1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Land. I'm Joe McCormick. 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: You know Joe. I've I've long held a fascination with 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: underground transit system. Yeah, I like him too, Yeah, I 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: mean there are a totally unique space they are, and 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: it's you know, and it's one of those things that 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: I grew up in a more of a rural environment 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: and later in my life moved into urban environments where 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: I actually have and have had access to these various 11 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: underground train systems and have traveled to places, you know, 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: such as such as New York and London where they 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: have the most famous examples of the underground transit system. 14 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: But no matter where I am in that timeline, they're 15 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: always just as fascinating to me, whether there's something that 16 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: I only see in a horror movie or something that 17 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: is a part of my day to day life just 18 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: getting to and on work. They are such a unique 19 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: environment and such a cool thing. I'm the same way. 20 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: I'm kind of fascinated with them when I so, I 21 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: made it this far in my life without ever going 22 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: to New York until this past year. I went to 23 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:17,119 Speaker 1: New York for the first time, and when I came back, 24 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: like the main thing I wanted to talk to everybody 25 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: about was the subway. I know. I was like, it's amazing. 26 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: There's stations everywhere you you know, just just around the corner, 27 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: you can go right in get to wherever you're going. 28 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: It's it's like, this is how a city should work. Yeah, 29 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,479 Speaker 1: And it's also one of those cases where you grow 30 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: up watching all these movies. It's such as such a 31 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: location a fitting location for not only you know, horror 32 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: and monsters and mutants and chuds, but but also just 33 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: intrigued like interesting characters going places, and they do so 34 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: by traversing the underworld. Who's that woman in the overcoat 35 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: with the collar up at the other end of the station? 36 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: Did she just look at me? What's going on? Am 37 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: I being followed? But yeah, I like that you mentioned 38 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: the chud's because that is another aspect of what's great 39 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: about subway systems generally any underground transportation. Are there other 40 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,359 Speaker 1: underground ground I said that, as if there's like underground 41 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: buses or canals. I'm not sure if there are, but yeah, 42 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: so the the underground trains, the tunnels, the tube, all 43 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: this stuff. When you go down into these spaces, it 44 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: is that you're literally entering a sub world where there 45 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,799 Speaker 1: is a whole infrastructure. There's like a city under the city, 46 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: and in many of the big stations, there are things 47 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: in the stations underneath the city. Right, it's not just 48 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: like the train comes by, but there's like little shops 49 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 1: and encounters and stuff like that. Um, and it's uh, 50 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: it's this whole other world that's divorced from the sun. 51 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: It's separated by this solid barrier, and it's this alien 52 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: environment where it seems like unnatural things could happen. Yeah, 53 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: it's a true underworld. And we mis cycles around the 54 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: world for for ages have have had tails of underworlds 55 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: and uh and people that live underground, races that live underground, 56 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 1: and it wasn't until relatively modern times that we made 57 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: that truly possible. And they still have the mythic allure 58 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: that they had, you know, back when they were just 59 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: a dream. So is that what we're gonna be talking 60 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: about today morelocks? Well in a sense because uh, because 61 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: we are going to be taught, because we are going 62 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: to bring this back around to science. We are going 63 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,799 Speaker 1: to talk about the the about the question what if 64 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: a species becomes trapped in the underworld, what happens over time? 65 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: Can it become a different species altogether? Can it become 66 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: a subspecies? And we have one very interesting example of 67 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: that current. All right, Well, one of the ways we 68 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: know you can create a new species or a new 69 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: subspecies is to significantly alter the environment in which you live, 70 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: right And so this is, I guess, is why we're 71 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: emphasizing this this alien world quality to the you know 72 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: there are a natural underground systems. Yeah, indeed, and it's 73 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: it's something that again we continue to read into it. 74 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 1: We create these worlds and then when we stand back, 75 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: when we say, wow, these are this is really strange 76 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: what we've done here with this completely artificial environment underground. 77 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: And countless writers and dreamers filmmakers have have taken that 78 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: and explored that territory. Two examples that come to mind 79 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: or Robert Barbara Johnson's a short story Far Below, which 80 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: is about ghouls in the tunnels beneath us, beneath New 81 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: York City. But when is that written? That was like 82 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: a weird tale, like a classic weird tales story. I 83 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: can't remember the publication date off hand, but it's like, 84 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:42,480 Speaker 1: you know, classic twentieth century marriagery weird fiction. Yeah. Cool. 85 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: So that's a great one if anyone wants to check 86 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: that out. And then if anyone out there, and I'm 87 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: sure a lot of you are fans of Neil Gaiman's work, um, 88 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: he has explored this as well, the idea that the 89 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: the London Underground specifically is a gateway to a mystical 90 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 1: fairy world. Yeah, why wouldn't it be? Yeah, And uh, 91 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: you know a lot of this spills over into reality 92 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: too and interesting ways. Uh you know. The author of 93 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: Peter Ackroyd has is a wonderful book about London titled 94 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: London a Biography, and he points out several different, just 95 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: really weird, fascinating facts about the London Underground. Um. This 96 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: is one of my favorite quotes that I always think 97 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: about when I think about the Tube. He says, it 98 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: is a strange city beneath the ground, perhaps best exemplified 99 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: by worn man hole covers which, instead of reading self locking, 100 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: spell out elf king, which is great. I just I 101 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: can't shake that image of like looking down here's this 102 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: man made portal into the underworld, and it says elf 103 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:48,040 Speaker 1: king like it literally, you know, names the it spells 104 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: out the dominion of of this ancient fairy lord that's 105 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: surely ruling over everything down below. I thought of just 106 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: one more reason why subway tunnels are so intriguing. It's 107 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: because you travel through them, but you don't get to 108 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: explore them. You can't go on foot. Yeah, all you 109 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: can do is look out. That's one of the things 110 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,280 Speaker 1: I love about traveling by underground train is you look 111 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: out and inevitably there's like a forking tunnel, or there's 112 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: some sort of strange door or work area, or wait, 113 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,280 Speaker 1: what's that? Yeah, what is that? Uh, that's that space 114 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: off to the left here. And then you read about 115 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 1: things such as ghost stations, of which there are several 116 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: in in London, there are a few in New York. 117 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: And what is that? It's a station that just isn't 118 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: used anymore, just an empty station. Uh. And these occur 119 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: with any train system also above the ground. But just 120 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: the idea of going through this old place occupied now 121 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: only by ghosts and maybe fading posters. It's just it's 122 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: just so rich. Or maybe some insect more locks, that's true. 123 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: That's true. We'll get to that now. One film in 124 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: particular that comes to mind on this topic is a 125 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two film by the name of Death Line, 126 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: and in the US it came out under the title 127 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: Raw Meat. And it's it's an interesting film. It's a 128 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: it's about a family of cannibals descended from Victorian railway 129 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: workers who wind up buried alive in the tunnels beneath London. 