Stuff You Should Know - How Cicadas Work

Episode Date: May 22, 2013

Cicadas are crawling out from underground, where they have been hiding in the darkness for almost two decades. As of May 2013, they're invading the East Coast from North Carolina to New York. But why?... Learn more about cicadas with Josh and Chuck. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:01:21 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. And then put the two of us together. Put us in a room with a $2 Ikea lamp and $3 Ikea table. And $1,000 worth of microphones. Yes, that's what matters. And Jerry, and you've got yourself Stuff You Should Know. And a million dollars worth of Jerry.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Yeah, she's just like one day. That's right. You got a good intro for this? No, do you? No, just toxicotis. That's what I was thinking. I guess if you'd like me to give an intro, it would be something like,
Starting point is 00:01:57 Chuck, have you ever experienced summer? I have in the south. Summer in the south. For me, cicadas, I associate cicada. Cicada. Either one. You know what they say, Josh. What?
Starting point is 00:02:12 You say cicada. I say cicada. I say cicada. Yeah, it is cicada. Actually, I have a very quick, funny story. I have a friend named Andrew who had a friend who tried out as a singer for some Broadway show or something, and she did that song,
Starting point is 00:02:28 but she had never heard the song, I think. And she sang, you say potato. I say potato. And didn't know. And that was how she auditioned. Like she just had read it? She'd never heard it. I guess so.
Starting point is 00:02:42 She got it wrong or read it or something, and it was, you know, potato, potato, tomato, tomato. Wow. And it got a good laugh out of the people. That's a good story. Yeah, I thought so. I've always, that's a good one. Andrew's listening, he probably not.
Starting point is 00:02:54 Hello. Hey, how's it going? All right, so moving on, sorry. Cicadas. Yeah, cicadas. I think we should agree to say cicadas. Well, it is cicada. Okay.
Starting point is 00:03:03 Oh, it's just goofing. Oh, okay. And if you're talking about cicada, you have probably a certain type of mind, but there are actually a number of species I've seen anywhere between 200 and 2,500, depending on who you ask. There you go.
Starting point is 00:03:18 And the one, though, that I think everybody thinks of when they think cicada, especially when they think cicada infestation is the magic cicada is the species name. Yeah, it's their periodical cicadas, and that's what we're gonna be concentrating on. Right. Those are the ones that are all over the news.
Starting point is 00:03:39 Right. If you're on the Eastern Seaboard right now, you've been hearing them or hearing about them. Cicada invasion. Cicada invasion. And in fact, if you go to magic cicada, that's how I say it. I like magic cicada.
Starting point is 00:03:53 Dot org. There's a map there that shows you where they are currently hatching. Yeah, they have a lot of great resources on that site. Yeah, people get really excited because it's such a weird, freaky, unique thing. Yeah, it is. That happens every 13 or, well, that's not true.
Starting point is 00:04:09 It happens more frequently, but each brood will hatch every 17 or 13 years. Right, it happens every year, depending on the type of brood. Yeah, exactly. Brood 2 this year? Yes, we're in brood 2. And there are two types of pariotic broods.
Starting point is 00:04:29 And by the way, pariotic broods, the ones that emerge after 13 years or 17 years, are native and indigenous only to North America. Oh, yeah? So it's like our special thing. Oh, cool. So if you're talking about cicada invasion 2013 to a British person,
Starting point is 00:04:44 you're gonna be like, I don't know what you're talking about. But oh, we should say, Chuck, we're gonna be a part of this. Oh, yeah. In our own way, yeah. We're gonna be on the TV for Science Channel Cicada Invasion 2013 on Sunday, May 26th, right?
Starting point is 00:04:59 Yeah, they're doing lots of cool programming and they have gotten us to provide some little bumpers and moments in between with a cool professor that's gonna be joining us. And with Professor Mike? Yeah, Professor Mike Raup. He is the foremost... Upmost and foremost.
