WEBVTT - From the Vault: The 2019 Ig Nobel Prizes 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:07.800 Hey, Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:11.000 is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. In it's Saturday. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.240 Time to go into the vault for a classic. Today 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.400 we are retrieving last year's Ignobel Prizes episode. That's right, 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.639 This is a tradition for us. Basically what happens is 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:26.799 generally in mid to late September um the Ignoble Prizes 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.639 come out. These are prizes that celebrate the weird and 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:35.519 the at times humorous in legitimate scientific investigation. Uh, and 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:37.440 it always makes for a fun episode. We tend to 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.360 come back and do them after Halloween. Is generally our 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:44.599 first post Halloween episode or thereabouts. And so yeah, this 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:47.559 is last year's selection, and we'll give your heads up 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.760 that the next new episode of Stuff to Blow Your 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:55.400 Mind will be some selections from the Ignoble Prizes. Let's 0:00:55.480 --> 0:01:00.600 jump right in. Welcome to Stuff to Your Mind, a 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:09.840 production of I Heart Radio's House to Works. Hey, Welcome 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.080 to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.800 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and we are revisiting a 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:20.280 yearly tradition. That's right. Every year, pretty much about this time, 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.480 we look and see what was honored at this year's 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:28.600 Ignoble Prizes. The prizes themselves come out. I believe that 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.240 the end of September or the very beginning of October 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:33.680 timing for us, Yeah, because that's when we want to 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.880 get into our Halloween content, and so we always do. 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:40.119 We just steamroll ahead into the Halloween content. And then afterwards, uh, 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.040 you know, after especially after the dust is sort of 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:46.920 settled on the Ignobele Prizes, the mainstream media coverage of 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.880 the event has died away, then we come back and 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:55.200 we picked through the winners and sometimes we cover absolutely everything. 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.000 Sometimes we cover a few choice selections here and there, 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:00.440 and that's going to be the mo all we're going 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.640 to be employing here. Yeah, we're just gonna take a 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.720 look at a few highlights that stuck out to us. 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.960 So for those who haven't heard before, a quick refresher 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:11.720 on the Ignobles. Yeah, they've been awarded each year since 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:17.760 by the publication the Annals of Improbable Research. The purpose 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.400 of the award, according to the editors of Improbable Researches 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.760 to quote honor achievements that first make people laugh and 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.960 then make them think. Furthermore, they stressed that the ten 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.359 prizes aren't necessarily meant to pass judgment on the winners. Instead, 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.920 the official website emphasizes that the prizes quote celebrate the unusual, 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:39.480 honor the imaginative, and spur people's interests in science, medicine, 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:44.519 and technology. And the principal individual here is editor Mark Abrams. So, yeah, 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.840 every year it is just a it's you know, it's 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.079 making fun of the idea a little bit of the 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:54.680 Nobel Prizes, uh, which which celebrate, you know, key advancements 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.600 and and and key examples of work that are really 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.320 pushing forward are our understand ending of ourselves and the universe, nature. 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:07.040 And the Ignoble Prizes tend to highlight more absurd intreats, 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.640 but none not necessarily intreaes that are you know, that 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.560 are completely useless. And I think that's an important thing 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.720 to stress, and something we've tried to stress in the 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.639 past when covering the event is that studies that are 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.799 honored by the Ignoble Prizes maybe snick or inducing. They 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:27.680 may seem a little silly at first glance, but they 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:32.440 are all works of real science, of real ingenuity, and 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.400 if nothing else, they are expanding hoping to expand the 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.760 the threshold of human understanding. Yeah, I mean, I think 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.640 one of our favorite things to explore on this show 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.200 is realizing that there's an interesting question in a place 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.400 you wouldn't have expected to find it, and that's what 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.160 a lot of this research does. And so on that note, 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.800 let us turn to the first Ignoble Prize winning study 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.000 that we would like to highlight here today, and that 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.560 is the two I was in a nineteen Award winner 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:06.360 in physics, awarded to Patricia yang at All for studying 