Crystallise

Why do women live longer than men? Well, it could be down to the Y chromosome. This week, we discuss the Y chromosome, how it seems to be mysteriously vanishing in older men, and the impacts this could be having on men’s health. In our SNPit, Ash tells us about how bird brains really aren’t that different from our own.


Check out these links for more info on the Y chromosome:

• Y Chromosome Factsheet
• Y Chromosome Evolving Rapidly
• Y Chromosome Is More Than a Sex Switch
• Loss of Y Chromosome Can Explain Shorter Life Expectancy, Higher Cancer Risk for Men
• Loss of Y Chromosome is a Risk Factor for Alzheimer's dDisease: Why Do Men Have Shorter Lives Than Women?

For more on birdbrains, head over here:

• Bird Brains Are Far More Humanlike Than Once Thought
• Brainiacs, Not Birdbrains: Crows Possess Higher Intelligence Long Thought a Primarily Human Attribute

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Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week on Crystallise: Ash explains the global decline in insect diversity, and the devastating impacts that it could have on our planet's ecosystem. In our SNPit, Rosie gives us another reason why Australia is out to get you - the venomous trees of Queensland. 


To learn more about insect declines and the importance of protecting diversity, check out these links:

• Plummeting Insect Numbers 'Threaten Collapse of Nature'
• Robust Evidence of Declines in Insect Abundance and Biodiversity
• Why Insect Populations are Plummeting—and Why it Matters
• More Than 75 Percent Decline Over 27 Years in Total Flying Insect Biomass in Protected Areas
• Arthropod Decline in Grasslands and Forests is Associated with Landscape-Level Drivers
• Parallel Declines in Pollinators and Insect-Pollinated Plants in Britain and the Netherlands
• Worldwide Decline of the Entomofauna: A Review of its Drivers
• Climate-Driven Declines in Arthropod Abundance Restructure a Rainforest Food Web
• Meta-Analysis Reveals Declines in Terrestrial but Increases in Freshwater Insect Abundances

For more info about the stinging trees of Australia, have a look at these articles:

• Australian Stinging Trees Inject Scorpion-Like Venom. The Pain Lasts for Days
• Neurotoxic Peptides from the Venom of the Giant Australian Stinging Tree
• ‘The Worst Kind of Pain You Can Imagine’ – What it’s Like to be Stung by a Stinging Tree

Check out our Instagram or our website for more content, and support the podcast by leaving a review wherever you listen!


Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Could there be life on Venus? This week we discuss the new findings of possible microbial life on our next-door neighbour, and why we haven't found aliens elsewhere in our Universe. In our SNPit, Ash takes us inside the digestive tract and tells us about how we can check on our gut microbiome. 


For more on the Fermi Paradox and the hunt for life on other planets, head to these links:

• Where Is Everyone? 4 Possible Explanations for the Fermi Paradox
• Research Sheds New Light on Intelligent Life Existing Across the Galaxy
• Goldilocks Worlds: Just Right For Life?
• Kepler Telescope Discovers Most Earth-Like Planet Yet
• Australian Telescope Finds No Signs of Alien Technology in 10 Million Star Systems
• The Detection of Phosphine in Venus’ Clouds is a Big Deal – Here’s How We Can Find Out If it’s a Sign of Life

To read more about how we can check on the gut microbiome - have a look at this:

• Sampling the Gut Microbiome With an Ingestible Pill

Check out our Instagram for more content, and leave a review wherever you listen!


Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week, we take a look into the infamous CRISPR babies scandal, and discuss the ethics of gene editing. In our SNPit, Rosie tells us about how just like us, bats also use baby talk. 


For more info on He Jianku, the CRISPR babies, and gene editing, head to these links:

• Gene Editing Before CRISPR: A Brief History
• CRISPR timeline
• A Simple Guide to CRISPR, One of the Biggest Science Stories of the Decade
• Genome Editing: Past, Present, and Future 
• A Brief History of Genome Editing
• Genome-Edited Baby Claim Provokes International Outcry
• Chinese Scientists Are Outraged by Reports of Gene-Edited Babies

Fascinated by bat baby talk? Check out these links:

• The Science Behind 'Baby Talk'
• Baby Talk is Universal
• Bats Use Baby Talk To Teach Their Pups, Researchers Say

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Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week, we talk all about psychedelic drugs and how they could be extremely effective treatments for depression. In our SNPit, Ash tells us a story about ducks, locusts, and why you should be wary of what you read in the media. 


For more on psychedelics and the studies discussed in this ep - check out these links:

• Know Your Brain: Default Mode Network
• Why Interrupting the Default Mode Network with Psychedelics is Good for Mental Health
• Ancient Hallucinogens Found in 1,000-Year-Old Shamanic Pouch
• Flashback: LSD Creator Albert Hofmann Drops Acid for the First Time
• Antianxiety and Antidepressant Effects From a Single Dose of Psychedelic Drug Persist Years Later in Cancer Patients
• Psychedelic Drugs Promote Neural Plasticity in Rats and Flies
• Microdosed LSD: Finally A Breakthrough For Alzheimer’s Disease?

