1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind Listener Mail. 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 2: My name is Joe McCormick. My regular co host, Robert 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 2: Lamb is out today, so I'm going to be recording 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 2: this episode by myself, but Rob will be back with 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 2: me later this week. Right now, the plan for the 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 2: week is that I'm going to do listener mail solo today. Tomorrow, 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 2: which will be Tuesday, June eighteenth, is going to be 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 2: the last episode in our series of Vault episodes on Dreams. 10 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 2: Wednesday of this week will be a Monster Fact omnibus, 11 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 2: and then, hopefully, if we're able to get ready in time, 12 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 2: we should have a new core episode of Stuff to 13 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 2: Blow Your Mind for you on Thursday. If not, it'll 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 2: be another Vault and then we'll be with you for 15 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 2: Weird House on Friday. But either way, we should be 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 2: back with new content for you later this week. Okay, 17 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 2: I guess let's jump right into messages. We got a 18 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 2: bunch of great responses to our series on Cicadas. I'm 19 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 2: going to start with this message from Jim. I made 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 2: some edits for clarity when read aloud, I hope I 21 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 2: did everything here Justice Jim. Jim says, Hey, guys, hope you, 22 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 2: your families and your team had a nice break. When 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 2: I saw the title of this episode, I was excited 24 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 2: to hear that you were going to do a two 25 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 2: part episode on cicadas. The insect world is one of 26 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 2: my passions. By the way, great episode. I really enjoyed it. 27 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 2: Here in Canberra, Australia's capital city, we too experience every 28 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 2: couple of years a massive emergence of cicadas in some reserves. 29 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 2: If you don't have earmuffs on, it's impossible to work 30 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 2: or walk through the reserve. Is The noise that comes 31 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 2: from the cicadas is deafening. But halfway through the first episode, 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 2: I had a flashback of my childchildhood and I wanted 33 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 2: to share a memory from when I was about six 34 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 2: or seven years old, some forty years ago. I was 35 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 2: raised in Orange, a city in central New South Wales, 36 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 2: about twenty kilometers outside of Orange. There is a picnic 37 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 2: reserve in the middle of a pine plantation on a 38 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 2: creek called four Mile Creek. As kids, we would go 39 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 2: out there with the church group and on the way 40 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 2: out to four Mile Creek you would also go past 41 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 2: the agricultural department. I don't remember the environment that day 42 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 2: or the noise, but it must have been one of 43 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 2: those years when we had three species emerging. The most 44 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 2: common cicadas were the black ones, then the green ones 45 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 2: and the tiger ones, which were rare to come across. Now, 46 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 2: someone I think it was older teenagers of the church, 47 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 2: told my two older brothers and me that the tiger 48 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 2: cicada you could sell to the agricultural department for ten cents. 49 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 2: Ten cents in the eighties, that was a lot of 50 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 2: money for a kid. I don't remember collecting the higer 51 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 2: cicadas until we came across the white ones. We called 52 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 2: them ghosts and were told that they were worth five 53 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 2: dollars each, so believing them, I guess the older kids. 54 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 2: Believing the older kids, we started to collect the cicadas 55 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 2: emerging out of their shells, and they were all white ones. 56 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 2: We collected a very large number of them. Through all 57 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 2: these cicadas, still in their exoskeleton or half emerged into 58 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 2: the back of our father's Kingswood station wagon. Thinking we 59 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 2: made a fortune, we ran off to play and have lunch. 60 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 2: Some time passed and we were called time to go home. 61 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 2: Running back to the car, we found our very upset 62 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 2: father with the front door open. He was not happy. 63 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 2: Cicadas were flying out of the car door he had opened. 