The Crabatary or the Microplastics Making Poor Innocent Hermit Crabs?

From eggs to tacos to Ninja Turtles, some of the best things in life come in shells. So cozy on up inside the nearest conch as we regale you with tales of shells from all across the scientific spectrum!

SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces! 

Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy your very own, genuine SciShow Tangents sticker!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Trivia Question]

Golden ratio nautilus shells

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00004-018-0419-3

[Fact Off]

Batteries made from crab shells 

https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(22)00414-3

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220901135827.htm

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-future-of-renewable-energy-may-be-this-battery-made-from-crab-shells

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/cycle-life

https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2023/march/crab-shells-could-help-power-the-next-generation-of-rechargeable-batteries.html

Microplastics and hermit crab shells

https://oceanographicmagazine.com/news/hermit-crab-behaviour-affected-by-microplastics/

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0030

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32343937/

[Ask the Science Couch]

Mollusk shell development & secretion into spiral shapes

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-seashells-take-shape/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-are-seashells-created/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10126-005-6029-6

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0810311106

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-a-snails-shell-gets-its-twist

[Butt One More Thing]

Wood-boring bivalve that creates fecal chimneys

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12526-022-01306-z

https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/down-and-dirty-most-unusual-bivalve

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.