1 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,639 Speaker 1: Our fingerprints actually all unique? 2 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 2: Are we sure they never change? I'm not contemplating committing 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 2: a crime. I just find it strange. 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 3: A Russian man was once bitten by a particle beam. 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 3: If you injected a parasite intocern, would it turned into steam? 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: I read about someone yawning. 7 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 2: Now I have to do it too. I promise on 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 2: that board. It has nothing to do with you. 9 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 3: Being tickled is something I absolutely hate, So then why 10 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 3: do I laugh when it makes me so irate? 11 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 2: Whatever questions keep you up at night? Daniel and Kelly's 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 2: answers will make it right. 13 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,560 Speaker 1: No, I'm gonna spend the whole time, Yati. 14 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 3: Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, and I really 15 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 3: don't like being tickled. 16 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Kelly Waiter Smith. 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 2: I study parasites and space, and I don't mind being tickled. 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: It's okay, I guess. 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 3: But I do love giving a good tickling, which makes 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 3: me a terrible hypocrite. 21 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: I know, you know. 22 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 2: One of one of the great joys in my life 23 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 2: is that my son loves being tickled, and he has 24 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 2: the greatest smile and the best laugh. And I know 25 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 2: that I'm biased, but like he wakes up in the morning, 26 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 2: and the very first thing he says is tickle. Like 27 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 2: just while he's getting his like brain together and clearing 28 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 2: the cobwebs, he knows he wants tickles already, and so 29 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,680 Speaker 2: he always wakes up asking for tickles. 30 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: And and I love that. 31 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 3: Well, I don't like being tickled, but I love the 32 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 3: idea of tickling. You know that it shows you this 33 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 3: deep like mind body connection. Somebody just has to like 34 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 3: wiggle their fingers at somebody who's ticklish, and they erupted laughter. 35 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 3: It's crazy, right, It shows you that like our mind 36 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 3: and our bodies are deeply, deeply connected. 37 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And we can even just say words to 38 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 2: our son that imply we're about to tickle him, and 39 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 2: he'll start like squirming and giggling because he knows it's coming. 40 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 2: And yeah, it's fun. 41 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 3: And what tickles me the most are the puzzles of 42 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 3: the universe, how everything works, what it's all made of, 43 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 3: and how it all comes together. And I love being 44 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 3: tickled by our listener's curiosity everything that you all wonder 45 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 3: about the universe. 46 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 2: You're so good at that, Daniel. All right, and so 47 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 2: let's jump right to our first question. And our first 48 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 2: question is a question that we got from our amazing 49 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 2: Discord community. We have the best moderators on that community, 50 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 2: and if you want to join us, you can find 51 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,959 Speaker 2: an invitation to our Discord group at Danielankelly dot org 52 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 2: and we would love to see you there. So let's 53 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 2: go ahead and hear our first question from Albario b X. 54 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 4: Hello, Daniel and Kelly, this is Alberio BX, but you 55 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 4: guys can just call me true if it's easy use. 56 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 4: I was thinking about the human body and how much 57 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 4: it changes over the course of its lifetime. I even 58 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 4: heard of statistic that every seven years or so the 59 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 4: human body you have a completely new set of cells. 60 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 4: I don't know if that's true or not, but I 61 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 4: hear that statistic quite often. However, from womb to tomb, 62 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 4: our fingerprints remain the same. I was wondering why that is. 63 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 4: Why is it that our fingerprints never change? Is that 64 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 4: something that's encoded in our DNA. If I get a 65 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 4: paper cut and my finger does the DNA tell the 66 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 4: cells how to regrow into that fingerprint? I was also 67 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 4: wondering does everyone truly have a unique set of fingerprints? 68 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 4: Is it possible to be born where you have a 69 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 4: matching right index finger with a completely random person. What 70 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 4: are the chances that you might actually have the same 71 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 4: fingerprint as someone else? Very curious about that. Thank you 72 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 4: very much in advance. I'm looking forward to hearing your answer. 73 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 4: I love the podcast and shout out to the Discord community. 74 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 3: This is awesome because I have the same question. I've 75 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 3: always wondered this, and now we have an excuse for 76 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 3: Kelly to go do a bunch of research and answer it. 77 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:16,799 Speaker 5: Yay. 78 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 2: What I love is that I hadn't actually ever wondered 79 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 2: what forms my fingerprints? Why do they form? But then 80 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 2: we get so many questions from our listeners where I'm like, oh, yeah, 81 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 2: what does that happen? So like, props to y'all for 82 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 2: being way more curious than I am and for helping 83 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 2: me get the answers to these sorts of questions. 84 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 3: So let's start with the basics, like why fingerprints? Why 85 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 3: do I even have them? Why aren't our fingers smooth? 86 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 2: So we think that we have fingerprints because the extra 87 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 2: surface area that they create helps us grip things better. Really, 88 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 2: so like those extra ridges help make it easier for 89 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 2: us to hang on to things. Or maybe those extra 90 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 2: ridges give us like more surface area that can connect 91 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 2: with things, and so we have higher sensitivity because we're 92 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: essentially touching things with more skin. I don't think we 93 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 2: actually have this answer like locked in. I wouldn't bet 94 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 2: my life. 95 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: On that answer. 96 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 2: But our great ape ancestors also have fingerprints, so this 97 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 2: is like an ancient thing that came about a while ago. 98 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not deeply impressed by these ideas. I mean 99 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 3: they sound to me like reasonable first hypotheses as you're 100 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 3: investigating it. But you know, having people done experiments like 101 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 3: does it actually give you better grip? Does it actually 102 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 3: make you more sensitive? Do we know any of that. 103 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: I didn't read about that part for very long. I'm 104 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: mostly read about why how we got our fingerprints. 105 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 2: That's a great question though, And if you are unconvinced 106 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 2: by these answers, wait until you get to yawning and 107 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:48,919 Speaker 2: tickling later. 108 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: On in the show. 109 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 2: The answers only become less convincing as we go today. 110 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 3: Well, this just shows you how deep a puzzle all 111 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 3: of biology really is. There are so many amazing me 112 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 3: to solve and mysteries along the way. All right, So 113 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 3: then if we don't really know why we have them? 114 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 3: Do we understand how they form? 115 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: Yes? So okay, all right, so here we go. 116 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 2: All right, so will we are fetuses and we're starting 117 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 2: to develop. This is very early in like the first 118 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 2: first couple months, like first trimester, maybe started the second. 119 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 3: All right, I'm a fetus. I'm floating around. 120 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 2: Yep, floating around in an amniotic sac and your fingers 121 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 2: on the tips you get these things called volar pads. 122 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 2: And when I saw a picture, they remind me of 123 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 2: like the sticky section cuppy bottoms on gecko feet. 124 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 3: Cool. 125 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 2: And so you get these like, you've got these pads, 126 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 2: and these pads are going to eventually sort of become 127 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 2: part of the rest of your finger, and so they 128 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 2: will like sort of get integrated into your skin. And 129 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 2: so the shape and location of these pads on your 130 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 2: finger or what's ultimately going to determine whether you get whorls, loops, 131 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 2: or arches, the three main shapes of fingerprints. 132 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 3: But how big are the pads relative to like the 133 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 3: tip of your finger. I was originally imagining like one 134 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 3: big pad, but sounds like it's a lot of little pads. 135 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: No, So each finger has one big pad. 136 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, so then how to the location of the pads 137 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 3: or the orientation or something determine whether you're getting loops 138 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 3: or whorls. 139 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna get there, my friend. Okay, I got 140 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: to give me a second, all right. 141 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 2: The background with these pads, though, is that where you 142 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 2: have these pads in their shape is sort of genetically determined. 143 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 2: So this is why, and what we'll get to why 144 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 2: in just a second. But this is why families sometimes 145 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 2: have similar main shapes for their fingerprints. I didn't know 146 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 2: that either until I started researching this. But they will 147 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 2: still have unique fingerprints. 148 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, so you could like deduce familial relationships just 149 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 3: from fingers. 