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sneezing, and itchy nose due to allergies. Cross

2:00

makes it into our articles. We also

2:02

find plenty of weird facts that we

2:04

just keep around the office. So we

2:06

figured, why not share those with you?

2:08

Welcome to the weirdest thing I learned

2:10

this week from the editors of Popular

2:12

Science. I'm Rachel Feltman. I'm Jess Bodie.

2:15

And I'm Mahoodal. Yay, welcome

2:17

to the show! Thanks

2:19

so much for having me. Mahoodals,

2:23

why don't you tell our listeners,

2:25

or Jess, you can

2:28

have the honor of introducing the

2:30

guest that you found for us from

2:32

your life, your adventures outside of the

2:34

podcast. My adventure, yes. Yeah, my Twitch

2:37

life. So Moo and I met, I

2:40

think we met at TwitchCon, right? The

2:42

Women's Guild Meetup. Yeah. So we're

2:44

both members of the Twitch Women's Guild. And

2:46

Moo does really, really awesome science content on Twitch. So

2:49

I would love if you would tell our listeners all

2:51

about it. Oh, I would love

2:53

to. Yeah, so I'm a full-time streamer

2:55

on Twitch. I have been streaming for

2:57

a decade now. And I was one

2:59

of the pioneers of science communication. Yeah,

3:02

that's so sick. Congrats. Oh,

3:04

thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks so

3:06

much. Yeah, so I helped pioneer science communication

3:08

in the science and technology category. And

3:12

I have just always been such

3:14

a huge nerd for a bunch of things.

3:16

We generally cover current news in space

3:19

and astrobiology. But

3:22

we also talk about sharks and

3:24

conservation and programming, especially computer science

3:26

applications and astronomy. And

3:29

there's so many other things. I also play games

3:31

on Twitch. But that's like my main content is

3:33

science communication stuff, just talking about the

3:35

universe and the things I really love and the search for

3:37

life in it. Amazing.

3:39

Love that. Thanks.

3:42

Well, and also speaking of platforms

3:44

other than wherever you get your

3:46

podcast listeners, I finally, after like

3:48

six years, got

3:51

around to, I had to think about it. Is

3:53

it six years? Yes, it's six years that this

3:55

podcast has existed. Got around to making a subreddit

3:57

for the weird thing I learned this week. So

4:00

now you can find that. I link

4:02

to it in my Patreon. And also

4:05

if you search weirdest thing on Reddit,

4:07

maybe some other things will come up, but the one

4:09

that has me all

4:12

over it is the one that I started. So

4:14

come hang out there, it'll be fun. Let's

4:17

get into the show. So on the weirdest thing

4:19

I've learned this week, we start by each offering

4:21

up a little tease about some kind of fact

4:24

or story that we found in the course of

4:26

reading, writing, reporting, et cetera, and decide which one

4:28

we just absolutely have to hear more about first.

4:30

Then once we've all had a chance to spin

4:32

our little science yarns, we reconvene and decide what

4:35

the weirdest thing we learned this week actually was,

4:37

but not really, I just don't ever want to

4:39

rewrite the intro. Everybody

4:41

wins here, or no one wins.

4:43

No, I think the vibes that everybody wins. Jess,

4:46

what's your tease? My

4:48

tease is I'm gonna talk about my

4:50

favorite little guys who sit on rocks

4:53

and sing. Oh wow, so

4:55

many kinds of little guys that

4:57

could be. I'm really excited. It's true, it's very

4:59

true. Moo,

5:02

what's your tease? Somewhere in

5:04

our solar system, something is spewing out

5:06

water at a rate of 79 gallons

5:09

per second, and that's

5:12

not even the most fascinating thing about it. Ooh.

5:15

Yo. That's a lot of water.

5:18

Not on Earth, I assume. Nope,

5:20

not Earth. This is

5:22

intriguing. That would be a

5:25

real trick question to be like, where

5:28

in the universe is all this water

5:30

happening? And then it's just Earth, yeah.

5:35

My tease is that scientists

5:37

accidentally found out that some

5:39

bumblebees can hibernate underwater without

5:41

drowning. I feel like, can

5:44

hibernate implies not drowning, but I still feel

5:46

like I should specify. They come out

5:49

of it, they don't drown. I'm

5:53

intrigued. Well, I'm

5:55

very excited to talk about that, but I must

5:57

know of Which little guys you speak. Yeah

6:00

so please Italy, Belgium, and first.

6:03

I. It would be my honor. Okay, I'm living my

6:05

notes over here. Are it's

6:08

the lately I've been obsessed with the

6:10

little furry guys called Hyraxes. Ah the

6:12

all I've all heard Legend of the

6:14

High Racks. Are you already lived in? No

6:17

no Ah, the fifth and sixth grade.

6:19

Okay good I get to enlighten you

6:21

So A I had heard about the

6:24

Hyraxes little bit dislike throughout. My science

6:26

communication work censored or them work for

6:28

of rubber. On, but lately

6:30

they've been conakry. Been back into

6:32

my Instagram discover page. Ah, it's

6:35

like accounts like Hi Racks, Dat

6:37

Phan account, Hi Racks hub, hello

6:39

Hi Racks, Hi Rex Heaven and

6:41

Hi Racks Hell is incredible. Is

6:44

as you should really ticked about the rather have it

6:46

a moment. Or maybe they've always

6:49

been having a moment. Maybe. They

6:51

are the moment I rapidly they're just they're

6:53

on my of Y p on Instagram specifically.

6:56

And so yeah listeners if you already

6:58

know this creature is when he also

7:00

understand. But if you don't do like.

7:02

Small furry mammals like kind of the

7:05

size of a big guinea pig. So.

7:07

They're not huge. Umbilical voters

7:09

who long ways that ten pounds. Of.

7:12

The at six guys and they have

7:14

these continually growing in size or t

7:16

like a wrote it might have an

7:18

and a lot of pictures the kind

7:20

of look like they have these like

7:22

to things. Like tusks. Ah.

