Brain Junk

This chemical is no joke. Amy talks about how 1930’s scientists discovered the explosive and insanely dangerous compound while trying to find a more stable version of fluorine. Mistakes were made.

 

Chlroine Trifluoride Transcript:

Welcome to Brain Junk, I’m Trace Kerr, and I’m Amy Barton, and this is a Brain Storm.

AB: I would like to talk about science, and I hesitate to delve into this, because my attention span is shiny object level usually, so if we get into in-depth terms, and scientists names, wich are important! These people have done so much work to arrive at a article on Curiosity.com for me. It’s already distilled. So this you can know, that I am going to talk science at you, so this is going to be cool.

TK: Science is always cool. I’m wearing a shirt right now that says science!

AB: The fact that I am willing to break it out and outline sciency words and not just listen to you do it though? This is good. I’m going to talk about chlorine trifluoride.

TK: Oooh, Chas and I talked about this after you mentioned it! So exciting!

AB: Oh my goodness! First of all, we need to talk a couple of sciency words. It’s been a long time since high school for me, and I never took any science in college if I could avoid it, so we need to talk about oxidation. It’s a chemical reaction. Something is changing their number of electrons, which then changes what the chemical is.

TK: Yes.

AB: So fluorine. It is a very powerful oxidizing agent. So it comes into contact with things and changes their molecular structure. It changes their level of electrons. So if it were to come into contact with water, it turns it into oxygen on contact. So super cool. It does a thing quickly and effectively, but because of that, it is very hard to contain. In the 1930’s, scientist Otto Ruff, and H Krug set out to do this thing. So they wanted it to be easier to handle, but just as reactive. They isolated the compound chlorine trifluoride, or CLF3, and it was liquid, and that was enticing, because in theory that is a little more storable. Yes and no. What they found out is that it’s cheap, and wildly explosive and flammable. So, so great! In an era where we’ve just come out of one world war, things are a little unstable and they’re thinking “YES! We have this thing!”. The problem was the only safe way to store it and seal it was in containers made of steel, iron, nickel, copper, after they’ve been treated with the fluorine gas. So they’re still having to deal with the fluorine, and what they discovered,

TK: So it’s super dangerous.

AB: Super dangerous, yes.Because they’re relying on that little layer of fluorine in that container. Because here’s what’s really dangerous about it. It had that wonderful fast oxidizing effect, that fluorine had, but instead of changing water into air, everything it came into contact with would either start burning or explode, depending on the amount of chemicals. And so the best example, was in the 1950s. A ton of CLF3 was accidentally spilled on a warehouse floor. It burned through a foot of concrete and three feet of gravel underneath that. And the only thing they could do was wait for it to burn out. There’s no way to stop it.

TK: Yeah, you can’t put water on it. We were reading that water wouldn’t put it out, because it just keeps going-more oxygen. It’s just crazy!

AB: Dangerous.

TK Chas was saying that if it splashed on you, it hydroly...

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We went on an epic field trip around our home town of Spokane and found all sorts of canned gems, like a whole chicken, silkworms and cheese in cans. Amy also discovers that Trace is a mountain woman who doesn’t use a hand crank can opener.

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African Wild Dogs appear to vote on pack activities by sneezing.

 

 

Sneeze Voting Transcript:

Welcome to Brain Junk! I’m Amy Barton.

 

And I’m Trace Kerr and it’s time for a Brain Storm.

 

AB: I’m just going to tell you right now the whole big thing that’s most exciting about this. African wild dogs vote on important pack matters by sneezing.

 

TK: I love this! Tell me more! Tell me more!

AB: African wild dogs exhibit “dominant directed group living and take part in stereotyped social rallies.” They have a high energy ceremony, and rah-rah, they have a big collective movement, and studies show that the probability of a rally’s success is predicted by a minimum number of audible, rapid, nasal exhalations in the rally. So like charging the hill. They’re gonna go on the hunt! And if the sneezes are enough, like “YES We will do this!” The number of sneezes needed for the group to depart on their mission was reduced, so the total, like you needed to have a majority or something. BUT, if dominant pack members sneezed, like you know how the oldest sibling is like “my vote is worth three”…

TK: Oooooh

AB: That is the effect of the dominant pack member. Their sneeze was more heavily weighted, and so they could kind of sway the group. However, the will of the group still could override that big pack member, so it feels more like politics to me. It was really interesting to read this whole effect.