150 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 6: I don't. 151 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 2: It is the case that you can look at the 152 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 2: fingerprints of family members and they will be similar, but 153 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 2: I don't know that that is a reliable enough indicator 154 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 2: that you could say, oh, Daniel's brother committed the crime 155 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 2: because we've been able to see Daniel's fingerprint and this 156 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 2: fingerprint looks really similar. 157 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 3: Well, I was wondering if anybody'd ever use them for 158 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 3: like paternity tests like that. Can't be my baby. It's 159 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 3: got whirls and I've got loops or something. 160 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 2: No, I think it's not quite that informative. All right, interesting, Yeah, yeah, 161 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 2: it's more like a ndo fact that your family is 162 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 2: like a whirl family instead of an arch family or 163 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 2: something like that. 164 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:36,559 Speaker 3: I don't even know. I got to go find out 165 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 3: a minute. 166 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,880 Speaker 2: Okay, Well there you go. And this had me spending 167 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 2: a lot of time looking at my fingers. 168 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 3: But uh, I was just staring at my own fingers. 169 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 3: All right, So tell us how they form? 170 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:47,199 Speaker 1: All right, So your voler pads. 171 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 2: They're on the tips of your fingers, and they are 172 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,679 Speaker 2: becoming part of your skin. So your skin. Let's talk 173 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,439 Speaker 2: about three layers. You've got the epidermis, which I'm just 174 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 2: gonna call the outer layer. You've we got an inner 175 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,199 Speaker 2: layer called the dermis, and I'm gonna call that the 176 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 2: bottom layer. And in between the epidermis and the dermiss, 177 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,439 Speaker 2: you have this middle layer, transition layer that we call 178 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 2: the basil layer, but I'm just gonna call it middle. 179 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 3: The middle one is called the basil layer. 180 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: All right, yes, but middle from here on out. 181 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna hold my fire here on criticizing biological names. 182 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: That would be fair. 183 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 2: I mean, it's basil to the epidermis, but all right, anyways. 184 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 3: Save with like a skin sandwich, let's just review. We 185 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 3: got the dermis in the bottom, the middle layer, and 186 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 3: then the epidermis on the outside. 187 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 2: Yes, right, okay, So the bottom layer, the dermis, starts 188 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 2: replicating much quicker than the top layer. And as it's 189 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 2: replicating more and more quickly, that middle layer starts to buckle. 190 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 2: And when that middle layer buckles, that's what's going to 191 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 2: form the ridges that you see on the outside of 192 00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 2: your finger. And the location of the volar path impacts 193 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 2: where those buckles happen, because it's sort of like you know, 194 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,679 Speaker 2: bending around that volar pad, and so like where your 195 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 2: volar pad is located. Any like differences in a shape 196 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 2: between individuals will impact if you get the whorls and 197 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 2: stuff like that. 198 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 3: So the bottom layer is growing faster, and the top 199 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 3: layer is into the top layer like cracks, and so 200 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 3: essentially the topic of your skin is sort of like 201 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 3: incomplete and you can sort of see down into the 202 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:27,319 Speaker 3: other layers, is that right? 203 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: Kind of? 204 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 2: So, so the bottom layer is replicating like crazy, and 205 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 2: then the middle layer is the one that's buckling, and 206 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 2: that's going to stay buckled essentially the way it's forming 207 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 2: right while you're a fetus for the rest of your life. 208 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 2: And then from that buckled layer, your epidermis emerges, and 209 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 2: it reflects the buckles that are happening in that middle layer. 210 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 3: And why are the buckles often in lines? Why aren't 211 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 3: they like moor in patches or blobs. 212 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: So a couple things. 213 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 2: First, I think that has to do with the way 214 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 2: that they grow around the volar pad. But then also 215 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 2: the lune lines sort of show up in a pattern. 216 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 2: So first they start so they start growing in the 217 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 2: center of your finger, and then some of the lines 218 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 2: start emerging on the tip of your finger, and then 219 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 2: heading towards the middle. And then where the top of 220 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:18,079 Speaker 2: your finger bends for your first joint, there's lines starting 221 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 2: there too, and more moving towards the center. So there's 222 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:23,439 Speaker 2: three spots the line start the middle, the top, and 223 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 2: the bottom, and the top is moving towards the bottom, 224 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 2: and the bottom is moving towards the top. 225 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 3: And it sounds like there's some sort of stochasticity here, 226 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 3: like the same fetus if you ran the experiment ten 227 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 3: times might end up with slightly different fingerprints. 228 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 2: Yes, so this reminded me of when you were talking 229 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 2: about how snowflakes are formed, and you were talking about 230 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:42,800 Speaker 2: how as you move through a cloud, the little micro 231 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 2: features of the climate, so like it's a little bit 232 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 2: colder here, a little bit wetter here, like that creates 233 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 2: a unique fingerprint. So your fingerprint apparently can be impacted 234 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 2: by things like how thick the amniotic fluid is while 235 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 2: your fingerprints are forming, and so there's a bunch of 236 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 2: randomness at this stage that impacts the details of your fingerprint. 237 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,960 Speaker 2: And the way these details play out are things like 238 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 2: when lines come together and they form, do they join 239 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 2: or do they kind of form a branching pattern. So 240 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 2: you've got like short ridges that are just kind of 241 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 2: like a little bit of a line that doesn't really 242 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 2: go anywhere, or an island which is just like a 243 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 2: little spot where there was a buckle, and it also 244 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 2: doesn't really form a line like you would expect. And 245 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 2: there are many, many, many of these unique features on 246 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 2: our fingers, and so looking at places where your finger 247 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,079 Speaker 2: forks or where you have an island, and then looking 248 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 2: at the relative location of those features relative to one 249 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 2: another creates so many possible combinations that there's more combinations 250 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 2: than there are humans. 251 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: On this planet. 252 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:50,199 Speaker 3: Probably a lot more, right, Yeah, a lot. 253 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 2: More, a lot more. And so that's why every fingerprint 254 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 2: is unique. I suppose it's not impossible that two people 255 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 2: could have nearly the same finger It's just really vanishingly 256 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 2: small probability that even within your family, when you've got 257 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 2: the same like patterns of loops and whirls, that all 258 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 2: of this would come together in the exact same way 259 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 2: is statistically improbable. 260 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,960 Speaker 3: It's like rolling a die with a zillion sides twice 261 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 3: and getting the same number. 262 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: Yes, exactly right. 263 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 3: Wow, so your fingerprints really are a unique identifier. 264 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, they're really unique identifiers. 265 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,719 Speaker 2: And then the listener wanted to know why don't our 266 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 2: fingerprints ever change? And the reason they never change is 267 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 2: because you know that pattern is emerging from these. 268 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,320 Speaker 1: Buckles, and those buckles in this. 269 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 2: Middle layer will always stay the same as you get older, 270 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:43,839 Speaker 2: and so if you cut your finger, it will grow 271 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 2: back and reflect those buckles that happened while you were 272 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 2: a fetus. So I mean, if you like cut your 273 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 2: finger open and it, you know, grows back in between, 274 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 2: like maybe you'll have a cut in the middle of 275 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 2: your fingerprint or something like that. If you have a 276 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 2: scar there but in general, any minor cut that you have, 277 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 2: your skin should grow back with the same pattern, reflecting 278 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 2: what's happening in the buckled layer below. 279 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 3: So for anybody out there who's pregnant, how far into 280 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 3: the pregnancy are the fingerprints determined? And does it happen 281 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 3: like over a day or a moment, or like a 282 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 3: week or depend on what they're eating for dinner. 283 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 2: I think it happens between ten and sixteen ish weeks 284 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 2: post conception, so it takes a little while. It's not 285 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 2: like you can have a spicy burrito if you really 286 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 2: want worlds and a bag full of carrots, if you'd 287 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 2: like a child with arches. 288 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: You know, you don't have that kind of control. 289 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 3: But that's really amazing to hear that your fingerprints are 290 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 3: essentially determined when you're pretty small, I mean ten to 291 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 3: sixteen weeks, you're like, what the size of a walnut 292 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 3: or an orange. 293 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: Or something pretty small? Yeah, I don't know exactly. 294 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 2: I definitely when I was pregnant had that app that 295 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 2: every week would like pop up a new fruit to 296 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 2: be like, your daughter is a mango. Now it's like, 297 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 2: oh delicious. 298 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 3: I remember when our firstborn son was a lent Kachin 299 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 3: was like, oh, our little lentil. 