1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to has To Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:10,479 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here it has To Works. Every week, 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology and culture. 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: This week, it turns out that underground critters called naked 6 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: mole rats can switch their biochemistry to survive when oxygen 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 1: supplies run low. And unrelated, the researchers have cracked the 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: mystery of the pigmentation responsible for blood falls, A waterfall 9 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: with an aptly dramatic name, but first, Senior editor Katherine 10 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: Born and our freelance writer Alia Hoyt explore new research 11 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,599 Speaker 1: into how our brains control our movements. The results run 12 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: counter to what we thought we knew about motor function, 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: and it's all thanks to patients with missing limbs. Recent 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: research published in the journal Current Biology is poised to 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: transform whole scientists understand the brain, specifically which section control 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: which body parts. Researchers from University College London looked at 17 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 1: seventeen people born without a hand, along with twenty four 18 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: people born with two hands as a control group. The 19 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: participants were all video recorded doing five everyday tasks such 20 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: as wrapping presents, while their brains were scanned using functional 21 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,279 Speaker 1: m r A. Science has generally posited that a certain 22 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: area of the brain was in charge of hand function, 23 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: but the researchers learned that when other body parts were 24 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: compensating for a missing hand, like the foot, mouth, or arm, 25 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: that hand area of the brain just as effectively lit up, 26 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: so instead of that section of the brain being hands specific, 27 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: it appears to be actually functioned specific, although this is 28 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: just a working theory. The concept is illustrated by six 29 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: year old Zian Lee Aguila Valle of Kennesaw, Georgia, who 30 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: was born without arms. Zian mostly uses his feet to bathe, dress, 31 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: and eat, as well as to write, paint, play with legos, 32 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: or help his mom cook dinner. He carries around small 33 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: packages of cleansing wipes to d german his feet before eating. 34 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: He also loves skateboarding, swimming, and baseball. Interestingly, Zan's brain 35 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: is better equipped to adapt his missing limbs than that 36 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,959 Speaker 1: of a person who loses a hand later in life. 37 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: James Giordano, a neurology and biochemistry professor at Georgetown University, 38 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: says the brain is very adaptive, so if a function 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: needs to be done, another part can be recruited to 40 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: fill in for the one that's missing. If the limb 41 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: loss occurs later in life, Jordana says, another appendage can 42 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: be trained to fill in, but it's much more difficult 43 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: because the brain has to basically rewire its connections. Neurophysical 44 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: rehabilitation and high tech approaches like magnetic stimulation can encourage 45 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,639 Speaker 1: the brain to adapt. The study we mentioned earlier demonstrates 46 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: the brain is more plastic than we had imagined. The 47 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: study could help scientists determine how the brain could control, 48 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: for instance, a prosthetic arm using the brain area that 49 00:02:51,800 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: would have controlled that missing arm. Next step, steph it 50 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: aor Christopher Hassiotus and our freelancer Jesceline Shields bring us 51 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: into the bizarre world of the naked mole rat, which 52 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: can run its body basically like a plant when it 53 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: doesn't have enough oxygen to live like a mammal. Learning 54 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: interesting facts about animals is like reading evolution celebrity gossip rag. 55 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: There's a delightfully voyeuristic thrill that comes with learning that 56 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: a star nosed mole can smell underwater by blowing bubbles 57 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: and then sucking them back in its nose, or that 58 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: a sea otter has so much hair and has the 59 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: approximate surface area of a hockey rink. But have you 60 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: heard about the naked mole rat. You're gonna want to 61 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: sit down. So the naked mole rat heterocephalous glaber looks 62 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: about like you'd expect a hairless mole crossed with a 63 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: hairless rat crossed with a chest bursting creature from alien. 64 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: But this subterranean African mammal is by far the longest 65 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: living rodent. It's cold blooded, and it's immune to cancer. 66 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: It's practically pervious to most types of pain, and shows 67 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: very few signs of aging during its life. Like some insects, 68 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: naked mole rats are use social, meaning a group of 69 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: them has a queen that takes on all the reproductive 70 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 1: responsibilities for the group, while other females are sterile and 71 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: have jobs like finding food or fending off predators. A 72 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: single queen naked mole rat might live thirty years and 73 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: have nine hundred babies in her lifetime. And finally, these 74 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: little animals can survive for long periods without oxygen by 75 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: basically turning into plants wait seriously under normal oxygen rich conditions. 