Brain Soda Podcast - Episode 38 - Invasive Northern Fists

Episode Date: October 21, 2023

On this week's episode we're discussing the manga Fists of the North Star and a few of the many invasive species of Michigan!

You're already dead. Brain soda. It's the Brain Soda Podcast. I, as always, am your host Kyle, joined by my co-host and co-hort, Brad. How's it going? Today, we're gonna be talking about invasive species, but first, Brad. Yes, I feel like this subject is kind of fallen right into place, because we've been

talking a lot about Japanese media like Super Sentai, Dragon Ball, and with that, we've been talking a lot about Japanese media, like Super Sentai, Dragon Ball, and with that, we've briefly brought this up. And I feel like it comes into this really good place. Today, we're gonna be talking about the post-apocalyptic, highly influential, 80s manga, and anime adaptation of Fist of the North Star. I've never heard of that, but that sounds quite intense. Well, so we did talk about it very, very briefly when we covered Dragon Ball and its second

arc, I believe. Because what happens is Toriyama looked at this manga, which is sold up to date up to a hundred million copies. Damn. Where the wide end. Okay. So that's not terrible. No, no. And it is one of the most influential and profitable anime and manga franchises of all

time, right? Okay. But during its run, so this, this had started like a year before Dragon Ball did. Toriyama looked to it and like, that is where the focus for more of the martial arts styles, serious kind of Dragon Ball Z-esque stuff that like stays throughout Dragon Ball as a narrative, right? It comes from this. Okay, so it's like a martial arts type thing. It definitely is.

And this also went on to inspire another highly influential manga, Berserk. So like one of the more well-known kind of epics in manga, you know, inspired by it very heavily. Now one of the biggest inspirations or two of the biggest inspirations for this are Mad Max and the Road Warrior and Bruce Lee. They're really who can shero the main characters kind of his design is heavily modeled off of Bruce Lee, his like fast attacks and his high pitch kind of like cries as he does his attacks or modeled off Bruce Lee.

And the martial art that he is the chosen one for is this pressure point based martial art where like certain kicks and punches and unique points will cause you to like explode. Okay. I was gonna say like pressure point is what I was a kid. I used to think that was the coolest thing ever. I know it like, I mean there is like those type of things that make you like, you know, but like, it's just, I thought there was like certain, like just a little poke here,

poke plate places and you'd be like paralyzed. Well, and I think to a certain extent, like if you were to apply a relatively small amount of pressure exactly to a certain, like nerve point, you could realistically, yeah, right. That's their pressure points, yeah, definitely. But in this, like it turns into the kind of stereotypical trope of like, fountaining blood.

Like you see literally like, yeah, you see like heads and stomachs and stuff like that. Like in gorge and just boom, burst with blood. And it is highly graphic, highly, you know, not necessarily dour, because Ken Shiro is like, the White Hat cowboy, much like when we were talking about Rick. Again, I feel like a lot of the things

we've been covering recently kind of comes full circle is that like even though this guy is very violent and when he takes people out, it is a gruesome affair. Like he is the morality character throughout this. He is the chosen one out of a kind of clan of four brothers, adoptive brothers, I guess, but, okay, but by the end of like the big three parts out of this six part story, you've gone through all that and that's like

the most well-known stuff. The initial two arcs have been adapted into a 1986 animated film OVA or whatever they call it. So this has had like a grand number of different adaptations, video games and things like that. So let's talk about who drew it and wrote it. So it's drawn by, I mean, Tetsuohara and written by a guy named Buronsan, which is like Buronsan. Buronsan, but the thing is that it's a pen name for a guy named Yoshiyuki Okomara.

And the reason why he kind of chose or made that pen name was Charles Branson, the actor from Death Wish and things like that. So it's kind of interesting. But again, so if you were to look up Ken Shiro and things like that, you could see the influence of Bruce Lee on him as a character design, but also that. Like you could see the influence of like Bruce Lee on him as a character design, but also I feel like you could look at it and see like the the costume being and character designs that it influences from there.

Like Ninja Gaiden and the double dragon characters and things like that. Like I feel like it is an iconic thing even though, like you said, and I never really heard much of this mango before researching Dragon Ball Z, is that this is really, really influential in a number of different ways. Yeah, it sounds like, I mean,

it seems like that happens a lot. Is there is this, like, well, not, I mean, it seems like there's, that happens a lot, is there's this like, well, not, I wanna even say lesser well-known, but something that's not like, you know, historical. Exactly, you know, it's not like, you know, known throughout generations, but there's always like this show

