1 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature, feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 3 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: and today on the show non Terrestrial Extraterrestrial. These non 4 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: alien life forms look more alien than the aliens in Avatar. 5 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: From gloopy ghosts to glowing alien eyes, these animals may 6 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: give us a hint at what could be in store 7 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,639 Speaker 1: for us on alien planets. Discover this and more as 8 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,520 Speaker 1: we answer the age old question it's the Holy Grail 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: just a pile of Snot joining me today is friend 10 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: of the show, particle physicist and host of Daniel and 11 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: Jorge Explain the Universe, Daniel Whitson, Welcome, Thank you very much, 12 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: happy to be here and happy to join in the blasphemy. 13 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of things spitting God's eye 14 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: on this episode, I believe. And we've actually talked about 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: this a bit. I've been a guest co host on 16 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: your show, Daniel and Jorgey Explain the Universe, and we've 17 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: chatted from time to time about maybe the possibility of 18 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: alien life. What do you think about that? Do you 19 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: think that it's plausible that there are aliens out there. 20 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: Are you a firm believer or are you a skeptic 21 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 1: or are you a hoper? I am both a skeptic 22 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: and a hoper. I think that it's quite plausible that 23 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: there could be alien life out there, just because of 24 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: the mathematics. We know that the universe is huge. I mean, 25 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: there are trillions of galaxies out there. Each one has 26 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: hundreds of billions of stars, and we now know that 27 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: most of those stars have planets, many planets, and frequently 28 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: they will have earthlike planets. So the sheer number of 29 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: places that lifelike hours could evolve is overwhelming. On the 30 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: other hand, we haven't found any of it, and we 31 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: don't really know what the chances are for life to 32 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: evolve on some earthlike planet. Is it one in two 33 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: is it one in a gazillion. We just don't know. 34 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,239 Speaker 1: So I'd love for there to be life out there 35 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: to talk to alien physicists about the secrets of the universe, 36 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: but we just don't know. Well, here's a gotcha question. 37 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: If there's life out there, why haven't they called us? 38 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: I mean, they haven't called you. I've been chatting with 39 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: them for years, Katie. I knew I wasn't in the 40 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: intergalactic group chat. But it is a great question, it's 41 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: a deep question, and it's a famous question. It's basically 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: the Fermi paradox. Fermi, a physicist from decades ago, said, Look, 43 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: if there's so many planets and stars out there, and 44 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: the universe is quite old, billions of years old, plenty 45 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: of time for civilizations to flourish and explore the galaxy, 46 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: why has nobody contacted us yet? And of course here 47 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: we have to put in a corner all the theories 48 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: of maybe pilots seeing UFOs suggesting that they actually are here, 49 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: assuming that none of them have contacted us, it's a 50 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: great question, why haven't they? And there's a whole variety 51 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: of theories suggesting that maybe aliens are maybe alien civilization 52 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: is just sort of short lived, or maybe they're so 53 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: alien that they're contacting us in a way we can't 54 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: even imagine. Maybe their messages are washing over us right now, 55 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: we just don't hear them. I choose to believe that 56 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: whenever I'm missing a sock and I know I put 57 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: it in the washer and it's just gone. It's you know, 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: it's I put two in the washer and one comes out, 59 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: and I'm sure a lot of people have experienced this. 60 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: I believe that there is some kind of alien interference 61 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: there where they are trying to do some sort of 62 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: you know, flattening of a wavelength to communicate with us, 63 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: but then all they're getting is a pile of socks, 64 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: and so they think that we are a very sock 65 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: based society on Earth. And actually I have a physics 66 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: based explanation for your missing socks. Yes. No, I think 67 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: they've all been sucked up into the hose zone layer 68 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: in the upper atmosphere. Good. Yes, very good. No. It's 69 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: a really fun question whether they're aliens and what they're like, 70 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: and it also sort of reflects what we think about aliens, 71 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,359 Speaker 1: like we are capable of thinking about aliens and searching 72 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: for aliens essentially only in the way that we can 73 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: think about aliens. But there's a possibility that aliens could 74 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 1: be much weirder than we could possibly imagine, biologically, technically, culturally, 75 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: in every sort of avenue. And I think that some 76 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: evidence to back that up is that we keep finding 77 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: stuff on our planet on Earth that is so alien 78 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: to us that they are like in those sort of 79 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: common depictions of aliens the most. You know, things that 80 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: I see are things like basically a humanoid but green, 81 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: with bigger eyes and maybe a huge head. You know, 82 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: there are some more creative portrayals of aliens. One of 83 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: my favorites actually is in the more recent movie Nope. 84 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: I don't know if you've seen that. Have you seen that, Daniel, 85 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: I've not seen. Highly recommend Nope to you because the 86 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: depiction of the alien is really fun, I think. I mean, 87 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: it's scary but also really fun because it is I'm 88 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: not gonna say too much because I don't want to 89 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: spoil it, but it's it's all They did somewhat base 90 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: it in marine biology, but you wouldn't necessarily know that 91 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: watching the movie, and it's it's it's just a very 92 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: delightful take on alien life. But yeah, our imagination is 93 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: often like, well, maybe it's like humans but blue and 94 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: tall and they ride pterodactyls, and as you know, that's fun. 95 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: I'm going to say that's a bad way to imagine things. 96 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,840 Speaker 1: But maybe that's not what it's like, and we only 97 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 1: need to look at our own animals here on Earth, 98 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: especially the animals we find in the oceans, because they 99 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: have had a very different evolutionary path from us, and 100 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: it results in things that to us terrestrial animals look 101 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: very alien. And one I want to start with looks 102 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: I mean, it looks alien in sort of a like 103 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: I feel like in the sixties there were a lot 104 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: of illustrations of alien planets that were just kind of surreal. 105 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: Sometimes they'd be like covers to some weird book that 106 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: you'd find at like a used bookstore. And this one 107 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: kind of gives me that vibe of these just super 108 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: surreal imaginings of like it's an alien, but it's just 109 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: a bunch of weird flanges. And it is called the 110 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,160 Speaker 1: malibe Veritas, and it well, I've shared an image of 111 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: it with you, Daniel, how would you describe this thing? 