The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week - Bonus: Sprained Teeth, Pina Coladas, Flying Snakes

Episode Date: April 16, 2020

Surprise! It's Rachel and Jess, and we're popping in your feeds with a bonus episode. Join us as we listen to some voice messages submitted by you guys, and delve into facts about tooth ligaments, giant iguanas, sexy orangutans, and more. We'll be back on Wednesday, April 22nd with a regular (Earth Day-themed!) episode. Thanks for listening, weirdos! The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories!  Follow our team on Twitter Rachel Feltman: www.twitter.com/RachelFeltman Jessica Boddy: www.twitter.com/JessicaBoddy Popular Science: www.twitter.com/PopSci Theme music by Billy Cadden: www.twitter.com/billycadden Edited by Jessica Boddy: www.twitter.com/JessicaBoddy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/popular-science/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/popular-science/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Just steps from the water. The Hilton sale is on now. Book on Hilton.com or The Hilton.com. Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton for the stay. Hey, weirdos. It's Rachel and I'm here with Jess. And we just wanted to jump into your feeds with a special little bonus episode because it's a weird time. And we'd like to offer you some nice but weird things to think about. So yeah, we thought it would be a great opportunity to go through some of our backlog of listener messages. We have a few messages to share

and a few user submitted facts that I've done my usual checking into to ensure that they are, in fact, facts. So we'll get to enjoy some of those. Jess, how are you doing? Oh, I'm great. I'm sitting in my closet and I'm ready to do this. This is fun. I'm under a bathrobe. Well, I love that for you. We both got really creative here. Yeah, yeah. We're doing great. We're doing as well as can be expected. And we hope that you're doing even better than you can be expected, weirdos.

It's been great talking to some of you guys in the Weirdest Thing Facebook group. We were just talking about some of our pop-side COVID-19 content. Obviously, as a science magazine, we've been covering the pandemic really closely. And I shared some of that in the Weirdest Thing Facebook group. And it just reminded me that I should let listeners know that we are happy to serve as a resource for you. If you have any questions you want answered, they will not be answered on the weirdest thing because that's not what this podcast is for. We want this to be a weird and wonderful escape for you. We're not a news podcast.

It's a safe haven. It is. It is. But that doesn't mean that you can't ask us questions. The weirdest thing, Facebook group, our Twitter, which is weirdest underscore thing, our Instagram, our Instagram. our Instagram, our weekly Twitter Q&A's through the Popsie Twitter handle. And anyone can ask a question there. But yeah, you should definitely feel free to access us through the Weirdest Thing community.

We are really happy to help you cut through the misinformation out there and to offer whatever support and reassurance we can. Again, it will not happen on the Weirdest Thing podcast. We're going to keep it light and funky. here because we know that's what you come to us for, but we really do love and care about all of our listeners. And we are a science magazine. So in our day-to-day lives, fortunately and unfortunately, we have become real experts on COVID-19. And any way we can help you out with that information, we are thrilled to do so. With that out of the way, we can get to some voice messages, which I have heard, but Jess has not.

I'm in the dark. Yes, as usual, some of these will be delightful surprises. Can't wait. Let's see. I didn't think about order. I've got notes and I've got the files themselves, but I think I'm just going to start with a, oh, actually a two-parter. You know, normally I like to be a stickler for making people fit the 60-second voice message timeline, but also like, you know, things are hard. So, totally. If you need more than a minute, I had to do. understand.

We can cut some slack. Yeah. And a lot of these messages are actually back from November or December. You can send us voice messages with facts or comments or questions anytime. And we will do our best to get back to them. But it's always fun to kind of save them all for one little bonanza. So here's one from a listener named Katie. Hello, Supreme Queen Weirdos.

My name is Katie. I am from Fort Collins, Colorado. and I wanted to share a potential weird fact that hopefully you enjoy. So in an undergraduate bioanthropology class, I remember discussing orangutans and the way in which they form like the big pans on their face, this might end up being like a too firm message. So just be aware. So only the male orangutans have these facial pans. And usually, from what I remember discussing, they usually come with sexual maturity. So the orangutans with the larger facial pans, generally speaking, have gotten more orangutan booty than those without.