130 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: And uh. And I know that sounds incredible, but believe 131 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: it or not, the best part of the film, or 132 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: at least as far as I'm concerned, is that Donald 133 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: Pleasants is in it. And he plays instead of playing 134 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: like a stuffy academic or some sort of nefarious egghead 135 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: as he was wont to do. Uh, he plays a 136 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: blue collar police inspector named Inspector Calhoun. I don't believe you. 137 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: You know, you've got to check it out, he pleasant says. 138 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: Blue collar. Like he goes and gets a pint of 139 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: beer at the pub. There's like is I recall there's 140 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 1: an extended sequence in which he and his friend go 141 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: and get a get a beer at at the pub, 142 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: and it seems to go on for a very long time, 143 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: and I don't remember how it connects really to the 144 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: plot of the film, but at the time it felt 145 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: it felt as if the director was saying, Hey, this, 146 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: this guy is more interesting than all this cannibal stuff. 147 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: Let's just follow him for a while and then we'll 148 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: come back to the to the to the weird cannibal dude. 149 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: But with that voice back keep and now that pint 150 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: of ale. How that he didn't he didn't talk like. 151 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: That's one of the wonderful things about this. It's this, uh, 152 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: this more lively pleasants, more lively than than pretty much 153 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: any anything else I've seen him in. Okay, but he's 154 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: not an underground cannibal. No, he's just the police inspector. 155 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: All right, So where did the underground cannibals come in? Well, 156 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: it's the Victorian workers, the guys, the people who got 157 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: trapped underground. They have turned into a different subspecies of 158 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: human down there, and essentially they look like caveman, so 159 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: they haven't gotten full the descent here and turned into 160 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: more ghoulish characters. But there's basically one of these guys left. 161 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: He's the shaggy caveman of a dude, and he just 162 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: goes about um kind of oozing from sores and growling 163 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: and screaming and then attacking people and eating people. So 164 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: if this is from Victorian times, obviously this would not 165 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,680 Speaker 1: be an enough time or enough generations to produce a 166 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:08,839 Speaker 1: true human subspecies adapted to underground tunnels to produce cannibalistic morlocks. 167 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: Since Victorian times to the nineteen seventies, what would you 168 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: have had a few generations? Yeah, And into the movie's credit, Yeah, 169 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: they don't look like alien monsters. They look like shaggy humans, 170 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: or the one that we see looks like a shaggy human. 171 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: And uh, yeah, he goes about causing all this chaos. 172 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: And it's a fair warning. It's a disturbingly violent film 173 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,439 Speaker 1: at times. It's a bit icky to watch. So you're 174 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: not necessarily saying go out and watch it. Not necessarily, 175 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: I mean, go go watch the trailer and if you 176 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: can see a scene with pleasants in it, and if 177 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,199 Speaker 1: you know dark, violent, seventies hard is your thing, then 178 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: do check it out. But but I bring it up 179 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,199 Speaker 1: because this ties directly into the real world science we're 180 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,320 Speaker 1: talking about today. The question you have a creature is 181 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: locked away buried in the tubes beneath London, and it 182 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: has time to undergo generation after generation of of change 183 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,319 Speaker 1: and adaptation. Can it become a different species? Can it 184 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: become a subspecies? What happens when the dark underworld gets 185 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,680 Speaker 1: to do its work on natural world creatures? All right, 186 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: well we should take a quick break and when we 187 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: come back we will discuss the London Underground Mosquito. Okay, 188 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: we're back. So the London Underground Mosquito is going to 189 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: be what we're talking about today. You can probably guess 190 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: from the name that it lives in the London underground. 191 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: So what's the deal with the London underground Robert? Yeah, 192 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: I suppose we should just back up a few steps 193 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: and just talk about the tube itself, the environment and 194 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:48,199 Speaker 1: which it dwells. Indeed, this is uh, this was the 195 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: world's first underground railway, opening in eighteen sixty three. Man, 196 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: that's early. Yeah, I would not have believed that it's 197 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,960 Speaker 1: a It's grown and expanded significantly ever since then. And 198 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: so today you've got to eleven lines collected and they 199 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: collectively handle about four point eight million passengers a day 200 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,200 Speaker 1: through two hundred seventy stations and two hundred and fifty 201 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: miles or four dred kilometers of track. Now, despite the name, 202 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: it's worth keeping in mind that only fort of that 203 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: is actually underground. There's plenty, plenty of plenty of track 204 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: that goes above ground. But still that's a lot of 205 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: underground track. Okay, So the London underground mosquito, that's the 206 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: London underground part mosquito part. Okay, Yeah, let's talk about 207 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: mosquitoes for a second. So what are they? Are they? 208 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,559 Speaker 1: That's some kind of elephant I can't remember. Well, it's 209 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: interesting because the mosquito. We all know what the mosquito is. 210 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: We all have a very close relationship with it. It is, 211 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: or at least we have a very close relationship with 212 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: a few types of mosquito. And that's key because the 213 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: world is currently home to some thirty five hundred named 214 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: species of mosquitoes, and of those thirty five hundred, only 215 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: two hundred or so actually bother humans. But you know, 216 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: we're kind of irresistible, right, like the mosquito. We thrive 217 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: with these throughout most of the world, and we offer 218 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: large expanses of relatively hairless skin, all of it coursing 219 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,839 Speaker 1: with delicious blood. Oh man, you don't usually think about 220 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: hair as being such a protective mechanism against parasitism like that. 221 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, like, if you're a mosquito and 222 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:22,599 Speaker 1: you come up against something really hairy, that's almost like 223 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: trying to get through barbed wire. And we're we're large 224 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: organisms compared to you know, most organisms. We're we're large, 225 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: relatively hairless, and we're everywhere, and so the mosquitoes everywhere. 226 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: Now the most common genera here are going to be 227 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: the awful ease Kulicks and the eighties mosquitoes. Now, mosquitoes 228 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: obviously are accomplished flyers, and anyone who's ever tried to 229 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: kill a mosquito can testify this. I had a as 230 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,319 Speaker 1: a tangent here when I was recently um in Barbados. 