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What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?
This Week: Hot News, Enter The Dragon Man, Spiders Like Snakes, Hungry Black Holes, Another New Human, Malaria Promise, COVID-19 Update, Wildfire Plumage, Suicidal Mantids, Snake Warming, Glow mRNA, Gut-Brain, Lobster Pot, And Much More…
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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!
Everything
And, I do mean everything.
Is more complicated than we can perceive.
It’s comfortable to know things,
To put them in boxes of identifiable categories,
And say this is this…
And that is that.
The more we simplify,
The more confident we are it is so.
And there is so much we do know in this way
That it is really hard to argue for an alternative.
But lest we forget,
Here is a quick reminder:
All the things we put in boxes
Are not actually in boxes.
Reality is complicated,
And every slice of the complicated
Is itself complex.
And within the complex slice of complicated
There are nuances from which
New complications arise.
And even when we get to a point where we truly understand
An aspect of a nuance to a complex slice of the complicated,
We remember that it is all connected in ways we can barely comprehend.
And this realization should serve as a reminder that
When you hear a very simple answer to any question
Chances are it is either mostly incorrect,
Or another episode of
This Week in Science
Coming Up Next…
Let’s start with some quick science news
Hot News
Record temperatures, fires, permafrost melt… these are just a few of the predictions coming true sooner than expected thanks to our rapidly warming climate. Will this “once in a millenia” PNW heat event event happen more often? It’s likely.
Enter the Dragon Man – Homo longi
Is it a new human or a Denisovan?
Hey, did you know some spiders eat snakes?
Not sure how to handle this info?? Me, either!!
Hungry Black Holes
The LIGO/VIRGO collaboration has finally detected the gravitational wave signal of black holes devouring neutron stars. Previously just hypothesized, they say they have evidence of two events.
Another new human
What does this tell us?
Malaria Promise
A small clinical trial of a new malaria vaccine was over 87% effective at preventing infection in patients at the highest dose. Also, China has eliminated malaria after 3-years with zero indigenous cases.
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Are you ready for a COVID Update?
Mask Guidelines
Get vaccinated.
Masks Help
We should really have kids wear masks in school.
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It’s time for Blair’s Animal Corner?
Wildfires kick birds when they are down
Wildfires can impact songbird hormones and plumage, which at this point is insult to injury. We get it, wildfires!
Parasites turn mantids suidical
In a first, parasites appear to alter light perception in their hosts, causing them to go “overboard.”
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What science news does Justin have?
Guess who loves global warming?
It’s snakes
Glow in the dark mRNA
This new tool could revolutionize science.
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Let’s finish strong with brain science from Dr. Kiki!
Gut-Brain
Microbes in your gut make compounds that increase production of new brain cells.
Lobster Pot
Giving pot to lobsters affects their behavior, but not necessarily their nociception.
This Week in Science Questions!
Is this the coolest summer we can expect for decades to come? Probably not, but climate change is… changing things. The new normal is going to be hotter more often as we inch into the future, unless we take action to reduce our impact on the atmosphere.
Do you have other questions that you want us to answer? Send us your questions! We will do our best to have answers!
Leave us a message on our Facebook page, OR email Dr. Kiki!
How is it possible that we didn’t publish an episode last June 30th? If you are looking for something good, perhaps try this interview episode with Zeke Hausfather on the accuracy of climate models.
This one from 2011 using LSD to fix headaches, crows remembering faces of human enemies, and how prune fingers are better for gripping! Yes, it’s been a decade since we discovered that your fingers don’t get pruney because you’ve been in the bath too long.
I'm the host of this little science show. 
