WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.480 Oh Hi, it's me. It's the guy who has like 2 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:04.919 one item in the grocery store and you let him 3 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:06.599 cut in front of you and he thinks about it 4 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:08.880 all day. Ali Ward, We're back with a brand new, 5 00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:13.679 shiny audiobook Mixtape episode, which you're like, what huh, what 6 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:16.600 all right? So there's so many ologists who are authors, 7 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:21.039 and they've sweated and fretted and poured themselves onto pages, 8 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:24.280 and I thought, in twenty nineteen, why not make like 9 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.960 an audio catalog of their books? So I did, and 10 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.839 it's up at aliward dot com slash ologies slash bookworm. 11 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.719 So maybe you need gift ideas. What's better than a book? 12 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:39.960 They're biodegradable, they can be regifted when you're done with them, 13 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.280 or when someone else is done with them. Or maybe 14 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:45.320 you yourself will be on some planes or trains or 15 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.759 in an automobile this season and you need a good read. 16 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:51.759 So I did an updated episode for twenty twenty one, 17 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.039 gathering as many excerpts from ologists who we've had on 18 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.920 since the last audiobook Mixtape episode, put them all together 19 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.159 with the help of the Ology staffers Noel Dilworth and 20 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.040 Susan Hale, who literally made a whole spreadsheet of ologists 21 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:08.439 and their books and helped me reach out to get 22 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:11.480 the actual author's picks for what part of their books 23 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.640 they wanted me to read into your face, So I'm 24 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:16.599 about to do that. Also, I took a Twitter poll 25 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.040 to ask if you wanted me to read all of 26 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:22.840 these excerpts like a normal person making a normal episode. 27 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:27.439 Are kind of like an ASMR bedtime story vibe. Guess 28 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.920 what you said? No, thanks, just do it normal, so 29 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:35.040 I will. Okay. First, thank you patrons for supporting the 30 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.840 show from before we ever launched. I love you all. 31 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:40.239 You can join Patreon for as little as a buck 32 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:42.799 a month and submit questions to theologists. And thank you 33 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:45.439 to everyone who supports us by telling friends and family 34 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:47.879 who tweeted at me about being your number one Spotify 35 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:51.680 listen this year. Apparently eighty thousand of you had Ologies 36 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:54.840 as your number one podcast on Spotify, which blows my 37 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.359 butt right off. Thank you to everyone who rates on 38 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.159 Apple podcasts and leaves reviews. Read them all and I 39 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:04.400 prove it with a fresh one left this week by 40 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:09.080 New Mexico nature teachers who wrote better than a Narwal migration. 41 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:11.759 They wrote, There's this guy named Chris, who teaches seventh 42 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:14.319 graders to love every creature on this planet. And when 43 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.120 Chris turned thirty, he hoped to see the Narwal migration, 44 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:19.719 but it didn't happen. He's about to turn fifty and 45 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.479 he's your biggest fanboy. Thanks for a show that continues 46 00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:25.639 to show me the marvels of the world. Chris, Happy birthday. 47 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.120 May all Narwaals be with you cosmically, and I hope 48 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:32.599 they migrate before your eyes and before the whole world collapses. 49 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:34.960 Just kidding. We'll get to that later. Okay, onto books, 50 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.439 Settle in for a stroll down the stacks, and if 51 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.120 any of these ologists and episodes are unfamiliar to you, 52 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:44.840 go back listen to their episodes. Oh so good. Also, 53 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.240 I thought this episode would be so easy to do, 54 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.599 just read like a bunch of excerpts. Guess what turns 55 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:53.719 out narrating thirty pages of straight script and making segues 56 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:56.520 isn't as brisk as I thought it would be. And 57 00:02:56.599 --> 00:02:59.919 this episode is already two days late. Now, so let's 58 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:03.280 do the music thing, all right, Audio book mixtape number 59 00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:25.560 two Okay, still me so, y'all. It's winter in the 60 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.039 Northern Hemisphere. We're about to pull on some absurdly thick 61 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.759 socks and cozy up with a dozen or so books 62 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.199 from your friends. What shall you sip? Perhaps some hot 63 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:39.080 mold cider? Does that even exist from an existential aspect? 