WEBVTT - Immunocontraception and You

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to the podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Alison Matamilth, the science editor at how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com, and this is Robert Lamb, science writer

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<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com. Today we're talking about contraception,

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<v Speaker 1>specifically immuno contraception. But don't turn off the podcast just yet,

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<v Speaker 1>because we're kicking off by talking about out of control rabbits. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so let me lead you into I actually hadn't heard

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<v Speaker 1>of immuno contraception until an article by our very own

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<v Speaker 1>intern marian english Um on five invasive species you should

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<v Speaker 1>know was just written. It's not up yet, so don't

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<v Speaker 1>go look for it, but it is gonna be up

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<v Speaker 1>and it is going to be good. Thank you, Marianne.

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<v Speaker 1>Be good. So one of the ones that made Marianne's

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<v Speaker 1>list was none other than the rabbit, famed for its

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<v Speaker 1>ability to of course reproduce like matt so they're known

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<v Speaker 1>for so all wonder that they're invasive, and especially in

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<v Speaker 1>Australia thanks to one Thomas Austin who purposefully introduced the

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<v Speaker 1>European rabbit to as a state in Geelong, Australia back

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<v Speaker 1>in the eighteen fifties. What old Thomas didn't know was

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<v Speaker 1>that handful of rabbits that he purposefully introduced we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to escape their enclosures and multiply to ten billion by wow,

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<v Speaker 1>that is a lot of rabbits just out of control,

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<v Speaker 1>rampaging across the countryside. Yeah. So in the article that

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<v Speaker 1>Marianne wrote, she said that the Free Invasion also inspired

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<v Speaker 1>the commonly coined phrase breeding like rabbits. I did not

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<v Speaker 1>know that. I knew that it inspired a nineteen sixty

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<v Speaker 1>four novel by the name of the Year of the

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<v Speaker 1>Angry Rabbit Um. It was written by a guy named

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<v Speaker 1>Russell Brandon, and it's it basically had to do with

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<v Speaker 1>like giant, giant rabbits rampaging across Australia, tearing up the country,

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<v Speaker 1>and then somehow Australia ends up being the global superpower.

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<v Speaker 1>Is kind of somehow. Yeah, I have not read it,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's supposedly really tongue in cheek, and it actually

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<v Speaker 1>inspired a movie that more people are probably familiar with,

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<v Speaker 1>called A Night of a Lelipis. And you, of course

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<v Speaker 1>have seen it, because you've seen every film under the sun. Well, no,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it used to come on TBS a lot

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<v Speaker 1>or something. But but yeah, it's just like I think

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<v Speaker 1>it takes place in Arizona instead of Australia, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>just bunny rabbits running all over like a toy town

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<v Speaker 1>and people running in fear and all it's it's it's horrible.

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<v Speaker 1>I highly recommend seeing it. I always think of Danny

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<v Speaker 1>Darko and that crazy rabbit. Yeah, but that was just

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<v Speaker 1>a kind of from the future in a rabbit suit.

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<v Speaker 1>That's time travel. That's a different podcast altogether. That's a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty creepy rabbit though, you have to admit it was.

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<v Speaker 1>So Australia knows creepy rabbits, and Australia actually has been

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<v Speaker 1>hit really bad when it comes to invasives. Yeah, they

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<v Speaker 1>have that. They have like a mouse problem on a

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<v Speaker 1>regular basis. The hordes of mice teeming across the fields,

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<v Speaker 1>eating everything in their path, rampaging into barns. Yeah, they've

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<v Speaker 1>lost a ton of mammal species um in large Part

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<v Speaker 1>two to invase this. So, of course Australians have triedal

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<v Speaker 1>sorts of things to control these rabbits. They've erected fences

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<v Speaker 1>that are thousands of miles long. They've used poison. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>what was that? You're telling me something about the fences?

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<v Speaker 1>The climate right right right? So, Um, the fence on

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<v Speaker 1>one side of the fence, According to this New York

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<v Speaker 1>Times article, Um, the bunnies have eaten all the vegetation.

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<v Speaker 1>It's parched. It's you know, it's a it's a desolate town.