112 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: It looks like those toys used to throw against the 113 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: wall that would stick and then sort of roll down 114 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: the wall bit by. I mean, it just looks like 115 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: a sticky blob sticky hands, Yeah, sticky hands exactly. And 116 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: you know, your comment about it looking like the sixties 117 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: makes me wonder if our depiction of alien our imagination 118 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: of aliens, basically just depends on what the artists would 119 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: drug the artists recently, Yeah, I mean, I think it 120 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: is interesting, and maybe the drug is somehow stimulating parts 121 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: of the brain that haven't been active since we ourselves 122 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: were in the ocean and we were surrounded by things 123 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: like this. That's not very scientific, but I like to 124 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: think that way. But yeah, well, how long ago was 125 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: this discovered? How long have we been aware of the 126 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: middlibivorids and it's bizarre alien sticky hands. Now, we have 127 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: been aware of it since the late eighteen hundreds. I 128 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: believe that doesn't mean it is something that's well known. 129 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: So it is a new to brink, which is a 130 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: type of sea slug. Now, what I'm seeing here is 131 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: basically it is this pale green thing that has like 132 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: a flat, translucent pancake for a head, and then off 133 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: of that is a long tube, and then coming off 134 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,840 Speaker 1: the tube are these like little paddles that kind of 135 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: go down its sides, and there's six seven seven of 136 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: them on each side. I'm just describing what I'm seeing 137 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: in this photo. And we're sure this thing is not 138 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: actually an alien. I mean, if aliens actually came to 139 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: Earth and land in the oceans, would marine biologists just 140 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: be like, look at the weird things our oceans can produce. Yeah, 141 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: I mean we would probably have no way of knowing 142 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: unless we could somehow trace any Like It's not like 143 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: we could necessarily find alien DNA and no, it's alien 144 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,079 Speaker 1: DNA if they're using the same amino acids that we ease. 145 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,720 Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean we wouldn't necessarily know. I'm going 146 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,839 Speaker 1: to say the fact that they were able to track 147 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: it to other species of Neoda branks and sea slugs 148 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: means that it would have to be all or nothing, 149 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: Like every sea slug would have to be an alien 150 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: or none of them are, which you know, jury's out 151 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: on that. But and do we understand the form of this, 152 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: like why does it have a transparent pancake head? Can 153 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: we understand everything that this thing is about in terms 154 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: of like it's evolution, you know, it has to have 155 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,599 Speaker 1: this kind of head to survive this kind of experience 156 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: or this kind of environment. Or is it really just 157 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: like the random walk that evolution can do through time. Well, 158 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 1: we don't know everything about it, but we do know 159 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: some things, and we do know about it's weird pancake head, 160 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: So it has this weird disc like protuberance on its 161 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: head and it's called the oral veil. So it has 162 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: actually lost its radula teeth, so ragula or like it's 163 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: like a little circle teeth that you find on things 164 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: like snails and slugs, and it does not have a ragula, 165 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: doesn't have these teeth, and so instead it uses this 166 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: disc of very thin flesh as a net, so it 167 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: kind of casts this out searches through the substrate. It 168 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: actually likes to be on the ocean floor, not the 169 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: deep ocean, but just like you know, sort of a 170 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: medium level ocean floor. It can swim freely, but it 171 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:47,079 Speaker 1: spends most of its time snooting around in the substrate, 172 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: in the sand of the ocean floor, and it'll stick 173 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:54,119 Speaker 1: this weird disc out onto the sand, onto the substrate. 174 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: And can it eat pancakes with its pancake head? That 175 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: would be a door. I don't know of it eating pancakes. 176 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: I think they'd have to be very small pancakes, maybe 177 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: like miniature crepes. But Communion Wafers commons this is well, 178 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: it's funny you mentioned this because there is a species 179 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: of Malibe that gets a little bit religious or at 180 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: least has a cult like following. So uh, but for 181 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: for most malibe, this oral veil, they lay it out there, 182 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: they're searching, and then it has all these papillae. So 183 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: popila are just sort of sensory buds on something. We 184 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: have papillae on our tongues. There's popila on a lot 185 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: of different things. Um, but these ones are specifically to 186 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,839 Speaker 1: detect prey. And then once one of these are triggered by, say, 187 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: like a tiny crustacean, it quickly retracts its oral veil 188 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: like a big net that you're casting in, and it 189 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: pulls in its prey like a teeny tiny crustacean, and 190 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 1: it eats it. So it is a predator, which I 191 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: always I find it just a little extra creepy whenever 192 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: we find something that's weird looking that is a predator. Mm. Yeah, 193 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: it's very sneaky. It doesn't look ferocious. No, it looks 194 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: like you could just sort of step on it and 195 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 1: move on. I mean we could. But how big is 196 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: this thing? Is it like the size of a bathtub 197 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: or the size of your hand. Gosh, if it was, 198 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: I would just I would leave Earth. But no, it's 199 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: this one species very inside, this one, the voritus species 200 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,319 Speaker 1: is about I think it's a Yeah, it's fifteen centimeters 201 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: long or around six inches long, so it's not that big, 202 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: but it's also not like microscopic, so it's it is. 203 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: It is a thing, right Like, I feel like six 204 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: inches is definitely a threshold for me where if I 205 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: find it crawling on me, I'm up set. Especially if 206 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,079 Speaker 1: it hunts in packs, right, like, five thousand of these 207 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: things could probably take you down. Well, I don't know 208 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: that they hunt in packs, but they do congregate, so 209 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: especially for mating. Now, there are many species of Malibe 210 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: that are found throughout the Indo Pacific tropical oceans. One 211 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: of them is called Malibe leoneida. It is it can 212 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: vary from sort of a greenish color to a pinkish color, 213 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: and they can sometimes be found in these large clusters 214 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: in kelp forests. And they are probably clustered like this 215 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: because they are exchanging genetic information with each other and 216 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: a big party. They are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning that they 217 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: have both male and female gonads at the same time, 218 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: and like other species of malibe, they do mate together 219 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,079 Speaker 1: and fertilize their eggs internally, which they will lay in 220 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,960 Speaker 1: long ribbon like strands, so you know they have a 221 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 1: fun and free love life. And do biologists speculate that 222 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 1: if there are oceans on other planets that life may 223 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,199 Speaker 1: have formed in that the same sort of structures may arise. 