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:11.320 how and why wombats make a cube shaped poop. Wombats 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.119 are so cute they are there. They are so adorable 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.400 to look at. I mean, obviously the babies, any baby 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.200 animal is going to be adorable, but even the adults 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.880 look like living Teddy Bear creatures, like living Teddy bear 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.360 marsu fiels. I bet they're just nightmarish, you know, it's 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.400 given how cute they are. I'm sure they kill thousands 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.919 of people every year. Now, I mean, to be to 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.200 be clear, they can protect themselves, and sometimes they do 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.000 harm humans if provoked or I think there have been 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.760 cases where like there was a wombat that had the 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.560 mange or something like that and was therefore a little 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.960 more agitated. So yes, there they can. They are kind 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.000 of tough customers in their own right own right, They're 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.280 not straight up wolverines or anything, but they can. They 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.320 can look after themselves. So this particular paper, how do 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.320 wombats make cubed pooh uh? Came? This was presented at 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.080 the seventy furth Annual Meeting of the APS Division of 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:08.080 Fluid Dynamics, And I believe this is presented in Atlanta, Georgia, 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.120 where of course we record the show. Yeah, I think 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.720 at least part of the team is Georgia Tech, right, yeah, yeah, 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:18.200 So the species here, vombat us your sinus, is a 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.560 pudgy herbivore roughly the size of a kind of a 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.320 thick dog, like a really thick dog, and it's a marsupial. 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.520 They have pouches, but since they're burrowers, they have backward 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.080 pouches so as not to fill the pouch up with 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.000 dirt and endanger the young one that may be within 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.960 the pouch. So interesting, so like if they're pulling themselves 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.720 forward on their belly through the dirt, the dirt does 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.080 not go in, right, yeah, because we can all imagine 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.799 the cartoon scenario. They're just filling up with dirt, right. 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.400 They have a slow metabolism. They feed mostly on grasses 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.359 and roots, and they're largely nocturnal or crepuscular, you know, 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:56.279 so they're gonna you know, they're not going to venture out, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.680 usually in the brightest light of the day. They may 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.159 come out though on particularly overcast days, and they can again, 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.200 they can put up a fight if threatened. And you'll 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.400 find them in Australia and in Tasmania. They're cute. They're 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.000 not endangered, despite being treated as vermin by some farmers. 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.760 And oh I love this. Groups of wombats are are 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.279 sometimes called a mob, sometimes just called a group, but 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:22.200 sometimes they're also known as a wisdom of wombats. Oh man, 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.640 that's better than a murder of crows. That is. I 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:29.280 just imagine these wise, cute, elder wombats that have so 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.240 so much wisdom to share with the world. I don't 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.679 mean to be mean, but they don't necessarily look wise. 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.320 They do look they look more clever than wise. Well 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.240 what would you what would you refer to them as 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.400 It's like a snuggle of wombats. It would be a 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.960 snuggy of wombats. That's pretty good. A slank it of wombats, 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.000 A slank it of wombats. I like that. But one 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.719 of the more puzzling attributes of the wombat has long 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.840 been their poop, because it is cubic. And we're not 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:02.279 talking necessarily perfectly cubic in a Mattris geometrical sense, but 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.200 yet for a world mostly devoid, pretty much completely devoid 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:12.120 of natural squares, certainly natural biological squares, this is pretty 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.040 darned cubic. Yeah, totally. I mean, if you come across 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.960 these things in nature, you would think they were made 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:22.360 by humans. Yeah. They look kind of like chocolate marshmallows, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.680 like really square chocolate marshmallows. If you see a picture 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.320 of them, yeah, not the cylindrical marshmallows, like the more 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.560 old school like carved out ones with corners. Granted, I 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.160 think the images were both looking at here, they're dried 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.000 a little bit, but still even fresh out the shoot. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.800 They are there. They are cubic in nature. It is 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.720 really hard to imagine how these things are made just picked. 