0:00

It's true that some things change as we

0:02

get older. But if you're a

0:04

woman over 40 and you're dealing with

0:06

insomnia, brain fog, moodiness, and weight

0:08

gain, you don't have to accept it as

0:10

just another part of aging. And with

0:12

MIDI health, you can get help and

0:14

stop pushing through it alone. The

0:16

The experts at Midi understand that

0:18

all these symptoms can be connected

0:20

to the hormonal changes that happen

0:23

around menopause, and Midi can help you feel

0:25

more like yourself again. Many health care

0:27

providers aren't trained to treat or

0:30

even recognize menopause symptoms. Midi clinicians

0:32

are menopause experts. They're

0:34

dedicated to providing safe, effective,

0:36

FDA -approved solutions for dozens

0:39

of hormonal symptoms, not just

0:41

hot flashes. Most importantly,

0:43

they're covered by insurance. 91

0:46

% of midi patients get relief

0:48

from symptoms within just two

0:50

months. You deserve to

0:52

feel great. Book your virtual

0:54

visit today at joinmitty.com. That's

0:56

joinmidi.com.

1:05

Welcome to Creature Feature, production of

1:08

I Heart Radio. I'm your host of

1:10

Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I

1:12

studied psychology and evolutionary biology,

1:14

and today on the show, it's

1:16

a quick Little Listener's Questions

1:18

episode. Now, do not worry,

1:20

I have a bunch of really

1:22

cool guests lined up that I

1:24

am scheduling, so it is happening,

1:26

folks. I'm super excited. But

1:29

today, yes, a Little

1:31

Listener Questions episode you guys

1:33

wrote to me some

1:35

pretty amazing questions and I would like

1:37

to answer them. So

1:39

let's take a moment to

1:41

dive into a think -hole

1:43

and answer some questions. Hi

1:46

Katie, I was recently re -listening

1:48

to the lemon and grapefruit episodes

1:51

of Secretly Incredibly Fascinating and in

1:53

those episodes Alex brings up that

1:55

citrus can crossbreed and mutate easily

1:57

with each other. I would like

1:59

to know if there are any other

2:01

genuses of organisms that can crossbreed

2:03

and mutate as well or better

2:05

than citrus. Also, are

2:07

there any specific genes or

2:09

structures in organisms that facilitate

2:11

mutations? Overall, I was

2:14

thinking and wondering if an organism's

2:16

ability to more easily mutate would

2:18

be an evolutionary advantage. Thank

2:20

you for the great podcast, Daniel. Thank

2:22

you so much, Daniel. a

2:25

fantastic question also thanks

2:27

for the secretly incredibly fascinating

2:29

shout out that is a show

2:31

that I do with Alex Schmidt where he

2:33

teaches me about wild stuff every

2:35

week so let's tackle this

2:37

question one part at

2:39

a time so can animals

2:41

cross breed and facilitate

2:44

evolution. So can there be

2:46

a hybrid animal that

2:48

progresses evolution? Yes, this

2:50

can happen as long as

2:52

the animals are closely related.

2:55

So this is

2:57

called hybrid speciation. When

3:00

you have two different species

3:02

who create a hybrid and then

3:04

that hybrid goes on to

3:06

propagate and create its own species.

