SciShow Tangents - Bonus Backlog Bonanza - Ep. 3

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

This bonus episode was originally posted on Patreon on May 28, 2021 titled "Q and Play - Episode 3!"Original Patreon description: We've named the Patreon podcast! Enjoy Sam trying to answer your science questions while Ceri and Hank give him encouraging/condescending smiles.SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces! And go to https://complexly.store/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on socials:Ceri: @ceriley.bsky.social@rhinoceri on InstagramSam: @im-sam-schultz.bsky.social@im_sam_schultz on InstagramHank: @hankgreen on X

Hello and welcome to the Patreon-only episode of our bonus podcast. It's called Q and... Uh-huh. What's it called? It's called Q and something's got to rhyme with A. Hey, say. I think Q and Hey was already taken. I know Q and Slay was Tyler Oakley's question series.

You're never gonna hear this, though. Slay doesn't describe the three of us. Yeah, we could go ahead and Q and Slay was Tyler Oakley's question series. You're never gonna hear this, though. Slay doesn't describe the three of us. Yeah, we could go ahead and cue and slay because that's exactly what I think when I look at the three of us. I would love to know the compulsion behind you always starting to name something and never having any plan.

I got it, cue and bidet. It's for listening to while you're on the toilet because you need something to do. Okay. Cue and play because we're having a great time. Just having a little fun over here. Just having a little fun. That is substantially better than cue and bidet.

So I guess it's called cue and play. Welcome to our SciShow Patron Only podcast. It's called cue and play where we've got our SciShow Patron Only podcast. It's called Cue and Play, where we've got some cues from you and we're gonna play. Like it's a playground of knowledge. Like there's a jungle gym and on that jungle gym is things about like a lichen. That would be slippery on the jungle gym.

Well, lichen are pretty grippy actually. They are? Have you ever touched a lichen? I don't know, no. Are they on rocks? Then yes. I was thinking of moss. That's different.

Algae is very slippy. You're gonna fall right on your butt. Anyway, what this podcast is, is it's me, I'm Hank Green, and we've got our science expert, Sari Reilly and our resident everyman, Sam Schultz. And sometimes we talk about serious stuff. Like we talked about global climate change.

We talked about the impending shortage of fresh water. We talked about fundamental issues that divide our world. So we've got, we're changing directions here in Q and play to a more playful atmosphere. So this month we thought we'd try something a little different by just basically making fun of Sam for a while. That's not different at all. Yeah, that's just the normal show, SciShow Tangents.

So we asked you for science questions and concepts that you wanted to hear Sam try to explain without any preparation or research. He hasn't even seen the questions. Once he gives it his best shot, Sari and I will try and tell him if he did a good job or a bad job and fill in his gaps. Sari, do you want to hit Sam with his first topic? So, Sam, from Psygonic, their question is, with fins big enough,

could you theoretically swim through space? It's not 100% a vacuum, so you should be able to push off the little bit of matter floating around, right? So, is it really not 100% a vacuum, so you should be able to push off the little bit of matter floating around, right? So is it really not 100% a vacuum? Come on. You gotta explain, Sam. We're your loyal subtext. This is part of my process, okay? Oh, asking us questions?

I'm asking myself hypothetical questions. I would say, trick question, it's a vacuum. and no. Well, I guess you could hit little rocks and stuff. Yes, if you had a big enough one, you could catch all the little rocks and stuff and you could use them, the dust, the particles, and you could use them to push yourself. Also there's solar fins or something like that. Maybe that is a thing they could warm.

I don't like the patronizing, smiling nods you guys are giving me. How do you do an encouraging smile? they could warm. I don't like the patronizing, smiling nod. I think it would be- How do you do an encouraging smile? Thumbs up, Sam, you remember solar sails. Can I interrogate Sam for a second? So if you have empty space, but there's some dust in it, is that a vacuum anymore? Well-

Is it a hundred percent a vacuum if it has some things in it? Yes, it is a hundred it can be a hundred percent of vacuum if there's something in it. Is that see it? No You have the logic right and then the wrong conclusion There is there are there are atoms and molecules in space and they are gas gas Sometimes and they are dust sometimes and what the difference between those things are. I like honestly, I'm not sure. I guess the dust would be like a bunch of different atoms stuck together. Once dust gets small enough, is it a gas?