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.600 I mean, I don't know how much time one wants 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.600 to spend contemplating a wombad anus, but like, it just 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.880 doesn't seem like a normal thing that would emerge physically 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.120 from a what I would assume to be rounded anus. Well, 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:01.240 the wombat anus is not immune for the the inquiry 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.880 of science, and that's where Yang and her team come in. 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.760 Uh And again, yeah, Yang is local, based out of 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.040 the School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where she's 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.800 a post doctoral fellow. Uh So, since she's local, maybe 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:13.480 we should have her on the on the show. Because 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.600 she's not just a one time Ignoble winner, she's a 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.960 two time Ignoble winner because she and co author David 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:24.200 who also shared the two thousand fifteen Ignoble Physics Prize 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.520 for testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals and 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.560 empty their bladders in about twenty one seconds plus or 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.079 minus thirteen seconds. I don't know the plus or minus 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.160 thirteen seconds buys you a pretty big window there, but yeah, 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.440 I find myself very often thinking about this one in 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.480 the bathroom. So, having turned away from the world of urine, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.920 the researchers were interested by this puzzle of the wombat poop, 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.000 so they looked at how differences and wombats digestive processes 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:57.439 and soft tissue structures informed this curious structure. So they investigated. 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.400 They used the digestive tracks of wombats that had been 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:06.120 euthanized following motor vehicle collisions in Tasmania. Uh so you 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.960 have to you have to have some actual bodies to 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:09.800 look at there, and then it seems like a reasonable 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.040 way to go about getting them. They found that the 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.920 shape occurred towards the very end of the intestines. As 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.160 the matter became increasingly firm, it became clear that quote 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.800 varying elastic properties of wombats intestinal walls allowed for the 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.680 cubic formation. And the result is a cube, the only 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.000 organic cube and nature, they say, and it's not made 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.760 yang stresses by the two typical human methods of creating cubes. 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.760 We because we tend to mold a cube or we 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:40.960 cut a cube. Right, we slice a cube out of 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.560 something via you know, subtractive manufacturing. But this is a 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.760 third way. This is the way of the wombat where 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.840 it is it is It is formed through the you know, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.920 the excretion process of the lower intestines. So this would 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.280 be not cutting a cube, not molding a cube, maybe 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.680 pinching a cue cube yeah, pinching cube and then excreting 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.720 a cube. Now you're probably wondering, well, what is the 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:08.720 why of all of this? Right, if the wombat is 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.719 doing something entirely different with its poop, there has to 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.200 be a reason. Well, scientists believe it comes down to 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:18.200 the fact that these burrowing nocturnal herbivores depend largely on 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.680 their sense of smell. They largely communicate by smell, and therefore, 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.160 like various other animals that are also smell dependent, their 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.400 fecal matter is their calling card. I mean, you have 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.959 a dog, you know how the how they behave that 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.560 the sort of the the the the heightened importance of 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.800 fecal matter in the dog world. Yeah, out on a 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.800 walk in the neighborhood. Poop is like a Facebook status update. 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:41.960 It's like, you know that you're interested, you want to 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:43.960 check it out, Like we just see something we don't 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.520 want to step in. Maybe the in the sense data 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.840 there is just telling us not to step in it. 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:53.280 But to a dog with heightened, far heightened sensibilities, there's 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.840 a lot of data in the sense emerging from that poop. 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.520 It's interesting stuff. And so while it's something like a 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.160 while something like a cat hides its poop because it 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.200 doesn't want to be known to either it's many prey 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:08.480 animals or it's many predators. Wombats are a different matter. Today. 