Starting point is 00:05:17 Right, esteemed expert on cicadas. Yeah, and he's a Maryland Terrapin, is that right? I believe so. All right, go Terps. So yeah, it's called Cicadas Invaders 2013. It's on Sunday, May 26th on Science Channel. It goes from 8 to 11 p.m. But we're hosting the 9 to 11 p.m. segment,
Starting point is 00:05:36 which includes the dramatic climax. Oh, yeah. So we're gonna be there on Science Channel on that day. So go check it out. That's right. So we know a lot about cicadas and this is why. That's right. So again, you said magic cicada.
Starting point is 00:05:53 I like magic cicada for that. But the 17 year brood species is what's coming out along the eastern seaboard. And they're going to be eventually black with orange veined wings and red eyes. Yeah, generally they have red eyes, although you can occasionally spot a very rare blue eyed or silver eyed, but you cannot get money for those.
Starting point is 00:06:18 Did you hear about that rumor? No. In 2004, I think there was a rumor that Johns Hopkins was paying money for blue eyed cicadas if you could find them. And they were like, no, no. Please stop bringing those here. It's neat and it's rare,
Starting point is 00:06:31 but we're not offering money up for this. Right. But thank you. We'll take them for free though, sucker. Yeah. But generally they're a little Steve Busseman looking red eye things. Right.
Starting point is 00:06:40 And we should also say, here's what the big deal is. Why it's called like invaders and the invasion in cicada apocalypse. I just made that one up. Yeah. 2013 for people who don't live here. This happens with the brood like every 17 years. And broods are incredibly well synchronized.
Starting point is 00:06:59 And there are billions of these things. And because they're synchronized, billions of cicadas are going to all emerge from the ground pretty much at once in an area. Yeah. Like Professor Ralph himself was quoted in a thing I read today said, there's a boatload. There could be a billion per square mile, dude.
Starting point is 00:07:20 Right. Not a billion overall. Right. Like a billion in your, like you and your neighbors backyards. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:30 I think it's more like one and a half million per acre at its peak. Oh really? So you and three other neighbors, you got one and a half million. So Ralph was wrong? No, he said his square mile. Oh, okay, square mile.
Starting point is 00:07:41 Yeah. No, he's not. I don't think he's wrong about anything that has zero cicadas. Yeah, we haven't met him yet. We're leaving in a couple of days actually. No, but we have high hopes. Yeah, of course. So I guess you want to talk about what these guys look like.
Starting point is 00:07:56 Guys and gals look like. Yeah. All right. Aside from the orange veins. That's right. They are in the order hemoptera, which anything that has piercing and sucking mouth parts is in that order.
Starting point is 00:08:08 Right. And you got a wingspan between two and a half centimeters to 15. And have you seen the big ones, man? They're huge. Yeah. Like palm of your hand big. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:19 The ones in the tropics are up to like six inches long. Wow. Their body, not their wingspan. That's crazy. They are bad flyers. Yeah. I guess I'm going to just guess here and say because they're not around long.
Starting point is 00:08:32 They're not a lot of experience. They're probably kind of heavy. Yeah. You know? They're not very aerodynamic. They're wings. Yeah. And I think you just kicked off point one
Starting point is 00:08:42 of what makes cicadas the affable, lovable member of the insect kingdom. Little goofballs that they are. They have two sets of wings. One, two pairs of wings. Yeah. And they can't fly very well. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:57 So that's one. Yeah. They have the outer wings are glassy and transparent and they're longer and they cover the shorter opaque wings. And they look formidable when you look at the wings. They're all veiny and like they look sturdy. Yeah. They're not.
Starting point is 00:09:10 They're not for the cicadas. Here's the other funny thing. They have three pairs of legs, but they're not good jumpers even though they try to. Yeah. All their legs are about the same length. So they kind of clumsy. They can't fly very well.
Starting point is 00:09:22 They can't jump very well. That's point two. So they have those big goofy red eyes and then they have three. Bug eyes is point three. Yeah. Compound eyes. Right.
Starting point is 00:09:31 And three tiny little eyes in between on the top of their head called Ossily. And they of course watch for the birds and other predators that lurk above. Right. So they have the really great peripheral vision from the compound eyes on the side and then great, I guess, airborne vision.
