WEBVTT - Missing Limbs, Naked Mole Rats, and a Blood-Red Waterfall 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.080 Welcome to has To Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:10.479 a researcher and writer. Here it has To Works. Every week, 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.680 I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.439 weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology and culture. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.880 This week, it turns out that underground critters called naked 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.440 mole rats can switch their biochemistry to survive when oxygen 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.639 supplies run low. And unrelated, the researchers have cracked the 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.840 mystery of the pigmentation responsible for blood falls, A waterfall 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:35.600 with an aptly dramatic name, but first, Senior editor Katherine 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.159 Born and our freelance writer Alia Hoyt explore new research 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.599 into how our brains control our movements. The results run 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:44.960 counter to what we thought we knew about motor function, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:53.000 and it's all thanks to patients with missing limbs. Recent 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.120 research published in the journal Current Biology is poised to 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:00.440 transform whole scientists understand the brain, specifically which section control 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:04.720 which body parts. Researchers from University College London looked at 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.840 seventeen people born without a hand, along with twenty four 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.679 people born with two hands as a control group. The 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:14.320 participants were all video recorded doing five everyday tasks such 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.760 as wrapping presents, while their brains were scanned using functional 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.279 m r A. Science has generally posited that a certain 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.680 area of the brain was in charge of hand function, 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.959 but the researchers learned that when other body parts were 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.560 compensating for a missing hand, like the foot, mouth, or arm, 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.200 that hand area of the brain just as effectively lit up, 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.360 so instead of that section of the brain being hands specific, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.200 it appears to be actually functioned specific, although this is 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.000 just a working theory. The concept is illustrated by six 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.600 year old Zian Lee Aguila Valle of Kennesaw, Georgia, who 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.960 was born without arms. Zian mostly uses his feet to bathe, dress, 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.760 and eat, as well as to write, paint, play with legos, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.720 or help his mom cook dinner. He carries around small 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:01.000 packages of cleansing wipes to d german his feet before eating. 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.720 He also loves skateboarding, swimming, and baseball. Interestingly, Zan's brain 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.480 is better equipped to adapt his missing limbs than that 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:10.959 of a person who loses a hand later in life. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:16.280 James Giordano, a neurology and biochemistry professor at Georgetown University, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.520 says the brain is very adaptive, so if a function 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.280 needs to be done, another part can be recruited to 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.680 fill in for the one that's missing. If the limb 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.840 loss occurs later in life, Jordana says, another appendage can 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.160 be trained to fill in, but it's much more difficult 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.080 because the brain has to basically rewire its connections. Neurophysical 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:38.800 rehabilitation and high tech approaches like magnetic stimulation can encourage 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.639 the brain to adapt. The study we mentioned earlier demonstrates 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.080 the brain is more plastic than we had imagined. The 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.280 study could help scientists determine how the brain could control, 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.760 for instance, a prosthetic arm using the brain area that 0:02:51.800 --> 0:03:00.080 would have controlled that missing arm. Next step, steph it 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.520 aor Christopher Hassiotus and our freelancer Jesceline Shields bring us 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.360 into the bizarre world of the naked mole rat, which 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.120 can run its body basically like a plant when it 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:18.079 doesn't have enough oxygen to live like a mammal. Learning 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:22.200 interesting facts about animals is like reading evolution celebrity gossip rag. 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:25.520 There's a delightfully voyeuristic thrill that comes with learning that 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.120 a star nosed mole can smell underwater by blowing bubbles 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.520 and then sucking them back in its nose, or that 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.639 a sea otter has so much hair and has the 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.280 approximate surface area of a hockey rink. But have you 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.680 heard about the naked mole rat. You're gonna want to 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:44.320 sit down. So the naked mole rat heterocephalous glaber looks 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.560 about like you'd expect a hairless mole crossed with a 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.880 hairless rat crossed with a chest bursting creature from alien. 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.320 But this subterranean African mammal is by far the longest 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.680 living rodent. It's cold blooded, and it's immune to cancer. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.200 It's practically pervious to most types of pain, and shows 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.160 very few signs of aging during its life. Like some insects, 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.040 naked mole rats are use social, meaning a group of 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.280 them has a queen that takes on all the reproductive 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.440 responsibilities for the group, while other females are sterile and 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.640 have jobs like finding food or fending off predators. A 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.840 single queen naked mole rat might live thirty years and 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:25.320 have nine hundred babies in her lifetime. And finally, these 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.400 little animals can survive for long periods without oxygen by 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:34.240 basically turning into plants wait seriously under normal oxygen rich conditions. 