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SciShow Tangents

Tangents

Mar 18, 2025
01:10:01

The day has arrived- this is our very last episode of Tangents ever! So of course, we had to talk about a topic that's near and dear to our hearts forever: Tangents. Ride down memory lane with us and returning original host Stefan Chin as we reminisce, try to remember what we've learned, and still learn new stuff in an episode that's the true encapsulation of everything we love about this show. 

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

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!

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

[This or That: SciShow or Tangents or Both]

Eyedrops to deliver a drug called pilocarpine

https://nerdfighteria.info/v/ekmb6KQahuk/

African crested rat with toxin-loaded fur

https://www.livescience.com/crested-rats-have-poison-fur.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/27/938878618/for-rats-that-coat-themselves-in-poison-these-rodents-are-surprisingly-cuddly

https://nerdfighteria.info/v/CQAVcAJQsEM/

Spleen cells creating splenunculi 

https://nerdfighteria.info/v/3xXyBCckWsM

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/12/13/505349283/meet-the-spleen-the-strange-little-organ-that-can-multiply

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27226272/

Car transmission failures due to endangered species act

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/17/archives/transmission-problems-in-cars-linked-to-ban-on-whale-killing.html

https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/the-innovation-file-solving-a-whale-of-a-problem/

https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-the-jojoba-plant-saved-the-sperm-whale-1716719552

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/15/archives/oil-from-a-shrub-found-in-desert-may-save-the-sperm-whale.html

https://www.lubesngreases.com/magazine/whale-oil-biobased-and-bygone/

[The Gauntlet]

Preventing snails from growing external shells

https://www.wired.com/2010/10/snails-slugs-shell-evolution/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101011090229.htm

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1525-142X.2010.00433.x

Female mouse pee compound that decreases pain and increases stress in males

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi9366

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953803

Niagara falls 1969 project

https://www.niagarafallsinfo.com/niagara-falls-history/niagara-falls-geology/american-dry-falls/

https://slate.com/technology/2019/05/niagara-falls-june-1969-dewatering.html

https://m.ammoth.us/blog/2010/03/absent-rivers-ephemeral-parks/

Wolf puppies acting like domesticated dogs

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/824375

https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(19)30557-7

Ethyl mercaptan-sniffing animals

https://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/0894.pdf

https://bedfordaudubon.org/2016/01/07/turkey-vulture-and-black-vulture/

https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-daily/turkey-vultures-and-gas-pipelines

Ika-tako computer virus

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/japanese-virus

https://www.computerworld.com/article/1343317/hacker-s-p2p-virus-replaces-files-with-sea-creature-manga.html

Frogs that don’t have middle ears but can still hear

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1302218110

https://phys.org/news/2013-09-frogs-ears-mouth.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3023005/

[Ask the Science Couch]

Mathematical uses for tangents

https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/classes/calciii/TangentNormalVectors.aspx

http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm

https://science.nasa.gov/learn/basics-of-space-flight/chapter4-1/

https://www.nasa.gov/ames-engineering/spaceflight-division/flight-dynamics/trajectory-design/

https://willkempartschool.com/compostional-mistakes-in-drawing/

[Butt One More Thing]

Young turquoise killifish gut microbes made old fish live longer

https://www.nature.com/news/young-poo-makes-aged-fish-l

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/120980v2

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