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41: Eyevolution, Eliminating Mosquitos, and Bagged Milk w/ Sabrina Cruz
Jun 8, 2023
01:46:39
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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Eyevolution showcases the intricate diversity and adaptive nature of eyes in different species.
- Eliminating mosquitoes raises concerns about disrupting ecosystems, pollination, and disease control strategies.
- Diversity of mosquito genera like Aedes and Anopheles underscores the variety of diseases they carry globally.
- Mosquitoes play essential roles in pollination, food chains, and ecosystem balance, despite their detrimental disease transmission.
Deep dives
Main Science Topic: Evolution of Eyes
The podcast discussion revolves around the evolution of eyes. It delves into the intricate ways eyes have evolved in different species, emphasizing Charles Darwin's examination of eye complexity and natural selection.
Question of Eliminating Mosquitoes
The podcast explores the possibility of eradicating mosquitoes due to their role in spreading diseases like malaria and dengue fever. It delves into the ecological impact, potential disruptions in pollination, and the varied diets of mosquitoes, highlighting the complexities of removing them entirely.
Mosquito Species and Disease Carrying Capacity
The summary analyzes the diversity of mosquito species and their capacity to carry diseases. It mentions specific genera like Aedes and Anopheles responsible for diseases such as yellow fever, dengue, wesneal virus, chicken guinea, zika, and malaria.
Mosquitoes: Pollination and Food Source for Ecosystems
It explores the role of mosquitoes in pollination and as a food source in ecosystems. Despite being a crucial diet source for birds, fish, and insects, the conversation points out the potential ecological effects of eliminating mosquitoes, stressing the intricate balance in nature's food webs.
Mosquitoes in Ecosystems and Freshwater
Mosquito larvae play a vital role in ecosystems by cleaning detritus like dead leaves, which helps maintain the freshwater ecosystem by preventing the overgrowth of algae and maintaining a balanced environment.
Arctic Mosquitoes and Caribou Interaction
Mosquitoes in the Arctic feed on woodland caribou to such an extent that the caribou can lose up to a liter of blood a week, impacting their migration patterns and population size over centuries, highlighting the unique and impactful relationship between these species.
Efforts to Control Mosquito Populations
Various methodologies for controlling mosquito populations include genetic modification techniques to limit reproduction, the use of bacteria to prevent disease transmission, and even fungal infection strategies to reduce their numbers, showing innovative approaches to mosquito control and potential environmental impacts.
What are some of the wildest ways that eyes have evolved? What would happen if we got rid of all mosquitos, and how would we even do it? And how on Earth did some Canadians come to love bagged milk?
Images we talk about:
The Picture Tom had on his Dorm Wall
The Sheep Video
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Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:05:15) Eyevolution
(00:44:03) Eliminating Mosquitos
(01:18:11) Bagged Milk
(01:41:18) Outro
We also learn about:
Ella you’ve made it! it’s bagged milk all the way down, organs of extreme perfection and complication, misquoting Darwin, this is cliche because this is where this came from, Darwin’s clickbait, Eyevolution 2 Eyelectric BoogEyeloo, eye diagrams on Tom’s dorm wall, octopi are aliens, we are the ones with backward photoreceptors, you’re perfect just the way you are, horizontal and vertical pupils, cats have built in sunglasses, taller animals have rounder pupils, using the blur gradient for depth perception most, birds have circular pupils, compensatory cyclovergence in goats, horror writers have rotating goat eyes, w shaped pupils in cuttlefish, heart shaped pupils, frog pupils are a mystery, “I ought to conquer the cold shudder”, it’s just 1 mosquito species or 3,000, mosquitos are on every continent, vegetarian mosquitos, blood drinking mosquitos only drink blood to reproduce, I thought we were capri suns, *joke about women here*, palette, no plant requires mosquito pollination, the mosquito fish, mosquitos are delectable… uh… for fish, does every entomologist eat bugs, dark clouds of arctic mosquitos, cleaning pools just lacks that wow factor, mosquitos annoy caribou to death, the ecosystem would hiccup and move on, the invisible hand of mosquitos, nearly half of all people ever to live have been killed by mosquito disease, extirpation, the classic sterile insect technique has been used since the 1950s, you are the third person I’ve known whose had to sex fruit flies, “Ella’s Virgins”, filling mosquitos with good bacteria, spider venom fungus to brutally kill mosquitos, why are you here Sabrina, casual Ella lore drop about living in Canada, milk with the skin on, you don’t raw dog the milk bag, a heavy cold hacky sack, metric system looking pretty sexy, the metrication of Canada, this new fancy bag milk technology, too much marketing brain, demetricating, DIY bag milk, Sabrina’s got big misc energy.
Sources:
The Origin of Species
Serb & Eernisse on Cephalopod Eyes
David Holmes on the "Weird Wiring" of our Eyes
Labin & Ribak One Theory Why Our Eyes are Wired Backwards
The Amazing Meta-Analysis of Pupil Shape from Banks et al.
NPR Interview of Eye Researchers
W Shaped Pupil of Cuttlefish
Pupil Diversity in Frogs
Darwin's Leter to Asa
---
Ecology: A world without Mosquitoes
What would happen if we eliminated the worlds mosquitoes
The different types of mosquitoes
Malaria Facts
Irradiated mosquitoes
GM Mosquitoes
World Mosquito Program
Mosquito Killing Fungus
---
CBC on Selling Milk in Bags
Metrication - A Guide for Consumers (1974)
Report on Canadian Metrication Progress
CBC on Canada's Bagged Milk History
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