224 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: Do they think these things are inevitable? Like do we 225 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: see multiple convergent forms of evolution getting to this sort 226 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: of structure on Earth? Or is there just like one 227 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: example here and it may be weird? You know, it's 228 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: interesting because there are I don't think all biologists are 229 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: agree on this, but I have seen and I personally 230 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: kind of subscribe to this idea that there are things 231 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: that happen so frequently that if you have similar circumstances, Right, 232 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: if you have a planet that has conditions similar to 233 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: Earth and you're lucky enough to get that primordial soup 234 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: or like I've probably talked about on the show before, 235 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 1: it's probably more of a primordial baklava, just these layers 236 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: of mineral or rock in between which these little protein 237 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: chains kind of hide out and form these chains and 238 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,040 Speaker 1: then are able to start to create sort of the 239 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: building blocks of life, the DNA strands. And so once 240 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: you have that, I think a lot of these structures, 241 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: given the same pressures, are pretty inevitable. So, for instance, 242 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: one of the I don't know if you can describe 243 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,560 Speaker 1: it as alien because it's so familiar to us, but 244 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: it is very strange is the octopus. And when we 245 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 1: see the octopus, we're like, oh, it's like a little 246 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: noodly puppy that we found in the seat. Because it's 247 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: got these big eyes. It's very kind of curious. You 248 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: can sort of almost feel the octopus's emotions in a 249 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: way by watching its body language. There's this idea that 250 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: maybe they dream because they change their color patterns in 251 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: their sleep, and it seems to be like maybe they're 252 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: having a dream about hunting because the color patterns on 253 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: their skin they're chromatophores that change color, are do sort 254 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: of a hunting pattern while they're asleep, and then they play. 255 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: They like will toss objects in water over and over again, 256 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: which seems pretty indicative that they're doing it for fun. 257 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 1: And they have evolved completely independently from almost all life 258 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: on sort of the terrestrial part of Earth, Like we 259 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: diverged from octopuses back from like basically a flat worm stage, 260 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: like from this little tiny worm. So they evolved all 261 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: these things independently, like these complex eyeballs. They're complex brains. 262 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: They evolved that independently from all mammals, all reptiles, birds, 263 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: other fish. So this idea that isn't that like a 264 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: really hopeful sign for those of us who are looking 265 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 1: forward to talking to aliens and intelligence sort of evolves 266 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: in two different environments and ends up sort of similar. Yeah, 267 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 1: I think it is, and I think that I think 268 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: what we have to think about in terms of intelligence 269 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: is like when we communicate with other animals, it can 270 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: be really difficult, especially when we try to communicate using 271 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 1: human like communication methods. So there's these famous examples of 272 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: trying to teach primate sign language and so far really 273 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: hasn't worked that well. There's the stories of like Coco 274 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:40,040 Speaker 1: the gorilla and nim Chimski the chimpanzee, And even though 275 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 1: there was a lot of sort of pr about Coco 276 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: of having the sign language work, it wasn't really clear 277 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: that it did. The project with nim Chimsky really didn't 278 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:53,720 Speaker 1: work out that well. And I think the deploy on 279 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: Gnome Chomsky it is because it was actually they named 280 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: it as sort of a a tse, a little bit 281 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 1: of a jape making fun of Noam chompsy because they 282 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: were trying to, I think, prove Noam Chomsky wrong to 283 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:12,919 Speaker 1: say that no chimpanzees could learn a human syntax, whereas g. 284 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: Noam Chomsky was skeptical of the idea that primate language 285 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: has some of the necessary characteristics that human language has. 286 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: And ultimately, I think in their their project wasn't very good. 287 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: It wasn't well designed. I mean, neither of these sign 288 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: language projects with either of these apes were particularly well designed, 289 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: so it's hard you know they were not. It was 290 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: not a good study. It was not like a double 291 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: blind study because like the caretakers really loved the like 292 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: Coco the gorilla, and so when they would interpret the signs, 293 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: they would maybe a lot of it would be sort 294 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 1: of what they are sort of interpreting in that situation. 295 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: So there was not really any evidence that the primates 296 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: could use sign language in the way that humans could. 297 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: But I think that it is a little bit of 298 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: hubris for us to think that we could communicate with 299 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 1: something by making them come to us and use like 300 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: our form of language. And like, Also, it was pretty 301 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: weird because the all the sign language studies were done 302 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: sort of without the input of people who actually use 303 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,360 Speaker 1: sign language. So the death community was not super involved 304 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,680 Speaker 1: with these experiments. And sign language is not just like 305 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: verbal language that's been put on your hands. It's got 306 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: its whole own unique syntax and like it's a very 307 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,199 Speaker 1: unique language itself. And so we have this idea that 308 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: you can just kind of take another either form of 309 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 1: language or different type of intelligence and then plaster it 310 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: over our own or use some kind of translation technique 311 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: and then kind of just be able to understand it 312 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: or communicate by doing that. But I think we have 313 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,880 Speaker 1: to be more flexible in that, and we would have 314 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,920 Speaker 1: to figure out how to meet them at least halfway, right, 315 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: How do you communicate with a primate without forcing it 316 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: into learning a human language. How do we kind of 317 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: figure out what their communication style is? Can we actually 318 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,360 Speaker 1: meet them somewhere in the middle there kind of like 319 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: I feel like anyone who owns a pet has experienced 320 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: this where it's like if you try to talk to 321 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: your dog using English, like, hey, don't do that. You know, 322 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: they don't know what you're talking about. You know, they 323 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:34,879 Speaker 1: might respond your tone of voice a little bit, but 324 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: ultimately they don't understand. But if you learn kind of 325 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,240 Speaker 1: their method of communication, right, Like I've learned sometimes when 326 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,240 Speaker 1: my dog is upset, if I just sort of comfortingly 327 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: say like, oh, it's okay, like that doesn't do anything. 328 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: But if I do a dog body language thing like 329 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 1: do you sort of a play bow or do a 330 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,400 Speaker 1: little sort of a play bark or something that actually 331 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: perks her up gets her to calm down more, because 332 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: I think we have to hear you speak, dog, what's 333 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: a playbark? Sound like? It sounds like and she loves that, 334 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: And so you're kind of like, so you're using your 335 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: and you know she's coming halfway to me, right because 336 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: she knows when I say sit, stay, you know, so 337 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: she's trying to understand me. So I owe it to 338 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: her to try to understand her. And I think that 339 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: is a lesson we can learn from our own animals. 