1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: Welcome Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of I 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:14,079 Speaker 1: Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, welcome to Stuff to 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: Joe McCormick, and we are revisiting a yearly tradition that's 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: right every year, pretty much about this time, we look 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: and see what was honored at this year's Ignoble Prizes. 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:32,919 Speaker 1: The prizes themselves come out. I believe that the end 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: of September or the very beginning of October the timing 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: for us, Yeah, because that's when we want to get 10 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: into our Halloween content, and so we always do. We 11 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: just steamroll ahead into the Halloween content. And then afterwards, uh, 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: you know, after especially after the dust is sort of 13 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: settled on the Ignobele Prizes, the mainstream media coverage of 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: the event has died away, then we come back and 15 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: we picked through the winners and sometimes we cover absolutely everything. 16 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: Sometimes we cover a few choice selections here and there, 17 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: and that's going to be the model we're going to 18 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: be employing here. Yeah, we're just gonna take a look 19 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: at a few highlights that stuck out to us. So 20 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: for those who haven't heard before, a quick refresher on 21 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: the Ignobles. Yeah, they've been awarded each year since by 22 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: the publication the Annals of Improbable Research. The purpose of 23 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: the award, according to the editors of Improbable Research, is 24 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: to quote honor achievements that first make people laugh and 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: then make them think. Furthermore, they stressed that the ten 26 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: prizes aren't necessarily meant to pass judgment on the winners. Instead, 27 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: the official website emphasizes that the prizes quote celebrate the unusual, 28 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: honor the imaginative, and spur people's interests in science, medicine, 29 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: and technology. And the principal individual here is editor Mark Abrams. So, yeah, 30 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: every year it is just a it's you know, it's 31 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: making fun of the idea a little bit of the 32 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: Nobel Prizes, uh, which which celebrate, you know, key advancements 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: and and and key samples of work that are really 34 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: pushing forward are our understanding of ourselves and the universe nature. 35 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: And the Ignoble Prizes tend to highlight more absurd intreats, 36 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: but none not necessarily intreaes that are you know, that 37 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: are completely useless. And I think that's an important thing 38 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: to stress and something we've tried to stress in the 39 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: past when covering the event is that studies that are 40 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: honored by the Ignoble Prizes maybe snick or inducing. They 41 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 1: may seem a little silly at first glance, but they 42 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: are all works of real science, of real ingenuity, and 43 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 1: if nothing else, they are expanding, helping to expand the 44 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: the threshold of human understanding. Yeah, I mean, I think 45 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: one of our favorite things to explore on this show 46 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: is realizing that there's an interesting question in a place 47 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: you wouldn't have expected to find it, and that's what 48 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: a lot of this research does. And so on that note, 49 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: let us turn to the first Ignoble Prize winning study 50 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: that we would like to highlight here today, and that 51 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: is the two thousand and nineteen award winner in Physics, 52 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: awarded to Patricia yang at All for studying how and 53 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: why wombats make a cube shaped poop. Wombats are so 54 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: cute they are there. They are so adorable to look at. 55 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the babies, any baby animals going to 56 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: be adorable, but even the adults look like living Teddy 57 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,119 Speaker 1: Bear creatures, like living Teddy Bear marsu fils. I bet 58 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: they're just nightmarish, you know, Given how cute they are. 59 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: I'm sure they kill thousands of people every year, now, 60 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: I mean to be to be clear, they can protect 61 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: themselves and sometimes they do harm humans if provoked or 62 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: I think there have been cases where like there was 63 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: a wombat that had the mange or something like that 64 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: and was therefore a little more agitated. So yes, there 65 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: they can. They are kind of tough customers in their 66 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: own right, own right. They're not straight up wolverines or anything, 67 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: but they can. They can look after themselves. So this 68 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: particular their paper, how do wombats make cubed pooh uh? 69 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: This came This was presented at the seventy firth Annual 70 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, And I 71 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: believe this is presented in Atlanta, Georgia, where of course 72 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: we record the show. Yeah, I think at least part 73 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: of the team is Georgia Tech, right, yeah, yeah, So 74 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: the species here vombat us your sinus is a pudgy 75 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: herbivore roughly the size of a kind of a thick dog, 76 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: like a really thick dog, and it's marsupial. They have pouches, 77 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: but since they're burrowers, they have backward pouches so as 78 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: not to fill the pouch up with dirt and endanger 79 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: the young one that may be within the pouch. So interesting, 80 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: So like if they're pulling themselves forward on their belly 81 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: through the dirt, the dirt does not go in, right, Yeah, 82 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: because we can all imagine the cartoon scenario of it's 83 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: just filling up with dirt. Right. They have a slow metabolism. 84 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: They feed mostly on grasses and roots, and they're largely 85 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: nocturnal or crepuscular, you know, so they're gonna you know, 86 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 1: they're not going to venture out, usually in the brightest 87 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: light of the day. They may come out though on 88 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: particularly overcast days, and they can again, they can put 89 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: up a fight if threatened. And you'll find them in 90 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 1: Australia and in Tasmania. They're cute. They're not endangered, despite 91 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: being treated as vermin by some farmers. And oh I 92 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: love this. Groups of wombats are are sometimes called a mob, 93 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: sometimes just called a group, but sometimes they're also known 94 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: as a wisdom of wombats. Oh man, that's better than 95 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: a murder of crows. That is, I just imagine these wise, 96 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: cute elder wombats that have so so much wisdom to 97 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: share with the world. I don't mean to be mean, 98 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: but they don't necessarily look wise. They do look they 99 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: look more clever than wise. Well, what would you what 100 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: would you refer to them as? Like a snuggle of wombats. 