300 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: Oh, that's so cute. 301 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 2: I think peanut popped up once and we've called our 302 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 2: daughter peanut ever since, and uh, I don't think that's 303 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 2: her favorite thing. 304 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 3: Funny how some of those things are cute and affectionate, 305 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 3: but nobody wants to get called an avocado. 306 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right. 307 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 2: Here you banana, my little grapefruit. 308 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: That's right. 309 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, it just doesn't work, just doesn't work. Some fruits 310 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 3: are more emotional than others. All right, fascinating, Well, thank 311 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:36,840 Speaker 3: you very much of that answer. Let's send it back 312 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 3: to Albiro and see if we have answered their question. 313 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 6: Wow, thank you so much Kelly for the insightful answer, 314 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 6: and thank you Daniel for asking such insightful questions. It's 315 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 6: mind blowing to me that genetics does play a role 316 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 6: slightly in determining what type of fingerprints you have. But 317 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 6: what's even more mind blowing to me is that the 318 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 6: condition of the womb plays a role in a type 319 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 6: fingerprints you have. To me, that makes it obvious that 320 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 6: everyone's going to have a unique fingerprint, because statistically, what 321 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 6: are the chances of replicating everything perfectly. It's not going 322 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 6: to happen, not naturally at least, so that answers that 323 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 6: question perfectly. Thank you guys so much for the insightful answers. 324 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 6: I really really appreciate it, and I am looking forward 325 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 6: to the rest of the episode. 326 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 3: Okay, we're back and we're answering questions from listeners today. 327 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 3: Here's a question from a listener who's curious about particles 328 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 3: and parasites. 329 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 7: Hey, Daniel and Kelly, I love the show, and I 330 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 7: love that biology has been getting some coverage lately. In 331 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 7: the episode about leech Is, Daniel mentioned that he's never 332 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 7: been bitten by a particle, but I heard about an 333 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 7: incident where a Russian physicist sort of was attacked by 334 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 7: particles when he got part of his head accidentally in 335 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 7: the proton beam of his particle accelerator and he lived 336 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 7: to tell about it. So to me, this brings up 337 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 7: so many unanswered questions, such as, are these beams just 338 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 7: in open air so that you can go up and 339 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 7: touch them, what they look like? And does CERN have 340 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 7: a proton beam that's similar to this, and what color 341 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 7: would it be? And if you went and opened up 342 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 7: the hatch at CERN, that I assume you have and 343 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 7: you just like reached in there and grabbed the beam. 344 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 7: What would happen? Or if you tried to intercept it 345 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 7: with different materials, like you put glass in front of it, 346 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 7: or try to reflect it with a mirror, or stuck 347 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 7: some of Kelly's parasites in there with a long pair 348 00:17:55,960 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 7: of tweezers? What would happen in those cases? For considering 349 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 7: my question, and please don't let this physics question stop 350 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 7: you from talking about parasites. 351 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 3: Thanks. 352 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 2: I love that this question managed to sort of shoehorn 353 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 2: parasites in it. Maybe wasn't a natural melding of topics, 354 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 2: but anytime. 355 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: Parasites can be worked into a conversation up games. So 356 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: thank you Ryan. 357 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 3: And this is a great opportunity to tell a really 358 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 3: fascinating story in the history of particle physics and also 359 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 3: a tragedy. Of course, this is not an apocryphal story. 360 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 3: There really was a Russian physicist who was zapped by 361 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 3: a particle beam. Nineteen seventy eight. Anatoly Burgoski was working 362 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 3: at the U seventy accelerator in Protvino. U seventy was 363 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 3: called because it was able to accelerate protons up to 364 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,439 Speaker 3: about seventy giga electron vaults, which at the time was 365 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 3: really impressive. These days, our accelerators are much more powerful. 366 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,439 Speaker 3: So one giga electron volt is about the energy in 367 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 3: the mass of a proton, So seventy gig electron volts 368 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 3: means you've given it kinetic energy seventy times its mass, 369 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 3: which is a lot. But the Tabotron where I got 370 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 3: my PhD in, which for a while was the highest 371 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 3: energy collider in the world, is almost two thousand GeV, 372 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 3: so much more powerful, and the Large Hadron collider is 373 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 3: almost fourteen thousand GeV. So these days colliders are much 374 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 3: more powerful than back in the seventies. But this still 375 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 3: was a lot of energy for a person to absorb. 376 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, so whatever we're about to hear happened to anatolely, 377 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 2: we could imagine it would be way worse if it 378 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 2: happened to someone today exactly. 379 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 3: And so what happened was Anatoly was working on the collider, 380 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 3: and people often imagine that he like stuck his head 381 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 3: into the beam, And I think that's part of Ryan's question, 382 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 3: is like, how do you even get into the beam? 383 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 3: How does that even happen like, isn't there a pipe there? 384 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,720 Speaker 3: And it's a good question because that's not really possible. 385 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,919 Speaker 3: Usually these beams are in vacuum because you want the 386 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 3: beams to go fast and to not collide with air particles, 387 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 3: and so usually a beam pipe and pump it down 388 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 3: to near vacuum. For example, at CERN, the beam pipe 389 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 3: is like ten to the minus eleven atmosphere. And that's 390 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 3: because we want just proton proton collisions, not proton air 391 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 3: collisions at some random place. And so that also was 392 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 3: happening at the U seventy sygnotron. But sometimes you take 393 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 3: the beam and you bend part of it off to 394 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 3: slam it into some other kind of target. Maybe you 395 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 3: want to smash it into some crystals, or you want 396 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 3: to hit it into some high density target and look 397 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,880 Speaker 3: for other kinds of interactions. And so they also had 398 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 3: this feature at the U seventy signatron. It is like 399 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 3: a beam extraction channel where the beam is like bent 400 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 3: off and directed at a target. And so the beam 401 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 3: was supposed to be off and he was like working 402 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 3: on the target and he was leaning over some equipment, 403 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,399 Speaker 3: and the safety mechanism which prevents the beam from coming 404 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 3: on when people are working on it failed and so 405 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 3: the beam cranked back up and some of it shot 406 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 3: out this beam extraction channel and instead of hitting the target, 407 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 3: it went right through his head. Oh, no, bad news. 408 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: Did he immediately know that that it happens? 409 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,840 Speaker 3: He immediately knew. He described it as seeing a flash 410 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 3: brighter than a thousand suns, but weirdly felt no pain. Right, 411 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,159 Speaker 3: He didn't like immediately feel burned, though he didn't actually 412 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 3: get burns on his face. Right. What happens when particles 413 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,639 Speaker 3: impact flesh is they deposit a lot of energy. Basically, 414 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 3: it's cooking you. Right. We talked about this in our 415 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,399 Speaker 3: episode about how particle beams can cure cancer. If you 416 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 3: deposit energy just into the tumor, for example, you're cooking 417 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 3: the tumor. And proton beams are really good for this 418 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 3: because they tend to deposit their energy yet only a 419 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 3: certain depth. Depending on their energy, they either dump it 420 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 3: one centimeter in or two centimeters in or four centimeters in, 421 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 3: so you don't have to like a radiate a whole 422 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,119 Speaker 3: tube of flesh. You can actually just irradiate a little 423 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 3: deep blob. So protons are the particle of choice for 424 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 3: treating cancer and it only didn't have cancer, but he 425 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 3: did get this proton beam through his face, and everyone 426 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 3: expected him to die. Basically, they took him to the 427 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 3: hospital to say, like, okay, let's watch what happens to 428 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 3: see when but he dies from protons. But he didn't. 429 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 3: He recovered. Wow, his face was half paralyzed. He lost 430 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 3: hearing on that one side. Amazingly, the paralyzed side of 431 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 3: his face didn't age. What So like one side of 432 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 3: his face is like still smooth and the other one 433 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 3: is getting wrinkles. I guess maybe because he like can't 434 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 3: move it, so like the skin isn't getting wrinkled. The 435 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 3: dude is still alive. He's like still around. 436 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 7: What. 437 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 3: Yeah, this happened in nineteen seventy eight. He was born 438 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 3: in forty two, so you know he's getting up there, 439 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 3: but he's living a long life. 440 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: If the protons are depositing all of their energy in 441 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: a very particular spot, do we know, like was it 442 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: in his occipital lobe where the hippocampus or like, do 443 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,159 Speaker 1: we know what region it deposited all of its energy in. 444 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 3: Well, it's actually really fascinating because proton beams we used 445 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 3: to treat cancer typically are much lower energy, like much 446 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 3: less than a GV, so that they do this thing 447 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 3: where they stop and they deposit all of their energy. 