231 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: I we largely didn't encounter mosquitoes at all, but we had, 232 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: you know, the Zico virus in our minds that we 233 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: were always on the lookout. And I was trapped in 234 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,719 Speaker 1: the room by myself at one point with one mosquito 235 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: and it seems like it took forever for me to 236 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 1: to kill it. I finally had to do that trick 237 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: where you're like, all right, I'm gonna let you land 238 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,559 Speaker 1: on me. I'm gonna let I'm gonna I'm gonna let 239 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: you feed or almost feed on me, and and I'll 240 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,600 Speaker 1: do it to protect my family from from me. I'll 241 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: offer myself up as a sacrifice and then I will 242 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: kill you. But that's that's often the only way you 243 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: can get them. They're so surprisingly h skilled at at 244 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,959 Speaker 1: getting out of the way of our our slaps and snacks. Well, 245 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: thanks for exposing me to Zeke and now Robert, that's 246 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: all right. I was not infected, so maybe I killed it. 247 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: It was one of you know, it was not infected itself. Well, 248 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 1: you know, you do hear about how these mosquito species 249 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: can traverse these long distances that you wouldn't expect In 250 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:53,199 Speaker 1: one of the things we were reading today, it was 251 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,560 Speaker 1: an exerpt from a book by a biologist named David Resnick, 252 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: who will get into more detail about later, but he 253 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: mentioned is the fact that you know, it used to 254 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,600 Speaker 1: be that Hawaii didn't have mosquitoes that would bite humans. 255 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they got imported, not on purpose, I think, 256 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 1: wouldn't that be a great thing. No, No, But they're 257 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: like a lot of species. They they have a tremendous 258 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: ability to hitch rides on human transports, so they've managed 259 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: to invade whole new continents, uh, such as the invasive 260 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: yellow fever carrying eighties at jip Di that you find 261 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: in South America, which has been quite a problem. Um. 262 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: They also the cool thing to keep in mind about 263 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: mosquitoes is they benefit from an incredibly fast reproductive cycle. Now, 264 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: this is going to be important once we start talking 265 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: about the rates of evolution. That's right, Yeah, just how 266 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: because for the rate of evolution to to really be visible, 267 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 1: you have to have short periods, you have short lifespans 268 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: and fast reproduction cycle. And uh yeah, indeed that's the 269 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: case here. All they need is the tiniest bit of 270 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: standing water, uh, you know, abandoned swimming pools, bird baths 271 00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: are great, but they'll also do just fine with a 272 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: at bowl, even a candy wrapper, a small puddle, or 273 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: even just a damp spot in the earth. They go 274 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: through four stages, adults, water, surface eggs, subsurface larvae. They 275 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: breathe through a kind of snorkele that pokes up through 276 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: the surface of the water, and a pupa stage. Now 277 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: they've been around roughly one million years. Isn't that great 278 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: to think about? Well, actually, it's not all that unusual 279 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: because we've all seen Jurassic Park. But had we not, 280 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 1: wouldn't it be fascinating to think about these little insects 281 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: biting dinosaurs? Yeah? You had just to think that this 282 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: this is something that uh, they've been so good at 283 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: for so long, and they're gonna they're not going away. Uh. 284 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: The oldest evidence we have for blood feeding mosquitoes comes 285 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: from a fossil that's known as proto mosquito, and this 286 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 1: is from the Triassic period about two million years ago, 287 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: so there were no flowering plants. So the elongated probiscus 288 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: is thought to have functioned like modern mosquitoes, you know, 289 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: for the drinking of blood. Oh you mean, so it's 290 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: like sin. There weren't plants, It didn't it couldn't be 291 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: like a hummingbird sticking its nose into something. If it's 292 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: sticking its nose into something, it was probably something that 293 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: had blood in it, right, that's the that's the theory. 294 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: Now you'll find mosquitoes now and every continent except Antarctica. 295 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: They thrive, and even our most exhaustive steps to eradicate 296 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: them often only work in the short term because again 297 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: they they're just so adapted, moving into new environments taking 298 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: advantage of the smallest quantities of water. Okay, so we've 299 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: got the two things there, the London underground the mosquito. 300 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: Let's let's make these great tastes taste nasty together. Yeah, So, 301 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: first of all, let's talk about the surface mosquito before 302 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: we talk about the you know, subsurface variant. All right, 303 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,520 Speaker 1: So the species we're talking about is Coolex pipians and 304 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: according to biologist David Resnick, who I'll cite more deeply, 305 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: especially towards the end of this episode, uh pippians is 306 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: the single most widespread mosquito in the world. It's all 307 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: over the place. It is a disease vector known to 308 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: spread Westnile virus as well as some forms of encephalitis 309 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: and meningitis. And it mates in these big swarms that 310 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: take place out in open areas, and then it deposits 311 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: its fertilized eggs in the form of a floating raft 312 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: of eggs on still water. Resinic rather elegantly, I think 313 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 1: lists quote untended bird baths, forgotten buckets in the backyard, 314 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: discarded automobile tires, clogged, rain gutters, or wherever else. Fetid, stagnant, 315 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: water accumulates. I love that. One of my favorite words 316 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,359 Speaker 1: is fetted. That's really good. Now, once these rafts of 317 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,199 Speaker 1: eggs start to hatch, they turn into, as you mentioned 318 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: in the general mosquito life cycle earlier, the water dwelling 319 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,120 Speaker 1: larva stage. And these larva eat these eat small things 320 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:47,880 Speaker 1: that live in the water, you know, eat microbes for sustenance. 321 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: And then about ten days into the larval stage and 322 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: they come out of the water as adults begin feeding 323 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,080 Speaker 1: and being the breeding process. So the females seek out 324 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: a blood meal, which in wholes pipians almost always comes 325 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 1: from a bird. Why well, because bird blood is good stuff. 326 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,200 Speaker 1: Don't be a food snob at the cool ex Pippians. 327 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: After you've got a blood meal from a bird, you've 328 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: got enough nutrition to invest in forming some eggs. And 329 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,920 Speaker 1: this is important because it goes blood meal then eggs. 330 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: You need the blood in order to make the eggs. Uh. 331 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 1: And then once you've got the eggs, you can start 332 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: the whole process over again with a mating swarm or 333 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: what I think should be called a swargy. I like 334 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: that swargy and it is it is worth noting the 335 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: whole male female mosquito thing here, right, because the females 336 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,399 Speaker 1: are the ones that that feed on blood. The males 337 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:42,480 Speaker 1: do not. And you're one, what are the males that 338 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: if they don't eat blood, well, they depend they feed 339 00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: on flowers and plants, many many, A beautiful swamp orchid 340 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,640 Speaker 1: depends on mosquitoes for the pollination, so that the blood 341 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 1: is directly tied to the reproductive cycle of the female. Right. 