64 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 2: Inside the front of the car, there were lots of 65 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 2: black and green cicadas flying around the back of the 66 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 2: station wagon, and the back seat had a lot of 67 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 2: empty exoskeletons just sitting there. What a scene it was 68 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 2: with a very upset down who made us remove all 69 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 2: the live cicadas and all of the exoskeletons from the car. 70 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 2: But we were distressed too. Where were all of our 71 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 2: ghost cicadas? Our fortune all gone? I paused the episode 72 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 2: and had a bit of a laugh. We didn't know 73 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 2: then that when insects emerge out of their exoskeletons, they 74 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 2: are molting, and newly emerged insects are often ghostly in color, 75 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 2: having reduced or absent pigment. Thanks guys made my day. 76 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 2: And then finally, Jim has some notes about the probable 77 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 2: species identification of the Australian cicadas from his story, so 78 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 2: he says, FYI, the black and most common cicadas are 79 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 2: called the red eye cicada or saltota morins the green 80 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 2: cicadas are called green grosser cicadas. These are Cyclochila australacea 81 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 2: and I looked these up. According to the Australian Museum's 82 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 2: info page, they have like different color variants of the 83 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 2: species that are called You've got the greengrocer, but then 84 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 2: you get the yellow Monday, chocolate Soldier, and blue moon. Interesting. 85 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 2: And then Jim comes back and says, what we called 86 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 2: the tiger cicadas were actually called double drummers or sofa cicata. 87 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:19,239 Speaker 2: All the best for now and keep up the great work, 88 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 2: looking forward to the next episode. Jim. Well, thank you 89 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 2: so much. Jim. You know this really got me thinking 90 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 2: not so much about insect biology, but about child psychology 91 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,720 Speaker 2: and the difference between work and play with your story 92 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 2: about trying to collect all of the valuable cicadas for 93 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 2: the Agricultural department. So this story is kind of an 94 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: example of a genre of childhood experiences that I remember 95 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 2: from that age. Also that those experiences where you think 96 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 2: you have discovered a way to make lots of money 97 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 2: based on one or more mistaken or implausible premises. And 98 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 2: I remember these these schemes they often centered around to 99 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 2: gathering task like yours did, Like I remember deciding that 100 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 2: a certain kind of sparkly rock was actually a valuable 101 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 2: gym that you could sell, and I would like go 102 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 2: around digging them up and collecting them in a backpack. 103 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 2: There's an interesting thing about these like kid conceived cash 104 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 2: cow schemes, which is that the way I remember them, 105 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 2: in most cases, you're able to really believe in them 106 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 2: in the early stages, like it doesn't feel like you're 107 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 2: just playing pretend. You really think you're going to get 108 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 2: the money. But then at some point later on in 109 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 2: the scheme, it starts to feel less real and you 110 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 2: don't keep pushing forward as if you believe in it. 111 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 2: So Jim, in your story, if you hadn't gotten in 112 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 2: trouble with your dad and had to release all the bugs, 113 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 2: would you have actually insisted that your parents stop at 114 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 2: the agricultural department on the way home so you could 115 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 2: collect the bounties. I don't know in your particular case, 116 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 2: but my memory of these types of schemes is that 117 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 2: by that point later in the day, like the magic 118 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 2: of the idea probably would have worn off, And if 119 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 2: I'd been in a similar situation, I probably would stop 120 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 2: caring or believing that it was possible to get the 121 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 2: money by the time I was heading home. But what 122 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 2: causes that change? Why did I believe the rocks were 123 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 2: valuable gyms in the first place, and what changed my 124 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 2: mind about it by the passage of a few hours. 125 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 2: I don't know anyway. Now that I've got a toddler, 126 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 2: I think about this kind of stuff a lot, and 127 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 2: it's interesting and kind of mysterious to remember those states 128 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 2: of mind that you could get into as a child, 129 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 2: where you're like fully engaged in a task. It's taking 130 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 2: all of your effort and attention, but it's actually not 131 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 2: clear to you whether you're doing serious, goal directed work 132 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 2: or just playing a game. But either way, thank you, 133 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 2: Jim Okay. This next message comes to us from Sierra. 134 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 2: It is about our Vault episodes on the Moons of Uranus. 