448 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,640 Speaker 3: So in this case, because they're so high energy, probably 449 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 3: most of them just went through him. Okay, right, so 450 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 3: he didn't get the like major deposition. In that sense, 451 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 3: a higher energy beam might be safer because these protons 452 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:09,719 Speaker 3: don't end up dumping all of their energy, but they 453 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,719 Speaker 3: also have a lot of energy, so even if they 454 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 3: lose a little fraction, you're getting fried. So yeah, it 455 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 3: probably damaged a whole tube of Russian physicists through his brain. 456 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 2: Yikes, he's so lucky that he's not lucky at all. 457 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 2: He's very unlucky. But the fact that, I mean, based 458 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 2: on the explanation so far, doesn't sound like, you know, 459 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 2: he's forgotten his loved ones or he can't move his 460 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,440 Speaker 2: right foot anymore. Like, it sounds like he got off 461 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 2: pretty easy. Given what he went through. I would have 462 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 2: expected this to have been much worse. 463 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, apparently he still has like occasional seizures, so there 464 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 3: are lingering brain effects, but you know, he's still being 465 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 3: a physicist. He's got his brain mostly there. 466 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: So wow. 467 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's incredible, and in principle this is something that 468 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,159 Speaker 3: could happen at CERN. Again, not with the main beam, 469 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 3: because there's no way to access the beam when it's running. 470 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,200 Speaker 3: They can't run the collider until they close the beam 471 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 3: pipe and they pump it down to vacuum and then 472 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,919 Speaker 3: they turn the collider on. But there are also fixed 473 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 3: target experiments at CERN where they take part of the 474 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 3: beam and they divert it off somewhere else and they 475 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 3: should add like a dense block of material to create 476 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:16,639 Speaker 3: neutrinos or muons or something else. There's of course a 477 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,640 Speaker 3: lot of safety equipment involved, but there are places where 478 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 3: the beam is not in that beam pipe, and so 479 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 3: in principle one could. Now Ryan wanted to know what 480 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 3: would happen if you stuck your eye in the beam 481 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,159 Speaker 3: at CERN. It would be very, very bad. It's definitely 482 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 3: not recommended. I mean, at CERN we have more than 483 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 3: two hundred times as much energy per proton as in 484 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 3: the Burgorski accident, so much higher energy per proton. Also, 485 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 3: the thing we've done at the Large je On Collider 486 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 3: is we've made the beams more intense, which means a 487 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 3: lot more protons. The beams are not like continuous, which 488 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 3: just like proton proton proton proton proton, they come in 489 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,399 Speaker 3: these bunches of like ten to the ten protons, and 490 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 3: you pass the bunches through each other. And the goal 491 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 3: there is to get as many interactions as possible. So 492 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 3: you make the bunches really tight and dense, and you 493 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 3: pass them through each other after you focus them. So 494 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 3: we have much higher intensity beams, like more protons per second, 495 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 3: not just more energy per proton, and we overlap these 496 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,640 Speaker 3: bunches every twenty five nanoseconds. So yeah, these beams are 497 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,120 Speaker 3: very intense and much more dangerous than with the head 498 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 3: back in the seventies. 499 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: So really be extra careful. 500 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 3: Really be extra careful. Now, if you really are not 501 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,879 Speaker 3: a fan of parasites, you really wanted to fry a parasites, 502 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 3: or you wanted to make a parasitologist, you know, uncomfortable, 503 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 3: you could tak a parasite, put it on a stick 504 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 3: and stick it in the beam, and yeah, there would 505 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 3: be a lot of energy deposited into that parasite very quickly. 506 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 3: You would have a roasted or toasted or something parasite. 507 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,000 Speaker 2: All right, there are some parasites that ought to be 508 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 2: roasted or toasted, so I can accept I can accept this, 509 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 2: although it seems like an inefficient way to take out 510 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 2: a population of parasites. 511 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 3: I wouldn't mind some mosquitoes getting fried by those beams, 512 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,640 Speaker 3: and I wouldn't mind having like some sort of beam 513 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 3: I could shoot at mosquitoes. I recently saw this ai 514 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 3: which has a camera and it spots mosquitoes, and it 515 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 3: shoots a laser at the mosquitoes, but just to identify 516 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 3: them so you can then go zap it. And I 517 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 3: was like, oh, soup that thing up. Man, fry those 518 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:17,120 Speaker 3: mosquitoes like Star Wars space based weapons to fry mosquitoes 519 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:18,679 Speaker 3: from space. I'm all into that. 520 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 2: But then I guess you have to worry about it, 521 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:25,800 Speaker 2: Like if the mosquito is in front of your face, 522 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,919 Speaker 2: isn't gonna is the laser gonna hurt you? 523 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: If it hits you too, I'd. 524 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 3: Rather the mosquito get fried and I get a little 525 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 3: bit of splash back then get bitten. All right, But 526 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 3: we're gonna do a whole episode about mosquitoes pretty soon, 527 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 3: aren't we. 528 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:39,200 Speaker 1: We sure are. 529 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 3: And I'm imagining that Jewish space lasers are not a 530 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 3: part of the solution too. 531 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: That wasn't on my research list. 532 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 3: No, it was all right, So let's send our answer 533 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:53,879 Speaker 3: back to Ryan and see if we have answered his question. 534 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,080 Speaker 7: Daniel, thanks for that info. I didn't know the beam 535 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 7: could be diverted outside its normal chamber. Didn't necessarily mean 536 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:02,919 Speaker 7: that you stick your eye in the beam. More like 537 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 7: what it would look like from the side view. I 538 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,679 Speaker 7: kind of imagined it looks like a laser, but I 539 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 7: have no idea. 540 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,159 Speaker 3: Hey, Ryan, great follow up question, and your intuition is 541 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,800 Speaker 3: exactly right here. The beam would look a lot like 542 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 3: a laser, which is invisible unless you see scattered dust particles. 543 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 3: The beam is going through a vacuum and so almost 544 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,919 Speaker 3: nothing gets scattered, and so it's essentially invisible. 545 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 7: Thanks for the info, and thanks for such a good podcast. 546 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 6: All right. 547 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,879 Speaker 2: Next up, we have two questions that were sort of 548 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 2: along a similar line. I think they were both inspired 549 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,239 Speaker 2: by our episode on why do we itch? And they 550 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,159 Speaker 2: got folks thinking about other questions why do we yawn? 551 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 2: Why are we ticklish? And so let's go ahead and 552 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 2: listen to the questions from Jude and Dylan. 553 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 8: Hi, Daniel and Kelly, I love your show. Your recent 554 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,119 Speaker 8: response to the question about itching got me thinking, what 555 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 8: causes tickling? Why do we involuntarily laugh when tickled? Is 556 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 8: it learned a behavior that becomes conditioned? 557 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 6: Hi, Daniel and Kelly. 558 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 5: It's Dylan from California, and my question is about yawn's. 559 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 5: When I was younger, I heard that when you see 560 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 5: somebody yawn and it makes you yawn, it's due to 561 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 5: a sympathetic response somewhere in your brain. And I guess 562 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,199 Speaker 5: that kind of makes sense, but it doesn't really account 563 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 5: for the fact that when I talk about, hear about, 564 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 5: or think about yawn's, it often makes me yawn. 565 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 6: So I hope to hear what you guys have on 566 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:45,640 Speaker 6: the subject. 567 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 2: Well, Daniel, the answer to both of these is, uh, 568 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 2: we don't really know, and so I thought I would 569 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 2: sort of smooth them together and tell you what we 570 00:28:55,600 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 2: do know, and then you know, highlights are lack of knowledge. 571 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 3: Is this going to be a very short answer? 572 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 1: No, I tried. 573 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:05,719 Speaker 2: I tried to dig pretty deep to see what we 574 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 2: did know, so hopefully hopefully you learn something. 575 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 3: All right, Well, let's start with tickling, okay, because otherwise 576 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 3: we'll all be yawning. 577 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: That's right. 578 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, we'll end the episode on the Yawner so 579 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 2: that everybody can go take a nap afterwards. So did 580 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 2: you know, Daniel, that there are two kinds of tickles? 581 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 3: Only two? Well, I have in my power several kinds 582 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 3: of tickles. 583 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 2: Oh oh interesting, wow, Well scientifically maybe you should get 584 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 2: into this field. Scientifically, there's two. There's knnis messis. I'm 585 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 2: sure I got that wrong, But did you want to 586 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 2: try it? You could see it written down. 587 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 3: I was gonna sayis misis. 588 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 2: But kennismesis maybe sure. It's the Greek word for itching. 589 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 2: And essentially this is like a sort of light, feathery sensation. 