Defending Against “Murder Hornets” with Bee Balls, Aphantasia and the Two Extremes of the “Mind’s Eye,” and Venus’s Freaky-Fast Atmosphere

Learn about the surprising way Japanese honeybees defend themselves against "murder hornets" (actual name: Asian giant hornets); how “atmospheric tidal waves” make Venus’s atmosphere rotate faster than the actual planet; and the wide spectrum of how people mentally visualize images, including aphantasia and hyperphantasia.

Japanese honeybees defend against 'murder hornets' by forming bee balls by Cameron Duke

• Main, D. (2020, May 4). “Murder hornets” have arrived in the U.S.—here’s what you should know. NationalGeographic.com. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/05/asian-giant-hornets-arrive-united-states/
• Papachristoforou, A., Rortais, A., Zafeiridou, G., Theophilidis, G., Garnery, L., Thrasyvoulou, A., & Arnold, G. (2007). Smothered to death: Hornets asphyxiated by honeybees. Current Biology, 17(18), R795–R796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.07.033
• Sugahara, M., Nishimura, Y., & Sakamoto, F. (2012). Differences in Heat Sensitivity between Japanese Honeybees and Hornets Under High Carbon Dioxide and Humidity Conditions Inside Bee Balls. Zoological Science, 29(1), 30–36. https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.29.30
• Sugahara, M., & Sakamoto, F. (2009). Heat and carbon dioxide generated by honeybees jointly act to kill hornets. Naturwissenschaften, 96(9), 1133–1136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0575-0

Venus's atmosphere rotates 60 times faster than the planet because of "atmospheric tidal waves" by Grant Currin

• Takeshi Horinouchi, Yoshi-Yuki Hayashi, Shigeto Watanabe, Manabu Yamada, Atsushi Yamazaki, Toru Kouyama, Makoto Taguchi, Tetsuya Fukuhara, Masahiro Takagi, Kazunori Ogohara, Shin-ya Murakami, Peralta, J., Limaye, S. S., Takeshi Imamura, Masato Nakamura, Sato, T. M., & Takehiko Satoh. (2020). How waves and turbulence maintain the super-rotation of Venus’ atmosphere. Science, 368(6489), 405–409. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz4439
• Atmospheric tidal waves maintain Venus’ super-rotation. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/hu-at042320.php
• Carne, N. (2020, April 26). Super-rotation and Venus’ atmosphere. Cosmosmagazine.Com; Cosmos Magazine. https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/super-rotation-and-venus-atmosphere
• Passant Rabie. (2020, April 23). Why does Venus’ atmosphere spin much faster than the planet? Inverse; Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/science/why-does-venus-atmosphere-spin-much-faster-than-the-planet
• https://newatlas.com/author/david-szondy. (2020, April 24). “Tidal waves” power super-fast rotation of Venus’ atmosphere. New Atlas. https://newatlas.com/space/tidal-waves-power-super-fast-rotation-atmosphere-venus/
• Basilevsky, A. T., & Head, J. W. (2003). The surface of Venus. Reports on Progress in Physics, 66(10), 1699–1734. https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/66/10/r04

The two extremes of the "mind's eye": aphantasia and hyperphantasia by Kelsey Donk

• Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019
• Aphantasia clears the way for a scientific career path. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/uoe-act043020.php
• Zeman, A., Milton, F., Della Sala, S., Dewar, M., Frayling, T., Gaddum, J., Hattersley, A., Heuerman-Williamson, B., Jones, K., MacKisack, M., & Winlove, C. (2020). Phantasia–The psychological significance of lifelong visual imagery vivdness extremes. Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.003

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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/defending-against-murder-hornets-with-bee-balls-aphantasia-and-the-two-extremes-of-the-minds-eye-and-venuss-freaky-fast-atmosphere

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