340 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: If we're ever fortunate enough to actually come into contact 341 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,439 Speaker 1: with aliens, I think we need to really understand that 342 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: we may have to work very hard to reach a 343 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: midway point where we can both be understood, and we 344 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: might still have to pick up their poop, even but 345 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 1: alien poop might be nice like smell like flowers or 346 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,360 Speaker 1: pancakes or communion wafers or something. What if pancakes has 347 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: just been alien poops the whole time, But if pancakes 348 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: are aliens and we've been eating them and they're mad, No, 349 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: I think the takeaway is that you're saying intelligence may 350 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: not be that unusual, but even intelligence here on Earth, 351 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: it's hard to cross that barrier from our sort of 352 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: mental frame to theirs, which makes me less less enthusiastic 353 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:23,119 Speaker 1: or less optimistic that we could learn to communicate with aliens, unless, 354 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: of course, we fall in love with them first. I'm 355 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,959 Speaker 1: still optimistic that we could. I think it would just 356 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: take a It would take a kind of flexibility, like 357 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: we can't necessarily just expect to be able to decrypt 358 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: some kind of alien language. We may have to figure 359 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: out an entirely new method of communication. But I think 360 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:48,640 Speaker 1: it can be done. Now back to this wonderful new 361 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: to brank. I did promise I was going to talk 362 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: about piles of snot and here we go. So Malibe Kolmani, 363 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: which is one of these weird new to branks, the 364 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: ones that look like a pancake mixed with one of 365 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 1: those like sticky hands that you throw at the wall. 366 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 1: They are found near Malaysia, and it is dubbed the 367 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: Holy Grail of newda Branks because a lot of nature 368 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:18,359 Speaker 1: photographers think it is the weirdest looking thing also the 369 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,719 Speaker 1: hardest to actually spot. It is described as looking like 370 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: a pile of strings or snot so. Its body is 371 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: actually mostly transparent, like really weirdly transparent, almost completely see through, 372 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: except for this network of tubes visible throughout its ghostly body. 373 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: It's kind of like do you know the Bodies exhibition 374 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: where they show like the human circulatory system just kind 375 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,880 Speaker 1: of like on its own. It kind of looks like that. 376 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,880 Speaker 1: I've never been to the Body's exhibit because it scares 377 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: the pants off at me. I couldn't. But this is 378 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 1: like that, Like you see this network of tubes and 379 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 1: it just it doesn't look like it has a body 380 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:10,400 Speaker 1: because it's so translucent. The tubes that you're seeing are 381 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: actually digestive glands, and this see through appearance, and then 382 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: these digestive glands may act as camouflage, making the nutabrinc 383 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: look like just a pile of debris, nothing interesting. It 384 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: looks to me like some sort of delicate fungus, like 385 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 1: it might be good pizza. It would be a very 386 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,200 Speaker 1: interesting mouth feel to eat one of these. I bet 387 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: what's interesting about this and makes me think of aliens 388 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: is that when you look at this, what all we're 389 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: really seeing are its digestive glands, because that's all we 390 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: can see, and so our understanding of what this creature 391 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: is is only based on the thing that we can see. 392 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:59,240 Speaker 1: And I know that in astrophysics and particle physics sometimes 393 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: it's hard to to see something, or our perception of 394 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: the thing that we're seeing in the universe is made 395 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: more complex by the fact that we're only seeing a 396 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,879 Speaker 1: part of the truth. And then the real meat of 397 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: the thing, whether it's like a black hole or a 398 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,719 Speaker 1: planetary body, is only really defined by the stuff that 399 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: we see around it, the stuff that we see that 400 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,160 Speaker 1: is visible. Like we can see the outline of this 401 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: sea slug by its digestive system, but we can't actually 402 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 1: see the flesh of the sea slug. It's sort of weird. 403 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: I always wonder why things become transparent, like evolutionarily, why 404 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: would you want people to get to see your inner bits. 405 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: It sort of makes you more vulnerable or like they 406 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,880 Speaker 1: know like where to bite you to get you. It 407 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: seems to be like a. It's a nice defense layer 408 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: to not be transparent. It's an interesting idea because a 409 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:01,120 Speaker 1: lot of times transparency helps as sort of pattern and disruption. Right, 410 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 1: So if you are, say neuter brank shaped, something that 411 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:11,120 Speaker 1: sees you is going to have an instinct to go 412 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: after that pattern, like, this is a pattern. I recognize. 413 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: This slug shape is good. It's like when you see 414 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: something that is vaguely bagel shaped or spaghetti shaped, you're like, 415 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: that's food. I eat that. But then if it's sort 416 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:29,360 Speaker 1: of transparent, but you only see the inner workings of it, 417 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: especially when it's kind of like huddled up somewhere, like 418 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: with these photos, the photographers are intentionally trying to get 419 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 1: it against a more neutral background so that you can 420 00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 1: actually see what it is. But in the first photo 421 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,919 Speaker 1: you can see it's kind of just intermingled with a 422 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,360 Speaker 1: bunch of coral. And so because there's no clear pattern 423 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: to this thing, it's not necessarily going to register. So 424 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: even if you could technically see its inner workings, it 425 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: has disrupted the typical pattern that predators look for. And 426 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: so you actually see this also in frogs like glass 427 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: frogs that are transparent, like to us, it's like, oh, well, 428 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,159 Speaker 1: you can see all of its little organs going like 429 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: you would know where to if you were a froggy murderer, 430 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,920 Speaker 1: you'd know exactly where to stab. But if you're a predator, 431 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: you're not really looking for a frog heart. You are 432 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: looking for frog shape. And if that's not pattern matching 433 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,600 Speaker 1: to what you imagine a frog to look like, you 434 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 1: are less likely to have your predator instinct triggered, and 435 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: then you are not going to go after it. So 436 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: tell me about this weird thing? What about this makes 437 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: you feel like aliens? One gives you an alien vibe? 438 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: About this just because it's weird? Or is there something 439 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: specifically about it that if you saw it, you think like, 440 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,240 Speaker 1: is this extraterrestrial? I think what makes me think about 441 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: aliens is if we ever find an alien, there may 442 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: be parts of the alien that are not