Tune in to learn about how fire-breathing creatures are possible, what makes a bad breaker-upper, and new blazing fast, cheap, and accurate COVID tests.
Tune in to learn about how fire-breathing creatures are possible, what makes a bad breaker-upper, and new blazing fast, cheap, and accurate COVID tests.
Dragons could be real.
Break up with someone the right way.
Speed meets accuracy with covid tests.
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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/making-dragon-fire-dating-ghosts-blazing-fast-covid-tests
[SFX: MUSIC IN/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 fire-breathing creatures are possible, what makes a bad breaker-upper, and new blazing fast, cheap, and accurate COVID tests!
CALLI: Without further ado, let’s satisfy some curiosity!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Calli, I am so unbelievably stoked. Finally, our long wait is over, and it's all going to be worth it! After watching every single episode of Game of Thrones, a few times over, the prequel is finally here! I’ve been waiting for this for years! It’s called House of the Dragon and it premieres August 21st on HBO Max. I cannot believe it's here!
CALLI: Well of course dragons exist. Komodo dragons. Bearded dragons. Water dragons. There are all sorts of these fun lizards all over the world.
NATE: Well they do show up across many cultures. But what's really cool is that when you look at the science, an animal like a dragon being able to breathe fire isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds.
CALLI: What makes you so sure about that? Because it still sounds ridiculous to me.
NATE: Well I was reading a recent interview with Henry Gee, who’s an evolutionary biologist and author of “A (Very) Short History Of Life On Earth.” He says the idea of dragons existing is, quote, “not quite as daft as you might think.” One of his main points was that creatures even more ridiculous than dragons already do exist on earth, like the bombardier beetle.
CALLI: What’s a bombardier beetle?
NATE: Admittedly, this beetle doesn’t breathe fire, but what it does do is create a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone inside its body. If it is threatened, it moves that mixture to an internal combustion chamber where enzymes act on the mixture and turn it into benzoquinone, which is really toxic. The mixture then becomes boiling hot in the combustion chamber, and the beetle can squirt it out into the eyes of a threat. When you consider that this already exists in something as humble as a beetle, fire breathing dragons don’t seem so ridiculous.
CALLI: Okay, but chemical burns are way different than actual burns from fire. The beetle is cool, but you can’t just mix up a flame.
NATE: Well Gee has a theory: an animal could if it created a compound that ignited into fire when it hit the air.
CALLI: Ok sure, but do those compounds even exist?
NATE: Yes! It’s called diethyl ether, and the mechanisms to make it are already in the animal kingdom! I wouldn’t try this at home, but if you warm up pure alcohol in the presence of sulphuric acid, you make diethyl ether. A lot of organisms already produce alcohol and many produce sulfates, so it wouldn’t be a huge stretch to think one could create sulfuric acid, maybe colonies of microbes could do it in the salivary glands. And if you could make them both, you could biologically synthesize…fire. Diethyl ether doesn’t take a lot of heat to burst into flame, so a dragon could just squirt it across its teeth and it’d burst into flames!
CALLI: That is so cool, but we are dealing with harsh stuff here, a buildup of sulphuric acid could be poisonous too, right?
NATE: Yes. Gee says that any creature capable of breathing fire this way would need a gland that prevents itself from self-poisoning. I mean, it’s the same as any other creature that carries venom without poisoning itself, right?
CALLI: That makes sense. But what about burns?
NATE: Well the dragon skin would have to be fireproof, but Gee says that could be fixed by having scales that contain borax, which we use in our own, very real, fire retardant clothing.
CALLI: So it's possible then? Should I keep my eyes to the sky for any big flying threats?
NATE: Actually, that is the point Gee takes issue with. He says that if a dragon were to be as big as they are in TV and movies, they would probably be too big to fly, they’d be ground creatures. You either get to fly, or you get to be big, you don’t get to have both.
CALLI: What do you mean?
