The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week - Poodle Sled Dogs, Why Orange Cats Are "Like That," Seal Nose Anatomy

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Welcome to SEASON 9!! MIT Technology Review science editor (and former Weirdest Thing champ) Mary Beth Griggs joins the show to talk about self-sealing seal noses. Plus, Laura jumps on to talk about poodles running the Iditarod, and Rachel explains why orange cats are... you know. Like that. Get tickets for our upcoming LIVE SHOW right here! https://caveat.nyc/events/the-weirdest-thing-i-learned-this-week-2-8-2025 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!  Links to Rachel's TikTok, Newsletter, Merch Store and More: https://linktr.ee/RachelFeltman  Rachel now has a Patreon, too! Follow her for exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/RachelFeltman Link to Jess' Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/jesscapricorn -- Follow our team on Twitter Rachel Feltman: www.twitter.com/RachelFeltman Produced by Jess Boddy: www.twitter.com/JessicaBoddy Popular Science: www.twitter.com/PopSci Theme music by Billy Cadden: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6LqT4DCuAXlBzX8XlNy4Wq?si=5VF2r2XiQoGepRsMTBsDAQ Thanks to our Sponsors! Get started today at https://chime.com/WEIRDEST Chime. Feels like Progress. Get an additional 20% OFF the @honeylove Holiday sale by going to https://honeylove.com/WEIRDEST! #honeylovepod Upgrade your closet this year without the upgraded price tag. Go to https://Quince.com/weirdest for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://www.Zocdoc.com/WEIRDEST to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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ice. Shop appliance savings now through June 3rd at the Home Depot. Offer valid May 14th through June 3rd, US only. Free delivery on appliance purchases of $998 or more. See Store Online for details. At Popular Science, we report and write dozens of science and text stories every week. And while most of the stuff we stumble across makes it into our articles, we also find plenty of weird facts that we just keep around the office. So we figured, why not share those with you? Welcome to the weirdest thing I learned this week from the editors of popular science.

I'm Rachel Feldman. I'm Laura Bises. And I'm Marybeth Greggs. Marybeth, welcome back to the show. Long-time listeners know that Marybeth was one of the OG Weirdest Thing hosts. We're so thrilled to have you back on today. What have you been up to? What's your life these days? Yeah. Yeah, it's been a journey since I was last on the show. Yeah, so nowadays, I am the science editor over at MIT Technology Review. Awesome. They're very lucky to have you, and we're very lucky to have you today. So thanks for coming on.

Yeah, I'm so excited to be here. Well, and before we get into the show, I should note this is a officially the first episode of season nine of Weirdest Thing, which is crazy. Crazy. How have we counted seasons? Has it, was it kind of totally arbitrary up until a certain recent point? Yes. But based on the calendar that Jess and I keep in a Google spreadsheet, this is now season nine. So that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

And also, very soon, we have. a Weirdest Thing Live show coming up. It's on February 8th at Caviot, New York City. We have graduated to not on a school night, so that's very exciting. It's at 4 p.m., which I'm hoping is a time that will be convenient to the maximum number of Weirdest Thing listeners. I figure 4 p.m. Eastern on a Saturday that's like, you know, that's a saucy evening event. If you're on like Greenwich Mean Time, it's a reasonable hour of the day if you're on Pacific time. So listen, everyone should attend. Live stream tickets are available.

And of course, we'd love it if you joined us at caveat in New York City. So, of course, Lincoln show notes, you can find that there. You can also search caveat, weirdest thing. And yeah, get your tickets fast. It is a super cool venue. I've seen several things in addition to the last weirdest thing live show there. and it's just it's awesome it's a very cool little slice of new york highly highly recommend going even if it isn't just for our lovely recording yeah so true it is we love caveat and they have a popcorn flavor bar

you buy the popcorn and then they have every every flavor you could ever imagine putting on popcorn and then some so honestly run don't walk what are you doing if you're not if you're not at the weirdest thing live show on february eighth where are you at etc so anyway that's my pitch I hope you come. And we do tend to sell out. So if you're, so hearing this now at the end of January, it is it is Primo, get those tickets time for sure. Of course, live stream, you can decide to do that last minute. You can even decide to do it like the next day because there's a video on demand feature that caveat has. But if you want to see us in person, times aren't now. So get on it. So on the weirdest thing I'm doing this week, we start by each offering up a little tease about some

kind of fact or story we found in the course of reading, writing, reporting, et cetera, and decide which one we just absolutely have to hear more about first. Then once we've all had time to spin our little science yarns, we reconvene and decide what the weirdest thing we learned this week actually was. Except there's not a winner anymore because we had too many three-way ties, though Marybeth used to be a frequent winner of the show. I did. It's true.