7:25

It's. Very to it. It's very,

7:27

very cute. Ah, And so yeah,

7:29

that the the teeth thing might make

7:31

you think that they're rodents, but than

7:33

da da they're not road and. Ah,

7:36

So take their feet. For instance,

7:39

they have stubby little pose like

7:41

fat chubby you stubby. Toes are

7:43

not rodent like. And their nails

7:45

are almost have like well if that

7:47

gives you any clues. Ah weird and

7:49

they have like one though. claw on

7:51

their. Innermost toe for grooming into like

7:54

scratching their it is that who think

7:56

is really you and and this is

7:58

useful. And

8:00

the bottoms of their feet or rubbery

8:02

to grips with different surfaces because they

8:04

climb rocks and trees. Speaking.

8:07

Of there are six species of high

8:09

racks and the different groups or bush.

8:11

Hi racks rock hi racks and tree

8:13

hi racks ah the first to low

8:15

on rocks and like in fields. Ah,

8:18

and they're active during the day and they live

8:20

in little communities are they can actually live in

8:22

groups of like up to eighty. There's enough space

8:25

to they have like little correct. Neighborhoods ah

8:27

but three written tree hyraxes

8:29

are nocturnal and solitary. was

8:31

hoping to avoid. So weird

8:33

and for me to their

8:36

like these dark horse hyraxes

8:38

like very edgy just living

8:40

in the trees, only coming

8:42

out at night and. But

8:45

it's the or any rate. They're going to talk

8:47

about rock hyraxes. On the

8:49

daytime ones with the friends or and these

8:51

are the ones that sing songs as I

8:54

mentioned in My Keys. And we

8:56

will get back to that. But first I

8:58

wanna clarify what I mean when I say

9:00

they're not rodents. So. A. Racial.

9:03

And mood you guys have a guess for

9:05

what? like animal group. They. Belong

9:07

to turn. He.

9:11

Said. That. They have like have.

9:14

A day. At. A a village. Yeah.

9:19

That was their. Clothes, And I would not

9:21

have gotten that. I know it's given me. mostly.

9:23

Beyond that that I was like. That's.

9:25

A good doesn't have. The. Have zones

9:28

you on a trivia T M L

9:30

My god I all I am either

9:32

really really good a really really bad

9:34

at her. Yeah I have like a

9:36

lot of knowledge about very few things

9:38

are really same as a up to

9:40

you whether I'll be the absolute eighth

9:42

of the whole era of beauty. Uber. I'll

9:44

be like. I don't know

9:46

anything that there's pepper. Yeah, and

9:48

Thera gun same insisted on we did.

9:51

we did. when science trivia though ritual

9:53

that we're building we won. You have

9:55

the trophy somewhere somewhere, but it's not.

9:57

next. to me a thing as in them or home I

10:00

was theoretically supposed to return the trophy because

10:02

they were gonna reuse it every year and

10:04

I did once and then we won it

10:07

again that year, but then the

10:09

pandemic happened and I

10:12

still have it because nobody's made me give

10:14

it back. It's a 3d printed bust of

10:16

Ira Flatow's head Right. Oh,

10:18

it was the Science Friday Right.

10:20

That's what it was We're

10:23

champs Anyway,

10:25

yeah, so they're ungulates and they're

10:27

most closely related to elephants and

10:30

manatees Wow

10:33

So weird and that's that's like a big reason of why

10:35

I love hyraxes so much and once you see the pictures

10:37

I mean, come on But

10:39

yes, the singing the singing why do they do

10:41

it? When do they do it? I will set

10:43

the scene. So picture

10:46

this little little cave burrow rocky cave

10:48

burrow the Sun is rising up over

10:50

the horizon cute little male

10:53

hyrax emerges and Perches on

10:55

a rock and begins to sing. Oh Now

10:58

to humans this might not be the prettiest sounding

11:01

thing It's not a song

11:03

that perhaps we would imagine our did

11:05

objective Yes, you're saying

11:07

you're so right. You're so real for that people

11:10

compare their songs to a hyena

11:12

cackle combined with nails on

11:14

a chalkboard I Was

11:18

gonna ask if you were gonna sing an example and now I don't

11:20

know if I want to hear I don't know if I Physically

11:23

can but now I feel like I should

11:25

try But yeah, I'll post

11:27

examples on pops eye calm slash weird as always so

11:29

y'all can be the judge of that But

11:32

yeah, so to us, you know artists

11:34

objective, of course, maybe not like a

11:37

human oriented song But the female

11:39

hyraxes love it. They eat it up

11:42

Because yes, this is the courtship and mating

11:44

song so Really?

11:47

Although they might not like sound like Especially

11:50

musical to us humans. These songs

11:52

are like we're actually like scientifically

11:55

remarkable So researchers were

11:57

drawn to look at them because of their

11:59

complex rhythms and the way that they build

12:01

and like will crescendo over time and have this

12:04

sort of like climactic finish at the end. So

12:07

that's why they say that these songs are strangely human-like.

12:09

Like they sound kind of weird, but if you look

12:11

at the whole thing, it really does build

12:13

like a real song by it. So

12:17

and this like... I like salad. Yeah,

12:19

literally though. Sorry. No,

12:21

yeah, that's actually what it is. That's

12:24

so cute. It's incredibly cute. And I love, I'll

12:26

get to this more later, but I love that

12:28

this is what they do instead of like fighting

12:30

with each other. Like they don't fight for male

12:32

dominance, they sing. And

12:34

I think that's great. So

12:37

yeah, like I mentioned, singing a good song is super

12:39

important for a male hyrax. If

12:41

they quote unquote win or like sing the best song,

12:44

they win the right to live with a group of

12:46

up to 30 females, juveniles and pups. So they like

12:48

get to lead the whole group. And

12:50

they usually stay in that position of power their whole

12:52

life, which is usually to like

12:54

age nine or so. Wow. Like

12:57

way more staying power than American Idol. Can

13:01

you tell me who won American Idol nine years ago? I

13:04

hope not. Okay. Lately

13:06

though, Sanjaya has been coming up on my

13:08

TikTok. Yeah, fair enough. Fair

13:10

enough. And like that was something that really

13:12

brought me straight back to my middle school

13:14

era. The high racks of the American Idol

13:16

world. Yeah, pretty much.

13:22

Yeah, so these high racks will like be

13:24

in control or like be like the king of

13:26

their community for their lives

13:29

usually. But sometimes a bachelor high racks can come

13:31

in and be like, I'm a better singer.

