There’s a long tradition of Japanese folklore around the possible relationship between large mushroom harvests and lightning. Researchers decided to put stories to the test. What they discovered was shocking.

During the 1300-1500s there were several accounts of people being afflicted with spontaneous dancing. One group of 400 people were struck with the strange affliction, spent an entire month dancing, and some even died. Amy dives into the hows and whys of the disease.

Show Notes:

HistoryExtra.com: Medieval Dancing

HistoryExtra.com: The Medieval Dance of Death

HistoryExtra,com: 7 Oddest Moments in History

Talk about teamwork! Bacteria and a tiny snail work together to make an iron sulfide infused shell and scaly foot. These intrepid snails live super deep in the ocean the volcanic vents. Nature is so weird and excellent!

Middle Island off the south-western shore Victoria, Australia had a fox problem. A man by the name of Swampy Marsh had the bright idea to protect endangered penguins with Maremma sheepdogs.

Penguin meets dog. image by: Global Screen

Learn more and if you the area, you can meet the dogs!

This episode is probably not safe for work. Could your middle schooler listen and giggle like only a 12-year-old could? Certainly. But we’re marking it explicit so you don’t accidentally have your littles listening to something you aren’t ready for.

Amy got to wondering: what’s out there in the plant world that looks like something besides your garden variety flower. And she landed on the Naked Man Orchid (of course she did).

Creative Commons 2.0 License for some of the images

Naked Man Orchid

Hooker’s Lips

(NSFW) Peter’s Pepper: you’re going to have to look that one up yourself

The Angel Orchid

Dancing Girl Impatiens Image Copyright: https://img.rozbuzz.com/img/638c73f0de4c11e8902b4f

Laughing Bumblebee Orchid

Also look for the: Ballerina Orchid, The Happy Alien, Swaddled babies, Flying Duck Orchid, Dove Orchid, White Egret Orchids

Snap Dragon Skulls

Show Notes:

DerbyTelegraph.co.uk: World’s Rudest Flowers

EarthPorn.com: Flowers that look like something else.

Once again we dive into a piece of history that should be explored in schools. Thousands of American born Japanese defied prejudice and hate to fight for the US in segregated units during WWII.

Want to learn more? Go For Broke

This amazing image by Tiffanie Fisher says everything you need to know about today’s episode. And no, this isn’t an X-file or the Magnus Archives. This is nature at her weirdest.

Show Notes: 

Ethology: A Case of Consensual Decision: Collective Movement in Earthworms

LiveScience.com: Squirming Worm Tornado

It’s that time again for all those bits and pieces that aren’t quite long enough for their own episodes! We’ve mashed together etymology, space toilets, polar bears, an unusual festival where people attack each other with flour and eggs, and so much more into this almost 29 minute monstrosity of facts!

Show Notes (in no particular order):

Pug Nosed Tree Frog If you want to read the paper about the frogs.

Image from Viking burial under the kitchen from Norland County news

How to use a toilet in space Also?

Image from NASA

Super tough Diabolical Ironclad Beetle

In a pitched battle against the voracious tomato fruit worm, (aka. corn earworms or cotton bollworm) tomato plants have one sneaky defense…a wasp. It’s a slow plan, but it’s a plan that works.

Researcher Sridhar Ravi of UNSW Canberra looks to the humble bumblebee to answer questions about how to program a more nimble drone. The way he and his researchers studied bumbles is totally charming.

Check out these Bumblebees in action!

Here’s the scientific paper is you want to know more: Proceedings of the national Academy of Sciences Of the United States of America (Whew…big title