135 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 2: Cer says, hello, longtime listener and big fan here. I'm 136 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 2: loving the episodes about the moons of Uranus, especially the 137 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 2: discussion of its proper pronunciation at the top of the show. 138 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 2: It made me want to share a mental image that 139 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 2: was conjured years ago and linger still. In some astrology 140 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 2: book I read once, Uranus was referred to as a 141 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 2: planet that rules rebellion, flippancy, revolution, perhaps due to its 142 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 2: odd rotation, Oh yeah, sideways rotation. Cira says it made 143 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 2: me picture Uranus as the iggy pop slash sid Vicious 144 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 2: of the planets, proudly rocking his name with green hair 145 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 2: and double birds to the audience laughing emoji. I hope 146 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 2: you can enjoy that thought too. Thanks for sharing the 147 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 2: good humor, wit and wisdom over the years, Sincerely, Sierra, 148 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 2: Thank you, Sierra. All right, this next message comes from Chelsea. 149 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 2: This is another response to our series on cicadas, and 150 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 2: specifically this is about the etymological digression we took in 151 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 2: the episode looking into the history of the word bug, 152 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 2: which in its earliest use is in English referred to 153 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 2: a scarecrow. This is in an early English translation of 154 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 2: the Bible, or actually to a sort of deuterocanonical book 155 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:35,440 Speaker 2: associated with the Bible. But so there's a scarecrow, or 156 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,760 Speaker 2: it also referred to a hobgoblin like creature, a monster 157 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 2: of some kind, and then only later came to refer 158 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,960 Speaker 2: to actual biological insects, and then later still came to 159 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 2: have this connotation of general problems like computer bugs and 160 00:09:52,160 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 2: so forth. Chelsea says, hi, guys. Fact, the use of 161 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,800 Speaker 2: the word bug to describe a computer bug dates from 162 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 2: nineteen forty seven, when the Harvard computer science team found 163 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 2: a moth trapped inside the Mark two, which was messing 164 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 2: with the electronics. Early computer programming language. Pioneer Grace Hopper 165 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,679 Speaker 2: was a member of the team. So computer bugs are 166 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 2: named for the creepy crawleys. Keep up the awesome work, Chelsea. 167 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 2: Thank you, Chelsea. Well, so I did some looking into 168 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 2: this story, and one thing I came across is you 169 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 2: can actually look this up. There is a picture of 170 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 2: it on the National Museum of American History website. There 171 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,959 Speaker 2: was a log book that was used by the computer 172 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 2: science team at Harvard while people were working on the 173 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 2: Mark to computer, and they actually physically taped the moth 174 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 2: found inside the computer into the logbook, so it's taped 175 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 2: there on the paper. You can see images of this, 176 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 2: and then they write underneath it first actual case of 177 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 2: a bug being found. I was also reading some articles 178 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 2: about this historical incident, and apparently there are some common 179 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 2: misconceptions about it, Like, Chelsea, you certainly did not say this, 180 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 2: but a lot of people say that this was Grace 181 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 2: Hopper's personal log book, and from what I've read, that 182 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,439 Speaker 2: seems to be not true, that it doesn't look like 183 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 2: her handwriting, and it's probably just said that because she's 184 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 2: a famous person who was there at the time working 185 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 2: with this kind of working with this technology. Another misconception 186 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 2: I've seen written about this was that this was the 187 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 2: first ever use of the word bug in a sort 188 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 2: of technical engineering context, which is certainly not the case. 189 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 2: There are instances of this going way back back to 190 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,319 Speaker 2: Thomas Edison wrote about bugs in some of his inventions 191 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 2: and so forth. But it does appear that Grace Hopper 192 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 2: was a very enthusiastic early user of the term bug 193 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 2: in a specifically in a compute context. So it is 194 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 2: it's not the case that this was the first use 195 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 2: of bugs in engineering or in technology, as some people 196 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:13,199 Speaker 2: have said. But I was reading about this misconception in 197 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 2: an interesting article for the for the I Tripole Annals 198 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,839 Speaker 2: of the History of Computing. There was an article in 199 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 2: that journal by an author named Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, a 200 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 2: historian of science and technology. I just want to read 201 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 2: a paragraph from her paper. Kidwell writes, quote in summary, 202 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 2: the phrase computer bug has served several functions. Talking about 203 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,480 