I think at one point we did a listener cue and a. like listener Q&A episode and we like got some stats together for it and it was like who keeps winning and I definitely remember Mary Beth being high up on the list but now we all get participation trophies and it's all it's a good time Laura what's your tease? Standard poodles can run the iditarod. They never stop to think about if they should. Nice Ian Malcolm reference there already what five minutes in and we're already quoting Jurassic Park. Oh, I love it.

Yeah. Okay. Wow. I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop thinking about that, so you're probably going to have to go first, but TBD. Put a pit in that. Mary Beth, what's your tease? The weird world of seal noses. That's where I am at. Incredible. Incredible. Yeah. Incredible. Well, this was not intentional, but we're having an animal party episode because my tease is, aren't cats. Why they be like that?

Why they be yours. Yeah. So I do think I need to hear about poodles in the iditarod. I have to know. Post-taste. So, Laura, you're up first. Happy. Love go.

Was always that weirdo that volunteered to go first when giving a speech or presentation to get it out of the way. So happy to go first. All righty. So those strong, bright-eyed, kind of regal Siberian huskies, that's normally what comes to mind when you imagine the Iditarod. which for those of you who did not go through an obsession with it when they were 11, like I did, to watch Bolto and.

It was how I learned to use the internet. We did a whole unit on it in fifth grade, and we looked up where our musher was and had our little popsicle stick. Like, it was very formative. That's amazing. Shout out to my fifth grade teacher, Karen Zepanzik. Weird saying the first name. Mrs.

Apatig, excuse me. So this historic, roughly, a little over a thousand. mile long race goes from Anchorage to Nome every March, early March. And as Rachel said, the films Balto and the more recent Togo kind of brought sled dogs to audiences around the world that weren't super familiar with this sport. But racing actually has a pretty long and storied history, and it includes lots of different dog breeds, including the surprising poodle. Mushers use a team of 12 to 16 dogs, and they cover in.

insanely rugged terrain and it usually takes eight to 15 days or more. They're obviously not racing continuously. They have these mandatory checkpoints that they get to stop and rest and feed on some puppy chow while they're continuing. And it's been run since 1973, originally started as this cool way to test who the best musher is, but now it's kind of evolved into a very, very competitive race. Teams faced blizzards, white out conditions, you name it, because it is some of the most rugged terrain on earth. Mitch Sevy, for any Iditarod fans, that name is not It will not come as a surprise. He ran the fastest time in 2017,

crossing in eight days, three hours, 40 minutes, and 13 seconds. My favorite musher, Martin Boozer of Switzerland, became the first non-American to win the event in 1992, and Libby Riddles became the first woman to win in 1985. So I've gone on a little bit too much about the humans. It's time for the real stars. The dogs. Right.

That's what we're here for. So it shouldn't come as a big surprise that a good surprise that a good sled dog is typically very strong, has a lot of endurance and energy, and likes to work as a team. There can't be, you know, that whole alpha myth is a little bit, you know, they have to work as a team. Yes, there are some dogs that are better as a lead. There are others that are better as follower, but teamwork is key, no matter where your position is on the team. Indigenous people in Alaska were the first to breed these sled dogs, and they are some of the earliest domesticated breeds that we know of. There's still some gaps in our knowledge as to

when dogs fully became humans best friend, but it's some of the more recent research is pinpointing it to these people in present-day Alaska. I believe that. They're very wolfy dogs. They really are. They really are. And like some of the genetic, and they're a very interesting dog breed to do genetic testing on because you see where there are some wolf things, but then randomly there might not be. So they're kind of fascinating from a genetic standpoint. That's where I found this wonderful factoid when I was looking at, when I'm working on a story about slay. dog genetics. Oh, cool. Yes. So over time, these sled dogs were bred with other sorts of dogs, including Alaskan huskies, hounds, setters, spaniels, my favorite, shepherds, wolves, in an effort to