TK: Who was the first person to figure that out? Can you imagine som grad student sitting in a Jeep somewhere and he’s like “I don’t know, I think when they’re all sneezing that’s something-that’s a yes.” And his professor’s going “No. No.  I need more data.”

AB: And they’re sitting there drinking their coffee and the sneezing stops and they GO! The stupid grad student it right!

TK: I wonder, when my dog gets excited, she will often like…

AB: Oh yeah, they do some snorty stuff, don’t they?

TK: She knows we’re going to do something, so she gets up and kind of dances around a little bit, she shakes her head…

AB: She’s voting YES!

TK: And then she does this weird, ISSHHH. It’s not a sneeze, but it’s definitely a snort.

AB: Yeah!

TK: Is that related?

AB: I feel like it is!

TK:Like she’s saying “I’m on board, let’s go to the car.”

AB: She’s the descendant of African Wild Dogs. I feel like that could be! It is interesting that this behavioral mechanism shows that the pack negotiates and they shape their decision making together as a group. They are a socially complex animal society.

TK: Like it!

AB: Want to hear more? We’re on Facebook and Instagram as BrainJunkPodcast and you can find us on Twitter as @MyBrainJunk. Trace and I will catch you next time when we share more of everything you never knew you wanted to know and I guarantee you won’t be bored!

 

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Brain Storms about an MRI study of dog brains and Zebra Finches singing in their sleep. SO GOOD!

 

Animal Brains Transcript:

Welcome to Brian Junk, I’m Amy Barton,

TK: And I’m Trace Kerr, and it’s time for a Brain Storm.

AB: I found a headline, and it said dog brains show that they see their owners as family and they prioritize the smell of humans over everything, and I for sure clicked through, because so many questions and ahhhhh.

TK: I know, it so warm fluffy!

AB: Animal Cognition Scientists at Emory University, they trained dogs to lie still in an MRI. This was my chief question-tell me about dogs in MRI”s, because the people of my family struggle with MRI’s, and so how does that work. They did have some studies where the dogs were tranquilized, or put out, like a little valium, or xanax for people? Dogs too.

Trace and Amy chuckle together in amusement at super chill dogs.

They measure their neural responses to people and dogs, both familiar and unknown, and they found that the dog’s owner’s smell triggered a region in the dog’s brain considered the reward center, and people-ding, ding, ding! Big rewards! Dogs, some rewards, because dogs love other dogs and want to smell them, but people were just..

TK: And all people?

AB: All people, but owners, in particular. They would prioritize people, but your people, your dogs people, are the ones they mainly ping for the most. And studies suggest that dogs feel complex emotions like jealousy and anticipation, so your dog really does probably miss you, and is probably jealous if you smell like other dogs when you get home. And researchers found that happy sounds in particular light up the auditory cortexes in dogs..

TK: The sound of the food hitting the bell? Ding, ding, ding!

AB: Yes! Ahhhhhh! Yup, so the researchers confirmed that dogs interact with their caregivers in the same way babies do with their parents. And when dogs are scared and worried they run to their owners, just as toddlers would, and dogs are the only non-primates to look into your eyes. So they really are looking into your eyes. Your cat’s not. Your cat hates everything.

TK: No, they don’t hate everything, they’re just above everything.

AB: OK. I agree. That would be a better description.

TK:Nice!

AB: Your dog loves you very much. Go pet it.

TK: Arf!

 

TK: And it’s time, for another Brain Storm! So, Science Magazine has a lot of really cool articles.

AB: I agree;

TK: I stumbled across one by Professor Daniel Margoliash, talking about birds. They seem to sing in their sleep.

AB: Gasps! I love that so much! That’s so Disney!

TK: Isn’t it?

AB: Yes!

TK: Well, now let’s go a little deeper. Zebra Finches in particular, that’s what he was studying. Young male birds seem to learn their song from male adults. So they listen to the male sing their song and they start copying it, and as they age, they change it a little, so everybody’s got their own little song going on. The theory wa...

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Trace and Amy talk about the history of puppets in Britain and explore the giant (not kidding, they're over twenty feet tall) marionettes of Royal de Luxe.

Trace and Amy talk about the history of puppets in Britain and explore the giant (not kidding, they’re over twenty feet tall) marionettes of Royal de Luxe.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Learn a bit about the women and men of the IIP who monitor icebergs in the northern reaches of our Atlantic ocean.

 

International Ice Patrol Transcript:

AB: Welcome to Brain Junk. I’m Amy Barton.

TK with enthusiasm: And I’m Trace Kerr, and it’s time for a Brain Storm.