3:09

So in plants, it is

3:11

far more common than in

3:13

animals, likely because hybridization is

3:15

less likely to make them

3:17

infertile. You also have more

3:19

rapid reproductive cycles in a

3:21

lot of plants. In

3:23

animals, the reason

3:25

hybridization often causes the offspring

3:27

to be sterile is when

3:29

the number of chromosomes don't

3:32

line up. Say one animal

3:34

has 20 chromosomes and the

3:36

other has 21. And

3:38

then when you add those together,

3:40

the hybrid is going to have

3:42

an uneven number of chromosomes, say

3:44

41. And when it tries

3:46

to split that in half and

3:48

create its own gametes, this odd

3:50

number of chromosomes means that it

3:52

doesn't have pairs that can recombine

3:55

properly, like not missing the other

3:57

half of a zipper so that

3:59

when it goes through meiosis and

4:01

the creation of its gametes, it

4:03

can't create viable gametes even

4:05

though it was able to be

4:07

created by its parents. Sometimes

4:11

hybrids can be created,

4:13

have an even number

4:15

of chromosomes because the

4:17

two species ended up

4:19

having matching sets of

4:21

chromosomes, the matching numbers,

4:23

and then they can

4:25

reproduce. And then so

4:27

this hybrid, which is viable and

4:29

not sterile, could become a new

4:31

species, doesn't always. So

4:33

this is the case for koi

4:36

wolves. So koi otis hybridized

4:38

with red wolves, who are becoming

4:40

very quickly more common

4:42

in eastern North America,

4:44

potentially displacing red

4:46

wolves. And so

4:48

this could be a

4:50

case of hybrid

4:53

speciation. But in order to

4:55

become a new species, the hybrid

4:57

has a pretty difficult task. It

4:59

has to both be fertile and

5:01

more fit in order to become

5:03

its own viable species, particularly one

5:05

that takes over the evolutionary niche

5:07

left there by its predecessors. So

5:10

in terms of what kinds

5:12

of animals are really good at

5:14

creating hybrid speciation, insects

5:16

seem to be the best at

5:18

it in terms of creating

5:20

new hybrid species that then

5:22

becomes their own species. So

5:25

this is probably due to

5:27

just the sheer quantity and

5:29

diversity of insects making viable

5:31

and successful combinations much more

5:33

likely. So one example

5:35

is fruit flies. Fruit flies

5:37

are a family that seems

5:39

to hybridize and speciate pretty

5:41

well. So on

5:43

to the next part of

5:45

your question. So are

5:47

there specific genes or structures

5:50

in organisms that facilitate

5:52

mutations and would an organism's

5:54

ability to more easily

5:56

mutate be an evolutionary advantage.

5:59

So let's talk about the second part

6:01

of the question first is

6:03

more easily mutating a

6:06

good thing for a species

6:08

because it makes you

6:10

more likely to evolve

6:12

faster. So mutation is a

6:14

bit like genetic gambling

6:17

or maybe an investment

6:19

portfolio where there's the bigger

6:21

the risk. perhaps

6:23

the bigger the reward

6:25

but also the bigger

6:27

the the downfall that

6:29

you might have so

6:31

most mutations that occur

6:34

are actually either neutral

6:36

or actively harmful

6:38

to an animal only

6:40

rarely is a

6:42

mutation actually beneficial

6:44

so the more dramatic the mutation

6:46

say a mutation that makes

6:48

you just not have a

6:50

head, right? The

6:52

more dramatic the

6:55

problem. So

6:57

if you have a mutation,

6:59

like there's a very

7:01

low chance that it's going

7:03

to be helpful. There's

7:05

some chance that it's going

7:07

to be neutral and

7:09

it could get passed on.

7:12

And then there's a pretty good

7:14

chance that that mutation is

7:16

actually going to negatively impact your

7:18

survival. So it's

7:20

very very rare that like

7:22

a dramatic mutation would be

7:24

beneficial and then lead to

7:26

a sudden jump in evolution.

7:28

It can happen, but it's

7:30

very very rare. So if you're

7:32

an animal, do you want there

7:34

to be a higher chance of

7:36

genetic errors? And I would

7:38

say probably not. So in

7:41

addition to many mutations being

7:43

harmful to offspring, greater

7:45

risks for genetic errors

7:47

would potentially increase the risk

7:49

of cancer because cancer

7:51

is a result of genetic

7:53

mishaps, genetic

7:55

errors that causes the

7:57

cells to reproduce uncontrollably

7:59

and not go through cell

8:01

death, which is called apoptosis. So

8:05

having a genetic error

8:07

that creates these like

8:09

bad immortal cells is

8:11

not good. And

8:13

so yeah, it would not

8:15

necessarily be advantageous to have a

8:18

greater rate of mutations in

8:20

order to facilitate evolution. You

8:22

want some chance of mutation without

8:24

it being too much of a risk,

8:26

like having a, you know, kind

8:29

of diversified investment portfolio

8:31

instead of something that's very,

8:33

very. you know,

8:35

wild and chaotic and volatile.