or was specifically speaking in media, you know, there's this like, there's this egg of something that just makes something just grow out of it. I can't even think of a specific example right now. Let's talk a little bit about why I feel like this thing is influential as I want to bring it to be in this segment. Fist of the North Star or Fist of the big deprive, I believe, is the actual literal translation from Japanese, right? It ran from 83 to 88 and weekly shown at jump. So this is literally from the end of Dr. Slump, Toriyama's other book, Previous to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball's

initial run throughout that time frame as well. So weekly show and jump at this time is really popping and influential overall is a weekly manga producer each and every week, right? One of the things I really feel like is that exploding blood effect, it kind of becomes like a staple of anime and things like that. Like you've seen before how characters can just jettison blood. Yeah, anime can be very gory for sure. Well, even like manga usually is like comics versus TV shows,

you know, that we see. It's a lot more, you know, gory and intense. And yeah, for sure. Yeah, the devils in the details with the things like that absolutely but like I also think the past rival traumatic event trope that you have in some anime is like you see in cowboy bebop and things like that like the early arcs of this the things that's covered in that 86 film that we were talking about are the initial arcs where Kensaro is introduced. He's gathered along to young kind of side kicks. And his story arc is

that he is betrayed by a guy named Shen. And Shen kind of says like, look, after this nuclear war has kind of changed the outlook of the world. The rules no longer play like they used to and starts to stab his fingers into Kenshiro as like a torture device to take his feet on. Literally. Yes. Okay. And those scars end up looking like the big dip. Okay. The constellation constellation the big Dipper. I'm trying to do the I'm trying to I guess yeah, you could do it Will you need you need more than I don't know all right? He does it into like he starts with one again He's torturing him. Oh, okay, so he's not like trying to like I was trying to like make a hand you know Signo of the big Dipper as I say that'd be the really hard. No, he doesn't do it all at once right? It's seven. Yeah, I was just saying that'd be the really hard. No, he doesn't do it all at once, right?

It's seven pints. Yeah, I was just saying, I believe. But you need more fingers. So anyway, that is the titular kind of link from Kenturo and our beginning arc to the title of the anime in Bangu itself, right? Fist of the, okay, fist of the North Star. That makes a lot of sense, okay.

Right. So while it's highly influential and things like that, like one of the things I found that was really interesting is I don't believe the manga was ever fully adapted. So like we said, there's like six chapters, I guess you could call it within this narrative. And the most well-known and beloved stuff is the first three. And up to five of those six big story arcs have been covered, but if you were to even look up the Wikipedia, the 245 issues have not all been translated into an anime episode. Why not? I mean, I'm gonna say why are people doing that?

Why do people do that? But I know why people do that. It just, it really makes me mad because that happens a lot, like throughout a lot of short, like the voice, for instance, you know, I read the voice and it's way more like detailed. And I'm not mistaken, they're kind of going off a little bit like from what the comic was. I feel like, again, when we were talking about the Walking Dead, I feel like it's an appropriate

conversation here and now. Yeah, that's a perfect one. For sure. Right. But I feel like you need to stand on your own two feet to an extent, right? Like one of the things that makes Watchmen work as a film adaptation of a comic book is it does stay really, really, really close. The things that it changes are really just to kind of give a better narrative structure is to why the events that unfold and finish at that point.

Definitely. Yeah, so you could show visually like pages of dialogue, you know, of uptax. Right. You know, in like a couple scenes essentially. Right. Yeah. And I feel like when it's good and it hits right, it works and you can just say that

is this separate universe and there are some parallels and there are some distinct differences. And I think for a long time, the Walking Dead straddled that line really well. And then was it any more, and then people really started to jump off the boat. It's pretty much like Alexandria, I'd say, and on, is when they really like divert.

I think the governor is a huge flop. Yeah. From what it was, to what it ended up being in the, that was the beginning. Everybody's willing to forgive it a little bit. Yeah. And they kept going with it.

And it was still a huge cultural phenomenon. And then about the time again, like you said, Alex, Andrea and things like that. For sure. Yeah, I think there were a number of times that shows started to downgrade and degrade itself. Unfortunately. Yeah. But again, I feel like that is why things like that happen

is that you get the bread and butter of like having your cake and eat it too. Right? You're adopting it and you're working through the things that everybody wants to see you. But like maybe you can take a different way to get there. Especially, you know, it's never the person that initially wrote it. You know, I'd love to see that.

You know, I don't know if that even be possible because it's two different, you know, forms of media be really hard. You know, you need like a doubtful lover or something like that. Well, I think having them in the room or definitely it does help for sure. We saw, like we saw a lot of times with taking the literal book and using it as storyboards is a literal direct way to go one-to-one. Game of Thrones.

If you were trying to do something like that. Game of Thrones, perfect example. You know, they ran out of source material and then I just went to, absolutely. Right. Again, I feel like this thing is just so influential that like it's a power set martial arts Manga that ends up like you you can see it like the animation is very similar of the time It's also toy, but like we're dragon ball stays with the lighthearted kind of kids appeal and there might be some blood and visceral.