342 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: So now in London there appears to be a totally 343 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: normal form of this species found on the surface doing 344 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: all the normal stuff, feeding on birds, getting the blood 345 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: meal before reproducing, and that's standard Koulex pippions pippions, But 346 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: they're also appears to be a subterranean variant of this 347 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: species in the London underground, that's right. And londoners uh 348 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: supposedly first discovered them during the blitz of World War two. 349 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: So German bombers terrorized the night skies and and roughly 350 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,439 Speaker 1: one roughly one hundred and eighty thousand people sheltered in 351 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,120 Speaker 1: the tunnels, just as they had during World War One. 352 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: Can you imagine that It's like you're you're fleeing bombing 353 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,879 Speaker 1: of your city, and the last thing you want is 354 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: to be swarmed with mosquitoes in the dark, I know. 355 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 1: And that's what happened. They had to contend with not 356 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: only some mosquitoes, but apparently lies and ticks. Uh. And 357 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: everyone knows about rats in the subways and sewers to 358 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: go back to my perhaps h you know, childish and 359 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: enthusiasm for underground transportation. I always get a little excited 360 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,639 Speaker 1: when I see a subway rat, even though I know 361 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: you're not supposed to see one, and it's bad, it's 362 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's an infectious road and and all that. 363 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: But I still get excited because it's like, it's it's 364 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: like seeing a unicorn. I don't know what. So, I 365 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 1: don't like to see a rat in my house, but 366 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,640 Speaker 1: when I see a rat scamper across the marta tracks like. 367 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,400 Speaker 1: I love that feeling of seeing it dart out from 368 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:27,959 Speaker 1: cover and go to somewhere else, I'm like, yeah, go buddy. 369 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: It's like that scene in in the Last Unicorn. You 370 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:32,879 Speaker 1: remember at the beginning where the the old man and 371 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: the younger hunter glimpse the unicorn in the distance and 372 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: the the old man like takes the man the kid 373 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: aside and says, you've seen something special today. There are 374 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: not many of them left in the world, you know. 375 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: It's that's how I feel about the subway rat. Now. 376 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 1: So you say, people notice these mosquitoes in the underground 377 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: in World War two? But is that when they were 378 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: first there or were they there before? Then the mosquitoes 379 00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:59,640 Speaker 1: are the people the mosquitoes? Okay, because it is because 380 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: again I I do want to point out that world 381 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: War One you saw similar to the tune of a 382 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: third of a million Londoners going down there. And there's 383 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: a wonderful quote here that I ran across from from 384 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 1: Ackroyd's book. But he points out that Philip Ziegler in 385 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: the book London at War related that quote. One of 386 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: the principal fears of the authorities is that a deep 387 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,879 Speaker 1: shelter mentality might grow up and result in paralysis of 388 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: the will among those who succumbed to it. It was 389 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,399 Speaker 1: also suggested that the underground Londoners would grow hysterical with 390 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 1: fear and would never surface to perform their duties. So 391 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: they were actually afraid of something sort of like the 392 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 1: raw meat scenario, like death line that that people would 393 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: go down there to take shelter and that they would 394 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,439 Speaker 1: just not be able to come back up. Yeah. And 395 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: I think this it's important to note in looking at 396 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: a film like like Death Line. Uh. And it feeds 397 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:58,360 Speaker 1: into just sort of the the industrial age paranoia of 398 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: of of of the English and and really modern Western life, 399 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: the idea that we're we're changing our world through this 400 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,880 Speaker 1: industrial movement, our cities are becoming these inhuman places, and 401 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: like the underground tunnel and the idea of cowering down 402 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: there and you know, protecting yourselves from from these bombings. Uh, 403 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: it becomes a perfect symbol of that. Well, it is 404 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: something we're thinking about because in a biological sense, our 405 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,159 Speaker 1: environments really do define us. They shape our very biology. 406 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: You know, the way your hands are, the way your 407 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: eyes work, the way your teeth are, and the way 408 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: your brain defines your behavior, that's all shaped by the 409 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: environment your ancestors come from. You know, it's what genetic 410 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: options the environment had to work with and then molding 411 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,880 Speaker 1: that to survive and reproduce best in it. So your 412 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: environment does define you. I think that's not something to 413 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 1: just be laughed off as paranoia. No, no, Um, and 414 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: you know they're they're also all these wonderful tales, you know, 415 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: many probably folkloric in nature, about people known as firm 416 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 1: ers or rakes or flushers. These were people who clean 417 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: sewage tunnel blocks, as well as tashers, who are hunters 418 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,920 Speaker 1: of valuables in the sewers and tunnels underneath London. These 419 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: are some great UH British isms, tash ers firmers. So 420 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: their tales of like tashas and firmers uh becoming lost 421 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: in this subworld maze and eventually they either fall dead 422 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,200 Speaker 1: from exhaustion and they grow so weak that a swarm 423 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: of rats just eats them alive. So anyway, the humans 424 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: had been going down unbeneath London for some time. They 425 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: had created this additional mythos and this UH and these 426 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: various expressions of their fear regarding the underworld, and indeed 427 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: the mosquitoes had been down there for some time too. 428 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:44,439 Speaker 1: Based on the research we're looking at, it seems that 429 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: there it's thought that you had different points when mosquitoes 430 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,239 Speaker 1: were introduced to this underground though world, and then they 431 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 1: become trapped down there. But since they're that they have 432 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: what they need down there they managed to survive because 433 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: there are rats, there are humans. It's where the humans go. 434 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:06,920 Speaker 1: You almost have this captive uh ever, changing food supply, right, 435 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: So this does make us wondered, I mean, should we 436 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,159 Speaker 1: should start to think about You've got these mosquitoes that 437 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: live underground, you've got the mosquitoes that live above ground. 438 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: They appear to both be some form of cool expipians. 439 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,160 Speaker 1: But are the ones underground actually a different animal? Now 440 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: that is an excellent question, and after one more quick break, 441 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: we shall explore it. So after the war, no one 442 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: forgot about the tunnels for sure, but yeah, I guess 443 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: there was a lot else to to worry about. Uh, 444 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,160 Speaker 1: people kind of forgot about the mosquitoes down in the tubes. 445 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: You didn't see a lot of attention really surrounding them. Occasionally, 446 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,399 Speaker 1: you know, there would be workers who who would you know, 447 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,600 Speaker 1: want to wind up with mosquito bites, and they reported 448 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: and certainly, you know, people who were going down on 449 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: a regular basis might have noticed them. But for the 450 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: most part, nobody really gave them much attention. And then 451 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,040 Speaker 1: about fifty years after the close of World War Two, 452 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,479 Speaker 1: you had Katherine Burn come around. Now she was a 453 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,160 Speaker 1: doctoral student at the time, and she decided to investigate. 