And it looks like Anchor's going to stop me, so. Anchor did stop her. So anyway, orangutan pan part two. Yeah, the orangutans with the larger pans have been more sexually prolific males. But the interesting thing about this is that, you know, throughout kind of the primate world and different primate species and then outside of primate species, what we would call rape, I guess, if we're going to anthropomorphize it, is a pretty common thing. And the super interesting thing here from what I remember is that if a male orangutan has like forcible intercourse with a female, he will not develop those like really huge facial pans. So the implication there is that there might be some sort of epigenetic link to consensual sex and orangutans. Wow.

That's it. Mike. What? Wow is right. That's wild. Yeah. Well, so, and this is one that needs a little clarification, which is, you know, listening to it, I was like, that is so fascinating and I feel like it can't be entirely right. And indeed, there's, there is a link, but the causation is reversed. So it is true that orangutan mills, some of them have these big, flappy cheek pads that are known as flanges. Yeah, I was going to ask what she was referring to if you knew. Yeah, just like their, their faces get kind of like wide and they develop these like gobbly throats and like wobbly cheeks. I think I know what you mean. Yeah. And these develop, they seem to be related to testosterone levels.

The testosterone levels peak really high as the pads are developing and then level out. But what's really cool, and I did not know this, so thank you so much, Katie. for getting me to look this up. Orangotans have like a sort of arrested development. So the males all go through what we call puberty around age 8 to age 15. Their testicles descend, they can reproduce. But they remain smaller than these truly adult males that have face flanges and they don't develop those jowls. So they're kind of like they are males, but they're like pseudo adult males.

But then it's like, well, what does? Does it even mean to be an adult male? They can reproduce, so they're adults, but there's like a bimodal kind of sexual dimorphism, right? They're like two kinds of males. So then sometime between age 15 and 20, they can have this spike of testosterone that makes them get bigger and makes them develop these attractive facial flanges. But this only happens in certain conditions, namely if there's no resident alpha male in their territory already. So that's the epigenetic thing that's happening is that they have this like biological

response to there being an opportunity to be the biggest male in that territory. And until then, and possibly for their whole lives, if they never, you know, have that opportunity, they're transient. And during that time, they will force copulation on any females that they find who are in estrus. Once, if and when they actually get to develop the size and flanges of that second wave of puberty, they switch their strategy to having territory that's their own and waiting for females to come to them for protection. And at that point, they can actually have these very, like, prolonged periods of, like, mutually beneficial romance up in the trees. So that's why you get these very disparate displays of, like, sexuality in orangutants. because if they get to become these territory having males, they have their pick of females,

they can be leisurely about it. It's all very mutually beneficial. But until that time, and again, if they don't get lucky, then for their whole lives, they're just prowling around forcing copulation. And in fact, often female rang in terms will seek out a big male for protection. And studies indicate that both strategies are effective. I found one study that said, like, if you look at a family group, you know, a territory of orangans that like around half of them will come from the dominant male and around half will be from transient males who came through. Which is a really interesting evolutionary strategy because, you know, it adds some diversity to those populations. It means that it's not just one male's genes in every territory getting

passed down, but there is this weird bifurcation in. how males behave. And yeah, I never knew that. And it seems super wild, but it is true. Yeah, that's fascinating. I had no idea. So thank you for that, Katie. And please send us more primate facts as you find them. Yes. And thanks for calling us the Supreme Queens. Oh, my God. I loved that. I really did. Me too. Okay. Here is one that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Great. Hey, fellow, weirdos. Did you know that you have ligaments in your teeth?

I sure didn't. A couple weeks ago, I had to have a broken tooth pulled. Being curious, I asked the dentist, what holds teeth in place? Her response was simple. Bone holds teeth in place. Now, turn toward me and open wide. I love my dentist, but I wasn't satisfied with this answer. So I decided to look it up.

It turns out that there is a structure or really a set of structures called the periodontal ligament. This consists of, among other tissues, thousands of tiny fibers that connect your teeth to your jawbone, penetrating both of these structures. These fibers help to maintain the position of your teeth by distributing the pressure of chewing. They provide orthodontal support to keep your teeth in line, and they really don't want to let go when your teeth are being pulled. This is why the dentist will use their trusty pliers to forcibly wiggle your tooth back. That got cut off, but I assume

he was just going to say back and forth when they pull your teeth. I'm horrified. This is from... This is from Mike. And first of all, I just want to say, Mike, you really have a great voice for radio and also the, like, the pacing of this story was excellent. I can tell you really, like, thought through. There were some great little zingers in there.

