Learn about how researchers could tap into a tardigrade superpower to protect medicines and vaccines; the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant in the Maldives where you can dine with the fishes; and whether “breaking the seal” is a real thing when you’re drinking. Please support our sponsors! Visit skillshare.com/curiosity for two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes for free. Start your two months now! In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: How Tardigrades Survive Conditions That Would Kill Almost Everything Else — https://curiosity.im/2u2ZKps You Can Dine Underwater at the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant in the Maldives — https://curiosity.im/2u20uuT Is "Breaking the Seal" a Real Thing? — https://curiosity.im/2u3pBh6 If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about how researchers could tap into a tardigrade superpower to protect medicines and vaccines; the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant in the Maldives where you can dine with the fishes; and whether “breaking the seal” is a real thing when you’re drinking.
Please support our sponsors! Visit skillshare.com/curiosity for two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes for free. Start your two months now!
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/breaking-the-seal-myths-dine-under-the-sea-in-the-maldives-and-tardigrade-superpowers
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how researchers could tap into a tardigrade superpower to protect medicines and vaccines; a completely underwater restaurant where you can dine with the fishes; and whether “breaking the seal” is a real thing when you’re out drinking.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
How Tardigrades Survive Conditions That Would Kill Almost Everything Else — https://curiosity.im/2u2ZKps (Ashley)
Scientists have discovered why tardigrades can survive conditions that would kill almost anything else. And this new knowledge could help researchers stabilize and preserve delicate pharmaceuticals. I should probably back up and explain what a tardigrade actually IS before I get any further into this. Tardigrades are also called water bears or moss piglets. They look super weird. We used to be kind of obsessed with them here in the Curiosity office. [ad lib]
ASHLEY: A tardigrade basically has a superpower that lets it shed nearly all the water from its body and go into what’s known as a “tun” [ton as in “weighs a ton”] state. Researchers have found that tardigrades can survive for up to a decade in that state — and potentially decades more. Typically, when normal cells dry out, all hell breaks loose: the membranes rupture, proteins unfold, and DNA begins fragmenting. But that doesn't happen in tardigrades, and scientists have been trying to figure out why. In 2015, scientists found a clue to the mechanism behind tardigrades' tun state: When the tiny creatures shed their water, they produce glassy molecules — a sort of "bioglass" — that coat their cells and protect them from damage. A few months later, another team found tardigrade-specific genes that code for something called intrinsically disordered proteins, or IDPs. IDPs are proteins that are usually shapeless and flexible, but they rearrange themselves into bioglass in the presence of extreme drying. These IDP glass structures basically form a stiff, protective envelope so proteins and molecules don’t fall apart during the desiccation process. The IDPs go back to their floppy, random state when the tardigrade is exposed to water again. If researchers can figure out a way to convert vaccines and other medical necessities into the tardigrade’s glass state, then they can ship them around the world at room temperature until they’re ready to use. Pretty cool possibilities from such a tiny little creature!
You Can Dine Underwater at the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant in the Maldives — https://curiosity.im/2u20uuT (Cody)
There’s another glass structure I know about that’s not bioglass, but it might be just as cool. You can dine underwater at the Ithaa [EE-tah] Undersea Restaurant in the Maldives. As in, picture dining in an aquarium-style underwater eatery where you have a 270-degree panoramic view of tropical fish. Ithaa is located 16 feet below sea level, and it’s been open since 2005. It’s famous for being the world’s first all-glass underwater restaurant. The structure weighs 75 tons, plus an additional 80 tons of sand ballast to help it sink once it arrived in the Maldives after being made on dry land in Singapore. The restaurant cost about 5 million dollars to build, and it seats 14 people — so you’d better make your reservations in advance. Ithaa's cuisine is described as contemporary Maldivian with Western and Asian influences. Lunch starts at $120 for guests of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Hotel, but it may be worth it since you're also paying for bragging rights and probably more Instagram likes than you could ever dream of. Interestingly, if you do visit at lunch time, it's so bright inside that both the waitstaff and diners need to wear sunglasses. They even have extra pairs on hand in case you forget your shades at your hotel. Now, if you need a refresher on the Maldives, it’s a tropical nation south of India, and it’s already famous for its exotic marine life, from schools of fish in the thousands to Whale Sharks and coral reefs. The first underwater cabinet meeting was even held in the Maldives in 2009 to raise awareness about climate change. So it should come as no surprise that tourism drives their economy. Now imagine watching a manta ray swimming by as you're snacking on caviar and sipping a cocktail. Suddenly the fact that Ithaa means "mother of pearl" in the Maldivian language of Dhivehi isn't all that surprising. [ad lib]
[SKILLSHARE]
CODY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Skillshare, the perfect place to learn new skills whether you’re traveling in the near future or you need to build up your resume.