Starting point is 00:09:47 Worms eye vision. That's right. And a couple of little bristle-like antenna behind the little Ossily eyes. Ossily? I guess that would be repetitive to say or redundant to say Ossily eyes because that's what they are, but you know what I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:10:02 Then they have those mouth parts that we mentioned and they are in a sheath. The beak-like sheath called labium, which they kind of just tuck there between their legs unless they need to use it. Which is what they do when they eat. That sheath, the labium holds four little stickers called stylets.
Starting point is 00:10:21 They're needle-like and they jam it into the plant or like the leaf and they just suck it up like a straw. Yeah. That. And reproduction, that's the point of the cicadas life. Yeah, well. That's what they do. Production in those, really the point, you know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:10:37 Yeah. They like to do it. They're like, Resputin. Boy, people can be like, that's a random thing to say. Weeks later, you'll understand. Yeah. So they're famous though for not only for their weird 17 year or 13 year emergence,
Starting point is 00:10:56 but they're loud, loud singing. And before we go on to describe it, we might as well just hear it, don't you think? Yeah. So a brief little audio bit here from Jerry. This is the cicada singing. Jerry's going to make a cicada call. That was really good, Jerry.
Starting point is 00:11:32 And really good, Mr. Cicada. And I say, Mr. Because it's only the men that are singing the males. Why did they sing? Well, two reasons. To attract females to mate and to scare off birds, because it is so friggin' loud that it will scare off birds. So it is extraordinarily loud, the cicada call, the males mating song.
Starting point is 00:11:56 Yeah, especially when they get together. And I've seen, yeah, I've seen that. Dr. Mike said that it was recorded at like 94 decibels, which is like a standing next to a lawnmower, basically. But this is a sound made by an insect. And it's everywhere. It fills the air for someone who hasn't experienced like a chorus of male cicadas all singing together.
Starting point is 00:12:18 It's everywhere. It's really loud. And in fact, you said lawnmower. The females can actually be attracted to lawnmowers and weed eaters. Is that right? Yeah. That's crazy.
Starting point is 00:12:28 And just to give you an idea, between 80 and 90 decibels is when the threat of hearing loss begins. And like you said, lawnmowers. And about 120 is a rock concert. About 140 is a jet engine. And these things are little tiny insects. Right. But remember that.
Starting point is 00:12:44 Again, Dr. Mike said 94 was what he'd seen recorded. But I have also read up to 120 decibels. That's crazy. Yeah, that's really, really loud. Yeah, and apparently you can get so high that humans can't hear them. But if your dog is going berserker, you're in like North Carolina or Maryland or something,
Starting point is 00:13:01 that might be why. And yeah, smaller species make higher pitched ones, I guess. So how are they doing this? Oh, well, they have actually a lot of people think that it's a chirp, maybe like a cricket rubs its legs together. You would be wrong. Right.
Starting point is 00:13:15 We should say that cicadas are closer to aphids than crickets. Right? Yeah. And they're also not using any vocal cords because they lack those. What they do have are these little membranes on the sides of their abdomens. And these membranes are, they're called timbles.
Starting point is 00:13:33 Yeah. And they're connected to, well, I guess they're insides. Yeah, they're muscle. By a little muscle, right? And when the muscle contracts, the timble bends. They get crease forms in it. And then when the muscle relaxes, the timble goes back to taut again.
Starting point is 00:13:50 And that makes a clicking sound. And if you do that a bunch of times, what you have is the cicada song. Yeah, and they don't know why it's so loud or how it's so loud. Right. I did read something. I'm not sure if it's verified that there are like pockets
Starting point is 00:14:05 in the abdomen that make it louder or something. But still, like such a small insect. Right. I mean, it's like I said, it can be big, but it's still an insect. Right. And the sound, like you said, it messes with birds. It can scare them off.
Starting point is 00:14:18 Yeah. But it can also, even the ones that aren't scared off, it prevents birds from hunting in packs because they can't communicate with one another because it's so loud. Right. So it's also a defense mechanism. It's a mating call.
