Today you’ll learn about a robot that can resurrect bees from near death, how oral transmission shapes the way music evolves, and the huge power of the tiny cranberry to stave off urinary tract infections.
Today you’ll learn about a robot that can resurrect bees from near death, how oral transmission shapes the way music evolves, and the huge power of the tiny cranberry to stave off urinary tract infections.
Robotic Beehive
Oral Transmission
Cranberry Juice & UTIs
[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 a robot that can resurrect bees from near death, how oral transmission shapes the way music evolves and the huge power of the tiny cranberry to stave off urinary tract infections.
CALLI: Without further ado, let’s satisfy some curiosity!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: Researchers believe they have a robotic solution for two things that affect the health of bees: chill comas and a type of parasitic mite called a varroa destructor.
NATE: Just when you think it’s all our fault that bee populations are declining, you hear about bumblebee comas.
CALLI: Don’t forget varroa destructors! They are one of bees’ most dreaded enemies.
NATE: Wait. So where do robots fit into all of this?
CALLI: That is a great question. A paper published in Science Robotics described what is, basically, a robotic beehive. And it’s actually a pretty big deal. It not only protects the bees, but the data it can gather about the colony gives us a brand new glimpse into a bee’s life.
NATE: Right. Bees have been having a hard time lately, haven’t they?
CALLI: Yeah, they have. By some estimates, beekeepers in the United States lost around 45% of their colonies in 2020 alone. While scientists believe the bulk of the die-offs are due to pesticides and mites, it’s also believed that extreme weather events can weaken the colony, leaving it more susceptible to mites and other issues. So anything we can do to keep the colony healthy will also keep it more resilient.
NATE: So how can a robot do this?
CALLI: Let’s start with bees. So, in the winter, bees huddle together in the hive and actually generate a microclimate near the center of their cluster. They are controlling the temperature, keeping the colony safe against the cold. Which is pretty cool, if you think about it. But when temperatures dip too low, they enter a state called “chill-coma…”
NATE: …my favorite band…
CALLI: …and it’s basically exactly what it sounds like. They stop moving, and eventually stop generating heat. This is all fine, unless the colony is already struggling, like if it’s been affected by mites. A weakened colony will probably not survive the chill-coma.
NATE: So does the robot heat the hive?
CALLI: Basically, but it’s even cooler than that. Other studies have been done in which researchers warmed the air around the hive during winter to see how the bees would respond. But this new system is modeled on the hive, itself. Plates with a honeycomb-like surface can be inserted into existing hives and gently warmed. The slight warmth mimics the warmth generated by the colony, and gives them just a little boost, which lets them save their own energy…
NATE: …and that way they can fight off mites.
CALLI: Exactly. But that’s not all. Beekeepers can control the location of the heat on the plates. See, in healthy colonies, the bees generate their microclimate around stored up honey. So when they’ve gone through all that honey, they slowly move their microclimate to a spot with more honey. But if they aren’t generating their own heat…
NATE: …beekeepers can move the heat to the honey.
CALLI: And move the bees along with it.
NATE: That’s awesome.
CALLI: The study was done in winter, and one of the hives consisting of about 4,000 bees fell into a chill-coma, but because of this robotic hive, the researchers were able to resurrect the colony. And when it’s not resurrecting bees, it’s tracking them, giving beekeepers insights they’ve never had before, which could help diagnose high risk colonies before it’s too late.
NATE: So when will beekeepers start deploying their army of robots?
CALLI: Well…scientists are still researching, but it’s only a matter of time. They are using the robots to study bee’s summertime behavior now, and they think they will get some valuable insights into how to detect and defend colonies from the dreaded parasite, varroa destructor.
NATE: Another good band name.
CALLI: It actually is.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: A new study is looking at how oral transmission shapes the way music evolves.
CALLI: Oral transmission?
NATE: A science-y way to say “singing.”
CALLI: Okay. Let me break this down and see if I can translate: this study looks at how singing songs leads to musical evolution?
NATE: Basically. Yes. But it actually has much bigger implications than it would seem on the surface. Because, if you think about it, as far as we know, every human culture has sung songs, and singing transcends age. A baby’s cooing soon enough turns into Twinke Twinkle Little Star. And for the vast majority of human history - music was passed down orally.
CALLI: By singing it, as opposed to, like, studying it in a book, right?
NATE: Exactly. While there’s evidence of some musical notation as far back as the 6th century B.C., researchers believe that humans have been making music for at least 35,000 years.
CALLI: Holy cow. Okay.
NATE: So what’s going on in our minds when someone sings to us? How do we interpret the song, and how are we able to sing it to others? And why does one culture sing this way, and another culture sing that way? These are some of the questions the researchers wanted to answer with this study.
CALLI: I never thought of that. Every culture has music, but it’s all different.
NATE: It’s different, but there are definitely some similarities between cultures, right? Dr. Manuel Anglada-Tort, a Lecturer at the University of Oxford and one of the leads of the study, wanted to know how music changes when people share it. And here’s one of the cooler aspects of this study: it was massive. It was the largest cultural transmission study on the evolution of music yet.