Is that how it works? Kinda, I mean, I don't know. Like when you're talking about like a single molecule of something that would be solid on earth, it's like a single molecule or a single atom isn't a phase of matter. You have to have a bunch of them together in order for it to do its matter phase thing.

But anyway, there are, there's a bunch of interstellar hydrogen and interplanetary molecules. Like there's stuff out there. And so yeah, if you had things big enough, you could swim. But also if they were that big, you would be probably better served by using stuff that big as a solar sail rather than as fins. Do you know what propels a solar sail, Sam?

The beams, the little particles hit it. Oh, I gotta take a picture of the mean smiles that you guys give me. Is that what it is, those, the beams? It's the particles of the sun pushing you. Yeah, I mean, I'm actually not a hundred percent sure. Is it mostly the photons or is it mostly the other particles that the sun throws out?

I think it's the photons. Yeah, because even though photons don't have mass, they still have momentum and that gets right up against my understanding of like words making sense. So. Yeah, the photons transfer their momentum to the sail. Yes, that is also a statement I can say and vaguely visualize, but cannot dive any deeper into that.

What happens to them after they do that? They bounce off. Okay. It's like, if you imagine throwing a little ball, but that ball is light, and that's where the physics gets wibbly. Okay. Yeah. If you threw a bunch of balls at a sail,

then eventually the thing would push forward. Okay. Yeah. It was basically how sails work, a bunch of balls, except the balls are nitrogen and oxygen. So instead of nitrogen and oxygen, it's just balls of sun. Everything is balls. Can I hit you guys with an idea? So we're starting to think, what if Complexly wrote books?

Is it a good idea? As I started to explain things to my son in ways he's trying to get him to understand. He's like, how does the match light? And so I'm like, well, there's molecules in it, and the thing is coated with a chemical that burns at a really low temperature. And then when you move the match along the side of the box, it speeds up the molecules, and they're like little balls, and it speeds them up. And when the little balls speed up, that's heat.

That's what you feel is hotness. And so it makes the little balls move faster and that makes the chemical catch on fire. And I'm starting to think, what if a good title for a book is everything is balls? And it's just like, it just handles basically everything. Just teaches all of everything we know about the whole world through the lens of just a bunch of balls.

I think that's a fantastic idea. What about it's just a bunch of balls? People are always asking me things like, how does wind work? It's just a bunch of balls. Where does the wax go when a candle burns It's just a bunch of balls. Where does the wax go when a candle burns? It's a bunch of balls. Okay, all right, well, I'm good.

Sari, what's the next question for Sam to hit? This next question could involve balls as part of your answer as well. So, from Frankie Pandar asks, why, when I have a glass of non-carbonated tap water on my bedside for a day or so, do loads of tiny bubbles appear in it? Why does the air invade my evening hydration?

Why do the little bubbles form? Because, what's it called when a snowflake forms? What's that little, what's the piece of dust called? Oh, a condensation nuclei. Shit, that's not the word I'm thinking of. Just call it a ball. A ball, okay, okay. A dirt ball.

There's little balls in the water and there's also little balls of oxygen in the water. A nucleation point, that's the one I was thinking of. Is that why the balls of oxygen stick to the balls of stuff and they make balls of oxygen in the water? And the balls of oxygen were already in the water? Yeah. That's my guess.

I actually don't know this either, but my guess is that there was some oxygen dissolved in the water from like the pipes or from getting aerated as it came out of your tap. And then they slowly come out of solution and they probably would do that at nucleation sites or points. Yeah, that's it. And I think you got the key. Good job, Sam.