Starting point is 00:14:29 And apparently, certain species make a certain sound to prevent, I guess, interspecial mixing. Well, they want to be with their own kind, you know? Right, because they don't have too many shots at this. No, they don't. And they're doing all this up in the trees, right? Yeah. And it's usually during the heat of the day
Starting point is 00:14:47 when this music is going on. You say music, I say chainsaw. Oh, does it bother you? I think it's so soothing. Have you ever been among the invasion? Yes. Yeah, to me, it's not soothing because it's so loud and so continuous that it sort of drives me mad eventually.
Starting point is 00:15:07 It's neat, though. Oh, it's cool. Because you know it's going to end, and it crests, and it falls, and it crests, and it falls, you know? So you know it's going to end. I just think it's really neat. It is neat. The war on drugs impacts everyone,
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Starting point is 00:17:28 Males and females have these mirror-like membranes, a pair of them called tympana. And they're sort of like their ears. And basically, there's a short tendon connected. And when they're shouting out with their call, they will retract the tendon. And it basically just sort of creases and closes their ears so they don't have to hear.
Starting point is 00:17:46 Right. It's like shut it. Yeah. It's like a little mechanical function. Yeah, exactly. All right, so let's talk about the mating and the egging and the ovipositing. So this is pretty much the whole reason
Starting point is 00:18:02 a cicada comes to life. This is why they invade, is to mate and reproduce, right? So once the males have attracted some females over, they search for one another. They do some terrible jumping and some bad flying. Hey, mama. They'll finally come up upon one another and be like, I like you.
Starting point is 00:18:21 I like you. And then they go off. Yeah. And after they mate, the female carves some notches into the stoma of plants. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. And then uses her ovipositor, which
Starting point is 00:18:32 is an egg-laying appendage, and deposits up to 600 eggs in one little session. Yeah. And then the eggs start to hatch. And they actually fall down out of the tree as larvae. Yeah, these little nymphs. Yeah. OK, so they're nymphs then.
Starting point is 00:18:49 Yeah. So they go through the larval stage in the tree and then fall down out as nymphs. And then they burrow. Yeah, they immediately root underground as a protective measure. And then they start growing and repeatedly shedding their skin over 17 years.
Starting point is 00:19:05 17 years. So think about this. The average cicada lives 17 years. If it's a periodic 17-year cicada, its average lifespan is 17 years. Underground. Right. And then two months above ground.
Starting point is 00:19:20 Yeah, the most. And then they die. Yeah, like four to six weeks, generally. Yeah. So they spend almost all their life as young immature cicadas getting ready to be adults for two months or less so they can reproduce once.
Starting point is 00:19:34 And then nuts. It is nuts. It's pretty neat, though. If you don't have cicadas and you're like, what's going on? It means you probably don't have a lot of deciduous trees where you are. Yeah, they like fruit trees, too. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:44 So don't get bummed out. Just go visit your neighbor if they have some. Got any oaks? In the question, why are they under there for so long? There are a bunch of theories. I can't wait to talk to Professor Mike, though, in a couple of days. But the leading theory I've heard
Starting point is 00:19:58 is that it's like an evolutionary rhythm that they develop to not get eaten and devoid predators. Now, that is why there are billions of these things in a square mile or two. And it's because they have relatively few predators underground. There's a type of fungus that can attack them. I saw that.
Starting point is 00:20:18 And it can be transferred from generation to generation. There are beetle larvae that will eat them. But for the most part, they're out of the grasp of their main predators, like birds or whatever. So they do manage to survive. But then so many of them come up and die very quickly. That actually something called predator satiation comes about, which means that the birds fly off
Starting point is 00:20:43 because they're so full they can't eat anymore. And it still doesn't significantly impact the number of cicadas. Yeah, there's still enough afterward to mate and keep the species alive. Right. And produce some billions. Yeah, like, you tired of eating us yet?