Speaker 2: bugs rather than flaws appeals to the wit of programmers 204 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 2: and computer users. In the early days of computing, the 205 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 2: phrase was used primarily by a relatively small group of 206 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 2: experts marking their special status. At the same time, having 207 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 2: a short, general term that covers a wide variety of 208 00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 2: flaws has been useful, particularly because the exact source of 209 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 2: the error was often unknown. Calling such problems bugs rather 210 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 2: than failures suggests that they are small faults that can 211 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 2: be corrected, not a general in thinking, and not a 212 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 2: general failure in thinking or design. This usage had long 213 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 2: been a refuge of US inventors and served the optimistic 214 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 2: nature of computer designers and programmers. So I think that's 215 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 2: kind of an interesting point about the psychology of engineering, 216 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 2: or the psychology of invention and technical work, that even 217 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 2: the language you select to describe the problems you face 218 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 2: in your work can color your emotions in how in 219 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 2: how you have to go about addressing it, and that 220 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,320 Speaker 2: by using cute little terms like bug, which implied that 221 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 2: the problem is external, implied that the problem is small, 222 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 2: implied that the problem is you know, it's not something 223 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 2: that is wrong with the general approach or design of 224 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,080 Speaker 2: the system. But it's just like a little little thing 225 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 2: that got in there and went wrong. Kind of helps 226 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 2: you maintain a positive attitude in addressing problems and fixing them. 227 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 2: So anyway, thank you so much, Chelsea. All right. This 228 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 2: last message is also in response to cicadas. This is 229 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 2: one that sent me down a bit of a research trail. 230 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 2: So this comes from Jeremy. Jeremy says, hello, Robert and Joe, 231 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 2: with reference to the recent rise of the cicadas episode 232 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 2: and the volume of their mating call. We thankfully don't 233 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 2: get cicadas in Europe, but we do have a contender 234 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 2: for the loudest insect and winner in the volume generated 235 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 2: in proportion to size category, the lesser water boatman or 236 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 2: micro necta. This is spelled scholt Zi. I don't know 237 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 2: if that's sculptz or schultzy. I'm gonna say schultze. The 238 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 2: micronecta Schultze is only zero points zero seven inches or 239 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:11,119 Speaker 2: two millimeters long, yet can generate ninety nine point five decibels, 240 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 2: with peaks up to one hundred and five decibels. And 241 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 2: although this sound is created underwater, it can be heard 242 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 2: on the banks of the streams, rivers, and lakes where 243 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 2: it lives. Now, that in itself is amazing, and I 244 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 2: want to go into some more detail about that in 245 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 2: just a minute, but I've got a note on what 246 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,720 Speaker 2: Jeremy is about to say in the email some context 247 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 2: to remind listeners. In the first Decade episode, we talked 248 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 2: about how insects like crickets and grasshoppers make sounds mostly 249 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 2: through a process called stridulation, which means rubbing, rubbing one 250 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 2: part of the body against another. So, for example, mail 251 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 2: crickets rub the edges of their four wings together their 252 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 2: front pair of wings. They rub those together using what's 253 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 2: called a file and scraper system. So basically, one wings 254 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 2: surface is like a stick and the other has a 255 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 2: series of ridges like the teeth of a comb, and 256 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 2: rubbing them together against one another produces a scraping sound. 257 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 2: Male cicadas, on the other hand, do not use strigulation. 258 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 2: They have dedicated sound producing organs called timbals, which are 259 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 2: these corrugated kiteness membranes kind of like drumheads, connected to 260 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 2: muscles and rib like structures underneath, and these are on 261 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 2: either side of the body under the wings, and the 262 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 2: cicadas make their sound by rapidly flexing and buckling these 263 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 2: organs and then allowing them to snap back into place anyway. 