April 11, 2025 • 28 mins
On this week's episode we dive deep into nature's most shocking survival strategy exploring how the Alamendro tree has evolved to harness lightning strikes as a competitive advantage. We also examine the fascinating results of fermenting miso in space and discuss the challenges and rewards of cat fostering programs.
• Lightning-resistant Alamendro trees have 100% survival rate after strikes while 56% of neighboring trees die
• These trees grow wider crowns that attract lightning, increasing strike probability by 68% and eliminating competition
• Space-fermented miso develops a nuttier, more roasted flavor with unique bacteria not found in Earth samples
• New Zealand study reveals cat fostering helps manage 37,000+ cats annually while providing both challenges and benefits to fosterers
• Foster programs create community connections while offering flexible pet companionship without long-term commitment
• Emotional attachments, sick animals, and space constraints present challenges for fosterers despite the rewarding experience
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello science enthusiasts.
I'm Jason Zukoski.
And I'm Chris Zukoski, we'rethe pet parents of Bunsen,
beaker, bernoulli and Ginger.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The science animals on social media.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
If you love science.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And you love pets.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You've come to the right spot, so put on your
safety glasses and hold on toyour tail.
This is the Science Podcast.
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Science Podcast.
This is episode 10 of season 7and we hope you're happy and
healthy out there as we enterApril.
(00:44):
The snow is rapidly going away.
It's actually been raining, sothe winter, I think, is behind
us.
We might have the few oddspurts of snow as April becomes
May, but I think spring iscoming.
There's already birds arrivingfrom south, ducks are in the
creek.
But I guess the big news that'sactually kind of sad is that our
(01:07):
beaver norbert has gone.
There's been no activity in thelast like three or four months,
which is to be expected for thecold parts of the winter.
But yeah, it's such a bummer.
We don't know what happened.
Perhaps he didn't attract, orshe didn't attract, a mate.
The creek did dry up, soperhaps the beaver moved on to
greener pastures.
That might be a better place tobuild a, a dam.
Or, sadly, norbert is a wildcreature and sometimes wild
(01:30):
creatures just get eaten or theydie of old age.
But the forest definitely feelsa little bit more empty without
him around.
All right, well, let's get on tosome happier news.
Like we've got a really funshow today in science news.
We have two science articles alightning resilient tree and
space miso, which is awesome,and a really cool study from new
(01:54):
zealand that looked at the pros, cons, trials and tribulations
at calf foster.
Okay, let's get on with theshow, because there's no time
like science time.
This week in science news wehave a shocking study to break
down about the alamandro tree.
Our story begins with lightning.
(02:14):
We get quite the lightningstorms out here on the farm.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, we sure do.
Sometimes it's like a laserlight show, like a Pink Floyd
laser light show.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, out to the north of us where we watch the
Northern Lights.
That's where the farm fieldopens up and there's not a lot
of trees and sometimes we canjust watch the lightning arc
across the sky.
During really big storms,lightning has hit really close
to our house.
Before we built this house, welived in a little trailer.
(02:45):
As we were a young, financiallystrapped couple, we were saving
up money for a house or maybejust trying to survive, and I
remember an explosion explosion.
It shook me up out of bed, Ithink you too and we were
running around the house tryingto figure out what happened
because our whole trailer shook.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, it's incredibly scary what happened and as well
.
Lightning actually hit the endof our pole of the farmhouse
with the transformer on it, andit exploded too.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I couldn't figure out what made that explosion.
I thought, I don't know,there's a guy that cuts wood on
our property.
I thought his propane tank blewup Like it sounded like a bomb,
but yeah, the lightning hit thepole and blew the transformer
to smithereens, which was wild.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I imagine being like, oh my goodness, what?
What are we going to do?
No power and no means to fix it, and it was very expensive to
replace that transformer.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I remember driving out and that power pole was just
like from a movie, likelightning hit it and it
splinters it and blows it tosmithereens.
It was pretty incredible.
So there's a lot of powerbehind lightning.
And what if we told you theremay be a tree that has
inadvertently harnessed thepower of lightning to murder
(04:11):
everything around it that itdoesn't like?
This is a wild study.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So the study comes to us from Panama and the general
perception is that lightningstrikes are typically harmful to
trees harmful, not helpful andthey used.
The scientists use cameraarrays and drones and ground
teams to study the overallimpact of lightning on tropical
(04:38):
forests.
Their initial expectation wasthat lightning would only harm
trees but that's not what theyfound.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So this maybe goes back to one of the first
incidents that got theresearchers minds ready to go to
study this.
In 2019, there was a hugelightning strike on a liana
covered alamando tree, so it'sgot all these liana vines on it,
which are parasitic, so boomlightning hits this tree and 115
(05:11):
neighboring trees wereseriously damaged.
50 of them died within twoyears.
All of the liana vines on thealamendro tree were vaporized
and the tree survived unscathed.
So from from here, that's wherethey started to get some data
that you mentioned in the study.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So the study sample included 93 lightning-struck
trees, which included nine ofthe oleandra trees, and after
two years there was 100%survival of the oleander trees
and 56% mortality among theother tree species there.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
That's crazy.
100% of those trees survived.
Now trees, especially this one.
These are taller trees so theymake really good lightning rods.
I don't know if our house has.
Does our house have a lightningrod?
I remember back when I was akid, taller houses had to have
lightning rods to channel thelightning if it gets hit by
lightning like down to ground.
(06:13):
I don't know if our house hasone.
