Curiosity Daily Podcast: Defending Against “Murder Hornets” with Bee Balls, Aphantasia and the Two Extremes of the “Mind’s Eye,” and Venus’s Freaky-Fast Atmosphere
Learn about the surprising way Japanese honeybees defend themselves against "murder hornets" (actual name: Asian giant hornets); how “atmospheric tidal waves” make Venus’s atmosphere rotate faster than the actual planet; and the wide spectrum of how people mentally visualize images, including aphantasia and hyperphantasia.
June 03, 2020
Episode Show Notes:
Japanese honeybees defend against 'murder hornets' by forming bee balls by Cameron Duke
- Main, D. (2020, May 4). “Murder hornets” have arrived in the U.S.—here’s what you should know. NationalGeographic.com. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/05/asian-giant-hornets-arrive-united-states/
- Papachristoforou, A., Rortais, A., Zafeiridou, G., Theophilidis, G., Garnery, L., Thrasyvoulou, A., & Arnold, G. (2007). Smothered to death: Hornets asphyxiated by honeybees. Current Biology, 17(18), R795–R796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.07.033
- Sugahara, M., Nishimura, Y., & Sakamoto, F. (2012). Differences in Heat Sensitivity between Japanese Honeybees and Hornets Under High Carbon Dioxide and Humidity Conditions Inside Bee Balls. Zoological Science, 29(1), 30–36. https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.29.30
- Sugahara, M., & Sakamoto, F. (2009). Heat and carbon dioxide generated by honeybees jointly act to kill hornets. Naturwissenschaften, 96(9), 1133–1136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0575-0
Venus's atmosphere rotates 60 times faster than the planet because of "atmospheric tidal waves" by Grant Currin
- Takeshi Horinouchi, Yoshi-Yuki Hayashi, Shigeto Watanabe, Manabu Yamada, Atsushi Yamazaki, Toru Kouyama, Makoto Taguchi, Tetsuya Fukuhara, Masahiro Takagi, Kazunori Ogohara, Shin-ya Murakami, Peralta, J., Limaye, S. S., Takeshi Imamura, Masato Nakamura, Sato, T. M., & Takehiko Satoh. (2020). How waves and turbulence maintain the super-rotation of Venus’ atmosphere. Science, 368(6489), 405–409. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz4439
- Atmospheric tidal waves maintain Venus’ super-rotation. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/hu-at042320.php
- Carne, N. (2020, April 26). Super-rotation and Venus’ atmosphere. Cosmosmagazine.Com; Cosmos Magazine. https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/super-rotation-and-venus-atmosphere
- Passant Rabie. (2020, April 23). Why does Venus’ atmosphere spin much faster than the planet? Inverse; Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/science/why-does-venus-atmosphere-spin-much-faster-than-the-planet
- https://newatlas.com/author/david-szondy. (2020, April 24). “Tidal waves” power super-fast rotation of Venus’ atmosphere. New Atlas. https://newatlas.com/space/tidal-waves-power-super-fast-rotation-atmosphere-venus/
- Basilevsky, A. T., & Head, J. W. (2003). The surface of Venus. Reports on Progress in Physics, 66(10), 1699–1734. https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/66/10/r04
The two extremes of the "mind's eye": aphantasia and hyperphantasia by Kelsey Donk
- Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019
- Aphantasia clears the way for a scientific career path. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/uoe-act043020.php
- Zeman, A., Milton, F., Della Sala, S., Dewar, M., Frayling, T., Gaddum, J., Hattersley, A., Heuerman-Williamson, B., Jones, K., MacKisack, M., & Winlove, C. (2020). Phantasia–The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vivdness extremes. Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003
Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY
Next Up
Investigate the Mind of a Shark on 'How to Train a Great White'
See how these apex predators actually think. Will they completely transform our understanding of their intelligence?
Shipwrecked & Surrounded by Sharks
This week, we do things a little differently, as Shark Week’s Luke Tipple invites Adventure Aaron into the podcast studio to talk about his incredible near-death experience on the open water. Adventure Aaron gets into what it takes to circumnavigate the world in an ocean rowboat, what it’s like to stare eye-to-eye with an oceanic white tip that probably wants you for lunch, and everything else that happened to him when his boat was capsized, and he was lost by himself at sea.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Superstar Kesha Lifts the Gag Order on Saving Sharks
Pop superstar Kesha joins Shark Week’s Luke Tipple on the podcast to discuss her love of sharks, how her music funds her addiction to diving, and how you can find inner peace while under the water. And at the end, our researcher Sierra drops in to tell us that some sharks have teeth in their eyes.
Shark Week: The Podcast - How To Have A Career in Shark Science
Shark Week’s Luke Tipple tackles the question “How can I work with sharks?” alongside two experts in the field – and their answers are not always the obvious ones. Luke is joined first by Kelly Link, Associate Curator of the Georgia Aquarium who talks about what it’s like to be an aquarist, how it differs from field work, and how to get yourself noticed. The second guest is Dr. Neil Hammerschlag who goes into detail on what it takes to become a prominent scientist, and what other paths you can take if a PhD isn’t for you. And at the end, researcher Sierra stops by to tell us about the world’s smallest shark.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Do Scientists Need to Kill Sharks?
Host Luke Tipple welcomes two guests to discuss how researchers can kill sharks in the name of science – and whether they need to at all. The first is Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, shark researcher and founder of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, and an expert on data-gathering in the field. He’s followed by explorer Fred Buyle, a world-record-breaking freediver whose innovative methods of shark tagging are explored. Plus, our researcher Sierra tells us about how a 50-year study changed our understanding of tiger sharks – and much of the work wasn’t even done by scientists.
Nature from Above: The Art of Aerial Photography
I’ll never forget the first time I went up in a small plane. Technical considerations aside, I had a million thoughts going through my mind.
Quiz: Which Man Vs Bear Grizzly Are You?
Grizzly Mountain is home to three of the strongest, fastest, and smartest bears: Bart, Honey Bump and Tank. Each bear has their own unique strength against each human challenger. Find out which bear you’d stack up against in the Man Vs Bear challenge.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Nobel Prize Winner Richard Thaler on How Nudge Changed the World — Plus, Squirrel-Inspired Robots
Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler explains how “Nudge” has changed the world. Plus: squirrel-inspired robots!
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Apes Say Hello, Life on Snowball Earth, Learn Twice as Fast
Learn about non-human animals that say hello and goodbye; life on Snowball Earth; and how to learn skills twice as fast.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Nudge Theory’s Dark Side (w/ Richard Thaler), Hybrid Fruit Science, Words for “Pirate”
Learn about how to avoid getting dragged down by “Sludge”; how hybrid fruit like plumcots are made; and pirate parlance.