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