To get the full story of the ducks and the locusts, head to these articles:

• China May Send Ducks to Battle Pakistan's Locust Swarms
• China Will Not Send Ducks to Tackle Locusts in Pakistan, Says Expert
• Is a Duck Army Coming for Pakistan’s Locusts? Not So Fast

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Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week, we venture deep underground and deep into space to learn all about volcanoes, on Earth and other planets! In our SNPit, learn about why your vision could be more similar to flies than you think.


Read more about volcanoes on Earth and in space at these links:

• Volcanoes, Explained
• Subduction Zone Volcanism: The Earth recycles itself!
• Volcanoes: Geoscience Australia
• Researchers Discover What May Be 37 Active Volcanoes on Venus
• Scientists Discover Volcanoes on Venus Are Still Active
• Active Volcanoes of Our Solar System

For more on flies and eyes have a look at these:

• Flies Are Tricked By Optical Illusions Just Like Us
• Mechanism For Analogous Illusory Motion Perception in Flies and Humans
• Cats and Illusory Motion
• This Cat is As Mesmerised By Optical Illusions As You Are

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Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week on Crystallise, Rosie tells us everything about clinical trials: what they are, what happens when they go wrong, and why the announcement of a Covid-19 vaccine in Russia outraged scientists worldwide. In our SNPit, Ash describes the unexpected effects of global coronavirus lockdowns on conservation efforts. 


For more info on the topics discussed this week, check out the links below!

• Legumes, Lemons and Streptomycin: A Short History of the Clinical Trial
• How the Media Left Evidence out in the Cold
• No Immunity From Immunity 
• Russia’s Fast-Track Coronavirus Vaccine Draws Outrage Over Safety
• Global Report: WHO in Talks With Russia Over Covid-19 Vaccine
• Coronavirus: How Will the World Vaccinate Seven Billion?

For more about the "anthropause" and the "Great Human Confinement Experiment" have a look at these:

• The Pandemic Stilled Human Activity. What Did This ‘Anthropause’ Mean for Wildlife?
• COVID-19 Lockdown Allows Researchers to Quantify the Effects of Human Activity on Wildlife
• COVID-19 Pandemic and Associated Lockdown as a “Global Human Confinement Experiment” to Investigate Biodiversity Conservation

Check out our Instagram for more content, and leave a review wherever you listen!


Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week, Ash tells us the story of Rosalind Franklin - a pioneer of X-ray crystallography and a crucial contributor to the discovery of the structure of DNA. In our SNPit, how metal-"breathing" bacteria could change electronics and help clean nuclear waste.


To read more about Rosalind Franklins discoveries, have a look at these links: 

• DNA From the Beginning: Rosalind Franklin
• Rosalind Franklin: A Crucial Contribution
• Sexism Pushed Rosalind Franklin Toward the Scientific Sidelines During Her Short Life, But Her Work Still Shines on Her 100th Birthday

For more info from our SNPit, head here!

• Metal-Breathing Bacteria Could Transform Electronics, Biosensors, and More
• Microscope Reveals How Bacteria "Breath" Toxic Metals
• 99% Invisible: 10 Thousand Years 

Check out our Instagram for more content, and leave a review wherever you listen!


Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week on Crystallise: Rosie tells us about the history of smallpox, and some new ancient Viking DNA research that sheds light on it's mysterious origins. In our SNPit, how to diagnose cancerous dinosaurs!


Read more about smallpox here:

• Vikings Had Smallpox and May Have Helped Spread the World's Deadliest Virus
• Smallpox Found in Lithuanian Mummy Could Rewrite Virus' History
• Mystery Solved: Scientists Now Know How Smallpox Kills
• How Smallpox Claimed it's Final Victim

Interested in diagnosing dinosaurs? Check out these articles!

• Doctors Diagnose Advanced Cancer - In a Dinosaur
• First Case of Osteosarcoma in a Dinosaur: a Multimodal Diagnosis

Head to our Instagram for more content and leave a review wherever you listen!


Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This week: Ash delves into to science behind fad diets and Rosie tells us why you we should be removing the “guilty” from “guilty pleasure”.


For more about the paleo and keto diets, have a look at the links below:

• Paleo Diet: What Is It And Why Is It So Popular? 
• Paleo Diet for Weight Loss
• Should You Try the Keto Diet?
• Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss
• What is the Keto Diet and Does it Work?
• Ketogenic Diet: What are the Risks?

Take a look at the study behind guilty pleasures here:

• Hedonism Leads to Happiness
• Beyond Self-Control: Mechanisms of Hedonistic Goal Pursuit and it's Relevance for Well-Being 

Music:

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/