalists get pushed back in your ear, and

501
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,239
Speaker 1: if you tilt your head forward, it can give you

502
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: this sense of falling forward and cause you to become

503
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:29,800
Speaker 1: disoriented and motion sick. So I'm imagining like having a

504
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 1: cup of coffee in your car and then you hit

505
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 1: the accelerator and then the surface of the coffee changes right,

506
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 1: doesn't just stay flatted like moved back towards the cup

507
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 1: where if you hit the brakes, suddenly your coffee flies

508
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:43,959
Speaker 1: out of your cup. So you can like have a

509
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 1: little container of stuff that tells you whether you're accelerating

510
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 1: forwards or backwards or whatever. So that's what's happening inside

511
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: our ear. We have like little coffee mugs basically, and

512
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 1: they're telling us whether they're spilling over or not, and

513
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 1: that tells your brain basically how you're being moved. Little

514
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 1: coffee mugs with like lumps of sugar in it that

515
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:08,959
Speaker 1: slash around. So while odolith's function differently in other vertebrates, frogs,

516
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,480
Speaker 1: coming back to your question, Daniel, actually have a similar

517
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 1: inner ear structure to humans. So that's why we shot

518
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 1: frogs into space, specifically bull frogs, because their inner ear

519
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: mechanism works similarly to humans. Uh and unfortunately for them,

520
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: very unfortunately for them. So how did they measure motion

521
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: sickness of bull frogs alone in space? Was it little

522
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 1: froggy barf bags or a survey? Sadly no, they used

523
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: electrodes implanted in their inner ear nerves or vestibular nerves

524
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 1: to collect data on the activity of those inner ear nerves.

525
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 1: So activity that varied greatly from baseline indicated that the

526
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: inner ear was panicking and sending frantic messages to the

527
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: brain about weight blessness in spaceflight in orbit. And uh,

528
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 1: because this was very interesting, uh in terms of like, well,

529
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 1: what will happen to astronauts that we send out if

530
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: we send them into orbit? Are they just going to

531
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 1: be vomiting continuously, which would be horrible because in the

532
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: vomit would float away. Uh and uh. What they found

533
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: was that after an initial period of the frog ears

534
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 1: freaking out, that their ears sending these frantic messages to

535
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 1: their brand going like what is happening, they actually returned

536
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: to baseline. So that indicated that the bull frogs acclimated

537
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: to low gravity, and after a little while of adjustment,

538
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,040
Speaker 1: they're like, this is fine, I'm fine. You know, image

539
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 1: of image of that dog sipping coffee in the fire,

540
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: except it's like a bullfrog in space sipping coffee, going

541
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 1: this is fine, I'm vomiting. Of course, it becomes a

542
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 1: little more nightmarish when you hear about the actual set

543
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:02,400
Speaker 1: up of the experiment, because of course they didn't just

544
00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,600
Speaker 1: have a bunch of cute little frogs and little froggy

545
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 1: spacesuits all buckled in, all all cutely. The way the

546
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 1: frogs were sent into space is a little bit of

547
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 1: a kind of black mirror situation for frogs. Their arm

548
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 1: nerves were severed so they wouldn't move and so they

549
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: wouldn't pull out the electrodes, and so that they could

550
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 1: survive longer without eating um because like by severing their

551
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,320
Speaker 1: arm nerves, it meant they wouldn't move around and they

552
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 1: would slow down their metabolism. And they were suspended in

553
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 1: water to allow gas exchange and breathing, so like the

554
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 1: ultimate sensory deprivation tank. But being shot into space and

555
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: not being able to move your arms and legs, that's

556
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,840
Speaker 1: a you know, I'm glad I wasn't a bullfrog in

557
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies. We got to find out who that

558
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: bullfrog's agent was because they really fell down on the job. Like, seriously,

559
00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 1: those frogs needs to representation. That sounds like a nightmare. Yeah,

560
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:02,799
Speaker 1: and did they did they survived? Did they come back

561
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:04,880
Speaker 1: to Earth or are they still up there like frozen

562
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: frog somewhere? You know, I'm not sure if they survived.

