1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:03,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to How Stuff Works. Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:10,480 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works. Every week, 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,479 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: This week, a company has proposed a new ish twist 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: on the Fountain of youth, transfusing the aging with the 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: blood of the young. Unrelated researchers think they've found all 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: existing vertebrates oldest common ancestor and it's basically a tiny 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: bag of teeth with no anus. But First Senior writer 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: Robert Lamb explores the strange world of crustacean bioweapons. A 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: species of boxer crabs seems to purposefully clone the sea 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: an enemies that they use like clubs, not like social clubs. 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: Clubs and truncheons, nightsticks, bludgeons, Jimmy sticks, billy clubs. Barely 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: two cinameters wide and textured like scrumptious tempura. The Libya 15 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: lepto chillis boxer crab would seem rather ill suited for survival, 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: and that's why they wield a pair of sea an 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: enemy cudgels. But where do they snag these fancy bioweapons? 18 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: Well Barlon University graduate students Israel Schnitzer and Yaniv Gemon 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: had the same question and investigated the matter for a 20 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: new study published in the journal Pierre j. The researchers 21 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: collected boxer crabs from the south shore of the Red 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: Sea in a Lot, Israel and identified the weaponized and 23 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: enemies as belonging to the genus Elysia, likely a newly 24 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,479 Speaker 1: recorded species. But when they looked around for wild examples 25 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: of the Elyssius sea an enemies, nothing turned up. If 26 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,119 Speaker 1: wild unclaimed weapons are scarce, than how's a boxer crabs 27 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: supposed to arm up theft? Of course, just as an 28 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: unarmed Bruce Lee might swipe a pair of nun Chucks 29 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: from an adversary, so too does an unarmed boxer crab 30 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: wrestle an enemy away from one of its fellow tool users. 31 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: And then things get even more amazing, As Schnitzer and 32 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: Gamon discovered in a pair of experiments, a one weapon 33 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: boxer crab will split its remaining an enemy into two fragments. 34 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: The resulting fragments then regenerate over the course of several 35 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: days into two distinct clones. Let's see Bruce Lee do that. 36 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: Schnitzer and Gamon are no strangers to the mystery of 37 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: crab boxing. The two biologists previously worked on a two 38 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: thousand thirteen study published in the Journal of Experimental Marine 39 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: Biology and Ecology, which revealed the boxer crabs Bond's eye 40 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: like treatment of their claw clutch bioweapons. They use them 41 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: to catch food and defend themselves, but they also starve 42 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,399 Speaker 1: the anenemy enough to regulate the size. Now, the researcher's 43 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: latest study reveals the crabs manipulation goes well beyond mere 44 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: symbient tool use. Molecular fingerprinting of an enemy pairs taken 45 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: from wild crabs revealed even more identical clone weapons, suggesting 46 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: the practice is widespread among the boxer crabs. Given the 47 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: apparent absence of wild Alysias, sea enemies and the boxer 48 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: crabs tent for inducing clonal reproduction were left with a 49 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: tantalizing question. Are there any free living Elysia left or 50 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,239 Speaker 1: does the species continue on as a purely cultivated weapons species. 51 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: This situation would not be unlike the domesticated fungi of 52 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: leaf cutter ants. Schnitzer admits that the cultivation explanation is possible. 53 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 1: The Elyssa c an enemy could now be extinct in 54 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,959 Speaker 1: the wild, or might live elsewhere a remote species brought 55 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: into a lot by a founding father crab. However, Schnitzer 56 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: believes that the Elysia and enemies probably do exist in 57 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: the wild, but are rare in this experiment, every crab 58 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: the researchers found in the wild held clones supporting the 59 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: theft and splitting behavior they saw in the lab, and 60 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: there were a very limited number of holotypes, and this 61 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: was established with genetic fingerprinting analysis. These clues gave credence 62 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: to the assumption that most of the elysia reproduction is 63 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: a sexual, but not quite all of it. Regardless of 64 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: the searchers findings provide us with a seemingly unique example 65 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: of one animal inducing the a sexual reproduction of another, 66 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: and for two use. Humans may claim the honors to 67 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: bioweapons supremacy for the moment, but the boxer crabs are 68 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: ready to claim the prize just as soon as we 69 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: wipe ourselves out with a misguided plague virus earch here 70 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: Next up staff editor Christopher Hasiotas and our freelance writer 71 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: Chris Opfer bring us the story of a proposed anti 72 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,280 Speaker 1: aging treatment that should absolutely be accompanied by an image 73 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: of the Simpsons. Mr burns elective blood transfusions from younger donors. 