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:13.160 Wombats don't have many natural predators, uh so certainly adult wombats, 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.680 and they use their piled feces to mark territory and 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.240 to communicate with other wombats. And and they don't live 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.839 on a prairie. Their ups and down to the topography 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:27.520 of their natural habitat. And placing their poops at higher 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.880 elevations such as a tops, some rocks, on top of 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.120 a log, or on a ledge, it makes it stand 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.400 out more visually to other wombats. And again they don't 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.280 have great great a sense of sight, but still you 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.840 put it up there on a ledge, more wombats are 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:45.559 able to see it, and then the wombats can come 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.760 in and take a more informed a smell of the 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:54.120 wombat poop and learn something about about its maker. So 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.280 the wombat rectum is sort of designed by evolution to 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:03.360 create poop monuments like testaments to the will of the 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:08.199 wombat that occupies this territory, poop that stays put basically, 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.320 which is interestingly quite the exact opposite of the round 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:16.160 goat feces and many of you've probably seen emerging from 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.840 the rear end of a goat, which is believed to 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.400 have evolved to roll downhill and essentially self hide in 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.640 hilly or mountainous terrain, so as better maybe to throw 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:29.160 off a cougar that could be pursuing yours. Right, Yeah, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.080 like for the goat, it's better that the poop just 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.200 gets lost, but for the wombat, the wombat has very 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:38.360 specific needs. They require the poop to remain in sight 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.160 and to be found. And so yeah, it's basically with 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.440 the wombats, it's it's highly adaptive to be able to 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.760 poop cubes that stay put. It's part of their language 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:53.439 of expression. Now, naturally there are potential bio mimetic possibilities here. 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.160 In the future, yet, says, we might see human created 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.959 cubes produced not by molding or cutting, but by this 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.200 sort of excretion. So I can't help but wonder if 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.960 this will be the future of our Valentine's Day chocolates. 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:09.240 Oh yes, like a like a mechanical industrial anus for 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:13.360 pooping out chocolate and exactly that shape, exactly delicious. So 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.079 that's the Physics Prize, and uh yeah, I just love 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.560 this story because wombats are such interesting creatures and and 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.240 this is ultimately extremely insightful like this is this is 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.880 not this is something that, yes, it's laughable because it's 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.200 poop poop from a cute marsupial, But on the other hand, 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:34.520 it's it really it illustrates something amazing about evolution, and 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.160 it also highlights where we might go in the future 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.199 when it comes to making cubicle candy. And if you 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:42.520 want to learn more about this, Patricia Yang also has 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.079 a website Patricia Yang dot net. Excellent. Well, maybe we 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:47.839 should take a quick break and then when we come 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:54.000 back we can talk about dirty money. All right, we're 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:58.920 back dirty money. This is this year's Economics Prize for 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.840 the IGNO Bells. This went to Habibkadek, Timothy A. Voss, 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:07.679 and Andreas Voss for testing which country's paper money is 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:12.200 best at transmitting dangerous bacteria. The paper was called Money 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.600 and Transmission of Bacteria in Anti Microbial Resistance and Infection 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.520 Control in and So the authors here start out with 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:24.000 a pretty obvious fact. Cash gets handled a lot. It 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.400 changes hands. You touch it, I touch it. Tom Atkins 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.120 probably touched it. Ted goes to the bathroom and then 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.800 he touches it. You sneeze, then you handle it. Then 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:35.440 you pay for your lunch with it. Somebody pays me 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.920 the gambling debts they owe me with that same money. 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.840 It seems like a pretty obvious vector for disease transmission. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.360 When you were a kid, you probably heard this, and 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:46.760 if you, like me, are a parent, you've probably said this, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.880 don't put that money in your mouth. It's filthy, right, 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:53.920 I mean, for some reason, when I was reading about 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.120 this research, the thing that kept popping into my mind 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.560 is that episode of Parks and Recreation where you find 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.360 out that all the pawnees sit us drink from water 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.320 fountains by putting their mouth over the fountain part. I 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.800 had completely forgotten about this until you mentioned it. Yeah, 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.400 there was also a skit from the Upright Citizens Brigade right, Yes, 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.240 that we can't go into full detail about here, but 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.240 you can probably figure it out. Somebody who chose to 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.560 pay for things with the fouled pennies that they themselves 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.080 had intentionally be fouled. Right. But as we know, not 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.640 all physical substrata are equally hospitable to germs So the 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.640 authors here tested different national currencies to see how well 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:40.560 they transmitted various multi drug resistant bacteria, including methicillin resistance 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:44.120 Staffylococcus aureus or m R s a UH, an extended 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:49.880 spectrum of beta lactomaces producing E. Coli and vancomycin resistant, 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.240 and Tero coxi or vr E. So here's the method. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.120 The author has got a bunch of different bank notes 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.920 from different countries, including the euro, the US dollar, can 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.920 Adian dollar, the Croatian kuna, the Romanian lou, the Moroccan 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.480 deer ham, and the Indian rupee. And they first of 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.000 course started off sterilizing the cash with UV radiation. You 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.920 don't want to bring in any pre existing germs, uh. 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.160 Then they inoculated the money with incubated strains of the 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.080 bacteria they were testing, and then the cash was left 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.080 out to dry for several lengths of time, I think 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.400 three hours, six hours, and twenty four hours. And then 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.720 the experimenters tested which bank notes allowed bacterial colonies to 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.720 survive after the various drying periods. And then in the 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.640 second experiment, they also tested the effects of people rubbing 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.360 the bank notes with sanitized hands. Would the would the 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:45.720 bacteria transfer from the infected bank notes to people's hands. 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.120 So which money came out on top? Well, the Romanian 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.600 lou was one of the most germ friendly. It yielded 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.760 all three drug resistant pathogens after three and six hours 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.480 of drying, and it was the only currency that still 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:01.760 had a path the gen after a full day of drying, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.920 and that pathogen was vr E. The Canadian and US 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.159 dollar yielded only m R s A. So I assume 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.120 it's the U S money that Scrooge McDuck swims through 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.800 in his vault. Oh well, maybe he had it purified, 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.560 you know, because I've always heard the scroogeman Duck was 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.080 actually a bit of a germophobe. Oh yeah, they take 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.879 after Howard use. Yeah. Okay. So the Euro yielded only 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.000 the E. Coli strain after three and six hours, and 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.920 vr E after three hours, the Rupie only v R E. 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.360 The Croatian Kuna did not yield any of the pathogens 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:38.200 at any period. So in the second stage of the experiment, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.840 they studied the transmission of bacteria from bank notes to 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:46.600 hands after rubbing. The Euro did not transmit bacteria to hands, 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.920 but the US dollar and the Romanian Lou did, and 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.119 they make sure to point out that all the money 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.520 was sterilized with UV radiation after the testing, so it 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.960 was safe to return to circulation. Uh. And the author 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.159 there's also a point out that this means the type 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:08.600 of bank note paper in circulation could have epidemiological implications. 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.200 They think major variables here are probably like the materials 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.439 used in creating the fiber of the bank notes. The 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.120 Romanian lou, for instance, which seemed to be the most 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:22.640 germ friendly, has plastic content that is designed to improve 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.680 durability and make it harder to counterfeit, but it also 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:29.120 seems to create a more pathogen friendly environment that many 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.720 of the other fibers and materials used in paper money 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.680 don't create. So this would be like the when we've 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.200 we've ever handled currency that basically has like a little 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.239 clear plastic windows in it. Uh. Yeah, it could be that, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.720 or it could be more spread out through I don't 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.879 know exactly what's going on with the Romanian loop, but 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:50.040 it has polymer content that apparently is germ friendly or 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.880 even you know, not just German friendly, but like antibiotic 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.760 resistant germ friendly. But the Croatian kuna, you can take 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.080 that and just stick it directly in your mouth. No, 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:02.320 I mean I wouldn't recommend that, but it seems like 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.080 in this particular test the kuna turned out very well. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.239 So maybe this is something other countries should consider and 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:11.200 test out when designing the next generation of paper notes. 