WEBVTT - The 2019 Ig Nobel Prizes 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:04.920 Welcome Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of I 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:14.079 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, welcome to Stuff to 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.760 Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:21.040 Joe McCormick, and we are revisiting a yearly tradition that's 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.960 right every year, pretty much about this time, we look 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:29.720 and see what was honored at this year's Ignoble Prizes. 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.919 The prizes themselves come out. I believe that the end 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:35.760 of September or the very beginning of October the timing 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.519 for us, Yeah, because that's when we want to get 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:39.680 into our Halloween content, and so we always do. We 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.760 just steamroll ahead into the Halloween content. And then afterwards, uh, 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:45.720 you know, after especially after the dust is sort of 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.600 settled on the Ignobele Prizes, the mainstream media coverage of 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.559 the event has died away, then we come back and 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:58.880 we picked through the winners and sometimes we cover absolutely everything. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.680 Sometimes we cover a few choice selections here and there, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.120 and that's going to be the model we're going to 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.520 be employing here. Yeah, we're just gonna take a look 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.640 at a few highlights that stuck out to us. So 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.760 for those who haven't heard before, a quick refresher on 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:17.040 the Ignobles. Yeah, they've been awarded each year since by 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.520 the publication the Annals of Improbable Research. The purpose of 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.160 the award, according to the editors of Improbable Research, is 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.440 to quote honor achievements that first make people laugh and 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.640 then make them think. Furthermore, they stressed that the ten 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.039 prizes aren't necessarily meant to pass judgment on the winners. Instead, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.600 the official website emphasizes that the prizes quote celebrate the unusual, 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.200 honor the imaginative, and spur people's interests in science, medicine, 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:48.200 and technology. And the principal individual here is editor Mark Abrams. So, yeah, 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:50.520 every year it is just a it's you know, it's 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.760 making fun of the idea a little bit of the 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:58.360 Nobel Prizes, uh, which which celebrate, you know, key advancements 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.280 and and and key samples of work that are really 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:06.040 pushing forward are our understanding of ourselves and the universe nature. 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.720 And the Ignoble Prizes tend to highlight more absurd intreats, 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.320 but none not necessarily intreaes that are you know, that 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:16.240 are completely useless. And I think that's an important thing 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.400 to stress and something we've tried to stress in the 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.320 past when covering the event is that studies that are 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:26.519 honored by the Ignoble Prizes maybe snick or inducing. They 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:31.360 may seem a little silly at first glance, but they 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:36.120 are all works of real science, of real ingenuity, and 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.639 if nothing else, they are expanding, helping to expand the 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.480 the threshold of human understanding. Yeah, I mean, I think 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.320 one of our favorite things to explore on this show 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.919 is realizing that there's an interesting question in a place 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.080 you wouldn't have expected to find it, and that's what 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.840 a lot of this research does. And so on that note, 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:59.520 let us turn to the first Ignoble Prize winning study 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.680 that we would like to highlight here today, and that 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.880 is the two thousand and nineteen award winner in Physics, 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.680 awarded to Patricia yang at All for studying how and 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:15.320 why wombats make a cube shaped poop. Wombats are so 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.320 cute they are there. They are so adorable to look at. 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:21.720 I mean, obviously the babies, any baby animals going to 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.519 be adorable, but even the adults look like living Teddy 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.119 Bear creatures, like living Teddy Bear marsu fils. I bet 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.280 they're just nightmarish, you know, Given how cute they are. 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.160 I'm sure they kill thousands of people every year, now, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.520 I mean to be to be clear, they can protect 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:42.000 themselves and sometimes they do harm humans if provoked or 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:43.640 I think there have been cases where like there was 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.800 a wombat that had the mange or something like that 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.440 and was therefore a little more agitated. So yes, there 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:52.680 they can. They are kind of tough customers in their 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.520 own right, own right. They're not straight up wolverines or anything, 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.520 but they can. They can look after themselves. So this 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.520 particular their paper, how do wombats make cubed pooh uh? 