breed the perfect sled dog. Siberian huskies were only introduced in the 1920s, so they've only been, they've only been doing this for about a little over a century, which is remarkable considering how old the sport is. And Alaskan Malmutes are also very common on the Iditarod Trail to day. But notice I did not mention poodles. That's even with all of those mixtures of types of breeds, because most of the dogs that are running are not purebreds, they are mutts. Poodle does not pop up anywhere until the 80s. Of course it's the 80s. Like I saw, of course, I mean, it's just, as a baby of the 80s, this just makes sense. Too much money and cocaine and not enough sense. And love big hair. Money, cocaine, no sense, and big hair. It just, it even hit the

sled dog world. I love it. In the 1980s, a man named John Suter wanted to see what would happen if he tried to run the race using poodles. He first was introduced to sled dog racing when he was stationed in Alaska in the Army. In 2016, he told the Washington Post, he really was inspired when he saw a miniature poodle trying to keep up with a snowmobile. He eventually bought some standard poodles. Those are the larger, fluffier breed. They're the ones that are kind of height wise maybe about the size of a retriever, maybe a little bit taller, and he brought them to Alaska to build this team. Now, he does, did have some historical and scientific precedent to go on. The American Kennel Club says that standard poodles are non-sporting dogs during its dog shows,

like that's how they're categorized, but they also say that they are enthusiastic walkers, runners and swimmers. They can also be athletic retrievers and hunting dogs and that thick coat can provide them protection from water and cold. These are sounding a little sled doggy. Yeah, I remember when a few years ago we talked about the poodle haircut on weirdest thing. And it was like, that was part of like a duck retrieval kind of culture from what I remember. It was like keep them have just enough fur to keep them warm when they go into the water.

Exactly. But shave off enough that they won't be weighed down. Right. It's like that perfect balancing act of, you know, like, what can I wear to keep me warm but also like mobile? Yeah. Not like a tick about to pop. The first time I saw a standard poodle in real life, I had just like, you know, I didn't encounter a lot of poodles in rural South Jersey. and so the ones I was on TV were always like toy poodle

I mean maybe not like teak poodles but they were always miniature and so I remember once in college a woman was on campus with her standard poodle and I was like oh is he a labradoodle because I was like he's so big and she was like we don't do doodles oh excuse me it was like I had I offended that woman so deeply but I just truly didn't know that that's that was standard Poodle size? I thought they were little guys. It's it's it's it's kind of remarkable that they do have that huge range from that like toy size to you know your standard poodle which my first

encounter my uncle had one and um its name was Calhoun but I always thought it was cancun. Um and I mean yes I was pretty little but it was still like that's a that can't be a poodle you know poodles are those little funny things that you know we associate with you know baguettes. We have robbed poodles of their dignity. We really have as a. They have a lot of cause for revenge, I have to say. If there was ever a poodle uprising, I think I'd get it. I honestly think I'd get it. Anyway, while we do consider them to be these pampered, perfectly quaffed animals,

they have, to Rachel's point, been trained for some really dangerous and difficult tasks in the past. They were employed as war dogs for several centuries. During the English Civil War, Prince Rupert of the Rhine rode into battle with a hunting poodle named boy, and a poodle named Mustache, great name, served in the French Army during both the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Mustache unfortunately lost a leg during a particularly bloody battle in Spain in 1812 and died. So RIP mustache. More recently, so this was not just, you know, an English Civil War and French Revolution thing, the U.S. Army actually trained several breeds, including poodles, for military use in World War.

two. While they didn't end up shipping any overseas, some were used as guard dogs. So instead of warfare, Souter was like, you know, I think, I think this would be a good flood dog team. I think I should try to get these puppies to race. So in order to do that, he started by just racing them, or raising them side by side with huskies. He noticed, you know, since it was trying to keep up with a snowmobile, why wouldn't a poodle try to keep up with a husky? And they apparently started to take on some of the traits of Huskies and got really more into running. Now, obviously, as any endurance athletes, no, you do not just start with a marathon, you have to build. So he ran his team of poodles in tons of races that are typical shorter distances.

