Learn about how animals are “shapeshifting” in response to a warming climate; and the story of Albert Einstein’s brain. Animals are "shapeshifting" in response to a warming climate by Grant Currin Zeldovich, L. (2021, September 7). Animals Are Changing Shape to Cope With Rising Temperatures. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/animals-are-changing-shape-cope-rising-temperatures-180978595/ Ryding, S., Klaassen, M., Tattersall, G. J., Gardner, J. L., & Symonds, M. R. E. (2021). Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2021.07.006 The strange afterlife of Albert Einstein’s brain by Cameron Duke Blitz, M. (2015, April 17). How Einstein’s Brain Ended Up at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-einsteins-brain-ended-mutter-museum-philadelphia-180954987/ Hughes, V. (2014, April 21). The Tragic Story of How Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen and Wasn’t Even Special. Science; National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-tragic-story-of-how-einsteins-brain-was-stolen-and-wasnt-even-special Kremer, W. (2015, April 17). The strange afterlife of Einstein’s brain. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32354300 Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about how animals are “shapeshifting” in response to a warming climate; and the story of Albert Einstein’s brain.
Animals are "shapeshifting" in response to a warming climate by Grant Currin
The strange afterlife of Albert Einstein’s brain by Cameron Duke
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/animals-shapeshifting-to-stay-cool-albert-einsteins-brain
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how animals are “shapeshifting” in response to a warming climate; and the strange afterlife of Albert Einstein’s brain.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Animals are "shapeshifting" in response to a warming climate by Grant Currin (Ashley)
It’s becoming easier and easier to see the effects of climate change. But it’s more than melting glaciers, rising seas, and terrible storms. According to new research, our warming world may be making animals shapeshift right before our eyes. Seriously: many different animals are growing bigger beaks, ears, tails, and wings to keep from overheating.
When we humans get too hot, we sweat and maybe turn on the air conditioner. But other warm-blooded animals use a different technique. They send hot blood to oversized appendages where that extra heat can dissipate into the slightly cooler air. It’s why elephants and jackrabbits have such big ole’ ears. It’s a clever solution to a life-or-death problem, but as the climate warms, it’s getting harder to pull off.
The researchers behind this new study wondered if animals were growing their appendages to handle the increasing heat. To find out, they collected data on about thirty different species. They relied on information that other scientists had collected in the field and in the lab, along with specimens in museums across the world.
All of that data told a pretty clear story: animals are changing shape. Not all in the same way, but the patterns are clear. Parrots are a particularly good example because museums love collecting them. Those specimens show that since 1871, the surface area of a parrot’s beak has grown by up to 10 percent. Surface area is the most important measurement here because that’s what ultimately controls how much heat can be transferred from an animal to the surrounding air.
The team noticed an increase in beak size in a ton of different birds, from house sparrows to Galapagos finches. Many other species shapeshifted in the last century, too. Rabbits and wood mice grew longer ears, masked shrews grew longer legs and tails, and the great roundleaf bat grew larger wings.
All of this research points to a big question: are these changes a good thing? Well, it’s hard to say. On the one hand, individuals with bigger ears or beaks seem to be more likely to survive than their smaller-extremity brethren. That’s why the pattern can be seen across different species all over the world. But there are probably downsides, too. Bigger beaks probably make it harder for birds to access some sources of food, which is also pretty important to survival. There’s also reason to think that bigger ears and longer tails make animals easier prey.
But either way, bigger appendages are happening. As corresponding researcher Sara Ryding put it, quote, “We might end up with a live-action Dumbo in the not-too-distant future.”
The strange afterlife of Albert Einstein’s brain by Cameron Duke (Cody)
Albert Einstein died in April 1955. His body was cremated the next day, but it was missing one part: his brain. It had been stolen right from his skull.
The thief was Dr. Thomas Harvey, the doctor in charge of Einstein’s autopsy at Princeton Hospital. His reasons were obvious: Einstein was the genius whose theory of relativity is still helping scientists make huge discoveries about the universe today. His brain was valuable. But Harvey’s actions were expressly against Einstein’s dying wishes: he wanted to be cremated because the idea of people making pilgrimages to see his bones made him uncomfortable. When Einstein’s family found out, they were understandably furious.
But somehow, Harvey managed to get permission to use the brain from Einstein’s oldest son — but only for scientific purposes. So he had the brain dissected into thousands of slides that he sent to specialists across the country. But he kept the majority of the brain for himself.
Regardless of the family’s eventual blessing, stealing Einstein’s brain stirred up a controversy that more or less ruined Harvey’s career. He lost his job, he lost his marriage, and eventually lost his medical license. And on top of it all, there had been no groundbreaking discoveries about the brain samples he sent to scientists. Soon, Harvey slunk into relative obscurity.
That is, until the 70s, when a reporter from New Jersey named Steven Levy managed to track him down. Surprisingly, Harvey still had the brain: it was just cut up in a bunch of jars and hidden under a beer cooler in his basement. Levy’s story ran in a New Jersey magazine, and it made Harvey the center of attention again. This time, the attention came from neurologists who all hoped to see the brain — and this time, they studied it.
But it turns out that Einstein had a relatively normal brain. Some of the studies claimed he had extra glial cells — those are brain cells that help neurons get oxygen and nutrients. And one study found that the brain had an extra ridge in the frontal lobe, in an area associated with working memory. But it’s unclear that this made his brain special in any way.
Today, Albert Einstein’s brain is scattered among various neuroscience labs. But if you want to see it, slides of the famous grey matter are on display at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.
In any case, you have to have a pretty important brain for it to be stolen, and a whole lot of guts to steal one.
RECAP
Let’s recap today’s takeaways
1. CODY: Animals seem to be shapeshifting due to climate change. It’s a known rule that animals in hotter climates have larger ears and appendages to help dissipate heat, and a new study has found that many species all over the world have grown larger ears, tails, legs, and beaks over the last century — which is probably due to climate change.
2. ASHLEY: Albert Einstein’s brain was stolen! The thief was the pathologist in charge of his autopsy, a man named Dr. Thomas Harvey. He eventually got permission from Einstein’s family after the fact, but the controversy ruined his career. Eventually, though, he was rediscovered by a reporter, and that enabled specialists across the country to study the brain. And they found….pretty much nothing. From all apparent evidence, Einstein had a pretty normal brain.
[ad lib optional]
ASHLEY: Today’s writers were Grant Currin and Cameron Duke.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer.
ASHLEY: Our producer and audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!