454 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,959 Speaker 1: So she collected mosquitoes from seven different subterranean sites, and 455 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: in all there were something like twenty sites covering outdoor, indoor, 456 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: and subterranean locations around London. And then the researchers reared 457 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: the captured mosquitoes. They attempted cross breeding, cross breeding between 458 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,399 Speaker 1: mosquitoes and mosquitoes, not between mosquitoes and humans, just to 459 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: go and get that out of the way. Um. And 460 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: they they found that the kulicks pippians in the underground 461 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: behaved rather differently from those that lived on the surface. 462 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: So for example, uh, surface uh pippians only drank the 463 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:56,119 Speaker 1: blood of birds. But this uh, this new subspecies, this 464 00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: Skulis Pippians molestus, they call it. This one drank and blunt. Now, 465 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: I gotta make it worse than that, because to to 466 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: really excite your used needles, squick, they feed primarily on 467 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:12,160 Speaker 1: humans and rats, So because what else you're gonna feed 468 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: on down there? Yeah, So if you're down in the 469 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: tube in London and you feel an itch on your neck, 470 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: it's possible that the last thing that sharp little probosis 471 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: went into before your skin might have been another person, 472 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: or it might have been the belly of one member 473 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:31,919 Speaker 1: of a huge cockney rat and that was a wonderful image. 474 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: But yeah, that's always one of the concerns with the 475 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,919 Speaker 1: parasitic organism, like who else has it been feeding on? 476 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 1: And what else has it been feeding on? Right? Uh 477 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,359 Speaker 1: so yeah, so there there was a resulting paper here right, 478 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,680 Speaker 1: published in the journal Heredity in nine It was Burns 479 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:50,120 Speaker 1: paper with Richard Nickel, and it was called Kool Expipians 480 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:56,199 Speaker 1: in London Underground Tunnels differentiation between surface and subterranean populations. 481 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: All right, so let's talk about some of these differences 482 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: that we see. So, uh, the core that the core 483 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: differences of course, so we already mentioned that the mosquitoes 484 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: are are consuming primarily the blood of rats and humans 485 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: because that is west down there, mammal blood. Yeah. Now, 486 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: the other things to keep in mind is that this 487 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,640 Speaker 1: the molestus mosquitoes. They don't need as much space anymore 488 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: because they are living in confined tubes, and that is 489 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,639 Speaker 1: that that has an impact on how they reproduce because 490 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,879 Speaker 1: they're not they're then not depending on these big you know, 491 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 1: what do you what do you call them swargies? These uh, 492 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,880 Speaker 1: big open air, open space swarming mating swarms. Yeah, these 493 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: are these big mating swarms are not occurring in the underworld. 494 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: They are and instead going with you know, a smaller 495 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 1: scale reproductive breeding then scheduled venue if you will. Yeah. 496 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,360 Speaker 1: And on top of that, they are they are largely 497 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 1: protected from colder weather, so they forego winter hibernation. And 498 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: interestingly enough, they don't need that blood meal necessarily to 499 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: lay their eggs. Now, this is to say that to 500 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: get tentantical on the blood stuff. This means that they 501 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: are autogeneous. They do not require a blood meal in 502 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:09,440 Speaker 1: order to lay eggs. Where he mentioned how the male 503 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: and female mosquitoes consume nectar and plant juices, the females 504 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 1: and the species just need that blood meal to energize 505 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: their egg production right now, part of the reproductive cycle. Right. 506 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: And if you look at mosquitoes around the world, all 507 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: the different species, some do require that blood meal, some don't, 508 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: and some merely benefit from it, which is to say, 509 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: they can produce eggs without the blood meal. But if 510 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: they get the blood meal, they're gonna it's gonna be 511 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: that you know, much stronger of an egg production. So 512 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 1: in short, it appeared that the mosquitoes adapted to the underworld, 513 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,160 Speaker 1: they became so distinct even that they could no longer 514 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: breed or would no longer breed with their surface dwell 515 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: and kin different and this is because different mating behaviors, 516 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: different reproductive behavior. No mating swarms, just individual lovers finding 517 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: each other in the the subway tunnels. Well, I guess 518 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,760 Speaker 1: this leads us to the question. Obviously we've had since 519 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: the beginning of the London Underground some form of divergent 520 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: evolution going on here. But but does this count as 521 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: a different species? That's sort of the question, especially a 522 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: lay person might want to ask, well, is it really 523 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:19,920 Speaker 1: a different animal? Now? Uh? Is it a speciation event? Yeah? 524 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: Because I think one of the big questions to consider is, 525 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: you know, to what extent are they biologically and or 526 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: behaviorally unable to breed with the surface world mosquitoes of 527 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,720 Speaker 1: their species? So these would this would be sort of 528 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: the standard definition of a species division right now. Of course, 529 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: that this is bearing in mind that distinct but closely 530 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:43,040 Speaker 1: related species can sometimes technically breed to produce hybrid offspring, 531 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: though sometimes they're infertile or otherwise compromised. Right, So I 532 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: think now is a good time to, uh take a 533 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: look at a chapter from a book by the biologist 534 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,480 Speaker 1: David Resnick, who I mentioned earlier. And this book is 535 00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,280 Speaker 1: called The Origin, Then and Now, An Interpretive guy to 536 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: the Origin of Species that was published by Princeton University 537 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: Press in two thousand eleven. And in a chapter on 538 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,440 Speaker 1: in this book, Resident discusses the specific example of the 539 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: London London underground mosquito and whether or not it is 540 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: speciation and what what this means for the concept of speciation. 541 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: Uh So, a central question in biology. How long does 542 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: it take for evolution to form a new species? How 543 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: long should you have to wait? Obviously this could depend 544 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: on a lot of different factors. Right, You've got different 545 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: mutation rates, maybe um if mutations are sort of providing 546 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: the changes that lead to new new body forms and 547 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: stuff like that, You've got different selection pressures, you've got 548 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: different rates of reproduction. You're probably more likely to see 549 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: faster revolution in organisms that produce more generations in a 550 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 1: short period of time, like we're mentioning earlier, like bacteria 551 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: or even like in sects like fruit flies and stuff, 552 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 1: very quick turnover. I mean, that's why something why fruit fly. 553 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: One of the reasons fruit flies are used so much 554 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: in research because you can you can watch this occur, 555 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,960 Speaker 1: and certainly when you find examples of evolution and action, 556 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: so called evolution and action, that's what you're looking at 557 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,959 Speaker 1: species that have those really really tight turnaround in reproduction. 