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<v Speaker 1>It's parked, it's it's no good. And there are no clouds.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no cloud cover above this particular side of the fence,

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<v Speaker 1>on the side of the fence where there are no bunnies,

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<v Speaker 1>it's nice and lush and there is cloud cover. So

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<v Speaker 1>the bunnies are affecting climate change. Just to show just

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<v Speaker 1>how out of control it is, it's actually affecting the weather.

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<v Speaker 1>So Australians have tried this fence business. Um, clearly that

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<v Speaker 1>hasn't been entirely successful. They've they've employed poison, they've also

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<v Speaker 1>hunted them, and they introduced a seriously infectious viral disease

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<v Speaker 1>by the name of mixomatosis as a biological control agent

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<v Speaker 1>back in the nineteen fifties to control all the huge

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<v Speaker 1>rabbit population. And the thing about the disease was that

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<v Speaker 1>it was host select so it was only going to

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<v Speaker 1>infect one type of animal and that being the European rabbit.

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<v Speaker 1>And their efforts were successful. Initially. They wiped out about

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<v Speaker 1>the budding population in Australia only six months after release.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's some pretty good results, right, But inevitably you're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna have some um, some of the rabbits are going

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<v Speaker 1>to be immune, and they're going to survive and they're

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<v Speaker 1>going to breed, and then what you get what they

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<v Speaker 1>ended up having happened, and that's just now you have

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<v Speaker 1>a new population um um that's out of control and

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<v Speaker 1>all the rabbits are immune to miximatosis. Right, Plus you

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<v Speaker 1>have a couple of new strains of the virus developing too,

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<v Speaker 1>and maybe a Radiohead song the same name off of

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<v Speaker 1>the the album Held of the Thief, the second best

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<v Speaker 1>Radiohead album in my opinion. So the Australians aren't given

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<v Speaker 1>up on controlling their rabbit population. Their latest effort involves

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<v Speaker 1>immuno contraception, which is basically birth control for rab its,

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<v Speaker 1>birth control with a twist, and that you can kind

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<v Speaker 1>of think about immunocontraception as an internal battle between an

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<v Speaker 1>organism's reproductive system and its immune system. Okay, and this

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<v Speaker 1>is what stirs up the battle between the two. See,

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<v Speaker 1>the animal's immune system is going to manufacture antibodies that

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<v Speaker 1>may then target sperm, eggs, or reproductive hormones, thereby preventing

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<v Speaker 1>fertilization or the generation of sperm or over. So, an

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<v Speaker 1>immunocontraceptive could be delivered to a wild animal via a

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<v Speaker 1>deliberately introduced virus, or it could be given in the

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<v Speaker 1>form of a vaccine, and the vaccine might be via

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<v Speaker 1>dart Yeah, they're really um, they're really strong on the

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<v Speaker 1>whole using it like a dart or a dart gun

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<v Speaker 1>kind of a situation. Um, it could be injected manually

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<v Speaker 1>as well, but ideally, especially wild animals, you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>farther way you are, the better, Right, You're gonna want

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<v Speaker 1>to minimize contact. Yeah, So I feel like we should

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<v Speaker 1>give just a backup on how a regular birth control

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<v Speaker 1>pill works. Regular birth control for humans not administered by

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<v Speaker 1>art gun at all. Good point, Robert, good point. So

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<v Speaker 1>human birth control pill relies on hormones generally to prevent

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<v Speaker 1>ovulation or the reaths of eggs. Even if eggs are released,

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<v Speaker 1>they may have a hard time rolling down the old

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<v Speaker 1>Philippian tube and sticking to the wall of the uterus.

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<v Speaker 1>Pill also makes it harder for sperm to slip past

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<v Speaker 1>the gate, that being the cervix and into the uterus

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<v Speaker 1>for fertilization. So it's a little bit of a different

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<v Speaker 1>game for a contraceptive versus an immuno contraceptive. And it's

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<v Speaker 1>it's really interesting that the number of animal welfare groups

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<v Speaker 1>are really into this, um, namely the Humane Society of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States. Yeah. Um, they've been pushing up, pushing

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<v Speaker 1>to use it for dear population in the United States

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<v Speaker 1>because we have quite a deer problem in many areas. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>what's the area up in New York? Fire Island? Have

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<v Speaker 1>you been there? I'm not sure you've traveled. I have

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<v Speaker 1>not been to Fire Island. So Fire Island, for those

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<v Speaker 1>of you guys who have seen Jersey Shore, is one

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<v Speaker 1>of those places where people like to go the Hamptons

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<v Speaker 1>or the Jersey Shore or Fire Island for the weekend.