Yeah, there was an arc. Yeah, I love the narrative structure. So if you have a podcast where you talk about things, slightly less horrifying than tooth ligaments. I would love to listen to it. Let us know. That's such a good fact, though. I feel like that's like something Claire would have dug up.

Yeah. I think Claire is going to be upset that she didn't know this. Or maybe she does know it. And she just assumes everyone knows it. Claire is a tooth expert. So, yes, you do indeed have ligaments to keep your teeth in place. They're like little shock absorbers. And they can get sprained.

What? You can like sprain your tooth? And of course it's not actually the tooth that's been sprained. And everything I read about it said like, you know, it's a little different because it's not like, you know, most of the sprains we get are joints that are like meant to move. And when you sprain your tooth, like there's not supposed to be that much flexibility. I mean, there's a little bit. Like Mike said, it's like a shock absorber. It's providing kind of like squishy supports. I'm so grossed out. So when a kid loses a tooth and it's like hanging by a thread, is it hanging by a ligament? I guess so there are lots of little fibers, right? Like I think that the ligament is what you call like the whole. Sure, sure. The whole thing. Yeah, yeah.

It's a system of fibers, which is all ligaments really are. But yeah, the periodontal ligament just consists of thousands of tiny fibers. And yeah, apparently like sometimes I read one or. on vice about this that was clearly written just because someone got a spring tooth and was like, what the hell? Which I would have exactly the same reaction. I too would have taken it to the blog. But apparently a lot of the time that people come into the dentist thinking they must have

cracked a tooth because they like had some kind of clenching situation and felt like a crack. The crack was actually the sprain, which I get because when I, a few years ago, I broke my leg skating and simultaneous to the very minor break, I had a very serious sprain. And I remember the like very weird like nothing else like pop slash crunch of that whole ligament detachment. And now I'm like, I definitely have felt that and thought I broke a tooth. Totally. That makes complete sense.

Yeah. When I played volleyball in college, I had a really, really bad ankle. brain. And I was convinced that like something was broken. But they were like, nope, just a sprain. And I was like, how is that possible? Sprains are worse than breaks a lot of the time. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. But yeah. Now I realize a lot of the weird tooth problems I've had have probably been teeth sprains. I have very bad like TMJ problems because I clenched everything like so many of us in media these days. I definitely feel like I need to loosen up those ligaments. I need to make them limber. Yeah. What do you do for a spraying tooth? I rest. Rest and recovery.

I guess like with anything else. Yeah. Yeah. Be gentle with it. This next one is the opposite of horrifying. It's really, really special. And I'm part of me is sad that it's been sitting in our inbox so long, but also it's a treat that we need right now. So amazing. Hi, it's Megan from Puerto Rico. I just, listen to your Q&A episode and I may or may not have cried a little bit. Thank you for hosting such an amazing podcast and it was an incredible experience being at your live show. So I'm looking forward to doing that again in the future. However, in the meantime, you are welcome to visit Puerto Rico and host a live show here. You can be weird in Spanish too. And we also

have giant iguanas and pinocaladas. You don't want to miss out on that. So thank you. For all you do, please, please keep things weird and consider visiting the island. Oh my god, she called. Our long lost friend, Megan, who came to see our show from Puerto Rico and couldn't even stay for the whole thing because she had to go back to the airport. I am just smiling so big right now. That makes me so happy that she called. Thank you. Megan, thank you so much for getting in touch. Thank you again for coming to the live show. Obviously, I cannot hop on a plane to Puerto Rico right this second. So logistical problems have arisen.

I do look forward to, it's been on my list for a long time and I look forward to visiting soon. I am not actually capable of being weird in Spanish. Most of my school-related stress streams are about how I used to be pretty much fluent in Spanish and then forgot all of it. And I still carry that guilt with me in my subconscious and have dreams where it's like, you haven't done your Spanish homework in 14 years. Oh, my God. That's traumatic. But I still can sing the entirety of in media, Hose, Nguyen, so I won't do that.

No, it's just, it's a song that I was made to learn. In French class, we learned that song about La Chanceselisse, the street in Paris. Oh, I only, I briefly studied French in preschool. and we just learned the aloeeta song. Oh, that's a good one too. There's lots of good French songs. The only French I know. That's enough.

