Gross Science
January 10, 2017 11:12 AM Subscribe
Host Anna Rothschild teaches us Gross Science:
Sea Cucumbers Have Multipurpose Butts 💩
What Can You Learn From Ancient Poop? 💩
The World's Most Expensive Fungus 💩
Hookworms and the Myth of the "Lazy Southerner"
I understand there are many redeeming features of and incentives for living in the South, but the heat, humidity, bugs, disease, parasites, and tornados make it *almost* as appealing as Australia for me.
I do appreciate the food, though. Tasty, tasty, tasty okra, cornbread, and barbecue.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:36 AM on January 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
I do appreciate the food, though. Tasty, tasty, tasty okra, cornbread, and barbecue.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:36 AM on January 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
I also salute Bee's Wing for posting information relevant to assholes that has nothing to do with politicians.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:39 AM on January 10, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by BlueHorse at 11:39 AM on January 10, 2017 [10 favorites]
I remember reading somewhere that the Rockefeller Foundation figured out that you had to dig latrines six feet deep because hookworms couldn't crawl any higher and get out to reinfect barefooted children.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:42 AM on January 10, 2017
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:42 AM on January 10, 2017
The hookworms thing blew my mind when I first heard it. It's hard to describe, but it's a combination of a valuable interrogation of something that I'd long heard assumed without evidence and a way to see how the present is the sum of everything that has happened in the past.
posted by Copronymus at 11:43 AM on January 10, 2017
posted by Copronymus at 11:43 AM on January 10, 2017
Poop as bulletpoints: this is surely what the web was designed for. Or at least emoji.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:52 AM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:52 AM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
For a moment there I was like: Is this another post from Wordshore?
posted by INFJ at 11:52 AM on January 10, 2017
posted by INFJ at 11:52 AM on January 10, 2017
"Anal teeth" is a term I'd like to hear more often
posted by greenhornet at 12:09 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by greenhornet at 12:09 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Anal teeth" is a term I'd like to hear more often
Eh, it's kind of overused in my circles.
Perhaps I've said too much.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:19 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Eh, it's kind of overused in my circles.
Perhaps I've said too much.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:19 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I can't watch videos at work, but I wanted to know more about the Hookworms/Lazy Southerner, having once been infected with ringworm after a cross country road-trip.
Here's a light Vice article about the Hookworms in the South. Pretty Terrible!
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:29 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Here's a light Vice article about the Hookworms in the South. Pretty Terrible!
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:29 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Ringworm" is really just a superficial fungus infection, like athlete's foot. On the other hand, whip worms or hookworms in your gut might protect you from allergies or asthma or even MS.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:44 PM on January 10, 2017
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:44 PM on January 10, 2017
"Gross!" isn't a selling point for me.
posted by edheil at 12:47 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by edheil at 12:47 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
In case anyone is curious, Science Twitter is assembling a "Does it fart?" and "Does it puke?" spreadsheet for various organisms.
posted by ChuraChura at 12:51 PM on January 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 12:51 PM on January 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
"Does it fart?" and "Does it puke?"
This is an important consideration on trains and buses, as well.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:53 PM on January 10, 2017
This is an important consideration on trains and buses, as well.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:53 PM on January 10, 2017
I was a sea cucumber fisherman, and I know a thing or two about sea cucumber butts. The main thing to know is, when the trawl net is hoisted up over the deck, and you have to scramble under to reach the line that secures the cod end and pull it open, you're gonna get a sea cucumber shit shower. Welcome to the fishery, newb! Looks like you need a new cap.
posted by notyou at 12:57 PM on January 10, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by notyou at 12:57 PM on January 10, 2017 [8 favorites]
sea cucumber fisherman
Which brings up an interesting question: what other trades are open to sea cucumbers?
posted by maxwelton at 1:29 PM on January 10, 2017 [13 favorites]
Which brings up an interesting question: what other trades are open to sea cucumbers?
posted by maxwelton at 1:29 PM on January 10, 2017 [13 favorites]
Related (sort of): True Facts about the Sea Pig is perhaps a bit mislabeled, but definitely worth watching.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:37 PM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:37 PM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
You're right Bee'sWing, it wasn't ringworm. Not hookworm either. Maybe tapeworm? I took one pill and the next day what out thousands of worms. Thanks for the correction though I always forget ringworm is not a worm.
Doctor said it was from biting nails, not being barefoot.
posted by kittensofthenight at 2:20 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Doctor said it was from biting nails, not being barefoot.
posted by kittensofthenight at 2:20 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
In case anyone is curious, Science Twitter is assembling a "Does it fart?" and "Does it puke?" spreadsheet for various organisms.
That's how I learned that one of my good friends is a Bird Fart Truther.
posted by pemberkins at 2:24 PM on January 10, 2017
That's how I learned that one of my good friends is a Bird Fart Truther.
posted by pemberkins at 2:24 PM on January 10, 2017
I took one pill and the next day what out thousands of worms.