590 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 2: It actually sounds quite a bit like itching, which is 591 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 2: to say, you just sort of gently run like your 592 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 2: fingers along the surface of somebody's skin and it doesn't 593 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,960 Speaker 2: necessarily make them laugh. Maybe it feels kind of nice. 594 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 2: It feels like maybe there's a spider walking on your skin. 595 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 2: And so I think we suspect that the function of 596 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 2: this kind of tickle is because it helps you identify 597 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 2: if something is walking on your skin. It draws your 598 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,719 Speaker 2: attention and then you like press the spider, or you know, 599 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:21,560 Speaker 2: you brush the spider or the tick away. 600 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 3: But it's different from the feeling of an itch. 601 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of overlap here. Itching is 602 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 2: often self initiated. So for example, we were talking about 603 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 2: how different aspects of our immune response can make you itch. 604 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 2: So that's something inside of your body that is resulting 605 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 2: in an itch. This is specifically in response to external stimuli, 606 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 2: and I think that's part of the difference. 607 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 1: But it did seem to. 608 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 2: Me while I was researching it that there's probably a 609 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 2: lot of overlap there. 610 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 3: So, like a spider is crawling along the hairs in 611 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 3: the back of your arm, that's going to make you 612 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 3: feel a little ticklish, and your finger's going to go 613 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 3: over there and be like. 614 00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, yep, yep, And I'm going to spend the rest 615 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 2: of the episode now scratching and thinking that certainly there's 616 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 2: something crawling on me. After I get a tick on me, 617 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 2: for the next couple of weeks, I spend the whole 618 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 2: time being like, there's another one, and there's not another one. 619 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 3: All right. So if we're recording an episode and I 620 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 3: see a spider crawling on your shoulder, what do you 621 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 3: want me to do? 622 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 2: Hypothetically speaking, Well, you know, if I felt like you 623 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,120 Speaker 2: could identify it if it were a black widow or 624 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 2: a brown recluse, i'd want you to say something. Otherwise, 625 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 2: let it go. It's probably fine. 626 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: Yeah. 627 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 3: I have a friendly relationship with spiders because we both 628 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 3: hate mosquitoes. Right, So I'm like, yeah, you want that 629 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 3: corner in my bedroom, you can have it. As long 630 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 3: as you eat any mosquito that comes near you. That's 631 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 3: the deal. 632 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. 633 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 2: No, I mean, I in general like the spiders on 634 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 2: my property. I think they do a nice ecological service. 635 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 2: I am just a little nervous of the ones where 636 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 2: if I get in their way they could hurt me. 637 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: Yes, But otherwise I love having them around. 638 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 2: And actually our property has tons of rabid wolf spiders. 639 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: Wow, which sounds really bad. 640 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, but they're not and they're they're fine, And they 641 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 2: walk around on the grass. And if you go outside 642 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 2: with the headlamp, which I do sometimes in the middle 643 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 2: of the night, there are literally thousands of little green 644 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 2: lights that are like reflections in the eyes of the 645 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 2: spiders coming. 646 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,239 Speaker 1: Back at us. And I'm like, oh, there's a lot 647 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: of you guys out here. I'm not gonna think too 648 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: hard about that. 649 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 3: This is the script of a horror movie. 650 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know, I like them. They control the 651 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 2: other kinds of insects. We're good the rabbit wolf spiders 652 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 2: and I are good. 653 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 3: But okay, you go outside and there's thousands of little 654 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 3: friendly spiders going. Don't worry, Kelly, we're on it. We're 655 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,040 Speaker 3: patrolling for insects. 656 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: And I say, thanks, buddies. 657 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 3: Okay, all right, so tell us about the other kind 658 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 3: of tickling. 659 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,240 Speaker 1: All right, the other kind of tickling. 660 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 2: So we all know at this point to never expect 661 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 2: that I'm going to pronounce anything correctly, So don't repeat 662 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,280 Speaker 2: this to anybody you want to look good in front 663 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:51,959 Speaker 2: of I think it's gargelesis. 664 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: And this is the more intense kind of tickling. 665 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 2: This is probably the kind of tickling that Daniel is 666 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 2: telling us, who's really good at where you're pressing down 667 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 2: kind of hard. It's like a rhythmic motion and it 668 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 2: makes people laugh. 669 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, but you've got to be moving fast also, right, Yeah, you. 670 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: Got to be moving pretty fast. 671 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 2: And so we're, to be honest, not one hundred percent 672 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 2: sure why quickly pressing down on somebody's body results in 673 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 2: this feeling of ticklishness and why it makes you laugh. 674 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 2: We think pressure receptors are involved, but we don't necessarily 675 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 2: know why. When you hit pressure receptors in some part 676 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 2: of the body it makes you go and in other 677 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 2: parts of the body it just kind of hurts. 678 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 3: When you say why, are you saying we don't understand 679 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 3: like the mechanism, like we can't explain how the signals 680 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 3: propagate and do the thing. Or are you saying why 681 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 3: in the sense of why does it make sense to 682 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 3: do this? Like evolutionarily? Is this an advantage for some 683 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 3: reason or the byproduct of some other system, or is 684 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 3: it both kinds of why? 685 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:53,440 Speaker 1: Both? 686 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 2: But there's a couple of hypotheses for why from an 687 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 2: evolutionary perspective, So let's go ahead and chat some of those. 688 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:04,200 Speaker 2: So one of the ideas, and I got to say, 689 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 2: I don't find this one super convincing, is but it 690 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:09,759 Speaker 2: was in a lot of the papers that I read. 691 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 2: So one of the ideas is that tickling teaches you 692 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 2: to protect vulnerable areas. So like when your parents tickle you, 693 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 2: they're teaching you to the like, tuck your arms into 694 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 2: your side because if someone I don't know, if someone 695 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,319 Speaker 2: like stuck a sword in your armpit, they could like 696 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:28,919 Speaker 2: they could hurt you. But I feel like there's other 697 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 2: parts of your body that you wouldn't want to get 698 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,839 Speaker 2: slashed open that aren't super ticklish. And I guess I'm 699 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 2: just not convinced that someone tickling me would prepare me 700 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 2: for like a lion coming and attacking and now I'd 701 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 2: suddenly like I'd cover my stomach so it wouldn't disembel 702 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 2: me because my mom gave me tickles. 703 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,839 Speaker 3: And that would definitely save you from the line. But 704 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,960 Speaker 3: maybe there is something there, because it does feel like 705 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,399 Speaker 3: you're more ticklish in like your neck area and your 706 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 3: belly and behind your knees, like places that you're I 707 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,480 Speaker 3: guess are a little bit more vulnerable. That might be 708 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,520 Speaker 3: like the genesis of this idea, but yeah, I agree, 709 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,400 Speaker 3: it sounds like a post facto explanation. 710 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, And how would you even test where you're more vulnerable? 711 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 2: Like what does that like? What does that even mean? 712 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,800 Speaker 2: Is it like the density of blood vessels in that area, 713 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:21,040 Speaker 2: the like proximity to organs? I don't know anyway, That's 714 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,640 Speaker 2: that's an idea. These things are hard to test. Another 715 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 2: idea is that like rough and tumble play in general 716 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,239 Speaker 2: is an important thing for our species and for other 717 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 2: great apes. And making it enjoyable is a way to 718 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,759 Speaker 2: ensure that we like kind of keep doing it, and 719 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:42,360 Speaker 2: also having that enjoyable interaction produces social reinforcement that helps 720 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,360 Speaker 2: improve our bonds. But I feel like that gets a 721 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,799 Speaker 2: little confusing because some people hate being tickled, and so 722 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,680 Speaker 2: why do we laugh when we hate it? And is 723 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,799 Speaker 2: that really improving our bonds? But I, you know, I 724 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 2: can imagine wanting to make rough and tumble play fun 725 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,440 Speaker 2: so that you learn how to do it could be important. 726 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,600 Speaker 3: Well that makes me think of lots of other creatures 727 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 3: that play, you know, wolves for example, and dogs and 728 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,440 Speaker 3: cats play. Are they also ticklish? Do you have to 729 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,000 Speaker 3: be ticklish in order to enjoy play? 730 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:12,360 Speaker 2: I don't know if you have to be ticklish to 731 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 2: enjoy play, but scientists think that they've seen something that 732 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 2: looks like tickling and looks like enjoyment of the tickles, 733 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 2: at least in great apes. 734 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:28,560 Speaker 1: Cats. Rats, rats, Yeah, rats, And so this was so. 735 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 2: I went to Bowling Green State University for my bachelor's 736 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 2: and my masters, and one of the things that this 737 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 2: university is known for is that in the psychology department, 738 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 2: there was a guy who discovered that rats like to 739 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:44,600 Speaker 2: be tickled and they laugh in the like ultrasonic range. 740 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,879 Speaker 1: And so this was our big claim to fame. Yak 741 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:49,880 Speaker 1: pank step I think. 