It's okay. But that's so wonderful. And the thought about the giant iguanas and pinocales, is that what she said? That sounds like a Jimmy Buffet lyric and it brings me so much joy. I want to be there right now. Same big time. Megan, we'll make something happen soon. We really will.

We love you. you for calling and thank you for being at our live show. We love you. Thank you for being a weirdo. We really appreciate it. Okay. Let's see. What do we have next? Hi, my name's Kaylin. I'm a graduate student trying to get my PhD in immunology. And my weird fact is the Earth's magnetic poles have actually flipped multiple times. Scientists don't really know why this happens. But a couple of years ago, we were monitoring the poles and we figured out that it might be happening right now. So if this did happen again, it'd be really weird because all of our compasses that pointed north would all be wrong. So it would be pointing

north, but it would actually be pointing to the south. So that's my weird fact. I would love if you did a whole segment on a little bit more about this fact. Thanks. Bye. That's really weird. Yeah. And you know, it's something that comes up on Popsite every once in a while because there are studies on it, like periodically because it is something that we know surprisingly little about the core of the earth, given that it's like what we're standing going all the time. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, a lot of the research onto what's going on inside the planet is like just really not where you would expect it to be given that I think a lot of people take Earth for granted.

They think of it as just like a big old rock, but it's got really... It's so much more than a rock. It's the only rock we've got. And also it's just, you know, the kinds of like thermodynamics happening in there because of like the different kinds of rock at different temperatures you have circulating, it's really complicated. And that's part of why there is probably this, you know, complex magnetic field flip. And indeed, over the last 2.6 million years, Earth's magnetic field has flipped, like,

like 10 times. That's so weird to think about. And I'm sure, like, I wonder what happens on other planets, too. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing is that, like, as basic as this stuff is to how Earth works, like, it's not inherent to planetary geology, right? Right. Like, there are planets that have, like, different stuff going on in their course.

And there is a lot of concern about, like, you know, what systems would fail if this were to flip. there was a study pretty recently that was saying that these flips could take longer than we used to think. So we might not be like as due for one as previously thought. And also like we're talking on geological scales. So saying we're due for one means that like it might not happen for a couple thousand years easily. Totally. You know, we'll have bigger things to worry about by then. Hopefully we'll have figured out how to deal with GPS going down a couple thousand years from now. I would hope so. Yeah. One would hope. Yeah. Cool. Thank you for that fact killing. And thank you for studying immunology.

It's very important. Yeah, very clutch these days. Yes, yes. Hope you are doing okay with remote schooling in such. I know it's not an easy time. But thank you for submitting your fact. We really appreciate it. Here we have one from, these are all still from November.

I think when we did our Q&A episode and we said, please send us some of these. A few weirdos really heated the call, which we appreciate. We do. So this is from Jesse. I've listened to your episodes that was very interesting. But the bananas we eat today are not the banana for or whatever you said it was. What? What is this banana conspiracy?

Did you not know this about bananas? I guess not. Okay. So, yeah, it's true that it did not occur to me to bring this up during the weirdest thing episode where we talked about bananas. I believe it was Claire's fact. And she was talking about how bananas. is debuted in the United States at the World's Fair.

Yeah, and people like ate them out of like tinfoil or whatever. Yeah, they were really expensive and they ate them with a fork out of like a packet of tinfoil because it didn't occur to them that bananas literally come in their own like carrying case. Yeah. But that's okay. We figured it out. But yeah, it is true that even though there are hundreds of varieties of banana that are

are delicious to eat. In order to standardize production more, there was just a single type that companies grew when bananas entered this like mass market stage. And so it was big. It was flavorful. I've definitely heard rumors before that the like fake banana flavor is meant to taste like this banana. But like I don't know if I buy that because it's not like red tastes like cherry. Yeah. That's a weird. But you know, maybe it was more. like this OG banana. But then there was this fungal pandemic throughout the banana world. I thought that was happening right now. Well, I, yes. So basically, because we just had this one variety of banana, it swept through every field of bananas we had. You know, like all,

all these plantations lost just their entire crops. And that was it. That banana was just gone, which was a problem because it was the banana that everyone who was mass marketing bananas was selling. So then they picked another variety that was resistant to this disease that was called the Panama disease, the Cabin Dish, and that's the one we use now. But now there are starting to be some pathogens that are attacking the Cavendish. And again, because we have picked this one type of banana to lift up as the banana, it leaves us very vulnerable. You know, that being said, I have been lucky enough to visit Hawaii a few times. And there they have multiple types of bananas because they grow them there. And they have no reason to just pick one type of banana and stick to it.

