Play, Load, and Joy in Rats

Today you’ll learn about why some people are more popular with mosquitoes than others, what tickling rats tells us about being human, and how a recent discovery of ancient statues re-writes what we believed about historical Tuscany. 

Mosquito Magnets 

• “Why Are Some People Mosquito Magnets and Others Unbothered? A Medical Entomologist Points to Metabolism, Body Odor and Mindset” by Jonathan Day
  • https://theconversation.com/why-are-some-people-mosquito-magnets-and-others-unbothered-a-medical-entomologist-points-to-metabolism-body-odor-and-mindset-187957
• “Blood-feeding ecology of mosquitoes in two zoological gardens in the United Kingdom” by Arturo Hernandez-Colina, Merit Gonzalez-Olvera, Emily Lomax, Freya Townsend, Amber Maddox, Jenny C. Hesson, Kenneth Sherlock, Dawn Ward, Lindsay Eckley, Mark Vercoe, Javier Lopez & Matthew Baylis
  • https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-021-04735-0
• “Comparison of people who request mosquito control services and their non-requesting neighbors” by C D Morris & K B Clanton
  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1583492/

Laughing Rats 

• “What Tickling Rats Tells Us About Human Development” by Adam Omary
  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/natured-nurture/202209/what-tickling-rats-tells-us-about-human-development
• ““Laughing” rats and the evolutionary antecedents of human joy?” by Jaak Panksepp and Jeff Burgdorf
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938403001598?via%3Dihub

Roman Relics 

• “Ancient Rome: Stunningly preserved bronze statues found in Italy” by BBC
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63564404
• “Italy hails 'exceptional' discovery of ancient bronze statues in Tuscany” by Reuters
  • https://www.cnn.com/style/article/italy-bronze-statues-tuscany/index.html
• “The Etruscans, an introduction” by Khan Academy
  • https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ap-ancient-etruria/a/the-etruscans-an-introduction
• “Ancient bronze statues found in prime condition will 'rewrite history,' Italian researchers say” by Camille Fine
  • https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/11/08/bronze-statues-italian-springs-roman-etruscan/8302449001/
• “A Trove of ‘Exceptional’ stunningly preserved bronze statues found at an Ancient Thermal Spa in Tuscany, Italy” by Arkeo News
  • https://arkeonews.net/a-trove-of-exceptional-stunningly-preserved-bronze-statues-found-at-an-ancient-thermal-spa-in-tuscany-italy/

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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/mosquito-magnets-laughing-rats-roman-relics

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