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.040 This came This was presented at the seventy firth Annual 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.160 Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, And I 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.360 believe this is presented in Atlanta, Georgia, where of course 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.400 we record the show. Yeah, I think at least part 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.840 of the team is Georgia Tech, right, yeah, yeah, So 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:22.520 the species here vombat us your sinus is a pudgy 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.880 herbivore roughly the size of a kind of a thick dog, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:30.320 like a really thick dog, and it's marsupial. They have pouches, 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.240 but since they're burrowers, they have backward pouches so as 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.880 not to fill the pouch up with dirt and endanger 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.000 the young one that may be within the pouch. So interesting, 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.839 So like if they're pulling themselves forward on their belly 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.760 through the dirt, the dirt does not go in, right, Yeah, 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.080 because we can all imagine the cartoon scenario of it's 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.680 just filling up with dirt. Right. They have a slow metabolism. 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.400 They feed mostly on grasses and roots, and they're largely 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.839 nocturnal or crepuscular, you know, so they're gonna you know, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.359 they're not going to venture out, usually in the brightest 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.120 light of the day. They may come out though on 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.240 particularly overcast days, and they can again, they can put 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.560 up a fight if threatened. And you'll find them in 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:14.560 Australia and in Tasmania. They're cute. They're not endangered, despite 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.440 being treated as vermin by some farmers. And oh I 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.400 love this. Groups of wombats are are sometimes called a mob, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.560 sometimes just called a group, but sometimes they're also known 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.480 as a wisdom of wombats. Oh man, that's better than 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.040 a murder of crows. That is, I just imagine these wise, 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.760 cute elder wombats that have so so much wisdom to 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.599 share with the world. I don't mean to be mean, 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:39.040 but they don't necessarily look wise. They do look they 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:42.080 look more clever than wise. Well, what would you what 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.520 would you refer to them as? Like a snuggle of wombats. 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.320 It would be a snugg e of wombats. That's pretty good, 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.880 A slank it of wombats, A slank it of wombats. 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.920 I like that. But one of the more puzzling attributes 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.120 of the wombat has long been their poop, because it 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:03.240 is cubic. And we're not talking necessarily perfectly cubic in 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:08.160 a geometric geometrical sense, but yet for a world mostly 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.120 to void, pretty much completely devoid of natural squares, certainly 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:17.640 natural biological squares, this is pretty darned cubic. Yeah, totally. 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:19.720 I mean, if you come across these things in nature, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:23.240 you would think they were made by humans. Yeah. They 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.080 look kind of like chocolate marshmallows, like really square chocolate 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.080 marshmallows if you see a picture of them, Yeah, not 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.320 the cylindrical marshmallows, like the more old school like carved 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.880 out ones with corners. Granted, I think the images that 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.440 we're both looking at here they're dried a little bit, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.800 but still even fresh out the shoot. They are there. 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.280 They are cubic in nature. It is really hard to 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.760 imagine how these things are made just picked. I mean, 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.719 I don't know how much time one wants to spend 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.960 contemplating a wombad anus, but like, it just doesn't seem 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.240 like a normal thing that would emerge physically from a 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.960 what I would assume to be rounded anus. Well, the 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:05.520 wombat anus is not immune from the inquiry of science, 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.200 and that's where Yang and her team come in. Uh 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.520 and again, Yeah, Yang is local, based out of the 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:12.800 School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where she's a 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.880 postdoctoral fellow. So since she's local, maybe we should have 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.240 her on the on the show. Because she's not just 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.680 a one time Ignoble winner, she's a two time Ignoble 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.960 winner because she and co author David who also shared 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.720 the two thousand fifteen Ignoble Physics Prize for testing the 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.240 biological principle that nearly all mammals and empty their bladders 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.480 in about twenty one seconds plus or minus thirteen seconds. 