visible to 443 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 1: us or detectable to us, and only other only certain 444 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: other parts of the aliens. Like what if we are 445 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 1: only able to see certain aspects of the alien when 446 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: we think that we either don't recognize it as alien 447 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:11,560 Speaker 1: life or don't recognize that, hey, this is just its 448 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: digestive system, whereas the rest of it is either not visible, 449 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,880 Speaker 1: or some other kind of weird thing going on. I mean, like, 450 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of weird stuff in the 451 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:32,360 Speaker 1: universe like that I barely understand in terms of matter. Now, 452 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: in terms of biology, I find it difficult to believe 453 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: that an animal could exist on some other dimension than 454 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: just one. But you know, there's so much I don't 455 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: know about the universe, and especially like how life could 456 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,080 Speaker 1: be presented in the universe, that I could believe that 457 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: we might if we ever see an alien. We might 458 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: only see sort of traces of it or evidence that 459 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: it's there, But then we can't actually see the alien 460 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:03,320 Speaker 1: itself because it is not It exists in a way 461 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: that is not perceivable by our eyes or by our instruments. 462 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,560 Speaker 1: And maybe even these weird little guys have aspects to 463 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: them that we can't see. Who knows. I mean, we 464 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: are always discovering new things about animals that we even 465 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: know about that are not visible to us. There are 466 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: animals that biofluoress that we are just discovering, not because 467 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: we lacked the technology to see it before, but because 468 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: we lacked the creativity to collect a bunch of roadkill 469 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 1: and then flash UV lights on it to see if 470 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: they glowed. And now that we're doing that, we're finding 471 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: a lot of animals biofluoress that we didn't realize that 472 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 1: they did, and we had no way of knowing until 473 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,920 Speaker 1: we actually looked for it. What kind of roadkill? What 474 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: kind of road kill glues in the dark? Well, I 475 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: mean platypuses glow in the dark. I think wombats glow 476 00:29:54,160 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: in the dark. I think Tasmanian devils, sharks, some issues 477 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: of shark, some species of frog. So yeah, there's a lot. 478 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 1: It's a great lesson that even critters here on Earth 479 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: can do things that we can't imagine, and so of 480 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: course aliens might be doing even stranger things out there. 481 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,640 Speaker 1: Right exactly, Well, we are going to take a quick break, 482 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: but when we get back, we're gonna look at a 483 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: pretty fishy alien. So we are talking now about anomalops 484 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 1: ketop tron. In the light of the day or in 485 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: a flashlight, this looks like a pretty normal fish. It's 486 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: not that exciting. So why am I bringing it up. 487 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: I don't know. I want to bore you. So it 488 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: grows to be about fourteen inches long or thirty five centimeters. 489 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: It has brownish scales, black fins, and other than having 490 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:02,040 Speaker 1: pretty large eyes, it's really not that interesting looking. But 491 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 1: it doesn't really live in the sunlight. It is actually 492 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: found in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean at depths 493 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: up to one thousand, three hundred feet or around four 494 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: hundred meters, and it lives mostly in sort of dark caves, 495 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: and in the dark they look really spooky. They look 496 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: like fishy aliens with evil glowing eyes. It is also 497 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: known as the split fin flashlight fish, which shows you 498 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: that scientists aren't exactly always wordsmiths. We know scientists are 499 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: terrible at coming up with names for things, but this 500 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: one does look like a really creepy fish. It looks 501 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: like a fish somebody stepped on and it got mad. Yeah, 502 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: I mean. The thing that strikes me about the eyes is, 503 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 1: you know, sort of like our perception of what an 504 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 1: alien looks like the cartoon alien, it's like maybe a 505 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 1: gray head and then two sort of mean green glowing eyes. 506 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: They kind of have the spider Man mask look on them, 507 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: where it's like, you know, just these angry green eyes 508 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,880 Speaker 1: and they're glowing and they're big, and this looks exactly 509 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: like that. This just looks like the angry alien eyes 510 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 1: that I see sort of in cartoonish depictions of aliens, 511 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: and that tells you something about like our whole vision 512 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 1: of aliens. You know, when people reach for the concept 513 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,959 Speaker 1: of an alien, maybe they're really just thinking about the 514 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: weirdest kind of critter they've ever seen, which means we 515 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 1: haven't even really done the job imaginationally of coming up 516 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: with an idea that is truly beyond our planet. I 517 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 1: have a completely unverified theory about glowing alien, big glowing 518 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: alien eyes, and that I think it taps into maybe 519 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: a fear we had going way back of eyes that 520 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: we could see at dust or at night that would glow. 521 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:06,920 Speaker 1: Have that it eyes that glow at night that belong 522 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:11,080 Speaker 1: to like mammals, usually big cats. They glow because they 523 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 1: have something called the tepetum lucidum, and it's light kind 524 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: of enters the eye and it does this double refraction 525 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: so that you get more light in the eye so 526 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: they can see better, but also that light is reflected 527 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: back out and that's why the light glows. But a 528 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: lot of predators have this so they can see at night, 529 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:37,719 Speaker 1: and so us as either early humans or human ancestors 530 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: like when you see big glowing eyes at night, that's 531 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 1: a predator probably looking at you. Especially if they're front 532 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,000 Speaker 1: facing glowing eyes, that's probably from some kind of predator that's, 533 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 1: you know, stalking you. And so I think that big 534 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: glowing eyes probably inspire a bit of fear in us 535 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: that might go back way way before we ever even 536 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: had a concept of aliens. And so are you saying 537 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: if we meet the aliens and their eyes glow, they're 538 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: more likely to be predators. If their eyes face forward, 539 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: they're also more likely to be predators. So anything that 540 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: looks like us we should be afraid of. If humans 541 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 1: get off that ship, then run run. So these glowing 542 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:31,240 Speaker 1: eyes are actually not eyes at all. These are glowing 543 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:38,480 Speaker 1: sacks of bioluminescent bacteria. Yuck. Yeah, I mean, you know, 544 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: like a kombucha that kind of got out of hand, 545 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 1: am I. Let's say, yuck the kombucha also not on 546 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: the kombucha train. Look, I'm very sensitive to like strong flavors, 547 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: especially strong sour flavors. I can't deal with yogurt. I 548 00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,759 Speaker 1: think that I think it has I have some instinctive 549 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 1: response to something that taste spoiled, and I get a 550 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: kind of gag reflex, So now I get it. But 551 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: the weird thing about this, right, I just told you 552 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,399 Speaker 1: that these aren't eyes, But if you look at that 553 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 1: gift that I sent you, I'll also make all of 554 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 1: these available in the show notes. It is blinking. It's 555 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:27,320 Speaker 1: blinking that big glowing not an eyeball. So it actually 556 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 1: has a flap of skin and muscle that can contract 557 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: and blink. So you look at this and you're like, oh, 558 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,600 Speaker 1: maybe this is just a bioluminescent patch, but then it 559 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: blinks at you and it really looks like an eyeball. 