NATE: He pointed to big birds like geese, if you watch them fly, you can see how much effort it takes them to get into the air, they can’t really afford to be much bigger. To go a bit scalier, some pterodactyls, the flying dinosaurs, were as big as small planes, but that would have made them really bad at flapping to fly, and dragons are often depicted even bigger than that. Many dinosaurs likely evolved to be bigger and bigger, until they were too big to fly and became ground creatures.
CALLI: This is interesting, but if it is possible, what do you think the chances are that we ever find evidence of something like this?
NATE: Never say never, Calli. Consider the fact that we didn’t even know the science behind how a bumblebee flapped its wings until 2001. There’s so much about the world we don’t know yet. So in the meantime, you better believe I’m going to watch some dragons in the prequel series starting August 21st, on HBO Max.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: Nate, some new research is coming out that might make breakups hurt a little less, or at least make you feel better about moving on from a partner after a bad breakup.
NATE: Oh boy, that's a time when anyone could use some good news.
CALLI: A recent study found that those who “ghost” to end relationships are more likely to have the negative personality traits that make up the mysterious sounding “dark triad.” Folks who are bad at breaking up, often aren’t the best people.
NATE: Ok you might call me old-fashioned here, but what is ghosting?
CALLI: Well those of the Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble generations might be familiar. It's when you end a relationship, or a budding relationship, by just cutting off communication with someone. You don’t give any explanation, you just stop reaching out or replying. It's becoming increasingly common, and even acceptable, in some circles, but others find it hurtful and rude.
NATE: So you just disappear…like a ghost? I get it. But then what is the dark triad?
CALLI: The dark triad is a trio of negative personality traits that can be found in some less-than-savory people. Narcissism, when you think really highly of yourself and think others are inferior to you. Machiavellianism, when you are manipulative, callous, and indifferent to morality. And psychopathy, when you lack empathy for others.
NATE: Oh man that's like a Neapolitan ice cream of suck.
CALLI: Having dark triad traits has already been linked to promiscuous behavior, cheating, and having more sexual partners, but researchers were hoping to see what the link was between these traits and the increasing popularity of ghosting.
NATE: So how do you test this? Do you ask people if they’re jerks on dates?
CALLI: Well, sort of. Researchers studied 341 Americans. There were a variety of participants, with an age range from 18 to 72, but the study primarily looked at white female undergraduate students. All of these participants completed an assessment to gauge their level of dark triad traits, and answered questions about their attitudes toward ghosting and if they had ever done it.
NATE: I’m surprised people would be so willing to do that kind of study.
CALLI: Thankfully the study found some that were! And they got some interesting results. Overall they found that those who scored higher in dark triad traits were more willing to ghost. But this was particularly true for those who scored higher in psychopathy and machiavellianism, but not for narcissists.
NATE: That's interesting, maybe those who think they’re better than others don’t mind telling partners they’re leaving.
CALLI: Maybe, but researchers still have a lot more work to do to break down and understand these findings. They also found that for most who were okay with ghosting, it was still only seen as acceptable if they thought the relationship was short term and casual, rather than a longer term more serious relationship.
NATE: Even the dark triad-ians have their limits!
CALLI: The study also suggested that ghosting might come down to basic miscommunication, and differing perspectives. If someone thinks the relationship is low stakes, short term and casual, they may find it more acceptable to just fade out without explanation. But that doesn't mean the person who got ghosted saw the relationship as casual, and may have really benefited from a more compassionate breakup.
NATE: Regardless of the length or caliber of the relationship, I think we’d all benefit from being a bit more kind and empathetic to others.
CALLI: Absolutely. Researchers do admit there are some limitations to the study, particularly the prevalence of young white women, which may skew how far we can apply the results of the study to other groups of people. Researchers also only asked about short and long term relationships.
NATE: And humans do find their way into all different sorts of romantic relationships.
CALLI: Absolutely. But whatever relationship you are in, it doesn’t take a study to know we should all try to be a bit more kind and communicative.