8:38

I don't actually know much about investment. I

8:40

can't give you advice probably both legally

8:42

and also just I'm not good at it,

8:44

so don't listen to me. So

8:46

there are some ways to

8:49

increase your chance of positive

8:51

genetic mutations. One is a

8:53

greater genetic library. So the

8:55

more genes and the more

8:57

diverse genes that a species

8:59

has, The more it

9:01

has to kind of

9:04

randomly pull upon in response

9:06

to environmental pressures and

9:08

more stuff to kind of

9:10

play with, like more

9:12

Legos in a giant bin

9:14

that could be used

9:17

to create new mutations or

9:19

new characteristics. So

9:21

like kind of think of your

9:23

genetic code as an archive full

9:26

of like Blueprints only some of

9:28

which are actually used and copied

9:30

over to build things actually a

9:32

lot of it is not generally

9:34

used But say like there's like

9:36

an earthquake or something and a

9:39

blueprint falls next to another blueprint

9:41

and changes the design the more

9:43

Blueprints you have the more chances

9:45

you have to find something that

9:47

might actually address a certain issue

9:50

like say an earthquake happened all

9:52

your bridges got damaged and this

9:54

blueprint that kind of

9:56

fell off the shelves next to this

9:58

other one, gives you an idea

10:00

for a more flexible bridge, which maybe

10:02

it's a little weaker, but in

10:04

this situation, in this type of environment

10:06

with a lot of earthquakes, having

10:09

the more flexible bridge is actually better.

10:11

So for an animal, what this

10:13

means is if you have a large

10:15

sort of genome, a large genetic,

10:17

a lot of genetic diversity, a big

10:19

genetic library, And then

10:21

also other members of your species

10:23

who have their own sort of

10:25

large genetic library. There's a good

10:28

chance that say there's an environmental

10:30

pressure, right? Some change in your

10:32

environment, maybe a disease or a

10:34

new predator. There's a greater

10:36

chance that you're going to randomly,

10:39

again, none of this can

10:41

be planned, right? It's all

10:43

a random mutation that happens

10:45

to be able to address

10:47

some environmental pressure. Even

10:49

though most mutations are either

10:51

neutral or bad, once in

10:54

a while, you might happen

10:56

upon a mutation that's actually

10:58

good. And it's those rare

11:00

cases that advance evolution. And

11:02

that's why evolution is so,

11:05

so, so slow, millions and

11:07

millions of years to get

11:09

to where we are at

11:11

the very least, like a

11:14

thousand years on the evolutionary

11:16

timescale is very short. So

11:18

hundreds of thousands of years,

11:21

it might take like hundreds of thousands

11:23

of years to address a certain

11:26

evolutionary problem, right? So it's very, very,

11:28

very slow. It's

11:30

hard to have really rapid evolution.