560 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 1: Now it is. It has puzzled researchers for a long 561 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 1: time as to why they can blink these eyes. There 562 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:53,440 Speaker 1: are currently a few theories. But Daniel, do you have 563 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: any ideas for why they might want to blink this 564 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: bioluminescent patch. Yeah, I think they're charging up their laser 565 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:05,399 Speaker 1: beams to fry you. I mean they do. I think 566 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,919 Speaker 1: it's a fully I think it's a fully operational death fish. 567 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:10,839 Speaker 1: I mean it looks that way. And also the eyes 568 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: look angry. They look not just angry, they look malevolent. 569 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:19,720 Speaker 1: They look like little demon fish that are plotting our downfall. Well, 570 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: so this blinking is not done like how we blink 571 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,040 Speaker 1: our eyes. So we blink our eyes mainly to sort 572 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:31,840 Speaker 1: of remoisturize them to clean them so that we don't 573 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: go around and just get sticky dust and junk in 574 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:39,360 Speaker 1: our very delicate, sensitive eyes all the time. This blinking 575 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:44,880 Speaker 1: seems to be a mysterious morse code that changes depending 576 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 1: on what they are looking at, So it seems to 577 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: be both a form of communication, camouflage, and also to 578 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 1: be able to hunt their prey. Fortunately for us, they 579 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 1: hunt zooplankton at this time and not people. What if 580 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,080 Speaker 1: some of your listeners are zooplankton, Now they're freaked out. Oh, 581 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,359 Speaker 1: I apologize to all my zooplankton listeners, but they're so 582 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: small they can't rate my podcasts, so I'm not too 583 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:18,759 Speaker 1: worried about that. They look downloads are downloads, all right. 584 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 1: So researchers have found that these fish blink at different 585 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 1: rates when presented with prey, with predators, and in the 586 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 1: company of their school, their group of fish. So these 587 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 1: blinking rates seem to have an impact on the behavior 588 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 1: of their school. So like they seem to blink at 589 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: different rates and that changes which direction the school goes 590 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: whether they stay or whether they kind of dart off 591 00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:50,759 Speaker 1: in another direction. And we haven't really decoded what the 592 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:55,760 Speaker 1: flashlight fish is Morse code is, but we suspect it 593 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: has some kind of communication with its school. And it's 594 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:02,319 Speaker 1: also blinked when a predators around to sort of put 595 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:04,759 Speaker 1: it off its track, like blinking at a rate that 596 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: confuses the predator. And then it also blinks when it 597 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,960 Speaker 1: is around it's prey, so that it can see the 598 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:20,279 Speaker 1: prey but also doesn't scare off the prey. Well, I'm 599 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: glad there's some explanation for this creeping is. I love 600 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,800 Speaker 1: the angle on these eyes, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, classic, 601 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: like classic bad guy, you know, glowing evil eyes. I 602 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,719 Speaker 1: just I do love that we know they have a 603 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:39,560 Speaker 1: Morse code, and we suspect that they are communicating with it, 604 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,319 Speaker 1: but we don't know what it is yet. And I 605 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,719 Speaker 1: really wonder what we will find out if we ever 606 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:49,719 Speaker 1: decode this blinking language that these fish have and what 607 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,200 Speaker 1: they've been saying about us behind our backs. Maybe we 608 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:57,560 Speaker 1: should show it to gnom Chimski. Maybe the chimp can decoded, right, 609 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,759 Speaker 1: Maybe all these other creatures on Earth has language that 610 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 1: we don't understand we're all talking about us. I do 611 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: love the idea of Nim Chimsky becoming a linguist but 612 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 1: also a chimpanzee at the same time. I want to 613 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,239 Speaker 1: I want to see Chomsky versus Chimsky. I mean, if 614 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: Nim Chimsky wasn't I believe dead at this point, that 615 00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:25,760 Speaker 1: would be no contest that chimp would definitely win. I mean, Chomsky, 616 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:29,799 Speaker 1: are you talking about? Chomsky is still sharp. We've had 617 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:34,800 Speaker 1: him on our podcast in a debate maybe Noam Chomsky, 618 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 1: and when if it was a wrestling match, Chomsky would 619 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:42,839 Speaker 1: be torn to shreds. That's terrible. I don't even want 620 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,799 Speaker 1: to imagine wrestling a chimp. Oh my god. I know 621 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: if you've seen Noam Chomsky recently, he looks like a 622 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:53,960 Speaker 1: very ancient Santa Clause, and I feel very protective. I 623 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:58,440 Speaker 1: will protect him from chimps. I'm gonna go have a 624 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:02,319 Speaker 1: communion way for to cleanse my mental power after that image. 625 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,319 Speaker 1: Didn't you you got didn't you get a statement from 626 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,080 Speaker 1: Nom Chomsky at one point for one of your books. Yeah? Absolutely. 627 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:11,759 Speaker 1: He was on our podcast and we were talking to 628 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,520 Speaker 1: him about how to communicate with aliens and whether they 629 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: are likely to speak our language or use mathematics. He's 630 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,680 Speaker 1: a surprisingly responsive guy. You could just email him and 631 00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: he writes back, Oh, that's so nice. He's such a 632 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:28,040 Speaker 1: sweet guy. I feel bad that I even imagined chimpanzee 633 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 1: harming Nom Chomsky. You've offended me and all the Zooplankton listeners, 634 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:39,319 Speaker 1: and really, who else is left? Please don't tell Noam 635 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,239 Speaker 1: Chomsky that I had talked about no Chimsky tearing him 636 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 1: limb from limb. I don't think he would appreciate that. 637 00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:56,359 Speaker 1: We wish him nothing but the best, exactly. So now 638 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:01,760 Speaker 1: on to our last alien looking animal. I'm actually not sure. 639 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm between this looking like an alien 640 00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: or looking more like a galaxy or a quasar. This 641 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:12,000 Speaker 1: is the Lion's main jellyfish, and it is one of 642 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:14,880 Speaker 1: the largest jellyfish in the world and one of the 643 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 1: longest animals in the world. How big is it? I 644 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: can see from the picture that it's like long and beautiful, 645 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:22,759 Speaker 1: but I can't tell if it's like three inches long 646 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,800 Speaker 1: or like thirty feet long. Yeah. So there's a whole 647 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: range of these jellyfish, and a lot of the jellyfish 648 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:32,359 Speaker 1: that will be found will be smaller, but there are 649 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:36,920 Speaker 1: ones that can grow to gargantuan sizes. So the bell, 650 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:41,560 Speaker 1: which is that cuplike shape on the top of the jellyfish, 651 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:45,440 Speaker 1: grows up to two point one meters or seven feet 652 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:52,280 Speaker 1: in diameter, and it's tentacles can grow to be around 653 00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:56,240 Speaker 1: thirty seven meters or one hundred and twenty feet long. 654 00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:02,640 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, wow. And they have over a thousand tentacles. 