Starting point is 00:20:56 The birds are like, I'm so full of cicadas. Yeah. Fine, now we'll mate. Yeah, let's get it on. The birds are full. Apparently, a lot of them are born crippled. Yeah, especially things to long chemicals. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:08 And there's a time lapse on YouTube of one coming out of its exoskeleton. And it's pretty awesome. So we should say when they emerge from their burrows, from their chimneys, little mud chimneys, right? Yeah. They're adults, but they're called tenoral adults. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:25 They're not quite to the adult stage yet. What happens is they have to molt their exoskeleton, which you'll find attached to a tree or something like that. Yeah, which is cool and cozy. Oh, it's super cool. And then once they molt, then that's the last time they're going to. Then they're full-fledged adults.
Starting point is 00:21:42 And then they have four to six weeks. Yeah. Maybe. That's if you successfully make it through bird season and get them mate. Right. A lot of these guys die within days or weeks. And they dig themselves out, too, with little shovels on there.
Starting point is 00:21:58 It's almost like shovels on their legs. Yeah. And they just dig up, and they're like, hey, we're here. Yep, look out for that bird. I'm already dead. Or oh, shoot, I'm crippled. Or man, I can't fly. 17 years, and I can't fly?
Starting point is 00:22:09 Yeah. And here comes a bird. And apparently, one of the things that'll kill a cicada is incomplete molting. Like, they'll just get stuck and die. Yeah. That's going to be a bad way to go. Yeah, I guess since there's billions of them,
Starting point is 00:22:22 there's all manner of awful things happening to most of them. So we should say cicadas are known for just huge infestations, invasions, whatever you want to call it, on a 13-year, 17-year cycle. And there's so many of them all at once, because there's so many of them, A, but also because they're in synchronicity. And they think the reason why they all emerge, usually
Starting point is 00:22:46 at night, all at once, is because they're all following the same queue. And they're pretty sure it has to do with ground temperature. Oh, really? Yeah, they think that because of that evolutionary rhythm. Well, is that another theory, I guess? And I think it's probably tied together. That rhythm is based on the temperature changes.
Starting point is 00:23:06 And then there would have to be some sort of rhythm, because the temperature is going to hit. I think when the temperature averages, starts to average 64 degrees Fahrenheit at the ground, that's when you're going to start to see cicadas emerging. But that's going to happen 17 times or 16 times before that 17th year. So there does have to be some other pattern
Starting point is 00:23:24 that they're following, so they don't emerge sooner. But it's just one dude at the front that's like Ralph. The old man. All right, guys, it's been 17 years. Let's do it. Let's do this thing. And you mentioned the temperature change, but that makes sense, because they hatch from a southerly,
Starting point is 00:23:43 south southerly to northernly, northerly or northerly. Southerly, northerly. Yeah, let's see where those lines up the coast. OK, yeah. Yeah, you'll see them in Georgia first, and then North Carolina, and then Virginia, and then DC, and then all the way up the Hudson Valley of New York, apparently.
Starting point is 00:24:02 So if you were in Philadelphia, or DC, or New York City even, you might see some cicadas this year. There's actually, yeah, there's a mathematical formula for predicting when you'll see cicadas in your neck of the woods. So you go to weatherunderground.com, and you find out you go on their almanac and look at April, and you figure out what the average April temperature was
Starting point is 00:24:25 in Celsius. Write that down. And then here's the mathematical formula, E, which is the emergent state in May. Because it's C squared. It's close. E equals parentheses 19.65 minus T, which is that average April temperature in Celsius,
Starting point is 00:24:41 divided by 0.5136. That number will give you the date that the cicadas are going to emerge around your area. And apparently, it's tried and true. Or you can go to magiscada.org and click on the map if you're not into math, and you like pictures. Or if you like both, do both. Yeah, that's true.
Starting point is 00:25:05 I don't think I have anything else. I would definitely go look up that time lapse on YouTube. It's pretty cool. I've got more. All right, let's hear it. Well, you know how I said that? They're kind of the stumbly, bumbly, lovable, affable creatures of the insect world?