And he kind of placed in the low to the middle of competitors. So he wasn't always last every single time. It took him a few generations of breeding, but he had very, eventually had a team that was ready for the Iditarod. He entered in 1988 with a team of three poodles and some huskies, and he finished 38th out of the 45 mushers, a full week behind the winner, but still not last, which if you have any sort of competitive spirit and you always feels good. He did not get a trophy or a cash prize, but he gained a huge sense of accomplishment and a special buckle that was made for the finishers, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

The next year in 1989 he competed again and had an even better time of 14 days and 22 hours. Now obviously with something like this that might look like it's just for attention or for publicity, there were some naysayers who thought he was just doing it for attention, especially after he went on the Johnny Carson show with his lead dog, Umiatt. I actually found a clip. I have the YouTube link that I will put in the show notes. It is a very nostalgic piece of television history for anybody that would like to watch it. And the dog is pretty awesome.

Um, Um, Um, Um, um, with just like really nice, really nice fur. And you can, when you look at it, it's like, when you look at him, it's like, wow, that actually is a sled dog. Um, so the poodles also went on to take first place in some smaller races in the early 90s. and he did win a total of $2,000 in Iditarod prize money over the next four years. He ultimately had to stop racing because it's kind of an expensive sport. And the Washington Post reported that he even had to take out a second mortgage, and it really crippled him financially, but still left a legacy and in many ways the ultimate underdog story. Now, I like to end my segments with a question because I'm a journalist and that's all I do.

Who is, do you have a favorite fictional dog? Movie, TV, book, favorite fictional dog? What a question. Mine's Wishbone. I'll start it off. Oh, hands down. I love Wishbone. Wishbone was the best.

Wishbone was solid. Wishbone is really hard to be. I don't know that I could, once wishbone's on the table, I don't know that I can put as a different dog. What else could you put on? Also, I love Snoopy. That was, sure, sure. For the devious nature.

Wishbone taught me so much about literature, you know? Yes. I always think of, when I think of Wishbone, I mean, obviously, I watched so many episodes of Wishbone. So many. I always think of the Annansi what, Ricky. With the spider costume. Had a spider costume. What is that?

I just think it's, it had, working with Wishbone had to be like working with the Muppets in a lot of ways where it's like, you, like, Like for the actors, you know, it starts out, oh, cute, I'm working with a dog. And then it's like, oh, my God, I'm acting alongside this, you know, very different scene partner. Oh, bring back wishbone or at least put it on YouTube. It's very, it's hard to find some of the clips. So that's my call to PPS. Yeah. Please bring back wishbone.

Um, so weirdly enough, there is actually, uh, there's someone in Jersey City who rather famously has like a team of sled dogs. Love it. Um, and I, um, and I, I have never seen this. We haven't had a good snow, and I don't live in the same neighborhood in the time that I've lived here. But apparently when there's enough snow, he will take them out. But I have walked by and seen them, as you can imagine, for someone with a full sled dog team in a city, in a city, they spend a lot of time outside.

So it's really majestic to see all those giant huskies staring you down. There's a lot of signage being like, don't. interact with the huskies, they will lose their minds. They will not be happy. Yeah. You know, you can look at them. The researcher that I've been talking to on the story had said, you know, really any dog can be a slut, you know, they might not do great.

They might not do well, but you really, there were a lot. And there might be reasons why you don't want to bring your pug to the Idinarad. But, you know, it's not exclusive to only one dog breed, which is really, really cool. I think. It just kind of speaks to how, you know, every breed and all types of dogs, you know, they have, you know, they all have these really unique traits, you know, and it's not just one size fits all, even with something as daunting and I can't imagine, you know, how difficult as a sled racing. Yeah.

I would be so fascinated to, like, see a Greyhound team. Like, what would happen? Interesting. They've been trying. They've been trying. Yeah. They would need sweaters. That has been, like, they've been, there have been a lot of breeders who have been trying to

breed in greyhounds because exactly for their speed. But speed is relative. And to use humans as a proxy, if you're really good at the 100 meter dash, you're not going to maybe be so great at the mile. And the shortest sled dog races are typically in like the three mile range. And that's still endurance. So over subsequent generations, all of the greyhound genes end up, you know, being, you know, being bred out. Yeah, yeah.