I keep I'm worried because wesit on a bluff, don't we?
We're a sore thumb sticking outof the side of the hill yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So now I'm thinking maybe we need a weather vane and
or a lightning rod.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Something.
But you can imagine a scenariowhere, due to evolution, this
taller tree, when it got struckby lightning, the best of the
best survived, not onlysurviving the lightning, but
also that lightning destroyedthe liana vines, which drain
light and nutrients from thetree.
They're parasitic and evenwilder.
(06:50):
The liana vines act aselectrical bridges, like wires
spreading the lightning currentto other trees, worsening damage
to all of the tree'scompetitors.
And normally, on average, nineneighboring trees die per
lightning strike.
And you can imagine that if youare a big, tall tree and you've
(07:12):
got nine competitors chompingat the bit for the ground,
nutrients and the water and thespace and the light that taking
them out makes, you have abetter chance of survival.
And, as evolution says, thebetter you are suited towards
your niche, the better chance ofsurvival.
And, as evolution says, thebetter you are suited towards
your niche, the better chanceyou are to survive and pass on
your genes.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So much so that their chances of reproductive success
was 14 times increased, 14times.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And, interestingly, the study does say that these
trees grow wider crowns thantheir neighbors, as if they are
inviting lightning strikes, andwhen they crunched the data and
made these trees 68% more likelyto be struck by lightning so
(08:00):
much so that the average tree isestimated to be struck five
times over their 300 yearlifespan.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
In fact, one tree was hit twice in five years.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
That's wild, even like thinking like five times
hitting the lightning doesstrike the same place, but the
hitting the same tree five timesover their very lengthy year.
Now of course they have someideas why this would be like,
but they're not sure and I thinkyou looked into that in the
(08:33):
study like how they survivelightning so the lightning
strikes of course lastmilliseconds, but the effects
don't unfold.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But the effects don't unfold for months.
So long-term tracking wasessential to uncover patterns.
And they have two hypothesesabout why or what is the unknown
mechanism for their survival.
And the first hypothesis is alow electrical resistance in the
wood which allows safeconduction to the ground.
(09:04):
And their second hypothesis isthat their crown structure.
And the second hypothesis isthat the crown structure itself
redirects the current away fromthe trunk toward the neighboring
trees.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Because if the roots of a tree die, that's the end of
it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Exactly, but there needs to be some
interdisciplinary research tomaybe understand what is
actually going on.
So ecologists are calling for acollaboration with physicists
to fully understand the treelightning dynamics.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I love this story.
We don't really get to talkabout lightning and chemistry at
all.
Electricity for sure, voltaicand electrolytic cells is a big
part of stuff that I teach.
But kids are fascinated bylightning, you know, it is such
a cool force of nature and I'vegot this little handheld Tesla
coil that it's hot, Jason.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I think it's a hot force of nature.
It's a what you said it wascool.
You said it was a cool for you,but it's actually hot.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, yeah, okay, got you.
Yes, hot, chris.
Right, because a lightning boltis fairly hot.
It's cool in the fact that it'sinteresting.
So I guess, if you're a treeand you want to get rid of your
competition, get yourself a bigold crown, cover yourself with
vines and zap away the peopletrying to take away your space.
(10:33):
In our second science articlewe're going to talk about this
is a weird one fermenting food,but not here on ground, not here
on earth, outer space.
Are you a fan of fermentedfoods, chris?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I am not, although I'm interested in maybe
exploring some kombucha I wasasking my colleagues about it, I
know but I'd like to increasemy healthy gut microbes and I
know that this could potentiallybe one way to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, like, fermented foods are traditionally quite
good for you and they areacquired taste.
Not everybody likes fermentedfoods.
I know Adam and Annalise theylove kimchi, which is a Korean
dish from, I think, cabbageright, like a bunch of different
things, so they have kimchi atrestaurants occasionally.
Do you know what my favoritefermented food is?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Cabbage, you know you like the sauerkraut.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yes, I love sauerkraut, oh, so good.
Yes you love it Sauerkraut on ahot dog S tier topping right
there.
But, of course, aside fromkombucha, another fermented
product that you enjoy is yogurt.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Oh yes, exactly that's something that I can
handle is yogurt.
It tastes delicious and itpotentially is putting microbes
in my gut.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And sourdough bread, which there's a little bit of a
knack to growing, the right kindof mixture to get your
sourdough bread right.
But I do appreciate a good loafof sourdough bread, as do I.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
But currently, if we're talking about fermentation
in space, current astronautdiet, the current, the current
astronaut diet is primarilyfreeze dried foods and it has
minimal microbial content.
So, like I remember, atChristmas time you went to a
whimsical store and bought thekids some freeze dried food like
(12:42):
from space.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yes, I did Whimsical it was a whimsical purchase.
I thought it tasted good, butyou're missing some of that
microbial content.
Yeah, fermentation foods,they've got some benefits.
It gives you those beneficialmicrobes for your gut, keeps the
food from rotting and this onemay be up for debate it does
(13:05):
give it a unique flavor and avariety of flavors.
So what happened with thisexperiment, chris?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It was actually called the miso experiment and
the chosen food was miso, whichis a traditional Japanese
condiment, and they chose it dueto its firm texture, its strong
recognizable flavor and thecultural and scientific
significance.
Now they prepared it withcooked soybeans and salt and
(13:34):
fermented rice and they madeabout a kilogram of the miso
mixture and they sent it intothree different places.