13:33

I'm overthrowing you if the song is good

13:35

enough. So this is

13:37

why scientists think that high racks is saying

13:40

all year round, not just in mating season

13:42

because they're constantly like, you know,

13:44

practicing, seeing who's good, making sure

13:46

they're establishing their dominance through song. All

13:48

that kind of stuff. I am obsessed.

13:52

Like, you know, why did they make Happy Feet

13:54

and not a movie about this? I

13:57

know. I know. I

13:59

was thinking. that too. We need

14:01

one. Pixar, take notes. So

14:04

yeah, they actually did a concentrated study

14:06

on this back in 22 in the

14:08

Journal of Animal Ecology, and they looked

14:11

at the anatomy of the song. So

14:13

what makes a high rack song sexier

14:15

or more successful?

14:18

And to do this, they put these

14:20

colorful little tags and collars on the

14:22

high racks so they could see who

14:24

was singing what song just by hiding

14:26

from afar, basically. And they recorded the

14:28

songs and they viewed the waveforms and

14:30

spectrograms. Spectrograms are just like, if

14:33

they show you more than just a waveform, it shows you

14:35

loudness and frequency and they get more data from a high

14:37

rack song that way. And so

14:39

then what they did is they batch up the

14:42

high rack songs with that high rack resulting

14:44

offspring. And to do that, they did do

14:46

little paternity tests for the

14:48

high racks, which is funny. And

14:51

yeah, they found that high racks is that sang with

14:53

better rhythm and sang more frequently,

14:55

like just more songs, sing all the time. They

14:57

were the most successful high

14:59

racks, they had the best surviving

15:02

offspring, and then they would win the

15:05

song battle. So

15:07

yeah, another funny thing about

15:09

this study is that they found that the

15:12

resident winner male high racks is like the

15:14

king. Their songs

15:16

over time would kind of stagnate and get

15:18

less complex after they win. Sure. They get kind

15:20

of comfortable. But the bachelor high

15:22

racks is that are like trying to take

15:24

over their songs get more and more complex.

15:27

So they're trying to be like,

15:29

ladies, look at me, your man isn't

15:31

so special. Yeah. If he wanted to,

15:33

he would. Exactly.

15:36

So yeah, moral of the story, don't

15:38

get too comfortable. You got to put that

15:40

work in. But yeah, so just to round

15:42

up my fact here, like I mentioned

15:45

earlier, the reason I think this is especially cool is

15:47

because they don't fight for dominance like

15:49

we think so many other species do.

15:51

They sing for dominance, which I just

15:53

think is really sweet. And apparently some lemurs

15:55

also do that too. They sing for dominance

15:57

instead of fight. And So researchers are like.

16:00

Maybe. Violence isn't always the answer for

16:02

asserting dominance like maybe this is this

16:04

like a thing we've is is like

16:06

toxic masculinity. Coming to be. And maybe there

16:08

are like way more things that. Animals

16:11

do to assert. Dominance. I

16:13

think that's really cool. Ah,

16:15

cause you know, I

16:17

think that's true in our species to like

16:19

I way more attracted. To a person that

16:21

makes music rather than a person that fights. Personally,

16:24

totally. The. Whom you know

16:26

so are. Yeah, Anyway, that's my fact.

16:28

Long live the High Racks. And they're

16:31

cute little things. And their songs? Yeah,

16:33

I love that law and I think that

16:35

is unknown. It's. Money.

16:40

Obviously we can.

16:43

See as. Modern.

16:45

Humans at Lake. Just.

16:47

Throwing. The Best. And it's not like. The.

16:50

Way you succeed as yeah

16:52

a masculine per said that

16:54

if like there is still

16:56

this like this. very pervasive.

16:58

Sort. of evolutionary psychology idea that had

17:01

plagued but what we evolved from was

17:03

that being the alley of the land

17:05

and it's like actually as her hops.

17:08

There. Were many ways of the land

17:10

essence. It is exact a levy as

17:12

old as being the guy with the

17:15

biggest sick. To. Also

17:17

be the guy is the best thing and

17:19

other you know depending on where you were

17:21

in what the violence people might be legs

17:23

I don't know that greatest has been punched

17:25

in the hell are these Cameo Pacific for

17:27

years now? And all he cares about is

17:30

bunch of people in the head getting them to the

17:32

head and this game. Sayings:

17:34

Roka discuss and Mississippi.

17:37

Since they are men out there

17:39

we're or that issue yeah we're

17:41

saying that said please of us

17:43

were either think you know as

17:45

a a a freak lens met

17:47

a narrative other shell like young

17:49

assumptions the make about. Sort.

17:51

Of. How the World Works.

17:54

Matter. And the. Impact.

17:57

The. kind of science a deal with the questions they

17:59

ask and like what think of as normal.

18:01

So yeah, I love that these

18:03

weird little guys just sing

18:06

their hearts out. Yeah,

18:09

me too. Awesome. I

18:11

want to hear their greatest hit album. Yes. Me

18:13

too. I will find a good playlist of their

18:15

songs and put it on the website because

18:18

yeah. I mean, you know, the description doesn't

18:20

sound awesome, but I do definitely listen to

18:22

some like, really like

18:24

ADHD coded hyper pop. So I'm like, I'm

18:27

not gonna assume that I wouldn't

18:29

find some use for this in my life.

18:32

We need to give the high rack songs to a music

18:34

producer who can then turn it into

18:37

like amazing hyper pop. I think that this could

18:40

be sampled actually. Yes. Yeah.

18:42

Please. Listen up. All right.

18:44

We're going to take a quick break and then we'll

18:46

be back with some more facts. Summer

18:53

may not technically be here yet,

18:55

but I mean, tell that to

18:57

my sweaty face. Anyway, maybe you're

18:59

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22:01

Okay, we're back. And I'm going to

22:03

talk about these bees that do not

22:05

drown, which is so this

22:09

started as so many great

22:11

scientific discoveries do with an accident.

22:13

A big a big oopsie. But

22:16

I'll get back to that in a minute. This is the

22:18

research from scientists who study bumblebee

22:20

diapause. Diapause is similar

22:23

to hibernation. It's

22:26

just a different term for like invertebrates.