742 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 2: And yeah, and so he would like he'd you know, 743 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,439 Speaker 2: kind of tickle them, and he'd have this this thing 744 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:57,279 Speaker 2: that would pick up their sounds and then turn it 745 00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,840 Speaker 2: into a sound that he could hear, and it sounded 746 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,959 Speaker 2: like they were laughing, and they would come back for more. 747 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:04,960 Speaker 1: And so it seems like it was a thing that 748 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 1: they enjoyed. 749 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:07,839 Speaker 2: And they would sometimes also make this noise with each 750 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 2: other like they were enjoying it when they were like 751 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:11,520 Speaker 2: kind of wrestling and playing. 752 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 3: So it wasn't just that he knew how to tickle 753 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,240 Speaker 3: the rats. They were also tickling each other. Yes, wow, 754 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:17,640 Speaker 3: incredible the rat tickler. 755 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 2: And one of the papers that I read pointed out 756 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 2: that there's a fair bit of debate in the field 757 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 2: about whether or not this is really tickling or just 758 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:29,359 Speaker 2: like some pleasurable a noise that indicates pleasure and it's 759 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 2: just like sort of enjoyment in the interaction. But great 760 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:37,720 Speaker 2: apes definitely do do tickling. And babies, just like human 761 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,319 Speaker 2: kids will like, you know, they'll get tickled by their 762 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:42,719 Speaker 2: mom and to ask for tickles, they'll like put their 763 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 2: arms up in the air and expose their armpits, and 764 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 2: as the moms get close, they'll like kind of pull 765 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 2: them back down in anticipation. So it's very clear that 766 00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,279 Speaker 2: like they enjoy it, they're asking for it, and it's 767 00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:53,600 Speaker 2: like a social thing. 768 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 3: It's a display of affection for sure. Well, how early 769 00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 3: can people get tickled? Like can you tickle a newborn? 770 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 2: So we don't respond to being tickled until we're about 771 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 2: six months old, and so there's a question now if 772 00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:10,120 Speaker 2: you don't do it right when you're born, is laughing 773 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 2: in response to tickling innate? So like something you would 774 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,440 Speaker 2: do even if you didn't encounter any humans at all 775 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 2: for a year or something. 776 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:20,560 Speaker 3: If you're raised by wolves, could you be tickled? 777 00:38:20,719 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: Yes, that's right, unless wolves tickle and then you know, 778 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:25,400 Speaker 1: but if. 779 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 3: You were raised by rats, you could be tickled. It 780 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 3: sounds like that's. 781 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,759 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, absolutely, But I wouldn't recommend that. 782 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,280 Speaker 3: Nobody's getting an IRB for that study. 783 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 1: No, I don't think so. 784 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 2: And so the question, yeah, so are you born with 785 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:40,319 Speaker 2: the ability to be ticklish or is it something that 786 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,359 Speaker 2: you learn? And so one of the ideas is like 787 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:46,040 Speaker 2: parents when they've got babies, they'll like tickle their baby 788 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:49,320 Speaker 2: and they're laughing and smiling because they're enjoying the interaction, 789 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,640 Speaker 2: and so do babies learn, Oh, this is when I'm 790 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 2: supposed to be laughing and smiling. 791 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:55,680 Speaker 1: And then in the nineteen. 792 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 2: Forties there was an experiment that I feel like is 793 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 2: maybe a little ethically dubious way. The dad and the 794 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 2: mom both agreed that when they tickled the baby, they 795 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 2: were going to put a mask on their face so 796 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,040 Speaker 2: that the baby couldn't see their expression, and they were 797 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,120 Speaker 2: going to not laugh. And they would laugh during other 798 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,280 Speaker 2: interactions with the baby, but when they tickled the baby, 799 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 2: they would not be laughing, and they were trying to 800 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,920 Speaker 2: see will the baby laugh on its own? 801 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 3: Who is doing these experiments on their children? Oh my gosh, 802 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:23,960 Speaker 3: I know, right. 803 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:25,840 Speaker 1: And in the nineteenth you know, nineteen forties was a 804 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:26,319 Speaker 1: different time. 805 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:29,040 Speaker 3: I guess I'm not volunteering my children for weird studies. 806 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,160 Speaker 3: Like what if I'm never nice to my children? Well, 807 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:31,880 Speaker 3: they still love me? 808 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, but your your kid's poop has been involved 809 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:37,279 Speaker 2: in all kinds of experiments, so I don't And you've 810 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:39,719 Speaker 2: got poop in the freezer I don't know how high 811 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 2: a horse you can sit on their, Daniel, But I 812 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:45,719 Speaker 2: see that in terms of like things you'd talk about 813 00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:49,080 Speaker 2: with your psychiatrist. Yeah, probably you know your dad and 814 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,400 Speaker 2: your mom not laughing with you when you get tickled 815 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 2: is higher up there. 816 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:54,400 Speaker 3: All right, So what did we learn by ruining this 817 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 3: baby's life? 818 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:58,640 Speaker 2: The baby did spontaneously laugh on its own at six 819 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 2: or seven months, So it looks like laughing is innate. 820 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,040 Speaker 2: It's just something that we do, whether we are responding 821 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 2: to laughing that our parents are doing or not. 822 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 5: I see. 823 00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:10,239 Speaker 2: Maybe you could even think of it as like a reflex. 824 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 2: When someone does this to you, you do it back. 825 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,000 Speaker 2: But as far as like why we do it, we 826 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,080 Speaker 2: don't really know, and it's hard to study. 827 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,799 Speaker 3: Well, I was wondering if the great ape connection was 828 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:24,680 Speaker 3: going to help us loop all the questions together, because 829 00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,840 Speaker 3: maybe there's a connection between fingerprints and tickling. Maybe you 830 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,720 Speaker 3: need fingerprints for better tickling. 831 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:32,920 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so you can get like a better grip 832 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:34,840 Speaker 2: on the belly of your baby. 833 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 3: See, I'm a biologist. I can just come up with 834 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:40,160 Speaker 3: these ridiculous hypotheses. 835 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 2: Well, then you got to test them, Daniel. That's the 836 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,759 Speaker 2: next stage. But it turns out that most of the 837 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,040 Speaker 2: research we've done has been on the first kind of tickling. 838 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,200 Speaker 2: We talked about the light kind that sort of sounds 839 00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:54,520 Speaker 2: a lot like itching, but there's not a lot of 840 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,480 Speaker 2: research on this second kind. And part of that is because, like, 841 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:00,680 Speaker 2: you know, some of the ways you might study this 842 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 2: would be like you'd put someone in an fMRI machine 843 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 2: and then look at like what their brain is doing 844 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:08,319 Speaker 2: or something. But when you tickle someone like this, they 845 00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 2: move all around, and now it's hard to get data 846 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:10,960 Speaker 2: on them. 847 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,239 Speaker 3: Y'all are missing Kelly's little dance that she does when 848 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:14,000 Speaker 3: she talks about that. 849 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:21,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm pretty expressive. Should have been Italian. But and 850 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:22,640 Speaker 2: then the other thing is, like, you know, when you're 851 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 2: doing an experiment, you want to make sure you're standardizing 852 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:29,319 Speaker 2: what's experienced by the people in the experiment, And so 853 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:34,440 Speaker 2: how do you standardize tickling? Yeah, like, because everybody responds 854 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,400 Speaker 2: in different ways to tickling. Some people like it harder, 855 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:39,319 Speaker 2: some people like it lighter, some people it's you know, 856 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:42,320 Speaker 2: most ticklish on their necks, some people on their knees 857 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 2: or something. And we really don't understand why that variability exists. 858 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,280 Speaker 2: And we don't really understand how to measure tickling because 859 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,719 Speaker 2: some people will be like he, some will go fall 860 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,759 Speaker 2: and like what scale do you put those things on for? 861 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:56,239 Speaker 2: Like how much someone's enjoying this? 862 00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:59,239 Speaker 3: And it's not just a physical response, right, Like you 863 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:01,880 Speaker 3: don't have to touch somebody, as you were saying, like 864 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,920 Speaker 3: people anticipation of tickling can trigger the reaction. 865 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, right, And there was actually there was a discussion about, well, 866 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,680 Speaker 2: could we standardize this by having a machine that tickles people? 867 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:19,320 Speaker 1: So so they thought that that maybe people. 868 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 3: Just imagining some sad person out there who has no 869 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 3: friends and nobody's ever tickled them, like ordering a tickling 870 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,200 Speaker 3: machine on Amazon instead. 871 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,799 Speaker 2: Well, so that okay, so that might work because this 872 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 2: they did an experiment where they had somebody underneath a 873 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:34,640 Speaker 2: table or it was something like that, and there was 874 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 2: a person on top. And the thing that they were 875 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:40,359 Speaker 2: told is that something like fifty percent of the time 876 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,480 Speaker 2: you're going to get tickled by a robot and fifty 877 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:43,880 Speaker 2: percent of the time you're going to get tickled by 878 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,160 Speaker 2: a person, and you're not going to know which one's 879 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,799 Speaker 2: the person and which one's the robot. And people responded 880 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,920 Speaker 2: similarly to both, so even if you think you're not 881 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:55,520 Speaker 2: getting tickled by a person, you think it's a robot, 882 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,239 Speaker 2: you respond the same way, but you know it was 883 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:00,719 Speaker 2: actually a person tickling them the whole time, and I 884 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,080 Speaker 2: don't know anyway. Yeah, and then you know, like responses 885 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 2: also depend on whether or not you know someone, because 886 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:08,280 Speaker 2: if you don't know someone, then it's kind of creepy 887 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:09,680 Speaker 2: and you feel different about it. 888 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:11,040 Speaker 1: So it's complicated. 