1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to hows To Works Now. I'm your host Lauren Vogelbam, 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:10,559 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer here at How Stuff Works. Every week, 3 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: This week. You can get pregnant when you're already pregnant 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: and unrelated. There was a time not all that long 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: ago when farmers went absolutely mad for bird poop. But 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: first staff editor Christopher Hasiotis and our freelance writer Patrick 9 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: Jake Haiger explore a question when we were curious about 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: when and why did America start calling its citizens consumers. 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: It's hard to say exactly when it started, but in 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 1: the United States there seems to be an increasing tendency 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: to use the term consumer interchangeably with citizen, even when 14 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: the discussion isn't taking place strictly in an economic framework, 15 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: and some political experts say that the choice of words 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: may reveal as subtle, but were some shift in how 17 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: we see ourselves and our role in American society away 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: from the notion of working together with others towards the 19 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: common good and toward a nation of individuals primarily motivated 20 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: by self interest. Dr Jason Sadowski, an economist and lecturer, 21 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: wrote the two thousand fifteen article stopped Treating Citizens as consumers. 22 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: He says that using consumer interchangeably with citizen has become 23 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: part of our default discourse, the normal way we view 24 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: society and people just look at the recent presidential election, 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: he says. This consumer versus citizen language is often used 26 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: to when analyst and pundits talk about elections. Voters are 27 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: just consumers with preferences, and the election is a marketplace 28 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: of products to choose from in the store. We vote 29 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: with our dollar, and we're told that elections are functionally 30 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: the same thing. You just use a ballot instead of 31 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: a buck to cast your vote. This understanding of democratic 32 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: processes as a marketplace is just one more place where 33 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: the citizen is overtaken by the consumer. Taking a broader view, 34 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: both words have been around for centuries. The words citizen 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: dates back to the thirteen hundreds that it originally meant 36 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: the inhabitant of a city and didn't take on its 37 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: present meaning a person who has rights and responsibilities in 38 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: a society until around the year sixteen ten. The word consumer, 39 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: on the other hand arose in the fourteen hundreds. The 40 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: back then it meant someone who squandered or waste things, 41 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: and it took on a less pejorative economic meaning person 42 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: who uses goods and services and does the opposite as 43 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: someone who's a producer around seventy five. Michael Munger, the 44 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: director of the Philosophy of Politics and Economics program at 45 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: Duke University's Political Science Department, notes that the word consumer 46 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: seldom appeared in print until about the year nineteen hundred, 47 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: but starting around then it steadily rose until it passed 48 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: up citizen in frequency in the late nineteen fifties, and 49 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: these days the word consumer shows up about three times 50 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: as often as citizen. Munger theorizes that the shift in 51 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: usage had to do with a rise in the twentieth 52 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: century of progressive politics. The progressives primarily saw citizens as 53 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: being helpless trapped by large forces, he says, especially corporations. 54 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: The New Deal social programs devised by Franklin Roosevelt in 55 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society Effort of 56 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, amonger argues, reinforce the idea that participation 57 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: in politics was mostly a way of getting your share 58 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: of consumption. Politicians increasing use in the nineteen sixties of 59 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: sophisticated marketing techniques borrowed from sellers of products breakfast, seal cars, anties, 60 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: persperants may also have played a role. Today, campaigns gather 61 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: and analyze mountains of data to conduct micro targeting efforts, 62 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: which look at individual voters attitudes and behaviors and what 63 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: might best be the way to reach them. And government 64 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: itself has been judged as if it were consumer business. 65 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: The American Customer Satisfaction Indexed, for instance, even rates the 66 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: federal government on how people feel about their interactions with 67 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: it if you're wandering by the way. It got a 68 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: sixty eight percent positive rating in two thousand sixteen, up 69 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: from sixty three point nine percent the previous year. So 70 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: consumer citizen, This isn't just semantics. The words we use 71 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: can have an impact on how we live. A two 72 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: thousand twelve study in the journal Psychological Science found that 73 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,119 Speaker 1: the choice of words may exert a subtle influence upon 74 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: how we see ourselves. In one part of the study, 75 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: people who answered a consumer response survey tended to express 76 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: more materialistic, self centered values than those who answered a 77 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: Citizens Survey. In another part of the study, researchers presented 78 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: subjects with hypothetical situations in which people had to share 79 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: water from a well and labeled them as either consumers 80 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: or citizens. Subjects who got the consumer identity tended to 81 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: distrust others more about water sharing, felt less in partnership 82 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: with other subjects, and felt less personally responsible compared to 83 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: those who were labeled citizens. To the extent that the 84 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: role of citizen and consumers merging today, it seems to 85 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: underscore a shift away from viewing Americans as having responsibility 86 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: in our political system and toward a more individualistic idea 87 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: of what it means to be the American, says Josh Paysek, 88 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,039 Speaker 1: an assistant professor of Communication studies at the University of Michigan. 