563
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 1: I think they did have to retrieve the capsule though,

564
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:15,960
Speaker 1: to get the electrode data, so one or the other

565
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 1: the frogs came back to Earth. But regardless of whether

566
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,799
Speaker 1: they survived, they were probably euthanized because what kind of

567
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: a life is it for a frog to, you know,

568
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 1: just be suspended in water and uh, with all these

569
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,200
Speaker 1: electrodes sticking out of you, maybe you got to listen

570
00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: to podcasts. You know that would Yeah, if you're a

571
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:39,919
Speaker 1: frog in space in some kind of secret experiment. Thanks

572
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,399
Speaker 1: for listening, uh and don't forget to like and subscribe.

573
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,400
Speaker 1: So there's one more organism I want to talk about,

574
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 1: But the fact that it's going to be orbiting the

575
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: Earth is perhaps the least interesting part about it. And

576
00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 1: so when we return, we're going to be talking about

577
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:07,560
Speaker 1: a blob. So Daniel, let's talk about the space blob.

578
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,799
Speaker 1: Space blob of what frog vomit or something else. It's

579
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: just the space blob. Period. So earlier in the episode,

580
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 1: I teas that we're not going to be only talking

581
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 1: about animals. Uh so most recently, uh so, relatively recently,

582
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:32,400
Speaker 1: we uh sent wait, no sorries. So we are currently

583
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:37,879
Speaker 1: sending a rather different organism into space. It is a

584
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:43,319
Speaker 1: slime mold called VI Serum poly syphonium, which is a

585
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 1: slime mold known colloquially as the blob. That's like the

586
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 1: actual name that researchers often referred to. It's it's the

587
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:56,560
Speaker 1: blob um. They have blob conferences and blob meetings. We

588
00:36:56,640 --> 00:37:01,359
Speaker 1: need to discuss the blob. It's becoming urgent. So this

589
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:05,399
Speaker 1: thing is not an animal. It's not a fungus, it's

590
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:08,799
Speaker 1: not a bacteria, and it's not a plant. It is

591
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 1: a eukaryote like humans and plants and animals, but it

592
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:19,800
Speaker 1: is a protest, So protest is any eukaryote that's neither

593
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 1: an animal, plant, or fungus, Which is kind of circular logic,

594
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:27,560
Speaker 1: isn't it. It's like, right, right, what is it's just

595
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,880
Speaker 1: the miscellaneous bin of animals or actually no, it's the

596
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:35,239
Speaker 1: miscellaneous bin of non animals that are not plants or fungus.

597
00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:39,359
Speaker 1: But they are eukaryotes, which you know, and they must

598
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 1: have other things in common with each other, right, They

599
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,160
Speaker 1: can't only be defined by not being something else. That's

600
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 1: kind of how it is. Actually, they are not necessarily

601
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,799
Speaker 1: always related that closely like. There might be some that

602
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:55,400
Speaker 1: are more closely related, but there might be some that

603
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: are like more closely related to animals or more closely

604
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:02,240
Speaker 1: related to plants or to fungus, But they just why

605
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: what they share in common is the lack of being

606
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:09,160
Speaker 1: an animal, a fungus, our plant, which you know when

607
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:11,799
Speaker 1: you think about it. Sometimes the strongest friend groups are

608
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,480
Speaker 1: just made based on what you dislike and not what

609
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:20,520
Speaker 1: you like you get together and I'll complain about the

610
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 1: same TV show. Yeah, you get together there and complain

611
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:26,359
Speaker 1: about me and all these animals and plants and and uh,

612
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 1: fungus just watching Friends reruns. It's not even that good.