11:32

It can happen. Like

11:34

there are cases in which

11:36

animals adapt to situations

11:38

quite quickly. It's just

11:40

that's not... super common right

11:42

especially the more dramatic the

11:44

change has to be the

11:47

less likely it is to

11:49

be happening really rapid because

11:51

the more dramatic the change

11:53

the more likely it's

11:55

going to mess up that organism in

11:57

a way it can't survive. So

11:59

like, hey, if there's a lot of

12:01

flooding around us, why can't we

12:04

evolve gills in a few generations? Well,

12:06

you mess with our ability to

12:08

breathe, the most likely outcome is our

12:10

offspring is just gonna die and

12:12

not be able to function. So

12:15

going from something really dramatic,

12:17

whereas like say, having more

12:19

of a... say the

12:21

sun gets really bright, right? And

12:23

then we end up having more brown

12:25

eyed people because they end up

12:28

being a lot more well suited to

12:30

a lot of harsh light or

12:32

something. This is just an example. I

12:34

have nothing against blue eyed people. I

12:37

have blue eyes myself. But

12:39

in that case, perhaps brown eyes

12:41

might become more common, right? Like

12:43

if somehow having really In a situation, now

12:45

we live in a society, right, where we

12:47

have sunglasses. So this would not happen. I

12:49

want to be clear, but say, you

12:52

know, we're an animal that really

12:54

relies on our site and then

12:56

say, if you have blue eyes,

12:58

you're a lot more sensitive to

13:00

light, then maybe blue eyes might

13:02

start to phase out a little

13:04

bit more quickly, right? Because eye

13:06

color is something, is a trait

13:08

that could say mutate or change

13:10

really quickly without it. being devastating

13:12

to the whole body right like

13:14

like certain there's certain sort of

13:17

more superficial or

13:19

minor changes to the body that

13:21

could be could happen more

13:23

rapidly like hair loss right hair

13:25

gain or hair loss that's

13:27

not necessarily going to doom an

13:29

animal right so you might

13:31

have changes in coat changes in

13:33

coat color changes you know

13:35

slight changes in size things like

13:37

that can happen much more

13:39

quickly over an evolutionary timeline than

13:41

say whether you have lungs

13:43

or gills whether you have legs

13:45

or tentacles. Evolution

13:48

just happens really, really

13:50

slow because mutations are definitely

13:52

not something you typically

13:54

want. You typically don't want

13:56

a mutation. Typically, that

13:59

would be bad news or

14:01

at the very least

14:03

neutral. It's super, super rare

14:05

for there to be a mutation

14:07

that's actually beneficial. That's actually going

14:09

to make the offspring more viable

14:11

than its parents. But it does

14:13

happen. And that's the whole reason

14:16

that evolution works. So that's why

14:18

it's really slow. Now

14:20

on to the next part

14:22

of the question. Are there certain

14:24

genes and structures more prone

14:26

to mutations? Absolutely.

14:29

There's structures and genes

14:32

more prone to

14:34

mutations, both in bad

14:36

ways and potentially very rarely

14:38

in good ways. So these

14:40

are genetic hotspots that are

14:42

more prone to mutation. Usually,

14:45

well, especially this happens

14:47

in DNA strands with

14:49

many repeating sequences, which

14:51

can cause that little enzyme

14:53

that runs along your DNA

14:55

to copy it called a

14:58

polymerase to kind of like

15:00

when it like decouples from

15:02

the DNA and then reattaches.

15:04

And it can actually sort of

15:06

like lose its spot more

15:09

easily if you have repetitions of

15:11

certain sequences. So it's

15:13

kind of like if you're trying

15:15

to memorize a really long sequence

15:17

of numbers or letters, say

15:20

like, you know, you're memorizing a pin

15:22

or a telephone number, and then like there's

15:24

like a bunch of fives. And it's

15:26

like, I can't remember how many fives there

15:28

were, were there four fives or five

15:30

fives? That's sort of

15:32

not on a intellectual level

15:35

right of polymerase can't

15:37

think, but on a physical

15:39

level the reattachment is

15:41

more likely to happen erroneously

15:43

in slip when you

15:45

have repeating sequences. So

15:47

this is more likely

15:49

to result in a mutation.

15:52

This is actually something that could

15:54

be, you know, like in

15:56

terms of Practicality right like you

15:58

may have DNA hotspots that

16:00

are prone to mutation and that

16:03

can be a bad thing

16:05

like be More likely to result

16:07

and say certain types of

16:09

cancers But you know you also

16:11

have say like if you

16:13

have cells that are Certain characteristics

16:15

of somatic cells that means

16:17

like cells that are not involved

16:19

in creating offspring a somatic

16:21

cells in general are more likely

16:23

to mutate, right?

16:26

Because they only affect

16:28

really that cell and then

16:30

that cell's offspring. It

16:32

doesn't affect an entire like

16:34

a new organism and

16:36

new offspring. So like,

16:38

you know, skin cells or muscle cells,

16:40

right? Are much

16:42

more likely to have some

16:44

kind of like mutation than

16:47

germline cells. So germline cells

16:49

meaning cells involved in creating

16:51

gametes and those gametes are

16:53

what then create offspring, right?

16:55

Sperm and eggs. So

16:57

it's much more likely you have

16:59

mutations in cells that are

17:01

happening, like happening in your body

17:03

than you are to have

17:05

mutations that affect your offspring. And

17:08

in general, that's a

17:10

good thing because if you

17:12

have a mutation of

17:14

something important for your offspring,

17:16

most likely that's going

17:18

to result in say like,

17:22

a spontaneous abortion, a

17:24

miscarriage, which is

17:26

very natural happens very

17:29

often. Or

17:31

in some severe cases,

17:33

the offspring has some severe

17:35

issue that makes it

17:37

harder for it to survive.

17:42

It's a really interesting

17:44

thing. Evolution has

17:47

to be really slow. or

17:49

too fast, basically, our cells

17:51

would be mutating at such

17:53

a rate that we would

17:55

have so many potential problems.

17:57

Cancer, debilitating mutations that

17:59

say, like I said, the example

18:01

is like a mutation that like

18:03

lops your whole head off, right?