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.920 I don't know. The plus or minus thirteen seconds buys 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.520 you a pretty big window there. But yeah, I find 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:45.080 myself very often thinking about this one in the bathroom. So, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.840 having turned away from the world of urine, the researchers 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.960 were interested by this puzzle of the wombat poop, so 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.800 they looked at how differences and wombats digestive processes and 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:01.120 soft tissue structures informed this curious structure. So they investigated. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.080 They used the digestive tracts of wombats that have been 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:09.800 euthanized following motor vehicle collisions in Tasmania. Uh so you 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:11.640 have to you have to have some actual bodies to 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.480 look at there, and then it seems like a reasonable 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:15.720 way to go about getting them. They found that the 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.600 shape occurred towards the very end of the intestines. As 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.840 the matter became increasingly firm, it became clear that quote 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:28.480 varying elastic properties of wombats intestinal walls allowed for the 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.400 cubic formation. And the result is a cube, the only 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.640 organic cube in nature, they say. And it's not made 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.440 Yang stresses by the two typical human methods of creating cubes. 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.440 We because we tend to mold a cube or we 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.679 cut a cube. Right, we slice a cube out of 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:49.240 something via you know, subtractive manufacturing. But this is a 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.440 third way. This is the way of the wombat where 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.520 it is it is it is formed through the you know, 0:08:55.559 --> 0:09:00.640 the excretion process of the lower intestines. So this would 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:02.960 be not cutting a cube, not molding a cube. Maybe 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:07.360 pinching a cube. Yeah, pinching a cube and then excreting 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.400 a cube. Now you're probably wondering, well, what is the 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.400 why of all of this? Right, if the wombat is 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.440 doing something entirely different with its poop, there has to 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.880 be a reason. Well, scientists believe it comes down to 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.880 the fact that these burrowing, nocturnal herbivores depend largely on 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.360 their sense of smell. They largely communicate by smell, and therefore, 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.840 like various other animals that are also smell dependent, their 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.120 fecal matter is their calling card. I mean, you have 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.760 a dog, you know how the how they behave there 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.600 the sort of the the the heightened importance of fecal 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.720 matter in the dog world. Yeah, out on a walk 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.480 in the neighborhood. Poop is like a Facebook status update. 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.640 It's like you know that you're interested, you want to 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:47.640 check it out, Like we just see something we don't 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.199 want to step in maybe the in the sense data 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.439 there is just telling us not to step in it. 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.960 But to a dog with heightened far heightened sensibilities, there's 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.559 a lot of data in the sense emerging from bat poop. 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.240 It's interesting stuff. And so while it's something like a 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.880 while something like a cat hides its poop because it 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.880 doesn't want to be known to either it's many prey 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.160 animals or it's many predators. Wombats are a different matter today. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:17.080 Wombats don't have many natural predators, uh certainly adult wombats, 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.360 and they use their piled feces to mark territory and 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.920 to communicate with other wombats. And and they don't live 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.520 on a prairie. Their ups and down to the topography 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.200 of their natural habitat, and placing their poops at higher 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.439 at elevations such as a tops some rocks, on top 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.360 of a log, or on a ledge, it makes it 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.880 stand out more visually to other wombats. And again they 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.720 don't have great, great a sense of sight, but still 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.360 you put it up there on a ledge, more wombats 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:49.040 are able to see it, and then the wombats can 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.079 come in and take a more informed a smell of 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.320 the wombat poop and learn something about about its maker. 