The Science Pawdcast

Season 5 Episode 29: Plastic Wax, Tilting Heads and Erin Anderson on Sci-Fi Worlds!

• Jason Zackowski

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Ever wondered about the secret behind your dog's adorable head tilters? Or the future of overpopulation? How about the peculiar way lobsters communicate? Strap in for an exhilarating exploration into these captivating topics and so much more! We traverse the landscapes of science, pets, and video-games in an episode filled to the brim with knowledge, laughter, and a dash of eccentricity.

Our guest for this episode, the esteemed science fiction author and scientist, Erin Anderson, lends her unique perspective to the fascinating world of science fiction and the role of scientists. Imagine a scientist serving an evil empire, or a world grappling with overpopulation and scarce resources. Erin pulls back the curtain on the science behind cybernetics and ushers us into a future where advancements in technology provide a beacon of hope for those with disabilities. Get ready to have your mind blown as we navigate the thin line between science and fiction.

But that's not all, folks! Set sail with us into the wild world of marine biology, where lobsters communicate using—wait for it—pee! Hold onto your joysticks as we take a deep dive into the exhilarating world of video games, complete with physics lessons from Subnautica and the thrilling challenges of Bloodborne. And for all our pet-lovers, join us on our riotous adventures with Bunsen, Beaker, and Ginger, as we explore the joy and occasional mayhem of pet ownership. This episode is a rollercoaster of excitement, so buckle up and join the ride!

Remember, there's no time like science time!

Erin's Links:

https://twitter.com/ErintheZ

https://www.amazon.com/Memoir-Mad-Scientist-Erin-Anderson/dp/1949964418

Bunsen and Beaker Links:

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www.bunsenbernerbmd.com

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Speaker 2:

Hello science enthusiasts. My name is Jason Zikowski. I'm a high school chemistry teacher and a science communicator, but I'm also the dog dad of Bunsen and Beaker, the science dogs on social media. If you love science and you love pets, you've come to the right place. Put on your lab coat, put on your safety glasses and hold onto your tail. This is the Science Podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Science Podcast. We hope you're happy and healthy out there.

Speaker 2:

Woo, this week has been some kind of busy. Chris and I are back and the swing of things of school. Adam is starting college. We're juggling those back to school responsibilities with taking care of Bunsen and Beaker and rolling out our 2024 calendar. That's exciting for us. Every year when we get that done, we have a new printer for it, a new company that's going to do a bang up job. We got it already early, so we've got lots of stuff to be excited about. You might hear us talk about more of that in the family section.

Speaker 2:

What's on the show this week? In science news we have a fun and uplifting study about how chemists are doing something kind of neat to plastic. In pet science, we're going to look at why dogs tilt their head. A study from 2021 looked into it. Our guest this week is science fiction author and scientist herself, erin Anderson. A little bit different of a guest. Okay, the bad joke. Why are sci-fi time travel jokes always so funny? Because you'll laugh at them time and time again, or you already did. Alright, I'm with the show because there's no time like science time.

Speaker 2:

This week in science news. I think it's time for some good news. What do you all think? Things have been a bit dour of late with what I've been covering with force fires. Let's just do something that's got some really good, positive outlooks to it.

Speaker 2:

We're going to start with something negative, though. That is the amount of plastic pollution on earth. There's a YouTube channel called Kruskazath. Maybe you've heard of this. I love Kruskazath. Adam loves Kruskazath. I play it for kids. They love this channel, and they have a really cool video about how, basically, humans have not the Midas touch that turns everything to gold. We have the plastic touch.

Speaker 2:

We found this amazing product that basically changed our lives, but we became addicted to it and it doesn't break down, and then governments tried to put the onus back on the people to recycle. It Turns out that was a big scam, because most of the plastics that I thought Canada was recycling was being shipped over to Asia only to be dumped in oceans and riverways or set on fire. Some of it was recycled, obviously, but only a bit. They got sick of our plastic and they shipped it back, and Canada has no plan for this. We are trying to figure out our plastic pollution problem, but right now it's going into landfills.

Speaker 2:

The statistics are about 60% of all plastic on earth is going right into dumps. It's making its way to dumps. Actually it's probably higher than 60% if you include things like waterways. Only about 10% of plastic is recycled, so the remaining whatever percentage is incinerated or who knows what. But only about 10% of all plastics are recycled in and they are recycled into what industry calls low quality products. So if you take a plastic bottle, chances are pretty good that plastic and that plastic bottle never turning back into a plastic bottle. It's turning into something else that's not as high quality. So the holy grail with plastic recycling is finding a use for the plastic when it is recycled, because the plastic as it's recycled you only got a couple choices. You got to make some crappy stuff with it. It's called upcycling to make plastic into something more valuable. And a little bit of chemistry here.

Speaker 2:

Some chemists have figured out a way in the lab to turn plastic into wax. Now, first off, you might be like what wax? Yeah, it's hard to believe, but wax is found in crude oil. I've mentioned it before on the podcast. Like in between teaching contracts in many years ago I worked in the old patch. I was a rough Nick and I was covered in oil, crude oil. I was covered in that stuff and it was like gross and the only way I could get clean every night was I did not shampoo with shampoo, I washed myself with Dawn dish detergent. That's what I. It was just a normal part of my life to shower with Dawn dish detergent because it got the oil and the wax out of my hair. Yeah, wax is found in crude oil, and as crude oil is separated into these great big things called frack towers, you get different fractions of the oil light stuff at the top, heavy stuff at the bottom, and the heavy stuff is like wax and asphalt stuff that goes in the makin roads and candles. So researchers have found a way to transform plastic into surfactants, and surfactants are these things that are in detergents and soaps.