22:30

Similar idea, though, they go into a period

22:32

of their

22:35

development and behavior slowing

22:37

down. So yeah, bees

22:39

in particular, they go kind

22:42

of dormant, they stop foraging, they stop eating,

22:44

they stop reproducing. That's how they spend their

22:46

winter. They have a nice nap. I'm

22:49

talking specifically about the common Eastern

22:51

bumblebee. If you're listening to

22:53

this new like, my bumblebee doesn't do that. Sorry.

22:56

I'm talking about this one kind of

22:58

bumblebee. So

23:02

what's interesting is that only

23:04

a few of them actually go into diapause. Basically,

23:07

at the end of the summer, the queen

23:11

produces a bunch of new

23:13

queens. And so they're these unmeted,

23:16

you know, bees with the potential to be

23:18

queens. And then they eat

23:20

a bunch, they really store up a

23:22

bunch of nutrients, they meat, and then

23:24

just those new queens go into diapause

23:26

for six to nine months. They

23:29

dig down into little burrows in

23:31

the soil and hunker down there.

23:33

And all of the workers

23:35

and the males and the like, queen

23:37

mothers, if you will, die during the winter.

23:41

And then the diapause and queen emerges

23:43

in the spring and has to go

23:45

find a new nest site, lay eggs,

23:47

do a bunch of foraging,

23:50

and wait for the first workers to emerge. So they

23:53

like, literally just start up a whole new

23:55

colony, which is

23:57

kind of wild to me. I didn't really

24:00

that was how it worked. And it's

24:02

a really delicate operation because when you think

24:04

about it, the queen is totally

24:06

solo during this long dirt app. She's like,

24:08

basically she's like Ellen Ripley at the end

24:10

of Alien, or maybe Ellen Ripley at the

24:12

end of Alien. But like, I don't

24:15

want to think too much about that. But there

24:17

have to be enough flowers around for the

24:19

future queen to get all the nutrients she

24:21

needs before she goes dormant. She

24:25

also has to be able to like passively

24:27

survive any environmental stressors that occur while she's

24:29

snoozing. And climate

24:31

change obviously poses some new threats

24:34

given the increase in extreme weather

24:36

events. So, you know, scientists are

24:38

very interested in like how

24:41

dry can it get, how wet can it get, how

24:43

hot can it get, how cold can it get before

24:45

this is messed up and

24:48

we have fewer queens surviving. Now,

24:52

thanks to a big oopsie in the lab, we

24:55

now know that one of the stressors those

24:57

bees have evolved to survive is flooding. Yo.

25:01

Yeah, so researchers at the University of

25:03

Guelph in Canada say a quote, experimental

25:06

oversight during a previous study on...

25:09

What happened? I will just close. On

25:13

the common Eastern bumblebee led to quote, I

25:16

just have to share the language they use

25:18

in the paper because it's so funny to

25:20

think here how you, academic

25:23

literature if I, a

25:26

big mistake in the lab. So

25:28

yes, this experimental oversight led to

25:31

quote, the inadvertent accumulation of water

25:33

in containers, housing, diapositing, bumblebee queen.

25:37

And I did find an

25:39

article where the lead researcher was

25:41

interviewed and what had happened is

25:43

that they had these tubes in

25:46

the fridge because you

25:48

have to refrigerate them to simulate winter to

25:50

make them go to sleep. And

25:53

basically some con... There

25:56

had been so much condensation collecting

25:58

in the tubes that... It. For.

26:01

The queen's were totally submerged

26:03

and she was horrified. Obviously

26:06

understandably, I. This Really like. To.

26:08

Be right back to undergrad days in the

26:10

labs and unless a yeah I feel I

26:13

go to see my whole life flash before

26:15

my eyes fights. Once.

26:17

A day in the water out and

26:19

probably like swore about this is an

26:22

ass. They were very surprised to find

26:24

that at least some of the saw

26:26

your queens where Elias. That's

26:29

wild. I really thought nine gonna

26:31

be like on i pull my

26:33

water bottle over the wide ban

26:35

certain yeah no attack in some

26:37

submerged like truly are not leg

26:39

my I phone is water resistant

26:41

but like yes this is their

26:43

down under water A they are

26:45

rapid unscheduled each to over singers.

26:47

And yeah yeah I for they

26:49

literally I'm oh sell ya. They

26:51

decided to put these. Surprising.

26:54

Abilities to the test because again. What

26:57

the reason they were studying? Bumblebee,

26:59

Day of has of the first place is. To

27:01

sort of understand. Ah, What

27:03

variables can impact it? And

27:06

so the idea that may be. Flooding.

27:08

At least was one time at inflated

27:10

issue that wasn't so much of a

27:12

concern. Really exciting. so. They.

27:15

Took a hundred and forty three com and

27:17

Eastern bubble the Queen's admitted queen. They put

27:19

them in foil, sold the tubes and then

27:21

they put them in a refrigerator for week

27:24

to have pulled the As as li Bbc

27:26

and as it all the know that did

27:28

a ton of work to make sure the

27:30

Queen's were all and like very even footing

27:33

in terms of preparation for their diapers. because

27:35

you know be sign. On.

27:37

Like when they had versus one winter

27:40

starts and like how much food they've

27:42

had access to All that affects their

27:44

survival rate so they did a lot

27:47

to you. I can shoulders variables and

27:49

to be like these are pretty much.

27:52

Going. Out the gate at the same. Place.

27:56

i won't get into it but just

27:58

trust the thirty nine eleven and

28:00

I was very impressed reading

28:02

their methods. So then

28:04

they separated the tubes of sleepy queens into

28:07

groups. They kept 17 of

28:09

them dry to service controls and then

28:11

the other 126 had cold

28:14

water added to the tubes.

28:16

So half of those submerged bees were

28:18

left to just like float naturally on

28:21

the top of the water, just bobbin.

28:23

And then the other half they pressed

28:25

them down gently with a little plunger-like

28:28

apparatus. Just nudging them down,

28:30

not squishing them, but just getting

28:33

them under the water. And then they were

28:35

left in those conditions plus the cold because

28:37

they wanted to keep them in winter mode.