18:05

Like you're born without a head,

18:07

you can't really do much. So

18:10

mutations have

18:12

to be

18:14

counterbalanced by

18:16

some slowness

18:19

otherwise things that mutate

18:21

too quickly. are not

18:23

going to last very long because they're taking

18:25

too many genetic risks. But

18:27

like I said, having a lot

18:29

of genetic diversity, a huge genetic

18:31

library, is one way that

18:34

animals can, instead of

18:36

going for speed of

18:38

mutations, going for a

18:40

higher probability of different

18:42

types of diverse mutations,

18:45

and then increasing the chance that one

18:47

of those mutations might end up

18:49

being something good. It's

18:51

true that some things change as we get

18:53

older. But if you're a woman over

18:55

40 and you're dealing with insomnia, brain fog,

18:57

moodiness, and weight gain, you don't have

19:00

to accept it as just another part of

19:02

aging. And with MIDI health, you

19:04

can get help and stop pushing through

19:06

it alone. The experts at

19:08

Midi understand that all these symptoms

19:10

can be connected to the hormonal

19:13

changes that happen around menopause, and

19:15

Midi can help you feel more like yourself

19:17

again. Many health care providers aren't

19:19

trained to treat or even recognize

19:21

menopause symptoms. Midi clinicians are

19:23

menopause experts. They're

19:25

dedicated to providing safe, effective,

19:28

FDA -approved solutions for dozens of

19:30

hormonal symptoms, not just hot

19:32

flashes. Most importantly,

19:34

they're covered by insurance. 91

19:36

% of midi patients get relief

19:39

from symptoms within just two

19:41

months. You deserve to

19:43

feel great. Book your virtual

19:45

visit today at joinmitty.com. That's

19:47

joinmidi.com. Hey, everyone. We want

19:49

to tell you about our

19:52

podcast. Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm

19:54

a particle physicist, and I

19:56

think our universe is absolutely

19:58

extraordinary. Hello, I'm Kelly Wienersmith.

20:00

I study parasites along with nature's

20:02

other creepy crawlies and there's just

20:04

endless things about this universe that

20:07

I find fascinating. Alright, well basically

20:09

we're both nerds. We love learning

20:11

about this extraordinary universe and we

20:13

love sharing what we've learned. So

20:15

that's what we're gonna do. And

20:17

on our podcast, Daniel and Kelly's

20:19

Extraordinary Universe is all about the

20:21

mind -blowing discoveries we've made about

20:23

this crazy, beautiful cosmos. From the

20:25

tiniest particles to the biggest blue

20:27

whales. Each Tuesday and Thursday, we

20:29

take an hour long dive into

20:31

some science topic, during which time

20:33

I try to suppress my biologist

20:36

training and keep the poop jokes

20:38

to a minimum. Learn all about

20:40

our amazing and beautiful universe on

20:42

Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe every

20:44

Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio

20:46

app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

20:48

get your podcasts. All

20:52

right, on to the next

20:54

listener question. Hi, Katie,

20:56

our three -year -old German shepherd mutt, Betty.

20:58

Sometimes we'll kick up the grass

21:00

behind her after going to the bathroom,

21:02

both number one and number two. The

21:05

last time we saw this, my

21:07

daughters, Eleanor and Penelope, seven and

21:09

10, almost two, and I

21:11

tried to figure out why dogs

21:13

do this. Their guesses were to

21:15

either spread the smell or conversely

21:17

cover the smell. I suggested maybe

21:19

it is like doggy toilet paper

21:21

kicking up grass and leaves. And

21:23

such to not shake loose any

21:26

hangers on, I further suggested maybe

21:28

Betty evolved to have a higher

21:30

likelihood of kicking dirt at me

21:32

while I bent over to pick

21:34

up her poo. Any

21:36

actual research on this topic, what

21:38

are your thoughts? Thank you,

21:40

Patrick. Hi. Patrick, yes, there is

21:42

actually some research on this

21:44

topic. It is a very common

21:46

behavior among dogs. My dog

21:48

does it too, which is especially

21:50

funny when she poops on

21:52

cobblestone and she tries to scratch

21:54

at that. Nothing really happens. Also,

21:57

don't worry, I pick up every

21:59

single dog turd she leaves on

22:01

the cobblestones because I am not

22:03

a filthy. degenerate, I

22:05

very much believe in picking up

22:07

dog doodies to the point

22:09

where my dog probably thinks I'm

22:11

obsessed with collecting her poop. Okay,

22:14

so you may notice that your dog

22:16

is more likely to do it when

22:18

another dog is around, right? Like after

22:20

she's pooped or peed and she sees

22:22

another dog, maybe she's more likely to

22:24

scratch the ground. Or even when you

22:26

stoop down to pick up the poop,

22:28

that's when your dog suddenly decides it's

22:31

scratch in time, time to kick up

22:33

some turf and possibly pee pee or

22:35

poo poo in your face. So

22:37

this seems to be an

22:39

instinctive territory marking response. So

22:42

rather than covering up the smell, which

22:45

is a very good theory, they

22:47

seem to actually be trying

22:49

to enhance it. So they're likely

22:51

using scent glands on their

22:53

paws to make some smell markings.