They sent it to copenhagen,which is, of course, on earth,
and they sent it to cambridge,which is also on earth, and they
also sent it to the iss theysent it to space they did and
(13:58):
they had a tasting panel of 14individuals, including chefs and
researchers on the testingpanel, and what they found was
the flavor profile of the ISS.
Miso was described as nuttierand more roasted and that flavor
(14:23):
correlated with higher levelsof something called pyrazines,
which are compounds producedduring fermentation.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
One of the reasons why there might be a flavor
difference is that the miso onthe ISS was kept at a warmer
temperature, probably because itwas next to something that was
giving off heat at a warmertemperature, probably because it
was next to something that wasgiving off heat.
So the ISS miso was fermentedat 36 degrees Celsius, where on
Earth it was closer to 20.
And that may have acceleratedthe fermentation way up in outer
(14:56):
space on the ISS.
But one of the cool things thatyou were really excited about
was the microbial differences.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, so all three batches did have similar
microbial communities, but therewas one unique bacterial
species only found on the ISSbatch.
And now you mentioned the, it'sthe, I believe Koji fungus or
Koi fungus showed more geneticmutations in the space sample
and that could possibly be dueto radionics, then that could
(15:22):
possibly be due to radian, thenthat could possibly be due to
the radiation exposure in spaceyeah, exactly because the iss is
not as shielded from cosmicwind as we are here on earth,
underneath the different layersof the atmosphere and closer to
the earth's gravity.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Well, very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Unfortunately, the researchers could not isolate
which environmental factorcaused the specific changes in
the MISO, because they arefairly complex variables.
Could it have been theradiation?
Maybe it's the microgravity, orthe temperature could have
played the key part.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I think this is fascinating because the
astronauts that eat freeze-driedfood I know.
I've watched a ton of videoswhen Chris Hadfield was up in
outer space he's a Canadianastronaut and he did a great job
of doing these daily videos.
I have to say the food lookedreally unappetizing.
Like it came out of tubes, itcame out of pouches, it was all
(16:24):
like cooked ahead of time and orfreeze dried.
So giving the astronauts areally unique flavor to
something maybe they're no,maybe to something they're used
to on earth, I think that wouldbe really cool.
So I'm curious would sauerkrauttaste different?
Really cool.
(16:45):
So I'm curious would sauerkrauttaste different?
Would yogurt taste different?
Or kombucha?
Would you pay for spacekombucha, chris?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I haven't even paid for earth kabocha, I've never
had it, so maybe I should trythat first.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I would try space sauerkraut on a space dog in a
second.
It probably would be thousandsof dollars, though.
All right, that's science newsfor this week.
This week in pet science, let'stalk about cats, but
specifically cat fostering.
Chris said do you have the bugto get another cat or do you
(17:19):
like the cat we have?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I love the cat we have, and she is the only cat
that we will ever have.
She's, you never know, the foodworked for her with me, the
food did work for her, it workedfor you, but there will never
be another Ginger.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Oh, she's one of a kind, obviously yeah, she's a
unique cat.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
She is.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So I'm not familiar with cat fostering.
What's going on there?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
The cat fostering programs are similar to other
fostering programs and they areessential for managing stray or
relinquished and abandoned cats.
And the programs expand theshelter capacity, which is
amazing because shelters arefull all the time and it can
(18:04):
reduce stress and disease andincrease adoption rates when
cats are fostered.
There isn't a lot of data oncat fostering programs but our
study comes from New Zealand andsome statistics there are that
there are 37,000 plus cats thatpass through rescue
organizations yearly.
(18:24):
That is a lot of cats and about80% of rescue groups use
fostering as their core strategy.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That would be tough if you were a cat lover, because
it's like dog fostering is youhave the dog for a short time
until a more permanent place isfound for the dog and man.
If we got to foster the dog,it'd be hard to say goodbye to
that dog.
Right, absolutely my hat's offto people that do that kind of
stuff.
If you're listening, Right.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Absolutely.
My hat's off to people that dothat kind of stuff.
If you're listening, thank youfor doing that.
But then also there are somefoster families that do take on
the dogs and then they makespace right, they take care of
the dog, they foster the dog outand it's a success story for
the dog for the rest of thedog's life and then it offers up
some more space that they cando the cycle again.
And the study was done in NewZealand and it was a qualitative
(19:22):
study where they had two groupsof people who were cat
fosterers and they were sharingtheir stories and some of the
motivations for becoming afosterer was a love of animals,
so having a deep emotionalconnection and a longstanding
attachment to cats.
So there are cat people outthere and they were motivated by
(19:45):
the love that they had for themand it also Chris, that makes
sense.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I've talked about that before.
That the dog programs wherepeople can go in the anti-stress
dog room.
If you're stressed out, you cango see a dog.
That is a common thread is thatthere are people who would
prefer to spend time with a catrather than a dog.
So it's not that they're outthere, it's just that I don't
know there are cat people, whichis cool.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
There are, and the idea of becoming a cat foster is
an alternative to actualownership, so it's a flexible
option for those you know thatare unable to keep a permanent
pet.
Additionally, it's a desire tohelp.
So being a member of yourcommunity and contributing to
(20:33):
your community was one of themotivating factors of becoming a
cat fosterer.
And I think that us, as dogpeople, we would be equipped to
contribute if we were to do dogfostering.
But people who are cat people,who sign up to be a cat fosterer
(20:53):
, they have that same personalcapability.
They feel well-equipped tocontribute.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
As you had mentioned Chris, there's not a lot of data
on what happens when you fostera cat.
