Stuff You Should Know - Short Stuff: Chameleons

Episode Date: September 8, 2021

In today's short stuff, we bust a few myths about cute little chameleons. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. And a different hot sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charles W.

Chuck Bryan over there and Jerry's sitting in for our producer Dave C. Kustin. And this is short stuff. When you put all that info together, you got a short stuff. Okay. That's right. Let's go, Chuck. It's about chameleons. Is that what we're doing? Yes, we are doing one on chameleons, which I think was surprisingly fascinating, because everything I know about chameleons, I learned from watching paint commercials. I love chameleons. We don't call them chameleons. We call them lizards

when we see them all over the place here in Georgia. Wait a minute. They're chameleons up there? Yeah. I didn't know that. What do you think all those lizards are? I thought they were skinks. What's a skink? Is that a blue tail?

I don't know. Maybe they are skinks. If it has a blue tail, it's a skink, and they are neurotoxic. I've met somebody once who's like, don't let your dog anywhere near those things. I knew a cat once that had cross-eyed because they had eaten too many of those lizards. What? Yeah, apparently they have a neurotoxin. Well, now I'm looking up a picture of a chameleon, and I think you are completely right. This is not chameleons that we see here in Georgia.

They're skinks. They're skinks, but we call them lizards anyway, so I was still right. Yeah, you're still right. How do you spell skink? I think just like it sounds. Like you think? Oh, well, these aren't exactly skinks, although we do have skinks. What about a gecko, a leopard gecko? It could be one of them.

Maybe so. I saw a skink one time at the lake that was with tail about a foot long. Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, now I don't know what we see all over the place in the woods and on our deck. It's probably geckos. Okay. I think. I think if it's not a skink.

All right, we're talking chameleons. Oh, they are little geckos. Yeah, okay, I got leopard geckos if I'm not mistaken. Mo loves chasing those things. Oh, my God, she loves chasing lizards. Are these the ones that puff up their neck in a balloon? Yep. Yeah, that's exactly right. They're great. They're great little lizards. They're fun.

They'll drop their tail if you get too close to them and they need to escape. Yeah, just like chameleons, right? No, Chuck, that's absolutely wrong. The first fact about chameleons is they can't regrow their tail. If their tail's ever pulled off, it hurt and it's not coming back. Yeah, they don't release their tail. Well, plenty of lizards do that though, right? Yeah, like a gecko.

Yeah. But that's not what people think of when they think of chameleons, that they can't regrow their tail. That's pretty arcane. That's a deep cut as far as chameleon facts are concerned. What most people think of when they think of chameleons is that they can change color. And everybody knows they can change color because they blend in with their surroundings, right?

Wrong. Man, we're both just batting zero right now. Yeah, we're busting some chameleon myths, and that is a myth that chameleons will be green if they're next to a leaf or they will be brown if they are on your deck or your mulch. That is not true. That may accidentally happen to be true if you look and say,

oh, look, they're the same color as my deck. But it's not because they're trying to blend in. They are trying to control their body temperature. But they do try to blend in to the green as their natural state. Right. But they're not doing anything in that point. Like you said, it's their natural state. Like they're just...

Like it worked out that way. Yeah, it just worked out perfectly. Almost like it was designed by the hand of God himself or herself if you watch Dogma. But they're green. Well, we'll get to why they're green because I thought that was a pretty interesting thing. But when they're agitated, when they're excited,

when they're happy to see you, when they are scared, when they're trying to scare off somebody else, they're feeling emotional. And just like with humans, when you feel emotional, there's all sorts of hormones churning, right? That's what happens with the chameleon too. When those hormones get to churning, they start to change color. And they do it in the same way that just about every other thing

that changes color in the world, every other animal changes color, changes color. But it's slightly different in that the kind of structures that a chameleon uses is much different than what we understood it to be before. Yeah, I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, with our good old friend, the octopus, they have chromatophores. And with the chameleon, they are eridophores. Yeah, so I saw that.

I also saw somewhere that chromatophores is like the umbrella term for all the different kinds of color changing cells. And that eridophores like chameleons have are a specific kind. But that the big difference between an octopus and a chameleon, as far as color changing goes, well, there's two. One is that the octopus is using pigment-filled sacs. And then they're opening or closing the muscle surrounding each sac to show or not show that color.

And they have different colors in their sacs. With a chameleon, they're actually using crystals that they're called eridophores because they're iridescent, right? Yeah. And you know what? That's a great cliffhanger and we're right in the middle. We are in the middle of a cliffhanger. Like, I'm about to vomit.

I've never been in the middle of a cliffhanger before. And it's a very uncomfortable place to be. It's kind of like, hold on, I'm not done. When I was in maybe second grade, I was on the bus. And the bus came to a red light. And it came to a stop. Yeah. But have you ever been in a vehicle that never fully came to a stop?

It wasn't moving forward any longer. And there's like this incomplete feeling like something is terribly wrong. Like that Twilight Zone episode where Darren from Bewitched flips a coin and it lands on its side. And after that, you can hear everybody starts. Same thing happens when a bus doesn't fully stop at a red light. That's what I feel like right this moment in the middle of this cliffhanger. I can hear your thoughts and I want to throw up.