ASHLEY: Skillshare is an online learning community for creators. They offer more than 25,000 classes in design, business, and more, to help YOU find new ways to fuel your curiosity, creativity, and career.
CODY: I mentioned travel because you can take classes in photography. I’ve got a pretty nice camera and I was hoping to learn some new photo techniques, so you can imagine I was pretty happy when I found MULTIPLE classes on Skillshare taught by photographers for National Geographic. Now I know some tricks I REALLY wish I could try out in the Maldives. And all of Skillshare’s classes are taught by real experts in their field or public motivational speakers.
ASHLEY: You can take classes in social media marketing, mobile photography, creative writing, illustration, and pretty much everything in-between. Whether you’re looking to discover a new passion, start a side hustle, or gain new professional skills, Skillshare is there to keep you learning and thriving.
CODY: And today, YOU can join the millions of students already learning on Skillshare with a special offer just for Curiosity Daily listeners: Get two months of Skillshare for free.
ASHLEY: That’s right, Skillshare is offering Curiosity Daily listeners two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes for free. To sign up, go to Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY. Again, go to Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY to start your two months now.
CODY: One more time, that’s Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY.
Is "Breaking the Seal" a Real Thing? — https://curiosity.im/2u3pBh6 (Ashley)
ASHLEY: You can thank Cody’s curiosity for this last story. [ad lib]
ASHLEY: Okay, so let’s get into it. Is there a such thing as “breaking the seal?” In other words, if you hold it in longer during a night out, then will you have to make fewer trips to the restroom later on? Well, it's definitely true that if you pee less… then, well, you pee less. This probably makes "breaking the seal" feel like a thing. Scientifically, this phenomenon hasn't been extensively tested, but doctors tend to think that's an illusion. Drinking heavily makes you need to pee more than usual, full stop. You can ignore nature's call, but drinking will still turn up its volume. At a physiological level, drinking keeps your brain from producing a hormone that helps you stay hydrated, called arginine vasopressin. Scientists refer to it as an ADH, or an antidiuretic hormone. Basically, it reminds your body, specifically your kidneys, not to pee out too much water. It helps your system reabsorb water and lessens the amount of urine that gets sent downstream to your bladder. It's why you can hold it when you sleep: overnight, your body produces ADH so you don't constantly wake up to pee. Drinking alcohol is basically the opposite of sleeping, though — it makes the body want to pee more than usual. Not only are you taking in liquids, which is a surefire path to peeing in itself, but you're also lowering your ADH levels. Those two factors reinforce each other and make you pee more than you drank. In fact, when it comes to alcohol, you’ll produce more urine than the liquid you take in, according to a urologist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. In reality, the spike in urination popularly associated with "breaking the seal" happens because when you take that first bathroom break of the night, your ADH levels have fallen and you're starting to feel the effects. Whether you go to the bathroom or hold it, you'll need to pee a lot more going forward. If you want to pee less when you're out on the town, you don't need to hold it; you need to limit your alcohol intake. Holding it is really just cutting off your nose to spite your face. If you're uncomfortable, that's the body's way of telling you to take action. So head to the restroom! We promise you won't be breaking any seals.
CODY: That’s all for today, but you can keep learning all weekend on curiosity-dot-com.
ASHLEY: This weekend, you’ll learn about 10 times evolution repeated itself;
How political division can actually help us work together better;
A new understanding of light that could explain dark matter;
The longest straight-line path on Earth;
And more!
CODY: If there’s something ELSE you’re curious about, then send us your question! You can find our contact information on our podcast’s website, curiosity-daily-dot-com.
ASHLEY: You can also go there to search for past episodes, and find all our show notes. One more time, just visit curiosity-daily-dot-com.
And come hang out with us again Sunday on the award-winning Curiosity Daily to learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Ashley Hamer.
CODY: And I’m Cody Gough. Have a great weekend!
ASHLEY: And stay curious!