558 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: But another thing that often leads to UH speciation, at 559 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: least as far as we think, is having highly specific 560 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 1: different selection pressures, putting a group in isolation and then 561 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: making it uh very hard for that group to live 562 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 1: except by one or two ways, and this tends to 563 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: force adaptation to those new ways of life, which produces 564 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 1: it creates kind of a narrow adaptive bottleneck through which 565 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 1: genes have to pass. So um Resnick says in his 566 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: book that he's not certain that these mosquitoes in the 567 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 1: London under London Underground constitute a different species, but he 568 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: argues that if they're not a distinct species, they're definitely 569 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: on the way. In the quote, they have moved far 570 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: down the path toward forming a reproductively isolated network of populations, 571 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 1: which is the currently accepted definition of species. So that's 572 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: going to what we said a minute ago, reproductive isolation. 573 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,719 Speaker 1: What what we generally think of as a species is 574 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,719 Speaker 1: breeds with with its own kind, doesn't breed with others. 575 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: So let's review what we've said so far and add 576 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: a few more things about our observations about the difference 577 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: between standard cool ex Pippians and then the ones down 578 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 1: in the tube. So, like we said, uh, surface cool 579 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,800 Speaker 1: ex pippians mate in these swarms and open areas. The 580 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: subterranean ones made in close cramped conditions. Um. You mentioned 581 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 1: the winter hibernation. That's an interesting one because the surface 582 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 1: pippians have what's known as a seasonal dia pause because 583 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: come on, I mean, they live all the way up 584 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: in Britain. Cold winter is not a good place for mosquitoes, 585 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: so it gets really cold up there during the cold 586 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: weather months. Pippians stop mating, they build up a store 587 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: of fat reserves, and they essentially hunker down to wait 588 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: out the cold weather. Um, subterranean Pippians they don't have 589 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: winter to deal with. It's, you know, pretty much the 590 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: same climate year round down there in the tubes, fairly warm, 591 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: so they don't have this seasonal diapause anymore. They stay 592 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: active all year, they stay breeding all year. They just 593 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,520 Speaker 1: keep going. They're like a fine wine in a wine 594 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: cellar hermetically sealed and just kept it a constant aging aging, 595 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: acquiring finesse um by fighting rat kings, and then beautiful 596 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: red liquid as well. Yeah, so another one. We mentioned 597 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: this before. Surface pippians feed almost exclusively on bird blood, right. 598 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,000 Speaker 1: The subterranean pippians don't have access to many birds for 599 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,959 Speaker 1: obvious reasons. Though this didn't make me think when we 600 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,280 Speaker 1: were talking about it earlier that it would be really 601 00:33:55,280 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: cool to have a speciation event producing subterranean birds, like 602 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:06,000 Speaker 1: like albino subterranean vultures that only live in I don't know, 603 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 1: subway tunnels or caves or some other'd be great. I 604 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:10,760 Speaker 1: guess the like the closest thing that comes to mind 605 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: would be some I guess something like a kiwi. You 606 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: know that's kind of like a ground dwelling like semi 607 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:21,120 Speaker 1: burrowing bird. They burrow. I didn't know that kiwi's uh 608 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, uh and u Qwi experts can 609 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,319 Speaker 1: can correct me in this. They do. They do some 610 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: sort of burrowing. Yeah, I mean not like full blown, 611 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 1: you know, tremmors burrowing, but they'll they dig around like 612 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: they live very close to the soil. Well, what I 613 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:41,720 Speaker 1: want is bone white vultures with red eyes living exclusively 614 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 1: in caves. I could see it and see it happening. 615 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,120 Speaker 1: I mean, I I look finally back on these. Uh, 616 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: these are these different flightless prehistoric birds. So I like 617 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: the idea of them returning in a subworld environment. Okay, 618 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,399 Speaker 1: back to the pippians. So surface pippians, as we mentioned before, 619 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 1: also remember they get a blood meal before they produce 620 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: their eggs. You gotta get some blood then you lay 621 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: your eggs. The subterranean ones they can easily skip the 622 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 1: meal if necessary. Uh. The question would be why why 623 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: can they do that? Well, down in the tunnels there 624 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,360 Speaker 1: is plenty to eat in the form of water based 625 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,000 Speaker 1: microbial life that the larva consume in their larval stage. 626 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,399 Speaker 1: The blood is more scarce, So if you can get 627 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: through your life cycle on on that, that's a good thing. 628 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: Now back to burn and nichols In as you mentioned. So, 629 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: so we said earlier that there are other subterranean mosquitoes 630 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,239 Speaker 1: elsewhere in the world, right did we mention that? I 631 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: think we did. Um, the ones in the London underground 632 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,480 Speaker 1: are not the only ones where where mosquitoes are dwelling 633 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 1: in some kind of underground space. But how can we 634 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: tell whether these mosquitoes in London, in the London underground 635 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:49,320 Speaker 1: are a subterranean mosquitoes imported from somewhere else in the world, 636 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: You know how, because we've already discussed how how how 637 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:57,240 Speaker 1: skilled they are at adapting to new new environments traveling 638 00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 1: with humans, or are they surface missque autos from London 639 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: that moved underground and began to change. And this is 640 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 1: where the genetic testing you alluded to earlier comes in. 641 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: So you mentioned the mosquitoes collected from different sites throughout 642 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: the underground and throughout the surface. They got mosquitoes from 643 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 1: seven sites throughout the underground network and then twelve different 644 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 1: sites above the surface like gardens and ponds, And what 645 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:26,040 Speaker 1: they wanted to look for was genetic variation at twenty 646 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: different loci within the genes, to see if the genes 647 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: of the underground mosquitoes matched the genes of the above 648 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:37,320 Speaker 1: ground ones, or if they've got these unique allele's um 649 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: that would that would be matching to uh underground mosquitoes 650 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 1: from other places around the world. And what they found 651 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: was that the underground mosquitoes in London did not have 652 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,279 Speaker 1: these unique alleles that were common to underground mosquitoes from 653 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: other places. They had the same alleles as their above 654 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,720 Speaker 1: ground cousins in London. Another thing they found interestingly underground 655 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:04,400 Speaker 1: miss guitos. Uh, maybe this isn't the correct term scientifically, 656 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: but they're kind of inbred. Like, well, that would make sense, 657 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,839 Speaker 1: and then that comes back to death line, like this 658 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: is kind of a an inbred, uneducated creature that's so 659 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:18,040 Speaker 1: walking around, right, So there's relative homogeneity in the genes 660 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: of the underground population compared to the surface. The ones 661 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,240 Speaker 1: on the surface have a lot more genetic diversity because 662 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,799 Speaker 1: they have a lot more different breeding options. The ones underground, 663 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: we're sort of like, I don't know, you might think 664 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:31,799 Speaker 1: of them as like insect Baldwin brothers, you know, a 665 