So that's a whole other piece of it. Again, the world of sled dog genetics is one, like any good, like any good story, one sentence begets like three more questions. The guy with the huskies in Jersey City, there's one, he has one tiny dog that lives also there. And I like to think that he believes he is a sled dog and a husky. and I have this, I have this mental image of him, like having his own, like, you know, like when you put kids on like a piccolo attachment behind a bike where it's like they think they're pedaling. Yes. They think their peddling is important to riding the bike. I like to imagine that little dog just like legs flap into the air.

I'm part of it. If you find out where he is, I think we should go talk to him. Just saying. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Call us. If you're listening, read out. If you listen to my podcast, we'd love to hang out. I love your dogs from a respectful distance and would love to beat them someday. All right, we're going to take a quick break and then we'll be back with some more facts.

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When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. Okay, we're back. And first question, have either of you ever had an orange cat? Yes. No, but they're adorable. His name was Firecracker, and he was a serious hunter, and he was very strong. Like, for lack of, I don't know how to necessarily describe a strong cat, but he wasn't, like, super fat and fluffy.

He was a hunter. Yeah, absolutely. My orange cat was kind of the opposite. His name was Colonel Pickering, and he, which is a My Fair Lady reference. And he was very retunned. He was kind of mean, but not like, not like seriously bad mean. He was just like a little, he was a little shit, you know. And I loved him even so. So yeah, I feel like, you know, orange cats, there are a lot of sort of like, associations people have about them. You know, I think Garfield is obviously a huge part of that. But there's also this like sense that they're all sort of like rough and tumble in some way or another. And part of that is because orange cats are almost exclusively male cats. And the thing is, yeah, the thing is that orange and calco cats are really weird and cool in a related way. And there's a pair of new studies out about the genetic mutations that, give them ginger fur, either in part or entirely. But first, I want to talk about what we already

knew about these cats, because it's kind of crazy. So these cats made it obvious that the genetic mutation responsible for ginger cat fur had to be on the X chromosome. And I'll explain why. So as many cat lovers already know, almost all completely orange cats are male, and almost all tortoise shell and calico cats are female. Tortoise shell is that orange and black combo, and calico adds white to that mix. Beautiful, absolutely stunning, and also mysterious. So we can see, it is easy to observe, that calico and tortoise shell cats are generally the result of a black and an orange cat mating. And male cats from that same pairing will pretty much always be just one color, either orange or black. And when I say just one color. I mean, you know, they can have some little stripes and variations, but you would look at it and

say, that's an orange cat, not like, oh my gosh, what a, what a calico cat. And we know, of course, that male cats generally have just one X chromosome, while female cats generally have two. And when an XX embryo is developing, and this is true for all mammals with XX chromosomes, basically most cells only need one of those X chromosomes. So different cells will randomly end up with one X versus another. And the losing X in each cell basically becomes inert. But it's not like there's one X expressed all over and the other one isn't. When we see a cat with XX chromosomes that had one orange parent and one parent with dark fur, we're seeing like literally the patchwork expression of those two X chromosomes manifesting in this beautiful and random fur

pattern, right? It's like really cool. That's amazing. Yeah. And then Calico Cat, add white fur to the mix. Basically, there's a second unrelated genetic mechanism that, like, shuts down pigment production in some cells. But yeah, when we're talking about tortoise shell versus orange cats, it's all a question of whether they have two X chromosomes, like, randomly showing up in some places versus others, or they just have one X chromosome. If the cat has one X chromosome, they'll be all one color. So it's just a question of whether they inherited that X from, you know, their orange father or their dark-haired mama. So, yeah, I just think it's really cool that before we even knew exactly what mutation

caused orange fur color, we knew that it was on the X chromosome just because of how distinct the sex distribution and its resulting effect on hair color is. And in fact, back in 1912, which was just a few years after like any sex chromosomes of any kind had been identified, a geneticist named Clarence Cook. Little basically outlined like what I, everything I just explained. It was, you know, there was a lot of sort of, you know, vague sort of. He talked about a sex producing factor that he symbolized it's X. So literally before we talked about X chromosomes, people were talking about the X factor, which I think it's funny. And, you know, that was something that was like gaining traction.