64 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:42.159 So if you listen to the Ciderology episode with Gabe Cook, 65 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.240 perhaps you know that Americans call anything with apple juice cider. 66 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:50.199 Pretty much. We're big oafs about it. We get it wrong. 67 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.400 But Southern Hemisphere, maybe you're on the beach right now. 68 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.400 Maybe you're in a Santa hat kicking back cold ones. 69 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:00.360 Either way. In Gabe's new book Modern British Cider from 70 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:04.120 Camera Books, he tells us what sider looks like in 71 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:08.039 this modern age, where has it come from, and what 72 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.439 is making the trends that are being experienced right now? 73 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:13.479 And he picked this excerpt for me to read to you. 74 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:16.560 He wrote, people who know me well are aware of 75 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:20.839 certain identifiable traits that I possess. My uncanny knack for 76 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:24.639 being a jammy git, my insistence of always choosing red 77 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:28.600 on the roulette table, and my utilization of utilize over 78 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.040 my use of use. Another known foible is my ability 79 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.199 to speak with the aim of eliciting an informed and 80 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.319 technical response on a topic, and yet instead undertake a torturous, 81 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.959 seven minute narcissistic monologue that ends in a yes or 82 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.600 no question, or maybe no question at all. It's a 83 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:46.360 particular skill, he writes, Well, true to type. I am 84 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.040 approaching this book in a similar fashion. I have been 85 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:53.160 presented with a clear, bold and totemic title, Modern British Cider. 86 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:56.319 The natural conclusion to writing such a book, you might imagine, 87 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:00.199 would be to establish, identify, and explore exactly so what 88 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.800 constitutes a modern British Sider, which is precisely what I 89 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:06.439 am not going to do right now. Cider doesn't really 90 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:11.240 need me, he writes, a condescendingly mustachioed Englishman to apply 91 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:15.079 any form of restrictive definition, just as it is beginning 92 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:17.639 to emerge from its chrysalis and turn into the wonderful, 93 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:21.360 boozy butterfly that it has the potential to become. Modern 94 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:24.160 British Sider isn't a singular thing, he writes. It's not 95 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:27.720 a style. It's not a particular process or form of packaging. 96 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.839 It can't be a tick box exercise because the boxes 97 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:33.040 haven't been agreed upon yet. It's more of a free 98 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:38.240 jazz ensemble, exploring the routes before joining back up together. Ugh, 99 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.240 don't you love when someone loves something? So anyway, that 100 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:43.759 was his pick from a modern British sider. But maybe 101 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:46.040 alcohol isn't something that you have a good relationship with. 102 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:51.160 Maybe your drug is oxytocin and it's love. Dig in 103 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:54.160 to a brand new book by doctor Robin Dunbar of 104 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:58.480 the Philematology episode All about Kissing. So he authored the 105 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:01.439 book The Science of Love, which was published by Wiley 106 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:05.000 in twenty twelve, and in it he covers casual questions 107 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:08.000 like what evolutionary benefit could there be to feeling like 108 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.519 you would die for a mate? And is parental love 109 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.759 anything like romantic love? If love exists to encourage child bearing, 110 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.600 why do we love until death do us part? And beyond? 