22:55

There might be visual cues

22:58

like scratch marks. And

23:00

given that it's more likely to

23:02

be done actively in the presence

23:04

of other dogs, according to studies, it

23:06

might be a form of visual

23:08

communication too. So like, hey, look at

23:11

me. I'm marking my territory. I'm

23:13

doing it in front of you just

23:15

so you know what's going on. So

23:18

my theory is

23:20

that dogs feel pretty vulnerable when they

23:22

poop and pee and so I

23:24

suspect that scratching even growling after they

23:27

use the toilet may be a

23:29

way of defensively marking their territory but

23:31

also not not just in terms

23:33

of saying like this is my

23:35

spot but a warning to other dogs

23:37

who any dogs that might have

23:39

an idea about messing with them while

23:42

they're in such a vulnerable potty

23:44

position just like hey I'm alert and

23:46

I'm aware and I see you

23:48

and back off. This is my toilet.

23:51

Don't mess with me, essentially, while

23:53

I'm doing my potties, which

23:57

I can totally, you know what? I get

23:59

it. When someone's pounding on the door when

24:01

I'm trying to do my potties, I get

24:03

very upset. An

24:05

anecdotal example is that my

24:07

dog primarily does the

24:09

ground scratching behavior. after

24:12

she goes to the bathroom when

24:14

she notices another dog approaching. So

24:17

I think that for her, she's feeling sort of insecure.

24:20

And so it's not necessarily that she really

24:22

wants this to be part of her

24:24

territory as much as it's saying like, hey,

24:26

I see you there. This is my

24:28

toilet. Don't bother me while I'm doing my

24:30

potties and don't try to take advantage

24:32

of me when I'm in this vulnerable position.

24:34

I'm on it and I want you

24:37

to know and other dogs that might pass

24:39

by here know that I'm aware, I'm

24:41

on it and I'm not gonna tolerate anyone

24:43

messing with me when I do my

24:45

potties. So yeah, I

24:47

think that if a dog is

24:49

feeling territorial, defensive, insecure, or simply

24:51

wants to communicate, this is my

24:53

toilet, the kicking behavior

24:55

helps them spread their scent.