Who are cat fosterers?
What are some challenges?
So that's the section I lookedat because I'm like, if you
foster a cat, what are somethings that can be potentially
problematic?
And the first one is it'spretty intense emotionally
because you'll have grief,because you'll have grief over
(21:23):
the loss of a cat once it goessomewhere.
And then there's a lot ofdistress when cats get ill or
you have to give them up, oreuthanasia if everywhere is
completely full.
I see that on TikTok, that, andI know why it happens, but it
just hurts my heart.
So bad is that the shelters arefull and, like some of the dogs
(21:45):
are euthanized to make room forother dogs because they just
don't have space and that iswould probably be very
distressful to be around thatall the time.
Some of the cats that you wouldget as a foster are sick or have
behavior challenges.
So, lucky for us, ginger justtears up the couch and
occasionally bops the dogs.
But there's lots of otherbehavior problems you might have
(22:07):
with a cat or it might havesome kind of illness or
disability which is costly.
Then as well, cats have spaceconstraints.
You'd think a cat doesn't needa lot of space, but if you have
multiple cats in the same house,the current research shows they
should all have their own stuff.
They should all have their owncat tree, their cat litter box,
(22:29):
cat toys, and you may not haveenough room for that or time to
deal with everything with thecat.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Those are some challenges of cat fostering but
there are benefits of fosteringtoo.
One of those is socialwell-being and having a cat as a
companion.
That will reduce the lonelinessand also offers emotional
(23:01):
support to.
I think it's a symbioticrelation to the human and the
cat and you can make newfriendships and community
building amongst additional catfosterers right.
It builds that network, so thatnetwork definitely enhances
social well-being.
And another thing that's abenefit of fostering is
(23:21):
emotional well-being, thefeeling of joy and pride and
fulfillment and having improvedmental health.
And it's always so satisfying tosee animals grow and thrive and
I that's what they found in thestudy that people were very
satisfied to see those cats growto fruition and there's
(23:46):
practicality to it.
So having the experience of petcompanionship, you know,
without the long termresponsibility.
So you know without thelong-term responsibility.
So you know if you like to puta ring on it, you don't have to
put a ring on it, you can justexperience the pet companionship
.
And then ongoing learning andskill development.
We got a lot better with takingcare of each subsequent dog and
(24:09):
we got more skills for sure Allright, so why is?
getting all this data important.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Why are they asking questions?
So why is getting all this dataimportant?
Why are they asking questions?
Why are they gathering all thisqualitative survey work?
There's implications for rescueorganizations.
The more you know, the more youcan improve training and
ongoing education for those whomight want to foster cats in the
future, and then you can havesupport systems for when things
(24:33):
get hard, like it's time to giveup a cat or a cat gets sick or
dies.
If you have no support systemthere, it might be once bitten,
twice shy kind of thing whereyou may never decide to foster a
cat again.
Just like in a lot of the otherstudies that we covered about
shelters, a big part of beinginvolved in a shelter is having
(24:56):
autonomy within like the cogs ofan organization, so not not
feeling you don't have a saythat you're.
It's important for your voiceto be heard and have your voice
matter and then also findingwhere people's skillset is,
first before they decide tofoster, and then building on
(25:16):
that Because, as you said, chris, you get joy out of doing
better with each subsequentanimal and it keeps the
motivation going to do more inthe future.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
For sure.
Now there were some limitationsto the study.
The sample really did onlyinclude current fosterers, so
that could have a potential biastowards positive experiences or
relating positive stories aboutfostering and there could have
been the social desirabilitybias due to the group format in
(25:50):
that organized setting.
So I did say there were twogroups and they shared together.
So I don't know if you wouldwant to be the one person in the
room going, oh fostering isterrible.
So there might have been that.
Go with the flow.
This is great.
So there is need for furtherstudies on former fosterers and
(26:13):
why.
What was the, the emotionallabor, what was the foster grief
and exploring those and whywould they be a former fosterer?
What happened to to remove themfrom that network?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
so I think, as we wrap this up, like I did not
know a lot about this before westarted, chris, I did not know
even it was a thing that youcould be a cat fosterer and just
from New Zealand alone, like37,000 cats passed through their
rescue organizations and wethink Ginger is the best.
We think Ginger is this amazingcat because she is.
(26:52):
But I think everybody thinksthat way about their cat.
Isn't everybody's cat a specialcreature too?
And just thinking that there'sthousands upon thousands of cats
that have their lives saved andthey have a new home thanks to
the fostering programs that areavailable in every country, I
think this is just good data tohave for those organizations in
(27:13):
the future.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Absolutely 100%.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
All right, that's Pet Science for this week.
That's it for this week's show.
Thanks for coming back weekafter week to listen to us.
And two things.
We want to thank everybody whosupported us with the Bernoulli
stuffy presale.
It has gone way better than weever thought.
Thank you so much.
You might be listening to this.
(27:40):
You might have time still toget on the presale.
Check our website.
We got a link in our show notes.
And again, big shout out to ourtop tier patrons, the top dogs
who support the podcast and helpkeep it free.
One of the perks is Chris readsyour name at the end of the
show.