613
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,560
Speaker 1: It's not that funny. They just wanted to be invited. Really,

614
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: they're just bitter. Put us in our own little group

615
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 1: of misfits. Will show you. So are slime mold connected

616
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: to anything else? So they have any like weird other

617
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,240
Speaker 1: evolutionary cousins are They like on their own the only

618
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,359
Speaker 1: things like them on earth. They're kind of on their

619
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 1: own and even weirder like a slime mold is not again,

620
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:59,279
Speaker 1: like necessarily all closely related to each other. It's kind

621
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,319
Speaker 1: of like when we talk about fish, where you know,

622
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:06,120
Speaker 1: we call a lot of things fish, but a one

623
00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 1: fish might be more closely related to humans than it

624
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:14,200
Speaker 1: is to another fish. It's a similar case with slime molds. Uh.

625
00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:18,600
Speaker 1: They can often look pretty similar or behave somewhat similarly,

626
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: but sometimes they're just not very related at all. They're

627
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,439
Speaker 1: just kind of this like catch all thing of like

628
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,560
Speaker 1: it's weird and slimy and kind of looks like a mold,

629
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:32,879
Speaker 1: but we don't know. Uh So, the blob. Sorry, excuse me,

630
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:36,279
Speaker 1: so the blob. Let's get back to the blob. We

631
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,319
Speaker 1: got to talk about the blob. Very important to talk

632
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: about the blob. What does the blob look like? Kind

633
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 1: of looks like a yellow splat, you say, in the

634
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 1: most flattering terms possible. It is like a ballago that

635
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 1: you forcefully threw down on the ground and kind of

636
00:39:56,239 --> 00:40:00,319
Speaker 1: splattered all over the place. Uh So, it is like

637
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 1: a goop that has these branching yellow veins coming out

638
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:08,319
Speaker 1: of the goo. Uh yeah, looks it looks looks good,

639
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,319
Speaker 1: looks cool. It looks like a nightmare. It sounds like

640
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,880
Speaker 1: a nightmare. Looks a little bit like neon barf um.

641
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:20,320
Speaker 1: And aside from living, crawling neon barf living neon barf

642
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:25,560
Speaker 1: uh And other than that, it's also very strange, very

643
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:31,200
Speaker 1: weird organism. Uh So, during one stage of its life cycle,

644
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: it is actually an a cellular organism, which means that

645
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,879
Speaker 1: instead of dividing into multiple cells as it grows, it's

646
00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:44,839
Speaker 1: just one big, goopy, expanding cell. It doesn't have like

647
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:49,799
Speaker 1: cell walls or anything. Well, it has organills, but it

648
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,879
Speaker 1: does not have cell walls at that stage. In its

649
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,360
Speaker 1: life cycle. It has cell walls at different stages in

650
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:59,920
Speaker 1: its life cycle, which I have tried to study the

651
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:05,600
Speaker 1: things like life cycle. I've looked at diagrams. It's it's difficult.

652
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:10,280
Speaker 1: It's a doozy. There's like multiple branching circles that happen,

653
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:13,000
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure I fully understand it. I'm gonna

654
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,719
Speaker 1: be very candid. It's it's really hard for me to

655
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: wrap my head around. But I'm turning your brain into

656
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,360
Speaker 1: a blob. It's turning my brain into a blob. This

657
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,439
Speaker 1: is how it reproduces. It just turns your brain into

658
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,120
Speaker 1: a blob. But it's going viral because now you're turning

659
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,040
Speaker 1: all your listeners brains into blobs. We all become blob.

660
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 1: I guess it's better than carsonization, where we all become crabs.

661
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 1: Welcome to the blob. Everyone more questions about how they work,

662
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 1: like do they have DNA or any sort of like nucleus. Yes,

663
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:45,160
Speaker 1: in fact, they have many nucleus is all floating around

664
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 1: inside just a big old party. It's decisions. Yes, So

665
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 1: they have one it's one big expanding cell with these

666
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,800
Speaker 1: like branch You see this blob, that's one cell and

667
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,839
Speaker 1: then even it's branching veins that are coming off of it.