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<v Speaker 1>So you get a bunch of New Yorkers rolling out

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<v Speaker 1>of Manhattan and taking over the island and partying and

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<v Speaker 1>going to the beach and women in the face, right,

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<v Speaker 1>is that what they do on Jersey Shore. That's the

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<v Speaker 1>only thing I know about Jersey Shore. Punched in the face.

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<v Speaker 1>I am kind of curious, but I've not seen it. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>So the other thing about Fire Island, apart from all

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<v Speaker 1>these New Yorkers, is that they have a crazy deer population,

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<v Speaker 1>so much so that when you step off the boat

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<v Speaker 1>to get to Fire Island, you just walk across the

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<v Speaker 1>backs of deer. Right, it's just right in certain New Yorkers,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, ride deer to get to the parties. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just just kidding. The interesting fact you can't ride

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<v Speaker 1>a reindeer, you know, their backs are two weeks that's

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<v Speaker 1>when you took him up to slay. So the Humane

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<v Speaker 1>Society is experimented with immune contraceptives on the Fire Island

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<v Speaker 1>deer population. Yeah, and they've they've also tried it out

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<v Speaker 1>in South Africa with some African elephant preserves there, which

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<v Speaker 1>kind of surprised me at first because I'm like, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>African elephants. We were trying to protect those guys. But

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<v Speaker 1>that's the thing. You start protecting a species, uh, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>giving it free reigin within a you know, preserved area,

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<v Speaker 1>and the next thing you know, they're breeding like wildfire

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<v Speaker 1>and you're having for elephants, yeah, or bringing breeding like

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<v Speaker 1>elephants and you have to step in and keep them

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<v Speaker 1>from eating up all the resources. Yeah. They've also tried

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<v Speaker 1>it on the wild horses of assatigue. Oh see that one.

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<v Speaker 1>That's another one that when I first read that, I'm like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>the wild horses. Don't take the wild horses away. But

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<v Speaker 1>obviously if you want to keep wild horses, you need

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<v Speaker 1>them to not go to get out of control and

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<v Speaker 1>starve themselves. The Humane Society is also working on immuno

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<v Speaker 1>contraceptive and sterilization agents for dogs and cats as well.

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<v Speaker 1>That's awesome because I do hate to see uh. I think,

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<v Speaker 1>like most people hate to see straight dogs and cats, right,

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<v Speaker 1>I think that this would be pretty useful in that sense.

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<v Speaker 1>And also you know for the feral cats. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>mean that's that's one of those um I mean, whether

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<v Speaker 1>you like animals or or hate them, you know, it's like,

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<v Speaker 1>this is an idea you can get behind, probably less

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<v Speaker 1>um expensive as well than you know, bringing in a

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<v Speaker 1>cat to be spade or neutered. Yeah, just hit it

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<v Speaker 1>with a dart gun from down the street. You get

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<v Speaker 1>to go Peter, seems to be behind immuno contraceptives too.

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<v Speaker 1>I read at least one letter in which a Peter

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<v Speaker 1>wildlife biologists recommended an immuno contraceptive program as a means

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<v Speaker 1>for controlling a deer population. And this particular population I

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<v Speaker 1>think was in a Texan town. So yeah, that shows

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<v Speaker 1>you how humane it is, because Peter, generally they don't

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<v Speaker 1>get behind anything unless it's pretty pretty humane, ridiculously humane.

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<v Speaker 1>Even so, let's talk about how these immuno contraceptives work.

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<v Speaker 1>I could find two that are out there. So the

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<v Speaker 1>first one that I look at, it was called the

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<v Speaker 1>spay back vaccine, and this is still experimental, and this

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<v Speaker 1>is the one made from picks, right, well, a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of them are a lot of them rely on poor

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<v Speaker 1>signs Zona pellucida antigens, and these are just proteins drived

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<v Speaker 1>and extracted from pig ovaries. The spayvack vaccine has poor

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<v Speaker 1>sign Zona pellucida antigens or p Z p antigens, and

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<v Speaker 1>these are the common ones in immunocontraceptives. And the pc

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<v Speaker 1>p antigens are just proteins that are extracted and purified

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<v Speaker 1>from pig overies. An antigen you remember, is just a

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<v Speaker 1>foreign body that will get your immune system all riled up,

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<v Speaker 1>and then it combine with whatever your immune system throws

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<v Speaker 1>at it, usually like an antibody or a T cell.