There might be some violence and like over the top action. This is where the men and the boys divide, right? Because this is literally like, it's very gory, it's very dark at times and it's messaging in. Okay. Kentro is a traveled hero fighting through the wastes and protecting the innocent. He goes and achieves a revenge in the very early arcs of this.

Oh, does he? Okay. Then he's just like, I'm gonna keep killing people. Well, he continues to fight through against his clan of brothers and allied with them as well, but like Again, the most notable stuff of this comes around the end of the third chapter arc is you'd like to call it And that's when he fights Rao. Okay. Rao the Conqueror is one of his brothers who went not chosen kills their master And like that is really the largest crux of the show honestly, like if there was anything I was gonna suggest to anybody,

I would feel like that's where you could easily drop off. If you wanted to check this out, just to dip your toe into water, watch like the first arc or two to get to those fights with Shen, right? When it comes to, if you really want to experience this, I'd say watch the first like three chapters as they're called.

Okay. And then from there, you know, if you really, really find yourself into it, watch the whole thing. Is it on anything or, I mean, what's it's streaming on? I found it streaming on like some no name platform thing called Khan, I believe it was called.

Okay. So it might be on like, yeah. Yeah. Amazon, I would say you might need to Amazon or maybe the animation or something like that. I believe it was called okay, so it might be I like yeah, Amazon I would say you might need to Amazon or maybe the animation or something like that But other than going through Amazon or Funimation and it's older yeah, it is it's from 80 like seven I think is the end of the anime run or whatever maybe three to eighty eight is the okay years at the main ramp

Okay, yeah, and again anime run or whatever, maybe three to 88. Wow, okay. Two years at the manga ran. Okay. Yeah. And again, I really think it's something that you guys should check out. I would like to give it a little bit more of a shot at some point. It's been adapted to like a straight to video film in 1995 and I thought that was really interesting too

because like while it is like, again, straight to video animated. No, this is all right. I've actually filmed really, okay. Even though it was just kind of some throw away Adaptation of this like it's 95 like there's no dragon ball Z Taken over and like becoming this big super huge thing like there's a lot of anime influence in television in general and overall but like to

Yes, adapt this and make it the way that it is I found to be really interesting. And maybe one day we could do some sort of commentary review of that. If you guys were interested, and I definitely have thought about taking a deeper look at some anime's, and if you guys are interested in that, let us know. But we don't talk about the Dragon Ball Z movie. But I think I already said that. I think that's already it.

Yeah, we've said that before too. Yeah. One of the things I thought that was notable, like, so it's had a recent video game that people might know and lost paradise. But like, if you've ever played or know someone who played the game Black Belt for like the master system, it's actually the European naming for the North Star.

It was it was a master's really interesting. I may have played it, man. Like, all right. It's called black belt. Look at the, look at the art of it or whatever. Okay, off to check it out. Yeah. The master system and this thing, I had the Sega master system.

I was, I was an Nintendo kid, I was a Sega kid. And not like on my own choice, you know, it's just what I had. Right, right. But there was this one system. It was the Sega Master System, like two or something like that. That very rarely gets talked about. But it had its own built-in game.

The Mega Drive or something. Yeah, I'm gonna have to look it up, because even now it's not the name of it. that very rarely gets talked about. But it had its own built-in game. The Mega Drive or something. Yeah, I'm gonna have to look it up, because even now it's not the name of it. It's not the, yes, but for forever, man. I always would explain it to people like I am right now and I'm not able to explain what it was. Okay.

But it had its own built-in game and everything. And it was awesome, because like, yeah, you like had a little cover that you could close like the game part, you know, the old cartridges and all that. And you could just turn it on and it would have this like game where you like would like jump down these, you know, down a platform, just going lower and lower, like multiple apps and everything are nowadays. But if I just recently I figured it out what it was. And it was like, it was the master system. I knew it was, but I just recently I figured it out what it was. And it was like, it was the master system.

I knew it was, but it was a different version of it. You know, it was like the next edition or something that no one really talks about. But yeah, they just made me think of that. And like I said, I might have played that game, then, because we've played, we had a lot of games for it, you know, it's possible. One thing I did wanna ask you, Brad. Yes.

A million dollar question, if you will. Okay. If you were to cast a film based on Fist of the North Star, who would you cast as Ken Shuro? Well, Tom Cruise, obviously. I was like, I was like, I just, the last step, I mean, he was the last step,

or I so, you know. It is true. He did make a huge influence in feudal Japan that one time. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know many Japanese actors, it's Japanese, man, right? That is true, it is a Japanese man, but I feel like it is Americanized enough that like

with the mad Max and the mad Max and things like that, like, I don't know, man. Well, then if it was just like anybody, I would do Kiyah new then. Like as a main character. Oh, yeah, that would be exactly. Like action character, it's an action. They write all bloody and gory. Kiyah was perfect for it.