668
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:02,120
Speaker 1: That's all part of the same cell, just kind of

669
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:07,320
Speaker 1: expanding and growing, and it's got multiple nucleus is inside

670
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 1: of it instead of having just one nucleus, so you know,

671
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,520
Speaker 1: in these nucleus are full of genetic material and they

672
00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:18,280
Speaker 1: can all start to grow and use this genetic material

673
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,319
Speaker 1: as building blocks at different parts of the cell. So

674
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,520
Speaker 1: that's why it's like a goose bladder that just keeps

675
00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:29,239
Speaker 1: growing and branching out. Um. And I guess that's why

676
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 1: it's called the blob. And aren't they also like really

677
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:36,120
Speaker 1: hard to kill, Like they're really hearty objects, aren't they? Yeah?

678
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:40,839
Speaker 1: I think so, because basically, if you chop off part

679
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:44,959
Speaker 1: of the blob, there's more blob that still has a

680
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:49,960
Speaker 1: genetic material inside of it. Uh. So it is interesting

681
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:55,040
Speaker 1: in that slime molds are often kind of they may

682
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 1: look similar, but they function differently. So Um, like I said,

683
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 1: slime molds are sort of a catch all term for

684
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:06,640
Speaker 1: weird eukaryotes that are kind of unclassifiable. They're not always

685
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 1: related to each other, but often slime molds are actually

686
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:15,320
Speaker 1: unicellular organisms that have teamed up into a big ball

687
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 1: of individual organisms that are working together to form a

688
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:25,240
Speaker 1: single aggregate. So uh, you know, it's like it's similar

689
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:28,600
Speaker 1: to you know, as a human, we are a bunch

690
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,760
Speaker 1: of cells all working together, but we're much more organized,

691
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:35,319
Speaker 1: whereas a slime mold are a bunch of unicellular organisms

692
00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,160
Speaker 1: that sometimes work together. Sometimes they'll even form like a

693
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,279
Speaker 1: slug that kind of moves in unison, but ultimately they're

694
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:46,359
Speaker 1: all in it for themselves. So but on the other hand, uh,

695
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:51,640
Speaker 1: the blob uh is just one big cell and so

696
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:56,799
Speaker 1: uh it's this is just incredibly weird. It's there are

697
00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:02,000
Speaker 1: large unicellular organisms, but the blob is weird and that

698
00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 1: it's like it has these multiple nucleus is and it

699
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 1: kind of just uses outwards and it has a kind

700
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 1: of weird, spooky intelligence that arises from the ability to

701
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:25,800
Speaker 1: use these multiple nucleuses to grow and expand in multiple directions. Uh.

702
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:31,400
Speaker 1: So it can learn the fastest path to grow towards food.

703
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,239
Speaker 1: Keep in mind, this has no brain, It has no

704
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:42,359
Speaker 1: nerves we'd have, it doesn't really have sensory organs. Uh.

705
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:46,319
Speaker 1: So how it is able to find the fastest, most

706
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:51,480
Speaker 1: efficient path towards food is really weird and kind of freaky.

707
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 1: It's like solving an optimization problem. It's like a little

708
00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:58,920
Speaker 1: distributed computer. Yes. In fact, it is often considered as

709
00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:03,239
Speaker 1: a candidate to build a bio computer because it can

710
00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:07,960
Speaker 1: be trained to be used as a logic gate, because

711
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,799
Speaker 1: it is so efficient at moving from you know, one

712
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:16,760
Speaker 1: particle of food to the next. Researchers in Japan created

713
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:22,160
Speaker 1: like a miniature uh Tokyo where they used oat flakes

714
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:28,200
Speaker 1: to represent like different cities, different like locations, and they

715
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 1: put the slime mold on it and it grew out.

716
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:35,080
Speaker 1: It's weird, goopy tendrils to each of the oat flakes.

717
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,319
Speaker 1: I guess they love oat flakes. I don't know, very

718
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:41,640
Speaker 1: healthy blob um, but uh, and it would grow out,

719
00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:47,319
Speaker 1: and they showed that this network of expanding tubular structures

720
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 1: coming out of this one blobby cell was so efficient.

