Today you’ll learn about how dogs in Ukraine have survived nuclear fallout, how Venutian volcanoes can teach us about the planet’s climate, and how mushrooms maintain a colder temperature than their surroundings.
Today you’ll learn about how dogs in Ukraine have survived nuclear fallout, how Venutian volcanoes can teach us about the planet’s climate, and how mushrooms maintain a colder temperature than their surroundings.
Find episode transcripts here:https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/chernobyl-dogs-venus-volcanoes-cold-mushrooms
Chernobyl Dogs
Venus Volcanoes
Cold Mushrooms
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[SFX: INTRO MUSIC/WHOOSH]
NATE: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. Time flies when you’re learnin’ super cool stuff. I’m Nate.
CALLI: And I’m Calli. If you’re dropping in for the first time, welcome to Curiosity, where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind. If you’re a loyal listener, welcome back!
NATE: Today you’ll learn about how dogs in Ukraine have survived nuclear fallout, how Venutian volcanoes teach us about the planet’s climate, and how mushrooms maintain a colder temperature than their surroundings.
CALLI: Without further ado, let’s satisfy some curiosity!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: Reason number eight thousand and one why dogs are better than humans: today, I have a story for you about some dogs who not only survived nuclear destruction - but may teach humans a few tricks on how to survive nuclear radiation too!
NATE: The old dogs are actually teaching HUMANS new tricks, I see. I love that. Tell me about these nuclear dogs.
CALLI: If you know anything about history, you’ve probably heard about the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. But for those of you who haven’t, it was the aftermath of a massive explosion at a nuclear power plant near the city of Pripyat in what’s known today as Ukraine. The explosion led to a number of fires that let loose a massive amount of radioactive debris into the air and surrounding environment, requiring a total evacuation of the city. Nowadays, Pripyat and the surrounding 19 mile radius are practically a ghost town because of how dangerous the radiation is - with its many homes and businesses frozen in time and no residents to speak of. Well - ALMOST no residents. Because today, Pripyat is home to hundreds… of dogs.
NATE: But wait… Pripyat is unfit for people to live, there’s no question about that. Weren’t there reports about all the animals left behind dying in the Chernobyl aftermath?
CALLI: I can’t stress enough that the Chernobyl blast was very bad. Birds AND bees in the area are known to suffer from generations worth of health problems because of the radiation; it’s very likely that thousands of people have died just because of the long-term health effects of exposure to that level of radiation. The exact number is hard to track down and slightly contentious due to the secrecy of the Soviet Union at the time. Many citizens’ dogs were left behind in the evacuation, and those dogs unfortunately died or had to be put down by emergency workers who wanted to stop the spread of any toxicity. But curiously… a few survived. And those dogs became scavengers, living off the land and sleeping in now-empty buildings for safety. As those dogs met, they mated and reproduced. And after nearly 40 years of this behavior, there’s a thriving population of stray dogs wandering the streets of Pripyat.
NATE: So how did the dogs survive a nuclear fallout?
CALLI: That’s what researchers wanted to figure out, so a team studied 302 sets of genomes from the Pripyat dogs to answer that question. What they found was that these pups were actually different on a genetic level than any dogs living further away from the area. Those who lived directly in the power plant’s remains were the result of inbreeding and were usually German shepherds. Just a bit further away, in the cities of Chernobyl City of Slavutych, the dogs were a bit more diverse, bred from many different “modern breeds.” And as far as how the dogs were able to survive… well, that’s not clear yet.
NATE: Why not?
CALLI: Here’s what we know. If you’re hit with multiple large doses of radiation over time, you’re going to see some nasty side effects, like DNA mutation, cancer growth, and even irreparable cell damage. But some of these dogs, based on eyewitness accounts, seem to be thriving. Scientists believe that it might just be a case of the dogs being very good at mooching off of passers-by; there are semi-regular guided tours in the area, and guards patrolling the area to keep trespassers out, so it’s not outside the realm of reason that they’ve managed to survive on generosity alone. But there is another possibility: straight up tenacity.
NATE: You mean… the dogs were just stubborn enough to survive?
CALLI: It’s just a theory right now, because the dogs haven’t been examined outside of the genome study yet, so the researchers think there are two things we could find. The first is that the dogs’ genes have indeed been destroyed by radiation, that we can’t see from the outside. The more likely option, in their opinion, is that the dogs’ genes have evolved over time to keep them alive in the radioactive environment. One thing the team is hoping to find is whether that includes a more pronounced cancer resistance. Because here’s the thing: dog genomes are quite similar to humans. If these dogs developed a resistance to cancer - humans could, too.
NATE: That would be something, wow!