655 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 1: So it just looks like this forest of things. It 656 00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:10,239 Speaker 1: looks like I mean when you look when we look 657 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 1: at the colorized photos of other galaxies or you know, 658 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:21,160 Speaker 1: just these like clouds of material in the universe. To me, 659 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,640 Speaker 1: it kind of looks a little bit like this thing. 660 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:27,239 Speaker 1: But if this thing is like meters and meters long 661 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,319 Speaker 1: and there's thousands of them, then you're telling me it's 662 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: like tens of thousands of total tentacle for a single 663 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,480 Speaker 1: for a single critter. So if each tentacle is like 664 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: thirty seven meters and there's thousands of them, then you 665 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:44,799 Speaker 1: have like thirty seven thousand total meters. Yeah. Yeah, you 666 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 1: could probably wrap one of these guys around like the moon. 667 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,600 Speaker 1: Not that I'm saying you should. That would be animal cruelty. 668 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:59,880 Speaker 1: But yeah, and they do contain stinging cells, which sounds 669 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:05,400 Speaker 1: like a super bad time. Fortunately, the lion Maine jelly's 670 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: sting is not that potent, so it's not that dangerous 671 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:13,600 Speaker 1: to humans. In fact, in small amounts, it may just 672 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:17,800 Speaker 1: feel kind of like a tingling, warm sensation maybe followed 673 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:21,280 Speaker 1: by a bit of discomfort with a lot of contact. 674 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:26,240 Speaker 1: Like if you just dive put your whole body into 675 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,360 Speaker 1: the forest of its tentacles, then you're probably going to 676 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:34,040 Speaker 1: have a bad time. You're probably going to experience a 677 00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,440 Speaker 1: good amount of pain, and you'll probably want to go 678 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:38,799 Speaker 1: to a hospital, if not just to check in on 679 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:44,400 Speaker 1: why you are diving into a forest of tentacles. But 680 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,960 Speaker 1: these actually don't really kill people. It's really rare that 681 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,960 Speaker 1: it hurts people that badly because they just really aren't 682 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:57,880 Speaker 1: that potent. But they are so huge they can have 683 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: a number of victims that they annoy. A single Lion's 684 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:08,800 Speaker 1: main jellyfish is so large. One specimen that kind of disintegrated, 685 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:12,319 Speaker 1: it broke up, ended up stinging over one hundred and 686 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:16,120 Speaker 1: fifty people at a beach in Rye, New Hampshire. So 687 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:19,919 Speaker 1: this thing just kind of like broke up and all 688 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:24,480 Speaker 1: of its stinging tentacles and everything started floating around, and 689 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 1: just one hundred and fifty people ended up in this 690 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:31,399 Speaker 1: dead jellyfish soup and got stunned. Yeah. See, I'm telling 691 00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 1: you it's kilometers of pain. Kilometers of pain. That sounds 692 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:43,759 Speaker 1: like a really moody book by like by a jellyfish 693 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:48,240 Speaker 1: alien exactly. Yeah. And when it's out of the water. 694 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:51,400 Speaker 1: In the water, it just looks like this weird spectral 695 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:56,399 Speaker 1: floaty ectoplasmic thing. And out of the water it kind 696 00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:59,960 Speaker 1: of loses its form. It's so gelatinous and so sticky, 697 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:02,600 Speaker 1: it just kind of turns into what looks like a 698 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:08,520 Speaker 1: pile of liquid jelly and it is. It's just very 699 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:11,719 Speaker 1: it's a very strange looking thing. Now, if you google 700 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:17,399 Speaker 1: Lion's main jellyfish, you might see a photo of it 701 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:21,280 Speaker 1: that it's actually photoshopped, where like it's this tiny scuba 702 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:25,120 Speaker 1: diver next to this giant jellyfish. I think that jellyfish 703 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:27,440 Speaker 1: itself is a real photo. They've just like made the 704 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:31,560 Speaker 1: scale make it look more impressive. But that photo is fake. However, 705 00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:34,680 Speaker 1: like I said before, they can get to be huge. 706 00:45:34,719 --> 00:45:37,920 Speaker 1: So I don't know why people put out fake stuff 707 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:43,520 Speaker 1: about animals that are really actually extremely cool. Yeah, exactly, 708 00:45:43,719 --> 00:45:48,319 Speaker 1: the reality is weird enough people, exactly exactly, But like, 709 00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:51,360 Speaker 1: do you think, because like this thing makes me think 710 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:56,560 Speaker 1: of just a an entire galaxy or quaisar if there 711 00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:01,839 Speaker 1: is an animal or an intelligence that arises out of 712 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:07,000 Speaker 1: like a massive amount of material out there in the galaxy, 713 00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:12,279 Speaker 1: if they have some kind of communication or relationship in 714 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,560 Speaker 1: terms of like physics, what like I think there's this 715 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:17,440 Speaker 1: idea of like, well, what if you could have some 716 00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,600 Speaker 1: kind of consciousness that's like this big thing that arises 717 00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:27,080 Speaker 1: from these maybe planetary bodies or stars in space that 718 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 1: are responding to each other and communicating via these sort 719 00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:34,600 Speaker 1: of like the just the laws of astrophysics. Well, if 720 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,759 Speaker 1: that's the case, it would be thinking extremely slowly because 721 00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:41,040 Speaker 1: remember there's a speed limit to how fast information can 722 00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:43,600 Speaker 1: move through the universe, the speed of light, And so 723 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:45,960 Speaker 1: if something is really really big, it'd have to think 724 00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:49,600 Speaker 1: basically really really slow because like a thought would take 725 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,160 Speaker 1: you know, a thousand years to cross from one side 726 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:55,120 Speaker 1: of its brain to another if it's a thousand light 727 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,480 Speaker 1: years wide. So it would be pretty hard to have 728 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:01,799 Speaker 1: a conversation with like a galaxy sized jellyfish be like 729 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:06,040 Speaker 1: talking to a tree in or something. I mean, that's 730 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:09,200 Speaker 1: really interesting to be because you know, if that is 731 00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:12,000 Speaker 1: the case, you know, that would explain why we don't 732 00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: have a galaxy talking to us like hey humans, yeah 733 00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:19,640 Speaker 1: we're over here. But it's also reminds me of in animals, 734 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:23,399 Speaker 1: there is this concept of sort of a different way 735 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:27,480 Speaker 1: that different animals experience time. So it's something called flicker 736 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:30,600 Speaker 1: fusion rate, which is like the amount of information you 737 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:34,600 Speaker 1: can receive before it all starts to kind of blend together, 738 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:38,200 Speaker 1: so the amount of frames per second you can experience. 739 00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,759 Speaker 1: So something like a fly, one of the reasons you 740 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,560 Speaker 1: can't catch it like smack it is that it can 741 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:49,040 Speaker 1: experience a lot of frames per second, which actually slows 742 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:52,400 Speaker 1: things down for it, and then having fewer frames of 743 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,480 Speaker 1: a second actually speeds things up. So something like a 744 00:47:55,560 --> 00:48:01,080 Speaker 1: fly is experiencing things really slowly, so when you try 745 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:05,960 Speaker 1: to slap it down, it sees your hand moving towards it, 746 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:08,920 Speaker 1: you know, really slowly. This this is the theory behind 747 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:14,400 Speaker 1: like flicker fusion rate, whereas something like an elephant actually 748 00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:20,080 Speaker 1: uh is seeing you know, potentially has a sees things 749 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:24,760 Speaker 1: happening much faster. Around it, So, uh, it is maybe 750 00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:27,600 Speaker 1: seeing like smaller animals just kind of like you know, 751 00:48:27,719 --> 00:48:30,600 Speaker 1: going high speed around it, whereas it's moving very slowly 752 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:34,880 Speaker 1: and it's got a lower frame rate and uh, and 753 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:39,239 Speaker 1: it maybe is experiencing all the world around it going 754 00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:42,520 Speaker 1: really fast, um, whereas it's