721
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:55,320
Speaker 1: It was similar to how city planning works in terms

722
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 1: of designing subway lines and transit lines. So we should

723
00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:03,160
Speaker 1: have the blob design our public transport. Look, I'm sorry

724
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:05,720
Speaker 1: to break it to you urban planners, but the blobs

725
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:09,960
Speaker 1: coming for your job. Well, we definitely need an improvement

726
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,400
Speaker 1: in our urban planning here in southern California, we basically

727
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 1: have no public transport, so bring on the blob, Bring

728
00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:20,040
Speaker 1: on the blob. But yeah, it is really it's like

729
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,520
Speaker 1: kind of spooky how intelligent they are, because again, it's

730
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,720
Speaker 1: not like a consciousness. There's no nervous system, there's no brain.

731
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 1: It's not even like with ants, where you know, each

732
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 1: of the ants have their own little tiny brain and

733
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:37,239
Speaker 1: they kind of work together using pheromones, so they kind

734
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:40,799
Speaker 1: of have this emergent intelligence coming out of an ant colony.

735
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,399
Speaker 1: That kind of makes some sense. But something like this

736
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,760
Speaker 1: blob that has uh, you know, it doesn't have sensory

737
00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:52,640
Speaker 1: organs like animals do. They must be doing it in

738
00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:57,720
Speaker 1: some other ways. So one theory is maybe energy conservation,

739
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,800
Speaker 1: like it's somehow is op of minds towards the most

740
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 1: efficient kind of energy path. Um, there may be some

741
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:10,759
Speaker 1: like chemical process that is happening on the surface of

742
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: the blob cell and that allows it to grow towards food.

743
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 1: It is really weird, really mysterious, and I'm not sure

744
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:23,479
Speaker 1: that there's a definitive answer yet. And does the blob

745
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:25,760
Speaker 1: have any predators? Like why hasn't the blob just taken

746
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:28,920
Speaker 1: over the world by now it's a good question. I

747
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:33,919
Speaker 1: doubt it tastes very good. In fact, it might not

748
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:38,760
Speaker 1: be uh super palatable. So that's that's one method of

749
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 1: of survival is to just be super disgusting. That's what

750
00:47:42,719 --> 00:47:48,840
Speaker 1: that's my strategy. But just don't shower, don't make an effort,

751
00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:52,360
Speaker 1: and people will avoid you. People leave me alone anyway,

752
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:54,959
Speaker 1: because I'm a physicist. It's just like a second layer

753
00:47:54,960 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 1: of protection. So uh So, how though, despite it being

754
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:06,000
Speaker 1: a disgusting splat, it does undergo sexual fusion with one another,

755
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: which means there's hope for us all. So they can

756
00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:13,480
Speaker 1: form a plasmodium, which is what we've been talking about.

757
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,680
Speaker 1: That is the blob we know and love. That's this

758
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:21,160
Speaker 1: one big cell, one big happy, massive nucleus is and

759
00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:25,480
Speaker 1: and cytoplasm and goo and growing out and eating oat flakes.

760
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 1: But this is only one stage of its many stages

761
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:34,640
Speaker 1: of its life cycle that it can go through. So

762
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:39,280
Speaker 1: uh it can actually it starts out as a spore,

763
00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:43,080
Speaker 1: which the plasmodium, that the blob can grow a fruiting

764
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:45,759
Speaker 1: body and send out spores and make more of these

765
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:49,520
Speaker 1: horrifying things. And so the spore stage actually does have

766
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:52,480
Speaker 1: a hard cell wall, and it can lie dormant until

767
00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:56,160
Speaker 1: conditions are favorable, and then after that it has an

768
00:48:56,160 --> 00:49:00,400
Speaker 1: amiba stage with a flexible permeable membrane in instead of

769
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,239
Speaker 1: a cell wall. Are these dormant sports? Can they like

770
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:05,680
Speaker 1: hang off, you know, a hundred years, a thousand years,

771
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,480
Speaker 1: just like waiting for the right moment. They can wait

772
00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:11,239
Speaker 1: a good amount of time. I'm not sure it's thousands

773
00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,160
Speaker 1: or hundreds of years, but it's definitely on the order

774
00:49:14,239 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 1: of years. Well. I actually once had a listener to

775
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:20,719
Speaker 1: our podcast, send me a slime mold, because I speculated

776
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 1: on air about whether there are creatures that could have

777
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: distributed intelligence because we were talking, of course about aliens.