Is that good? Is that like positive reinforcement? Good job, Sam. You're facing a twist into like a Richter's death smile. So yeah, that's great. But it is, yeah, the air isn't invading the glass of water. It just already is there. There are oxygen and nitrogen and air gases that are dissolved in the water, especially at colder temperatures or after pressure. It's similar to a soda can. They intentionally dissolve carbon dioxide in there, but in our pipes, when you're like pouring yourself a glass of water or like pouring it from the fridge, there's just gases dissolved

in there. So there are a couple of things that can cause that gas to be released or to like form bubbles. And it's like a decrease in pressure. So that's like opening a soda can, or if the temperature increases, then the little balls bounce around and hit each other more, and then eventually like molecules find each other and form little bubbles. The weird thing is that you have to remember that our world is constantly, like our experience of the world, like the world that we inhabit, this like sort of thin layer of earth that

we are on top of, is constantly under a pretty significant amount of pressure. And that pressure can push molecules into the solution. Like in the same way that like a soda stream can like add the pressure of the carbon dioxide into the solution that can also just happen with oxygen at regular atmospheric pressure, which is, you know, a hundred times what it is on Mars. Like, it's not nothing. And also, that's how it gets oxygen into our blood.

All right, what's next? Good job, Sam. Your ball-based learning system is working for me. Next question. From Meredith Sokol, why is it when it's 60 degrees outside, it feels warm and amazing and you toss on shorts, but when it's 60 degrees inside, it's freezing. Okay, wait a minute. First of all, 60 degrees outside is not warm enough

to put shorts on by a long shot. In Missoula it can be. But for clarity, I haven't put shorts on in 10 years. I've been wearing shorts throughout the pandemic. They're comfy. They're comfy and easy to wear is what I've heard. And also maybe that's part of the same effect that Meredith is referring to.

Cause you have lower expectations or something. Why, but this happens in my basement all the time. I know it's like the same temperature down here as it is outside, but I'm freaking freezing all the time. I've got some guesses, but I'm also not sure. Just for clarity, Sam. This one's a guess kind of question. But you can make some guesses and we'll see if our guesses line up. I think I know. Sunbeams.

Sunbeams is a good one. It's got to be. You're not getting sunbeams in the house. Yeah, definitely the sun is a big one, where like I grew up in Florida, where if it was 60 degrees out, it felt 60 degrees, because there's all this moisture in the air. And so the moisture like blocks the sun a bit and just sort of like evens everything out.

It like carries the temperature around more effectively is sort of how I imagine the humidity, which is more effective at carrying the temperature from place to place. Whereas in Montana, if you're in the sun, because there's so little moisture in the air, when you're in the sun, you're warm, and when you're in the shade, you're cold,

and you have to adjust so that one arm and a shoulder is in the sun, and then you'll be comfortable. And that's the, you have to have the perfect amount of your body getting hit by the sun, or you'll be comfortable. And that's the, like, you have to have the perfect amount of your body getting hit by the sun or you'll get cold. So yeah, I definitely like, there's not just, like, it's not just light coming off the sun. It is infrared radiation and it hits your body

and it warms you up. It like jiggles your balls. Ah. It's all just a bunch of balls. This is a great idea. The teenagers are gonna learn so much. It jiggles your of balls. This is a great idea. The teenagers are gonna learn so much. It jiggles your skin balls, and then that feels warmer,

and then you feel like you can wear some shorts. Because you want your skin balls to get jiggled by the sun, and so it's actually almost warmer to have shorts on because your skin is getting directly heated by the infrared radiation of the sun. It's not just a bunch of balls because the radiation isn't balls. It's not? What's the radiation? Unfortunately.. It's not just a bunch of balls because the radiation isn't balls. It's not?

What's the radiation? Unfortunately. Waves. Waves. Damn. That's okay though. That's just two things. People can know two things.

It's just, yeah, but it ruins the conceit, which is that it's just a bunch of balls. But what about the ocean, which is balls that go in a wave? That seems like it could be. Well, that's also a confusion. Like are these waves also particles? And they kind of are.

And at that point, maybe it is just a bunch of balls. Maybe we'll solve the answer to this question by making the book. That's right. We'll finally figure out wave particle duality with my new book, It's Just a Bunch of Balls. Yeah. And you'll win like the Nobel Prize or something.