101 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: It would be a snugg e of wombats. That's pretty good, 102 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: A slank it of wombats, A slank it of wombats. 103 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: I like that. But one of the more puzzling attributes 104 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: of the wombat has long been their poop, because it 105 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: is cubic. And we're not talking necessarily perfectly cubic in 106 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: a geometric geometrical sense, but yet for a world mostly 107 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: to void, pretty much completely devoid of natural squares, certainly 108 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: natural biological squares, this is pretty darned cubic. Yeah, totally. 109 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,720 Speaker 1: I mean, if you come across these things in nature, 110 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: you would think they were made by humans. Yeah. They 111 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: look kind of like chocolate marshmallows, like really square chocolate 112 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: marshmallows if you see a picture of them, Yeah, not 113 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: the cylindrical marshmallows, like the more old school like carved 114 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: out ones with corners. Granted, I think the images that 115 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: we're both looking at here they're dried a little bit, 116 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: but still even fresh out the shoot. They are there. 117 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: They are cubic in nature. It is really hard to 118 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: imagine how these things are made just picked. I mean, 119 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: I don't know how much time one wants to spend 120 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: contemplating a wombad anus, but like, it just doesn't seem 121 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: like a normal thing that would emerge physically from a 122 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: what I would assume to be rounded anus. Well, the 123 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: wombat anus is not immune from the inquiry of science, 124 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: and that's where Yang and her team come in. Uh 125 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: and again, Yeah, Yang is local, based out of the 126 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where she's a 127 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: postdoctoral fellow. So since she's local, maybe we should have 128 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: her on the on the show. Because she's not just 129 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: a one time Ignoble winner, she's a two time Ignoble 130 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: winner because she and co author David who also shared 131 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: the two thousand fifteen Ignoble Physics Prize for testing the 132 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: biological principle that nearly all mammals and empty their bladders 133 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: in about twenty one seconds plus or minus thirteen seconds. 134 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: I don't know. The plus or minus thirteen seconds buys 135 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: you a pretty big window there. But yeah, I find 136 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: myself very often thinking about this one in the bathroom. So, 137 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: having turned away from the world of urine, the researchers 138 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 1: were interested by this puzzle of the wombat poop, so 139 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: they looked at how differences and wombats digestive processes and 140 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: soft tissue structures informed this curious structure. So they investigated. 141 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: They used the digestive tracts of wombats that have been 142 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: euthanized following motor vehicle collisions in Tasmania. Uh so you 143 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: have to you have to have some actual bodies to 144 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: look at there, and then it seems like a reasonable 145 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: way to go about getting them. They found that the 146 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,600 Speaker 1: shape occurred towards the very end of the intestines. As 147 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: the matter became increasingly firm, it became clear that quote 148 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: varying elastic properties of wombats intestinal walls allowed for the 149 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: cubic formation. And the result is a cube, the only 150 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: organic cube in nature, they say. And it's not made 151 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: Yang stresses by the two typical human methods of creating cubes. 152 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:42,440 Speaker 1: We because we tend to mold a cube or we 153 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: cut a cube. Right, we slice a cube out of 154 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: something via you know, subtractive manufacturing. But this is a 155 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: third way. This is the way of the wombat where 156 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: it is it is it is formed through the you know, 157 00:08:55,559 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: the excretion process of the lower intestines. So this would 158 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: be not cutting a cube, not molding a cube. Maybe 159 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: pinching a cube. Yeah, pinching a cube and then excreting 160 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: a cube. Now you're probably wondering, well, what is the 161 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: why of all of this? Right, if the wombat is 162 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: doing something entirely different with its poop, there has to 163 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: be a reason. Well, scientists believe it comes down to 164 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: the fact that these burrowing, nocturnal herbivores depend largely on 165 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: their sense of smell. They largely communicate by smell, and therefore, 166 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: like various other animals that are also smell dependent, their 167 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: fecal matter is their calling card. I mean, you have 168 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: a dog, you know how the how they behave there 169 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: the sort of the the the heightened importance of fecal 170 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: matter in the dog world. Yeah, out on a walk 171 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. Poop is like a Facebook status update. 172 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: It's like you know that you're interested, you want to 173 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: check it out, Like we just see something we don't 174 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,199 Speaker 1: want to step in maybe the in the sense data 175 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,439 Speaker 1: there is just telling us not to step in it. 176 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 1: But to a dog with heightened far heightened sensibilities, there's 177 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 1: a lot of data in the sense emerging from bat poop. 178 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 1: It's interesting stuff. And so while it's something like a 179 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: while something like a cat hides its poop because it 180 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: doesn't want to be known to either it's many prey 181 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: animals or it's many predators. Wombats are a different matter today. 182 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: Wombats don't have many natural predators, uh certainly adult wombats, 183 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: and they use their piled feces to mark territory and 184 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: to communicate with other wombats. And and they don't live 185 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: on a prairie. Their ups and down to the topography 186 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: of their natural habitat, and placing their poops at higher 187 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,439 Speaker 1: at elevations such as a tops some rocks, on top 188 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: of a log, or on a ledge, it makes it 189 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: stand out more visually to other wombats. And again they 190 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: don't have great, great a sense of sight, but still 191 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: you put it up there on a ledge, more wombats 192 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: are able to see it, and then the wombats can 193 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,079 Speaker 1: come in and take a more informed a smell of 194 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 1: the wombat poop and learn something about about its maker. 