28:39

You didn't want to be suddenly warming up

28:41

and waking up in the water for eight

28:44

hours, 24 hours, or seven

28:47

days because they wanted to simulate

28:49

different potential like real world flooding

28:51

scenarios. So everything from a heavy

28:54

rain just kind of soaking the soil

28:56

for a bit to a flood totally

28:58

inundating the area where the bees were. And

29:02

the plunger variable was there because in

29:04

some situations like if groundwater

29:06

levels are just getting high due to

29:08

like excessive snow melt, the

29:11

water might enter their little burrows but not

29:13

actually fill it. So

29:15

they wanted to have you know a scenario

29:17

where they

29:20

were mimicking like water has entered

29:22

the chat but the bees are

29:24

you know able to bob on

29:27

top. But other situations

29:29

like a total flood of the area

29:31

would leave the bees totally submerged so

29:33

they also wanted to test that. And

29:36

they're very buoyant little guys so you want to test that.

29:38

You got to plunge them. You got to

29:40

need the plunger. Yep. And I feel

29:43

I would love to have been a fly on

29:45

the wall for them you know figuring out that

29:49

how they were gonna deal with that. I'm just kidding.

29:51

I'm filling the two who are gonna be like oh

29:53

my god they're all they're

29:55

full of it. They're all... Yes. Probably

29:58

they were very Smart and thought of that before. For

30:00

they actually felt the deal with that.

30:02

You know I'm I get see you

30:04

write my own had game and for

30:07

this yeah for beast absolutely am. I

30:09

would have been like i'm so sorry

30:11

about that I would be horrible. Yes

30:13

I'm so sorry. our Florida his know

30:16

nothing about so much of an insect

30:18

research I'd like out of the so

30:20

worried about my my big clumsy meaty

30:22

hands hands we had a full guys

30:24

all the time so I really am.

30:27

I have a lot of admiration for

30:29

people who. Are able to work with

30:31

and I'm you know bumble Bees, them

30:34

and other really delicate creatures some am

30:36

at at at. A

30:38

conference lengths to studies

30:40

be is in Australia.

30:44

I came across them outside in there to

30:46

standing there with a be on their finger.

30:49

And were like what's up and he

30:51

was like oh she was it's a

30:53

little tires and he seems like found

30:55

a sleepy be and was just like

30:58

a housing her only see flew away

31:00

to the discipline or to gets most

31:02

and anyway that's that is the sweetest

31:04

thing I've heard I entirely I've so

31:06

adorable that sat on that's how I

31:08

think of all be resources the so

31:11

even if maybe they're not all the

31:13

love that good so great So i

31:15

then. Once. Those. Once.

31:18

Their time with up designed as pop

31:20

the Queen Aguilar and a chance for

31:22

them back into normal foil to it's

31:24

like the ones that had accidently the

31:26

Cub let that one type than they

31:28

put them back in cold storage basically

31:30

long enough to that all of them

31:32

had. Been. In

31:35

diapers for eight weeks. Again,

31:37

like trying to really level out

31:39

the playing field and creating

31:41

this experimental condition where it

31:43

was like. Every.

31:45

They have the same diapers except for how

31:47

some of them were flooded into various ways

31:50

for part of it. Again

31:52

the really thought of like every

31:55

day at a very yeah very

31:57

delightful and. i guess it get it

31:59

is probably when your experiment

32:01

starts with a mistake, you probably wanna really

32:04

go out of your way to be

32:06

like, look how

32:08

careful we were. Exactly. With

32:10

all of our variables here. Big

32:13

time. And apparently after just

32:15

like one day back in the dry

32:17

vials, these very like

32:20

bedraggled bees were like fluffy and

32:22

you know, they were still sleeping, but they

32:24

looked totally normal. So anyway,

32:27

so they don't really say anything

32:29

about like how many of the bees were alive

32:32

when they got taken out of the water, probably because they

32:34

were all in diapause. So it's like, they were

32:36

all kind of barely alive and you

32:38

have to, they would have had to like saw them out

32:40

and wake them up. So, but

32:43

after those eight weeks in the fridge, of

32:47

the 21 bees that were submerged for a

32:49

full week, 17 were still alive. So

32:52

that's the survival rate of 81%. And

32:55

the survival rate of the control group

32:57

was only 88%. Because

33:00

like it is quite common for bees to

33:03

not survive the diapause. Yeah.

33:05

Cause it's a long sleep to take in a

33:08

cold. So yeah,

33:10

obviously this is like a preliminary study, but

33:13

it does seem like

33:16

at least a week of being underwater doesn't

33:20

have a huge impact on the

33:22

likelihood that these bumblebees are going

33:24

to survive to come out and

33:26

start laying eggs and find a

33:28

new place to have a hive

33:30

and all that good stuff. And

33:33

they noted like they don't have any

33:35

data on how

33:37

this might affect their egg laying prolificness

33:43

or their ability to find a new place

33:45

for a hive, all of that is stuff

33:47

that they would have needed to watch

33:51

this happen in the wild to really figure out. But

33:56

it is really exciting because again, this is

33:58

like one small ass. of

34:00

the times of stressors we're

34:03

seeing more of to the climate change

34:05

that maybe these bees are actually really

34:08

equipped to withstand.

34:11

They're not sure exactly how this is

34:14

happening. They definitely like are gonna try

34:16

to figure it out. But

34:19

they did say that, you know, insects breathe through

34:22

spiracles, not

34:24

nostrils, and they actually can

34:27

close their spiracles for extended periods.

34:30

During diet so that's probably keeping the

34:32

water from getting into their bodies.

34:35

And they they slow down all of

34:37

their systems. So like they would need

34:40

very little oxygen. And they

34:42

think they might be like using some

34:44

kind of like

34:46

skin breathing using

34:49

like air bubbles on

34:52

their body surface because you think about their hair and

34:54

they got a lot of little bubbles on there. Yeah,

34:56

this is so cool.

34:59

And we've talked about how when

35:02

turtles are in diapause, they can breathe

35:04

through their butts. So yeah,

35:06

oh my god, it

35:08

nature's incredible, you know,

35:11

breathing with your mouth

35:13

holes. Boring. Unnecessary.

35:16

Yeah. But

35:19

yeah, that's that's everything we've got for now

35:21

on these, these little bees.

35:23

But I just love it. So

35:26

many great mental

35:28

images here a little, you

35:30

know, bedraggled bees shaking the

35:33

water off and getting fluffy

35:35

again. I love the study.