And so that was the first time I had a banana that was not a Cavendish banana. What are they like? Like what are the other bananas like? I mean like most of the ones, most of the other varieties of banana are like smaller. you know, maybe they like brown more easily. Like there's, you can see why the Cavendish banana was like somebody looked at and it was like, that's that's our banana to spread far and wide. But honestly, like other varieties of banana are often tastier in the same way that like, you know, heirloom tomatoes taste better than a lot of the things you can get at the supermarket.

Yeah, that's a good comparison. Yeah. So I was like, wow, like there are all sorts of banana in the world. it's weird to me that there hasn't been more of a market for like growing different kinds of banana. Totally. You think we would have learned our lesson the first time and like diversified the banana options. But apparently not.

No, apparently not. So we are facing this problem again. Yeah. We know more than we did back when it was in the 1950s is when this fungal pathogen first swept the world. So I think it's been our efforts to stop it or slow it or come up with an alternative banana solution will probably be more successful. But yeah, don't grow one kind of thing. Yeah, that's moral of the story right there.

Yeah. Thank you for that fact, Jessie. Let's see. Here we have a message from our listener, Kathleen. Hi. I'll go fast because there's really a minute. But I really like the show where you talked about Mary Shelley. I'm a nerd about Mary Shelley, so it was really exciting to hear more people talk about her.

But I really recommend the book Mary Shelley, Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters by Ann K. Mellar, M-E-L-L-O-R, because it talks about how she not only may have been the creator of science fiction, but it also talks about she wrote, you know, the first post-apocalyptic book, and a lot of people think post-apocalyptic stuff is, a male genre, but it was also invented by Mary Shelley. And also, it explores the idea of Frankenstein as kind of like not just a horror about creation, but a horror about creation being controlled by men. So like it's about, it's a big fuck you to Percy, basically. So I recommend reading it. Oh my God, amazing. That is the first listener message. We're going to have to bleep. But what a worthy bleep because totally worth it.

Truly, truly, fuck you to Percy Shelley all the time. It's an honor to craft that beep. Thank you for that recommendation. I will definitely check it out. For listeners who did not catch that episode, it was one of our recent Halloween live show episodes. And I talked just all about Mary Shelley and how she was the sci-fi-loving goth girlfriend. You did not know you needed and did not know you needed and did not know. already had. So, yeah, we stand. We really do. Yeah, big time. And then we have three messages

in a row not related to each other from a wonderful fan named Tina. Hi, guys. My name's Tina. I just started listening to your podcasts last week with the Chainsawls for Childbirth episode and I was 100% horrified by the whole thing and have now I'll go on back and I'm listening to Back episodes and I love it. It's fantastic. Keep it up, guys. Thank you. That's what we love to hear, horrified and can't stop listening.

Then we have one fact from Tina and one message that she sent on my birthday that it was truly a gift and I wish I had seen it on my birthday because. But we'll get to that in a minute. So here's a fact from Tina. Hi, guys. This is Tina from Delaware. I just left a message, but now I'm leaving another one. I'm listening to one of the episodes with listeners calling or with listener comments and whatnot.

And there was one about elephants being the only animal that can't jump. And then there was some other information about other animals that can't jump. And there was a comment about snakes, not being able to jump. There are actually flying snakes, they call them. I watched a documentary on it a few years ago. And they do actually go up into trees and high points and they jump and flatten out their bodies so that they can sort of fly. But anyway, so snakes actually do jump or at least some of them, a little bit weird. But the documentary was a lot of fun. Bye. I love this fact. I love,

well, I guess they technically glide, but I love flying snakes. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember I remember what she was talking about because I was talking about like other animals that can't jump. And I was like, it's because if you use the definition, it depends on your definition of jump, right? So an elephant can't like hoist their whole body off the ground in one go all four feet because they're so heavy and they just like their legs aren't built for that. And I was like a snake can't just like hoist its whole body off the ground in one go, which is still true. But flying snakes, they do go up in trees and they basically just like fall strategically.