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 1: little bit of variation between them, but not as much 666 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:39,279 Speaker 1: variation as you'd find within the general population. Um. So 667 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,319 Speaker 1: this is also what you'd expect if you had a 668 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:47,160 Speaker 1: small population of original mosquitoes that moved into the underground 669 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: and began breeding with each other and had just been 670 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,879 Speaker 1: breeding with each other in their descendants ever since. So 671 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:57,160 Speaker 1: what's the conclusion here, Well, it looks like a small 672 00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: handful of colonists. Mosquitoes from the surface made this plunge 673 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,719 Speaker 1: into the darkness sometime in the past, maybe very far back, 674 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,759 Speaker 1: maybe when the tunnels were first being dug um, and 675 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 1: they managed to survive long and uh long enough and 676 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,880 Speaker 1: to reproduce enough for the environment to begin to shape 677 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: their biology. But then again, as we mentioned, is it 678 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:21,880 Speaker 1: a different species. This would really come down to the 679 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:26,400 Speaker 1: aspects of reproductive isolation. If they can't interbreed, we probably 680 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: think it is uh, it is a different species. And 681 00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 1: specifically it's if they can't interbreed producing viable offspring down 682 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:38,040 Speaker 1: multiple generations, because some things might be able to interbreed 683 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,839 Speaker 1: and produce an offspring that itself can't breed, right Yeah, 684 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:43,800 Speaker 1: and this is where we get into the various sterile 685 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: hybrids that we see with other species. Right. So, what 686 00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 1: Burne and Nichols found was that the underground mosquitoes could 687 00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:55,239 Speaker 1: interbreed with one another and produce fertile offspring, but every 688 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,200 Speaker 1: time they tried to make a female underground mosquito with 689 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: a group of males from the surface, no eggs were produced. 690 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,919 Speaker 1: Underground females can mate successfully with underground males, but not 691 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: usually with surface males um so Resinic points out another 692 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:12,880 Speaker 1: really interesting thing from their research, which is how Burne 693 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: and Nichols also found evidence of mosquito colonists pushing the 694 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:23,120 Speaker 1: boundaries of habitat tolerance in both directions, and so, for example, 695 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,800 Speaker 1: at the Oval station in the other ground, they found 696 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:31,200 Speaker 1: surface mosquitoes were trying to survive under the surface in 697 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 1: a flooded tunnel at the bottom of an open shaft. 698 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:37,320 Speaker 1: They were trying to live underground, but they still these 699 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: surface mosquitoes trying to live underground still needed a blood 700 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 1: meal to produce eggs, and they couldn't breed with the 701 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: underground mosquitoes. Meanwhile, a colony of underground mosquitoes was discovered 702 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:53,960 Speaker 1: biting humans in houses in southeast London. So they were 703 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,799 Speaker 1: trying to migrate up and live on the surface, but 704 00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:00,759 Speaker 1: they were genetically similar to the underground mosquitoes, and unfortunately 705 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,880 Speaker 1: for them, they don't know how to do this winter diapause, 706 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,440 Speaker 1: you know, the seasonal diapause. They can't hunker down for 707 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:09,799 Speaker 1: the cold weather, so when it comes along it will 708 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,840 Speaker 1: smite them. Huh. See. Now this is an idea that 709 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,400 Speaker 1: doesn't explored enough in our various weird fictions. Not the 710 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 1: idea that there's some sort of an underground humanoid species, 711 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: but the idea that the underground humanoid species then comes 712 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 1: up and maybe tries, you know, they try to get jobs, 713 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:27,880 Speaker 1: they can't adapt, They move into a flat and they 714 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,000 Speaker 1: just feel horribly because of course they're they're cannibalistic monsters. Well, 715 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: they'll they will be used to a very constant environmental 716 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: condition to you know, climate control essentially. You know, caves 717 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,880 Speaker 1: are sort of climate controlled. When they come up to 718 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,719 Speaker 1: the surface summer and winter, it's gonna be awful. They're 719 00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:45,799 Speaker 1: gonna be like, what is this water pouring out of 720 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,279 Speaker 1: my armpits? I hate it? Uh you know, I guess 721 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,560 Speaker 1: in a way, it's kind of the vampire myth as 722 00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:53,239 Speaker 1: we often encounter. It is kind of a play on 723 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: this because you think of you think of old Count 724 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 1: Dracula coming over to London imported like a mosquito and 725 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 1: then the hold of a ship um very limited in 726 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:05,759 Speaker 1: what he can do outside during the day. Uh So, 727 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,200 Speaker 1: so maybe it has been explored, uh you know, to 728 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:13,880 Speaker 1: add nauseum already. Uh So the authors of the original study, 729 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:16,279 Speaker 1: they were careful not actually to get drawn into a 730 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,520 Speaker 1: big argument about whether the two populations are technically different 731 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,680 Speaker 1: species or not, but they were more focused on the 732 00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:26,080 Speaker 1: process of speciation rather than trying to arbitrate the dividing line. 733 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,880 Speaker 1: But even if these two mosquitoes are not now separate species, 734 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 1: they're clearly on the way there. So Resonic points out 735 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,840 Speaker 1: that this provides an example of reproductive isolation in many 736 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,400 Speaker 1: fewer generations than Darwin would have expected. And that's kind 737 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:45,319 Speaker 1: of interesting, right. You know. Darwin thought, well, you need 738 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,160 Speaker 1: maybe x many different generations to really produce a different species. 739 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,560 Speaker 1: But if we're almost there or already there with these mosquitoes, 740 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,760 Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't take nearly as long as Darwin would have guessed. 741 00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:58,840 Speaker 1: But then again, keep in mind that these are mosquitoes, 742 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,759 Speaker 1: very fast reproduct of cycle, you know, their insects. The 743 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:04,799 Speaker 1: same thing doesn't necessarily apply to oak trees or rhinoceros, 744 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:11,000 Speaker 1: is alright, So if if reproductive isolation does happen is fast, 745 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,040 Speaker 1: why well. Resinnick has a couple of hypotheses in his 746 00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:17,600 Speaker 1: chapter that I think are interesting. One of them is 747 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:22,040 Speaker 1: the idea of disruptive selection. Uh. And the way he 748 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,760 Speaker 1: explains this is that the survival requirements for the two 749 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:30,680 Speaker 1: environments above ground and below ground are so different that 750 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,080 Speaker 1: if you were to successfully make a surface pippions with 751 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:38,440 Speaker 1: an underground pippions, it's offspring would very likely have fatal 752 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:43,040 Speaker 1: deficiencies for either environment. What, you know, the traits you'd 753 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:45,879 Speaker 1: get from your mom would make you unable to live 754 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,440 Speaker 1: in dad's world. Where the traits you'd get from your 755 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:52,160 Speaker 1: dad would make you unable to live in your mom's world. Uh. 756 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:54,680 Speaker 1: And so if it's on the surface, cold weather might 757 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:56,840 Speaker 1: kill it. If it's in the other ground, it doesn't 758 00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:59,279 Speaker 1: know how to hunt the right food, It can't put 759 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:01,640 Speaker 1: off the blood yell that it you know, we'll have 760 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,239 Speaker 1: a hard time finding or something like that. And this 761 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:09,279 Speaker 1: prevents a kind of back interaction with the general population 762 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:14,520 Speaker 1: of the underground mosquitoes and enforces genetic isolation. But another 763 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:18,160 Speaker 1: way to possibly explain it would be changes in reproductive behavior. 