74 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: Most people aren't all that excited about growing old. The 75 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: anti aging industry could bring in as much as three 76 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: billion dollars annually in the next few years, as people 77 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: carve out their bank accounts, sit through their wallets, and 78 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: shake out the couch cushions like some sort of modern 79 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: day Ponsta Leon. That's a lot of cash spent on botox, 80 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: hair plugs, chemical peels, and testosterone treatments, among other get 81 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: young quick options, and soon some age avoiders may even 82 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: fill their own fountains of youth with the blood of 83 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: the young. Ambrosia is a California based start up company 84 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: that aims to help people retain a youthful glow by 85 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: pumping them full of young blood plasma. The project is 86 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: still in a clinical trial stage, but Ambrosia points to 87 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: testing results that it says show new young blood may 88 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: help reverse some of the physical and mental wear and 89 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: tear that comes with aging. Now, transfusing the blood of 90 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: the young isn't a new idea. Indeed, it dates back 91 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: to before any successful transfusions ever took place. As Andreas Libavius, 92 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: a sixteenth century German doctor, reportedly said, the hot and 93 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: spirituous blood of the young man will pour into the 94 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: old one as if it were from a fountain of youth, 95 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: and all of his weakness will be dispelled. That was 96 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: right around the time of the first successful blood transfusion 97 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty five, when an English researcher transferred blood 98 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: between dogs. Blood transfusions have long been used to help 99 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: accident victims and others who lose a lot of their 100 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: own blood, but Ambrosia believes swapping in new juice from 101 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: younger donors aged about sixteen to twenty five could also 102 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: be helpful. Once and if the company gets up and running, 103 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: it'll cost you about eight thousand dollars to find out 104 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: if they're right. Among other research, Ambrosia points to a 105 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen study finding that older mice transfused with 106 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: the blood of younger mice saw improvements in their cognitive functioning, 107 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: and scientists in a separate study two years earlier found 108 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,279 Speaker 1: that a cocktail of young blood also helped old mice 109 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: rejuvenate their central nervous systems. What we don't know is 110 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: how much cheddar of their own the little critters had 111 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: to fork over. So how close are we to a 112 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: mad max future in which you and I are just 113 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: blood bags for the super rich. Well stick around a 114 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 1: few decades longer and maybe we'll find out. Finally. This week, 115 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: Stuff editor Eaves Jeff Cote has one for us that 116 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,719 Speaker 1: Christopher wrote about the discovery of what may be humanity's 117 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: oldest known ancestor, and it's a tiny starlac. The next 118 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: time someone calls you a microscopic bag of teeth and goo, 119 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: don't get offended. Take a deep breath and respond, I'm sorry. 120 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: I think you must have mistaken me for someone else. 121 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: I believe you're referring to my great great, great, great 122 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: great great, and keep repeating that for a few hours 123 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: as you flip back the pages of the family album. 124 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: Five forty million years or so, scientists have identified what 125 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: may be the earliest verifiable ancestor of humankind, using electron 126 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: microscopes and CT scan technology to analyze tiny fossils. Researchers 127 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: out of China, the UK, and Germany point to Saccharitis 128 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: coronarius as the common ancestor of a group of organisms 129 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: known as deuterous stones. Their findings were recently published in 130 00:07:53,640 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: a letter in the journal Nature. Okay. The overuse and 131 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: use of medical services is a global healthcare crisis that 132 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: the medical industry is desperately trying to remedy, as described 133 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: in a series of papers published by The Lancet in 134 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: January of seventeen. These problems are happening around the world, 135 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: with both overuse and under use often occurring side by 136 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: side throughout various economies, with both leading to Sacharitis likely 137 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: lived between grains of sand on the sea floor and 138 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: was at most point zero five inches or one point 139 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: two millimeters. The researchers had to process tons of limestone 140 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: to get to the fossils, which were found in the 141 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: shamp Sea province of Central China. Members of the same 142 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: research team have been studying duterous stomes for some time 143 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: and in two thousand nine identified the region as rich 144 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: in deuterous stone fossils. The analysis of saccharitis fossils shows 145 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: a dominant pleated mouth, a skin light covering with numerous openings, 146 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: and small conical structures on a symmetrical body that could 147 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 1: have allowed water to escape, perhaps acting as a precursor 148 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: to modern gills. The researchers believed this new found organism 149 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: is a common ancestor of all deutalous domes and the 150 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: beginning of a diverse evolutionary lineage that includes humans. Interestingly enough, 151 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: this early proto ancestor show no evidence of having an anus. 152 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,199 Speaker 1: That means waste would have had to exit through its mouth, 153 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: a pretty unappealing method of excretion. That's a show for 154 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. Further 155 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: thanks to our audio producer Dylan Fagan and our editorial 156 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: liaison Alice and Laddermilk. 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