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.800 So the wombat rectum is sort of designed by evolution 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.880 to create poop monuments like testaments to the will of 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.880 the wombat that occupies this territory, poop that stays put. Basically, 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.080 which is interestingly quite the exact opposite of the round 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.840 goat feces that many of you've probably seen emerging from 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.520 the rear end of a goat, which is believed to 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.080 have evolved to roll downhill and essentially self hide in 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.320 hilly or mountainous terrain, so as better maybe to throw 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.880 off a cougar that could be pursuing yours. Right, Yeah, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.760 like for the goat, it's better that the poop just 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.880 gets lost, but for the wombat, the wombat has very 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.040 specific needs that require the poop to remain in sight 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.880 and to be found. And so yeah, it's basically with 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.120 the wombats, it's it's highly adaptive to be able to 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.439 poop cubes that stay put. It's part of their language 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:57.120 of expression. Now, naturally, there are potential bio mimetic possibilities here. 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.800 In the future, Young says, we might see human created 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.640 is produced not by molding or cutting, but by this 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.880 sort of excretion. So I can't help but wonder if 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.679 this will be the future of our Valentine's Day chocolates. 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.920 Oh yes, like a like a mechanical industrial anus for 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:17.040 pooping out chocolate and exactly that shape, exactly delicious, So 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.800 that's the physics price. And uh yeah, I just love 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.200 this story because when wombats are such interesting creatures and 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.800 and this is ultimately extremely insightful like this is this 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.320 is not this is something that yes, it's laughable because 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.320 it's poop poop from a cute marsupial, But on the 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:37.000 other hand, it's it really illustrates something amazing about evolution 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.320 and uh and it also highlights where we might go 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.040 in the future when it comes to making cubicle candy. 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.520 And if you want to learn more about this, Patricia 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.360 Yang also has a website Patricia Yang dot net. Excellent. Well, 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.240 maybe we should take a quick break and then when 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.360 we come back we can talk about dirty money. Hey, everybody, 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.719 with all the recent news about online security breaches, it's 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.079 hard not to worry about where your data goes. Makeing 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.520 an online purchase or simply accessing your email could put 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.760 your private information at risk. You're being tracked online by 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:13.359 social media sites, marketing companies, and your mobile or internet provider. 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.760 Not only can they record your browsing history, but they 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.320 often sell it to other corporations who want to profit 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.880 from your information. And that's why you should decide to 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:28.240 take back your privacy by using Express VPN. That's right. 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.200 Express vpn has easy to use apps that runs seamlessly 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.480 in the background on my computer, phone or tablet. Turning 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.480 on Express VPN protection takes only one click. Express VPN 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.959 secures and anonymizes your Internet browsing by encrypting your data 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.600 and hiding your public IP address. Protecting yourself with Express 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.079 vpn costs less than seven dollars a month. Express vpn 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:53.200 is rated number one VPN service by tech Radar and 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.240 comes with a thirty day money back guarantee. So if 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:58.720 you ever use public WiFi and want to keep hackers 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.600 and spies from seeing your data, Express vpn is the solution. 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.760 And if you don't want to hand over your online 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.400 history to your internet provider data resellers, Express VPN is 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.480 the answer. So protect your online activity today and find 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.160 out how you can get three months free at Express 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.480 vpn dot com. Slash mind blown. That's e x p 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.920 R e s s vpn dot com slash mind blown 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.200 for three months free with a one year package. Visit 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:33.200 express vpn dot com slash mind blown to learn more. Alright, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:37.920 we're back Dirty Money. This is this year's Economics Prize 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:42.280 for the Igno Bells. This went to Habibi Cadeck, Timothy A. Voss, 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:47.120 and Andreas Voss for testing which country's paper money is 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:51.640 best at transmitting dangerous bacteria. The paper was called Money 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:56.040 and Transmission of Bacteria in Anti Microbial Resistance and Infection 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.960 Control in and So the authors here start out with 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.360 pretty obvious fact. Cash gets handled a lot. It changes hands. 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.760 You touch it, I touch it. Tom Atkins probably touched it. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.200 Ted goes to the bathroom and then he touches it. 