1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,959 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bam Here. New words and 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: meanings are entering our lexicon all the time. The Oxford 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: English Dictionary, for example, updates with hundreds or thousands of 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: new and revised entries every quarter of every year, and 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: one entry that was updated in a special unscheduled release 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: by Miriam Webster in March was social distancing. And although 8 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: this term continues to be sadly relevant for us here 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: at the beginning of two, it turns out that we're 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: not the only ones keeping our distance. A study published 11 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: in Behavioral Ecology in October showed the vampire bats distanced 12 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,480 Speaker 1: themselves from healthy bats when they're sick. Previous research has 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: shown similar findings with different animals in a lab setting, 14 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: but to get the same results in the wild was 15 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: quote really cool. That's according to Simon Rippager, the studies 16 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the Ohio State 17 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: University or o s U for the article This episode 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with Ripprager in 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: he said there are similar reports from mice, for example, 20 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: that act similar to vampire bats, but also social insects 21 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: and lobsters and all kinds of animals. It's really exciting 22 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: to see that experiments from the lab and in the 23 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: wild give the same results. For their study, researchers from 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: os U and the University of Texas at Austin traveled 25 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: to Belize in April, where they found a hollow tree 26 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: with a vampire back colony. They blocked every exit from 27 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: the tree but one and used a hand neet to 28 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: cover this exit. The team then captured thirty one female 29 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: vampire bats and injected sixteen of them with a substance 30 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: that made them feel sick but didn't give the bats 31 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: any disease. The substance kicked in after three hours and 32 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: lasted for around six to twelve hours. They injected the 33 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: other roll group of bats was saline as a placebo. 34 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: This didn't make the bats feel sick, but controlled for 35 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: any effects that the act of being injected might have had. 36 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: Then they glued miniature computer sensors to the backs of 37 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: every bat before returning them to their home. Ripeter said, 38 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 1: the sensors started collecting data on associations all these tiny backpacks. 39 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: They talked to each other, and we know seven who 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 1: has been near whom. A technology like this will help 41 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: researchers get rich data sets and a deeper understanding of 42 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: the consequences such pathogen spreads in populations. For three days, 43 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: researchers tracked the bats movements and social encounters in real 44 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: time during these six hour treatment period, and the scientists 45 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,840 Speaker 1: found the sick bats spent twenty five fewer minutes interacting 46 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: and socialized with four fewer bats than their healthy groupmates 47 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: did during the treatment period. Also, the healthy bats had 48 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: a forty nine chance of associating with a healthy bat, 49 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: while the sick bats only had a thirty five percent 50 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: chance of associating with another sick bat. While the control 51 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: bats normally associated for fifteen minutes an hour, the sick 52 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: and healthy bats only associated for ten minutes each hour. 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: A Rippeture said, we saw increased sleep and reduced movements 54 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: in the sick bats. Changes in behavior can really change 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 1: how a pathogen spreads, and that is why health experts 56 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: have advised us to socially distanced during the COVID nineteen pandemic. 57 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,959 Speaker 1: Social distancing means keeping a safe space of at least 58 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: six feet or about two meters or two arms length 59 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: between you and people who are not in your household, 60 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: and social distancing can reduce the spread of COVID nineteen 61 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: when then infected person coughs, sneeze, or talks, because the 62 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: odds of a droplet landing in your mouth or nose 63 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: is reduced. If you wear a mask, it helps even more. 64 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article socially distancing when 65 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: ill is natural Just look at pire bats on house 66 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: toworks dot com, written by Francisco Guzman. Brain Stuff is 67 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with houstuff works 68 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: dot com, and it's produced by Tyler Klain. For more 69 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 70 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.