89 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: He says, your job as an American citizen requires that 90 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: you fulfill key democra addic norms such as being informed, 91 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:06,799 Speaker 1: deliberating about political issues, and participating in civic and political life. 92 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: As an American consumer, though your actions are relevant only 93 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: to the extent that they respond to economic incentives, the 94 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: responsibility to be engaged and participatory is not your own, 95 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: but instead depends on a system oriented to bring you in. 96 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: Frank Trentman, a professor of history at the University of 97 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 1: London an author of the book Empire of Things, How 98 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: we became a world of Consumers from the fifteenth century 99 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: to the twenty one, thinks the blurred distinction between consumer 100 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: and citizen may make it tougher for people to come 101 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: together to solve problems. He says, not all consumers see 102 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: the world in the same way, and hence concerted action 103 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: is difficult. That's why some would like to see us 104 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: go back to seeing ourselves differently. As political commentator Mark 105 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: Shields wrote in two thousand twelve, maybe it's time that 106 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: Americans started insisting that leaders treat them not like consumers, 107 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: but as citizens who recognize that we have, in addition 108 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: to rites and privileges, real obligations and responsibilities. Next up, 109 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: senior editor Katherine Whitbourne and our freelance writer Alia Howitt 110 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: bring us a story that goes against what most of 111 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: us learned in biology class. It's possible, though rare, to 112 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: get pregnant a second time while you're already pregnant. Finding 113 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: out you're carrying two or more babies at once can 114 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: be a pretty huge shock. Under normal circumstances. Now, imagine 115 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 1: you're one of the very few pregnancies involving multiple fetuses 116 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: of different ages of gestation at the same time. Someone's 117 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: got splanning to do. That's right, It's possible, although, and 118 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: we really must stress this extremely rare, to conceive a 119 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: child while already pregnant. The phenomenon is known in medical 120 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 1: circles as superfetation and involves two eggs, two different sperm, 121 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: and two different conception timeframes. This is different from something 122 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 1: called super fecundation, which is when a woman releases two 123 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: eggs in the same time period, each of which is 124 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: fertilized by the sperm of a different man. Only about 125 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: ten human cases of superfetation have been investigated, so it's 126 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: hard to put a firm time frame on just what 127 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: constitutes separate ages of gestation, but suspected superfetation does require 128 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: two separate ovulation incidences, one of them after an initial 129 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: pregnancy has already occurred. The human body is designed to 130 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: prevent superfetation from even being an issue. Once pregnant, a 131 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: woman's reproductive system isn't supposed to continue sending out eggs. 132 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: In fact, she's not supposed to avolate more than once 133 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: per cycle. Multiple ovulations can happen in the same cycle, 134 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: but that's when two eggs are released within the same 135 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: twenty four hour period, potentially resulting in the conception of 136 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: fraternal twins. Doctor Robert Atlas is the chair of the 137 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: Department of Astetrics and Gynecology and Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. 138 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: He says that the presence of cervical mucus, which begins 139 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: to block the cervix almost immediately after conception, is typically 140 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: a major hindrance for follow up sperm. He says, you 141 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: only have two for maybe thirty six hours when the 142 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: cervical mucus is thin, where the sperm can penetrate and 143 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: get into the uterus. Although it's rare in humans, superfetation 144 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: is common certain animals like cats, panthers, and badgers. Some 145 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: animals even have multiple uterus is to accommodate the phenomenon. 146 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:17,400 Speaker 1: That's not the only way in which human pregnancies are 147 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: different from other animals. We don't usually carry multiples, and 148 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: when we do, they're considered high risk. During his twenty 149 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: five years in practice, doctor Atlas has never encountered superfetation 150 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: in action, nor is he likely to, but if he did, 151 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,839 Speaker 1: he'd probably draw the conclusion after considering more likely possibilities. 152 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: During a woman's ultrasound, you can measure the chron rump 153 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: length of her fetus. That's the length from the top 154 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: of its head the crown to the bottom of its 155 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: products the rump, and it's used to determine a baby's 156 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: gestational age. If there's a length difference between two babies, 157 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:50,959 Speaker 1: a doctor would be more likely to think the smaller 158 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,319 Speaker 1: one might have a potential abnormality, rather than this being 159 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: a case of superfetation. Some experts are skeptical as to 160 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: whether human superfetation is even nothing in the first place. 