111 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:22.920 So Robin Dunbar picked the opening excerpt of the Science 112 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:24.079 of Love for me to read to you, and it 113 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.240 goes like this, It's the weirdest thing that will ever 114 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:29.279 happen to you falling in love. I mean, think about it. 115 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:32.959 There you are wending your way innocently through childhood, doing 116 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.319 the things that children do, and then the hormones suddenly 117 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:40.000 kick in, and then you fall in love hesitatingly at first, 118 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.560 in that first all consuming crush, but then with more 119 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:48.279 confidence and determination as practice and experience make perfect. And 120 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:50.959 although it doesn't happen every day, from time to time 121 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:53.079 throughout the rest of your life, it will catch you 122 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:56.800 by surprise. It's very weird all at once. You can't 123 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.800 think of anything else except this seemingly rare person who 124 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:04.800 has just stepped, probably equally innocently into your life. Your 125 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:08.720 attention is focused almost to exclusion on the object of 126 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:11.759 your desire. You just cannot get enough of them. You 127 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:16.800 experienced heightened happiness, often associated with glazed eyes, a far 128 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.720 away look and a dreamy expression, and roused though not 129 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:25.839 turbulent emotions. The word besotted often comes to mind, he writes, 130 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:28.600 so yes, his book is the Science of Love, and 131 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:32.160 it covers everything science has discovered about romance and passion 132 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:35.800 and sex and commitment and more. And if you are 133 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.639 me and have been mainlining the Beatles documentary and wondering 134 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:44.240 how close friendships mirror intimate partnerships but with less boning, 135 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.439 perhaps you'd like to pre order doctor Dunbar's upcoming twenty 136 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:50.560 twenty two book, Friends, Understanding the Power of Our most 137 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:53.639 important relationships because we get by with a little help 138 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.480 from each other. So links to those on my website. Friends. 139 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:02.959 But if you're like, okay, what get back to internet dad, Well, okay, 140 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.040 then let's talk dix better. Yet, let's read a whole 141 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:10.279 book about boners and schlongs and ding dongs and pickles. 142 00:08:10.759 --> 00:08:15.199 So author PhD biologist and philology guest doctor Emily Willingham 143 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.959 wrote the book on him. It's called Fallacy Life Lessons 144 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:23.199 from the Animal Penis. It was published by Avery in 145 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:27.920 twenty twenty, and doctor Willingham provided an excerpt from chapter two, 146 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:31.079 which gets at most of the book's main themes, and 147 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.600 she writes, perhaps you've never looked at a human penis 148 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:37.480 and wondered where did that come from? In which case, 149 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.159 congratulations on your escape from the fate of many a 150 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.399 girl and woman holding a smartphone. But it's a question 151 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:48.000 that lots of biologists have asked and then asked again. 152 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:51.840 The answer for humans and most mammals is pretty straightforward 153 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:56.360 and honestly not enthralling. But the rest of the animal kingdom, 154 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.360 Dear God, by the time you're done with this book, 155 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:02.919 she writes, you'll be just fine with the penis you 156 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.000 have or share or enjoy, I promise. So that is 157 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:12.000 her excerpt. She apologized for that penis paragraph, saying if 158 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:16.120 it's too short, I can try to find another Doctor Willingham. 159 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:18.440 If we've learned anything from your work, it's that the 160 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:22.559 size or length or breadth is not what's important. And 161 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:25.080 as the blurb of the book says, the fallacy sold 162 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:27.440 to many of us is that the penis signals dominance 163 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:30.960 in power. But this rye and penetrating book reveals that 164 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.480 in fact, nature did not shape the penis or the 165 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:37.159 human attached to it to have the upper hand. So 166 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:40.600 it's intention and how you use it. Okay, if you're 167 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:44.080 looking for more of doctor Willingham's work, maybe more upstairs 168 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:46.759 than downstairs business. She has a brand new book. It's 169 00:09:46.759 --> 00:09:50.360 being released December fourteenth, next week by Basic Books, and 170 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.960 it's called The Tailored Brain From Ketamine Tiketo to Companionship, 171 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:57.720 a user's guide to feeling better and thinking smarter. Her 172 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:00.120 book has been called a candid and practical guide on 173 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.960 the new frontier of brain customization. She says that there's 174 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.200 no one size fits all shortcut to the ideal mind 175 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.960 and the way to understand, cognitive enhancement is to think 176 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.600 like a tailor. So measure how you need your brain 177 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:15.840 to change and then find a plan that suits it. 178 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.759 So that new book is The Tailored Brain. So yes, 179 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:21.279 if you liked her previous work on Dix, you might 180 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:24.559 just love her brain book. Okay. So from Willingham's Willie's 181 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.600 to worms, that seems like a good segue, right. Okay, 182 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:32.799 So Doctor one Pagan, beloved guest from the episode Plenariology 183 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:37.200 about very Cool Worms, I promise, has written several books. 