CALLI: There’s really just one problem: it’s gonna be tough to see which genetic deviations are a result of the dogs being exposed to radiation, or a result of how the radiation has changed the area. For example, entire ecosystems of plants and birds, insects and mammals, have changed over time and changed the dynamic of the old predator-prey dynamic near Pripyat. On top of that, some of the changes could be the result of human interference in the attempted clean-up of Pripyat - or even the abandonment of other dogs into the area. One researcher even said it’s quite simple to notice when populations have differences - but it’s not always possible to figure out why.
NATE: Is there a chance that these dogs aren’t even descendants of the original Pripyat dogs?
CALLI: Oh a huge chance. One of the researchers has a suspicion that a few of the dogs might come from other areas, but there’s no real way to know for sure since there’s never been a definitive record of every individual dog. That being said, it’s very likely that the power-plant dogs are at least the result of one direct bloodline. Inbreeding and radiation aside, the area’s not too bad for the dogs. Clean-up workers and tourists toss them non-radioactive food; veterinarians have volunteered to give the dogs medical treatment and vaccinations. Some of them are showing signs that they’re devolving into more evolutionarily “wolf”-like behavior. Whether the dogs hold the secret to survival for humans or not, one thing’s for sure: they’ve certainly figured out how to survive mostly on their own.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: The surface of the planet Venus has been described as a total hellscape: a crushing force of gravity, a toxic atmosphere, and it’s so hot it could melt lead. And to add to that beautiful scene, scientists have discovered recently that the planet also has volcanoes!
CALLI: A “positive” twist. Only you could see how adding volcanoes to the Hell Cocktail we call Venus is a “positive” thing.
NATE: Well, it’s because it’s the newest piece of evidence we have that Venus is, or maybe even was, more like Earth than we previously believed. Even in terms of distance, Earth is closer to Venus than any other planet in the solar system. We already knew that Venus is the only other planet with actual mountain ranges, but now we also know it’s the only other planet with features consistent with volcanic activity. Features like fields of lava, or rivers carved out by molten rock… and of course, many, many, many volcanoes. Like, possibly THOUSANDS of them.
CALLI: But are they active volcanoes?
NATE: We didn’t actually know until now, but planetary scientist Robert Herrick figured it out for sure. He previously said that the amount of time between eruptions on Venus could be pretty small… or pretty large, with a window of time ranging anywhere from a few months to “tens of thousands of years.” So to narrow that gap a bit, he started looking for evidence of the most recent volcanic activity on Venus, and he found it in surface imagery that was collected by the unmanned Magellan spacecraft from the 90s.
CALLI: He found evidence in 30 plus year old photos? How did nobody notice anything before?
NATE: He says that over thirty years ago, you couldn’t just use a computer to enhance or zoom into a photo, so it was definitely an easy oversight to make. Still, he didn’t know what he was going to find, calling it a “needle in a haystack search” with no guarantee of there even being a needle IN the haystack. In fact, Robert searched for that needle for a few months before he found something.
CALLI: That is a lot of dedication. What did he find?
NATE: He found two black and white photos of the north side of Maat Mons, the tallest volcano on Venus. The area around the volcano is huge; roughly the size of the entire continent of Australia. Both photos were taken eight months apart, but the area in the photos cover roughly 15 to 20 miles apiece. At the bottom of the volcano in each photo is a vent, which is the part of a volcano that erupts and spews lava, ash, and rock all over the place. But when he put the photos next to each other, Robert noticed something: the size of the vent was completely different in each photo.
CALLI: Oh dang! …what does that mean?
NATE: We’re not sure yet, but Robert thinks this is pretty clear evidence that the volcano erupted in only eight months and created a lava lake in the vent. He admits that maybe he got lucky and saw the ONLY evidence of an eruption of the volcano… but he doesn’t think that’s likely. Considering how similar Venus is to Earth, he says that the likelihood of a volcanic eruption happening every few months or so is quite high anyway - and this might be the first step in identifying that.
CALLI: Yeah, hi, devil’s advocate here, how you doin’? I’m great. Just wondering if this vent changing could be the result of, say, I dunno an earthquake?
NATE: Technically, and I’m not just being a snide jerk about this, it would be a VENUSquake. You’re not wrong: a venusquake could absolutely change the shape of a volcano’s vent. But you know what else it would likely do? Cause a volcanic eruption, since volcanic eruptions are linked to quake activity, anyway. There’s just one little problem with that theory: Venus does not have plate tectonics like Earth does.
CALLI: Wait, it doesn't?!