195 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: So the wombat rectum is sort of designed by evolution 196 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:06,880 Speaker 1: to create poop monuments like testaments to the will of 197 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: the wombat that occupies this territory, poop that stays put. Basically, 198 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: which is interestingly quite the exact opposite of the round 199 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: goat feces that many of you've probably seen emerging from 200 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: the rear end of a goat, which is believed to 201 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: have evolved to roll downhill and essentially self hide in 202 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: hilly or mountainous terrain, so as better maybe to throw 203 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: off a cougar that could be pursuing yours. Right, Yeah, 204 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: like for the goat, it's better that the poop just 205 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: gets lost, but for the wombat, the wombat has very 206 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: specific needs that require the poop to remain in sight 207 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: and to be found. And so yeah, it's basically with 208 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: the wombats, it's it's highly adaptive to be able to 209 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,439 Speaker 1: poop cubes that stay put. It's part of their language 210 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: of expression. Now, naturally, there are potential bio mimetic possibilities here. 211 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: In the future, Young says, we might see human created 212 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: is produced not by molding or cutting, but by this 213 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 1: sort of excretion. So I can't help but wonder if 214 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,679 Speaker 1: this will be the future of our Valentine's Day chocolates. 215 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: Oh yes, like a like a mechanical industrial anus for 216 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: pooping out chocolate and exactly that shape, exactly delicious, So 217 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: that's the physics price. And uh yeah, I just love 218 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: this story because when wombats are such interesting creatures and 219 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 1: and this is ultimately extremely insightful like this is this 220 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: is not this is something that yes, it's laughable because 221 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: it's poop poop from a cute marsupial, But on the 222 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: other hand, it's it really illustrates something amazing about evolution 223 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: and uh and it also highlights where we might go 224 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: in the future when it comes to making cubicle candy. 225 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: And if you want to learn more about this, Patricia 226 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: Yang also has a website Patricia Yang dot net. Excellent. Well, 227 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: maybe we should take a quick break and then when 228 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: we come back we can talk about dirty money. Hey, everybody, 229 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:56,719 Speaker 1: with all the recent news about online security breaches, it's 230 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,079 Speaker 1: hard not to worry about where your data goes. Makeing 231 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: an online purchase or simply accessing your email could put 232 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: your private information at risk. 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The paper was called Money 260 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: and Transmission of Bacteria in Anti Microbial Resistance and Infection 261 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: Control in and So the authors here start out with 262 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: pretty obvious fact. Cash gets handled a lot. It changes hands. 263 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: You touch it, I touch it. Tom Atkins probably touched it. 264 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: Ted goes to the bathroom and then he touches it. 265 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 1: You sneeze, Then you handle it. Then you pay for 266 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: your lunch with it. Somebody pays me the gambling debts 267 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 1: they owe me with that same money. It seems like 268 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: a pretty obvious vector for disease transmission. When you were 269 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: a kid, you probably heard this, and if you like 270 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: me or a parent, you've probably said this, don't put 271 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: that money in your mouth. It's filthy, right, I mean, 272 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: for some reason, When I was reading about this research, 273 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: the thing that kept popping into my mind is that 274 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: episode of Parks and Recreation where you find out that 275 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: all the Pawnee citizens drink from water fountains by putting 276 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: their mouth over the fountain. Part. I had completely forgotten 277 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: about this until you mentioned it. Yeah, there was also 278 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: a skit from the Upright Citizen's Brigade, right, Yes, that 279 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: we can't go into full detail about here, but you 280 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: can probably figure it out what somebody who chose to 281 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: pay for things with befouled pennies that they themselves had 282 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: intentionally befouled. Right. But, as we know, not all physical 283 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: substrata are equally hospitable to germs. So the authors here 284 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: tested different national currencies to see how well they transmitted 285 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: various multi drug resistant bacteria, including methicillin resistant staff Alococcus 286 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: aureus or m R s a UH, an extended spectrum 287 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: of beta lactomaces producing E. Coli and vankomycin resistant, and 288 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: tero coxi or vr E. So UH. Here's the method. 289 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 1: The author has got a bunch of different bank notes 290 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: from different countries, including the euro, the US dollar, Canadian dollar, 291 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: the Croatian kuna, the Romanian leu, the Moroccan deerham, and 292 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: the Indian rupee. And they first of course started off 293 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: sterilizing the cash with UV radiation. You don't want to 294 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: bring in any pre existing germs. Uh. Then they inoculated 295 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: the money with incubated strains of the bacteria they were testing, 296 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: and then the cash was left out to dry for 297 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: several lengths of time, I think three hours, six hours, 298 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: and twenty four hours. And then the experimenters tested which 299 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: bank notes allowed bacterial colonies to survive after the various 300 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:15,320 Speaker 1: drying periods. And then in the second experiment, they also 301 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: tested the effects of people rubbing the bank notes with 302 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 1: sanitized hands. Would the would the bacteria transfer from the 303 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: infected bank notes to people's hands? So which money came 304 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,720 Speaker 1: out on top? Well, the Romanian lou was one of 305 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: the most germ friendly. It yielded all three drug resistant 306 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,239 Speaker 1: pathogens after three and six hours of drying, and it 307 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: was the only currency that still had a pathogen after 308 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: a full day