Chris, take it away.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Amelia Fetting, rhi Oda Carol Hainel, jennifer
Challen, linnea Janik KarenChronister, vicky Otero, christy
Walker, sarah Bram, wendy,diane Mason and Luke Helen Chin,
elizabeth Bourgeois, marianneMcNally, katherine Jordan,
shelley Smith, laura Steffensen,tracy Leinbach, ann Uchida,
(28:24):
heather Burbach, kelly TracyHalbert, ben Rather, debbie
Anderson, sandy Breimer, maryRader, bianca Hyde, andrew Lin,
Brenda Clark, brianne Hawes,peggy McKeel, holly Burge, kathy
Zerker, susan Wagner.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
For science, empathy and cuteness.
Hello science enthusiasts.
I'm Jason Zukoski.
And I'm Chris Zukoski, we'rethe pet parents of Bunsen,
beaker, bernoulli and Ginger.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The science animals on social media.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
If you love science.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
And you love pets.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You've come to the right spot, so put on your
safety glasses and hold on toyour tail.
This is the Science Podcast.
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Science Podcast.
This is episode 10 of season 7and we hope you're happy and
healthy out there as we enterApril.
(00:44):
The snow is rapidly going away.
It's actually been raining, sothe winter, I think, is behind
us.
We might have the few oddspurts of snow as April becomes
May, but I think spring iscoming.
There's already birds arrivingfrom south, ducks are in the
creek.
But I guess the big news that'sactually kind of sad is that our
(01:07):
beaver norbert has gone.
There's been no activity in thelast like three or four months,
which is to be expected for thecold parts of the winter.
But yeah, it's such a bummer.
We don't know what happened.
Perhaps he didn't attract, orshe didn't attract, a mate.
The creek did dry up, soperhaps the beaver moved on to
greener pastures.
That might be a better place tobuild a, a dam.
Or, sadly, norbert is a wildcreature and sometimes wild
(01:30):
creatures just get eaten or theydie of old age.
But the forest definitely feelsa little bit more empty without
him around.
All right, well, let's get on tosome happier news.
Like we've got a really funshow today in science news.
We have two science articles alightning resilient tree and
space miso, which is awesome,and a really cool study from new
(01:54):
zealand that looked at the pros, cons, trials and tribulations
at calf foster.
Okay, let's get on with theshow, because there's no time
like science time.
This week in science news wehave a shocking study to break
down about the alamandro tree.
Our story begins with lightning.
(02:14):
We get quite the lightningstorms out here on the farm.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, we sure do.
Sometimes it's like a laserlight show, like a Pink Floyd
laser light show.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, out to the north of us where we watch the
Northern Lights.
That's where the farm fieldopens up and there's not a lot
of trees and sometimes we canjust watch the lightning arc
across the sky.
During really big storms,lightning has hit really close
to our house.
Before we built this house, welived in a little trailer.
(02:45):
As we were a young, financiallystrapped couple, we were saving
up money for a house or maybejust trying to survive, and I
remember an explosion explosion.
It shook me up out of bed, Ithink you too and we were
running around the house tryingto figure out what happened
because our whole trailer shook.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, it's incredibly scary what happened and as well
.
Lightning actually hit the endof our pole of the farmhouse
with the transformer on it, andit exploded too.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I couldn't figure out what made that explosion.
I thought, I don't know,there's a guy that cuts wood on
our property.
I thought his propane tank blewup Like it sounded like a bomb,
but yeah, the lightning hit thepole and blew the transformer
to smithereens, which was wild.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I imagine being like, oh my goodness, what?
What are we going to do?
No power and no means to fix it, and it was very expensive to
replace that transformer.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
I remember driving out and that power pole was just
like from a movie, likelightning hit it and it
splinters it and blows it tosmithereens.
It was pretty incredible.
So there's a lot of powerbehind lightning.
And what if we told you theremay be a tree that has
inadvertently harnessed thepower of lightning to murder
(04:11):
everything around it that itdoesn't like?
This is a wild study.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So the study comes to us from Panama and the general
perception is that lightningstrikes are typically harmful to
trees harmful, not helpful andthey used.
The scientists use cameraarrays and drones and ground
teams to study the overallimpact of lightning on tropical
(04:38):
forests.
Their initial expectation wasthat lightning would only harm
trees but that's not what theyfound.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So this maybe goes back to one of the first
incidents that got theresearchers minds ready to go to
study this.
In 2019, there was a hugelightning strike on a liana
covered alamando tree, so it'sgot all these liana vines on it,
which are parasitic, so boomlightning hits this tree and 115
(05:11):
neighboring trees wereseriously damaged.
50 of them died within twoyears.
All of the liana vines on thealamendro tree were vaporized
and the tree survived unscathed.
So from from here, that's wherethey started to get some data
that you mentioned in the study.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
So the study sample included 93 lightning-struck
trees, which included nine ofthe oleandra trees, and after
two years there was 100%survival of the oleander trees
and 56% mortality among theother tree species there.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
That's crazy.
100% of those trees survived.
Now trees, especially this one.
These are taller trees so theymake really good lightning rods.
I don't know if our house has.
Does our house have a lightningrod?
I remember back when I was akid, taller houses had to have
lightning rods to channel thelightning if it gets hit by
lightning like down to ground.
(06:13):
I don't know if our house hasone.
I keep I'm worried because wesit on a bluff, don't we?
We're a sore thumb sticking outof the side of the hill yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So now I'm thinking maybe we need a weather vane and
or a lightning rod.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Something.
But you can imagine a scenariowhere, due to evolution, this
taller tree, when it got struckby lightning, the best of the
best survived, not onlysurviving the lightning, but
also that lightning destroyedthe liana vines, which drain
light and nutrients from thetree.