They like catch the wind like a sugar glider. something, but it's a snake. So, you know. I'm obsessed with it. Yeah. It's like the funniest thing and like the coolest thing at the same time to me. Yeah. It seems I will have to look up a video clip because I feel like it probably, depending on like

the frame you stop it at, it probably looks either majestic or like really stupid. Totally. Yeah. And then this is the message that Tina sent on my birthday. That's really, really special. I was just listening to the segment about Wala while driving in my car. And now I am sitting at Wawa about to go in and get a Hogi because I couldn't help myself. This is Tina in Wilmington, Delaware, where we also have a gazillion wallaws.

You guys are great. Keep it up. Oh, that's so nice. I love Wilmington. And Tina, thank you for honoring the holy day of my birth with a Hogi, which is the proper way to celebrate my birthday. Most people don't know that, but apparently you do. Tina gets it. Yeah, she gets it.

So, oh, here's a nice message. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed listening to Jess laugh in the background of this week's episode. And also wanted to let you know that I love the cilantro. Like, make a drink out of it and I'll drink it down. That stuff is delicious. Wow. What was I laughing at? I don't even remember.

I don't know. I feel like I'm constantly laughing in the background. anyway. But I'm glad she likes it. Yeah. And cilantro. Yeah. Well, you know, good for her. She can have mine. Yeah. I honestly don't mind cilantro at all. I know obviously you're in a different boat, but I would be interested in a cilantro cocktail. I mean, I do like very herbaceous cocktails. So if I didn't particularly hate cilantro, I'd like it. Yeah. It's a concept. Yeah. Yeah. Explore it. Not with me, but like someone could explore it. Yeah. Here's one from Lauren.

Hi, my name is Lauren, and I live in Austin, Texas. I'm a big fan of your podcast, and I'm so excited about this episode, the ASMR episode. And oh my gosh, love to talk more about it. I have ASMR. I don't know how you say that, but I watch certain videos. I get like the weird head tingles. And yeah, it's not sexual at all. I'm just really glad y'all are talking about this. My husband's, thinks I'm crazy. I mean, he just laughs at it. But yeah, I would love to talk more about it. I feel like our world is a world of sounds and it makes total sense why people would be more sensitive to different sounds. So anyways, there is my opinion. I hope you guys have a great day. Y'all are the best. Okay, bye. Oh. Thank you, Lauren. I'm glad that we could show your husband. He's dumb. No, I'm sure he's very nice. I'm sure he's very nice. But this is not the first time we have heard from a listener that their spouse used to think they were weird or crazy or wrong. Yeah.

And they should listen to this podcast. Right. And it seems like it's like that's a thing with ASMR especially. Totally. And I get it because it's such, I think it's one of those sensations where before the internet, people who experienced it assumed everybody experienced it. Right. Right. And then they would meet people who didn't.

And then those people just thought they were crazy. Yeah. Well, it probably just like never came up too or rarely did. I'm sure. Yeah. But now that there's so much content to either seek out or avoid or not understand, it's like now we all get to get to figure out who's feeling what. Thanks for listening. And I'm sure ASMR will come up again on another episode.

There's not the weird facts to talk about there. We have a technical question here. What? Hello. I love your podcast. I was just asking a question, what microphones do you use? Oh, interesting. So, yeah, while we're remote, we have just USB blue Yeti mics.

But back in the studio, we were using the blue spark mics, I believe they're called, or the blackout spark with an arm and like a boom arm, some of the things on the table. But yeah, and we use like XLR cables to plug into a mixer that plugs into the computer, basically. And they were great. I love the little, I love the little blue Yeti. though. I do too. I have a great experience with it, honestly. It's very user-friendly. No complaints. I would say like anyone who's going to be like recording at home. Like I don't, I don't think you need anything fancier than a blue Yeti. It's pretty. Definitely not. It's very plug and play. It's nice. And you know, the more articulation you get in the mic, the more you have to make Jess adjust pop covers that are coming undone and arms that are all over the place. So like, you know, simplify your life. Totally.

Totally. Basically what I'm saying is if you don't have Jess there to untangle cords and troubleshoot for you, I recommend using as simple technology as you can. What I'm saying is Jess is really good at her job. Oh, that's so nice. It's true. Wow. My heart.