CALLI: So how did they do it?
NATE: Nearly 1,800 participants from the United States and India listened to over 3,400 melodies and then they repeated them to each other.
CALLI: So it was a bunch of people from two different cultures singing songs to each other?
NATE: Sounds nice, doesn’t it? The tunes were very simple and short, and participants were asked to listen and commit them to memory, and then repeat them over time. The study looked at how the songs changed within each individual…
CALLI: …like, if they kinda forgot how the tune went?
NATE: …Right. If they’re own cultural and personal baggage sorta…changed the tune without them even knowing it. But they also looked at how listeners from the other culture interpreted the tune and then repeated it.
CALLI: Like a game of musical telephone.
NATE: Yeah. And it turns out, that’s how music has evolved since the beginning. The simple tunes survived unchanged the longest.
CALLI: I mean I would assume it’s because they were easier to remember?
NATE: And easier to sing. The songs that had bigger pitch changes, for example, didn’t last all that long. But the more interesting thing is that, at the risk of oversimplifying, the music evolved based on how the individual’s bias shaped the music over time.
CALLI: Sure. That makes sense.
NATE: But one of the biggest takeaways from this study is the study, itself.
CALLI: What do you mean?
NATE: They were able to get an unheard of amount of data using online collection across huge distances. Methods like this could be replicated to study other behaviors that are influenced by what they call ‘cultural transmission.” That could change the way we understand human language - or even bird song.
CALLI: That is really freaking cool.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: As long as humans have gotten sick, we’ve invented cures. We feed colds and starve fevers. We put raw steaks on black eyes. We drink warm milk to help us sleep, etc. But a new study has found that one ancient near-mythical treatment is true. It turns out, cranberries actually help prevent urinary tract infections.
CALLI: I thought I’d just read a study that said cranberries didn’t work at all. Am I imagining that?
NATE: Probably not. A 2012 review of 24 trials seemed to indicate that cranberries offered zero benefits to our urinary tracts.
CALLI: Okay. So what’s going on here? Is this just another case of contradicting studies?
NATE: Not quite. Medical scientists at Flinders University weren’t so sure the 2012 results were accurate because they weren’t sold on the size of the study. So they conducted a survey of 50 more trials that have been done recently and included 9,000 participants.
CALLI: Gotcha. Larger studies equal better results, right?
NATE: Usually. And in this case, absolutely.
CALLI: So if you get a UTI, you should reach for a glass of cranberry juice?
NATE: Before I get to that, let’s talk a little bit about urinary tract infections.
CALLI: Not exactly the hottest topic of conversation.
NATE: Yeah - you don’t want to be the guy at the party talking about UTIs. But the fact is, they are incredibly common, especially for women. By some counts, up to 40% of women will suffer from an infection of the urinary tract at some point in their lives. That means painful urination, burning sensations, discomfort, trouble peeing. It’s not pleasant.
CALLI: I have a friend who gets them all the time. Are some people more prone to UTIs?
NATE: That’s a good question - and why this study on cranberries is so important. See, UTIs are just infections along any part of the urinary tract. Quick recap of the urinary tract: it goes from kidneys to ureter to bladder to urethra. A kidney infection could cause fevers and shaking and nausea. A bladder infection is painful and can make you have to go to the bathroom a ton. And an infection of the urethra causes burning. Usually, you get one and you can just take a quick course of antibiotics and they’ll just go away. Sometimes a single dose of antibiotics will solve the problem. But…some women get them over and over.
CALLI: Yeah, that would be like my friend.
NATE: This study didn’t find that cranberries cure UTIs - only that drinking cranberry juice or taking cranberry supplements help prevent them. And that is great news for people like your friend who have to deal with them over and over.
CALLI: So how does cranberry juice compare with traditional treatments like antibiotics?
NATE: They didn’t find enough information to make a case either way. The most compelling evidence shows that cranberries reduce the number of infections in women who get them a lot and in kids. But they emphasize that more research is needed to understand who, exactly, will benefit most from this information. And, of course, they still don’t know exactly how cranberries work. Finding that out could help them develop even better treatments in the future. But one of the coolest things about using cranberries to treat UTIs?
CALLI: Cranberry juice is delicious?
NATE: Yes. And virtually no side effects.
CALLI: I’ll drink to that!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up.
CALLI: Good news for bees. A team of scientists has built a robotic bee hive that can resurrect near-death bees during their winter “chill-coma” states, and could give beekeepers valuable insights into the health and condition of their colonies.
NATE: A massive study on participants from the United States and India has shown how singing songs to others actually changes the songs. This musical game of telephone is an important way to understand how cultural behaviors are passed on, and also how they evolve.
NATE: A new study shows that grandma was right - cranberry juice helps prevent urinary tract infections. If you don’t like juice, supplements help stave off these painful infections, too.