764 00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:21,360 Speaker 1: So what if these two populations have diverged in a 765 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:26,799 Speaker 1: way that specifically selected breeding behaviors that are incompatible. Uh. 766 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,040 Speaker 1: Think of the open area swarming versus the confined space 767 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:33,720 Speaker 1: breeding is just one example. They simply don't get down 768 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:37,080 Speaker 1: with the way the other population tends to mate. So 769 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:41,799 Speaker 1: mating doesn't happen reinforcing reproductive isolation, and as far as 770 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:43,880 Speaker 1: I know, either of those are live options, or it 771 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:47,080 Speaker 1: could be a combination. So something to keep in mind here. 772 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:50,200 Speaker 1: As a Burn points out in the paper quote, the 773 00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:54,399 Speaker 1: differences between Pippins and Molestus forms seem to change from 774 00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,800 Speaker 1: place to place within the range of the species. The 775 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,320 Speaker 1: ostensibly clear cut distinction between the Molestas and Pippians forms 776 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,560 Speaker 1: in northern Europe is not so apparent in the northern 777 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:10,640 Speaker 1: Mediterranean area and may disappear in some populations further south. Yeah, 778 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:13,160 Speaker 1: and that makes sense because think about it. For example, 779 00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,880 Speaker 1: one major difference between the London surface and the London 780 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,959 Speaker 1: underground is the presence or absence of this cold weather 781 00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:24,160 Speaker 1: diapause if there are If there are similar above and 782 00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:28,920 Speaker 1: below ground populations and consistently warm climates, they're just less 783 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:32,040 Speaker 1: likely to have this difference, right, because the surface mosquitoes 784 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,560 Speaker 1: don't need to become dormant for cold weather in a 785 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:37,200 Speaker 1: place where there is no cold weather. Yes, that's a 786 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,719 Speaker 1: good point. So Resinic discusses a few other interesting takeaways 787 00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:43,080 Speaker 1: in this chapter. One is to simply cast a sort 788 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:47,040 Speaker 1: of doubt on the total relevance of distinctions between species. Like, 789 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,200 Speaker 1: on one hand, it's very scientifically useful to have labels 790 00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:53,319 Speaker 1: for things that are alike in order to separate them 791 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:56,160 Speaker 1: from things that they are unlike. Uh. And and really 792 00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:58,440 Speaker 1: that very notion is at the core of what science is, 793 00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:02,239 Speaker 1: right categorization of Miller things with one another. But it's 794 00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:04,759 Speaker 1: also true that these boundaries are kind of porous and 795 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:07,800 Speaker 1: that the concept of a species does not actually operate 796 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,600 Speaker 1: in reality. And reality there are things. There are genes, 797 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:17,080 Speaker 1: their chromosomes, their phenotypic traits, there are environments. A species 798 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:20,680 Speaker 1: is more kind of a concept, and Resinic writes, quote, 799 00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:24,640 Speaker 1: species in nature should be thought of as fluid mosaics 800 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:30,160 Speaker 1: of populations that are becoming locally adapted uh, sometimes with 801 00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:35,160 Speaker 1: the aid of similar adaptations attained by long extinct populations 802 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,400 Speaker 1: that adapted to similar environments. So a couple of interesting 803 00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:42,560 Speaker 1: things there. One is this idea of species just being 804 00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: many individuals with genes that are always in flux. Things 805 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:51,200 Speaker 1: are coming and going. It's not a standard, totally defined 806 00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:57,160 Speaker 1: thing with boundaries. It's just a family of resemblances. And 807 00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:59,760 Speaker 1: then the other thing is that the last part about 808 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:04,600 Speaker 1: Miller adaptations attained from long extinct populations. One thing that 809 00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:08,600 Speaker 1: often appears to happen in cases of reproductive isolation is 810 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:11,560 Speaker 1: that some rare gene in the general population that doesn't 811 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,440 Speaker 1: seem to do much or provide much advantage, suddenly becomes 812 00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:19,720 Speaker 1: useful in a specific environment and it becomes selected four, 813 00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:22,319 Speaker 1: and it gets pumped up and becomes more prevalent and 814 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:26,400 Speaker 1: comes to define the new population. And it's very possible 815 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:30,239 Speaker 1: that this gene was something that was useful to an 816 00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:33,600 Speaker 1: ancestor of this current population. So it's like that you 817 00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:37,440 Speaker 1: can adapt by pulling antiques out of the past when 818 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:41,240 Speaker 1: they suddenly become useful again, you might need that blunderbuss, 819 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,680 Speaker 1: not now, but sometime in the future. Yeah. Indeed, I 820 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:47,160 Speaker 1: mean we we see this in various experiments where they're 821 00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:51,279 Speaker 1: like they switched the epogenetic switch to say, um, you know, 822 00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:55,279 Speaker 1: make chickens a little more like dinosaurs again. Yeah, some 823 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,640 Speaker 1: tweaking some one aspect of their anatomy because that option 824 00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:01,440 Speaker 1: is still They're like that, like the options in a 825 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:04,680 Speaker 1: video game shouldn't need to be turned on. Um. And 826 00:47:04,719 --> 00:47:08,440 Speaker 1: hopefully I didn't anthropomorphizes evolution too much. For some of 827 00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:11,239 Speaker 1: our listeners, there. Oh, we just got a complaint about that. Yeah, 828 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,280 Speaker 1: well you know sometimes, but that was also from somebody 829 00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:17,840 Speaker 1: who didn't believe in evolution, So okay, they saically they 830 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:22,560 Speaker 1: didn't think we went far enough. All right. Well, on 831 00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,399 Speaker 1: that note, we actually asked you did we go too far? 832 00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:29,080 Speaker 1: Did we not go far enough? But more importantly, I'd 833 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:31,960 Speaker 1: love to hear from anybody who you know, shares our 834 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:35,400 Speaker 1: love for underground transit systems. I'd love to hear from 835 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:40,120 Speaker 1: anyone who's ever been bitten by a London underground mosquito. Yeah, 836 00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:43,840 Speaker 1: did you feel the proboscis? Yeah, of the mollst us 837 00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:45,720 Speaker 1: or you know. It would be great if anyone's listening 838 00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:50,440 Speaker 1: to this podcast on the train in the London underground, 839 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:54,560 Speaker 1: if they are bitten by a mosquito during this podcast. 840 00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:56,759 Speaker 1: I think that would be a pretty magical moment as well. 841 00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 1: This mach al right. Well, on that note, hey, if 842 00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:05,280 Speaker 1: you want to check out more information on this topic, 843 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:07,760 Speaker 1: go to the landing page for this episode at stuff 844 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:09,879 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot Com. Should be up there, 845 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,000 Speaker 1: nice and bright on the banner, and you also find 846 00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:15,280 Speaker 1: all the links out to our various social media accounts 847 00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:18,839 Speaker 1: such as Facebook, Tumbler, Instagram, and Twitter, and hey, if 848 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,040 Speaker 1: you are a Twitter user, take part in this whole 849 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:26,840 Speaker 1: tripod that initiative used the hashtag tripod with hy to 850 00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:31,160 Speaker 1: just suggest your favorite podcast, the podcast that that that 851 00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:33,440 Speaker 1: to your life with a little joy as you traverse 852 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,600 Speaker 1: the subway and deal with rats and mosquitoes or what 853 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:38,680 Speaker 1: have you. For my own part, I'm a big fan 854 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:41,480 Speaker 1: of Ideas with Paul Kennedy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a 855 00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:45,560 Speaker 1: wonderful Canadian radio show podcast fixed for a number of 856 00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:51,560 Speaker 1: tremendous uh philosophical, scientific, artistic, historic topics. It varies from 857 00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:53,520 Speaker 1: week to week. Well, why don't you tell us what 858 00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:56,480 Speaker 1: podcast you out there like? So if you want to 859 00:48:56,480 --> 00:48:58,880 Speaker 1: get in touch with us directly, you can email us. 860 00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:02,439 Speaker 1: As always, blow the mind at how staff Work's dot 861 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:14,560 Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is 862 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:27,600 Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com the biggest