264 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 2: With that context back to Jeremy's message, Jeremy rites, in 265 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 2: contrast to the leg, wing or rib based sound generation 266 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 2: methods used by insects like cicadas, the lesser water boatmen 267 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 2: stridulates its penis against the ridged surface of its abdomen 268 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 2: to create the sound. And then Jeremy and some references 269 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 2: and also a paper, and he summarizes the paper by saying, quote, 270 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 2: it is theorized that a trapped bubble of air is 271 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 2: used to amplify the volume. Best regards Jeremy. Well, thank 272 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 2: you Jeremy for writing in and bringing up this amazingly 273 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 2: interesting animal. Now a couple of things to address at 274 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,240 Speaker 2: the top here, I had to mention something from the 275 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 2: earlier part of your message about not having cicadas in Europe. 276 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 2: I double check to be sure, but there definitely are 277 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 2: cicadas in Europe. For example, multiple species in the genus Cicadeta, 278 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 2: like Cicadeta montana that's also known as the new forest 279 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 2: cicada is just one of the species found in Europe. 280 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,880 Speaker 2: It's in England in places throughout continental Europe. But from 281 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 2: what I've been able to dig up, all of the 282 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 2: species of cicadas found anywhere in Europe are annuals, the 283 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:54,399 Speaker 2: kind that emerge every year, as opposed to the kinds 284 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 2: we have in North America with broods on those thirteen 285 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 2: and seventeen year cycles. But also, I love your note 286 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:06,440 Speaker 2: bringing attention to the lesser water boatmen, and it's incredibly loud, 287 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,640 Speaker 2: stridulating penis. I had to know more, so I did 288 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 2: some investigation on this insect. So again, as Jeremy says, 289 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 2: the species is Micronecta schultzy. Like cicadas. The lesser water 290 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 2: boatmen are of the order Hymiptera, so they are also 291 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 2: the true bugs. Remember that's what the hymipterns are, the 292 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 2: true bugs, with the most distinctive body features being they're 293 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 2: piercing and sucking mouthparts. So hymipterans usually have a sort 294 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 2: of hinged needle called a rostrum on their mouth which 295 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 2: they used to puncture a food substrate which could be 296 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 2: a plant or an animal and suck nutrients out. In 297 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,440 Speaker 2: the case of water boatmen, it seems they generally they're 298 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 2: not predatory. They generally suck nutrients from algae. So I 299 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 2: looked up the original paper that reported this stridulation miracle 300 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 2: and it goes back to the year twenty eleven. So 301 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 2: the paper is by Rome Sewer, David Mackie and James F. C. Windmill, 302 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 2: published in Plus one in twenty eleven, and the paper 303 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:12,360 Speaker 2: is called so Small, So Loud extremely high sound pressure 304 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:17,679 Speaker 2: level from a pigmy aquatic insect carrixiity micronectiny. So the 305 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 2: authors here begin with some context for their research and 306 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 2: noting some common difficulties in sound based communication among animals. 307 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 2: Sound producing animals often want to reach as many receivers 308 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 2: as possible with their sounds, and they also want their 309 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:36,160 Speaker 2: sounds to contain as much information as possible. In order 310 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 2: to reach more receivers, a very simple strategy is make 311 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 2: your signal louder. But making a louder signal comes with 312 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 2: some difficulties. One problem, in the words of the authors 313 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 2: is that quote when considering acoustic communication, the production of 314 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 2: a loud and intelligible signal is not an easy task. 315 00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 2: Even for human built sound systems. The system can be overdriven, 316 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 2: distorting time and frequency parameters and consequently impairing information transfer. 317 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 2: So in other words, selecting for loudness can harm the 318 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 2: clarity of the information being transferred, and you can think 319 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 2: about this like you know, turning a speaker up until 320 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 2: it gets distorted and it's hard to understand what's being said. 321 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 2: Another problem is that how loud you can get is 322 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 2: usually constrained by what the authors call morphological characteristics, the 323 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 2: size and the shape of your body and sound producing organs. 324 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 2: In short, a small object usually cannot produce a very 325 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,480 Speaker 2: loud sound, and this is why if you look at 326 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 2: lists of the loudest animals, most of them are also 327 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 2: the largest animals, so you get like whales and elephants 328 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 2: as the largest animals. However, there's another way you can 329 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,680 Speaker 2: look at sound production, which is not just purely what 330 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 2: is the loudest sound achievable, but what is the ratio 331 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 2: of sound production to body size. Animals are able to 332 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 2: produce the loudest sounds with the smallest bodies and the 333 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 2: smallest sound producing organs. So here the authors turn to 334 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 2: freshwater insects, many of which can communicate by sound. Since 335 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 2: sound is a useful way of transmitting information when visibility. 