Yeah, what I'm going for. It's just a bunch of balls. Nobel Prize in testicle jokes. Was I right? You don't know, do you? Yeah. Well, I don't really know, but I think that definitely contributes to it. Like the sunlight, the infrared radiation from the sun can warm up your skin or like any surface faster than the surrounding air, like air temperature is raised gradually or change more gradually than like if you touch a table

that's been outside in the sun or your skin outside in the sun. Right, right. Because the air is just a bunch of balls, but it's a lot less balls per like cubic meter. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you're like very dense balls and the air is very like spread out balls. And so it heats up less quickly. No one has ever said that to me. And I just really appreciate someone finally recognizing that I'm really dense balls. You need to surround yourself with people

who are honest to you, Hank, that you are just a bunch of dense balls. And then part of it is probably motion. I guess that depending on what your outdoor activities are, I think inside we're stationary a lot. Like in your basement, you are sitting down at your computer and not moving. And so like we can generate heat inside our body

when we're like moving around and doing things. And so chances are to get outside, you had to walk there or like move your body in some way to change your location. And so like that amount of movement generates heat. And if you move more, if you like go for a hike or go and throw some rocks off the back of your boat, then you're moving. And in addition to the sun beating you with infrared radiation, you are also moving and and beating you with infrared radiation, you are also moving and like generating heat because you're using energy.

Then this is the most wibbly part of my scientific explanation. There's, it all comes back to psychology. We're like in Montana, after you've existed in winter for so long and you're like used to going outside and it's like 30 degrees and it's cold and you're kind of miserable, just hypothetically, then the first day it's 60 out, you're like, oh yeah, I'm putting on shorts because you're like, it defies your expectations of what the temperature is going

to be. Like your body has, we're, humans are so good at accustoming ourselves to different environments, whether it's like ignoring the background noise or like tuning out a smell. And I think there's probably some part of our brain that's also accustomed to temperatures. So when you expect it to be cold outside and you walk out and it's like a higher temperature than you expect, then you're like, oh, it's so warm. It's shorts weather, baby. But then after like a hot, hot summer, if it's been in like the 80s or 90s Fahrenheit,

then a 60 degree day will be like, ooh, that's chilly because you become accustomed to the warmer temperatures. Pants time again, unfortunately. Hank, we gotta get you in some shorts this summer, I think. I want to see your legs. Like it is 100% about like me not liking the look of my legs. I don't like the way my legs look, which is entirely irrational, and no one else doesn't like the way my legs look. It is just me, and it has been my whole life. It's nice to have a part, like the part of my body

that I really don't like, be one that doesn't matter at all. But you lived in Florida, it had to have mattered in Florida. You couldn't wear shorts in Florida? Well, yeah, and I didn't like be one that doesn't matter at all. But you lived in Florida. It had to have mattered in Florida. You couldn't wear shorts in Florida? Well, yeah, and I didn't like it. And then I moved to Montana and I was like, problem solved baby.

Yeah, perfect place. I literally don't own shorts. Like I don't own a pair of shorts. One time I was standing in line waiting for ice cream at Big Dipper and it was like the first nice day of the year and it was like 60 degrees and I had a pair of pants on and somebody walked up to me and said,

really, you're wearing pants? I got so mad. I was like, oh no. I get that all the time actually, like on a hot day when I'm wearing jeans, people are like, what are you thinking? And I'm like, look, I don't wanna put sunscreen on, which is also part of it.

I was at the food farm the other day and they had a bunch of like discontinued spray on sunscreens for sale for like 80% off and I bought literally all of them. Spray sunscreen's good. You can do your own back. God bless it. Not that I'm ever walking around without a shirt on. Full jeans but no shirt.

That's the Hank look. Have you seen a man walking around Missoula? Yeah, that's me. You can see me from a mile off. Okay, we got one more question before we're out of questions. Yes, and then I have a bonus question if we have time.

Because the Discord folks want us to ask. So possibly Joe asks, what exactly is lichen? Oh my gosh, we talked about this already. I don't know. Well, we did give you a little bit of a head start and that it is not moss. It's not moss, it's different. I actually went to one of the first things

that I ever did when I moved back to Missoula was go to a talk with Rachel and I about what Lichen was, because we wanted to make friends and for some reason we thought going to this talk about Lichen would help us make friends, but it was a bunch of septuagenarians, which is fine, we could have been friends with them, but they were old.