35:39

And I'm excited to

35:41

see more research on submersible

35:44

bees. Yeah, I

35:47

love that. And it reminds me of, I mean,

35:49

I'm sure we all have stories of where we

35:52

spilled water and this was a spill incident, of

35:54

course, you know, this was the condensation incident. But

35:56

it does remind me of the time where I had just built a

35:59

brand new key. like from scratch like

36:01

I did everything and I lubed all the

36:03

switches and I like put

36:05

them all in and I tested everything And

36:08

it was beautiful and like the first

36:10

week I had a full It

36:13

wasn't this analogy and I was like a hydro flask of

36:15

water and I knocked it over and it went

36:17

all over And

36:20

then I instantly like turn the keyboard up and

36:22

over and then it was like a watering can

36:25

of like the water But

36:31

it was fine and everything was nothing brother incredible

36:34

You know quality product True

36:36

or you guys I read I've also had an admin

36:38

happen to me Oh, I was

36:40

just gonna say I've also had that happen to

36:43

me But with a huge cup of lavender camomile

36:45

with honey in it It went

36:47

all over my keyboard all across my desk

36:49

and down and ripped into my computer I

36:52

made like a quarter size pool

36:54

of this lavender camomile tea honey

36:58

Not the GPU on my

37:00

GPU the honey is what concerns me really

37:02

I Surprisingly everything

37:04

was I was just gonna ask yeah,

37:07

I left out. That's really lucky when

37:09

I was like it is six I

37:11

dropped it to have a gachi in a glass of milk.

37:13

That was pretty You

37:20

know, I was I guess that's what I

37:22

learned I was not responsible enough to care for All

37:28

right, we're gonna take one more break and then we'll be

37:30

back with one more fact Hey

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by Real Fan Posts. Okay,

40:50

we're back and there's

40:53

apparently a lot of water coming out of some place that

40:55

we got to hear about. Yeah. Can you tell

40:57

us more? Oh, absolutely,

40:59

yeah. So somewhere in the solar system, there's

41:01

a lot of water coming out of something.

41:05

And I just wanted to start. I

41:07

wanted to start saying no, it is not Earth. And

41:10

I actually think a lot of

41:12

people probably don't know how abundant water

41:14

is in our solar system. From

41:17

like evidence of water on asteroids to

41:19

polar ice caps on Mars. Countries are

41:21

trying to find frozen water in craters

41:23

in our moons south pole recently

41:27

to even like other moons in the

41:29

solar system like Jupiter's moon Ganymede, Callisto

41:31

and Europa, which by the way, I

41:34

am so excited for Europa, for

41:36

the Europa clipper mission in October. Yeah,

41:38

oh my God, that's coming up. I remember like when

41:41

they first started talking about it. I can't believe it's

41:43

coming up. It is. I have been

41:46

waiting for this for like over a

41:48

decade. I'm so excited. Yeah, that's why.

41:50

Yeah, we know that Europa has like

41:52

twice as much water at Earth's oceans.

41:56

But We've even found water as far

41:58

as Neptune's moon Triton. I

42:00

didn't like three. Billie. Males and fun. So

42:03

are these evidence of it? I.

42:05

It. So. I wanted to

42:07

focus today though on my favorite lottery world

42:10

which is Saturn's moon and sell it as.

42:12

He. Has yeah I think it is the

42:15

best place in our solar system to.

42:17

Search for life outside of earth. Huge. it

42:19

is. A simple South Africa though

42:21

a Abelow in Von and Sell it

42:24

is on. It's about three hundred miles

42:26

in diameter, which is smaller than Texas.

42:28

Either way, diameter. He'll say that little

42:30

is really all ya sully Texas with

42:33

and hi This is like. Smaller.

42:35

Than that, I had no idea it's

42:37

also little as tiny. Not.

42:39

A small and moon and our solar system. But it's

42:42

It's pretty small, and it's like four percent of the

42:44

size of earth as well. So

42:46

it's like out how little you can like look up images and

42:48

see how small it is. On. The

42:50

area has a rocky core. And

42:52

an icy cell which is about twenty miles

42:55

thick. And sandwiched between those

42:57

is a a large salty oh

42:59

Santa that's about six miles deep.

43:02

He. And at a high and his

43:04

call this a soda ocean because

43:06

it has carbon dioxide salts and

43:08

and alkaline ph that may be

43:10

around eleven. I. Think the runway

43:13

and oh my God it's It's like

43:15

a Lacroix. Asked.

43:19

Me to release and and sell it as flavor Now

43:21

are you? I read somewhere that

43:24

it may actually tastes so be if you try

43:26

the water of and fellow. Cilantro.

43:29

Flavor. my gosh of with was

43:31

I am. I see if there's

43:33

this awesome Koreans by ah now

43:35

far from my house so don't

43:37

sponsor me now. Say whatever. They

43:40

have a are they have a bunch of

43:42

different ah hot tubs and one of them

43:44

is like that the carbon. Ah,

43:47

Bass. And it's literally dust

43:49

if carbon units the mail, bunch

43:51

of stuff written down about why

43:54

that's good that I don't think

43:56

is. Real. right? But it

43:58

does make little bubbles ago. Harrys Matter

44:00

got a lot of physicists and

44:03

yeah, I'm curious about the sensation

44:05

myself. It's it's honestly, it's not

44:07

as and. You. Don't feel like

44:09

a pop rock. Unfortunately, Guy

44:11

but it is. It is fun visuals he

44:13

he yeah had it's for ago. So.

44:16

I see. The. Pressure. Speaking of

44:18

how it feel to be in the ocean,

44:20

I think the pressure is actually similar to

44:22

Earth's oceans. And as

44:24

well as the salinity of the water which is

44:27

like lesson for person. So. The

44:29

penalties. On a we

44:31

actually didn't know a whole lot

44:33

about and sell it is decades

44:35

ago The size? It's incredibly reflective

44:37

and. Has something to do with Saturn's

44:39

largest if he is earring. So. Nasa,

44:42

The European Space Agency and the

44:44

Italian Space Agency teamed up on

44:46

the Cassini spacecraft and sent it

44:48

out to the situation. Sir Sounds:

44:50

Learn more about Saturn, It's ratings

44:52

and it's moons. And.