Yeah, I give some of that John Wick, so that's something there. Some major. You know that fast-paced action too, that really would translate well for Fist of the North Star. I can't disagree with that pick of that. Yeah, for sure. You know, it's kind of crazy though,

is that like, there's the way, like, I mean, like, manga and anime invaded into the United States. There's almost like an invasive type of media. Yeah, to a certain extent, man. And like I said in our previous episode, I kind of feel like around our Power Rangers episode, I kind of feel like I was on the ground floor and I never really bought in, it's weird.

You know? Yeah, because I mean, it really, I mean, I mean, it's not a bad thing. Like what I'm about to talk about, but it really, like it really like came, came into American society and just, like, took it by storm, you know, like, I can remember the 90s. I would say that early 90s to mid 90s

is when it really popularized, right? Yeah, no, I definitely agree with that, though, because you have, like, you have saloon and speed racer and all these different things that, like, had already been existing in the culture and the median things like that and by the time You're in like the end of the late 80s Pokemon. Yeah, well, I'm just saying like well. Yeah, you had Voltron and You know a vast number of things but like by the time that that stuff is coming over here in the mid to late 90s, like Gundams. Gundams, man.

Gundams, yeah. Dragon Ball, Pokemon. My brother was really in the Gundam. And I was too, but like, I've been wanting to check it out. I think so cool. Again, if we hear from people, I think Gundam is the next anime that I might check out to cover at some point.

And the seasons, I guess, are pretty well divided that you could just cover one season. They were. The whole show was a good show too. We watched the show. Yeah, we had the action figures. Man, yeah, for sure. But Gundam is a whole story in and of itself. It is.

It definitely is. But so, yes, for now, I think you have one about invasive species. Well, tell me about that. Well, okay now, I think you have won about invasive species. Well, tell me about that. Well, okay. So I'm going to talk about invasive species, but I'm keeping it just to Michigan for today. Okay. And I know like there's plenty of listeners out there that aren't for Michigan, obviously. But like, man, when you start talking about invasive species, even just to Michigan, there's

like hundreds of them. Like, it's insane. I didn't, I mean, obviously there is, you know, your house plans that come from different areas and stuff. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about like things that like accidentally have gotten into our state that aren't native to this area. Have like migrated or proliferated here? Exactly. Yeah. So I wouldn't the future like to talk about like how invasive species just in general, like

how, how it happens, you know, like what makes what causes the spread spread of it and everything. It's not just humans. You know, there's other ways that it happens. But, um, but today I want to do migratory pass getting up. Sure. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But today I'm going to, I'm going to keep it limited to Michigan. Michigan And actually I think almost all of these are probably like invasive to other parts of the United States and other parts of the world too You know, so it's not just they're just the ones that you know I know about actually that I have personal content with during college. I actually Took samples of a few of these so we'll talk about that in a minute, but. All right, so the first one I want to talk about is fragmites. And these are also known as the common read.

These actually, I'm sure many people have saw them if you've been around any type of marshy area, or Lake Land or Pond area in most of the U.S. I think. Because it's actually native to North America, just not a specific strain that's been spread throughout our state. What would the biggest differences between those two species be?

I think it's just like the main thing is how it grows and how much it grows and how thick it grows. Because these are like, it's a grass-like plant right like think of it as like giant grass um you know when grass gets too long if you know you slack I'm going your lawn a little bit and it starts to get kind of like the blades space like there's more than one blade and they space out and then you get that little the seeds start forming almost like wheat I guess or, or that type of growth. Like a grass.

Most grasses in the world, there's so many different grasses. It's like they all kind of grow the same. Yeah, I'm sure people, you understand what I'm saying. People have a tall grass. These are more like eight, 12 feet tall, though. These are huge grasses. And they grow along, like I said, in wetlands and in ditches and along streams and in pond banks and lake banks and all that. They're all

around where we live. If you pass by where you would normally see cat tails, like from what I remember growing up, there was cat tails a lot, you know, like in the, the ditches and by the streams. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Now there's frag mighties. Like they've taken over like most, like that's the biggest thing that I've seen is the cat tails have, there is still cat tails around, but not as much as you see. But not like he used to see them. Right. No, yeah. Absolutely right. And they grow differently than the cat tails. They grow like, like I said, super dense, you know, and because of that They block the shore, you know like this area is where a lot of fish and