161 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: Doctor Jimbotoni, maternal fetal medicine expert, says that most of 162 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: the alleged cases of human superfetation are really cases of 163 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,960 Speaker 1: twin fetuses of the same age with on equal development. Fortunately, 164 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: in cases of suspected superfetation, both babies have thrived. Once 165 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: doctors recognized that one of the babies might be born 166 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: prematurely and take the right precautions, things seemed to turn 167 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: out back. Finally. This week, Managing editor Alison Loudermilk and 168 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: our freelancer kay Kirshner delve into a bit of seemingly 169 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: ridiculous history. Bird poop was once so valuable that the 170 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,439 Speaker 1: United States passed a law claiming possession of all bird 171 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: poops that fell on unclaimed land. Let's travel to the 172 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. This immense monument spans 173 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: three hundred seventy thousand square nautical miles that converts to 174 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: four nine thousand square miles. These protected islands and waters 175 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: stretch from Wake Addle in the northwest to Jarvis Island 176 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: in the southeast. Within this cluster of small islands, you 177 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: might find the sooty turn nesting in Jarvis Island, the 178 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:21,439 Speaker 1: wandering tattler browsing around Palmyra Addle, and brown boobies roosting 179 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: on Kingman Reef. All of those birds mean you're going 180 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: to encounter something else, bird droppings. Brace yourself for a 181 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: little history lesson that just might make you take a 182 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: real interest in what islands have birds and thus bird droppings. 183 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 1: The lesson will be particularly useful if you're interested in 184 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: claiming an imperialist stake in deserted islands and declaring them 185 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: under vague, if legal American ownership. All because of a 186 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: pile of poop. Let's start not too far in the past. 187 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: In two thousand fourteen, Secretary of State John Kerry and 188 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: the Obama administration decided to expand the Pacific Remote Islands 189 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: Marine National Monument from eighty six thousand, eight hundred eighty 190 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,319 Speaker 1: eight square miles to those four hundred ninety thousand square 191 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,840 Speaker 1: miles we mentioned earlier. With that expansion, commercial fishing, drilling, 192 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: and other disruptive activities were banned in what became the 193 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: world's largest marine sanctuary. But where did the United States 194 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: get the authority to protect those islands and their surrounding 195 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: waters bird poop? More specifically, the authority came from the 196 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: Guano Islands Act of eighteen fifty six, which basically says 197 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:30,679 Speaker 1: that if a U. S citizen finds a pile of 198 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: guano on any rock, island or key, and that location 199 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: isn't already under possession of a government, you can consider 200 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: it as quote unquote appertaining to the United States. We'll 201 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: get to the appertaining bit later. The guandal law didn't 202 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: get on the books as a joke. It was a 203 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: real crisis that caused lawmakers to take deposits of bird 204 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 1: do seriously. In the early nineteenth century, sea bird droppings 205 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: were all the craze and farming fertilizer. Thanks to those 206 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:00,439 Speaker 1: droppings being super rich in phosphorus and nitrogen. U S 207 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: farmers really wanted to get their hands on the staff 208 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: and the Peruvians, which had controlled the market, we're running 209 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: out of it. So u S lawmakers created this nebulous 210 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: act that says, should you find guana on any unclaimed land, 211 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: the United States can decide it's theirs for the taking. 212 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: But the law doesn't say what appertaining really means. It 213 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: doesn't mean the guana rich unclaimed land becomes part of 214 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: the US exactly. It just means that the US can 215 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: use these islands or keys or rocks for collecting guana 216 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: and then they can get the heck out. So what 217 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: some argue is one of the earliest legal structures of 218 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:37,559 Speaker 1: American imperialism appears to be based on excrement. The guana 219 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: law is still on the books today. Five of the 220 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: islands included in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument 221 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 1: where the United States to protect only because the country 222 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: was desperate for the bird poop on them and created 223 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: a rather shady way to get at it. In total, 224 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: about seventy islands were claimed based on the law, and 225 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: while most of the islands remain formally unincorporated, Palmyra is 226 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: technically an unorganized incore braided territory, meaning well not much. 227 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: Both the Nature Conservacy and the US Fish and Wildlife 228 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,599 Speaker 1: Service are now stewards of the Palmyra Addle and the 229 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: guano craze. It didn't last forever. By the twentieth century, 230 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: synthetic fertilizers had become the solution and perhaps problem, of 231 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: the fuching. That's our show for this week. Thank you 232 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in for the Thanks to our 233 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: audio producer Dylan Fagan and our editorial liaison Alison louder Milk. 234 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: Subscribe to now Now for more of the latest science 235 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: news and sentence links to anything you'd like to hear 236 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: his cover plus. Do you have any science or culture 237 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: questions that you can't find an answer to, Let us know. 238 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: Answering the unanswerable is sort of our business. As always, 239 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 1: You can send us an email at now podcast at 240 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, and for lots more stories 241 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: like these, head on over to our home planet Now 242 00:13:51,400 --> 00:14:00,199 Speaker 1: dot how stuff works dot com.