76 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: The naked mole rat runs itself on glucose like every 77 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: other self respecting mammal on the planet, and mammals need 78 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: oxygen to fuel this process. But in the absence of oxygen, 79 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:46,919 Speaker 1: according to a new study published in the journal Science, 80 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: it turns out naked mole rats can switch over to 81 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 1: a different biochemical process using fructose, the same sugar that 82 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: powers plants. Now, scientists have known for a while that 83 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: because they live in large groups in tight underground space 84 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: is where plentiful oxygen supplies aren't given like they are 85 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: here above ground, naked mole rats have evolved to withstand 86 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: shockingly low oxygen situations. Until now, however, nobody has quantified 87 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: the extent to which these hideous little wizards can abstain 88 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: from breathing air. The team of international researchers discovered the 89 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: little animals can chill for five or more hours at 90 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: a time in extremely low oxygen environments, and for up 91 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:30,119 Speaker 1: to eighteen minutes with absolutely no oxygen whatsoever. To figure 92 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: this out, the team put both naked mole rats and 93 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: regular mice in a chamber with no oxygen. As you 94 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: might expect the mice died immediately, But although the naked 95 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: morats quickly lost consciousness and their heartbeats slowed from two 96 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,919 Speaker 1: hundred to only fifty beats per minute, after being introduced 97 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: back into the air, a full eighteen minutes later, they 98 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,279 Speaker 1: completely recovered and went about their naked mole rat business. 99 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: So exactly how do the animals manage this? According to 100 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,039 Speaker 1: the studies lead author Thomas Park, who's a professor of 101 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the 102 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: naked mole rat has simply rearranged some basic building blocks 103 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,280 Speaker 1: of metabolism to make it super tolerant to low oxygen conditions. 104 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: There are other animals who can metabolize fructose in the 105 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: absence of oxygen, but only in limited parts of the body, 106 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: like the gut. It's naked mole rats that have emergency 107 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: fruito services set up in all of their organs, even 108 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: their brain and their heart, making them unique among mammals 109 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: in that regard, at least as far as we know 110 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: right now. Finally, this week, managing editor Alison louder Milk 111 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: and our freelancer Kate Kirshner explain how researchers solved the 112 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: mysteries of a blood red waterfall flowing out of the 113 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 1: middle of a glacier. If you were to say that 114 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: the blood red color of an Antarctic waterfall was only 115 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: the second most interesting thing about it, it might be 116 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: hard to take you seriously. After all, one look at 117 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: blood falls and you're probably pretty focused on the horrifying 118 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: carry prom scene nestled in the ice of Taylor Glacier. 119 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: You're not looking for much else to catch your eye. 120 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: But while that horror seene hue undoubtedly pulls you in, 121 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: scientists have now figured out the source of the blood, 122 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: so to speak, and it's arguably more fascinating than the 123 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: ghoulish falls itself. When geologist and all around adventure Thomas 124 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: Griffith discovered the geological wonder back in nineteen eleven, the 125 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: prevailing idea was that a type of algae was causing 126 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: the distinctive red bloom, sort of like the harmful algal 127 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: blooms or red tides that have been known to plague 128 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: Florida's Gulf coast. But a two thousand three analysis found 129 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: that it was actually high levels of iron that tinged 130 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: the water, so distinctively the iron turns to rust in 131 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: the water. But this presented another mystery. So I just 132 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: weren't sure where the salty in laden liquid water was 133 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: coming from that's been feeding the waterfall. So they decided 134 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: to investigate the subsurface of the glacier with radar signals, 135 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: and when they did, researchers found a subsurface lake, complete 136 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: with a flowing path of water that supplied the briny, 137 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 1: iron rich water to the falls. Second mystery solved. This 138 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: discovery is particularly interesting because it confirms that flowing water 139 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: can persist inside a glacier as cold as tailor, something 140 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: researchers weren't quite sure was possible. And in case you're 141 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 1: wondering how liquid water can exist in a clearly freezing glacier, 142 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,520 Speaker 1: it's actually the process of freezing that keeps it moving. 143 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: As water freezes, it releases heat that can melt the 144 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: ice around it. Add in some salty water that freezes 145 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: at a lower tempt and you have flowing water in 146 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: a glacier. That's our show for this week. Thank you 147 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in further thanks to our audio 148 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: technical brown, our producer Dylan Fagan, and our editorial liaison 149 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: Alice in louder Milk. Subscribed to out Now for more 150 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: of the latest science news, and send us links to 151 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: anything else you'd like to hear his cover, plus what 152 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: historical figure do you find endlessly fascinating? Let us know? 153 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: You can send us an email at Now podcast at 154 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,680 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, and of course, for lots 155 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: more stories like these, head on over to our home 156 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: planet Now dot how stuff works dot com.