Better Than Human – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The monarch is a common butterfly, found in the Americas that is considered a poster species of pollinating insects. The monarch butterfly is easily recognizable because of its bright black, orange, and white patterns. Monarch butterflies are a parasite to their caterpillars’ only food source, milkweed. This plant itself is toxic to thwart insects from consuming its plant body, this includes an attempt to be toxic to monarchs. This has resulted in an evolutionary arms race between the two species. 

You’ve probably released monarch butterflies at some point in your life, if you’re from the Americas, but what do you really know about this flagship species? 

How does this tiny insect migrate such great distances, something normally only seen in larger animals like birds? How did monarchs evolve to eat a toxic plant, and why do they still exclusively eat it? What, if any, are the benefits of releasing captive raised Monarchs into the wild? What needs to be done to ensure the survival of this species?

You probably think you know all about this common butterfly, but do you really? Listen now to learn about the most recognizable and well studied butterflies on the planet.

In this episode, Jennifer and Amber explore the history of the potatoes. Or as a hobbit would say, "Po-tay-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew." However you like them, potatoes have changed the world. Jennifer insists potatoes are not roots or stems, but they’re tubers. Amber insists they are technically a specialized stem called a stolon. These tubers evolved to store food for potato plants when resources were scarce. The Native Americans living in what is now Peru quickly realized this benefit and began cultivating them. In the Western World, Potatoes were slow to catch on, due to the myth that they cause leprosy or that they were poisonous, and because they were thought of as “poor people” food. However, regardless of its rather interesting history, the potato has become the third most important food crop in the world.

The potato had a large effect on society; it yielded about three times the calories per acre of grain while also being  nutritious enough to almost support all your nutritional needs. It also grows in a wider variety of soils and climates, making it easy to grow almost anywhere.
Historically, potatoes were cheaper than bread, just as nutritious, and did not require a gristmill for grinding (which was important if money was tight). Because of this, potatoes sustained workers through the industrial revolution, and are still sustaining us in modern times. 

Potatoes have gotten a bad rap recently, but they are simple, nutritious, and taste good with a bit of butter. Listen now to learn about potato, the tuber native to the Americas. 

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This week's episode is a re-run that is all about rats, the long-tailed rodents that tend to be looked down upon within our society. Rats, however, are intelligent, clean, social, and resourceful animals that can survive almost anywhere.

Listen as we delve into the history of rats. What makes a rat, a rat? How are rats used in scientific research? (Spoiler alert, rats are used for a lot of research that impacts your daily life without you probably even realizing it.) How are rats perceived in culture? Listen to our latest episode to find out more.


Note: The movie Jennifer referenced is Sinister 2. The website of the zodiac origin that Amber mentioned can be found at the following link:
https://depts.washington.edu/triolive/quest/2007/TTQ07030/mythology.html


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In Coffee and Complain: Amber is back in Ohio and heard about snakes slithering down unsuspecting human throats on the way down. We talk about how kink shaming is lame, and sometimes your parent's friends are ... not that bright.  Also, white privilege DOES exist, even if you don't think so.

You've heard of elephants, and you might have heard of a shrew, but you probably have not heard of the Elephant Shrew (actually called Sengis). It is the size of a rat, but actually closer related to an elephant than a rodent. Scientists recently rediscovered this species after is was lost to Western society for over 50 years. However, if you ask the locals in the region of Africa in which these creatures are found, they knew all about them and where to find. So where they really lost?

Sengis have large brains, and are one of few species beside humans to have menstrual cycles. Periods are lame, period. Learn more about these not-actually-a-shrew Elephant Shrews on the latest episode of Better Than Human. 

And Amber, BATS ARE MAMMALS.

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In this week's Coffee and Complain, we talk YouTube’s political ads, which you can’t turn off and are forced to watch, and are equivalent to watching fiction. The Golden State Killer was sentenced, thank you Michelle McNamara. An no one is surprised that all those racist people who donated to have a wall built got their money stolen.

Despite what many think, evolution is not the survival of the fittest, but the survival of the just good enough. So sometimes evolution creates adaptations that decrease an organisms ability to survive but persists in the organism's population, like wisdom teeth. It’s called maladaptation, and is a trait that has become more harmful then helpful. Jennifer and Amber delve into some of the worst maladaptations in today's Earth, such as the female spotted hyenas giant genitalia. And is sleep a maladaptation or does Amber just think it's a waste of time? Or both.