Here we have another heartwarming message from a listener named Anne. Hey, weirdest thing I learned this week. My name's Ann. I'm from Pennsylvania. I was just listening to your episode that included the invention of forcepts and the vacuum assist. I am happy to say that my darling little two-year-old girl was born using a vacuum-assisted vaginal birth. And it actually kept me from having to have the major surgery that is a C-section. So I'm a huge fan. I just want to let you know. Thanks. Bye. Wow. I'm so happy for her. Yeah. And we're huge fans too.

Listeners, I did an episode talking about the invention of foreseps, which was a fact that my partner Oliver had been heragging me with without end. So I finally used it. And they were a family secret for 200 years. It was super crazy story. But yeah. There's three Peters. Yes. There are multiple Peters, one family.

Two Peters in one generation, which is a bad idea. Very confusing for all of us looking back on this historically significant group of Peters. But, yeah, one of the reasons that forceps are not really used anymore is that vacuum-assisted birth is like kind of a better version of the same assistance, less likely to cause complications, gentler. And it is kind of just like putting a section cup on a baby's head. Yeah. And, you know, that's great. I really applaud the first person who thought of that. There's also this device that I almost brought up in that episode and now seems like a great time to mention it. It's called the Odon device. And it was invented in Argentina. In 2006, Jorge Odon, who is a car mechanic

in Argentina. He was, he saw a trick for removing a quirk from a wine bottle. where it's if the wine gets corked. Like the cork is loose inside the wine bottle. Oh, sure. And so you insert a plastic bag in the bottle, then inflate the bag once it's enveloped the cork. And then you pull out the inflated bag with the cork. And he was like,

what if obstetricians could use that for a baby? And then it turned out to be. a totally great idea. The World Health Organization was really excited about it because it's a really low cost and simplified take on the like vacuum assist or the forceps birth. So yeah, it's basically like uncorking a baby. Oh my God. So like the cork is the baby? Right. It's the same concept where you basically have like a lubricated sleeve that gets inserted so that it's a the baby's head. Yeah.

And then there's like, such a term. Right. But there's like a marker on it so that you can see when it's properly positioned. And then you inflate it. And that creates the tension. Right. To pull the head out. So yeah.

Fascinating. Love to uncork a baby. Yeah. You know, the next time you're just like having random thoughts, like let yourself have those random thoughts because maybe you'll come up with the new way to deliver babies. Totally. Let's see. We just have a couple of these left. Here's one. It's from Jamie and it's just called ants on stilts. Oh boy. Hey guys. This is Jamie from Melbourne, Australia. And the weirdest thing I learned this week is that researchers were trying to figure out how ants could always find their

way home and they thought they might have an internal odometer. So they put little tiny ant stilts on the ants to see what would happen. And sure enough, they were counting their steps and therefore overshot their their nests. And that's it. Thanks, guys. I do love this. I remember, I think we covered this in the magazine. I just, I just love this. Yeah, I love the visual. We have a section in our magazine called Tales from the Field where we talk to researchers and they tell us in their own words about stories from their research. And one of them was about these counting ant steps. And we had a great illustration of ants on stilts. And in fact, I think the cover of that issue is the tiny issue, an award-winning issue, in fact, that I think

one of the cover lines was just ants on stilts. Totally. Yeah, it sells. But yeah, this is true that ants do count their steps to track their way home. They can use visual landmarks, but the question was like, how did they know how far to walk? And this stilt experiment showed that they are counting steps. because if you make their legs longer, they go too far, which is cute and rude.

Another experiment that Sarah had covered on popsye.com for us is that when they have to walk backwards to drag something really big, like a giant chunk of cookie, is what I think things in the experiment. They'll lose their way if they have to go backwards the whole time because they do need to see those visual landmarks and they need to see them in the right orientation. But they get around this by like occasionally turning around to peek at landmarks.

So they have to like put the cookie down and turn around and figure out where they are and then pick the cookie back up. That's really funny. And drag it backwards. So yeah, I love it. Same. I really like whoever came up with putting the ants on stilts is a genius. Totally. Totally.