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.720 You sneeze, Then you handle it. Then you pay for 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.880 your lunch with it. Somebody pays me the gambling debts 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.200 they owe me with that same money. It seems like 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.160 a pretty obvious vector for disease transmission. When you were 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.320 a kid, you probably heard this, and if you like 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.280 me or a parent, you've probably said this, don't put 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:31.600 that money in your mouth. It's filthy, right, I mean, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.920 for some reason, When I was reading about this research, 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:35.840 the thing that kept popping into my mind is that 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.280 episode of Parks and Recreation where you find out that 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.920 all the Pawnee citizens drink from water fountains by putting 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.720 their mouth over the fountain. Part. I had completely forgotten 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.720 about this until you mentioned it. Yeah, there was also 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:52.440 a skit from the Upright Citizen's Brigade, right, Yes, that 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.960 we can't go into full detail about here, but you 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.680 can probably figure it out what somebody who chose to 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.200 pay for things with befouled pennies that they themselves had 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:06.520 intentionally befouled. Right. But, as we know, not all physical 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:11.040 substrata are equally hospitable to germs. So the authors here 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.000 tested different national currencies to see how well they transmitted 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:20.920 various multi drug resistant bacteria, including methicillin resistant staff Alococcus 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.160 aureus or m R s a UH, an extended spectrum 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:29.640 of beta lactomaces producing E. Coli and vankomycin resistant, and 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.680 tero coxi or vr E. So UH. Here's the method. 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.560 The author has got a bunch of different bank notes 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:40.040 from different countries, including the euro, the US dollar, Canadian dollar, 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:45.360 the Croatian kuna, the Romanian leu, the Moroccan deerham, and 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.840 the Indian rupee. And they first of course started off 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.880 sterilizing the cash with UV radiation. You don't want to 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.600 bring in any pre existing germs. Uh. Then they inoculated 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.880 the money with incubated strains of the bacteria they were testing, 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.600 and then the cash was left out to dry for 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.920 several lengths of time, I think three hours, six hours, 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.480 and twenty four hours. And then the experimenters tested which 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.480 bank notes allowed bacterial colonies to survive after the various 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.320 drying periods. And then in the second experiment, they also 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.000 tested the effects of people rubbing the bank notes with 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:22.880 sanitized hands. Would the would the bacteria transfer from the 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.720 infected bank notes to people's hands? So which money came 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.720 out on top? Well, the Romanian lou was one of 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.840 the most germ friendly. It yielded all three drug resistant 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.239 pathogens after three and six hours of drying, and it 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.000 was the only currency that still had a pathogen after 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.800 a full day of drying, and that pathogen was vr E. 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.399 The Canadian and US dollar yielded only m R s A. 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.280 So I assume it's the U S money that Scrooge 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.800 McDuck swims through in his vault. Oh well, maybe he 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.200 had it purified, you know, because I've always heard the 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.840 Scrooge McDuck was actually a bit of germofog. Oh yeah, 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:02.000 they take after Howard use Uh. Okay, So the Euro 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.320 yielded only the E. Coli strain after three and six hours, 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.399 and vr E after three hours, the rupie only vr E. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.800 The Croatian Kuna did not yield any of the pathogens 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.639 at any period. So in the second stage of the experiment, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.280 they study the transmission of bacteria from bank notes to 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:26.040 hands after rubbing. The Euro did not transmit bacteria to hands, 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.280 but the US dollar and the Romanian lou did, though, 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.240 and they make sure to point out that all the 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.360 money was sterilized with UV radiation after the testing, so 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.080 it was safe to return to circulation. Uh. And the 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.760 authors also point out that this means the type of 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:48.560 bank note paper in circulation could have epidemiological implications. They 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.080 think major variables here are probably like the materials used 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.680 in creating the fiber of the bank notes. The Romanian Lou, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.360 for instance, which seemed to be the most germ friendly, 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.800 has plastic con tent that is designed to improve durability 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.480 and make it harder to counterfeit, but it also seems 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.679 to create a more pathogen friendly environment that many of 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.840 the other fibers and materials used in paper money don't create. 