Starting point is 00:25:18 Yes. So not only can they not fly very well, they can't jump very well. They genuinely lack defenses, aside from their call. They can't do anything. Well, they don't bite or sting people, even though they look scary. They don't carry disease.
Starting point is 00:25:32 They prey on trees only. They're herbivores, if you can call it an insect that. But even if a tree flags is what it's called, it becomes weakened from too many cicadas feeding on it, trees still bounce back. So they kill nothing while they're alive. Sure, you don't need to be afraid of them. They look intimidating.
Starting point is 00:25:54 But if they land on you, hold them in your hand. Well, even still, even if you hold them in the hand, a male will make a defensive buzzing that's kind of scary and can scare you. It's all show. It's all talk. They're not going to bite you. They're not going to sting you.
Starting point is 00:26:07 They're really sweet little boogers. And I welcome them. Yeah. If also you welcome them into your belly or you want to, there's a lot of cicada recipes out there. I have a bad feeling we're going to be asked to eat some of this stuff. Is that right?
Starting point is 00:26:24 It's possible. I guess everyone's going to have to tune in on Sunday, May 26 to find out. I'm not as adventurous as you are when it comes to eating things. Speaking of cookie, I would try it. I don't think they do that. I think it's more like, you know.
Starting point is 00:26:39 No, no. Yumi made cicada cookies. And she said, tastes like cookie. Well, but I think the traditional way is to eat them like you would crickets, like to put them in a pan with some salt. No, I saw some serious in-depth recipes. Yeah, I mean, sure.
Starting point is 00:26:54 You could grind up cicadas and put them in lasagna or your pizza or whatever. I didn't see ground up. I saw blanched, tenoral adults. So you want to get them before like they're like the skeleton really. She said it was fine. But she didn't grind them up.
Starting point is 00:27:07 She just put like a whole cicada in the cookie. I don't know how she made them like that. Maybe broke them up. Interesting. Because they didn't get the impression that it was like a. Yeah, yeah. She was just kind of like, I mean, it was nothing really. So I would imagine that they were broken up in some way.
Starting point is 00:27:21 Yeah, I would think so. Or maybe it's like the eminem cookies. You just stick it in the top when it's. Right. I saw those too. You know? Yeah, and this is just a little disgusting treat in the middle. So you should probably wait for them to die of natural causes.
Starting point is 00:27:33 Maybe an incomplete molt to grab some of those and bake them. There you go. Or kids grab some exoskeletons because they look neat and they look just like the shell of the cicada. So bring one of those to school and throw it on your friend. Yeah. And if you get into this and you find it very thrilling, there's a lot of citizen science projects around where that has
Starting point is 00:27:55 to do with counting cicadas, measuring cicadas, trying to do cicada calls. Yeah. I just made that last one up. But you could do that if you want to. There's a culture surrounding this. Yeah, it's interesting. So go online and look it up.
Starting point is 00:28:10 If you want to know more about cicadas, first of all, you can watch our special Cicadas and Invaders 2013 on Science Channel on Sunday. Cicadas like you're British. Right. And Invaders, yeah. On Sunday, May 26 from 8 to 11 p.m. and we're going to be on 9 to 11 p.m. on Science.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Yep. And since I just said that, it's time for message break, right? That's right. And then listen to our mail. Stuff you should know. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse.
Starting point is 00:28:49 This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm a prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government
Starting point is 00:29:07 uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty, exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. Cops, are they just like looting? They just like pillaging. They just have way better names for what they call it.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Like what we would call a jackmove, or being robbed. They call civil acid for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. How's that New Year's resolution coming along? You know, the one you made about paying off your pesky credit card debt and finally
Starting point is 00:29:48 starting to save for retirement. Well, you're not alone if you haven't made progress yet. Roughly four in five New Year's resolutions fail within the first month or two. But that doesn't have to be the case for you and your goals. Our podcast, How to Money, can help. That's right. We're two best buds who've been at it for more than five years
Starting point is 00:30:04 now, and we want to see you achieve your money goals. And it's our goal to provide the information and encouragement you need to do it. We keep the show fresh by answering listener questions, interviewing experts, and focusing on the relevant financial news that you need to know about. Our show is chock full of the personal finance knowledge that you need with guidance three times a week.