778
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:28,160
Speaker 1: And one of our listeners was like, you need to

779
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: meet a slime mold. I can send you one. Send

780
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:34,799
Speaker 1: me a slime mold. And so he did, and he

781
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:37,320
Speaker 1: sent us a bunch. And my wife is a microbiologist

782
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 1: who the microbiologist, she grew it and it turned into

783
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:44,440
Speaker 1: this disgusting Then we have to figure out, like what

784
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:46,040
Speaker 1: to do with it, because you can't just throw it

785
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,480
Speaker 1: in the garbage. It would like take over the garbage.

786
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 1: Did did you try to eat it? We did not,

787
00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:55,080
Speaker 1: try to teach. This is my point. This is my point.

788
00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:00,520
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean so even weirder, like if they

789
00:50:00,719 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 1: develop into these amibas and it turns out life kind

790
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:08,319
Speaker 1: of sucks, they can revert back into a spore so

791
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:12,160
Speaker 1: and then go lie dormant again for x amount of

792
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:15,280
Speaker 1: time and then come back out and become an amiba again.

793
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: And uh, they can be mobile with a flagella, or

794
00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:24,000
Speaker 1: ditch the flagella and just do sexual fusion to become

795
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:29,360
Speaker 1: the plasmodium. And uh yeah, and then there's other branches

796
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 1: to its life cycle that I'm gonna be honest with you.

797
00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:35,960
Speaker 1: I got a little bit lost. It's very twisty, attorney,

798
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 1: very very strange, and like like you said, very Uh,

799
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:44,839
Speaker 1: it's got a lot of qualities that means it's a

800
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: real survivor so and it's got this spooky emergent intelligence.

801
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 1: So of course we're going to shoot it in a

802
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:57,560
Speaker 1: space and see what happens. See if space will reject

803
00:50:57,640 --> 00:50:59,880
Speaker 1: it fit it back at this, what do you do

804
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:03,960
Speaker 1: when sending me this garbage? Or maybe welcome his return?

805
00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:06,359
Speaker 1: Maybe the slime molds don't look like anything else on

806
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:09,600
Speaker 1: Earth because they're not from Earth. Yeah, This was its

807
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:12,480
Speaker 1: plan all along, just be so weird and gross that

808
00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 1: we send it back home. We're throwing it back into

809
00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:20,319
Speaker 1: the Brier patch. So of course France is shooting it

810
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:22,920
Speaker 1: into space. They love their weird cheeses, They love their

811
00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:25,200
Speaker 1: weird mold on cheeses, so I guess they like their

812
00:51:25,239 --> 00:51:29,319
Speaker 1: weird slime molds. So it is going onto the International

813
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:33,560
Speaker 1: Space Station to study, uh, And then on Earth, French

814
00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:36,440
Speaker 1: school students are going to be following the progress of

815
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:40,040
Speaker 1: the blob on and studying it while researchers on the

816
00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:43,239
Speaker 1: International Space Station are studying it, which just sounds like

817
00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:48,160
Speaker 1: the perfect intro to like a science fiction horror apocalypse

818
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 1: alien takeover thing where it's like, oh, these school students,

819
00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:54,600
Speaker 1: they're just these cute little French students wearing their little berets,

820
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:57,839
Speaker 1: are studying the slime mold with these astronauts, and they've

821
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,400
Speaker 1: got some kind of on their iPads. They see a

822
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 1: live feed and then suddenly just mold comes into view

823
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:10,080
Speaker 1: and then you hear screaming and then silence. Biology is

824
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:13,919
Speaker 1: always so cute and fuzzy mm hmm, until until you've

825
00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:17,120
Speaker 1: got something that looks like a yellow bar trying to

826
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:21,080
Speaker 1: grow on the International Space Station. So how we not

827
00:52:21,200 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 1: had that movie yet? Slime molds take over the space station.