336 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:23,400 Speaker 2: Visual visibility is low, such as in murky water Micronecta 337 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 2: schultzi is an example of an insect that uses sound 338 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 2: based communication for pair formation in mating, for males and 339 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 2: females to find one another, for males to attract females, 340 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 2: and to attract females to initiate mating. It's possibly also 341 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,879 Speaker 2: used for male male competition competition between males for access 342 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:50,119 Speaker 2: to mating. The authors of this paper collected specimens of 343 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,400 Speaker 2: this insect from a river and from a pond, both 344 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,360 Speaker 2: located near Paris in France, and measure their sound production 345 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 2: in controlled conditions. Apparently a lot of the research here 346 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 2: was just aimed at making sure they were getting accurate 347 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 2: readings about the sound production, and so, just as Jeremy 348 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,199 Speaker 2: said in the email, the authors did indeed find that 349 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 2: these tiny insects were able to create shockingly powerful sounds 350 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 2: for their size. When measured at a distance of one meter, 351 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 2: the intensity of the sound was roughly a seventy nine 352 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,359 Speaker 2: decibel sound pressure level, with peaks of ninety nine to 353 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,680 Speaker 2: one hundred decibels. A BBC report writing this up compared 354 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 2: this to the approximate loudness of sitting in the front 355 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 2: row listening to a loud symphony orchestra, except that's kind 356 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 2: of hard to make as a comparison in your mind, 357 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 2: because the symphony orchestra is a large like composite system 358 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 2: with many different sound production points. I guess the case 359 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 2: here would be like you're listening to an orchestra that 360 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 2: is a hair sized sexual organ of a two millimeter 361 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 2: insect about a meter away from your head. The author 362 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 2: is right that while this is by no means the 363 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,439 Speaker 2: loudest in the animal kingdom quote, when scaled to body 364 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 2: length and compared to two hundred and twenty seven other 365 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 2: acoustic species, the acoustic energy produced by Imschultzi appears as 366 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:18,199 Speaker 2: an extreme value, outperforming marine and terrestrial mammal vocalizations. So, 367 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 2: according to these calculations, it is the loudest animal relative 368 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,480 Speaker 2: to its body size. So, as the title of the 369 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,879 Speaker 2: paper says, so small, so loud, if that's true, I 370 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,920 Speaker 2: was wondering why don't we notice hearing them more often? 371 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 2: Like why do even if you know you don't necessarily 372 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 2: have these around where you live. Why don't you read 373 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 2: things of people just commonly talking about the sounds they make, 374 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 2: the way people talk about the sounds made by cicadas. 375 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 2: I think the answer is probably because they make these 376 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:53,160 Speaker 2: sounds underwater and people are usually above water, and from 377 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 2: what I was reading, about ninety nine percent of the 378 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,119 Speaker 2: intensity of the sound is lost when it crosses the 379 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:03,200 Speaker 2: air water inner though, though that doesn't mean you can't 380 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 2: hear it again. People on the banks of waterways where 381 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 2: these animals live are still sometimes able to hear them, 382 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 2: which is just a pretty incredible thing in itself, given 383 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 2: how much reduction in the sound there is from crossing 384 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:18,879 Speaker 2: up out of the water into the air above. So 385 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 2: it just indicates how loud the original sound is that 386 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 2: people ever hear it at all. Couple more questions, how 387 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 2: exactly does this animal make the sound? In one sense 388 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,880 Speaker 2: the authors know the answer, and in another sense they 389 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 2: said they did not. So the known part is that, 390 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 2: as mentioned in Jeremy's email, the male water boatman rubs 391 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,879 Speaker 2: a sexual organ against a part of its abdomen to 392 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 2: generate the sound. This organ is in many articles about 393 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 2: this called a penis, but the paper clarifies it is 394 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 2: actually the male's right side peramere rubbing against a lobe 395 00:24:54,520 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 2: on the eighth abdominal segment. Perameres seem somewhat equivalent to 396 