184 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:41.919 There's one, the First Brain, The Neuroscience of Plenarians, through 185 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:45.799 Oxford University Press. So many of you loved him and 186 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:49.679 got pumped about plenarians from his passion. I'm going to 187 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:51.399 read you an excerpt that he sent me from his 188 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:55.360 twenty fourteen book about plenarians. Ready, Okay, Before getting into 189 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:58.759 what a flatworm actually is, we should explore a more 190 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:02.360 general question, what is a worm? A generic worm is 191 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:05.120 an invertebrate, which means an animal that does not have 192 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:10.759 a vertebrate style spinal cord. Examples of invertebrates include insects, arachnids, 193 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:14.399 and well worms, among other things. Worms in particular are 194 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.679 usually not much more than a tube like shaped critter, 195 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:22.399 which generally lacks appendages. But there are variations of the 196 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:25.080 theme on this, of course. For example, sometimes we refer 197 00:11:25.159 --> 00:11:28.440 to caterpillars the very hungry kind, or otherwise as worms, 198 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.679 And there is a particularly interesting type of worm, the 199 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:35.799 velvet worm, also known as parapatis, which is not really 200 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.039 a worm, but is nonetheless a very interesting little guy 201 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.519 who I think deserves a book of its own. But 202 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:44.519 I digress, he writes. In general, worms tend to be 203 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:48.399 slimy little living things. All kids like worms, girls, boys, 204 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:53.320 doesn't matter. The traditional aversion to slimy, rigly living beings 205 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:56.279 comes later in a kid's life, depending on his or 206 00:11:56.279 --> 00:12:00.000 her particular upbringing. Some people outgrow their fascination with critics 207 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:03.480 like these, Thankfully, he says, I never did. Of all 208 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:07.559 worm species, flatworms are some of the most interesting ones 209 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.600 on this earth of ours. Oh, I love him. So 210 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:13.720 if you've already read this worm tone, maybe you'd like 211 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.399 his other book, which is Strange Survivors, which is about 212 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.399 really bizarre offense and defense strategies animals used to survive 213 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:24.120 in the cutthroat world of natural selection. Or he has 214 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.559 a brand new book out twenty twenty one. It's called 215 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:30.480 Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins. A Trip through the World 216 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:34.639 of Animal Intoxication. It's published by BenBella Books. So I'm 217 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:39.519 sorry Drunk and Stoned Animals, Yes, and he writes from 218 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:43.639 parrots to primates, consuming medicinal chemicals is an instinctive behavior 219 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:48.320 that helps countless organisms fight infection and treat disease. But 220 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:51.399 what if the similarities don't end there? Like us, many 221 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:55.799 creatures also consume substances that have no apparent benefit except 222 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:59.799 for intoxication. In fact, animals have been using drugs for 223 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:04.720 recreational purposes since prehistoric times. We may even have animals 224 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:07.639 to thank for the idea. Legend says that coffee was 225 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:11.840 discovered by observing the behavior of goats that had eaten it. 226 00:13:12.919 --> 00:13:15.720 So that is his latest book. It's called Drunk Flies 227 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.679 and Stone Dolphins. And if you need more of doctor 228 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.320 Pegan in your life, which you do since being on ologies, 229 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:24.960 he launched his own podcast and it's called The Bald 230 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.320 Scientist and he talks more about his life and work 231 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.000 and books there and he's a gem. We love him. Okay, 232 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:34.960 from shitammered nats, let's talk about angry wasps are wasps angry? 