of drying, and that pathogen was vr E. 309 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 1: The Canadian and US dollar yielded only m R s A. 310 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: So I assume it's the U S money that Scrooge 311 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: McDuck swims through in his vault. Oh well, maybe he 312 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,200 Speaker 1: had it purified, you know, because I've always heard the 313 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: Scrooge McDuck was actually a bit of germofog. Oh yeah, 314 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: they take after Howard use Uh. Okay, So the Euro 315 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: yielded only the E. Coli strain after three and six hours, 316 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 1: and vr E after three hours, the rupie only vr E. 317 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: The Croatian Kuna did not yield any of the pathogens 318 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: at any period. So in the second stage of the experiment, 319 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 1: they study the transmission of bacteria from bank notes to 320 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: hands after rubbing. The Euro did not transmit bacteria to hands, 321 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: but the US dollar and the Romanian lou did, though, 322 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: and they make sure to point out that all the 323 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,360 Speaker 1: money was sterilized with UV radiation after the testing, so 324 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: it was safe to return to circulation. Uh. And the 325 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: authors also point out that this means the type of 326 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: bank note paper in circulation could have epidemiological implications. They 327 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: think major variables here are probably like the materials used 328 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 1: in creating the fiber of the bank notes. The Romanian Lou, 329 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,360 Speaker 1: for instance, which seemed to be the most germ friendly, 330 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: has plastic con tent that is designed to improve durability 331 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: and make it harder to counterfeit, but it also seems 332 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,679 Speaker 1: to create a more pathogen friendly environment that many of 333 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 1: the other fibers and materials used in paper money don't create. 334 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: So this would be like the when we've ever handle 335 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 1: currency that basically has like a little clear plastic windows 336 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: in it. Uh yeah, it could be that, or it 337 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: could be more spread out through. I don't know exactly 338 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: what's going on with the Romanian loop, but it has 339 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: polymer content that apparently is germ friendly or even you know, 340 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:35,199 Speaker 1: not just German friendly, but like antibiotic resistant germ friendly. 341 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: But the Croatian kuna, you can take that and just 342 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 1: stick it directly in your mouth. Uh No, I mean, 343 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:42,120 Speaker 1: I wouldn't recommend that, but it seems like in this 344 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: particular test the kuna turned out very well. So maybe 345 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: this is something other countries should consider and test out 346 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: when designing the next generation of paper notes. Maybe take 347 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: some inspiration from how the Croatian kuna has made. It 348 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: seems to be an inhospitable environment for all of the 349 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: pathogens tested. I don't know if the something that has 350 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: ever even figured into currency design before have like they 351 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: ever considered how well currency transmits bacteria and just how 352 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,679 Speaker 1: gross money is. Yeah, I mean, granted there is less 353 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: of it that is used on a daily basis for 354 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: many populations, uh, you know, using our cards more often, 355 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: electronic payments, etcetera. But still there's a lot of cash 356 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,959 Speaker 1: out there, and it's troubling to think about how, you know, 357 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: how dirty it is that you get sick for money. Uh, 358 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: you know, not in a spiritual sense, which I think 359 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 1: we're all accustomed to, but you know, in an actual 360 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: biological sense. You know, even if it's kuna. I just say, 361 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: don't put money in your mouth. Don't put it in there, Okay. 362 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 1: So also I wanted to talk about one not for 363 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,880 Speaker 1: a long time. Just a quick look at the two 364 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: thousand nineteen Anatomy Prize which was awarded to Roger Museet 365 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: and Boris ben gud Ifa for measuring scrotal temperature asymmetry 366 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: and naked and cloth postmen in France. And it's not 367 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 1: just postman this. They still they studied bus drivers too, 368 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: and then people whose professions you don't even know. Uh. 369 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,959 Speaker 1: The original research was published in the journal Human Reproduction 370 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven. So humans are mammals showing bilaterally 371 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: symmetrical anatomy. If you split us in half lengthwise, you 372 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: will mostly see the halves as mirror images of one another. 373 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,400 Speaker 1: But we're not perfect examples of bilateral symmetry. You've got 374 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,680 Speaker 1: internal organs that are oriented off center. Maybe the hard 375 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: is a little more to one side, the liver more 376 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: to the other, and so forth. Uh. And apparently this 377 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: extends to some aspects of the human scrotum. So the 378 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 1: authors here begin by noting a discrepancy in the anatomical literature. 379 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: Is the human scrotum on average hotter on one side 380 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: than the other? Uh? Some previous reports said that it's 381 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: equally hot on both sides, while others reported that the 382 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: left side of the scrotum is generally hotter than the right. Interesting, 383 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: And of course this comes down to the fact that, 384 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:02,919 Speaker 1: of course, on one side is one testicle, on the 385 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 1: other side is the other testicle. And of course part 386 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: of the whole uh design of of the testicles has 387 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: to do with the fact that there's a there's an 388 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: importance of maintaining certain temperatures. Absolutely, I mean, this is 389 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: highly reproductively significant information. Temperature of the male reproductive organs 390 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: plays a role in gamme eat production and thus in fertility. So, 391 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: in fact, the major biological purpose of the scrotum, as 392 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,879 Speaker 1: you alluded to, seems to be thermoregulation to move the 393 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: testicles near or away from the body to help keep 394 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: them as close to optimal temperature as possible. Yeah, this 395 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:41,359 Speaker 1: is why sometimes if if fertility doctors may ask, okay, 396 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: are you are you going to a hot tub all 397 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,679 Speaker 1: the time? Do you have a really hot laptop setting 398 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: on your lap a lot? You know these sorts of 399 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: questions because you know that they are susceptible to outside 400 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,080 Speaker 1: temperatures exactly. So the authors here wanted to get new 401 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: data to help clear up these discrepant reports, and so 402 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: their method bids were quote retrospective analyzes of scrotal temperatures 403 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 1: in mid age twenty to fifty two years, measured every 404 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: two minutes with probes connected to a data collector in 405 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 1: three experiments, so three different experiments. They tested this out 406 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: both naked and clothed in a number of different body positions. 