They're parasitic and evenwilder.
(06:50):
The liana vines act aselectrical bridges, like wires
spreading the lightning currentto other trees, worsening damage
to all of the tree'scompetitors.
And normally, on average, nineneighboring trees die per
lightning strike.
And you can imagine that if youare a big, tall tree and you've
(07:12):
got nine competitors chompingat the bit for the ground,
nutrients and the water and thespace and the light that taking
them out makes, you have abetter chance of survival.
And, as evolution says, thebetter you are suited towards
your niche, the better chance ofsurvival.
And, as evolution says, thebetter you are suited towards
your niche, the better chanceyou are to survive and pass on
your genes.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So much so that their chances of reproductive success
was 14 times increased, 14times.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And, interestingly, the study does say that these
trees grow wider crowns thantheir neighbors, as if they are
inviting lightning strikes, andwhen they crunched the data and
made these trees 68% more likelyto be struck by lightning so
(08:00):
much so that the average tree isestimated to be struck five
times over their 300 yearlifespan.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
In fact, one tree was hit twice in five years.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
That's wild, even like thinking like five times
hitting the lightning doesstrike the same place, but the
hitting the same tree five timesover their very lengthy year.
Now of course they have someideas why this would be like,
but they're not sure and I thinkyou looked into that in the
(08:33):
study like how they survivelightning so the lightning
strikes of course lastmilliseconds, but the effects
don't unfold.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But the effects don't unfold for months.
So long-term tracking wasessential to uncover patterns.
And they have two hypothesesabout why or what is the unknown
mechanism for their survival.
And the first hypothesis is alow electrical resistance in the
wood which allows safeconduction to the ground.
(09:04):
And their second hypothesis isthat their crown structure.
And the second hypothesis isthat the crown structure itself
redirects the current away fromthe trunk toward the neighboring
trees.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Because if the roots of a tree die, that's the end of
it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Exactly, but there needs to be some
interdisciplinary research tomaybe understand what is
actually going on.
So ecologists are calling for acollaboration with physicists
to fully understand the treelightning dynamics.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I love this story.
We don't really get to talkabout lightning and chemistry at
all.
Electricity for sure, voltaicand electrolytic cells is a big
part of stuff that I teach.
But kids are fascinated bylightning, you know, it is such
a cool force of nature and I'vegot this little handheld Tesla
coil that it's hot, Jason.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I think it's a hot force of nature.
It's a what you said it wascool.
You said it was a cool for you,but it's actually hot.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, yeah, okay, got you.
Yes, hot, chris.
Right, because a lightning boltis fairly hot.
It's cool in the fact that it'sinteresting.
So I guess, if you're a treeand you want to get rid of your
competition, get yourself a bigold crown, cover yourself with
vines and zap away the peopletrying to take away your space.
(10:33):
In our second science articlewe're going to talk about this
is a weird one fermenting food,but not here on ground, not here
on earth, outer space.
Are you a fan of fermentedfoods, chris?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I am not, although I'm interested in maybe
exploring some kombucha I wasasking my colleagues about it, I
know but I'd like to increasemy healthy gut microbes and I
know that this could potentiallybe one way to do that.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, like, fermented foods are traditionally quite
good for you and they areacquired taste.
Not everybody likes fermentedfoods.
I know Adam and Annalise theylove kimchi, which is a Korean
dish from, I think, cabbageright, like a bunch of different
things, so they have kimchi atrestaurants occasionally.
Do you know what my favoritefermented food is?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Cabbage, you know you like the sauerkraut.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yes, I love sauerkraut, oh, so good.
Yes you love it Sauerkraut on ahot dog S tier topping right
there.
But, of course, aside fromkombucha, another fermented
product that you enjoy is yogurt.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Oh yes, exactly that's something that I can
handle is yogurt.
It tastes delicious and itpotentially is putting microbes
in my gut.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And sourdough bread, which there's a little bit of a
knack to growing, the right kindof mixture to get your
sourdough bread right.
But I do appreciate a good loafof sourdough bread, as do I.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
But currently, if we're talking about fermentation
in space, current astronautdiet, the current, the current
astronaut diet is primarilyfreeze dried foods and it has
minimal microbial content.
So, like I remember, atChristmas time you went to a
whimsical store and bought thekids some freeze dried food like
(12:42):
from space.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yes, I did Whimsical it was a whimsical purchase.
I thought it tasted good, butyou're missing some of that
microbial content.
Yeah, fermentation foods,they've got some benefits.
It gives you those beneficialmicrobes for your gut, keeps the
food from rotting and this onemay be up for debate it does
(13:05):
give it a unique flavor and avariety of flavors.
So what happened with thisexperiment, chris?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It was actually called the miso experiment and
the chosen food was miso, whichis a traditional Japanese
condiment, and they chose it dueto its firm texture, its strong
recognizable flavor and thecultural and scientific
significance.
Now they prepared it withcooked soybeans and salt and
(13:34):
fermented rice and they madeabout a kilogram of the miso
mixture and they sent it intothree different places.
They sent it to copenhagen,which is, of course, on earth,
and they sent it to cambridge,which is also on earth, and they
also sent it to the iss theysent it to space they did and
(13:58):
they had a tasting panel of 14individuals, including chefs and
researchers on the testingpanel, and what they found was
the flavor profile of the ISS.