233 00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:37.720 Are they the assholes we've made them out to be? So? 234 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:40.919 If you listen to the Sexology episode with author and 235 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:45.200 entomologist Eric Eaton, you may have learned wasps are just 236 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:47.519 trying to wasp and they just want to feed bits 237 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:50.919 of your turkey sandwich to their carnivore babies. And Eric 238 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:55.799 wrote a breathtaking, the beautiful book called Wasps The Astonishing 239 00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:59.399 Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect. It was published in twenty 240 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:03.000 twenty one by Princeton University Press, and like his episode, 241 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.159 it sings the praises of the insect that we all 242 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:10.440 have unfairly decided we hate or maybe have confusing feeling towards. 243 00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:13.919 And he picked this excerpt for you. Humanity has a 244 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:18.919 great ambivalence toward wasps. Our patriarchal culture revers the warrior 245 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:22.960 image of social wasps, conveniently ignoring the fact that wasps 246 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.159 we all want to emulate are all female. Meanwhile, we 247 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.879 loathe the yellowjackets for exploiting our urban and suburban lifestyles. 248 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.600 It may come as a surprise to learn that the 249 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:39.120 overwhelming majority of wasp species leads solitary lives rather than 250 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:42.919 dwelling in paper palaces with queens and workers, or that 251 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:47.480 not all wasps can sting, he writes, So sit back, y'all, 252 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:50.720 relax by the fire, and thumb through some really gorgeous 253 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.080 photos of wasps. Also, when you're stuck on a holiday 254 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:57.360 zoom with your cousin's husband you hate, just change the 255 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:00.759 subject by announcing that wasps are agents of pest control 256 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:04.240 in agriculture and gardens, and there subjects of study in 257 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:08.039 medicine and engineering, and they pollinate flowers, and they engage 258 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:13.679 in symbiotic relationships. They create architectural masterpieces in the form 259 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.080 of their nests. So there you go. There's some dinner 260 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.720 party convo. And if you're like, I don't know about wasps, 261 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.080 that's fine. If you're like, do you know of any 262 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:25.240 bug books that celebrate small, hard animals who don't have 263 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:27.679 tiny shives on their butts, but maybe they have like 264 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:34.360 lamps instead, well do I ever? So? Self described sparklematologist 265 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:38.480 and firefly expert, doctor Sarah Lewis wrote a book about 266 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:43.080 these luminous little beetles lightning bugs, and it's called Silent 267 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:47.120 Sparks The Wondrous World of Fireflies. It was published in 268 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:51.000 twenty sixteen by Princeton University Press, and doctor Lewis picked 269 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.919 an exerpt for me to read from chapter two. Deep 270 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.879 in the Heart of the Smokies, she writes, it wasn't 271 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.639 until the forest was completely dark that we saw the 272 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:04.600 first flash. Moments later, a dozen male fireflies took flight 273 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:09.480 around us, broadcasting their typical mating call. Six rapid bursts 274 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:15.000 of light, followed by six seconds of total darkness. Suddenly 275 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:18.919 the forest came alive with flying sparks, and thousands of 276 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:24.639 male fireflies were flashing together in lockstep synchrony. Together, they 277 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:29.200 flared out their six precisely timed flashes, and then they 278 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:32.960 all ceased at once. Darkness rushed in, like a shade 279 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.600 drawn over my eyes. All the scientific descriptions that I'd 280 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:41.440 read left me totally unprepared for the transcendental thrill of 281 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:46.720 this rhythmic pulsating display mesmerized. I sank down and yielded 282 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.960 to this immense biological rhythm. Alone in the silence save 283 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:55.440 for a synchronous symphony played by a thousand fireflies, I 284 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.679 felt like I'd fallen out of time. That night, in Elkmont, 285 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:02.559 I witnessed a prodigiou effort that was all about procreation. 286 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:07.880 The tiny pulsating stars responsible for this brilliant display, we're 287 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:12.200 desperately trying to propel their genes into the next firefly generation. 