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<v Speaker 1>So spay back causes female mammals to produce antibodies that

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<v Speaker 1>adhere to the surface of her own egg, and it

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<v Speaker 1>blocks sperm from binding to the egg, so preventing fertilization.

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<v Speaker 1>Spay Back has been tried on seals and rabbits, she pourses,

0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.079
<v Speaker 1>grizzly bears and wolves. Just to give you an idea

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<v Speaker 1>of its longevity, it worked for ten years on a

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<v Speaker 1>population of gray seals with a single with a single dose,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can just completely shut down reproduction for an

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<v Speaker 1>entire decade species. It's pretty incredible. So this is still experimental.

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<v Speaker 1>Um I did find another one called GonaCon, not to

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<v Speaker 1>be confused with dragon con or comic con, but there's

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<v Speaker 1>a there's a great joke about nerds rereading there somewhere,

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<v Speaker 1>but that the listeners to come up with. So GonaCon

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<v Speaker 1>was just granted regulatory approval by the e p A

0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.600
<v Speaker 1>in February. And this is also a single shot, multi

0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.040
<v Speaker 1>year vaccine, and it stimulates the manufacture of antibodies that

0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.840
<v Speaker 1>bind to Canada trope and releasing hormone and animals, and

0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.520
<v Speaker 1>it basically puts a deer in a nonreproductive state. This

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<v Speaker 1>is also the one UM that they make a point

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<v Speaker 1>of of mentioning that if you eat one of these deer,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not going to have an effect on your own

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<v Speaker 1>reproduction system. Yeah, so the ideas that the proteins are

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<v Speaker 1>digested as opposed to a hormone based contraceptive that you

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<v Speaker 1>might ingest good enough. So I feel like I should

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<v Speaker 1>give you some idea of how effective this particular gona

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<v Speaker 1>con contraceptive is. One study that I found numbers for

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<v Speaker 1>UM had twenty eight deer and it was found to

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<v Speaker 1>be eighty eight percent effective among in the first year

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<v Speaker 1>and forty seven percent effective in the second year. I

0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:03.040
<v Speaker 1>found another study that was kind of roughly correlated with that,

0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.240
<v Speaker 1>and it was July two five, again maybe a handful

0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.839
<v Speaker 1>of deer, like under fifty or something like that, relatively small,

0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.480
<v Speaker 1>sixty seven percent effective UM the first year and forty

0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:16.120
<v Speaker 1>eight percent effective the second year. So while they're saying

0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.320
<v Speaker 1>that it can last for years, I'm not so sure

0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.240
<v Speaker 1>that it's effective for that The whole time period, right,

0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.920
<v Speaker 1>It's just sum depends on the individual animal. I'm guessing.

0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.160
<v Speaker 1>The other interesting thing is, I mean you're basically putting

0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.600
<v Speaker 1>an animal in a non reproductive state for an extended

0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.040
<v Speaker 1>period of time, I mean decades, right, and you have

0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.720
<v Speaker 1>to wonder does this have significant implications for on the

0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.520
<v Speaker 1>animal's behavior. But maybe this isn't so different from a

0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.320
<v Speaker 1>woman being on birth control for an extended period of time. Yeah,

0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.080
<v Speaker 1>didn't you say that there's a study like you have

0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.120
<v Speaker 1>women on birth control like they're they're less enamored with

0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.040
<v Speaker 1>like husky men. That. Yeah, there was actually a big

0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.840
<v Speaker 1>study that came out in two thousand nine in the

0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:59.839
<v Speaker 1>journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, and the authors were

0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.120
<v Speaker 1>tending that birth control pills were altering mate selections. So

0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.760
<v Speaker 1>women who are on the pill, um, the authors said,

0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.880
<v Speaker 1>mate with Yeah, the less preferred partners. Cool, that's all

0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:15.800
<v Speaker 1>I managed to get married, so you know you a pill? Uh? So.