Miso was described as nuttierand more roasted and that flavor
(14:23):
correlated with higher levelsof something called pyrazines,
which are compounds producedduring fermentation.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
One of the reasons why there might be a flavor
difference is that the miso onthe ISS was kept at a warmer
temperature, probably because itwas next to something that was
giving off heat at a warmertemperature, probably because it
was next to something that wasgiving off heat.
So the ISS miso was fermentedat 36 degrees Celsius, where on
Earth it was closer to 20.
And that may have acceleratedthe fermentation way up in outer
(14:56):
space on the ISS.
But one of the cool things thatyou were really excited about
was the microbial differences.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, so all three batches did have similar
microbial communities, but therewas one unique bacterial
species only found on the ISSbatch.
And now you mentioned the, it'sthe, I believe Koji fungus or
Koi fungus showed more geneticmutations in the space sample
and that could possibly be dueto radionics, then that could
(15:22):
possibly be due to radian, thenthat could possibly be due to
the radiation exposure in spaceyeah, exactly because the iss is
not as shielded from cosmicwind as we are here on earth,
underneath the different layersof the atmosphere and closer to
the earth's gravity.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Well, very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Unfortunately, the researchers could not isolate
which environmental factorcaused the specific changes in
the MISO, because they arefairly complex variables.
Could it have been theradiation?
Maybe it's the microgravity, orthe temperature could have
played the key part.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I think this is fascinating because the
astronauts that eat freeze-driedfood I know.
I've watched a ton of videoswhen Chris Hadfield was up in
outer space he's a Canadianastronaut and he did a great job
of doing these daily videos.
I have to say the food lookedreally unappetizing.
Like it came out of tubes, itcame out of pouches, it was all
(16:24):
like cooked ahead of time and orfreeze dried.
So giving the astronauts areally unique flavor to
something maybe they're no,maybe to something they're used
to on earth, I think that wouldbe really cool.
So I'm curious would sauerkrauttaste different?
Really cool.
(16:45):
So I'm curious would sauerkrauttaste different?
Would yogurt taste different?
Or kombucha?
Would you pay for spacekombucha, chris?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I haven't even paid for earth kabocha, I've never
had it, so maybe I should trythat first.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I would try space sauerkraut on a space dog in a
second.
It probably would be thousandsof dollars, though.
All right, that's science newsfor this week.
This week in pet science, let'stalk about cats, but
specifically cat fostering.
Chris said do you have the bugto get another cat or do you
(17:19):
like the cat we have?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
I love the cat we have, and she is the only cat
that we will ever have.
She's, you never know, the foodworked for her with me, the
food did work for her, it workedfor you, but there will never
be another Ginger.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Oh, she's one of a kind, obviously yeah, she's a
unique cat.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
She is.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So I'm not familiar with cat fostering.
What's going on there?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
The cat fostering programs are similar to other
fostering programs and they areessential for managing stray or
relinquished and abandoned cats.
And the programs expand theshelter capacity, which is
amazing because shelters arefull all the time and it can
(18:04):
reduce stress and disease andincrease adoption rates when
cats are fostered.
There isn't a lot of data oncat fostering programs but our
study comes from New Zealand andsome statistics there are that
there are 37,000 plus cats thatpass through rescue
organizations yearly.
(18:24):
That is a lot of cats and about80% of rescue groups use
fostering as their core strategy.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That would be tough if you were a cat lover, because
it's like dog fostering is youhave the dog for a short time
until a more permanent place isfound for the dog and man.
If we got to foster the dog,it'd be hard to say goodbye to
that dog.
Right, absolutely my hat's offto people that do that kind of
stuff.
If you're listening, Right.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Absolutely.
My hat's off to people that dothat kind of stuff.
If you're listening, thank youfor doing that.
But then also there are somefoster families that do take on
the dogs and then they makespace right, they take care of
the dog, they foster the dog outand it's a success story for
the dog for the rest of thedog's life and then it offers up
some more space that they cando the cycle again.
And the study was done in NewZealand and it was a qualitative
(19:22):
study where they had two groupsof people who were cat
fosterers and they were sharingtheir stories and some of the
motivations for becoming afosterer was a love of animals,
so having a deep emotionalconnection and a longstanding
attachment to cats.
So there are cat people outthere and they were motivated by
(19:45):
the love that they had for themand it also Chris, that makes
sense.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I've talked about that before.
That the dog programs wherepeople can go in the anti-stress
dog room.
If you're stressed out, you cango see a dog.
That is a common thread is thatthere are people who would
prefer to spend time with a catrather than a dog.
So it's not that they're outthere, it's just that I don't
know there are cat people, whichis cool.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
There are, and the idea of becoming a cat foster is
an alternative to actualownership, so it's a flexible
option for those you know thatare unable to keep a permanent
pet.
Additionally, it's a desire tohelp.
So being a member of yourcommunity and contributing to
(20:33):
your community was one of themotivating factors of becoming a
cat fosterer.
And I think that us, as dogpeople, we would be equipped to
contribute if we were to do dogfostering.
But people who are cat people,who sign up to be a cat fosterer
(20:53):
, they have that same personalcapability.
They feel well-equipped tocontribute.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
As you had mentioned Chris, there's not a lot of data
on what happens when you fostera cat.
Who are cat fosterers?
What are some challenges?
So that's the section I lookedat because I'm like, if you
foster a cat, what are somethings that can be potentially
problematic?
And the first one is it'spretty intense emotionally
because you'll have grief,because you'll have grief over
(21:23):
the loss of a cat once it goessomewhere.
And then there's a lot ofdistress when cats get ill or
you have to give them up, oreuthanasia if everywhere is
completely full.