going at its own pace. 755 00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:45,719 Speaker 1: So it's that's an interesting idea for me to be 756 00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:49,840 Speaker 1: applied to. Like what if there are aliens out there 757 00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:54,040 Speaker 1: or some kind of alien intelligence that spans over some 758 00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:59,480 Speaker 1: large area in a in a non conventional way that 759 00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:02,120 Speaker 1: we we don't think of. Intelligence is something that could 760 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:06,240 Speaker 1: happen outside of just like an animal or organic creature, 761 00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:11,200 Speaker 1: but there could be some huge intelligence. It's just thinking 762 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,680 Speaker 1: so slowly and on such a slower rate we can't 763 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:19,440 Speaker 1: really communicate with it. Yeah, exactly. I feel that way 764 00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:22,320 Speaker 1: as I get older, Like younger kids just like flipped 765 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:23,920 Speaker 1: by me and I'm just like, what was that? Oh 766 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:29,680 Speaker 1: that was my toddler. Yeah, Now that's that's how I 767 00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,640 Speaker 1: feel like with language, Like I used to be able 768 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:35,160 Speaker 1: to catch on to slang a lot faster, but now 769 00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:39,359 Speaker 1: it's like, wait, we're not saying fleek anymore. Really, by 770 00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:41,400 Speaker 1: the time you and I are saying it. It's definitely 771 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,640 Speaker 1: it's gone not cool anymore. In fact, it might be 772 00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:48,319 Speaker 1: because we're saying it that it's no longer cool. That's 773 00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:52,479 Speaker 1: how you know it's jumped the shark. Well, before we go, 774 00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:56,719 Speaker 1: we do have to play a little game called the 775 00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:02,000 Speaker 1: Mystery Animal Sound Game or Guess Who squawk in So 776 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:06,120 Speaker 1: every week I play a mystery animal sound and you, 777 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:09,239 Speaker 1: the guest and the listener try to guess who is 778 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:13,200 Speaker 1: making that sound. It could be any animal on Earth 779 00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:17,520 Speaker 1: or outside of Earth. I'm not I'm just saying if 780 00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:20,919 Speaker 1: we ever hear aliens, they're fair game for this game. 781 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:27,600 Speaker 1: So last week's mystery animal sound hint was this. This 782 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:36,799 Speaker 1: is one peeved, pissed, particularly provoked pond paddler. Did you 783 00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:43,279 Speaker 1: hear that? I did? It sounds like some kind of 784 00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:48,600 Speaker 1: bird in distress. I'm gonna say it's a heron. You're 785 00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:54,440 Speaker 1: weirdly close but also weirdly far away because this is 786 00:50:54,560 --> 00:51:00,600 Speaker 1: the platypus. So congratulations to Antib and Joey P who 787 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:04,719 Speaker 1: I think are the rating champions of the animal gissing game. 788 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:10,640 Speaker 1: So the platypus is a monotrem found in Australia, like 789 00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:15,000 Speaker 1: a heron. It lays eggs, and it actually has a bill, 790 00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:19,359 Speaker 1: but unlike the heron, it is a mammal. These are 791 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:24,120 Speaker 1: warm blooded mammals that lay eggs. This is the same 792 00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:28,440 Speaker 1: thing that other monotreams do. So montreams include platypuses and 793 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:32,319 Speaker 1: a kidnas and in a lot of ways they are 794 00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:36,000 Speaker 1: like the rust of mammals, but in some ways they 795 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:39,520 Speaker 1: are very strange, such as laying their eggs, and also 796 00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:43,560 Speaker 1: they do not have nipples, but they do provide their 797 00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:46,120 Speaker 1: young with milk, and they do that by releasing the 798 00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:51,480 Speaker 1: milk through pores in their skin. Another weird platypus thing 799 00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:55,040 Speaker 1: is that males have venomous spurs on their hind legs 800 00:51:55,200 --> 00:52:01,280 Speaker 1: that are incredibly painful, probably worse than the lion maine jellies. 801 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:03,560 Speaker 1: So you have more to worry about in terms of 802 00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:06,319 Speaker 1: getting stung from a cute little platypus than you do 803 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:12,080 Speaker 1: from a gargantuan jellyfish. So the best thing about platypuses, 804 00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:15,239 Speaker 1: in my opinion, is that they have electoral reception. They 805 00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:19,680 Speaker 1: can actually sense small electrical impulses through the water with 806 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:23,720 Speaker 1: an organ in its bill, and it can locate prey 807 00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:27,320 Speaker 1: such as worms or other invertebrates, even in muddy water, 808 00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:31,839 Speaker 1: by detecting the electrical pulses of their muscle movements. So 809 00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:35,279 Speaker 1: that is an incredible thing with these platypuses, and it 810 00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:37,560 Speaker 1: makes me wonder if like there are aliens out there 811 00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:42,560 Speaker 1: that have senses that humans don't have that makes it 812 00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:49,359 Speaker 1: easier for them to see us, but we can't see them. Wow, exactly. Yeah, 813 00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:51,120 Speaker 1: there might be parts of the universe that they can 814 00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,000 Speaker 1: see that we can't, and so we might like weirdly 815 00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:57,560 Speaker 1: glow in their senses. I just I wonder if there's 816 00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:00,920 Speaker 1: like a corner of the universe where all other life 817 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:03,080 Speaker 1: is and they're having a big old party they have, 818 00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:07,200 Speaker 1: like you know, an interplanetary convention, and we're just not 819 00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:11,239 Speaker 1: invited because we're too far away, I know, or maybe 820 00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:13,120 Speaker 1: we're just not cool. We're not saying you aren't kind 821 00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:17,279 Speaker 1: of sling. That's that is planetary levels of fomo. I 822 00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:22,360 Speaker 1: cannot handle that well. I do know from a physics 823 00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:24,640 Speaker 1: perspective that every time we look deep into the universe, 824 00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:28,160 Speaker 1: we find something weird and new and totally surprising that 825 00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:32,000 Speaker 1: nobody on Earth anticipated. So I expect that if we 826 00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:35,040 Speaker 1: ever do get to see the surface of alien planets. 827 00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:38,040 Speaker 1: The same thing will happen so onto this week's since 828 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:43,440 Speaker 1: thory animals sound the hint is this a tiny wolf 829 00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:51,680 Speaker 1: or something else? So, Daniel, do you have any guesses 830 00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:57,000 Speaker 1: as to what that sounds like? A koala bear taking 831 00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:02,640 Speaker 1: communion as it gets on a ufore, maybe no idea. 832 00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:06,399 Speaker 1: You may be right, but you'll only find out on 833 00:54:06,719 --> 00:54:10,960 Speaker 1: next week's Creature Feature. Danielle, thank you so much for 834 00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:15,800 Speaker 1: joining me today, listeners. If you think you know what 835 00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:18,719 Speaker 1: this week's mystery animals sound is, you can write to 836 00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:22,320 Speaker 1: me at Creature Feature pot at gmail dot com. Daniel. 837 00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:25,640 Speaker 1: Where can people find out more about you and about 838 00:54:25,640 --> 00:54:29,359 Speaker 1: the universe? You can come check out our podcast at 839 00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:33,400 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe of production of iHeartRadio 840 00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:38,160 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. And thank you guys so 841 00:54:38,239 --> 00:54:41,840 Speaker 1: much for listening. If you're enjoying the show and you 842 00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:45,160 Speaker 1: leave a rating or review, I read all of them, 843 00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:48,480 Speaker 1: I print them out, I plaster my walls with them, 844 00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:52,000 Speaker 1: and it is making my husband very nervous as to 845 00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:56,360 Speaker 1: how it's gone with me. And thanks, so be nice, y'all. 846 00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:58,359 Speaker 1: Be nice when you leave a rating. There's real people 847 00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:02,600 Speaker 1: out there reading the and thanks to the Space Classics 848 00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:06,480 Speaker 1: for their super awesome song Exo Lumina. Creature features a 849 00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:10,319 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts like the one you 850 00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:13,600 Speaker 1: just heard. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or Hey 851 00:55:13,600 --> 00:55:17,000 Speaker 1: gus what wherever you listen to your favorite shows. See 852 00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:18,000 Speaker 1: you next Wednesday.