It's two life forms, but I also think it's just fine, we could have been friends with them, but they were old. It's two life forms, but I also think it's three life forms now is what people think, and that maybe is a recent discovery, and they live on the rock, and one of them does something to the rock, and the other one eats something that the other one made while it was doing something to the rock,

and then the third one helps too. To us, it just looks like some gray crab on a rock. Is that what he wanted to know? I don't know. Yeah, the first thing that you have said by assumption or by you've just implied is that it's a life, a living thing. Ah, yes, yes.

And that it is a number of different living things that live together to keep each other alive, which is like more than most people know, I would think. And they live on rocks and they also live on other things. They live on trees and they live on surfaces. It's like a fungus and two not funguses. Is that right? It's two fungus, I think.

Two fungus. And one not fungus. What's the one that's not a fungus? Algae. Algae or something? Okay. A single celled plant basically. There we go.

Now I don't know anything else and you can continue to tell me. Well, so there's two funguses? I think so. According to, there's a SciShow talk show on this if you want the full 30 minute version. But according to these press releases that I'm reading from the University of Montana,

we used to think lichen contained one fungus and algae, and the fungus provided the structure, the algae did the photosynthesis part. But there's a second unknown fungus that had never been detected before. And is that present in all algae, do they know? Or in all lichen? That's a great question.

I don't know either. And I think that it's like, we're not entirely sure. It's more like things are more complicated than we thought is sort of the place we're at right now. We're not like, we've got, now we know everything. It's more like, wait, we've been saying a thing that is not entirely true. This gray crap on this rock,

it's interesting if you're a big dork, is what I'm saying. That is largely, that's the vibe, correct. It is estimated that six to 8% of the Earth's land surface is covered by lichens. Holy schmolly. So take that. That's a lot. Now I will say that our farms cover

more than that. But that's a lot. And there are 20,000 known species of lichens. And they are not they look all kinds of different ways. In fact, if you kind of the thing is if you get a little bit into lichen, you start seeing them everywhere and you start to realize that they are very different from one another. Many different colors, many different shapes, and they have their own beauty. And your cell phone camera can capture them in excellent and complex ways. And then suddenly you're like, oh, God, I'm becoming one of those septuagenarians and I'm taking pictures of like, I'm something. But just got to lean in. You got to lean in.

one of those septuagenarians and I'm taking pictures of lichens all day. But just gotta lean in, you gotta lean in. Do they categorize them as different species or is that even a useful thing to do? Is it just lichen? Oh yeah. But okay. So this is the wild thing. Like A, there are species of lichen

and they contain species of algae and fungus. And those species are unique to each other, which is very cool and fungus. And those species are unique to each other, which is very cool and weird. Like one algae from one lichen can't go, I don't think can go live in an algae from another lichen. Definitely not with the fungus. And like it's them living together that makes the unique form and color

and like that we classify as a species of lichen. Yeah, so in the way that like a man o'war, Portuguese man o'war is like an organism made of a lot of different parts, a lichen is defined as like an organism made of separate parts, but it's extra cool because those parts are different organisms. And it's like, we call this thing a species,

but it's made of two other species, there are three other species plus. Wait, what do you mean about the man o' war? Oh dear. Oh no, nevermind, I don't care, I don't care. They are colonial organisms. So a man o' war is not one organism. And so this is like on a macro scale,

you have like a, what appears to be and is a single organism is actually a bunch of like, it's like three or four or five, I don't remember how many it is. Several different organisms that all like sort of have specialized to live with each other and have their own genomes and like came together at one point and we're like, now we will live on forever

as this colonial organism of the Manowar and you will be this part and I will be that part. And I don't want. How do they mate? How do they make new ones? Oh God, Sam, it's very complicated. Well, we should do a SciShow about it, then I can learn. I think I did a Bizarre Beasts about them. Oh, okay.

I'll check that out so you don't have to tell me. Sari, what's our bonus question? Our bonus question, because people were rousing us for not asking any questions last episode that were Sam friendly, is what is a Mario? Oh, that's too hard of a question. What am I even supposed to say to that? He's a little guy, he's my friend.

He lives on your TV and he goes on adventures. Well, what if it's the last name Mario instead of the first name Mario? Nobody knows, honestly. Could be either. Could be both, according to the movie from the 90s. Both his first and last name is Mario. His name is Mario Mario? Yeah.