I see that on TikTok, that, andI know why it happens, but it
just hurts my heart.
So bad is that the shelters arefull and, like some of the dogs
(21:45):
are euthanized to make room forother dogs because they just
don't have space and that iswould probably be very
distressful to be around thatall the time.
Some of the cats that you wouldget as a foster are sick or have
behavior challenges.
So, lucky for us, ginger justtears up the couch and
occasionally bops the dogs.
But there's lots of otherbehavior problems you might have
(22:07):
with a cat or it might havesome kind of illness or
disability which is costly.
Then as well, cats have spaceconstraints.
You'd think a cat doesn't needa lot of space, but if you have
multiple cats in the same house,the current research shows they
should all have their own stuff.
They should all have their owncat tree, their cat litter box,
(22:29):
cat toys, and you may not haveenough room for that or time to
deal with everything with thecat.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Those are some challenges of cat fostering but
there are benefits of fosteringtoo.
One of those is socialwell-being and having a cat as a
companion.
That will reduce the lonelinessand also offers emotional
(23:01):
support to.
I think it's a symbioticrelation to the human and the
cat and you can make newfriendships and community
building amongst additional catfosterers right.
It builds that network, so thatnetwork definitely enhances
social well-being.
And another thing that's abenefit of fostering is
(23:21):
emotional well-being, thefeeling of joy and pride and
fulfillment and having improvedmental health.
And it's always so satisfying tosee animals grow and thrive and
I that's what they found in thestudy that people were very
satisfied to see those cats growto fruition and there's
(23:46):
practicality to it.
So having the experience of petcompanionship, you know,
without the long termresponsibility.
So you know without thelong-term responsibility.
So you know if you like to puta ring on it, you don't have to
put a ring on it, you can justexperience the pet companionship
.
And then ongoing learning andskill development.
We got a lot better with takingcare of each subsequent dog and
(24:09):
we got more skills for sure Allright, so why is?
getting all this data important.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Why are they asking questions?
So why is getting all this dataimportant?
Why are they asking questions?
Why are they gathering all thisqualitative survey work?
There's implications for rescueorganizations.
The more you know, the more youcan improve training and
ongoing education for those whomight want to foster cats in the
future, and then you can havesupport systems for when things
(24:33):
get hard, like it's time to giveup a cat or a cat gets sick or
dies.
If you have no support systemthere, it might be once bitten,
twice shy kind of thing whereyou may never decide to foster a
cat again.
Just like in a lot of the otherstudies that we covered about
shelters, a big part of beinginvolved in a shelter is having
(24:56):
autonomy within like the cogs ofan organization, so not not
feeling you don't have a saythat you're.
It's important for your voiceto be heard and have your voice
matter and then also findingwhere people's skillset is,
first before they decide tofoster, and then building on
(25:16):
that Because, as you said, chris, you get joy out of doing
better with each subsequentanimal and it keeps the
motivation going to do more inthe future.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
For sure.
Now there were some limitationsto the study.
The sample really did onlyinclude current fosterers, so
that could have a potential biastowards positive experiences or
relating positive stories aboutfostering and there could have
been the social desirabilitybias due to the group format in
(25:50):
that organized setting.
So I did say there were twogroups and they shared together.
So I don't know if you wouldwant to be the one person in the
room going, oh fostering isterrible.
So there might have been that.
Go with the flow.
This is great.
So there is need for furtherstudies on former fosterers and
(26:13):
why.
What was the, the emotionallabor, what was the foster grief
and exploring those and whywould they be a former fosterer?
What happened to to remove themfrom that network?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
so I think, as we wrap this up, like I did not
know a lot about this before westarted, chris, I did not know
even it was a thing that youcould be a cat fosterer and just
from New Zealand alone, like37,000 cats passed through their
rescue organizations and wethink Ginger is the best.
We think Ginger is this amazingcat because she is.
(26:52):
But I think everybody thinksthat way about their cat.
Isn't everybody's cat a specialcreature too?
And just thinking that there'sthousands upon thousands of cats
that have their lives saved andthey have a new home thanks to
the fostering programs that areavailable in every country, I
think this is just good data tohave for those organizations in
(27:13):
the future.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Absolutely 100%.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
All right, that's Pet Science for this week.
That's it for this week's show.
Thanks for coming back weekafter week to listen to us.
And two things.
We want to thank everybody whosupported us with the Bernoulli
stuffy presale.
It has gone way better than weever thought.
Thank you so much.
You might be listening to this.
(27:40):
You might have time still toget on the presale.
Check our website.
We got a link in our show notes.
And again, big shout out to ourtop tier patrons, the top dogs
who support the podcast and helpkeep it free.
One of the perks is Chris readsyour name at the end of the
show.
Chris, take it away.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Amelia Fetting, rhi Oda Carol Hainel, jennifer
Challen, linnea Janik KarenChronister, vicky Otero, christy
Walker, sarah Bram, wendy,diane Mason and Luke Helen Chin,
elizabeth Bourgeois, marianneMcNally, katherine Jordan,
shelley Smith, laura Steffensen,tracy Leinbach, ann Uchida,
(28:24):
heather Burbach, kelly TracyHalbert, ben Rather, debbie
Anderson, sandy Breimer, maryRader, bianca Hyde, andrew Lin,
Brenda Clark, brianne Hawes,peggy McKeel, holly Burge, kathy
Zerker, susan Wagner.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
For science, empathy and cuteness.
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