407 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 1: They also tested it on yes postal workers who were 408 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: working in a standing position for ninety minutes at a time, 409 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,920 Speaker 1: and they also tested out on bus drivers who were 410 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: working in a sitting position for ninety minutes at a time, 411 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: and they found that, especially in the clothed state, left 412 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: scrotal temperature was higher, significantly higher than right scrotal temperature. Now, 413 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: why is this? They offered a number of possible explanations, 414 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: including differences in blood flow and cutaneous heat receptors, bilateral 415 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:54,639 Speaker 1: differences in testicular volume, so if like one testicle is 416 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: bigger than the other, that might also affect temperature. But 417 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: then finally, one thing they pointed out as a possible 418 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: explanation is the resting position of the penis, which really 419 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: seems to naturally go more one to one side than 420 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: the other. And they side a study from nine by 421 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: Bogart at All that found that the penis is naturally 422 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: positioned to the left in about eighty nine percent of cases. 423 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: So really it was an inside job the whole time. 424 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: It seems very likely to be. This study is really 425 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: interesting to and it is looking at like the clothed 426 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: human and the naked human, especially because you really have 427 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: to think at times like how how to what extent 428 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: does clothing, you know, change the definition of of the 429 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: biological human experience? You know, oh sure, I mean clothing 430 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: is a technological innovation. It comes fairly recently and our 431 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 1: evolutionary history, and is reasonable to say this might somewhat 432 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:54,119 Speaker 1: change our reproductive behaviors and and how the body's reproductive 433 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,199 Speaker 1: organs respond to the environment. So like, part of the 434 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 1: environment our bodies were shaped for might not necessarily be 435 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: having like the testicles tightly packed against the body within 436 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: some kind of container all the time, right right though, though, 437 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:11,840 Speaker 1: I mean to our credit like that that I think 438 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: was a huge accomplishment. Like if you think back to 439 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: a time when when human you know, human beings did 440 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 1: not have underwear, meaning they did not have as much 441 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: control on like how tightly bound parts of their body 442 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: were to their person. These are things that can get 443 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: in the way of say, chasing after prey or doing 444 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: you know, any kind of physical activity. Sure, but then 445 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: you're saying their pluses and minuses. I think so yeah, 446 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: But then you know, the other side is, like the 447 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: human body, the testicles have evolved so that they there's 448 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: a self regulation of temperature. Uh, the scrotum is supposed 449 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: to be the one in charge of how closely compact 450 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,679 Speaker 1: the testicles are, not the individual who picks out their 451 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: underwear in the morning. Right, So obviously this is a study. 452 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: We can all identify why this study is hilarious because 453 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: he's dealing with French postman whither without their underwear on, 454 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: and temperature differences between one testicle and the audit bus 455 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,119 Speaker 1: drivers too. Yes, it's it's even funnier actually if you 456 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 1: start reading into the like their full explanation of their methods, 457 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,120 Speaker 1: because they talk about, uh, like, the methods that are 458 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,359 Speaker 1: used to determine testicular volume. There are like units of 459 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: measure for that, and I think like special special apparatus. 460 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: Uh some it's called an orchidometer or something. This is 461 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: the probe that was mentioned. No, I think that. I 462 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: think the orchidometer, the problem is something like that. It's 463 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 1: to measure testicular volume. I don't know exactly what the 464 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 1: deal with the probe was that they didn't like have 465 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: a diagram that I found. But still, again, this gets 466 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: down to human biology, reproductive system. So it is an 467 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: important study, sure. I mean, as we said at the beginning, 468 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:51,680 Speaker 1: of testicular temperature is reproductively significant. This could be useful 469 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 1: in a clinical setting when studying things about fertility. Right, 470 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not impossible to imagine it could influence 471 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,120 Speaker 1: under a design in the future either either reasonably so 472 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: with you know a situation where a doctor is saying, like, okay, 473 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 1: we it makes more sense for both testicles to be 474 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: the same temperature, so we're going to create underwear in 475 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: which the penis is positioned out of the way of 476 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:19,119 Speaker 1: the testicles. Or perhaps more likely, you have a situation 477 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:22,200 Speaker 1: where somebody who just wants to sell some underwear looks 478 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: at this study and starts saying, Hey, you don't want 479 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,639 Speaker 1: to be one of those asymmetrical testical temperature people. You 480 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: want to have both testicles the same temperature, and the 481 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:33,479 Speaker 1: only way you're gonna do that is by buying this 482 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: special pair of thirty dollar underwear. Well against that person's 483 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: marketing concerns, I think the study found that while the 484 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: I think the major differences were when people were clothed, 485 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: but they're also were some asymmetries even when people were naked, 486 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: depending on like what position they were in. All right, well, 487 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,199 Speaker 1: on that note, we're going to take another break, but 488 00:27:53,280 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: when we come back, we will discuss diaper changing machines. Alright, 489 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 1: we're back. Why do the idea of a mechanical diaper 490 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:10,919 Speaker 1: changer horrify me, Yes, it horrifies me. And yet it 491 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: is also, I think a grand goal in human technology. Yeah, 492 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: it's kind of utopian. It's like at the same time 493 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,199 Speaker 1: enticing and terrifying. It's a thing that you want but 494 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,880 Speaker 1: you know you should not have. It is the very 495 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,120 Speaker 1: sort of thing that Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park 496 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: would be irate over. Right. They were so concerned with 497 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: whether or not they could they didn't stop to think 498 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: if they should exactly. So, I've changed a few diapers 499 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: in my time, and uh, and I think I've even 500 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: wondered about the possibility of a robotic robotic diaper changer. 