0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:17.720
<v Speaker 1>I mean the flip side of that is that women

0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:19.959
<v Speaker 1>who are ovulating tend to be attracted to so called

0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.040
<v Speaker 1>the manly men. Those were the those with the more

0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:27.120
<v Speaker 1>masculine facial features, the traits of dominance and competitiveness, and

0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.199
<v Speaker 1>women also tend to prefer the man who's not like

0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.960
<v Speaker 1>them genetically speaking. So there are a number of arguments

0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.679
<v Speaker 1>against this that are out there, according to reproductive expert

0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.000
<v Speaker 1>Desk Cooper from the University of New South Wales. What

0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.040
<v Speaker 1>does that? What does Cooper have to say? Yeah, so

0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.240
<v Speaker 1>it goes back to our earlier discussion about the rabbits. Um,

0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.240
<v Speaker 1>not all the rabbits were um, we're susceptible to the virus,

0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:50.439
<v Speaker 1>and then the ones that survived ended up reading and

0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.559
<v Speaker 1>then you had a new population of rabbits it was immune.

0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.280
<v Speaker 1>So not every organism is going to is going to

0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:04.079
<v Speaker 1>be susceptible to these different immuno contraceptions. All right, So

0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.200
<v Speaker 1>well that also means the individuals who wind up surviving

0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:14.720
<v Speaker 1>and reproducing maybe what Professor Cooper calls genetically unusual individuals. Right, So,

0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.439
<v Speaker 1>if they're in the genetic minority and they've become a majority,

0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.480
<v Speaker 1>I mean, should they should they assume that position? What

0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.040
<v Speaker 1>what kind of impact does that have on the genetic point?

0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.040
<v Speaker 1>Should be a superorganism or it could be UM like

0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.600
<v Speaker 1>a very you know, disease prone organism, organism, and either

0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:34.120
<v Speaker 1>extreme is going to be an unbalancing effect on the ecosystem.

0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.240
<v Speaker 1>The other, very real downside of immuno contraception is that

0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:38.920
<v Speaker 1>it could be slow. You're gonna have to wait for

0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.160
<v Speaker 1>natural causes to run their course among a particular animal population,

0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.160
<v Speaker 1>which is why wildlife agencies a lot of the time

0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.040
<v Speaker 1>are probably going to employ another strategy in addition to

0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.800
<v Speaker 1>immuno contraception, So like shooting with the dart, wait a

0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.880
<v Speaker 1>little bit, once it gets up, then you shoot with

0:14:53.880 --> 0:15:00.720
<v Speaker 1>the rifle. Possibly I'm just saying the herd in more

0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.640
<v Speaker 1>than one way. It could be expensive too. There's a

0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.880
<v Speaker 1>lot of fieldwork involved. You have to hit enough of

0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.200
<v Speaker 1>the population to make a difference. Um, and I think

0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:12.280
<v Speaker 1>this might be about And lastly, your animal could suffer

0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:16.360
<v Speaker 1>side effects, although I didn't find a clear explanation of

0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.440
<v Speaker 1>what these might be in my research other than you know,

0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.040
<v Speaker 1>just the usual puffiness at the injection site. I guess

0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.440
<v Speaker 1>they might die, but I mean, you're trying to cut

0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.360
<v Speaker 1>down their number anyway, right, that's true. That's true. So

0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.320
<v Speaker 1>the big question for me was what about immuno contraception

0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.920
<v Speaker 1>for say, human males. Yeah, I think there's a I mean,

0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.720
<v Speaker 1>it sounds like there's a huge possibility there. Obviously, you know,

0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:44.239
<v Speaker 1>you'd have to go through trials and experiments and legislation.

0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.160
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you have to go through so many hoops

0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.640
<v Speaker 1>to get it to you know, to finally be on

0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.520
<v Speaker 1>the market. But I think it would be a good option. Yeah.

0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.960
<v Speaker 1>There's a two thousand four study by rand at All

0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.720
<v Speaker 1>that was published in Science and its studied reversible immuno

0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.560
<v Speaker 1>country reception in monkeys. It was a pretty small study.

