Brain Junk

We're heading into the end of summer break so it's time for a mash up of wacky facts. Fake navels, cheetahs in heat, the weenus and MORE. Oh yes, we adore a good internet fact deep dive. Also, Trace does drop the 's**t' word once.

Show Notes:

Amazon fake navels: https://www.amazon.com/Belly-Button-Stickers-Fashion-Longer/dp/B0CC5TZ23P?th=1

SCMP Fake belly button article: https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3230438/fake-belly-buttons-all-rage-china-women-seek-freedom-dress-and-boost-confidence-some-raise-body

Cleveland Clinic limb lengthening: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/24316-limb-lengthening-surgery

Bears and skunk cabbage: https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Plants-and-Fungi/Skunk-Cabbage

USDA Forest Service yellow skunk cabbage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/ipnf/learning/?cid=fsm9_019161

Maryland Biodiversity project & skunk cabbage: https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/view/1660

Nude Cruise: https://cruisebare.com/

Ovulation: https://productions-animales.org/article/download/2583/13696?inline=1

Cheetah vocalization FB: https://www.facebook.com/runningwildconservation/videos/listen-to-jordan-making-stutter-bark-sounds-to-shadow-in-the-camp-adjacent-to-hi/484675892467812/

CNN Travel "Bare-adise" https://www.cnn.com/travel/bare-adise-adventure-nude-cruise-miami-2025/index.html

Pee Pants: https://www.jordanluca.com/collections/denim

Complex designer jeans: https://www.complex.com/style/a/alex-ocho/pee-stained-designer-jeans-sell-out

Wenis. Thanks Merriam-Webster (LOL) https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/weenus-weenis-slang-definition-origin

It's tiny, inscrutable, made with spider silk, and we really don't know much about the mysteries of it's intricate construction.

Show Notes:

Nat Geo https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/silkhenge-spiders-ecuador-mystery

Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkhenge

Internet archive https://web.archive.org/web/20201108125631/https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/01/09/mystery-picket-fence-in-amazon-explained-2/

Earthtouch news network https://www.earthtouchnews.com/discoveries/discoveries/remember-those-mystery-silkhenge-spiders-now-you-can-watch-them-hatch/

Youtube spiders hatching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unc-g9AHl2Y&t=106s

Linkedin post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dante-fenolio-ms-ph-d-76833a52_silkhenge-spider-amazon-activity-7147602639663316992-gZY4

Live science https://www.livescience.com/silkhenge-returns-video.html

Live science2 https://www.livescience.com/57401-silkhenge-spiders-hatch-on-video.html

Youttube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unc-g9AHl2Y

iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=silkhenge&subview=map

Medicinal leeches: https://media.vwr.com/emdocs/docs/scied/Medicinal_Leeches.pdf

In the spring, fish like perch travel through the rivers in the Netherlands to find places to spawn. They used to get stuck behind Weerdsluis lock: waiting for it to open. But not anymore! A virtual doorbell was created to help let the lock keeper know they're there. Hot tip, starting March 3, 2025, you can go to their website to hit the doorbell!!!!

Show Notes:

Visdeurbel!

Youtube: Dutch Wall Fish

Scientific American article: Ring the Dam Doorbell

Ballard Locks fish ladder

Wolfenoot

McGill Office of Science and Safety: Do Fish Drink

It's a super long length summertime episode with the sex lives of penguins, periods in space, Humpback whale sex, swearing parrots, terminal velocity poop, & penis size vs. nose size. Buckle up!

Show Notes:

Dr. George Murray Levick (1876–1956): unpublished notes on the sexual habits of the Adélie penguin

The Guardian: 'Sexual depravity' of penguins that Antarctic scientist dared not reveal

Live Science: Are penguins really monogamous?

Penguin divorce rates

Penguinsinternational.org: Divorcing Penguins

Edinburgh Zoo pebbles for penguins

Popular Science: Menstruation in Space

NPR: TED Radio Hour

Nautilus: Humpback Whales, getting humpy

Happy Whale

Lincolnshire Wildlife Park's swear parrots: FB page with videos

Smithsonian: Parrots, What the Flock?!

The complete sillyness of reindeer poop "science" Instagram: Toiley T Paper

Penis size and Nose size, it's a real scientific paper, we promise: Penile length and circumference: are they related to nose size?

Smarter than the mafia, more cunning than a pickpocket in Paris, long-tailed macaques in Bali are all about snatching valuables from tourists and bargaining for tasty snacks.

Show Notes:

Long tailed macaques info from the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center

Sir Attenborough and monkeys

YouTube BBC Video of things getting stolen!!

Scientific Reports paper: Cohort dominance rank and “robbing and bartering” among subadult male long-tailed macaques at Uluwatu, Bali

Poor kiddo bitten by a monkey while touring

Amy's bringing the BATS. We've got more cool facts about bat communication and how some of them compete for food (it's sonic warfare for sure).

Show Notes:

Episode 214 Sky Puppies Mama fruit bats and their kiddos

Episode 242 Bat Chat 1 A smorgasbord of bat shenanigans

University of Bristol: Bats avoiding collisions in the air

YouTube Lens of Time Roll to minute 5:20 for bat smacks

Science: Bats jam each other's signals just like humans jam cell phones

National Geographic: Bats jam each other's sonar

The Sensory & Movement Ecology Lab @ UCCS

Science: Tiger moths jam bat echolocation!!!

Southwest Research Station

Did Trace complain about clickbait titles in this episode? Yes. Did she ALSO use a clickbait title for this very episode? Absolutely. Sea scallops like light and it turns out that works in the favor of fisheries and the environment.

Show Notes:

Oceanconservancy.org: Scallops

Fishtek Marine YouTube on the tech and study. Also their website

Science Daily: University of Exeter paper

University of York: Scientists accidentally discover “scallop discos” as an environmentally friendly fishing method

While doing the show notes for this episode, Trace looked into tips and tricks for when you take a vacation and have to drive on the opposite side of the road. The advice? Don't panic and purchase travel insurance LOL. There are so many different historical reasons for how countries chose what side of the road to drive on.

Show Notes:

Lancaster-Philadelphia Turnpike

Somerset Historical Center: The Conestoga Wagon

Windwagon Smith a Disney animated picture from 1961

Wikipedia left and right side

The Economist" Robespierre and driving on the moral side of the road

US Dept. of Transportation Federal Highway Administration: On the Right Side of the Road

UK car glass and their opinion on right side/left side

BBC: A 'thrilling' mission to get the Swedish to change overnight

Nothing like rubbing yourself down with snakeskin jerky to keep yourself from getting eaten. Today we check out the parallel evolution of the California ground squirrel and rattlesnakes. It's an olfactory camouflage arms race that on a bad day, ends with someone getting eaten.

Show Notes:

UC Davis: Squirrels Use Snake Scent

Royal Society B: Donning your enemy's cloak: ground squirrels exploit rattlesnake scent to reduce predation risk

Nature: Squirrel Masks Scent with Rattlesnake Skin (Cool video of squirrels in action)