828
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:29,560
Speaker 1: It's just so cinematic, these ideas, these concepts. Listen, scriptwriters

829
00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:33,319
Speaker 1: get to it. Uh yeah, they are trying to find

830
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:37,480
Speaker 1: out whether how they respond to low gravity. So does

831
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:39,400
Speaker 1: it grow like it does on Earth where it's just

832
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:44,160
Speaker 1: kind of a splatter, or could it grow into columns,

833
00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:48,279
Speaker 1: or maybe it grows into the brains of astronauts. And

834
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 1: then they return home and they're like, yes, I am normal.

835
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 1: I returned from space, so very human. Then so very normal.

836
00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 1: I am not blob. Hey have you about blob? It's

837
00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Everyone's joining Blob. See humans come back, and

838
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:11,200
Speaker 1: then they are the union representation for the blob speaking

839
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:17,720
Speaker 1: for the Blob. Everybody needs representation. Listen, join our Blob union.

840
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:21,879
Speaker 1: Here's my card. Whoops, sorry, I guess now you're part

841
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:24,840
Speaker 1: of the Blob. Blobs of the world unite. You have

842
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 1: nothing to lose but your cell walls. Uh perfect, Well,

843
00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:36,319
Speaker 1: I think that about does it. For the animals that

844
00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:39,280
Speaker 1: we've shot into space that are probably going to form

845
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:42,560
Speaker 1: like an army in attack us any day now. But

846
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:45,880
Speaker 1: before we go, I do need to reveal the animal

847
00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:49,960
Speaker 1: behind the last week's mystery sound. Oh my gosh, And

848
00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:53,320
Speaker 1: so I've decided to call this segment Guess Who's Talking,

849
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:56,600
Speaker 1: which I think works. If anyone has a better idea

850
00:53:56,719 --> 00:54:00,160
Speaker 1: for the name of this game, send it in um.

851
00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:04,080
Speaker 1: But to refresh your memory, let me play the mystery

852
00:54:04,239 --> 00:54:14,480
Speaker 1: sound from last week. Can I guess what it sounds like? Yes,

853
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:17,719
Speaker 1: you can. It sounds to me like a frog in

854
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:20,799
Speaker 1: suspended It sounds to me like a frog that's had

855
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:25,240
Speaker 1: its arms severed, suspendion water and forced ten ago crazy

856
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:30,640
Speaker 1: accelerations I have. I have no arms, and I must

857
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:36,480
Speaker 1: scream very good guests, Very good guests. Unfortunately incorrect. But

858
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:41,360
Speaker 1: there are some winners of this contest who guessed correctly

859
00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:46,879
Speaker 1: the incognito animal. So actually I've got two winners because

860
00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:50,000
Speaker 1: they wrote in it like almost exactly the same time,

861
00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:57,640
Speaker 1: Thomas Crone and Jared Miller, who both guessed sage grouse. Congratulations,

862
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:01,440
Speaker 1: and runner up is a a faction confection on Twitter.

863
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:04,560
Speaker 1: Great job you guys. I thought I started out with

864
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:08,520
Speaker 1: a real head scratcher, a real tough one, and you

865
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:10,640
Speaker 1: have absolutely blown my mind with how good you are

866
00:55:10,680 --> 00:55:14,640
Speaker 1: at guessing sounds. The greater sage grouse which you have heard,

867
00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:18,600
Speaker 1: which apparently sounds like a frog orbiting the earth and distress,

868
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:24,000
Speaker 1: is actually a ground dwelling bird found in sagebrush planes

869
00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:28,840
Speaker 1: in the US and Canada. These weird calls are mating

870
00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:32,560
Speaker 1: noises that this sage grouse makes in a designated mating