0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.440
<v Speaker 1>It was just seven out of nine monkeys who became

0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.320
<v Speaker 1>infertile after receiving a dose of epin and this is

0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.320
<v Speaker 1>a protein specific to the testes and epididymis. After the

0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.160
<v Speaker 1>monkeys stopped receiving the open, five out of the seven

0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:19.360
<v Speaker 1>became fertile again, right, so to you know, stayed infertile.

0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.320
<v Speaker 1>So that should promise um. And but if we were

0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.400
<v Speaker 1>to adopt that for for humans, of course, it would

0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.560
<v Speaker 1>have to go three years and years of clinical trials

0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.640
<v Speaker 1>and take up a whole lot of cash to get there.

0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.440
<v Speaker 1>I still hope it's the administered by dark gun because

0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:34.960
<v Speaker 1>I think that's the way that you could really make

0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.800
<v Speaker 1>it be like the manly option, you know, because this

0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.120
<v Speaker 1>is they're not taking pills and little you know, around containers.

0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:43.200
<v Speaker 1>It's like they're having to shoot themselves in the foot

0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.520
<v Speaker 1>with a dark guns. Well better, yeah, let your partner

0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.680
<v Speaker 1>take out a little aggression and yeah, shoot your everybody

0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.080
<v Speaker 1>everybody daily basis. So I think that about wraps it

0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.800
<v Speaker 1>up from Uni Contraception this week. If you want to

0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.880
<v Speaker 1>find out a little bit more about regular contraception, head

0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.160
<v Speaker 1>on over to how staff works dot com. Hey, got

0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:03.480
<v Speaker 1>a few minutes, you want to do some listener mail? Sure, sure, yeah,

0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:08.399
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to. We had a couple of people right

0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.320
<v Speaker 1>in on our Weapons that Changed the World podcast, and

0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.760
<v Speaker 1>you guys feel strongly about your weapons. Yeah, we got

0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:15.919
<v Speaker 1>a lot of responses, some of some of them were

0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:17.960
<v Speaker 1>pretty awesome. And by a lot we mean like five

0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.920
<v Speaker 1>well that's that's a lot, but a lot. They listed

0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:23.960
<v Speaker 1>a lot of weapons. Um, you know, everything like the

0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.680
<v Speaker 1>club got mentioned, um right right. A gentleman by the

0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.639
<v Speaker 1>name of Joey thinks that we definitely definitely should have

0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:34.359
<v Speaker 1>mentioned boats and clubs and swords and bows and arrows.

0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.119
<v Speaker 1>Although he thinks us and he says, keep up the

0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.720
<v Speaker 1>good work. Awesome. We're always always open for you know, suggestions.

0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.480
<v Speaker 1>Blaine from California also writes that he thought that the

0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.440
<v Speaker 1>episode was titled a little bit misleadingly. Yeah, yeah, the

0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.320
<v Speaker 1>title was a little misleading because we really dealt more

0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:55.440
<v Speaker 1>with weaponized technologies as opposed to specific weapons. Um and

0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:57.800
<v Speaker 1>and certainly things like the long bow have had a

0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.960
<v Speaker 1>huge impact on the evolue of warfare. Yeah, Blaine would

0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.000
<v Speaker 1>have liked to see machine gun on on our list,

0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:06.080
<v Speaker 1>but we'll have to come back to these. We could

0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.600
<v Speaker 1>easily do an entire podcast on on on how the

0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.000
<v Speaker 1>machine gund changed warfare or the law of the long book.

0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.440
<v Speaker 1>Fan of the longbow, Yeah, Tim from Dallas was a

0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.359
<v Speaker 1>big fan of the long bow as well. He wrote

0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.360
<v Speaker 1>that the long bow allowed for British military domination during

0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.240
<v Speaker 1>medieval times, and the crossbow, invented yet again in China,

0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.960
<v Speaker 1>did much the same there. So thanks to him for that. Yeah.

0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.679
<v Speaker 1>So thanks everyone for writing in with your comments and

0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:32.479
<v Speaker 1>feedback on the Military Technologies podcast. We do appreciate it.

0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.800
<v Speaker 1>If you want to send us more suggestions or just

0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.280
<v Speaker 1>a comment, shoot us an email at science Stuff at

0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.840
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0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.480
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0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.000
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0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:55.960
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0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.479
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0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.840
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0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:04.320
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