And he was saying like, let's suppose female cats have two copies of this sex producing factor X while males have just one. And let's also suppose that there's something associated with that X factor that affects coat color. And so there's the non-orange form and the orange form. And so what we're seeing is like how many Xs they have, how much of the X factor. And again, like for somebody to come up with that in 1912, just because the resulting patterns are so obvious that it's like, you know, what we're seeing is a mix of these things in the... the females and just the one of those things in the males is just really cool to me. But the question still remained, what is on that X factor?

You know, what's going on with the X chromosome that makes Orange Cats orange? Because in most mammals, including in humans, ginger hair, as we know it, comes from a mutation. In this one cell service protein, it's called MC1R. Basically, it determines whether melanocytes, which are skin cells, make a, you know, a dark pigment or this like reddish yellowish pigment in our skinner hair. And there are mutations that make this MC1R protein less active and that makes the melanocytes produce more of the light pigment. But, and it's not just humans where that's where we get gingers. There are like lots of other mammals where we see that happening. But the gene that encodes MC1R isn't on the

X chromosome in cats or any other species. So it didn't seem to explain this, you know, obvious relationship to the X chromosome. And then, you know, even when researchers poked around looking for MC1R mutations anyway, most orange cats don't have them. So something else was going on. Now, two separate teams of scientists, totally independently, one from Stanford and one from Kyushu University in Japan, independently say they've identified the gene responsible. Both of these studies are in preprint right now as of December. So they haven't been peer reviewed yet, but obviously it is very exciting for two separate labs to be like we have reached exactly the same conclusion. So basically, one of the labs was looking at cat skin cells and the ones

that sprouted orange fur, we're expressing a lot more RNA from this gene called RGAP 36 compared to skin cells that did not result in orange hair. And RRR. RNA, of course, are molecules that help translate DNA into proteins. So it's a good indication that some kind of like gene expression is going on that is related to this trait that they're observing. Now, this gene, our Gap 36, is on the X chromosome so that, you know, tracks. But there's a reason people hadn't investigated it before because it plays a pretty big role in embryonic development.

It has to do with hair follicles, but I think some other stuff as well. And because it's something that we know factors into, you know, that very early stage of embryonic development, scientists had assumed that if it had any big mutations, it would be lethal. So when they noticed, you know, all of this extra RNA related to this gene, they investigated further. Basically, they found that instead of a mutation that could kill a developing embryo, there's this deletion in a non-protein coding section of the DNA that comes right before the argaptheria. gene, which is just a very complicated way of saying none of the information that's important in this gene has been altered, but the sort of like trigger for it has been altered, and it

allows it to be overexpressed, specifically in those skin cells I was talking about Melanocytes. So basically there is this perfect deletion very close to something that could make a cat embryo non-viable, but instead it just leads to like massive production of this reddish yellow pigment that makes them orange. And so yeah, because this gene is on the X chromosomes, everything I said at the beginning still stands. You know, male cats who have one X chromosome, you know, they only need to get one copy of that gene with the specific deletion to then be orange. but because females generally have two chromosomes, it would be very rare for them to inherit two copies of the deletion. So they're more likely to end up with this like, you know, beautiful modeled pattern. And yeah, this is like a big mystery for a long time. And obviously

it's cool that scientists solved it. But I also just think sort of the long historical conversation about orange cats and calico cats is fascinating. I love. I love. that their phenotype is so, like, obviously related to it's very, like, middle school punit square, yeah, level genetics in a way that is, like, generally not how things actually work. But sometimes it is as simple as, like, it's just, it's just that they have a mix of these genes and they have a mix of these colors. And then, yeah, I will also say that, of course, like in basically any species, there are individuals that are not born with just XX or XY, and that is generally how you will end up with a male calico cat, is that they'll have an extra X,

they'll be X, X, Y, so they'll often be sterile. But of course, there are like many different sort of sex chromosonal differences that can occur. So if you're like, I've met, my family has a whole, long line of tortoiseshell male cats. I'm like, that's fascinating. That's great. Something interesting is going on there. Contact your local university. Statistically improbable and it means something cool has happened, but not impossible at all. There are, you know, many, many different ways that chromosomes can come together. But yeah, I, this study made me miss my cantankerous ass of an orange cat.