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 2: a penis. They are paired sexual organs on either side 397 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 2: of the abdomen. The paper calls them genitalia appendages, which 398 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 2: I was reading about it seems like they often serve 399 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,119 Speaker 2: as clasping devices during copulation. The unknown part, according to 400 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 2: the authors of this paper in twenty eleven, and people 401 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:23,679 Speaker 2: have commented since then, was how exactly this genital sound 402 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 2: emission system, which they point out is no larger than 403 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,840 Speaker 2: fifty micrometers, which is again about the width of a 404 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,159 Speaker 2: human hair on the small side of the range of 405 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,960 Speaker 2: a width of a human hair. How that was capable 406 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,399 Speaker 2: of producing such a loud sound. I'll come back to 407 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,199 Speaker 2: that in a second. Another question is why is the 408 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 2: sound so loud in an evolutionary sense. According to this 409 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 2: twenty eleven paper, a possible answer is sexual selection unconstrained 410 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 2: by predation risk. So the males of this insects species 411 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 2: make the sound to attract females and possibly compete with 412 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,280 Speaker 2: and drown out other males. So if louder sounds lead 413 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 2: to more chances to mate, evolution will keep selecting for them. Now, 414 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 2: a normal expected limiting principle on the loudness of that 415 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 2: sound would be that it would also attract predators and parasitoids, 416 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 2: so you know eventually you're going to be putting out 417 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,000 Speaker 2: your ringing a dinner bell when you're making that sound 418 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 2: saying come eat me. But the authors say, we don't 419 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 2: know that much about what predators and parasitoids are associated 420 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 2: with these water insects, and as possible, water boatmen just 421 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 2: don't have many natural aquatic predators or parasitoids, and thus 422 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 2: there is little external limitation on the selection for loudness 423 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 2: of the scraping penis or paramere. But the authors say 424 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:49,879 Speaker 2: that basically not enough is known about the associated predator guild, 425 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 2: so this should be something study you know, needs further study. Now, 426 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 2: coming back to the question of how mechanically these insects 427 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 2: make such a loud sound, This has been looked at 428 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,959 Speaker 2: in subsequent research. Some other insects that produce underwater mating calls, 429 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 2: such as carrixidy and microonectiny, have a strategy of resonating 430 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 2: their stridulation. So they like rub something underwater and then 431 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 2: they resonate it through a trapped air bubble that they 432 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,639 Speaker 2: carry with them when they dive to breathe from. I 433 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:29,400 Speaker 2: believe so a study by read at All from twenty eighteen, 434 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,360 Speaker 2: which was linked by Jeremy in his original email, creates 435 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 2: a model suggesting that Schultze does the same thing resonates 436 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 2: through an air bubble, but with some efficiency improvements. And 437 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 2: I admit I tried my best to understand this paper, 438 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,199 Speaker 2: but I was not able to decipher all of the 439 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:51,160 Speaker 2: technical stuff about acoustics in play. I believe if I'm 440 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 2: understanding it right, I believe their claim is that the 441 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 2: specific orientation, size, and distance between the insects sound producing 442 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 2: surface and its air bubble resonator create what they call 443 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 2: a high coupling efficiency, allowing for a huge gain and power. 444 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 2: So according to these authors, it seems to be something 445 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:16,000 Speaker 2: about the sort of the distance between and relationship and 446 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:21,880 Speaker 2: physical relationship between the air bubble and the striated surface. 447 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 2: So anyway, I'm not sure I follow all the technical 448 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 2: details on that, but nevertheless, this is a fascinating animal. 449 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 2: It is amazing to think about how such a tiny 450 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 2: creature can produce such loud sounds. And yeah, if you're interested, 451 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 2: you want to read more, you go look it up 452 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 2: Micronecta Schultzi, And thank you Jeremy for writing about this. 453 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 2: We love to get emails like this, emails that build 454 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 2: on our episodes with sort of related but new trails 455 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 2: to run down. Okay, I think that does it for today. 456 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 2: If you are new to the show, Stuff to Blow 457 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,280 Speaker 2: Your Mind is primarily a sign night's podcast with core 458 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 2: episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 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