Learn about how the Oura smart ring could detect fever before you feel it; why there are no stars in moon landing photos; and why it “stinks” that honeybees have been documented using tools for the first time.
Learn about how the Oura smart ring could detect fever before you feel it; why there are no stars in moon landing photos; and why it “stinks” that honeybees have been documented using tools for the first time.
This smart ring may detect fever before you feel it by Steffie Drucker
Why aren't there stars in moon landing photos? Originally aired July 2, 2018: https://omny.fm/shows/curiosity-daily/impostor-syndrome-moon-landing-photos-explained-an
Honeybees have been documented using tools for the first time -- and it stinks by Grant Currin
Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/this-ring-may-detect-covid-19-before-you-feel-it
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 a smart ring that could detect a fever before you feel it; why there are no stars in moon landing photos; and why it “stinks” that honeybees have been documented using tools for the first time.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Smartwatches and fitness trackers aren’t just for New Year’s resolutions anymore. Researchers are recognizing their potential for diagnosing real health risks, from heart problems to viral infections. Now, a proof of concept study had demonstrated that one popular wearable may be able to detect a wearer’s fever before they feel it — and prevent the spread of disease in the process. [maybe a caveat here to mention that this isn’t a sponsored story]
The wearable in question is the Oura smart ring, which records users’ heart rate, activity level, and temperature. This isn’t the first time it’s made headlines: the NBA adopted the device in 2020 to keep tabs on players’ health during the pandemic. Of course, athletic endorsements aren’t evidence. So the company joined forces with the University of San Francisco on what they call the TemPredict study, a research project to see if the ring could help identify the onset of COVID-19.
Fever is the first symptom the CDC lists for COVID-19. For this reason, many businesses have implemented temperature checks before allowing people to enter. But spot-checking temperatures is imperfect for lots of reasons. Body temperature isn’t standard — some people run a little hot while others run cold. Your temperature even fluctuates throughout the day. Oura says its users have a better baseline for their temperature because the ring monitors it continuously.
More than 65,000 people have participated in the TemPredict study, but this particular proof of concept focused on data from 50 of them. These individuals already owned Oura rings and contracted COVID-19 before joining the study. They gave researchers access to data from their rings and summaries of their symptoms from when they were sick. After analyzing the data, the team found that the ring detected fever in about three quarters of these participants well before they reported having any symptoms. This raises questions about how many COVID-19 cases are truly asymptomatic: the symptoms could be too mild for a patient to notice, but detectable by a wearable device.
Researchers stress that this sample is too small to apply their findings to the whole population, but it’s an encouraging start. The team hopes to eventually develop an algorithm that can alert infected people to self-quarantine earlier and help contain the virus. Similar studies are being done with FitBit and Apple Watch devices, but the results are yet to be released. Who knows: maybe that New Year’s Resolution purchase could be one way to end the pandemic for good.
ASHLEY: Cody, I don’t think we’ve talked about your latest obsession.
CODY: NO WE HAVEN’T
[ad lib both]
ASHLEY: Well, we’ve done a little mythbusting of our own on Curiosity Daily. So here’s a classic clip I found we’ve remastered just for you.
This next story is kind of big news. For the first time, scientists have documented honey bees using tools. Pretty cool, right?
What kind of tool, you may ask? Maybe a stick or a leaf or a tiny pebble? I’m afraid not. The tool we’re talking...is poop.
It turns out that honey bees forage for animal poo and daub chunks of it on the entrance to their hives. Why? They do it to keep away a species of giant hornet that feasts on the vulnerable bees. The researchers say this smelly “no trespassing” sign successfully repels the predators and keeps the bees safe from mass attacks. I mean… I know I’M not knocking on any doors that’re smeared with feces.
The official term for this behavior is “fecal spotting,” and it’s never been documented in any honey bee species before. The researchers don’t know what it is about the poopy smears that keeps the hornets away, and they don’t understand why honey bees can stand the stuff when the hornets can’t.
This new discovery comes from Vietnam, where Wellesley College’s Heather Mattila and her colleagues spent seven years studying interactions between honey bees and giant hornets. These guys are a relative of the infamous Asian giant hornet, also known as murder hornets. Beekeepers in the area had noticed that some sort of gunk would build up around a hive’s entrance after a hornet attack, and they suspected the gunk was animal dung. To make sure, the researchers did the obvious: they placed piles of animal poop near a few beehives and waited.
Sure enough, they witnessed worker bees collecting bits of feces from the piles and bringing it back to decorate the hive entrance. They also saw the bees using poop from a nearby chicken coop, soap scum, and even human urine to get the stinky job done.
Importantly, they found that the honey bees only resort to such crappy tricks when threatened by giant hornets. They didn’t use the dung defense against smaller, less dangerous predators.
While this seems to be a specialized behavior, it’s not unusual: like I said, the beekeepers knew about it. The researchers asked beekeepers who kept the same species of honey bee whether they saw the tell-tale turds at the entrances to their hives. 63 of the 67 beekeepers said they had.
So the next time you enjoy a spoonful of honey in your tea, take a second to be grateful for the evolutionary genius of this pretty gross behavior. And thank the worker bees who made it all possible.
Let’s recap today’s takeaways
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s stories were written by Steffie Drucker and Grant Currin, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!