24:57

and visually communicate that they're

24:59

not going to tolerate interlopers

25:01

or look elues. So

25:03

interestingly, there was a study that

25:06

found that older shelter dogs were

25:08

more likely to do the ground

25:10

scratching behavior, which does lend a

25:12

bit of credence to my theory

25:14

that dogs who are more insecure perhaps

25:17

feeling that they don't have a stable

25:19

established territory or that they're in an

25:21

area that may be frequented by other

25:23

dogs, that they might be more likely

25:25

to do the ground scratching behavior in

25:27

general. Now, I don't want anyone

25:30

to freak out and think, oh no, I

25:32

have an insecure dog. That's not necessarily what

25:34

I'm saying. This might be more

25:36

of a general rule. If your

25:38

dog may have no problems or

25:40

not be insecure at all, they

25:43

may... Have these sort of instinct

25:45

to do it and then just kind

25:47

of really enjoy the feeling of

25:49

it like the feeling of scratching the

25:52

feeling of security of like kind

25:54

of securing their toilet. For instance, my

25:56

dog really enjoys doing sort of

25:58

scratching digging and rooting behavior in her

26:00

bed and on the couch when

26:02

she's really relaxed. So that is not

26:04

a stress behavior. That's her relaxing

26:06

and kind of settling in sort of

26:08

like tucking herself in and feeling

26:10

secure. So I don't think it's

26:12

always a stress response, but for a

26:15

lot of dogs it might be like

26:17

when they're feeling a little vulnerable or

26:19

a little insecure It's not a problem

26:21

though like it's it's not a problem

26:23

behavior unless for some reason they it

26:25

seems to really stress them out like

26:27

it's very very common So I wouldn't

26:29

worry about it other than the fact

26:32

that your dog it does seem to

26:34

be kicking turf into your face, which

26:36

you know is a little disrespectful, but

26:38

hey What are you

26:40

gonna do about it? I think that

26:42

she's made her point, which is you

26:44

should, you know, give her maybe some

26:46

reading materials while she's going to the

26:49

bathroom. A newspaper. Think about

26:51

it. All

26:53

right, on to the next listener

26:55

question. Hi, Katie. Every day in

26:57

my seventh grade life science classroom,

26:59

I highlight some organism. Sometimes

27:01

they're just living things I find cool

27:03

or interesting. Other times the creature is

27:05

related to the day's topic. Tomorrow

27:08

we begin that middle school ride

27:10

of passage, the Cell Model Project.

27:12

I remember that. Tomorrow's creature

27:14

is going to be the Portuguese

27:16

Man -o -War. I'm

27:18

highlighting this creature because it is

27:20

a complex colonial organism with several

27:22

zoids, which are multicellular little things

27:24

that are specialized and work together. But

27:27

wait, doesn't that mean the

27:29

whole organism is multicellular? Some

27:32

internet person wrote it is colonial from

27:34

the morphological developmental and evolutionary points of view.

27:36

I have an idea of what that

27:38

means, but don't have time right now to

27:40

research the details of it. This is

27:43

what made me think of you because that's

27:45

literally your job as the host of

27:47

my favorite podcast. I would love to hear

27:49

a show about this distinction and other

27:51

examples of organisms that blur the lines between

27:53

unicellular, colonial, and multicellular.

27:55

As always, I love the show

27:57

and wish you the best. And

27:59

this is from Amanda M. Hi,

28:02

Amanda. This is a fantastic question. And

28:04

I love the Portuguese Man of War. They

28:06

are beautiful. They're amazing. They look like aliens,

28:09

sort of like a cross between a

28:12

jellyfish and a discarded shopping bag floating

28:14

in the ocean. Definitely not

28:16

something you should touch,

28:18

given their venomous stingers. And

28:20

that's a great idea for a whole

28:22

episode to do a show about colonial and

28:24

multicellular organisms. I will probably do

28:27

that. But for now, let me answer

28:29

your questions. So the

28:31

difference between a unicellular and

28:33

multicellular organism is straightforward,

28:35

right? A single cell, like

28:38

a protozoan, versus multiple

28:40

cells. But what is

28:42

a colonial organism and how

28:44

does it distinguish itself

28:47

from a multicellular organism. So

28:49

why is a man

28:51

of war considered a colonial

28:53

organism whereas a jellyfish

28:55

is considered multicellular? So

28:57

technically, a colonial organism

28:59

is one made up of

29:01

individual organisms that could, in

29:03

theory, be separated from the

29:06

collective organism and survive. And

29:08

these are called zoids. So a

29:10

human skin cell can't survive on

29:13

its own whereas like a zoid

29:15

such as a part of a

29:17

piece of coral, like a coral

29:19

polyp could, in theory or in

29:21

general, survive on its own. The

29:24

reason the manna war

29:26

is confusing is that it

29:28

has progressed so far

29:30

into being a colonial organism

29:32

that the individual zoids

29:34

now act more like little

29:36

organelles and couldn't really

29:38

survive on their own. So

29:41

the distinction between a

29:43

manna war and a multi

29:45

-cell multicellular organism is partially

29:47

semantic, but also it's

29:49

in terms of how it

29:51

develops and its evolutionary

29:53

history. So I think

29:55

the best way, perhaps most horrifying way,

29:58

but the best way to imagine

30:00

it, it's as if a

30:02

human embryo, like a human

30:04

fetus, cloned itself in utero,

30:07

differentiated a bunch of other

30:09

fetuses that were good at

30:11

different jobs, and formed a

30:13

giant monster made out of hundreds

30:15

of babies and then evolved to

30:17

the point where all these babies

30:19

were connected by tissue and they

30:22

were helpless and would die on

30:24

their own if you separated them

30:26

from the giant horrifying megatron baby.