Kind of like the mangroves like we were talking about you know the fish come in to lay their eggs in this area You know the shallow the water's not turbulent. It's safer. They're you know It's protected, but it's too dense for them for the local populations to get in like they're used to, you know, like cat tails don't grow as thickly as the fragmites do. We were talking about mangroves and how they filter out things, right? Does that system then like kind of make things worse as far as filtering out the good and the bad? I'm not too sure it might I don't know I didn't actually see anything about that, but it could Regardless of you and I have both just even when you said it like we both notice The lack of them versus when we were like kids. Yeah, it was highly prevalent in the area

Now I really can't think of too many places where I'd see them. I mean, obviously, I've been in a ditch bank. But yeah, exactly. Yeah. Start looking at ditches. When you see like those like giant looking grasses with, you know, the like the seeds, like there's like fronds, you know, sticking out the top of them, right? Like, like, yeah, exactly that frill, the top, you know, you'll see that they're all over the place in Michigan, especially in the thumb, and, but, you know, like riverbeds and river beds and all that. It's actually pretty crazy. Like I said, these actually, this was one of the species that I collected during college when I was doing an internship. I had to go out with big old waiters out onto the bay, out of the Saginaw bay, and go

into these stands. I had to like go deep into like take, you know, various points of it, right, the edge, the center, you know, the left side, the right side, right? So I had to like walk through these things and man, it was hard. Oh, yeah, I bet. Yeah. It was like walking through like, like, uh, with that game where you have the marbles on the top and you have all the the sticks that hold it hold them together you pull the sticks out. Oh I know what you're talking about. Yeah it was like that. Kriplunk. Yes it was like I was walking through a Kriplunk thing that's what it felt like. Yeah yeah yeah one last thing about Frank Mines though really the only

way to do it is like to them, which control burns, right? Like that's a good way to get rid of them and pesticides too, which you don't wanna do that. Obviously, so burning is like, you see that a lot of the times you see people burning stands at fray mighties. You'll see it around, especially like up in the Saginaw Bay, or I've seen it in the Saginaw Bay, right?

Well, that's good, yeah, we would support that. So another one though, that I have, that was, I studied, I didn't collect samples of these, but like I just, I ended up like extracting some, some DNA from them and stuff, using PCR. Just samples that the professor already had. But this is the Emerald Ashborer, and also known as Agroless Planet Penis.

Penis, I think that's how you say it in the list, or you're a planet penis. I don't know. There's a couple of these beetles, I guess, have the penis ending. Just when I saw that, I was like, okay, I'm a child. But... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Yeah, it says. There's two ends though.

So anyways, these are beetles that are native to north eastern Asia, like eastern Russia, Japan, the Koreas, in northern China, right? So these things are terrible. They have devastated our asterisks. They're emerald ash borers, right? They bore into aster ash trees. That's what, yeah, that's the name. And they look, they're actually emerald colored. So like it's very, yeah, emerald ash borers, that's what they are. What they do. So explanatory. Pretty much. Yeah.

And they're like little, they're like, you know, a thurving inch or like eight millimeters in length, right? The little tiny bugs, but they just invaded Michigan and just, they have a core population here now, but they like devastated the ash trees. And in our hometown, you go down to, you know, where actually where you lived, there was a bunch of ash trees like bright be by your house. And they're all dead now.

They were all dead like because of the emerald ash borer. It was kind of like not in the band in park, but like a secondary park that they had replaced, I guess is what we'll call it. It used to have a densely wooded ash forest. Yeah. Yeah. With ash, right?

It was ash forest, yep. And literally within years, it had withered essentially right to the point where none of the trees were really stable anymore or alive. Yeah. And they all got cut down and it was a sad sight to see. It still is like even you bringing it up. Exactly. Yeah. It's seriously like I mean it was it was it was first discovered in Michigan in 2002. Right. So that was when we were about 12 right or 12 13 and yeah, I literally just moved into that area at that time Yes, and this is like this is a perfect example of like what invasive species can do like it the

Forresters they tracked it from like you know started in the South and it just crept its way up They watched it watched the this population of Emerald Ashborer just go up and up and up and just kill all the ash trees. I'm like almost all, like so many of them, you know, like they're gone now. You can't find ash trees in Michigan anymore. Like it's insane how bad it was. And like, this was us, like has it been reminied at all?

I don't think so, not that I saw, you know, like because like has it been remanied at all. I don't think so not that I saw you know like because like they're so like The Beatles man Beatles are hard to get rid of you Completely and just even a bait man. We we deal with a large like mosquito. Yeah, so like a lot of the deal here I guess every year and pretty much most of these I'm talking about I guess one of them The one I'm gonna bring up is not, has not invaded yet and we're on the lookout for it. But. Oh man.

