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Cultural Effects, Live Long Don’t Eat, Earlier Americans, Parasites Lost, Teen Worm Drama, Prehistoric Pet Rock?, Killer Whale Menopause, Positive Persistant Infections, An Eel Story, Antibiotic Spider Silk?, And Much More…
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Throughout the ages mankind has sought to acquire many things…
Land, loot, notoriety and the luxury of free time…
But in all of our pursuits,
there is one that has made us the most distinctly dominant creature the world has ever seen…
Our desire and drive to acquire knowledge…
And as we have acquired it we have at times shared it, and kept it secret…
We have horded it in libraries and archived it online…
We created institutions dedicated to teaching what we have learned to the next generation of seekers…
And we made these institutions free…
to democratize education…
We did this as a nation founded by educated people because we knew that knowledge
Above all other pursuits
Would make this nation strong…
And while the political talk has begun about un-democratizing our education…
Knowledge in the information age remains free…
And as we acquire it here,
it will be shared with you as always…
For as long as you seek it…
We will help you find it…
This Week in Science
Coming Up Next…
Cultural Effects
A new analysis of genes and epigenetic effects found that culture leaves a physical mark on DNA.
Live Long Don’t Eat
A reanalysis of two primate studies on the effects of caloric restriction on longevity that had originally contradicted one another finds that not eating is good for a long life with some caveats.
Earlier Americans…
The first humans arrived in North America a lot earlier than believed
Parasites lost
Climate change may bring the end of the world by driving parasites to extinction long before it directly affects animal species…
Teen worms couldn’t care less about uncle Phil’s retirement party, Dad!
Worms go through the characterisctic ennui of not knowing what life even is, man! So, like, cut teens a break, mmk?
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Prehistoric Pet Rock?
Rock hounds might have gotten their start a very long time ago.
Killer Whale Menopause
It comes down to competition.
Why persistent infections ain’t all bad
It might have to do with activating the immune system.
An Eel Story
Thanks to tagging technology, the mysterious migration of European eels is being eelucidated.
Antibiotic spider silk??
Yes, please!
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I'm the host of this little science show. 
Just listened to the podcast and the European eel story blew my mind. What is interesting the American eel, which is a different species, also goes to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. What do you think the likelihood that these two species hybridize and why do these two species from two different continents migrate to the same spot to breed?
Thanks for the question! I found this report from the US Fish and Wildlife Service that says both the American and European eels speciated about 2 million years ago from the Atlantic eel, and are able to hybridize. Here’s the link: https://www.fws.gov/northeast/americaneel/pdf/20150831_AmEel_Biological_Report_v2.pdf