30:29

So one could argue that functionally

30:31

this is the same as

30:33

a multicellular organism or maybe it's

30:35

on its way to being

30:38

a multicellular organism but the way

30:40

it evolved right in the

30:42

way that it it developed as

30:44

like basically making a bunch

30:46

of clones of itself and then

30:48

each like sort of clone

30:50

organism differentiating sort of starting out

30:53

as a collection of zoids

30:55

and then becoming more of a

30:57

cohesive interdependent organism. The

30:59

way things are classified now

31:01

this would be considered a

31:03

colonial organism but it's a

31:05

really good question because there

31:07

is There's a lot of

31:09

gray areas in evolutionary biology,

31:11

and this is one of

31:13

them. At one point, does

31:16

something that's like a colonial

31:18

organism just become a multicellular

31:20

organism. And a lot of

31:22

it's a semantic difference, but

31:24

it's a semantic difference that's

31:26

based on its evolutionary history

31:28

and the way that it

31:30

develops. The reproductive cycle, the

31:32

way it develops. That

31:34

is the answer to your question.

31:37

I hope and definitely stay tuned in

31:39

the future because I will it's

31:41

a great idea for an episode to

31:43

do one on colonial organisms and Why

31:46

they're so weird? What's going on

31:48

with those guys? Well, thank

31:50

you guys again so much for

31:52

your questions. If you have a

31:54

question, please write to me at

31:56

creaturefeaturepot at gmail.com. I do love

31:59

doing these Lister Questions episodes. Let

32:01

me know also if you enjoy

32:03

hearing them. If you want

32:05

me to do less, more of

32:07

them. But I am definitely,

32:09

I have a really great lineup of

32:11

guests coming up on the show, so I'm

32:13

gonna have some full length. episodes

32:16

with a guest so

32:18

that I'm not just staring

32:20

at my dog talking

32:22

to her as I'm podcasting.

32:24

Right Cookie? Is that

32:26

better? Yep, she's leaving. She doesn't

32:28

want me to do this anymore. Anyways,

32:30

thank you guys so much for

32:33

listening and thanks to the Space Cossacks

32:35

for their super awesome song Exo

32:37

Lumina. Creature Features, a production of iHeartRadio

32:39

for more podcasts, like the one

32:41

you just heard. Visit the iHeartRadio App

32:43

App Podcast, or hey guess what? Why

32:46

are you listening to your favorite shows? I

32:48

can't judge you, and I'm not your mother, so

32:50

I can't tell you what to do, but don't

32:52

touch a man of war. It's

32:55

ouchy kaboobers. It'll hurt

32:57

ya, even though it does

32:59

look kinda like a pretty grocery bag

33:01

floating in the ocean. See

33:03

ya next Wednesday! It's

33:08

true that some things change as we get

33:10

older. But if you're a woman

33:12

over 40 and you're dealing with insomnia, brain

33:14

fog, moodiness, and weight gain, you don't

33:16

have to accept it as just another part

33:18

of aging. And with MIDI

33:20

health, you can get help and stop pushing

33:22

through it alone. The experts

33:25

at Midi understand that all these

33:27

symptoms can be connected to the

33:29

hormonal changes that happen around menopause,

33:31

and Midi can help you feel more like

33:33

yourself again. Many health care providers

33:36

aren't trained to treat or even

33:38

recognize menopause symptoms. Midi clinicians

33:40

are menopause experts. They're

33:42

dedicated to providing safe, effective,

33:44

FDA -approved solutions for dozens

33:47

of hormonal symptoms, not just

33:49

hot flashes. Most importantly,

33:51

they're covered by insurance. 91

33:53

% of midi patients get relief

33:55

from symptoms within just two

33:58

months. You deserve to feel

34:00

great. Book your virtual visit at

34:02

joinmitty.com. That's joinmidi.com. We love learning

34:04

about this extraordinary universe. And we

34:06

love sharing what we've learned. And

34:08

on our podcast, Daniel and Kelly's

34:11

extraordinary universe. That's what we're going

34:13

to do. I'm Daniel. I'm a

34:15

particle physicist and I think our

34:17

universe is absolutely extraordinary. I'm Kelly

34:19

Wienersmith. I study parasites and there's

34:21

just endless things about this universe

34:24

that I find fascinating. Basically, we're

34:26

both nerds. Each Tuesday and Thursday.

34:28

We take an hour long dive

34:30

into some science topic. Learn all

34:32

about our amazing and beautiful universe

34:34

on Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary universe

34:37

every Tuesday and Thursday on the

34:39

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

34:41

you get your podcasts.