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.080 So this would be like the when we've ever handle 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:18.879 currency that basically has like a little clear plastic windows 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.000 in it. Uh yeah, it could be that, or it 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.720 could be more spread out through. I don't know exactly 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:25.680 what's going on with the Romanian loop, but it has 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:30.040 polymer content that apparently is germ friendly or even you know, 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:35.199 not just German friendly, but like antibiotic resistant germ friendly. 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:37.520 But the Croatian kuna, you can take that and just 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.120 stick it directly in your mouth. Uh No, I mean, 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.120 I wouldn't recommend that, but it seems like in this 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.399 particular test the kuna turned out very well. So maybe 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.119 this is something other countries should consider and test out 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.520 when designing the next generation of paper notes. Maybe take 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.600 some inspiration from how the Croatian kuna has made. It 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:57.720 seems to be an inhospitable environment for all of the 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.840 pathogens tested. I don't know if the something that has 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:04.840 ever even figured into currency design before have like they 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:08.840 ever considered how well currency transmits bacteria and just how 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.679 gross money is. Yeah, I mean, granted there is less 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:14.960 of it that is used on a daily basis for 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:19.280 many populations, uh, you know, using our cards more often, 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:23.119 electronic payments, etcetera. But still there's a lot of cash 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.959 out there, and it's troubling to think about how, you know, 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.879 how dirty it is that you get sick for money. Uh, 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.000 you know, not in a spiritual sense, which I think 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.960 we're all accustomed to, but you know, in an actual 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.960 biological sense. You know, even if it's kuna. I just say, 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.520 don't put money in your mouth. Don't put it in there, Okay. 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.000 So also I wanted to talk about one not for 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:47.880 a long time. Just a quick look at the two 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:53.240 thousand nineteen Anatomy Prize which was awarded to Roger Museet 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:58.800 and Boris ben gud Ifa for measuring scrotal temperature asymmetry 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:02.359 and naked and cloth postmen in France. And it's not 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.800 just postman this. They still they studied bus drivers too, 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.840 and then people whose professions you don't even know. Uh. 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.959 The original research was published in the journal Human Reproduction 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:17.119 in two thousand seven. So humans are mammals showing bilaterally 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.000 symmetrical anatomy. If you split us in half lengthwise, you 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:24.399 will mostly see the halves as mirror images of one another. 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.400 But we're not perfect examples of bilateral symmetry. You've got 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.680 internal organs that are oriented off center. Maybe the hard 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:33.920 is a little more to one side, the liver more 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:36.520 to the other, and so forth. Uh. And apparently this 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.119 extends to some aspects of the human scrotum. So the 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:44.720 authors here begin by noting a discrepancy in the anatomical literature. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.840 Is the human scrotum on average hotter on one side 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.000 than the other? Uh? Some previous reports said that it's 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.280 equally hot on both sides, while others reported that the 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:59.520 left side of the scrotum is generally hotter than the right. Interesting, 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:00.760 And of course this comes down to the fact that, 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:02.919 of course, on one side is one testicle, on the 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.480 other side is the other testicle. And of course part 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:09.119 of the whole uh design of of the testicles has 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:11.480 to do with the fact that there's a there's an 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.760 importance of maintaining certain temperatures. Absolutely, I mean, this is 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:20.080 highly reproductively significant information. Temperature of the male reproductive organs 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:24.040 plays a role in gamme eat production and thus in fertility. So, 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:27.320 in fact, the major biological purpose of the scrotum, as 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:30.879 you alluded to, seems to be thermoregulation to move the 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.600 testicles near or away from the body to help keep 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.879 them as close to optimal temperature as possible. Yeah, this 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:41.359 is why sometimes if if fertility doctors may ask, okay, 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:43.679 are you are you going to a hot tub all 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.679 the time? Do you have a really hot laptop setting 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.000 on your lap a lot? You know these sorts of 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:53.120 questions because you know that they are susceptible to outside 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.080 temperatures exactly. So the authors here wanted to get new 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.520