288 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.200 As for the rest of us, we were just fortunate 289 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.920 to be spectators at their exhibition. So her book, again, 290 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.920 Silent Sparks. It's been called a passionate exploration of one 291 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:28.160 of the world's most charismatic and admired insects. So it 292 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.440 might just inspire you to go sit in a forest 293 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:33.519 and reconnect with the natural world. And also, aren't we 294 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.400 all kind of passionate about passion? I feel like we are. 295 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:41.319 Cicadas are just ask entomologist doctor Jen Kritsky. He is 296 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:44.799 the author of the twenty twenty one Ohio Biological Survey 297 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:49.240 book Periodical Cicadas, the Brood ten Edition. And if you're like, 298 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:52.640 why do these bugs live under ground for seventeen years? 299 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:55.880 I need more info before brood ten emerges again in 300 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.880 sixteen and a half years. Well, he told me. The 301 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:02.279 page seventy two of his book describes the purpose of 302 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:06.279 seventeen year cicadas, and he writes, love gives them wings 303 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:09.279 and they flaunt themselves in the sun for a brief space, 304 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:14.119 like some gay lifario, and like him, they dissipate every energy, 305 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:17.440 and then fall to the earth like an empty pouch, 306 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:21.200 as Balsak says, and die. When examined after their death, 307 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:24.680 they're found to be a mere shell, scarcely more substantial 308 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:28.440 than that they cast off when they began their amatory career. 309 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.720 It's true that the female, before her death, goes to 310 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.480 some trouble to drill holes in the bark of the 311 00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:37.160 trees for the purpose of laying her eggs, after which 312 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.359 she too falls and dies, leaving as empty a carcass 313 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.880 as that of her mate. For seventeen years have these 314 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:47.599 hopeful creatures been waiting in the dark recesses of the 315 00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:50.799 earth for the time when fate will throw them together. 316 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.759 And for seventeen years they have been laying in a 317 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:58.240 good supply of food, so that when their honeymoon shall arrive, 318 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:02.799 they may waste no time in idle, vulgar feeding, but 319 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:08.160 may devote themselves entirely to the cultivation of each other's acquaintance, 320 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:13.920 And so through affection they starve to death. Ah, how Emo, 321 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:18.920 how beautiful horniness It drives us? It drives us to peril. 322 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:22.960 What a beautiful tragedy. So that was doctor Jen Kritzky's book, 323 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:28.680 Periodical Cicada's. So that was doctor Jean Kritzky's book, Periodical Cirkada's. 324 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:32.359 What a beautiful tragedy. They need to love, to connect, 325 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:37.319 to leave a genetic legacy, to copulate with the absolute 326 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:41.119 loudest screaming partners, you can find. It's not just humans 327 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.279 or bugs though. Bears are also so vulnerable to the 328 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.480 magic of affection. You can take it from personology guest 329 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:51.799 and bear expert Chris Morgan. So he wrote a book 330 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:55.200 called Bears of the Last Frontier, The Adventure of a 331 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.920 Lifetime among Alaska's Black, Grizzly and Polar Bears. It was 332 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.359 published in twenty eleven by Stuart Taborian Chang, and it 333 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:07.440 details his time traversing Alaska to document and study the 334 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:11.319 mating behavior of giant coastal brown bears, and he writes 335 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:14.279 in the chapter the Love Zone, a pattern emerges on 336 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.680 the meadow that has had me transfixed. The bears enter 337 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:21.039 the scene over a giant log pile, pausing as if 338 00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:24.839 walking into a saloon and assessing the competition. Some bears 339 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:28.799 scatter while others quit munching momentarily to size up the newcomer. 