Yeah. Yeah, like most of these are just here and here to stay, it looks like it just fucked up our ecosystem. Right. Yeah, because what all survived off a highly prevalent asterisk. Exactly.

Like I mean, it's not even, yeah, there might be like, I'm sure there was specific species that did survive off it, but like, even just like, that shock to an ecosystem, man, like to just kill all these mature trees out of like nowhere. Right, no, absolutely.

Like, it just, it messes everything up. Yeah. And like, this came from packing material, solid wood packing material from Asia. Right? You know, like, think of palettes and stuff like that. Right? Larva inside it. Yep. Exactly. Yep. And things like that. You know, like, it's so, ah, man.

I don't like, yes, the global economy is great. It makes for cheap things. And it, you know, makes like advances and stuff like that. But it also does things like this, you know? And like, it's one part of, you know, all this. I hate, I end up having like a down, downer episode. I don't mean to do that. Like I do want to bring awareness though.

That's the thing is what I'm trying to do is bring awareness. So yes. So the next thing, and this is the, the third thing that I actually studied, which I, I did, I did take a few samples of these. Mostly I was doing walleye. I was doing a walleye study, but like while we were doing, like, you know, the professor was also also looking at a bunch of invasive species. So like we also did, you know, a lot of that too. But these are zebra mussels, right? And also known as Oh man. Yes. Dryasena polymorpha is their lenea name,

I guess, their scientific name. These things invaded the Great Lakes, right? And these muscles, they just again devastated like the global flora, right? These are like filter feeders. We didn't have these type of muscles in the great lakes before they came around and because of that They started filtering a lot more than it would be normal in the great lakes causing them to get a lot more clear You know like they they are clearer than they used to be but in a bad way, you know

There's less like the diversity of organisms now because they're eating Well, that is a large purpose for bottom feeders and things like that. Like, there's a lot of animals that feed off like a lot. Exactly. Yes. And filter out as well. So now there is something that is relatively speaking like destroying, if not part of the ecosystem, its food base, right?

Yeah, it's killing, you know, it's out competing Yes, local muscles or even like fish and stuff like that. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like, it's taking away the habitat, the niches that are already occupied in the area. It's out competing those, you know, those species that are have feelings. Yeah, because if you needed more filtration within an ecosystem. That ecosystem would then have the filter fish and things like that pull up. It's an evaporate. They would just be enmasked.

Yes, if it was too murky or something, then a lot of the fish would die and it would screw up the ecosystem. It'd screw up the chain, the food chain, right? Yeah. So there'd be an outbreak of, you know, the muscles are something, but these came in and they're not used to that. There is something that's used to eating these things.

So they just started, you know, expanding like crazy. And also a single muscle can lay a million eggs in a year. So like, you know, yeah, that's just in pain. And then how do you, how do you cordon that off? How do you try to like deal with that then? Yeah, there's really like you can't like it's mostly by like physical removal, right? Is the best way to control it's like looking at my your boats are like scraping them up from the shore and stuff and like I was told the way we were researching them that it was brought in from

international shippers from their their ballots, right? So they would like take in water in another area that had these larvae, you know, it might even just be the muscles themselves. And then when they came back to America, they had to dump their ballots to like take on whatever they're grabbing, you know, to ship out. So they have to like, you know, that's how big old still ships work. Yeah. Thus like releasing a bunch of it right. Yeah Um, so they release all this water and then boom there goes all you know all these invasions species

Not even just them sure other ones, you know Yeah, and like you know one of the things that I know when you were in the process of You know kind of investigating these species that you're talking about now. We would communicate about it like It was one of those things that you always kind of wondered or at least I did about like what could you introduce or Maximize in the ecosystem to like in turn deal with this and Not Cause more damage. Maybe not as much, but still. Exactly. You'll end up with a lady that swallowed the fly situation.

Right. Right. You don't want to... Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Physical removal, right? Well, the Emerald Ashmore, I forgot to mention, the way that it kind of spread, or another way that it spread through the state was from people taking their wood and Transporting it to a different area of the state and burning it, you know firewood Yep, and there's like signs all over campgrounds. I say you know don't bring for you know

Non-local firewood like that. There's a reason. There's a reason why they do that is because like that's a big reason So like you ever see that don't't even do it, not even campgrounds. Don't ever move non-loathe wood. If you're gonna burn wood or, you know, any don't transport wood unless it's like treat, or not even treated, but like get it from a lumber shop. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, and like as you know,

anybody that lives in Michigan knows, there's like firewood for sale literally everywhere in the state. It's all over the place yeah yeah like you find it anywhere but yeah anyways um I got two more and like I said one of them hasn't been here and I'm gonna say that for last or it has not been reported I say one of them hasn't been reported yet yeah yeah the next one I want to talk about is kind of a one that you would think of. And that is the mute swan. Okay.