Like who would have thunk to do that? Only a genius. Only a genius. Okay. We have one more message. Hello, weird ologist. Are you kind of as weirdos if you make the show? Whatever. I'm making the best of social distance in San Antonio. And my real question is, what are you excited for in the future? I admit stealing it from another favorite podcast, Ologies with Ali Ward. Rose Havleth would also be a good guest on weirdest thing. And I have a suggestion. I found a crazy Wikipedia page about limnic eruptions, which is where lakes explode. So I don't know of any other podcast that's covered. it. I love the show. Thanks for being awesome. Bye. Wow. That is so much to digest in the best way. Yeah. Weird ologists. I love it. Ologies is an excellent podcast. Love to be mentioned in the same

breath. And also it's funny because I know Rose and we've talked about having her on the show a couple times and we are in the process of trying to make it happen for real. So you may get your wish very soon. And we also love Flashword. It is an excellent, excellent podcast. Big time. I will definitely look into exploding lakes. Yeah. Fascinated. I've never heard of that. And what are we excited for for the future?

Does he mean like after like social distancing or just in general? Yeah. I think the well, I guess it could be in general, but I think it's like what. Yeah. What are you looking forward to? Yeah. I mean, for me, it's definitely going to like Cubs baseball games again. Like, you know, now is, or now should be the start of baseball season, but obviously that's not happening. So, you know, living in a world again where you can just like head on over to Wrigley and go to a game, that's what I miss a lot right now, I think.

So someday that will happen again. But yeah, I don't know. What about you? I really miss roller derby. I'm really bad at it, but, you know. I'm sure you're better than a whole lot of people. Sure. If you took like the whole world population and tried to get everybody to play roller derby, I'm sure I'm solidly above average.

Yeah. But like, you know, I really, it's a great hobby. It's a great community. I am a non-skating official, which basically means I do referee stuff that doesn't involve be on skates. Right. For a Gotham roller derby in New York, I eventually will probably start being willing to referee on skates. And I do their recreation league, which is basically just like taking class. from like the best skaters in the world and it's wonderful. So yeah, like we're keeping in touch

and doing workouts and like all sorts of stuff. But because it's a full contact sport, it's hard to know like what it will be safe for me to like, you know, slam into people with my sweaty body. Totally. Totally. But yeah, I miss that. And I'm also really looking forward to having more weirdest thing live shows. Yeah. In Puerto Rico or elsewhere. So. Now I'm really looking forward to going to Puerto Rico and drinking some quinoquiladas with Megan. So, yeah, there's a lot to look forward to you. Yeah. And it's good to think about those things.

It's like a scary time. Yeah. Remembering the things that you love, I think, can really help. Yeah, totally. I guess that's it. We don't have any other messages. We've used them all. I loved them all.

They were all so good. Yes, they were wonderful. Listeners, thank you so much for sharing your voice messages. Reminder, you can always, always send. us facts, questions, comments, if they're nice, please. No, roast me. Just send us a voice message on the anchor app or on the anchor website. You can also find us on Facebook in the weirdest thing Facebook group.

It's a secret group, but if you just search weirdest thing, you'll find it and we'll add you and you can be a weirdo in, you know, on one more platform. You can tweet us at Weirdest underscore thing. You can find us on Instagram. And yeah, we miss you a lot. We're going to keep bringing new episodes every two weeks. So maybe we'll get a couple more bonuses in there, too, just to make things a little less weird in a bad way. And yeah.

It would also really help if you left us reviews on Apple Podcasts. Yes, please do. Five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts help other Ritos find the show. So we appreciate it. Yeah. And yeah, that's all I've got. Same. Jess, thanks for listening to these weird messages with me.

Oh, it was truly my pleasure. Thanks for sifting through them. Of course. And weirdos, thank you for giving us your time. And we will talk to you again soon. Bye. The weirdest thing I learned this week is a popular science podcast. We're available on all major podcast platforms. So subscribe wherever you're listening now. And if you like what you hear, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps other weirdos find the show. For more information on the stories you heard in this episode, come find us at popsye.com slash weird. You can buy our merch, including Weirdest Thing t-shirts, tote bags, and mugs at popsye.

dotthreadless.com. The show is produced by all of our hosts, including me, Rachel Fultman, with editing and audio engineering by Just Bodie. Our theme music is by Billy Cadden. If you have questions, suggestions, or weird stories to share, tweet us at Weirdest underscore thing. Thanks for listening, Weirdos. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes.

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