NATE: Look at us, not just a science podcast, a relationship podcast! Will we start answering listener relationship questions?
CALLI: Only if they’re about protons and electrons.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Calli, I know you and I have both seen our fair share of “rapid test” signs since COVID started.
CALLI: Absolutely, those rapid tests have made life a lot easier. I’m always impressed with how fast you can get results too.
NATE: Speed is quickly becoming the name of the game in the virus testing world and researchers at the University of Texas-Dallas may have just become the new world’s fastest testers with accurate results in as little as thirty minutes.
CALLI: Okay that’s fast. But the real question is - just how accurate?
NATE: That’s the best part - these tests are just as accurate as PCR lab tests. PCR tests are the gold standard at the moment, but they often take a few days to get real results.
CALLI: Those PCR tests run on genetic material right?
NATE: Yep! In PCR tests scientists get those infamous nose swabs to extract genetic material from our noses. They test this material with special chemicals and enzymes in a machine called a “thermal cycler” which heats and cools the samples. Each heating and cooling cycle increases the amount of potential COVID material. One of the chemicals then produces a fluorescent light if COVID is present.
CALLI: So then how do the new tests work? Am I finally free of the nose swabs?
NATE: A nasal swab is still required to collect a sample so the q-tips are here to stay. The test is called “Digital Plasmonic Nanobubble Detection” or DIAMOND. First, researchers attach gold nanoparticles to antibodies for the virus they’re testing for. Then they mix this with that nose sample from a patient and pump it through a tiny channel on a glass slide. As the mixed liquid moves through the channel it’s hit with beams from two different lasers.
CALLI: Lasers, gold, and DIAMOND, this is fancy high-tech stuff.
NATE: The first laser “activates” the gold particles. Basically, they absorb energy from the laser and start to expand, this expansion is powerful; enough that it can actually boil water in the sample, creating…nanobubbles.
CALLI: Nanobubbles!? And they can test for a virus from bubbles?
NATE: Researchers use the second laser to determine the size of the bubbles. This tells us whether or not the virus is present. The gold-nanoparticle-covered antibodies that latch on to the virus expand more than those that don’t latch on to a virus. That means they’ll create larger bubbles, whereas the antibodies that don’t have a virus to grab create smaller bubbles.
CALLI: So they can avoid the need for thermal cycling. But there’s always a catch. Let me guess - they’re super expensive?
NATE: Just the opposite. These new tests are as accurate as PCR tests, 150 times more accurate than our current rapid virus tests and researchers say they can be made for as little as $15 a pop without the need for complex handling and prep processes of PCR tests.
CALLI: Can this be used on all viruses?
NATE: It’s only been used for the respiratory syncytial virus or RSV so far, but researchers say all they have to do is change the antibody they attach the gold particles to and it should work for viruses like the flu or COVID.
CALLI: This is so exciting, I'll never doubt a humble q-tip ever again.
NATE: It’ll be a while before the test is publicly available. The hope is to eventually bring it to hospitals, labs, drive-thru pharmacies, and even at home tests. But it still needs approval from the FDA.
CALLI: Hopefully the approval process can match the test’s speed.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up.
CALLI: Just because we haven’t found evidence of fire-breathing dragons, doesn’t mean they couldn’t exist. Creatures like the bombardier beetle offer an example of how living things could synthesize fire, and the ingredients are already in the animal kingdom!
NATE: Researchers have gained a better understanding of the types of people who ghost to end relationships, and why they think it's acceptable. While those who end relationships by simply ending communication often exhibit negative traits from the dark triad, they are more likely to ghost when they perceive a relationship as casual, even if their partners don't.
CALLI: A new testing method developed at UT Dallas gives results as accurate as PCR tests but in just 30 minutes. The inexpensive system uses genetic material, lasers, gold, and nanobubbles to set a new standard for accuracy and speed for testing all sorts of viruses.