All right. So really quick, what do swans typically like have for prey? Like they're a waterfowl predator, right? Yeah. They eat fish. And really it's not even necessarily like they don't, they haven't like devastated like the fish populations anyway. Okay.

It's more that they're, oh yeah. Yeah. So these majestic things that, fish populations anywhere. It's more that they're at. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. These majestic things, the mute swan. You see, it's a swan. So this is a big white thing with a black face and all that. The site type of name is Cygnus Olor. But you don't really think about these.

When you think of swans, right? Swans are like, I think of swans, right? Like swans are like, I think of like ballet. I don't know why. Well, the famous ballet swan lake. Swan lake. Yes, yes. Anyways, you don't think I'm gonna be in, so they kind of are though. And these ones actually are native to Europe and Siberia. And they were purposely introduced into North America like many birds. Yeah, such as the European Starling, you know, came from Europe, I'm not talking about this time, but they're everywhere, they're everywhere. And yeah, it's just because they, you know, someone thought that America

should have every bird species that was mentioned in Shakespearean place. That's why the European Starlings here. Yeah, yeah. Now they're like one of the most common birds in America. That's why the European starlings here. Yeah. Yeah, and now they're like one of the most common birds in America. That's another story. But anyways. Yeah, so these muse swans, they grew up to like 63 inches in length

and lay as much as 32 pounds. And they're named mute because they're pretty quiet, but they're also like territorial as hell. Like they just like any other bird, they do not like come around and like they nest, you know, and little ponds and stuff, and they like take over the entire pod. They're like, this is my pod now.

And like I went, there was one up in a local pod that we saw. And like seriously, like they wouldn't let a single bird, no geese, no ducks, no nuffin. Not even, like swim out and just like, yeah, they're big birds, you know, so though Yeah, yeah, they do have a large appetite so they they do like yeah, they reduce the I guess like what's available for other species You know and there yeah, but like they're not like they're not like impacting the populations of those fish But they're reducing like what's available for other species Can't compete for food if you can't even get to the locale, right?

You know, like it's the territory that's needed for now, right? Exactly, for sure. And like it's just crazy because like yeah, you don't think of like this giant, you know, swad being an invasive species, but yeah, it sure is. Like, I mean, there's a bunch of invasive birds, but yeah. As a quick question mean there's a bunch of invasive birds but yeah as a quick question could you use this invasive species to kill off another prevalent invasive species in the Asian carp? I don't think okay the Asian carp was actually one of them that was going to talk about and I didn't do too much research on because like again we could talk forever about all the species but I don't think the Asian Carb is actually in Michigan yet. It's been like closely

watched. Like, yeah. So like, and no, I don't think because the Asian Carb is not really what the mute swine would eat, the more like smaller fish up on the surface, you know, a carper like bottom peaters and stuff like that. And the agent like that was one, it was actually that one or this next one I'm going to talk about those were it was the toss up between the last one I wanted to talk about because because of that. Yeah, because it is very important. But the new one that everybody's been talking about recently, I've been seeing in a lot of like, you know, like government reports

and like MSU and stuff like that. Talk about it a lot is the agent longhorn beetle. Oh no, what is this new? Yes, it's aka the Anopluorphoria Glambrip penis. You said penis. You said penis. Why makes me? I don't know why makes me laugh man. I'm just childish. I hope one day we win an award and that's the piece I won't play.

Yes. Please, that's the piece I want played. Yes. Yes. Please. That's the I agree. Anyways, it has not been reported in Michigan yet, but it is like, like I said, it's high I'm not alertless. Like if you look up invasive species of Michigan, this is like the first one that shows up, even though it's not technically invasive in Michigan. And it grossed me about like an inch and a half in length and but it's a antenna are kind of like the same size. I guess he's like two huge long antenna that like go you know long it's back and it's black with like these white spots on

it on its wings but also their antenna are like black and white you know kind of striped a little bit. I mean it sounds kind of bad. Yeah I mean it kind of it is a cool look a bug you, it sounds kind of bad. Dude, I'm like, yeah, I mean, kind of, it is a cool look of bug. You know, that's the thing. Yeah, like, I mean, if you like bugs, same with the emerald ash borer. The terminator is cool too, but it'll destroy you, right? For sure, like if you appreciate bugs,

like I've come to, you know, insects, sorry, not bugs. If you appreciate arthropods, should I say, um, they are cool. They're definitely cool. Like the Amorlash borer and these are pretty cool looking. But it's not, these weren't intentionally brought in, but they're devastating though. Like these ones attack, maples, willows and elves

with the maples being the most common. So like, yeah, there goes the rest of our trees. Essentially. Yeah, like what do we got? Oaks left? Like, have some oaks and some birches. Okay, so this is a really interesting question when you think about like our relative area to Michigan,

but also just the state ecosystem overall, if this were to come here, and if worst case scenario, this thing eliminates such a high amount of trees in the state. It's estimated in urban areas at least because like those maples while Maples willows and elms are very like common urban planning, you know It would it's estimated to just right up to 30% of them. So like that would be devastating like billions of dollars in damage if that's right But my second question to that is then like what what does that do to the ecosystem not just with the animal kingdom and things like that like Michigan in turn then becomes hotter Maybe okay, yeah, okay