501 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: It's the kind of thing you fantasize about as you 502 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: are essentially wrestling with an infant or a toddlery, and 503 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: especially the infant, trying to to to get at the 504 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: foul diaper off of them, all the while keeping them 505 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: from say, getting their own foot into the poop, uh 506 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: or and then then flinging the poop on the wall 507 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: with said foot trying to avoid being peed upon, especially 508 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,240 Speaker 1: if it's a boy, and then if there's a girl. 509 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: There are other concerns about about where and where you 510 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 1: don't want poop. It's it's it is a high. You know, 511 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: we talked before about how driving is a cognitively demanding task. 512 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: Changing a baby's diaper is a cognitively demanding task. And uh, 513 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: and so you you you fantasize, you think, I really 514 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: wish a robot could come in here and do this. 515 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, I don't think a robot could. 516 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,240 Speaker 1: And I feel like this has also been exit. I 517 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: feel like the Jetson's probably had a diaper changing robot. 518 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 1: I could find no evidence of it, But I feel 519 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: like this idea has also worked its way into fiction 520 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: in the past. And so this year's Ignaled Bells. The 521 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: Engineering prize, in fact, went to Iranian inventor I'm men 522 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: Fata Bakas for inventing a diaper changing machine for use 523 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: on human infants. Now, this is a patent. It's US 524 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: patent number one zero zero three four five eight two, 525 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: granted on July thirty one, two thousand eighteen. And I'm 526 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: going to read to you from the abstract quote. A 527 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: washer and diaper changing apparatus includes a main chamber, a 528 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: glass window, a seat, a leg, holder, a safety belt, 529 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: a diaper removing arm, a sprinkler, and a dryer. The 530 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: main chamber is configured to receive an infant therein. The 531 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: glass window is placed on a top wall of the 532 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: main chamber. The seat is movably coupled to the main 533 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: chamber and configured for placement of the infant on the seat. 534 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: The leg holder is movably coupled to the main chamber 535 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: and configured to support at least one leg of the infant. 536 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: The safety belt is coupled to the seat and configured 537 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,640 Speaker 1: to retain the infant on the seat. The sprinkler is 538 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: placed inside the main chamber and configured to spray water 539 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: to wash at least a portion of the infant at 540 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: least a portion of the infant. Yes, like some too, 541 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: I guess all of the infant. Why why am Why 542 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: am I picturing those like sealed up, self cleaning public 543 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: bathrooms that out in some places, like it came across 544 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,160 Speaker 1: these in Switzerland. I don't know I've seen one of these. 545 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: It's like a public bathroom. You go in it's a 546 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: small little building, and then you use the toilet, and 547 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 1: then when you're done, like the door shuts and like 548 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 1: a light comes on outside and it says like cleaning. 549 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,360 Speaker 1: Oh wow, that sounds remarkable. I guess they're a little robotic. 550 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,600 Speaker 1: I don't know, sprayers and wipers and stuff in there. 551 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: I don't know what happens on the inside. I couldn't see. 552 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 1: Oh surely somebody has has trapped themselves and found out, 553 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: I should hope. So I have to admit what it 554 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: made me think of was the surgery pod in the 555 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: sci fi horror film Prometheus. Uh. Horrifying scene, but I 556 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 1: think actually one of the most effective parts of the movie. 557 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, because if you haven't seen it. Basically, 558 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:44,480 Speaker 1: the idea is that it is a surgery pod created 559 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: for a specific male individual and an elderly individual, and 560 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: it's supposed to take care of any needs that that 561 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: individual has. And then our heroine in the film eventually 562 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: has to use it to remove a zeno more from herself. 563 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: But she's having a sort of uh improvised with the machine, 564 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: and it's terrifying, just like, not so much even I mean, 565 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: certainly it's terrifying when the thing starts cutting into her, 566 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,600 Speaker 1: but just her climbing into it, realizing what's about to 567 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: happen makes for some some great sci fi horror. Uh. 568 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: So yes, I thought about that throughout reading this patent. However, 569 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: the patent does have some sketches, and when you look 570 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: at them, the design looks less like a high tech 571 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 1: surgery pod and more like a washing machine or an ovenswher. 572 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, a dishwasher, not a washing machine. Yeah. 573 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: It's like a front loader, but it doesn't have a 574 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: spin cycle. Not this this version. Maybe a future model will. 575 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: So um A man uh of Pato Baka is an 576 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: associate professor of Islamic Azad University in Iran, and his 577 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: engineering research involves nanostructures and nanoparticles. So he's so, this 578 00:32:55,480 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 1: is a legit engineer here that has developed this. Uh. 579 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: Here's a little more from his patent quote. The apparatus 580 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: may be said to be automatic and some implementations, and 581 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: that once the infant is placed inside the apparatus, various 582 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: steps may in some cases be carried out automatically without 583 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: needing the operator to touch the infant or interact manually 584 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: with the diaper or infant during the changing process, which 585 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: may create a more sanitary environment for the ambient area 586 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: and the operator's hands. So I looked for more background 587 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: on this concept, and I wasn't able to find much 588 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: to really shed light on just like how serious he 589 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,000 Speaker 1: is with the proposal as and you know not as 590 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: and is he does he seriously see this as a 591 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: place our technology will get to within a human lifespan? 