Quirky Creepy and Freaky

Episode 66: History of the National Parks

Despite angry sinuses and a glitching microphone, I bring you the history of the National Park Service! Have you ever wondered how the national park system got started, and when the national parks started being created? Or why park rangers wear such cool hats? All of your questions are answered in this week's episode! 

Stand up for Science

On March 7, the group Stand up for Science has organized protests around the country to rally for science. In the last month, federal funding has been frozen, grants aren't being reviewed, and most recently grants are starting to be pulled. This is funding that covers people's salaries, supports local fishermen, helps fund hospitals, and universities, gives funding for graduate student positions, funds cancer research, and more.

This episode is my stream of consciousness about what all has been going on in the last month surrounding federal funding for research. 

Episode 65: To be a crab or not to be a crab

Do you ever think about how crabs evolved 5 times? Do you need more crab facts in your life? Then this episode is for you! In this episode, we talk about carcinization and the phenomenon behind crabs evolution. 

Paper mentioned in the episode about what it means to be a crab: Evolution of crabs - History and deconstruction of a prime example of convergence. Scholtz, 2014

Episode 64: Christmas Worms

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 'Tis the season for some festive animals, and of course we all think about worms when we're looking to get into the holiday spirit. For this holiday special, we're talking all about the Christmas Tree Worm, a fun little polychaete worm in the coral reefs. How do they get their name? How old do they get? Are they festive? Tune in to find out! 

Episode 63: Spiders in disguise

Camouflage is common in the animal world, but what about mimicry? Ant mimicry is surprisingly common, so in this episode, we talk about a few of the many animals that pretend to be ants! I highlight a few species of jumping spider that pretend to be ants, but also a snail that figured out how to join army ant colonies!

Episode 62: Octopuses Dream of Punching Fish

Today we're finally talking about dreams! We dream, but do other critters dream? Does your cat dream? Do platypuses dream? What about octopuses? Perhaps spiders? We'll talk about all of these questions! Learn a little bit more about dreams,  which other animals dream, and what animals don't dream! 

Episode 61: You've Got a Friend In Me

We're back! Did you know about sea cucumbers? Did you know sea cucumbers sometimes have some fishy friends? Now you do! Tune on in to hear about sea cucumbers, some ramblings about their cousins, and the fishy friend that lives with them in one of the stranger of the symbiotic relationships in the ocean. 

Episode 60:The Science Behind the Purr

We know why cats purr, but do we really know HOW cats purr? After a new paper was released in early November, now we do! Or at least we have some new insight into it. Tune in to learn more about cats, the aerodynamics behind your cat's purr, some new cat discoveries, and find out the nitty gritty behind how cats make their purring sounds. 

Sources: 
Herbst, C.T, Prigge, T., Garcia, M., Hampala, V., Hofer, R., Weissengruber G.E., Svec, J.G., Fitch W.T. 2023. Domestic cat larynges can produce purring frequencies without neural input. Current Biology, 33:4727-4732

Why cats purr is a surprisingly long-standing mystery. Now we're one step closer to solving it. https://www.livescience.com/animals/cats/why-cats-purr-is-a-surprisingly-long-standing-mystery-now-were-one-step-closer-to-solving-it

How cats purr: The mystery unraveled at last! https://cats-magazine.com/2023/10/11/how-cats-purr-the-mystery-unraveled-at-last/

 

Episode 59: Butterflies That Have Parasites That Have Parasites

What happens when you introduce a species of butterfly to a new island, and not one, but two new wasps also show up? A parasitic wasp version of nesting dolls! For our Halloween episode, we're talking about some butterfly body snatchers who also have body snatchers; a butterfly's parasitic wasp also has a parasitic wasp! Tune in to learn how one caterpillar can have two hidden parasitoids at once, just how tiny a wasp can be, and who the Glanville Fritillary Butterfly was named after!

Episode 58:The Jellyfish are Learning!

Can jellyfish learn despite not having a brain? This week we're talking about a recently published paper providing evidence that box jellyfish are capable of types of learning previously thought to require, well, a brain! Tune in to learn more about box jellyfish, their nervous systems, and what sorts of things a jellyfish can learn!

 

The paper: 

Bielecki, J., Nielsen, S.K.D., Nachman, G., and Garm, A. 2023. Associative learning in the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora. Current Biology 33, 1-10.