What will happen is other trees Yeah, okay. What will happen is other trees will take up those spaces. Trees that not necessarily would have, maybe they do grow fine, right? Like again, like I said, yeah, your birches and oaks, right? There would be more of those, which is fine, but there'd be different oak trees drop acorns

and things like that. There's other, whereas maple's drop, you know, they're a little like a helicopter thing. Like there's different that that would make differences in the ecosystem. Like there'd be more squirrels maybe or something like that. Like I can't tell you exactly what would happen, but things like that would, it crazily change the landscape of Michigan forest, right? And like, yeah, I don't know, like this is the one though,

like I said, it hasn't been a report of the Michigan yet. If you see that, especially if you're in Southern Michigan or something like that, these, okay, these are shiny black. They have white spots on their wings, like their wing covers, and their antenna are like black and white bands too, right? So like you see a bug like that, definitely report it. Call your local extension office. Yeah, or DNR or something like that.

Just like look up report and basis species on Google. Right. I'm sure it will show you something. The people who need reporting will definitely be. Yeah, they will find you. Or, you will, you will find them. Should I say, you will find them. Yeah, but they will find them.

They will find them. Would you find them? They will find you. Yes. Yes, producer. But another thing I want to ask with that too, is like so encroaching invasive species. Like, where's the closest stuff that you were able to find?

Like is there stuff prevalent in Ohio? Is there stuff prevalent in New York State? Yeah. Oh yeah, no, this was the Asian Long Harbor beetle I think has been reported just out of us. The Asian car has been too. Like, they're like blocking it off right at Lake Michigan. I think they're not mistaken

At least they were back when I was in college, which is you know, unfortunately a benefit years now, but It's just closed amount of time. Yeah But like yeah, there is like most most of them are just south of us man And we're kind of holding them off just through efforts through our government and citizen scientists I like to say reporting. It's awesome. If you can help with that report with this. Yeah, because you're observing and you're relaying information that these guys can't always just determine everything out from what happens in a controlled versus non-controlled environment and reporting, right? Yeah, they can't be everywhere all at once.

They can't be in your backyard watching this bug. Japanese Beatles is what I didn't even talk about, but those are in other invasive species that just destroy vegetable garden. They suck too. The ones that climb up on the side of your house and they're just all over. Yeah, big time. And nuisance as well. Yeah, yeah, man, like, so many of these bugs we see are invasive, like there's so many of HS species. Like I said, I can go on for days about them. It's insane, but like, I mean, I guess I did explain a couple of the reasons why we get invasive species, but like,

it's a whole subject, you know, And I do want to talk about that someday. So for sure, but you know, that's what I have today. Man, there's a bunch more. There's, I think it's called the Scarlet Winged Moth or something like that. Or swallowtailed moths. I don't know. There's a small, that's bad. The Asian Carb, obviously.

There's so many. Like there's just so many. I can go on. Yeah. Yeah. With that, we would love to hear from you guys about this. Invite our comments about that.

Yes. How about you guys come in? Like, if you have any suggestions for some topics, you guys would like to hear, or if you have some, you know, if you would like to tell us some of the stuff we've covered that you want to hear more about, definitely let us know, because, you know, we're willing to hear what you guys have to say. We want to hear what our fans

would like to hear, right? Absolutely. Any comments, any suggestions, any things you would like to be explored further. Please let us know on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and on Patreon, where you could get early access to this episode by one week. HOD! A week early? That's right. So again, give us a rating review on any and all streaming platforms you can or do listen to us on. And with that, for Brad, I'm Kyle and we will see you again soon.

See ya. Blamity blam. I poke a hole in it and the podcast explodes. Ooh. The pressure point podcast, bye. Ha ha ha ha. Hey everybody, Kyle here from the Brain Soda podcast, letting you are faithful listeners

know that after episode 40 we're going to be taking a break. I'm going to be moving so to get all my affairs in order and everything like that may take a little bit. So we're going to be having a break after episode 40 but we will be back and you will get more here of everything that you love to hear each and every week on the Brain Soda podcast. thing that you love to hear, eat should every week on the Brain Soda Podcast. Brain soda.