871
00:55:32,680 --> 00:55:35,680
Speaker 1: area called a lek. So the males put on a

872
00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:39,960
Speaker 1: big show for the females. They they inflate their neck sacks,

873
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:43,480
Speaker 1: which are called gol or pouches, They strut around with

874
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:46,319
Speaker 1: their tails fanned out, and then they make this extremely

875
00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:54,480
Speaker 1: bizarre noise, apparently to attract the females. Well, it is

876
00:55:54,520 --> 00:55:56,360
Speaker 1: a strange noise, and I guess if I was a

877
00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:59,319
Speaker 1: female grouse, I would find it attractive. I'm not really

878
00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:02,320
Speaker 1: sure what's like to be a female grouse. Nobody knows.

879
00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:09,720
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds rough to me, honestly. So of course,

880
00:56:09,840 --> 00:56:15,600
Speaker 1: now we're going to play around two of guests. Who's talking? Uh?

881
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:21,720
Speaker 1: So here is our next mystery sound contender And a hint,

882
00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:42,879
Speaker 1: this is a conversation between two Canadians. So, Daniel, who

883
00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:46,920
Speaker 1: do you think is talking in that video? That sounds

884
00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:49,320
Speaker 1: like the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition.

885
00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:54,839
Speaker 1: You got it? Game over now now right in with

886
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:58,719
Speaker 1: your guesses to Creature feature Pot at gmail dot com,

887
00:56:58,719 --> 00:57:02,520
Speaker 1: Creature feet Pad on Twitter that's E. E. T Et

888
00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:06,960
Speaker 1: or Creature feature Pod on Instagram. You can also write

889
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:10,560
Speaker 1: in any questions that you have, animal questions and me

890
00:57:10,719 --> 00:57:14,759
Speaker 1: pictures of your pets, concerns that the slime mold has

891
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:19,040
Speaker 1: already invaded your brain. If you're starting to feel like

892
00:57:19,240 --> 00:57:22,480
Speaker 1: you want to become a blob, that's one sign of it.

893
00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:25,840
Speaker 1: Uh And I'm afraid it's probably too late for you,

894
00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:28,240
Speaker 1: but you can still write in while you have control

895
00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:32,720
Speaker 1: of your body. Thank you so much for joining me today.

896
00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: Daniel H. What what is your favorite animal that we

897
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:41,440
Speaker 1: shot into space. I'm definitely pro blob, mostly because I

898
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:43,960
Speaker 1: think the blob has the best chance of eventually taking

899
00:57:44,040 --> 00:57:46,240
Speaker 1: over the Earth. So I'm just sort of making a

900
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:48,960
Speaker 1: Pascal's wager here and figuring if the Blob listens to

901
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:52,680
Speaker 1: this podcast, I'm gonna get some points for collaborating earlier. Yeah, yeah,

902
00:57:52,720 --> 00:57:55,720
Speaker 1: you're hedging your beds. I think that's pretty smart. We

903
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:58,600
Speaker 1: love the blood, don't we, folks. We share love the Blob,

904
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:03,200
Speaker 1: the Benevolent lab But Thank you guys so much for listening.

905
00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:05,760
Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the show, uh, and you have a

906
00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:07,600
Speaker 1: minute to spare, if you can leave me a rating

907
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:10,320
Speaker 1: or review, it really helps. I read all of them

908
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:12,920
Speaker 1: and I uh it always makes my day when I

909
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:15,960
Speaker 1: get a review and I can hear your feedback. And

910
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:19,120
Speaker 1: of course thanks to the Space Classics for their super

911
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:22,760
Speaker 1: awesome song. Ex Alumina. Creature features a production of I

912
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:25,640
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts like the one you just,

913
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:28,560
Speaker 1: the one you just heard, visit the I Heart Radio

914
00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:31,000
Speaker 1: app Apple podcast, or Hey guess what where? Have you

915
00:58:31,080 --> 00:58:36,600
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows? See you next Wednesday.