Colonel Pickering, may he rest in peace. Yeah. Right now I'm catless. I, you know, studies like this definitely really tempt me, but then I remember how I only have one bathroom and that's where we had to keep the litter box and the bathroom's tiny. And I'm like, I can live without that for a little bit

longer. Yeah. All right, we're going to take one more break and then we'll be back with one more fact. No one goes to Hank's for spreadsheets. They go for a darn good pizza. Lately, though, shops been quiet. So Hank decides to bring back the $1 slice. He asks co-pilot in Microsoft Excel to look at his sales and costs and help him see if he can afford it. Co-pilot shows Hank where the money's

going and which little extras make the dollar slice work. Now Hank has a line out the door. Hank makes the pizza. Copilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at M365 copilot.com slash work. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for over music on road trips, that's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs. So you can spend less time worrying about insurance

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Learn more at LinkedIn.com slash small business. Okay, we're back, and it's time to talk about some seal noses. It is. I can't wait. It is. It is time. It is time.

Yeah, so for this one, this is not related to any story. I was just like on the internet, as you are. And I saw this really cute video. It's just a cute gift. And all it is is this little, I think it's a gray seal. And it's poking its head up through the ice. And it's not even poking its head up. It's just its little nose breaks the water. And all of a sudden, its nostrils open. And so every time that it breaks that surface tension, like the little nose just. It's just, it's little nose just. like opens up, take a little breath, and then it goes back down. Like, obviously, you know, curious about the cameraman. Yeah, it's adorable. And then I got super curious because I have a three-year-old and that three-year-old is currently like in swim lessons. And one of the things that they are working with her on is making sure that water does not go up her nose very well lesson. And so it's an active process for us humans. Like if you think about going in the pool and going underwater, you know, one of the big things is like trying to keep the water out of your damn nose. And you know, and for kids, you tell them to go, hmm, and that will help like keep the

air in the nostrils and like force it out. But this seal in this video didn't seem to have that problem because every time it goes underwater, the nostrils closed. And that made me, really curious. I was like, okay, what is going on here? This is really fascinating. And I found out, and this might be old news to other people, but I was fascinated by the fact that seals don't have to work at it at all. When their noses are in the relaxed state, they're closed. Like, their nostrils are just like closed automatically and they actually have to work to open them up. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it's like, it's the reverse of humans. Yeah, and so it's like, man, that was to be uncomfortable, but also convenient.

And so it's just, I thought that that was really interesting. And another part of this, you know, it's clearly advantageous for seals in some ways, because they can go underwater for incredible lengths of time. Like some of the numbers that I've seen, like they can stay underwater. They can go up to 1,600 meters. And they can stay under water for about two hours. So it makes sense. Like you do not want to work hard and keeping your nose plugged.

And so that does make sense. And this is a trait like that is for all pinnipeds. So all 33 species of pinnipeds seem to have this ability, which is really cool. And it's just like it's they manage to, you know, keep the water out of their beautiful noses, which are really adorable. and I encourage everybody listening to go and look at pictures of seals. But then I continued down this rabbit hole, you know, as one does, which is just, I think, a professional hazard. But I found out, like, additional weird facts about seal noses, which is that apparently there are big differences. And this almost circles back to our first fact.

But there are very interesting differences between seals in the Arctic and seals in other parts of the world. And so the nasal passages in the Arctic of seals that live in the Arctic are much bigger. They're much more complex. And that's because they need to warm up the air that is going into their lungs. They need to give it more time. And they need to have more, you know, they want to lose less. water in the brief amounts of time that they are above the air. Like, see the seals coming up from the ice. It's very cold. Like, it's generally very chilly in the Arctic. If you've ever walked

outside in very cold weather, you know that that takes a hit. Like your nose and your nasal cavities will absolutely take a hit. But apparently, you know, over time, these Arctic seals have evolved to have these nasal passages that really managed to optimize the temperature that they are currently in. So that's pretty cool. That was an interesting computer model that people did just last year, almost exactly a year ago that this study came out. And I know Laura, you're the one who wrote about those. I did. I did. Yeah, it's, I like the timing. And I remember feeling, I remember kind of feeling that same way as far as like, whoa, the differences as far as temperature. I could, as a lifelong swimmer and somebody who lived in the Midwest periodically, I can relate to like that feeling of like it constantly feels like something's coming out of your nose when you're in.