NATE: Nope. Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s outermost layer, the lithosphere, is broken into these huge rocky plates that lie on top of a partially molten rock layer known as the asthenosphere. You might remember those cool animations they showed in school of how the two plates move at different rates compared to each other. But when tectonic plates start spreading, slipping, or even colliding, they meet along fault lines… which on Earth, cause earthquakes. Venus doesn’t have this, which is, one, why we’re not a hundred percent sure how venusquakes happen yet. And two, why researchers have been trying to figure out how the planet has even shaped itself geologically AND how it will continue to do so.
CALLI: So… what DOES this tell us?
NATE: It helps us understand Venus a bit better than we did before. Any planet that has this level of volcanic activity has something going on underneath the surface that we want to know more about, but can’t learn yet due to how uninhabitable the planet’s surface is. And since NASA is currently planning two trips to Venus in the near future with a probe due to launch in 2031, this discovery will help them understand a bit better what we’re dealing with. Right now, Robert’s collaborating with them to create something for those missions that can monitor the volcanoes on Venus. He believes this instrument will register any volcanic activity it finds - the only issue is surviving the planet so it can send that information back!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: You know how some people are as cool as a cucumber?
NATE: Oh yeah sure, I’ve been called that, myself.
CALLI: Uh huh. Sure. Well…after some recent findings, we might have to change it to ‘Nate you’re as cool as a fungus.’
NATE: I hate to say it, but it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
CALLI: You make a good point. Regardless of how it sounds, a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has revealed that mushrooms and other fungi actually stay colder than their surroundings and it teaches us some great new info about thermoregulation!
NATE: Okay. So mushrooms regulate their own temperature?
CALLI: Basically. Here’s what happened. Radames Cordero, a microbiologist from Johns Hopkins was walking through the woods with his colleague, testing out their lab’s new thermal camera…
NATE: …as you do, sure…
CALLI: …yeah. Just a typical, film-mushrooms-with-an-infrared-camera walk in the woods. They wanted to see how a mushroom's color affected its surface temperature. Specifically, they wondered if darker mushrooms held onto heat more effectively than lighter mushrooms. But what they found kinda knocked ‘em out. Every single mushroom they imaged was cooler than its surrounding area.
NATE: But…why?
CALLI: Well…they don’t exactly know why, but they figured out how. They took the results to the lab, and found that when water evaporates from the surface of the mushroom, the mushroom cools off.
NATE: So it’s like the mushroom is sweating?
CALLI: Basically. And the more surface area, the greater the effect. If you think about all those gills underneath the cap of a mushroom?
NATE: That’s a lot of surface area.
CALLI: Exactly. Some mushrooms stayed 1 or 2 degrees celsius colder than the surrounding air. But the oyster mushroom actually stayed nearly 6 degrees colder!
NATE: What about when it’s cold outside? Like…do they stay a certain temperature like mammals do? Or is it all dependent on the surrounding air?
CALLI: That’s a great question - even when the surrounding temp was near freezing, they still stayed cooler. And speaking of cooler…Cordero and his colleague Arturo Casadevall decided to put the cooling power of the mushroom to use.
NATE: Hmm. Did they use them in the spa on their eyes? Did they grind them up like sno-cones?
CALLI: Even better. They put about a half-kilo of mushrooms in a small styrofoam box. Using this little mushroom box and an exhaust fan, they were able to get the temperature of a styrofoam cooler to drop about 10 degrees.
NATE: A mushroom-powered cooler? I might have to try that.
CALLI: They aren’t going to make ice or anything like that, but it’ll keep some drinks cold and stop your potato salad from making everyone at the picnic sick. So it’s Kindof a cool fungus.
NATE: Usually fungus is the last thing you want to see in your cooler.
CALLI: Totally. And you can actually eat these when you’re done with them.
NATE: Wouldn’t recommend eating those little blue freezer packs. Learned that one the hard way.
CALLi: Yeah we really need to talk about your dietary preferences sometime.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up.
CALLI: How would you survive a nuclear fallout? We probably won’t know unless it ever happens, but if you’re a pack of dogs in Pripyat, Ukraine, you thrive. Scientists are flabbergasted by the mass survival of a pack of dogs that have lived in the area surrounding the Chernobyl power plant after its 1986 explosion, even in spite of mass sickness and death in virtually all other life in the area. Some even believe that the dogs hold the secret to genetics that could resist many radiation-related illnesses - including cancer, which could be a MASSIVE find for humans everywhere.
NATE: Venus: an actual living hell or the closest planet to Earth in our solar system? Why not both? New studies reveal the amount of time it takes for volcanoes to erupt on Venus, for the first time. The findings may seem insignificant, but they actually teach us a lot about how Venus’ climate works, which will help us as we begin sending unmanned missions to Venus for the first time in years!
CALLI: Microbiologists who discovered that mushrooms and other fungi maintain a temperature that is colder than their surroundings, built a cooler powered by button mushrooms that kept the air inside ten degrees colder than the outside temp.