Ancient Rome - Are We More Like Rats Than We Think?

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/

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.

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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.