Weird Biology Show

Announcement!

Your ole podcast dad, Shawn, is back with that gallon of milk and pack of cigarettes (Just like he said he would be!) …you know like 2 years later. It’s been a long hiatus, but I think we’re ready to start back up again.

You can subscribe to the show right now on Spotify and Apple Music! Then tweet with the #WeirdBioShow hashtag and tell all your friends (and loved ones or loathed ones) about our show. You can also follow the show on Twitter (@WeirdBioShow) and BlueSky .

Shawn, Dan, and featured guest , with Dr. Oné Pagán discuss Raffa and Desai’s 2005 paper on describing cocaine withdrawal symptoms in Planarians, and how getting flatworms addicted to cocaine could help us better understand addiction in Humans.

We also discuss , with Dr. Pagán's new book, Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins: A Trip Through the World of Animal Intoxication. Available everywhere books are sold Nov 16th, 2021

This week’s Featured Creature is the Venomous Spurdog Shark!

Check out Dr. Pagán's new book, Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins: A Trip Through the World of Animal Intoxication. Available everywhere books are sold Nov 16th, 2021, as well as his podcast, The Bald Scientist Podcast. and find him on Twitter @BaldScientist

You can subscribe to their show right now on Spotify! Then tweet with the #WeirdBioShow hashtag and tell all your friends (and loved ones) about our show. You can also follow the show on Twitter (@WeirdBioShow).

Source:
Raffa, Robert B., and Prarthna Desai. "Description and quantification of cocaine withdrawal signs in Planaria." Brain research 1032.1-2 (2005): 200-202.

Shawn and Dan discuss Lowe & Goodman-Lowe’s 1996 paper about hammerhead sharks’ ability to tan. But is it all esthetic or does the ability to tan in sharks offer some evolutionary advantage?

Listen to learn how these sharks get their summer bodies ready through tanning.

This week’s Featured Creature is the Whale Shark!

You can subscribe to their show right now on Spotify! Then tweet with the #WeirdBioShow hashtag and tell all your friends (and loved ones) about our show. You can also follow the show on Twitter (@WeirdBioShow).

Source:
Suntanning in hammerhead sharks
Lowe, C., Goodman-Lowe, G. Suntanning in hammerhead sharks. Nature 383, 677 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/383677a0

This week on the Weird Biology Show Newsroom

Crows understand zero

mRNA vaccinations for HIV

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2021 Report

Indigenous Water Protectors Vs The Enbridge Line 3 Tar Sands pipeline.

Shawn and special guest, Dr. Molly, discuss Radhika et al. 2016, and their recent paper aimed at using tongue prints as an alternative form of biometric data.

Thinking about committing some mouth crimes? Think again! Your tongue print may be the evidence the DA needs to put you away for good!

In this episode, we discuss current forms of biometric data, like fingerprinting, and propose some more unorthodox methods, like scanning your tongue, that could potentially take its place someday! (But probably not).

This week’s Featured Creature is a Double Feature! Listen to the end to find out more!

You can subscribe to their show right now on Spotify! Then tweet with the #WeirdBioShow hashtag and tell all your friends (and loved ones) about our show. You can also follow the show on Twitter (@WeirdBioShow).

Source:
Tongue prints: A novel biometric and potential forensic tool
Radhika, T., Nadeem Jeddy, and S. Nithya. "Tongue prints: A novel biometric and potential forensic tool." Journal of forensic dental sciences 8.3 (2016): 117.

Shawn and Dan discuss Hopkins and Hopkins, 2013, and their recent paper aimed at understanding biological reasons behind the hobbits and the forces of good triumphing over the forces of evil in the Novel and Film, The Hobbit.

If you’re evil, the chances are it’s because you haven’t been getting the D, the vitamin D actually. In this episode, we’ll discuss whether real world nutrition can be used to explain why the forces of good vanquish evil in the Lord of the Rings universe.

You can subscribe to their show right now on Spotify and Google Podcasts! Then tweet with the #WeirdBioShow hashtag and tell all your friends (and loved ones) about our show. You can also follow the show on Twitter (@WeirdBioShow).

Source:
Hopkinson, Joseph A, and Nicholas S Hopkinson. “The Hobbit - an Unexpected Deficiency.” The Medical Journal of Australia, 16 Dec. 2013, www.mja.com.au/journal/2013/199/11/hobbit-unexpected-deficiency.

Featured Creature:
Brood X Cicadas

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Shawn and Dan discuss Kriegman et al. 2020, and their recent paper aimed at creating biological robots from the stem cells of the African clawed frog!

IT’S ALIVE! No really, these are actual living organic robots! Sound like the premise of an insane Sci-Fi novel? Well, it basically is! Will these robots made of frog stem cells help further medical advances such as cancer treatments or will they hunt us all down like the T-1000?

You can subscribe to their show right now on Spotify and Google Podcasts! Then tweet with the #WeirdBioShow hashtag and tell all your friends (and loved ones) about our show. You can also follow the show on Twitter (@WeirdBioShow).

Source:
Kriegman, Sam, et al. "A scalable pipeline for designing reconfigurable organisms." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117.4 (2020): 1853-1859.

Featured Creature:
Glass Sponges!

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Shawn and Dan discuss Pacifico et al. 2020, and their recent paper aimed at saving the Lear’s Macaw from extinction.

These researchers are total badasses! Repelling off of cliffside and shooting invasive killer bee hives with crossbows. In an experiment that can only be described as the future premise of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

Source:
Erica C. Pacífico, Gregorio Sánchez-Montes, Cristina Y. Miyaki, José L. Tella, Isolation and characterization of 15 new microsatellite markers for the globally endangered Lear’s macaw Anodorhynchus leari, Molecular Biology Reports, 10.1007/s11033-020-05812-w, (2020).

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Join Shawn Rykaczewski and Dan Pinolini as they discuss the history of head transplants from the early 1900’s to present day!

Shoja, Mohammadali M., et al. "A testimony to the history of heart and lung transplantation: English translation of Demikhov's paper,“Transplantation of the Heart, Lungs and other Organs”." International journal of cardiology 143.3 (2010): 230-234.

Konstantinov, Igor E. "At the cutting edge of the impossible: a tribute to Vladimir P. Demikhov." Texas Heart Institute Journal 36.5 (2009): 453.

Life Magazine article about Dr. Demikov https://books.google.com/books?id=oUgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=Brodyaga+vladimir+demikhov&source=bl&ots=ImZDF1wIIW&sig=5x-RsamTP5D8T7YM4PTUcB-FwGM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip7JLRq9PYAhUj5YMKHbI5Cq0Q6AEIQjAH#v=onepage&q=Brodyaga%20vladimir%20demikhov&f=false

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