44:55

It it was they're studying get from like

44:57

two thousand and four insults when he seventeen

44:59

when it plummeted into Saturn's and the Miss

45:02

in. Yes, I cried be an

45:04

a couple times. Do

45:06

That. It was like a lifetime ago. Remember?

45:08

Cassini made millions? Really clutch? It was yeah

45:10

I meet you saying and I cannot wait

45:13

to get into some of. The really everything

45:15

things that we've learned from it through. Yeah

45:17

I. Do want to know that

45:20

Cassini? it wasn't designed as Alexis action

45:22

Miss and. It. Was

45:24

able to examine gases and carbon compounds and

45:26

I will get into the stuff soon. Ah,

45:29

But in two thousand and five. The.

45:31

Seine detected water plumes erupting from

45:33

cracks on the crust of insult

45:35

Us South Polar Region, which are

45:37

called. Tiger Stripes. And.

45:39

At these you are ice particles,

45:41

water vapor, organic, chemicals, But

45:44

last year and twenty twenty three

45:47

if is into space telescope to

45:49

collect and that learned that there

45:51

is a water vapor plume. Spanning.

45:54

More than six thousand miles out

45:56

from in salad Us. that

45:59

it's twenty why 20

46:01

times the size of the moon. It's so little

46:03

and it's shooting stuff so far. 20 times the

46:06

size of the moon just out into space.

46:09

It is spewing.

46:12

I can't even. And the rate

46:14

at which the water vapor is gushing

46:17

out is about 79 gallons

46:20

per second. Wow. Yeah,

46:22

there it is. The

46:24

culprit. And so 79 gallons

46:27

a second spewing out more than 6,000 miles.

46:31

It's just, yeah, it's super impressive. So

46:34

at 79 gallons a second, it

46:36

could fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in

46:38

just a couple of hours. That's

46:40

wild. It is really gushing out. So

46:43

maybe you're going to get to this,

46:45

but how, how? I mean,

46:48

that's a good question. What

46:50

is the pressure coming from? You know what I

46:52

mean? Maybe we don't know yet. I mean, there's,

46:55

well, I guess, okay, I'll get to

46:57

it. There's a, there's a bit of different things going on.

46:59

There's a bit of different things going on. If

47:01

I don't do it, I'll make

47:03

sure to. No worries. Yeah, no worries.

47:07

It is. Yeah, it's

47:10

just super fascinating. So essentially, this

47:12

solved the mystery of like Saturn's

47:14

diffuse E-ring. And

47:17

with the JWC data, we confirmed that

47:19

Enceladus has created a Taurus which

47:22

is a donut shape of water

47:24

vapor around Saturn. And about 30% of

47:27

that water vapor actually

47:30

stays in that donut shape ring. And

47:33

the rest, about 70%, spreads over the rest of

47:35

the Satorian system

47:37

and beyond, which is like really intriguing

47:39

to me. Because I'm like, what

47:41

is in that water? What is

47:44

in that water? So let's

47:46

do a little deep dive into that. Unintended.

47:52

So we know that Enceladus is venting the

47:55

materials from its plume into Saturn's E-ring, making

47:57

up the primary composition of it. And So

48:00

we were able to learn a lot about the subsurface

48:02

ocean as well just from Cassini flying through that

48:04

ring. By

48:08

analyzing the composition of Saturn's

48:10

E-ring using Cassini's mass spectrometer,

48:12

scientists found molecular hydrogen and also

48:14

a certain type of silica particle

48:17

that can only be formed where

48:19

liquid water and rock interact at

48:21

temperatures above 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Aha.

48:24

And there's only one place on Earth where

48:26

this type of particle could have formed. And

48:30

that's hydrothermal vents. I

48:33

see where they're going with this.

48:35

Yeah, so this is where that is

48:38

coming from for sure. So other

48:41

than the hydrothermal activity, we really

48:43

don't know how that the silica

48:45

particles could have formed. So this

48:47

is like incredibly good evidence for there being

48:49

hydrothermal vents on Enceladus. Which

48:52

is really exciting because hydrothermal vents are

48:54

one of the places that we think

48:56

life could have originated on Earth. So

48:59

you might be thinking, whoa, whoa,

49:01

whoa, wait, what origins of life? There's

49:04

a lot of water on Enceladus like what

49:06

is needed for life? Chin

49:09

up. Which is

49:11

an abbreviation for

49:14

carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen,

49:17

phosphorus, and sulfur. So

49:20

uh-huh. And

49:22

along with water and energy are foundational

49:25

to biochemistry on Earth. So

49:27

essentially we need liquid

49:29

water, these chemical ingredients,

49:31

and chemical energy like

49:33

hydrothermal vents provide in

49:36

an environment for life to form. And

49:39

Enceladus has all of these. This

49:41

seems extremely promising. Right

49:43

though? Like this is my this is one of my

49:45

favorite things to talk about. Like it is so exciting.

49:48

It is. So phosphorus

49:51

is the rarest of the six elements that

49:53

I just talked about that life as we know

49:55

it depends on. And

49:57

once again scientists use the to see

50:01

data and analyzed it just last year

50:03

in 2023 and found phosphate. So

50:05

all of the chinops

50:07

have been found which is

50:09

exciting and yeah the

50:11

amount of phosphorus and Enceladus's ocean

50:13

is at least hundred times

50:16

higher than the amount in our oceans

50:18

on earth. Well there's

50:21

got to be something cooking over there. Right though

50:23

I mean oh I know I would

50:26

hope so. Yeah later in December

50:30

of 2023 there was another first

50:32

time discovery in the plumes of

50:35

Enceladus of course those plumes is

50:37

6,000 miles yeah 99 gallons a second

50:40

gushing out into the

50:42

rings they found hydrogen cyanide which

50:44

is a possible chemical essential for life

50:46

as we know it and it's one

50:48

of the most important and like versatile

50:51

molecules needed to form amino acids. Really

50:55

cyanide? Hydrogen cyanide. Well

50:57

hydrogen cyanide yeah I did take biochemistry back in

50:59

the day but you know I hear cyanide I'm

51:01

like that's poison. That's what I thought at first

51:04

too I was like wait hold on. Yeah.