889 00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:12,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think I want to be tickled by 890 00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:13,600 Speaker 3: a robot. No, thank you. 891 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I don't. 892 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,400 Speaker 2: I don't feel like i'd be able to get over it. 893 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:19,680 Speaker 2: But I also wouldn't want to be in an experiment 894 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:22,320 Speaker 2: and get tickled by a stranger. There was at least 895 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:25,399 Speaker 2: one paper I read where an experiment was done where 896 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,439 Speaker 2: people in a tickling lab were tickling each other, which 897 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 2: seems like a problem to me because they like probably 898 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,919 Speaker 2: have some expectation for the outcomes of the experiment, which 899 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:41,279 Speaker 2: might impact the way they respond to the tickling. So 900 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,359 Speaker 2: the point is this is hard to study. 901 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:47,480 Speaker 3: Well, what about zooming in in the biology, is it 902 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,200 Speaker 3: really impossible to study like on the microscopic scale, like 903 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,439 Speaker 3: what's happening inside your skin and what signals are being sent. 904 00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 2: I don't think it's impossible, but the papers that I 905 00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,799 Speaker 2: read suggested that we really don't know much. So let 906 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,120 Speaker 2: me let me sort of. There's a twenty twenty five 907 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:07,240 Speaker 2: paper written by kill Tenny in Science Advances, and here's 908 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,200 Speaker 2: what they say. Gargolesis or tickle is one of the 909 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:16,279 Speaker 2: most trivial yet enigmatic human behaviors. We do not know 910 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,239 Speaker 2: how a touch becomes ticklish, or why we respond to 911 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:24,120 Speaker 2: other people's tickles but not our own. Right, no theory 912 00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 2: satisfactorily explains why touch on some body areas feels more 913 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,120 Speaker 2: ticklish than on others, or why some people are highly 914 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:35,760 Speaker 2: sensitive while others remain unresponsive. Gargoleisis is likely the earliest 915 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:38,560 Speaker 2: trigger for laughter in life, but it's unclear whether we 916 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:43,560 Speaker 2: laugh because we enjoy it. Socrates, Aristotle, Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, 917 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:47,160 Speaker 2: and Darwin theorized about tickling, but after too millennia of 918 00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:51,160 Speaker 2: intense philosophical interest, experimentation remains scarce. 919 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 1: Wow, so that was a review written this year. 920 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,120 Speaker 3: Do you think experimentation is scarce because funding is thin, 921 00:44:57,239 --> 00:45:00,239 Speaker 3: because it seems frivolous and unimportant, like it's not a 922 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:03,279 Speaker 3: major medical issue. It's not going to solve any problems. 923 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:04,839 Speaker 3: It's just sort of like a curiosity. 924 00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:06,160 Speaker 1: I suspect that's part of it. 925 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, if I had a million dollars 926 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:12,839 Speaker 2: to give to cancer or understanding tickling, I might. 927 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:15,080 Speaker 1: I think basic research is critical. 928 00:45:15,239 --> 00:45:16,800 Speaker 3: What if tickling cures cancer? 929 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,520 Speaker 1: What? Maybe? So? 930 00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 2: I mean I think it's an important question. I hope 931 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:24,719 Speaker 2: we get more funding, but at the moment, we don't 932 00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:25,440 Speaker 2: know much about it. 933 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,200 Speaker 3: Yes, all right, all right, well then let's turn our 934 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,560 Speaker 3: attention to the other mystery of human reactions, which is 935 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:32,080 Speaker 3: the yawn. 936 00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:32,439 Speaker 1: Yeah. 937 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 2: All right, So, Daniel, out of vertebrates, how common do 938 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,560 Speaker 2: you think yawning is a vertebrates? 939 00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:44,040 Speaker 3: Well, I've definitely seen cats and dogs yawn. I remember 940 00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:49,120 Speaker 3: my rats yawning. So we're getting pretty small. I'm guessing maybe, well, 941 00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 3: I don't know what I have. Fish can fish yawn? 942 00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:54,960 Speaker 3: They're vertebrates. I would guess I'll land vertebrates yawn? Am 943 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:55,359 Speaker 3: I doing? 944 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:56,280 Speaker 1: You're doing well? 945 00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,960 Speaker 2: But I studied fish for my master's in my PhD. 946 00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:03,880 Speaker 2: And they definitely yawned. They yawned. 947 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:04,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, And so. 948 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:11,520 Speaker 2: Yawning is a stereotypical three phase behavior where first you 949 00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:16,120 Speaker 2: like open your jaw really wide, and then you kind 950 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 2: of like contract the muscles. You close your eyes Yep, exactly, 951 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:25,839 Speaker 2: just like just like that, and then your jaw sort 952 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 2: of like passively closes, and we see this behavior throughout 953 00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:31,000 Speaker 2: the vertebrates. 954 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,520 Speaker 1: Wow, it's ubiquitous. And so there's two kinds of yawns. 955 00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:38,320 Speaker 2: There's spontaneous yawn which is what we're gonna talk about first, 956 00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:42,200 Speaker 2: and then there's contagious yawning. And Dylan wanted to know 957 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,919 Speaker 2: a lot about contagious yawning. But let's talk about first 958 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:46,279 Speaker 2: about why we yawn at all. 959 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:46,600 Speaker 3: Yeah. 960 00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:48,960 Speaker 2: I feel like when I started researching this, I thought 961 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,640 Speaker 2: I knew what the answer was going to be, and 962 00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:54,520 Speaker 2: it wasn't what I thought. So were you also when 963 00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:57,360 Speaker 2: you were a kid told why we yawn? And if so, 964 00:46:57,440 --> 00:46:58,480 Speaker 2: do you remember what you were told? 965 00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:04,600 Speaker 3: I I remember some not very credible explanation about getting 966 00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:07,680 Speaker 3: more oxygen or something, open your mouth wider to breathe 967 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:09,000 Speaker 3: more deeply or some nonsense. 968 00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,640 Speaker 2: Yep, that's what I was told too, And there's apparently 969 00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,400 Speaker 2: no evidence for that. People have looked and checked and 970 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:19,160 Speaker 2: it doesn't really work. Fetuses yon too, which doesn't necessarily 971 00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:21,080 Speaker 2: mean that it doesn't have to do with oxygen, but anyway, 972 00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,399 Speaker 2: not a lot of support for that. There are some 973 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:27,360 Speaker 2: things that to me seem more like identification of correlations 974 00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:31,279 Speaker 2: than explanations. And so we tend to yawn when we 975 00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:33,239 Speaker 2: wake up or when we're about to go to bed, 976 00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:37,560 Speaker 2: and so there's this idea that yawning has a rhythm 977 00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:42,279 Speaker 2: and that yawning is part of quote facilitating state change 978 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:45,840 Speaker 2: and is associated with arousal. And so something about yawning 979 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 2: helps you, and not like arousal in a mommy daddy 980 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:51,920 Speaker 2: sexy way. 981 00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,400 Speaker 1: But why did I say it that way? I don't know. 982 00:47:55,560 --> 00:48:01,480 Speaker 3: That's the least sexy way to say that, Not in 983 00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:03,799 Speaker 3: a romantic sort of way, but in a what kind 984 00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:07,000 Speaker 3: of arousal you're talking about now, like awake yourself up 985 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:07,800 Speaker 3: kind of away. 986 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, that's right. I wish I had done 987 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:12,680 Speaker 1: that differently, but you know, it was funny. 988 00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:13,399 Speaker 6: So I was trying. 989 00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:15,600 Speaker 1: I was thinking what is a kid friendly way to 990 00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:20,480 Speaker 1: say it? And think I totally whift all right? 991 00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:23,799 Speaker 3: Message received? The message received? But yawning is part of 992 00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:26,240 Speaker 3: waking up because it feels to me more like people 993 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:27,400 Speaker 3: yon when they're sleepy. 994 00:48:27,719 --> 00:48:30,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think the point they're trying to get 995 00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:33,200 Speaker 2: at is that it's a state change. So you're going 996 00:48:33,239 --> 00:48:38,000 Speaker 2: from one state asleep to another state awake, or you 997 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:40,480 Speaker 2: can do it in reverse, but it's some way in 998 00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,919 Speaker 2: which your body prepares for transitioning between these two different 999 00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:47,360 Speaker 2: phases of our lives, asleep or awake. But again, to me, 1000 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:50,759 Speaker 2: that seems more like there's a correlation. Yeah, like where 1001 00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:52,799 Speaker 2: this happens more when you wake up or when you're 1002 00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:54,200 Speaker 2: about to go to sleep. But that doesn't help me 1003 00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:58,600 Speaker 2: understand why you're doing it. And I couldn't find satisfactory 1004 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:02,759 Speaker 2: answers for why that facilitates the state change, especially if 1005 00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:04,680 Speaker 2: it's not like getting more oxygen to different parts of 1006 00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:05,160 Speaker 2: your body. 1007 00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,759 Speaker 3: But there's lots of studies about sleep and changes in 1008 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:10,200 Speaker 3: the brain as you wake up and fall asleep. Surely 1009 00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:14,400 Speaker 3: somebody must have identified like neurological mechanism or basis for yawning. 