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:15.040 Maybe take some inspiration from how the Croatian kuna has made. 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.159 It seems to be an inhospitable environment for all of 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.080 the pathogens tested. I don't know if this is something 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.879 that has ever even figured into currency design before, have 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.919 like they ever considered how well currency transmits bacteria and 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.200 just how gross money is. Yeah, I mean, granted there 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.040 is less of it that is used on a daily 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:39.280 basis for many populations, uh, you know, using our cards 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:43.120 more often, electronic payments, etcetera. But still there's a lot 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.160 of cash out there, and it's troubling to think about how, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.399 you know, how dirty it is that you get sick 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.080 for money? Uh, you know, not in a spiritual sense, 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.159 which I think we're all accustomed to, but you know, 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.879 in an actual biological sense. You know, even if it's kuna, 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.040 I just say, don't put money in your mouth. Don't 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.359 put it in there, Okay. So also I wanted to 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:06.760 talk about one, not for a long time. Just a 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.879 quick look at the two thousand nineteen Anatomy Prize which 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:16.720 was awarded to Roger Musette and Boris bin Gudufa for 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:22.120 measuring scrotal temperature asymmetry in naked and clothed postmen in France. 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.160 And it's not just postman this. They still they study 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.320 bus drivers too, and then people whose professions you don't 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.240 even know. Uh. The original research was published in the 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:35.360 journal Human Reproduction in two thousand seven. So humans are 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:40.080 mammals showing bilaterally symmetrical anatomy. If you split us in 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.800 half lengthwise, you will mostly see the halves as mirror 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.439 images of one another. But we're not perfect examples of 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:51.320 bilateral symmetry. You've got internal organs that are oriented off center. 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:53.719 Maybe the heart is a little more to one side, 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.200 the liver more to the other, and so forth. Uh. 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.359 And apparently this extends to some aspects of the human scrotum. 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.679 So the authors here begin by noting a discrepancy in 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:08.199 the anatomical literature. Is the human scrotum on average hotter 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.960 on one side than the other. Uh? Some previous reports 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.040 said that it's equally hot on both sides, while others 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.000 reported that the left side of the scrotum is generally 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:20.720 hotter than the right. Interesting, and of course this comes 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:22.640 down to the fact that, of course, on one side 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:24.720 is one testicle, on the other side is the other testicle. 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:28.840 And of course part of the whole uh design of 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.520 the testicles has to do with the fact that there's 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.840 a there's an importance of maintaining certain temperatures. Absolutely, I 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:38.919 mean this is highly reproductively significant information. Temperature of the 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.600 male reproductive organs plays a role in gamme eat production 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:46.440 and thus in fertility. So in fact, the major biological 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.080 purpose of the scrotum, as you alluded to, seems to 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:53.200 be thermoregulation to move the testicles near or away from 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:55.400 the body to help keep them as close to optimal 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.800 temperature as possible. Yeah, this is why sometimes if if 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.440 fertility doctors may ask, okay, are you are you going 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:05.320 to a hot tub all the time? Do you have 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:08.200 a really hot laptop setting on your lap a lot? 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:11.439 You know these sorts of questions because you know they 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:15.800 are susceptible to outside temperatures exactly. So, the authors here 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.440 wanted to get new data to help clear up these 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:23.159 discrepant reports, and so their methods were quote retrospective analyzes 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.720 of scrotal temperatures in mid age twenty to fifty two years, 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.280 measured every two minutes with probes connected to a data 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:34.560 collector in three experiments, so three different experiments. They tested 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:37.520 this out both naked and clothed in a number of 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:41.280 different body positions. They also tested it on yes postal 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:44.800 workers who were working in a standing position for ninety 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:47.919 minutes at a time, and they also tested out on 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:50.920 bus drivers who were working in a sitting position for 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.480 ninety minutes at a time, and they found that, especially 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:59.160 in the clothed state, left scrotal temperature was higher, significantly 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:03.359