51:07

The scientists also uncovered

51:10

new evidence for a

51:12

powerful source of chemical energy in

51:14

the form of like several organic

51:16

compounds some of which on earth

51:18

like service fuel for organisms as

51:20

well so the more

51:22

energy available the more likely

51:24

that life might proliferate and

51:26

be sustained. So essentially

51:29

we have an idea about how

51:31

complex biomolecules could form there and

51:34

what sort of chemical pathways might be involved

51:36

and we can test these out in a lab here on

51:39

earth which is nice. Yeah

51:41

so does

51:43

that like let them see what life might even like

51:46

look like or something like that at

51:48

least molecularly? Maybe maybe molecularly

51:50

I'm actually not too sure but

51:52

I feel like they could at least know

51:54

how things come together and form. Yeah

51:57

yeah yeah yeah I mean oh it's

51:59

so fascinating. And there

52:01

is so much more that I could

52:03

mention about all of this too, but

52:05

like yeah, everything that we have learned

52:07

about Enceladus, as far as I know,

52:10

really points us in the right direction for

52:12

an environment that can harbor life. And

52:15

it adds another piece to the puzzle of

52:17

one of humanity's greatest questions of are we

52:19

alone in the universe? And

52:22

like imagine answering that in our

52:25

cosmic backyard within our own

52:27

solar system. And there are so many

52:29

great places to look besides Enceladus as well.

52:32

I really hope that we can prioritize and fund

52:34

more space missions to get to Enceladus and elsewhere

52:36

to like check it out and know for sure.

52:40

And obviously, everything I just went on about here

52:42

does not mean that there is life on Enceladus.

52:45

I need to say that. It's important to

52:47

know. Yeah. But it does

52:49

mean that it's a really fantastic place to look

52:51

since it has everything needed to harbor life as

52:53

we know it. And

52:56

that is probably one of the most fascinating

52:58

things I have ever learned in my life.

53:02

But the rate at which it is spewing out

53:04

water is also really weird and interesting. So

53:07

yeah, next time you eat a donut, think

53:09

of the shape of water vapor and making

53:11

up one of Saturn's rings. And yeah,

53:14

thanks to Enceladus. Big time. Yeah.

53:17

Hearing like the water spewage number

53:20

like really puts it more into like

53:22

perspective for me, you know? You always

53:25

hear about, oh, there's this crazy

53:27

stuff happening over on this planet's moon. But

53:29

like hearing the water and like these tactile

53:31

facts, I'm like, oh, that's like for real.

53:34

Yeah. Yeah. There's a

53:36

lot of energy, a lot of things happening. It's a yeah,

53:38

it's a really awesome place. Well,

53:41

and I feel like, you know, when I

53:43

hear like

53:46

astrobiologists talk about Enceladus, like

53:48

they're very, very

53:50

careful to not expect multicellular

53:53

life. But I feel

53:55

like the vibe at this point is like all

53:58

this stuff is there. So if there is. isn't

54:00

like at least some kind of

54:02

single cell organism that's like weird

54:04

and sort of uses more questions

54:06

than it answers like for why,

54:08

you know, why us, not

54:10

them. So I'm like, I'm very

54:14

excited about it, you know, because, you

54:16

know, as much as I would love to

54:18

find a peaceful civilization of like sentient squids,

54:21

more sentient squids rather, we have sentient squids

54:26

on Earth. But as

54:29

much as I would love that, you know,

54:31

I know that what is far more likely

54:33

is like we found a slime mold in

54:36

the water, which will also be awesome. But

54:38

then if we don't find that, but we're

54:40

right about all of the chemical signatures that

54:42

are there, that's like, okay, well, yeah,

54:45

now we got a whole rabbit hole to go down.

54:47

Right, exactly. Yeah,

54:49

there's definitely a lot to

54:52

learn either way. But yeah,

54:54

I really hope we can sense that stuff

54:56

there soon to like know for sure. Yeah,

55:00

now I'm like all amped up. I

55:02

want to know. I want to know.

55:04

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We

55:06

can settle for the Europa clipper, I guess. Yeah,

55:09

I'm so excited for Europa clipper. And then if I

55:11

think too long about how long it's going to be

55:13

before we get data from it,

55:15

I'm like, Oh, no, wait, how

55:17

long is it? It's

55:20

getting so it's launching this

55:22

October and it's getting to Europa in like

55:24

2020. Sorry, 2030. Or 33. Right. I

55:30

was like, I thought it was about a decade.

55:32

Yeah, it takes a while. Yeah, it's like, I

55:35

think it's traveling for like six years

55:37

or something. Now I don't remember

55:39

but Europa will be a while far I

55:41

can see that point. And

55:43

well, and the thing about Europa clipper, like I'm

55:45

really excited for it. But it does not have

55:48

like a lab on a chip life detection machine

55:50

either. So we'll learn a lot about it. But

55:52

we won't be able to like completely confirm life.

55:55

Although some of its instruments like the I think

55:58

the cosmic dust analyzer might be able to

56:00

find things that could seem like

56:02

life, but it's still not like inclusive enough

56:04

evidence, even if it does, to like say

56:07

it's life. So sure.

56:09

Yeah. I'm in

56:11

pain. Well, lots to look

56:13

forward to. It is definitely a

56:15

lot to look forward to. And just learning more about these

56:17

watery moons and stuff in our solar

56:19

system where life could exist is the

56:22

coolest in my opinion. Yeah, it

56:24

makes me want to watch Interstellar again, which

56:27

I heard was returning to IMAX. Is that real? I need

56:29

to look into that. I don't know. I

56:31

also heard that. That sounds familiar. Yeah. Well, anyway,

56:34

great movie. It's time to rewatch it.

56:36

Yeah. Thank you so much

56:39

for coming on. Would you remind our

56:41

listeners where they can find you?

56:43

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

56:45

It was so fun. Yeah, everyone can find

56:48

me on twitch.tv slash

56:50

mahoodles. M-O-O-H-O-O-D-L-E-S.

56:53

I also have, you know, all of

56:55

the other social platforms, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,

56:58

Twitter, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, I'm

57:00

live every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7

57:02

p.m. Mountain Time on Twitch. And I

57:04

love to talk about all of this.

57:06

So come ask me questions about Enceladus

57:08

if you want. The

57:11

Weirdest Thing I Learned this week is

57:13

produced by all of our hosts, including

57:15

me, Rachel Faltman, along with Jess Bodie,

57:17

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57:20

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57:22

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57:43

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