Listen to learn more.

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On coffee and complain, we talk Trump lacking basic human emotions, and how his attempt to destroy the Post Office could lead to an unstable government. 

Then onto this week’s topic, the big ass butterfly called Queen Alexandra's Birdwing, which is the largest butterfly in the World and is definitely not a bird.

The interesting discovery of this Butterfly involved an English naturalist, a 2nd Baron, and was named after royalty. 

The Queen Alexandra's birdwing is an endangered animal which is restricted to approximately 40 square miles of coastal rainforest in Papua New Guinea.

Jennifer manages to talk about platypus twice this episode, and Amber gets real dark towards the end. 

Don’t murder butterflies, they pollinate plants, they’re pretty and we like them. And enjoy this episode on this astounding Insecta.

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Also, Jennifer said placenta, but she meant umbilical cord, around 28:00 into the episode.  

In Coffee and complain: Was Beirut Explosion Caused By a Missile? Did The Simpsons predicted the Beirut explosion? The answer is clearly no.

Our topic this week is the delightful, magnificent, and terrifyingly deadly Hippopotamus, which would NOT make a good Christmas gift. Despite their adorable deadliness, Hippos were almost brought to America for meat via the Hippo Bill. It's probably for the best that Hippopotamus never made into the US as Hippos are very aggressive and unpredictable creatures, with long sharp teeth. They are one of the worlds most dangerous animals, though that doesn't save them from being poached.

Though their territory once ranged across Europe, Asia, and Africa, the species currently only resides in Africa. Well, except the cocaine hippos... But we'll tell you more about that in this week's episode on the very adorable, but very deadly, Hippo.

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/hippo-haven-107453678/

In Coffee and Complain, Amber discusses the 'joys' of the American Health Care System, and why we're recording this episode on zoom. Murder hornets are now definitely a thing in the USA. Good times. Good times. Jennifer talks zombie fungus in cicada and why Donald wants to ban TikTok in the US. (Follow Amber on TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@l_a_mander)

Then onto this weeks topic, Zospeum tholussum a cute, translucent snail that was recently discovered. They are a cave-dwelling species of air-breathing land snails found only in the Lukina Jama Cave, which is located in the Velebit caves systems of Croatia. The "Lukina jama" cave is the 14th deepest cave in the world and the deepest cave in southeast Europe. We also discuss the other new species discovered in the cave systems.

Note: Jennifer meant Emma Stone NOT Emma Watson and Amber was talking about the Netflix show Maniac.

For more information on the speleologists, go to their website: https://speleologija.eu/velebita/indexen.html

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This week in Coffee and Complain, a supernova exploded and threw a small dwarf star, but forget about that! That's science, and the Trump administration said we shouldn't listen science.

And now for something completely different!

Did you know there is a church in Mexico that was built in honor of a fungus? To be more specific, the church built around a very special mushroom, a magic mushroom.  

Magic mushrooms, or more technically Psilocybin, are found all over the world and have a rich history throughout many different cultures. Though it is hard to be certain of their ancient history, magic mushrooms have been used  in many different religious ceremonies, especially for Pagan gods. Though Christianity attempted to squash the ritualistic use of mushrooms, the ceremonies survived and ironically, it was these ceremonies that re-introduced the Western culture to magic mushrooms. 

Listen and learn about Psilocybin mushroom from prehistory into modern times. 

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In Coffee and Complain, Amber discusses an article about research that found people who refuse to social distance are not as intelligent as those who do. So if you want dump people to social distance then we need to dumb down how we explain the need for masks to them.

Then onto this weeks topic, a continuation of last week's episode on genetically modified organisms. First we talk genetically modified bugs. Should we eradicate mosquitoes from the face of the Earth?  We can make a good argument for GMO mosquitoes, but what about humans? Genetically modifying humans is a huge moral grey area. If we can eliminate genetic disorders from humans before they're born should we, or could this lead to a slippery slope of designer baby?  Who knows, we don't know, but these are important questions we must ask, sooner rather than later.

For more information, visit our website at betterthanhumanpodcast.com

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