21 April, 2021 – Episode 821 – Putting Science in the Light

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What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?

Making Chimeras, Bad Humans, Forgotten Coffee, Interview w/ Dr. Greg Gbur on Light and Invisibility, COVID Dogs, Beetle Pee, Snake Venom, Honey Fallout, Slow Rex, Glancing Gaze, Traveling Tarantulas, Shift Work Woes, And Much More…

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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!

Nothing is in the way of the world
doing all the right things to prevent the climate emergency
that is looming over our planetary future like a dark…
foreshadowing…
cloud of…
dystopian gloom,
ready to burst with thunderous metaphors.
The sort of mechanisms used to alert a reader to the danger to come in a story.
Only this isn’t fiction, and instead of literary props that hint at action ahead
We have scientific papers that spell out the threats,
the causes, the solutions, the consequences and outcomes in great detail…
If you watch the news these days, you won’t hear anything about it.
The story has no arc, no reveal…
to ratings appeal.
It’s just spoiler alert after spoiler alert…
Like a who done it, where the real killer is revealed on the first page.
A mystery twist movie
where the big secret is revealed in the trailer, and the title gives away the inevitable end.
And so, with nothing left to the imagination.
Nothing left to interest or entertain.
The public simply switches the channel, and tunes out the emergency warnings.
Or they might do that if the emergency warnings ever aired in the first place.
And, while we seem to be saving the end of the world for a late century news cycle,
We will continue to bring you boring news about the planet you are on,
the universe you are in,
and the uneventful discoveries about how everything works here on
This Week in Science,
Coming Up Next…

Let’s start with the science news

Making Chimeras
Researchers in China kind of succeeded in making monkey-human chimeric embryos.

Humans aren’t all bad
Mostly harmless humans past 12,000 years have been mostly sustainable.

Forgotten coffee bean could save me from a jittery future
This vulnerable bean is more heat tolerant than the bean in my morning cup, and it sounds like it tastes good, too!

Honey Fallout
Researcher & students find radioactive radiocesium from nuclear bomb tests in honey from across the country.

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And, now for our Interview!

INTERVIEW W/ DR. GREG GBUR
Greg is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Optical Science at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte, where he studies classical optics and the wave nature of light. He is also the author of ‘Falling Felines & Fundamental Physics’. We discussed how invisibility cloaks work, why we don’t have them yet, and more intricacies of making light do things it’s not supposed to do.

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It’s time for Blair’s Animal Corner!

COVID sniffing dogs do more good work!
Patient urine could be the key to a rapid COVID test, thanks to my old pal spot.

New pesticide idea – what if we made the bugs pee to death??
A new pesticide hormone would force beetles to dehydrate themselves until they die. Cruel, but probably not more than neuro inhibitors in current pesticides, and this time species specific!

Snake venom depends on the raw ingredients
Snake diets vary in complexity along with the menu.

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What science news did Justin bring this week?

Traveling with the tarantulas
How did they manage to get everywhere?

Shift-work impacts on health
Yes, of course it does, but why does it impact men more than women, and how can we fix it?

Let’s finish TWIS strong with science from Dr. Kiki!

Slow Rex
Tyrannosaurus rex has hit the news this past week with several stories suggesting that the adults were slow-moving pack animals that existed by the 10’s of thousands at a time across North America.

Glancing Gaze
Another person’s gaze grabs your attention, and makes you lose track of time.

This Week in Science Questions!

Do you have questions that you want us to answer? Send us your questions! We will do our best to have answers!

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Want to see what we were talking about at this time last year? Check out this episode of TWIS from 2020 on the 50th Earth Day when we talked Kevin Peter Hand about life on other planets and Alien Oceans!

You might also enjoy this episode from 2011! Wow! Was the first successful transmission of quantum information between two points really a decade ago already?!? Also, Justin and I talked about several bacteria stories. What impact do microbes have on our lives and health?

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I'm the host of this little science show.