And his brother Luigi Mario? His brother is indeed named Luigi Mario. Because they're the Mario brothers. Yeah, that's where the confusion comes in. We're not like the... Me and John aren't the John brothers. Maybe you could be though. Let's see, Mario, a fictional character created by designer Shigeru Miyamoto. 1981, appeared in Donkey Kong. I was invented in 1980.

Well, you are almost the same age as Mario. He looks much older than me, I'll be honest. He's canonically like 26 or something, which is very weird. What? That seems too young, I'm 26. Any cartoon character with a mustache I think automatically is in his 40s for sure. You can't have a mustache when you're 26, it's against the rules.

I can't, but you shouldn't have one. Was there ever a sense, cause in my experience as a child, Mario is what Mario is, but was there ever a sense that this in my experience as a child, Mario is what Mario is, but was there ever a sense that this was a little bit surrealist? Like there is a plumber, like we are a Japanese company, we are making a game about an American or an Italian plumber. Italian American plumber?

I mean that's how I picture him. And he has to rescue a princess who is in love with him from a dragon turtle. Okay. Like, was this surrealist? Now you're getting into the good shit. Mario originally, Donkey Kong, the game that he comes from first,

was supposed to be a Popeye game. So Mario was supposed to be Popeye, Donkey Kong was Bluto, and the lady he captured was Olive Oyl. But they lost the license and they had to, they had to re-shift things. So they just gave Popeye a mustache, made Bluto into a gorilla,

and kept the lady, just a lady, I guess. Then, oh my gosh, see, I do know a lot about this. Then there was another game that they made with Mario where he was a plumber and it was not Super Mario Brothers. It was just called Mario Brothers. And he and Luigi were, there were a bunch of pipes and turtles kept coming out of them and you had to like hit them and make them go away.

And it's kind of like Pac-Man a little bit. Then they combine those two concepts into Super Mario Brothers. And they were just like, well, whatever. Those have pipes and turtles and I don't know why and mushrooms and stuff. And I think Alice in Wonderland has something to do with it too. So a little surrealist. I never really imagined it as surrealist, but it is, but it is. Like it's very weird. Yeah. But it was just sort of like part of the fabric of my childhood. So it didn't seem weird. Yeah. I think just the way that like

the mechanics of the game maybe were what they were thinking of before they thought of the setting. So like eating a thing to get big, and then you have to like, well, what should the thing be? Well, we'll make it a mushroom like Alice in Wonderland. What should the bad guys be? There'll be turtles like in this other game that we made. And then in the end, it's all just based on Popeye,

which is even weirder than anything else, I think. I don't think Mario looks like Popeye very much. They did a good job changing that character. Well, they didn't want to get sued. Yeah. You know? So what is a Mario? Mario's a Popeye. There's your answer.

OK. Oh, gosh, thank you all so much for supporting us on Patreon and also coming to our new podcast. It's called Cue and Play, or possibly, it's all just a bunch of balls. And also we'll forget next month that we called it that. Call it something completely different. And Hank will think of a new name for it.

I'll definitely, I definitely think that, like, that we haven't, if we've settled on a name, we haven't settled on the best possible name. No. I feel. I do think there's promise in the true, or Q and Bidet premise of a podcast you listen to on your toilet.

Yeah. That sounds fun. That's for a really long poop though. These are like half an hour. We can make a shorter one for that. But one question, how long does the average poop take? I think there's like studies on this, right? Gosh, that's not a bad idea to change our whole Patreon only podcast to Q&Baday, a podcast that we record like seven of.

Oh yeah. Over the course of a month. And then it's just like a bunch of five to 10 minute podcasts. We get sponsored by, who's that bidet company? Tushy. Tushy. That's the one. Tushy, of course. I think that'd be a good new Patreon stretch goal.

After we watch Cars 2, I'm more excited, okay, I'm more excited about Q and bidet than Cars 2 watching. Thank you for being a Patreon patron. We really appreciate it. We love to make SciShow Tangents for you and we also love to make this for you. And I am going to go now and write a book proposal for whatever that was called. It's just a bunch of balls.

And I'll write a pitch for Q and Bidet. Goodbye everyone. Thank you. Thank you Sam and Sari. This was fun. And it's just a bunch of balls. Peace! That's how we end it now. LAUGHS