592 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: Or is this more of a sort of an engineering 593 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: thought experiment? If you could create this thing that we 594 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,479 Speaker 1: sometimes standsize about existing, how might we go about it? 595 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 1: What might an apparatus like that look like? Sure? Because 596 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: I mean again jokes asiety. As you mentioned earlier on, 597 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: it is a job that people really probably would like 598 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: to source if they felt they could do it safely, 599 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 1: and if it if it is a thought experiment, though, 600 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,400 Speaker 1: it is kind of a perfect thing to think about 601 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: when contemplating the idea of having machines that operate alongside 602 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,239 Speaker 1: humans or upon humans in a human environment, because I 603 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: I can think of very few examples of such a 604 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: highly sensitive and specialized job for a machine than changing 605 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: the diaper of an infant, because granted we desire a 606 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: mechanical baby changer. Because number one, it's a gross job. 607 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 1: Number two, it can be challenging or frustrating to do, 608 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: and number three it absolutely has to be done. Yeah, 609 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 1: it is a job that is in extremely high demand 610 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:44,800 Speaker 1: and nobody wants to do. And certainly we've already thrown 611 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: machines at jobs that felt that all three of these 612 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: bullet points, such as sewer cleaning robots, you know, creating 613 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: some sort of a mechanical device that goes through like 614 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,080 Speaker 1: a pipe and helps clean it out or at least 615 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: go down there and look and see what the clog 616 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: might But there's far less risk in cleaning a sewer, 617 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,320 Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, unlike a clog in a city sewer system. 618 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 1: A human infant is one the most valuable thing in 619 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: your life. Number two, it's afforded legal protection, like it 620 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 1: is a person and if you if you don't take 621 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:20,840 Speaker 1: care of it correctly, you could go to prison. And 622 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,960 Speaker 1: also it's susceptible to pain and injury. Getting more into 623 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: the personhood part, like this is this, this is a 624 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,720 Speaker 1: human child and not a sewer clock. However, like a clock, 625 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: the baby is limited in its ability to fend for itself, 626 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,960 Speaker 1: which which I think also ties into the horror of 627 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 1: letting the machine have a go with the diaper. Now, granted, 628 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,280 Speaker 1: we already live in an age of robot assisted surgery, 629 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,920 Speaker 1: such as various you know, prostate surgeries. But in these cases, 630 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 1: we're talking about the machine having an advantage in a 631 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: in its ability to use tiny instruments that humans would 632 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: would have, you know, a little more difficulty operating. And 633 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 1: then there's also going to be a human operator in 634 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,480 Speaker 1: the room for those and I guess presumably with this 635 00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,600 Speaker 1: diaper changing device, the language of it tends to imply 636 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:08,239 Speaker 1: that it's sort of hands off, or it could be 637 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 1: hands off the robotic baby changer. However, it doesn't really 638 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,799 Speaker 1: benefit from tiny tools. It doesn't really have an advantage 639 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: over human hands or more specifically a human ability to 640 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 1: roll with what is often a puzzle again, how to 641 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: wipe the poop without the child getting a foot in 642 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: the poop, how not to be pete upon, how to 643 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 1: keep the child from rolling over, grabbing the diaper and 644 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 1: flinging it, etcetera. You've ever performed this task, you know 645 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: that a lot of things can go wrong and will 646 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 1: go wrong on the diaper changing table. Yeah, I mean, 647 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:39,920 Speaker 1: I see a huge difference here in that, like robot 648 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: assisted surgery is not for the purpose of allowing the 649 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: doctor to not have to do the surgery right to 650 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:51,000 Speaker 1: like increase the doctor's capability to increase increase the efficiency 651 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: of the surgery. And I do not see a way 652 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:58,560 Speaker 1: in which having the machine involved improves the efficiency of 653 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 1: changing a baby's diaper. As such, I would say that 654 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,759 Speaker 1: this sort of machine seems to me to be more 655 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: of an end game of robotics, because creating machines that 656 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,279 Speaker 1: can work alongside us in human habitats, that's challenging. Word, 657 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,759 Speaker 1: It's it's hard to imagine a more challenging place than 658 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:18,800 Speaker 1: the than the diaper changing station. To throw a machine, 659 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,720 Speaker 1: uh though, that's you know, one of the reasons perhaps 660 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,480 Speaker 1: that he was pursuing the patent, you know, kind of 661 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,440 Speaker 1: again kind of a mechanical thought experiment. And it does 662 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: serve as an interesting way to discuss home robotics. I mean, 663 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 1: I think this highlights interesting questions about the future of 664 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:38,279 Speaker 1: robotics and and it reveals our intuitions that they are 665 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: already there about Like, what are the kinds of places 666 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:45,279 Speaker 1: where least comfortable with allowing robots to be implemented? I mean, 667 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:47,440 Speaker 1: even if you came up with a pretty good robotics 668 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: system that worked pretty much all the time, people still 669 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,280 Speaker 1: probably just not feel comfortable with, like allowing robotic arms 670 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: to be moving around near their near their baby, right, 671 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,399 Speaker 1: like one of my for very understandable reasons. Yeah, like 672 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,720 Speaker 1: like one of my I think a very positive area 673 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:09,800 Speaker 1: of robot exploration is in elder care, particularly in among 