TK: Well I want to tell you about the IIP. The International Ice Patrol.

AB: That’s not what I thought it might stand for, but thank you.

TK knowledgeably: I know. You’re welcome. And it was founded in 1913 after the Titanic sank in 1912. And what their whole job is, is to keep track of icebergs in the north Atlantic.

AB with gravitas: That seems important. I’m on board with this.

TK definitively: Yes. except for the years of WWI and WWII they have been putting up planes and sending out ships in corroboration with 16 other countries to track, well somewhere about 10,000 icebergs in a season.

AB charmingly and engagingly: Wow!

TK : Yeah. Iceberg season is from February 1st to July 31st. So they’re out there off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, keeping track of these icebergs, telling people where they are, reporting it so that ships can avoid them and they have a record where every ship who has-I really like how they put this-”every ship that has followed our directives and advice on how to avoid icebergs has been just fine.

AB: I…that says there’s cautionary tales there.

TK: Yeah, there have been a few iceberg-ship interactions, but they are saying that all of those are from user error, not iceberg escape detectioning. I don’t think that’s actually a word, but I’m going to stick to it.

AB: I’m curious how much of that work is digital and satellite based versus live dudes on boats and ladies on boats.

TK: Well, they do a lot of it via airplane

AB: That makes sense.

TK: So they’re going up and they showed the pilots flying, but there’s a guy in back with a computer and they’ve got a map, and they’re looking out the window and they’re..

AB interrupting rudely: Battleship with icebergs?

TK: Yeah, they’re marking them down. Yeah, and there’s also a buoy system keeping track of currents and temperatures and things like that, it’s a huge interactive network.

AB: So presumably it can have some level of prediction of direction?

TK: Where they’re flowing, north to south, and how they’re going to be moved by the current, and where they’re going to be.

AB: I don’t ever hope to be on a boat in an area where an iceberg could to be, but I’m glad that boats are not as likely to sink as a result of the IIP. Thanks team!

TK: Yes. I am too. Thanks team! And that is a Brain Storm about ice. Welcome to winter.

AB with chagrin: Yeah.

AB: Want to hear more? We’re on Facebook and Instagram as BrainJunkPodcast and you can find us on Twitter as @MyBrainJunk. Trace and I will catch you next time when we share more of everything you never knew you wanted to know, and I guarantee you won’t be bored.

 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Smash cuts of Brain Storms #8 Devil Frogs and #9 Skinks in honor of Trace's dad's birthday. Frank (Trace's dad) is a freak for amphibians and reptiles...we hope you enjoy these as much as he did.

 

Devil Frogs and Skinks Transcript:

41: Devil Frogs and Skinks!

 

Wecome to Brain Junk! I’m Amy Barton, and I’m Trace Kerr, and it’s time for a Brain Storm.  

AB: Wherein I'm going to share about Beelzebuffo Ampinga or the devil frog.

TK: Dun dun dun!

AB: Who doesn’t want to know about the devil frog?

TK: I want to know about the devil frog!

AB: The devil frog lived on Madagascar during the late Cretaceous. About 65 to 70 million years ago and it grew to be about 16 inches long and 10 lb. So beach ball-sized what they were comparing it to.

TK:That’s not very nice!

AB: This is a beach ball size frog AND it was a crabby Beach ball-sized frog. There’s a frog living in South America, oh, this is a big word.Theres a South American frogs. It’s ill tempered and aggressive and it is the living relative of this Cretaceous era frog, and so they’re basing some of their predictions about it’s behavior on this frog.

TK: Do we have a name for the frog come? Oh, you know you can do it!

AB: Ceratophyrines.

TK: Oh I like that.

AB: They're nasty they sit and wait for their prey and they snap at it and they'll snap at any time comes by and I think the devil frog would eat lizards and small vertebrates squirrels and stuff-Cretaceous era squirrels, and possibly even hatchling dinosaurs. they had, you know, bitey teeth and they had an armored head they had a cranial shield it was very dinosaur frog.

TK: Well you had me at “frog with teeth”. Because you don’t see frogs with teeth.

AB: Yeah so that’s my Brain Fart. It’s good to live in the modern times, friends. There's some bad things but there's no devil frogs, least here in the Northwest.

TK: That we know of.

AB: Maybe with Sasquatch?

TK:Ooooh, there you go, I like it.

 

AB:Today we’re talking about Skinks reproductive habits, which I know you were thinking about before, earlier today probably even.