340 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:33.720 The biggest males confidently resume grazing, while the intermediary bears 341 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.119 leave the scene quietly, gingerly looking over their shoulders in 342 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:41.240 the hope that the females weren't watching them, retreat pushing 343 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:45.200 through the saloon doors. A giant male entered the scene today, 344 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:48.279 and every female looked up. They all seem to be 345 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:51.960 trying to catch his attention, coyly turning in circles before 346 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.279 sitting on their rumps and wandering back and forth toward 347 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.039 and then away from him in the hope that he 348 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:02.359 might follow. The big fellow had an air of supreme 349 00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:05.720 confidence about him, and he immediately pulled out some of 350 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:09.400 his best moves to impress his competitors, starting with a 351 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:13.839 bear's typical cowboy swagger. Elvis, eat your heart out, he writes. 352 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:18.000 The hip gyrations on this guy caught everyone's attention, including 353 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:23.240 another large male who was already copulating with a female. 354 00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:27.559 What thank you, Chris Morgan. We have just learned that 355 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:31.400 nature is one big muddy orgy. It's a little heteronormative, 356 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.599 but whatever floats these beautiful beloved beast boats, you know. 357 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:36.759 And so now that we've covered some birds and the 358 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:41.599 bees of bears and bugs, let's talk bird butts. You loved. 359 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:44.799 Doctor John Bates Awology episode, and he is the editor 360 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:48.119 of the University of Chicago Press's Book of Eggs, a 361 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:50.839 life sized guide to the eggs of six hundred of 362 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:55.920 the world's bird species. This is the ultimate, thick, illustrated 363 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.799 love letter to six hundred of the most intriguing eggs. 364 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.599 Doctor Bates picked this excerpt for me to read to you. 365 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:06.559 The diversity of birds that successfully reproduce via the egg 366 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:11.559 is astonishing. Birds live on every continent and successfully breed 367 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:15.759 in every terrestrial habitat. In the frigid Anarctic, where winter 368 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.680 temperatures are below seventy degrees fahrenheit and winds may reach 369 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:23.240 two hundred miles per hour or three hundred and twenty kilometers, 370 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:27.519 the emperor penguin stands in place, carrying its single egg 371 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:31.160 on top of its feet for two months to warm 372 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:35.039 it before the chicks hatch. In Chile, gray gulls breed 373 00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:38.759 in the world's driest deserts, where few predators can venture. 374 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:41.599 The eggs and chicks are safe, but the parents must 375 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:45.119 commute daily to the ocean to obtain food and water 376 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.720 for themselves in their offspring. We still have much to 377 00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:50.240 learn about the biology of birds eggs, but there is 378 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:53.319 no doubt that reproduction through eggs has been a very 379 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:56.640 successful system for birds for millions of years. This book 380 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.160 is a journey through the strategies that different bird species 381 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:04.319 and the tactics that different individuals have evolved and adopted 382 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:09.359 to successfully reproduce via the fragile egg. So in the 383 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.279 witch came first the chicken in the egg debate. The 384 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:15.039 order is the egg, then the chicken, then the scientist, 385 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:17.359 and then the book. And then you buy the book, 386 00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.519 I don't know, read it for yourself, give it to 387 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:22.119 a friend. There you go. And if you're wondering, is 388 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:26.119 there a book about history and geologic time, maybe also 389 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:31.640 molten Earth? Well there is, and it's called Misadventure. It's 390 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:34.880 by the wonderful Just Phoenix, who's your favorite volcanologist and 391 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:37.240 also the guest of the very first episode of Ologies 392 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:39.559 Ever and her book was published this year in twenty 393 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:42.880 twenty one by Workman Publishing, and it's part memoir with 394 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:47.880 a buwload of adventure and exploration from jungles, to glaciers, 395 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:52.640 to TV studios, and of course, the world's largest volcano. Okay, 396 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:54.440 so this is a story about one time she was 397 00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:57.400 doing science on a volcano. Page one hundred and four. 398 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:01.400 I approached the flow guardedly, was to get close enough 399 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:04.039 to stick the pointed pick end of the hammer into 400 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:06.920 one of the flow's toes. As I drew closer, the 401 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:10.640