674 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 1: Japanese robotics companies. And in that case too, you know 675 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 1: you're looking at aging population with fewer individuals to look 676 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: after them. And also you're dealing with environments where if, 677 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,160 Speaker 1: for instance, if you need help getting up and down 678 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,160 Speaker 1: from a toilet, which is something that you know that 679 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,960 Speaker 1: that cannon will happen with with individual of advanced age, 680 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:33,879 Speaker 1: that might be the kind of situation where you would say, yes, 681 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 1: I would prefer to have a robotic helper with to 682 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 1: engage with me in a situation like that. However, you 683 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 1: know you're still dealing with you know, you know, a 684 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:48,120 Speaker 1: rational individual and not a complete infant. Who again, it's 685 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:51,000 Speaker 1: just so many problems come to mind when you imagine 686 00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:54,720 Speaker 1: just sticking the baby inside of the diaper changing device 687 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,840 Speaker 1: and letting it do its thing. Like best case scenario, 688 00:38:58,200 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: you put the baby in and you just get an 689 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 1: air a message. It's like trying to operate any printer, 690 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:04,920 Speaker 1: or all you want to do is is get this 691 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: one thing done, But there are a million things that 692 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: can and do go wrong, and you just end up 693 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,279 Speaker 1: having to do something else, change the diaper yourself. In 694 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 1: this case, with printers. I think we've talked about this 695 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:17,359 Speaker 1: on the show before, haven't we That like, printers seem 696 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,640 Speaker 1: to follow an inverse law of technological advancement, where like 697 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:23,920 Speaker 1: as most technology becomes better and better and more and 698 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: more user friendly, printers always go in the opposite direction, 699 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,880 Speaker 1: like every year they get worse and more incompatible with everything. 700 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,040 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the last time I went to buy one, 701 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,560 Speaker 1: I was thinking, you know, Apple makes pretty good uh computers, 702 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 1: but they make a pretty good printer. I'm gonna buy 703 00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:40,880 Speaker 1: that printer. I don't care if it's overpriced. And of 704 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,480 Speaker 1: course they don't make a printer their printers that are 705 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 1: compatible with their machines. But it's almost as if they're like, no, 706 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:48,680 Speaker 1: we're not touching that. That's just too complicated. It would 707 00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:51,719 Speaker 1: be bad for our brand. Have the printer. We'll do 708 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:55,319 Speaker 1: the printer when we do the baby changing robot, all right, 709 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:57,359 Speaker 1: So we're gonna go ahead and call it there, because 710 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:02,200 Speaker 1: let's see, we covered poop, We cover more poop, more poops, qurotums, 711 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,760 Speaker 1: bacteria you might associate with poop, right, Yeah, the diaper 712 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:11,920 Speaker 1: robots really just a good haul overall. Now, once again 713 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:15,560 Speaker 1: we did not cover all of the winners here. We 714 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:18,120 Speaker 1: didn't even list them. There were some more interesting ones. 715 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,880 Speaker 1: There was one about the health effects of eating pizza, 716 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: specifically Italian pizza made in Italy. Does it prevent cancer? 717 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,359 Speaker 1: I believe that one got picked up in in the 718 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,879 Speaker 1: media a lot. Yeah, there's another one that I think 719 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 1: we want to return to at some point, just as 720 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:34,400 Speaker 1: a follow up to an episode we did earlier this 721 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:37,480 Speaker 1: year about the facial feedback hypothesis. And this had to 722 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: do with the psychologists involved in early research on the 723 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 1: facial feedback hypothesis participating in failed replications of their own work, 724 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:49,800 Speaker 1: and and that leads to an interesting, bigger discussion about, uh, 725 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:54,400 Speaker 1: you know, the role, like how you communicate scientific validity 726 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:58,120 Speaker 1: and whether effects are quote real or not. H So 727 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 1: that's worth revisiting, I think absolutely. If you want to 728 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,399 Speaker 1: check out the full list of twenty nineteen winners. In fact, 729 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,400 Speaker 1: if you want to check out the full list of 730 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: all winners from the very beginning of the Igno Bells. 731 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 1: Head on over to www. Dot Improbable dot com. That's, 732 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:18,160 Speaker 1: of course Improbable Research. There the publication that puts out 733 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:21,440 Speaker 1: the awards each and every year. And if you want 734 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,839 Speaker 1: to check out past episodes of Stuff to Blow your Mind, 735 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:27,279 Speaker 1: go check out our past Ignobel Prize episodes because again 736 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:30,120 Speaker 1: we've been doing them every year. We always come. Sometimes 737 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,160 Speaker 1: we cover all the winners, sometimes we cover just a 738 00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:36,440 Speaker 1: selection of the winners. But with without fail, they always 739 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:42,359 Speaker 1: highlight some some wonderful studies that also invoke laughter. Every year. 740 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,520 Speaker 1: It's f calicious. They make you laugh, they make you 741 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,959 Speaker 1: think yes, yeah. And if you want to check out 742 00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:49,919 Speaker 1: all those episodes, Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com 743 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:51,440 Speaker 1: is the website. If you want to check out our 744 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,680 Speaker 1: other podcast, Invention pod dot com is the place to 745 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:59,120 Speaker 1: find Invention, a journey through human techno history. Believe what, 746 00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:01,040 Speaker 1: it's November right now. We're doing a lot of food 747 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:05,799 Speaker 1: related inventions over at Invention, including canning, which which is 748 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,840 Speaker 1: really fascinating you you take it for granted, but canning 749 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: technology is amazing, no doubt. Check it out huge thanks 750 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,720 Speaker 1: as always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 751 00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:17,400 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 752 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 753 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,520 Speaker 1: to topic for the future, or just to say hello, 754 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:26,279 Speaker 1: You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 755 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:35,920 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 756 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:38,279 Speaker 1: a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 757 00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio is the iHeart Radio app, 758 00:42:40,880 --> 00:43:01,080 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 759 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:01,360 Speaker 1: Number