Yep, sounds like tapeworm. Now that's gross science!
posted by Bee'sWing at 2:37 PM on January 10, 2017
Yep, sounds like tapeworm. Now that's gross science!
posted by Bee'sWing at 2:37 PM on January 10, 2017
Glad we settled that!
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:06 PM on January 10, 2017
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:06 PM on January 10, 2017
Poop as bulletpoints: this is surely what the web was designed for. Or at least emoji.
I was hoping it was our new convention for labeling video links.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:21 PM on January 10, 2017
I was hoping it was our new convention for labeling video links.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:21 PM on January 10, 2017
I grew up on a farm in Arkansas in the 80s and, like everyone else I know, had hookworm. But that also made me raise my eyebrows when Rothschild says,
"I'm not sure how prevalent this stereotype [of the slow, lazy southerner] is today... it's not something I ever heard growing up..."
What? Really? How old are you and where did you grow up? I've lived all over the US and parts of Western Europe in the last 20 years and hoo boy the stereotype is alive and well. About two years ago, in San Francisco, an adult human woman at a political function mixer just flat out, balls to the wall expressed shock when she heard where I come from. "I didn't know people from there went to, like, college or anything. Did you finish high school first or get a GED later?," were her exact words, if I'm remembering right. Dunno, could have it wrong, bein' a sweet lil' dumb sutherner an' all.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:10 PM on January 10, 2017
"I'm not sure how prevalent this stereotype [of the slow, lazy southerner] is today... it's not something I ever heard growing up..."
What? Really? How old are you and where did you grow up? I've lived all over the US and parts of Western Europe in the last 20 years and hoo boy the stereotype is alive and well. About two years ago, in San Francisco, an adult human woman at a political function mixer just flat out, balls to the wall expressed shock when she heard where I come from. "I didn't know people from there went to, like, college or anything. Did you finish high school first or get a GED later?," were her exact words, if I'm remembering right. Dunno, could have it wrong, bein' a sweet lil' dumb sutherner an' all.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:10 PM on January 10, 2017
In case anyone is curious, Science Twitter is assembling a "Does it fart?" and "Does it puke?"
According to last week's QI, Sandi Toksvig is in the No column for the first. No word so far on the second.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:25 PM on January 10, 2017
According to last week's QI, Sandi Toksvig is in the No column for the first. No word so far on the second.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:25 PM on January 10, 2017
Classy. Nice.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:49 PM on January 10, 2017
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:49 PM on January 10, 2017
To quote an old Life in Hell comic,
"Ringworm is neither ring nor is it a worm. It is a fungus."
"Fishsticks are neither fish nor are they sticks. They are a fungus."
posted by larrybob at 5:49 PM on January 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
"Ringworm is neither ring nor is it a worm. It is a fungus."
"Fishsticks are neither fish nor are they sticks. They are a fungus."
posted by larrybob at 5:49 PM on January 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
No. They are what my mother would bake in the oven on a cookie sheet on Friday for dinner.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:56 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:56 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
So you're saying they're cookies?
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:33 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:33 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I remember reading somewhere that the Rockefeller Foundation figured out that you had to dig latrines six feet deep because hookworms couldn't crawl any higher and get out to reinfect barefooted children.
The Rockefeller campaign, among other things, helped lead to the WPA building 2.3 million privies in the US, interestingly. (As a mechanism for preventing reinfection, however, even a shallow outhouse is going to be far better than shitting in the fields with consequent direct contact; the Rockefeller program also emphasized frequent outhouse cleaning and other measures to eliminate direct contact.)
posted by Dip Flash at 7:31 PM on January 10, 2017
The Rockefeller campaign, among other things, helped lead to the WPA building 2.3 million privies in the US, interestingly. (As a mechanism for preventing reinfection, however, even a shallow outhouse is going to be far better than shitting in the fields with consequent direct contact; the Rockefeller program also emphasized frequent outhouse cleaning and other measures to eliminate direct contact.)
posted by Dip Flash at 7:31 PM on January 10, 2017
Cucumber dentata!
What a wonderful phrase!
Cucumber dentata!
Ain't in the right place!
It means parasite free,
Colonoscopies!
Anal dentata!
posted by Eleven at 2:43 PM on January 11, 2017
What a wonderful phrase!
Cucumber dentata!
Ain't in the right place!
It means parasite free,
Colonoscopies!
Anal dentata!
posted by Eleven at 2:43 PM on January 11, 2017
Which brings up an interesting question: what other trades are open to sea cucumbers?
My friend Ed's Dive-In Theater boat tour in Bar Harbor features a wide variety of underwater creatures, but he loves sea cucumbers the best. He uses them to slime children, and also to shoot ‘water’ out of their butts onto tourists — they're definitely the star of every show.
posted by LeLiLo at 3:32 PM on January 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
My friend Ed's Dive-In Theater boat tour in Bar Harbor features a wide variety of underwater creatures, but he loves sea cucumbers the best. He uses them to slime children, and also to shoot ‘water’ out of their butts onto tourists — they're definitely the star of every show.
posted by LeLiLo at 3:32 PM on January 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 11:29 AM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]