Learn about how we might get rid of mosquitoes in the future, with author Tim Winegard; why the Sargasso Sea has no coastline; and, the story of how Russian surgeon Leonid Rogozov removed his own appendix. Please support our sponsors! Get two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes on Skillshare — for free. To sign up, go to skillshare.com/curiosity 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: There Is One Sea on Earth with No Coastline — https://curiosity.im/2SxCNpH This Russian Surgeon Removed His Own Appendix — https://curiosity.im/2YuFfTy Additional resources from Timothy Winegard: Pick up “The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator” on Amazon — https://amazon.com Colorado Mesa University faculty bio — https://www.coloradomesa.edu/directory/social-behavioral-sciences/timothy-winegard.html 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 we might get rid of mosquitoes in the future, with author Tim Winegard; why the Sargasso Sea has no coastline; and, the story of how Russian surgeon Leonid Rogozov removed his own appendix.
Please support our sponsors! Get two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes on Skillshare — for free. To sign up, go to skillshare.com/curiosity
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:
Additional resources from Timothy Winegard:
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/getting-rid-of-mosquitoes-w-timothy-winegard-the-sargasso-sea-and-leonid-rogozov
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 we might get rid of mosquitoes in the future, with author Tim Winegard. Then, you’ll learn about the one sea on Earth with no coastline; and, the story of a Russian surgeon who removed his own appendix.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Timothy Winegard 2 - How we’ve dealt with mosquitoes and what’s next [2:56] (Cody)
CODY: What should we do about mosquitoes? Today’s guest has some ideas. Dr. Tim Winegard is a professor of history and political science at Colorado Mesa University, and author of the new book “The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator.” Yesterday you heard him talk about some of the ways mosquitoes have had a major impact on human history. So why’d it take us so long to actually do something about them?
[CLIP 1:50]
We all know the power and potential of CRISPR, so we had to ask: do we even need mosquitoes? Or should we just try to make them go completely extinct?
[CLIP 1:05]
Again, Dr. Tim Winegard’s new book is “The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator.” And you can find links to that and more from him in today’s show notes.
There Is One Sea on Earth with No Coastline — https://curiosity.im/2SxCNpH (Ashley)
There is one sea on Earth with absolutely no coastline. [ad lib]
The Sargasso [Sar-GAS-so] Sea is in the North Atlantic Ocean, ROUGHLY a thousand miles east of Florida, just southeast of Bermuda. And it’s not defined by lands around it, but instead by four ocean currents — the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current, and the North Atlantic equatorial current. These currents flow in a clockwise elliptical loop within the Atlantic Ocean and define the constantly changing borders of the Sargasso Sea. And if you’re wondering what could possibly be interesting about an expanse of water surrounded by other water, you’d be surprised.
The Sargasso Sea takes up two-thirds of the Atlantic Ocean. It gets its name from a genus of seaweed called Sargassum, which is a free-floating brown algae that reproduces vegetatively on the water’s surface. The Sargassum gets pushed around by the currents and the wind, and it functions as a migrating habitat for an impressive variety of marine life. It’s a nursery for turtle hatchlings, and a spawning ground for endangered eels. Every year, larger species like humpback whales, sharks, and birds make their migrations through the Sargasso Sea, and they rely on the traveling seaweed for the easy prey that live within it.
At one point in time, the Sargasso Sea was nicknamed the Horse Latitudes, because it had a reputation for stranding sailors for weeks on end, who would then throw their horses overboard to lighten the load. These early explorers were afraid of getting tangled up in thick Sargassum, but it’s actually the sea's characteristically calm waters and winds that left sailors sitting around for so long. There just wasn’t enough wind or water flow to push them around. So, fear not — go ahead and hitch a free ride through this fascinating "sea with no boundaries."
[SKILLSHARE]
CODY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Skillshare, an online learning community for creators. Skillshare offers more than 25,000 classes in design, business, and more, to help YOU find new ways to fuel your curiosity, creativity, and career.
ASHLEY: You can take classes in everything from photography and creative writing to design, productivity and more! I’m gonna tell you a secret: you might see Cody and me start doing video again sometime soon. Cody’s an old hand at being on camera, but I’m still trying to learn how to act natural when that lens is in my face. So that’s why I was super excited to try out the Skillshare class “Camera Confidence Mini-Course: Be Better On Camera.” It’s taught by a real television professional who knows what he’s talking about.
CODY: And ALL of Skillshare’s classes are taught by real experts in their field or public motivational speakers. So whether you’re returning to a long-time passion project, challenging yourself to get outside your comfort zone, or simply exploring something new, Skillshare has classes for you.
ASHLEY: You can join the millions of students already learning on Skillshare today with a special offer just for Curiosity Daily listeners: Get two months of Skillshare for free.
CODY: 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. ASHLEY: Again, go to Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY to start your two months now. One more time, that’s Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY.
This Russian Surgeon Removed His Own Appendix — https://curiosity.im/2YuFfTy (from Saturday 8/17) (Cody)
Have you ever wondered if a doctor could operate on himself? Well today we’re wrapping up with the incredible true story of a surgeon who did just that, and while it has a happy ending, fair warning that this IS a story about surgery, so it’s probably not for you if you’ve got a weak stomach. in the early 1960s, a Russian surgeon on an Antarctic station realized he was facing a life or death situation. He was experiencing signs of acute appendicitis and, as the only doctor on the isolated station, he knew he was the only person who could perform the surgery he desperately needed. And to make matters worse, he had to get approval from Moscow before attempting the surgery, because botching it would make the Soviet expedition look bad during the Cold War. Yeah — Leonid Rogozov had to worry about POLITICS on top of the fact that he was facing the prospect of literally opening his own abdomen to take his intestines out. And at the time, he didn’t even know if this was humanly possible.
But like I said: this story has a happy ending. Rogozov assigned different tasks to his colleagues. They handed him instruments, held up a mirror, and made sure no one else fainted. He was very systematic and prepared for all potential outcomes. Rogozov even administered his own local anesthetic and performed the entire two-hour surgery without losing consciousness. When he found the appendix, it had a dark stain on its base, meaning that if it’d been left for just a day longer, it would have burst.
According to the BBC, Rogozov returned to Russia a hero, and his unfortunate medical issue became fodder for Soviet propaganda. Rogozov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and was even compared to the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.
Operate on oneself versus head out to space? Propaganda aside, in our books he deserved the award.
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you can catch this weekend on curiosity-dot-com.
ASHLEY: This weekend, you’ll learn about 4 of the world’s weirdest weather phenomena;
How lying makes it harder to read the emotions of others;
What the Milky Way looked like 13 million years ago;
A collection of vulgar words from 1788;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
CODY: Today we learned that DDT was humanity’s first major blow against mosquitoes — but now, we may have to turn to CRISPR to deal with them.
ASHLEY: And that the Sargasso Sea has no coastline.
CODY: And that a Russian surgeon removed his own appendix in the 1960s. SUCCESSFULLY.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Join us again Sunday to learn something new in just a few minutes. And have a great weekend! I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!