Starting point is 00:30:21 And we talk about debt payoff. If, let's say, you've had a particularly spend-thrift holiday season, we also talk about building up your savings, intelligent investing, and growing your income. No matter where you are on your financial journey, How to Money's got your back. Millions of listeners have trusted us to help them achieve their financial goals.
Starting point is 00:30:38 Ensure that your resolution turns into ongoing progress. Listen to How to Money on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now it's time for Listener Home. Yeah, I'm going to call this Truth Serum in Columbia. Remember we did that show on Truth Serum? Yes. All right, this is from Caleroi Zervos and a listener
Starting point is 00:31:01 since 2008. That is a great name. Didn't it? Yeah. Guys, you recently aired a podcast on the existence of a Truth Serum. And you mentioned the use of scoplamine. You also referenced the Vice TV article in which they
Starting point is 00:31:15 claimed drug traffickers use it. And shout out to the Vice, by the way. Yeah. We're going to be doing some vlogging for them soon. Yeah. Good program. Stay tuned. Well, guys, I just want you to know
Starting point is 00:31:26 I lived in Columbia for 12 years, loved every minute of it, and have known several people who've been victims of scoplamine attacks. However, it is not drug traffickers who use this, but rather just fans of thieves and criminals. Drug traffickers actually do not need to attack random people to pull income. It's the petty thieves who do.
Starting point is 00:31:43 All occurred in the middle of the day in good neighborhoods of Bogota by well-dressed middle-aged attackers. It's most commonly dusted onto a piece of paper, which is then handed to the victim by the culprit under the guise of asking for directions. Within 10 to 15 minutes, you're out. Wide awake, compliant, and unaware, but unable to remember what happened.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Afterwards, you are also quite ill. And more often than not, you end up in the hospital with your stomach bumped. Usually, your bank account and valuables are emptied in your apartment. In one case, a friend of mine had his entire apartment emptied of everything. Oh, my god.
Starting point is 00:32:18 And he was just sitting there the whole time, basically? I guess so, man. Anyway, it's pretty frightening. And at times lethal, most Colombians, therefore, will not accept anything handed them on the street. And in clubs, well, no one ever puts their drink down, if you know what I mean. Thanks again for the excellent show.
Starting point is 00:32:33 And that is, again, Calorie Zervos. And that is frightening. Yeah. I bet when Colombians go to Vegas, they're just, like, overwhelmed, you know, like, on every street corner, guys are trying to handle it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I bet they freak out.
Starting point is 00:32:48 Yeah, seriously. Tell me the name again. Calorie Zervos. Thank you very much, Calorie Zervos. Calleroy. Calleroy Zervos. K-A-L-E-R-O-I. That's not calorie, like, counting calories. Right.
Starting point is 00:33:01 Calleroy Zervos. That has a great name. That's a great. If you want to let us know your name, you can tweet to us at SYSK Podcast. You can join us on facebook.com slash stuff you should know. And you can send us a good old-fashioned email to stuffpodcasteddiscovery.com.
Starting point is 00:33:17 And then don't forget, join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushouldknow.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com. Hey, Netflix streams, TV shows, and movies directly to your TV, computer, wireless device, or game console. You can get a 30-day free trial membership. Go to www.netflix.com slash stuff and sign up now.
Starting point is 00:33:45 The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops. Why are they just like losing money? They're like, you know, they're like, they just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed.
Starting point is 00:34:05 They call civil acid work. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hola, quƩ tal, mi gente. It's Chiquis from Chiquis and Chill Podcast. Welcome. To this show, I talk about anything and everything. I did have a miscarriage when I was 19 years old.
Starting point is 00:34:30 And that's why I'm a firm believer and an advocate of therapy and counseling. The person that you saw on stage, the person that you saw in interviews, that was my mother, offstage. AcompaƱame every Monday on my podcast, Chiquis and Chill, available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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