We'll be right back. What advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place because I'm here to help. This, I promise you. Oh, God. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS because I'll be there for you. Oh, man.

And so my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yep. We know that, Michael. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general can get messy. You may be thinking, this is the story of my life.

Oh, just stop now. If so, tell everybody, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen. So we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Mangesh Atikular. And to be honest, I don't believe in astrology. But from the moment I was born, it's been a part of my life.

In India, it's like smoking. You might not smoke, but you're going to get secondhand astrology. And lately, I've been wondering if the universe has been trying to tell me to stop running and pay attention. Because maybe there is magic in the stars, if you're willing to look for it. So I rounded up some friends and we dove in and let me tell you, it got weird fast. Tantric curses, major league baseball teams, canceled marriages, K-pop. But just when I thought I had a handle on this sweet and curious show about astrology,

my whole world came crashing down. Situation doesn't look good. There is risk to father. And my whole view on astrology, it changed. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think your ideas are going to change too. Listen to Skyline Drive and the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, everyone.

Josh just vomited. I had to turn off my computer camera. Thank you for the towel. So now I'm only listening. But we left at the cliffhanger where you were talking about the crystal-like cells called eridophores that what they do instead of squeezing pigment is they work with actual light and color and light across the entire color spectrum, even if human beings can't see it. Yes, that's the huge thing.

Like if you have a pigment stack, you can reflect the color that that pigment reflects. And so it's showing blue or red or yellow or orange or something like that. And eridophore can reflect whatever color needs to be reflected at that moment. And like you said, even ones that humans can't see, impossible colors is what they're called. All colors. That's just amazing. It really makes you wonder like what dazzling displays chameleons are putting on. We just can't even see it because our eyes aren't, it's not possible for our eyes to pick up light on

that part of the visible spectrum or the non-visible spectrum. Right. And there are a lot of species of chameleon. And depending on the species, they have different kind of color changing capabilities. Some are way more vibrant and bright. Some aren't quite as vibrant and bright. Some of them have a lot of variants and the kind of colors. But it's a general thing where they can basically use any color on the spectrum. Like it's all open.

All those, those wavelengths are open for business for these chameleons. And it has to do with, again, whether the chameleon, the erythophores or the muscles surrounding each erythophores relaxed or agitated. And that has to do with hormones. So when it's relaxed, the muscles are contracted around it and it's just reflecting short wavelength light like blue. Right? Right. And then when they're excited, those cells go farther apart and they can get more red and orange. Yes, which is how they change color.

But because they're excited and those hormones are churning, that's what triggers those erythophores to expand or contract. Which is the difference between chameleons and octopi that octopi control their chromatophore sacs with neurons. So it's like instantaneous opening or closing. With chameleons, it takes, I mean, it's fast, but it takes a little longer because the hormones have to go signal the cells to open or close depending on whether the animals excited or relaxed. Yeah. And here to me is one of the coolest facts is the actual natural sort of color of a chameleon is more of a yellow. But when you see them, they're usually green when they're just chilling out. And it's very simple, everybody. When they're relaxed, they're reflecting blue light and blue and yellow make green. Isn't that neat?

That's all there is to it. Yeah. Very cool. I love that one too. So those erythophores chuck are actually beneath their skin, but you can see them and they're able to reflect light. Well, because their skin, the outer layers of skin are actually transparent. And apparently chameleons have a little quick change act where if they're really trying to get vibrant in a hurry, they'll just like shed those clothes like Otho in Beetlejuice when he enters the spotlight. You remember his leisure suit just gets pulled, or no, his suit gets pulled off and he's wearing a leisure suit underneath. That might be my favorite movie of all time, I think.

I think doing a sequel, they're developing a sequel. Same cast? I think so. I mean, I think everyone's there. I can't wait. I'm behind it. Okay, same here, man. One of my favorite parts ever of that movie is when he's in the waiting room with a guy with a little head. And he just leans over and goes, let me ask you something. How do you get him down so small?

That's good stuff. How do you get him down so small? One of my favorite lines. And then the song, of course. I'll eat anything you want me to eat. I'll swallow anything you want me to swallow. What? No, are we talking about Beetlejuice? Yes, he has the song. I'll eat anything you want me to eat. I'll swallow anything you want me to swallow. So come on down. I'll chew on a dog. Is that in his ad?

I think yeah, I'll chew on a dog. It is classic. I was watching Michael Keaton's early stand-up earlier. No, yesterday. How did that go? It was okay. He wasn't great. But you could see the seed. Okay, I can imagine. It can see him being like real judgy and like, come on, it'll be a bonehead kind of facial expression and smoking cigarettes. No, it wasn't that. You should check it out. It's interesting. Okay, I will because I definitely have no idea what it's going to be like then.

I know, he came to a set. Yeah, he lived across the street from where you were shooting and just sort of entertained the PAs in the driveway for 10 minutes one day. Very nice. Very nice guy. Yeah, he was super nice. I'm really glad to hear that. He's a chameleon. He can blend into wherever he is. A group of PAs in the driveway, no problem. Yeah, or a rock in the desert.

Rock in the painted desert. Are we done with chameleons? I think so, man. I think we're done. I think there's no one listening anymore. It's just you and me now. Agreed. All right, well, goodbye, Chuck. This is the end of short stuff. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts on my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.