1010 00:49:15,239 --> 00:49:16,759 Speaker 1: I don't know that they have. 1011 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:19,919 Speaker 2: And again, so I found another review from this year, 1012 00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:21,840 Speaker 2: and it's not as long as the last one, I promise, 1013 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:25,839 Speaker 2: and it says existing literature has demonstrated that yawning can 1014 00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:29,600 Speaker 2: be attributed to various factors. However, there's currently no consensus 1015 00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:32,880 Speaker 2: on the primary cause of yawning, so we don't know. 1016 00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:37,720 Speaker 3: But look at big science protecting their central dogma. Huh yeah. Actually, 1017 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:40,279 Speaker 3: like this is another great example of like scientists are 1018 00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:43,359 Speaker 3: happy to admit when we don't know something, and lack 1019 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:45,600 Speaker 3: of consensus also means like some people think it's A, 1020 00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,239 Speaker 3: people think it's B. We don't really know yet, so 1021 00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,960 Speaker 3: let's keep arguing about it. Yeah, anyway, just want to 1022 00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:51,560 Speaker 3: point that out. 1023 00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:52,760 Speaker 1: Yep, Nope, totally agree. 1024 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,759 Speaker 2: But so there's another class that says that class of 1025 00:49:55,840 --> 00:50:00,480 Speaker 2: scientists that say yawning is about doing things help you 1026 00:50:00,560 --> 00:50:03,800 Speaker 2: cool your brain down. And so I think this is 1027 00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:07,240 Speaker 2: about like the you know, your vessels around your head 1028 00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:09,400 Speaker 2: get a little bit bigger when you do this, and 1029 00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:12,960 Speaker 2: that like carries cool air or cool blood. 1030 00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:13,200 Speaker 1: To your brain. 1031 00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:15,359 Speaker 2: I'm not quite sure I understand the mechanism through which 1032 00:50:15,360 --> 00:50:18,320 Speaker 2: this happens, but there have been some studies and animals 1033 00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:22,520 Speaker 2: where they have like cooled the brain region and there's 1034 00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:26,440 Speaker 2: been less yawning, or they've heated up the brain a 1035 00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:28,759 Speaker 2: little bit and there's been more yawning. So there does 1036 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,759 Speaker 2: seem to be some correlation between the temperature of the 1037 00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:35,799 Speaker 2: brain and how often you yawn. So maybe that is 1038 00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:38,760 Speaker 2: part of the answer, But then that doesn't explain why 1039 00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:42,840 Speaker 2: there's a morning and an evening pattern to it, Like 1040 00:50:43,239 --> 00:50:45,480 Speaker 2: is your brain like really hot right before you go 1041 00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:47,480 Speaker 2: to bed, and like why would that be? 1042 00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:48,920 Speaker 1: I don't I don't know. 1043 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:52,319 Speaker 3: Amazing, amazing, incredible that we've been doing these things for 1044 00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:54,919 Speaker 3: thousands of years. Its wondering about them for thousands of years, 1045 00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:57,840 Speaker 3: and still nobody knows the answer. I know some scientists 1046 00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,440 Speaker 3: out there. There are still so many questions for you 1047 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:01,000 Speaker 3: to crack. 1048 00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:05,120 Speaker 2: Totally crazy, Okay, And so then Dylan's the second part 1049 00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:11,400 Speaker 2: of Dylan's question is about contagious yawns, right, and we are. 1050 00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:12,600 Speaker 1: Equally clueless here. 1051 00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:16,600 Speaker 2: So there's some hypotheses that like, Okay, if you look 1052 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:21,680 Speaker 2: around and you see that somebody in your troop is yawning, 1053 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,879 Speaker 2: for example, maybe or like you're in a wolf pack 1054 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,520 Speaker 2: and one of the wolves is yawning, that could be 1055 00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:29,560 Speaker 2: information to you that they're not as alert as they 1056 00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:32,759 Speaker 2: could be, and now you become more alert. But that 1057 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:35,680 Speaker 2: doesn't really explain why you would yawn. 1058 00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:39,240 Speaker 3: Also, yeah, that would suggest the opposite, Yeah, you would 1059 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:40,879 Speaker 3: not yawn when they're yawning. 1060 00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:44,160 Speaker 2: Right, or so maybe it's a coordinating behavior thing, like, oh, 1061 00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:45,480 Speaker 2: it's time for all of us to go to bed, 1062 00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:47,120 Speaker 2: so I'm gonna yawn so that you know that I'm 1063 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:49,560 Speaker 2: about ready to go to bed, and that'll coordinate our behavior. 1064 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:52,279 Speaker 2: But that also doesn't seem necessary because like, just lay 1065 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:53,400 Speaker 2: down and shut your eyes. 1066 00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,600 Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna be like, oh, Kelly's asleep. I guess we're 1067 00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:57,160 Speaker 1: going to bed. 1068 00:51:57,640 --> 00:51:59,320 Speaker 2: So I don't necessarily feel like you need it for 1069 00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:02,280 Speaker 2: synchronizing group activity or that it needs to be associated 1070 00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:03,200 Speaker 2: with group vigilance. 1071 00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:04,920 Speaker 1: But those are some hypotheses. 1072 00:52:05,239 --> 00:52:10,480 Speaker 2: But what's interesting is that yawning can be contagious across species. 1073 00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:10,759 Speaker 1: Two. 1074 00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:14,880 Speaker 2: So like if you see a gorilla at the zoo yawn, 1075 00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:17,520 Speaker 2: you might be more likely to yawn too. And if 1076 00:52:17,560 --> 00:52:20,960 Speaker 2: you just hear about someone yawning, you might start yawning. 1077 00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:23,360 Speaker 3: Or if you listen to a twenty minute podcast discussion 1078 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:25,040 Speaker 3: of yawning, you're going to be yawning. 1079 00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:28,759 Speaker 2: I have yawned a couple times during this conversation. So 1080 00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:31,520 Speaker 2: I looked at a study where they had humans watch 1081 00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:33,960 Speaker 2: videos of non human animals yawning. 1082 00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:35,640 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, cute. 1083 00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:39,480 Speaker 2: I want to be in that kind of study, But 1084 00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:42,840 Speaker 2: it did look like humans were yawning in response to 1085 00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:48,400 Speaker 2: like cats yawning, which makes it hard to understand like 1086 00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:53,280 Speaker 2: why that benefits anyone. Yeah, and so there's a lot 1087 00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:55,360 Speaker 2: we don't understand about yawning. 1088 00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:58,680 Speaker 3: Also, I think it's awesome that biologists try to think 1089 00:52:58,719 --> 00:53:01,880 Speaker 3: of these explanations. But I wonder if sometimes the answer 1090 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,879 Speaker 3: is just like, well, your brain works in this way 1091 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:08,040 Speaker 3: for some completely separate reason, and this is a byproduct 1092 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:10,680 Speaker 3: of it, and it's not harmful, and it just went 1093 00:53:10,719 --> 00:53:14,480 Speaker 3: along for the ride evolutionarily, and it maybe is a 1094 00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:16,680 Speaker 3: way to figure out some other thing that's happening in 1095 00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:19,640 Speaker 3: your brain, but there's not necessarily some independent reason for 1096 00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:21,680 Speaker 3: it to exist. Do you think that's possible. 1097 00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:24,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a fantastic point that applies both 1098 00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:28,160 Speaker 2: to yawning and to tickling. It could be a byproduct 1099 00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:30,759 Speaker 2: of something else. It doesn't really help us, but there's 1100 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:32,959 Speaker 2: you know, it also doesn't cost us much, so there's 1101 00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:36,160 Speaker 2: no reason for evolution to like cut it out of 1102 00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:40,000 Speaker 2: our behavioral repertoire. And so yeah, at the moment, both 1103 00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:42,520 Speaker 2: of these behaviors are just like big question. 1104 00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:46,480 Speaker 3: Marks, fascinating wonderful. I love these question marks and science. 1105 00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I guess I had assumed that we knew 1106 00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:52,879 Speaker 2: more about tickling and yawning. So thank you very much 1107 00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:55,719 Speaker 2: to Dylan and Jude for teaching me more about what 1108 00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:56,480 Speaker 2: we don't know. 1109 00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:59,800 Speaker 3: Let's hear these answers tickled them or made them yawn? 1110 00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:03,800 Speaker 8: Hi, Daniel and Kelly, thank you for the great response. 1111 00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 8: I think it was fascinating, and also I don't think 1112 00:54:07,080 --> 00:54:10,200 Speaker 8: it's at all frivolous. It's bothered and tantalized minds for 1113 00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,640 Speaker 8: literally millennia. They need more funding for all kinds of 1114 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:17,719 Speaker 8: scientific research, including tickling. Thanks for all you do, and 1115 00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:18,920 Speaker 8: thanks for all the research. 1116 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:23,200 Speaker 5: Thank you for tackling this question. It definitely tickled my 1117 00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:26,680 Speaker 5: curiosities to hear that even fish on and I like 1118 00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:30,799 Speaker 5: the idea that these are simply behaviors that evolution had 1119 00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:33,720 Speaker 5: no reason to get rid of, so it didn't. As always, 1120 00:54:33,719 --> 00:54:35,759 Speaker 5: I look forward to hearing what more you have to 1121 00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:37,520 Speaker 5: say about this extraordinary universe. 1122 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:41,240 Speaker 2: All right, thank you so much. We love getting listener questions. 1123 00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:44,440 Speaker 2: Please send us your questions through the discord channel. You 1124 00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:47,160 Speaker 2: can send them to us by email at questions at 1125 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:50,160 Speaker 2: Daniel and Kelly dot org. You can also send them 1126 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:52,799 Speaker 2: to us through social media, though I'm slightly less likely 1127 00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:55,000 Speaker 2: to see them if they come through Instagram or something 1128 00:54:55,040 --> 00:55:00,360 Speaker 2: because I'm technologically deficient. But if you said to us 1129 00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:02,560 Speaker 2: as an email or through discord, we will see it. 1130 00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:05,000 Speaker 3: And even if you don't write to us with your questions, 1131 00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:08,120 Speaker 3: keep asking them, keep being curious about the universe. 1132 00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:12,000 Speaker 2: Yes, all questions get an answer. Some questions end up 1133 00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:12,479 Speaker 2: on the show. 1134 00:55:12,719 --> 00:55:13,800 Speaker 3: Thanks very much everyone. 1135 00:55:14,040 --> 00:55:14,400 Speaker 1: Thanks. 1136 00:55:21,239 --> 00:55:24,800 Speaker 2: Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe is produced by iHeartRadio. 1137 00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:27,680 Speaker 1: We would love to hear from you, We really would. 1138 00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:30,600 Speaker 3: We want to know what questions you have about this 1139 00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:32,440 Speaker 3: Extraordinary Universe. 1140 00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:35,480 Speaker 2: We want to know your thoughts on recent shows, suggestions 1141 00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:36,480 Speaker 2: for future shows. 1142 00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:38,920 Speaker 1: If you contact us, we will get back to you. 1143 00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:42,719 Speaker 3: We really mean it. We answer every message. Email us 1144 00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:45,880 Speaker 3: at Questions at Danielandkelly. 1145 00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:47,080 Speaker 2: Dot org, or you can find us on social media. 1146 00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:51,040 Speaker 2: We have accounts on x, Instagram, Blue Sky and on 1147 00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:52,040 Speaker 2: all of those platforms. 1148 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:55,000 Speaker 1: You can find us at D and K Universe. 1149 00:55:55,239 --> 00:55:56,799 Speaker 3: Don't be shy, write to us