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.320 The naked mole rat runs itself on glucose like every 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.839 other self respecting mammal on the planet, and mammals need 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.400 oxygen to fuel this process. But in the absence of oxygen, 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:46.919 according to a new study published in the journal Science, 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.440 it turns out naked mole rats can switch over to 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.279 a different biochemical process using fructose, the same sugar that 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:57.080 powers plants. Now, scientists have known for a while that 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.920 because they live in large groups in tight underground space 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.720 is where plentiful oxygen supplies aren't given like they are 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.160 here above ground, naked mole rats have evolved to withstand 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:11.720 shockingly low oxygen situations. Until now, however, nobody has quantified 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.480 the extent to which these hideous little wizards can abstain 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.560 from breathing air. The team of international researchers discovered the 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:21.480 little animals can chill for five or more hours at 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.680 a time in extremely low oxygen environments, and for up 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:30.119 to eighteen minutes with absolutely no oxygen whatsoever. To figure 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.200 this out, the team put both naked mole rats and 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.920 regular mice in a chamber with no oxygen. As you 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.039 might expect the mice died immediately, But although the naked 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.320 morats quickly lost consciousness and their heartbeats slowed from two 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.919 hundred to only fifty beats per minute, after being introduced 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.160 back into the air, a full eighteen minutes later, they 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.279 completely recovered and went about their naked mole rat business. 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.200 So exactly how do the animals manage this? According to 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.039 the studies lead author Thomas Park, who's a professor of 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:05.040 biological sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:08.359 naked mole rat has simply rearranged some basic building blocks 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:12.280 of metabolism to make it super tolerant to low oxygen conditions. 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.960 There are other animals who can metabolize fructose in the 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.400 absence of oxygen, but only in limited parts of the body, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.240 like the gut. It's naked mole rats that have emergency 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.200 fruito services set up in all of their organs, even 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.600 their brain and their heart, making them unique among mammals 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.000 in that regard, at least as far as we know 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:41.960 right now. Finally, this week, managing editor Alison louder Milk 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.760 and our freelancer Kate Kirshner explain how researchers solved the 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.680 mysteries of a blood red waterfall flowing out of the 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:56.359 middle of a glacier. If you were to say that 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:00.000 the blood red color of an Antarctic waterfall was only 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.039 the second most interesting thing about it, it might be 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.400 hard to take you seriously. After all, one look at 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:10.440 blood falls and you're probably pretty focused on the horrifying 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.480 carry prom scene nestled in the ice of Taylor Glacier. 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.200 You're not looking for much else to catch your eye. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.480 But while that horror seene hue undoubtedly pulls you in, 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.560 scientists have now figured out the source of the blood, 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:28.360 so to speak, and it's arguably more fascinating than the 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.280 ghoulish falls itself. When geologist and all around adventure Thomas 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.960 Griffith discovered the geological wonder back in nineteen eleven, the 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.840 prevailing idea was that a type of algae was causing 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.120 the distinctive red bloom, sort of like the harmful algal 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.200 blooms or red tides that have been known to plague 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.840 Florida's Gulf coast. But a two thousand three analysis found 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.080 that it was actually high levels of iron that tinged 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.200 the water, so distinctively the iron turns to rust in 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.920 the water. But this presented another mystery. So I just 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.600 weren't sure where the salty in laden liquid water was 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.520 coming from that's been feeding the waterfall. So they decided 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.640 to investigate the subsurface of the glacier with radar signals, 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.920 and when they did, researchers found a subsurface lake, complete 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.480 with a flowing path of water that supplied the briny, 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:19.720 iron rich water to the falls. Second mystery solved. This 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.680 discovery is particularly interesting because it confirms that flowing water 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.840 can persist inside a glacier as cold as tailor, something 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.760 researchers weren't quite sure was possible. And in case you're 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.440 wondering how liquid water can exist in a clearly freezing glacier, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.520 it's actually the process of freezing that keeps it moving. 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.640 As water freezes, it releases heat that can melt the 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.480 ice around it. Add in some salty water that freezes 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.120 at a lower tempt and you have flowing water in 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:52.080 a glacier. That's our show for this week. Thank you 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.520 so much for tuning in further thanks to our audio 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.080 technical brown, our producer Dylan Fagan, and our editorial liaison 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.880 Alice in louder Milk. Subscribed to out Now for more 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:02.840 of the latest science news, and send us links to 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.160 anything else you'd like to hear his cover, plus what 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.560 historical figure do you find endlessly fascinating? Let us know? 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.760 You can send us an email at Now podcast at 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.680 how stuff works dot com, and of course, for lots 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:15.880 more stories like these, head on over to our home 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:28.920 planet Now dot how stuff works dot com.