TK:It’s something that, you know, I wake up and I’m like, “I just wonder about skinks and their reproductive behavior”.

AB: Yeah, well I’m going to tell you that at higher climates, in colder weather, skinkis tend not to lay their eggs. They hang out in the little skinks longer. And that results in live birth. A species of Australian lizard has abandoned their egg laying habits in favor of live birth.  And individuals of the same species living in the higher altitudes are almost all giving birth to live young. So the same species living in different areas, you might have one laying eggs, and one giving live birth based on their environment. Evolutionary records show that nearly 100 reptile lineages have made the transition from laying eggs to live birth in the past. And today about 20 % of all snakes and lizards give birth to live young only.

TK: Well I guess that makes sense, because if you’re someplace in a higher altitude and your colder, keeping eggs warm would be difficult. The ones that had them closer to live birth, well, they were more likely to survive.

AB: Yeah, that’s true.

TK: Because they’re not going “I think I’m going to wait and gestate a little longer, so I can have live babies.

AB: Yeah, one wonders how that process does take place, where like, ladies, we don’t get the choice when the babies come. There must be some biological process.

TK: Well, the accident that just waited a little bit longer and then those ones were more likely to breed, and more likely to have...what came first? The skink or the eggs?AB: Want to hear more? We’re on Facebook and Instagram as BrainJunkPodcast, and you can find us on Twitter as @MyBrainJunk. Trace and I will catch you next time, when we share more of everything you never knew you wanted to know, and I guarantee you won’t be bored.

 

oh sorry this is a brain fart I'm Amy Barton farts literally and ga

Smash cuts of Brain Storms #8 Devil Frogs and #9 Skinks in honor of Trace’s dad’s birthday. Frank (Trace’s dad) is a freak for amphibians and reptiles…we hope you enjoy these as much as he did.

 

Devil Frogs and Skinks Transcript:

41: Devil Frogs and Skinks!

 

Wecome to Brain Junk! I’m Amy Barton, and I’m Trace Kerr, and it’s time for a Brain Storm.  

AB: Wherein I’m going to share about Beelzebuffo Ampinga or the devil frog.

TK: Dun dun dun!

AB: Who doesn’t want to know about the devil frog?

TK: I want to know about the devil frog!

AB: The devil frog lived on Madagascar during the late Cretaceous. About 65 to 70 million years ago and it grew to be about 16 inches long and 10 lb. So beach ball-sized what they were comparing it to.

TK:That’s not very nice!

AB: This is a beach ball size frog AND it was a crabby Beach ball-sized frog. There’s a frog living in South America, oh, this is a big word.Theres a South American frogs. It’s ill tempered and aggressive and it is the living relative of this Cretaceous era frog, and so they’re basing some of their predictions about it’s behavior on this frog.

TK: Do we have a name for the frog come? Oh, you know you can do it!

AB: Ceratophyrines.

TK: Oh I like that.

AB: They’re nasty they sit and wait for their prey and they snap at it and they’ll snap at any time comes by and I think the devil frog would eat lizards and small vertebrates squirrels and stuff-Cretaceous era squirrels, and possibly even hatchling dinosaurs. they had, you know, bitey teeth and they had an armored head they had a cranial shield it was very dinosaur frog.

TK: Well you had me at “frog with teeth”. Because you don’t see frogs with teeth.

AB: Yeah so that’s my Brain Fart. It’s good to live in the modern times, friends. There’s some bad things but there’s no devil frogs, least here in the Northwest.

TK: That we know of.

AB: Maybe with Sasquatch?

TK:Ooooh, there you go, I like it.

 

AB:Today we’re talking about Skinks reproductive habits, which I know you were thinking about before, earlier today probably even.

TK:It’s something that, you know, I wake up and I’m like, “I just wonder about skinks and their reproductive behavior”.

AB: Yeah, well I’m going to tell you that at higher climates, in colder weather, skinkis tend not to lay their eggs. They hang out in the little skinks longer. And that results in live birth. A species of Australian lizard has abandoned their egg laying habits in favor of live birth.  And individuals of the same species living in the higher altitudes are almost all giving birth to live young. So the same species living in different areas, you might have one laying eggs, and one giving live birth based on their environment. Evolutionary records show that nearly 100 reptile lineages have made the transition from laying eggs to live birth in the past. And today about 20 % of all snakes and lizards give birth to live young only.

TK: Well I guess that makes sense, because if you’re someplace in...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brainjunkpodcast.substack.com

Happy New Year! Trace and Amy talk about those royals on the other side of the pond.