Usually I think it was typically if it was like sub-zero. It had to kind of be below freezing, but it would always feel like something was coming out of my nose. It was constantly self-conscious. So yeah, no, I love this study. This one's, I mean, seal noses are just, they're so cool. They're amazing. And speaking of, like, things coming out of your nose or the feelings of something coming out of your nose, back in 2018, there was a wonderful picture.

And Rachel is laughing because she remembers. And this is another one that I would encourage you to look up, but maybe hear about it first in case you're, like, freaked out. But there is a classic picture of a Hawaiian monk seal who, is lounging next to some greenery. He's got his eyes closed. He looks very like resigned to what he's dealing with right now, which is what looks like a tail coming out of his nose. And it is, in fact, not a cheetah tail, which is like it kind of looks like, but it is the remains of an eel that has gotten into this, this, this poor seal's nose. And it's apparently, this is not

the only seal that had an eel stuck on his nose, which gets like even more bizarre. When you think about the fact that eels are creatures that live underwater and seal noses are usually closed underwater. So what the heck is going on? And that was interesting because if you think about it, apparently there are a few different theories out there about why these juvenile Hawaiian monk seals were getting eels up their nose. noses. And one of them was that the eels are trying to get away from being prey. And so they're literally forcing themselves into the noses of these seals. You know, they're just like, they're just like, I'm going to go for it. Like, I'm going to get out. What a strategy.

And so that's, that's one theory. The other much grosser theory is that these eels had been eaten and were regurgitated. And yeah, just that ended up going straight up the nose, which is just so gross to think about. But also, like, it's something that sticks in your head. And I just felt like I needed to remind everybody that bad image exists in the world. Thank you so much. Yeah.

I was thinking of it from the moment you started talking about. seal noses. Yeah. Yeah. You have to. It's a classic. But yeah. So, I mean, I think, I think that that this is all like bizarre and fascinating. And then it gets into like a whole other level. Because of course, if you're Googling around and you're looking for seal noses, the other image that you find is from 2022, there was the Frozen Planet series that came out. And one of the things that they talked about was hooded seals. Hooded seals have this bizarre male hooded seals in particular. So male hooded seals in particular have this amazing feature of their faces

where they have kind of a big sack on the top of their head that they can inflate. So it's connected to all these nasal passages. And they will inflate it when they're in competition with other males. It makes kind of a, it amplifies a rattling sound, which is fun and bizarre. And it's part of this mating ritual. But once they have taken fare of another male, the way that they go after the female is that up these seal's noses, there is a big red balloon. There is a big red sack that they can then inflate out of their nose. as just like a signal like hey this is yeah i'm i'm i'm i'm ready to go and super sexy yeah to

a female seal i would assume so it's it's just one of those things so frozen planet too uh if you wanted to see i won't spoil the ending how that turned out for this little guy but it's definitely definitely worth a look if if you were ever wondering but yeah i i truly i truly had no idea, like the depth and information that is out there on seal noses and seal nostrils because it's just, it's a wild world of random animal facts that you can come up with if you're distracted enough. I love that. I love that we had all animal stuff today.

It's always fun when that happens. So much good stuff. Thank you both so much for coming on. Mary Beth, it was a pleasure to have you back. This is so much fun. That's great. Yeah. And listeners, do not forget that Weirdest Thing Live is on February 8th.

So get your tickets now, either for in-person in New York City or live stream. You can find all of that info in our show notes. The weirdest thing I learned this week is produced by all of our hosts, including me, Rachel Fultman, along with Jess Bodey, who also serves as our audio engineer and editor extraordinaire. Our theme music is by Billy Cadden. Our logo is by Katie Belloff. you have questions, suggestions, or weird stories to share, tweet us at Weirdest underscore thing. Thanks for listening, Weirdos.

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