Speaker 2:

Plastic could be seen as a potential source for these chemicals. You know, in the future there is some hope that we slow down the drilling and production of oil. But from oil we get a lot of products that you don't necessarily think you use, that come from oil, and soaps are one of them. Like gone are the days of soaps being made from bare fat and grease, because I'm actually as a camp counselor at this place called Sunnybrook Farm Museum and we would make soap with kids. But you started with, you started with fat, you started with the type of fat and then you added, like lidoate, sodium hydroxide, and you got really nice soap from it. But that's expensive, so it's way cheaper to just get it from oil and as the oil supplied in the future, maybe, hopefully, then you got to have a different source for this wax, and it could be plastic. The chemists do have a process to heat and condense the plastic into relatively short form wax chains, and then that wax can be modified into surfactants by adding the good stuff that makes it work like oxygen in a base solution, and from this they were actually able to make a little teeny, tiny, cute bars of soap in the lab, in the lab right. So this is something that worked in the lab. But could you scale it up big time? Yes, how expensive would it be to produce this type of soap? Expensive, Is it cheaper to just get soap made from crude oil along the way? Probably, but it's something we could do with the plastic waste and that's good news.

Speaker 2:

That science news for this week, this week in pet science. Let's look at the science behind why a dog would tilt their head. When Bunsen was a puppy, he would tilt his head when we talked to him. Oh, my goodness, was it heart meltingly cute because he was so cute. And then you would say, hi Bunsen, hi buddy. And he would tilt his head one way and then he would tilt his head the other way. Oh, just melted your heart into goo. We didn't, we didn't know how big Bunsen social media account would get, especially on Twitter. So we we don't have a lot of video. We have no video of him tilting his head, but I have a couple. I've got two photos. That's it. We just, we just enjoyed the puppy. We weren't documenting its life.

Speaker 2:

Beaker, on the other hand, did not tilt her head when we talked to her, she just stared. She stared at us with her beaker face and if you've been listening to us, that's the RBF, that's resting beaker face. It is like an. It is an expressionless mask of piercing just looking into your soul. That she does. She. She has such a happy smile and she's so happy when you know things, things happen that she likes. But sometimes she gets so serious and when she was a puppy she was the most serious little puppy she would just stare at you. No, smile, nope, beaker puppy doesn't smile. Beaker just looks and attacks Bunsen. Okay, let's look at the study Um.

Speaker 2:

In 2021, there was a head tilting study that was done and the researchers looked at if there was some kind of link to meaningful things like was the dog just doing it? Was it linked to spurs? Was it linked to certain acts? Now I can tell you for a fact that Bunsen said tilting was linked to him listening to us talk to him. Lead author Andrea Semess from the Loran University conducted the study in Hungary. The study involved looking at dogs responding to toy names, and the dogs learned over 10 names and they identified 54 toys during one toy interval. The dogs that were really, really good at this task tilted their head 43% of the time. Well, typical dogs only do it 2% of the time. So the idea was they were training the dog. Here's the name of the toy, this is the toy and they would say, go get the toy and they'd say the name of it. And the dogs that were like really, really good at retrieving the toy, they tell it to their head way more often than just your normal rando dogs. So it was associated in the first study that held.

Speaker 2:

Tilting was part of how dogs find important information and listen to relevant sounds. The dogs that weren't so good at picking out the toy that matched the name and they just failed miserably at getting the. It's kind of like when Chris is talking to me and I don't want to get in trouble, I maintain eye contact and I look at her and I nod and that makes it seem like she's heard and I'm listening to her and I love listening to her talk. Actually I'm not being sarcastic, but occasionally I'm not paying attention to her story and I'm like doing something on social media or checking email and that is a behavior that she can see that I'm clearly not presenting myself to listen to relevant and important information. Now I think it would be a bit patronizing and I would get in trouble if I had tilted at her every single time she was talking to me. Maybe I should run that experiment and let you guys know what happens. No, I'm not going to do that, because I don't want to have to sleep on the couch. A question that was asked in the study is were the dogs tilting their heads to show the human that they were listening? Or were they tilting their head to listen better and that's a wild thing to think about? Is that like maintaining eye contact with your spouse when they're talking to you, so you're like I'm paying attention to you or were they tilting their head to hear the sound better? The study didn't look at that, but that's something for the future.

Speaker 2:

That's Pet Science for this week. Hey everybody, before we get to the interview section, here's a couple of ways you can help the science podcast out. Number one if you're on any place that rates podcasts, give us a great rating. Tell your friends and share it with people who love science and pets like teachers. Number two think about signing up as a member of the Paw Pack. It allows you to connect with people who love our show and it's a way to keep the show free Number three check out our merch store. We have the Bunsen Stuffie 2.0. There's still some beaker stuffies left that they're adorable as well Warm, cuddly clothes and adorable drinkware. The link is in the show notes. Now on to the interview. It's time for Ask an Expert on the Science Podcast, and I have science fiction author Aaron Anderson. Aaron, how are you doing?

Speaker 3:

Hey, I'm doing pretty good.

Speaker 2:

Yay, where are you in the world? Where are you calling into the show from?

Speaker 3:

I'm calling from about the middle of Virginia, where it is very hot and very sticky right now.

Speaker 2:

We are recording this in August of 2023 and we just got back from the Badlands. We were actually talking about this off air and it is hot. That's a part of Alberta that's like a desert. It's so hot. Their cactus grow, if you can believe it, in Canada.

Speaker 3:

Oh, very cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's wild, but yeah, it's very hot, not sticky, it is a dry heat. So, aaron, when I have guests, I usually ask them a little bit about their science training. Do you have any training in science?

Speaker 3:

I actually do. Originally I went to George Mason here in Virginia for marine biology from my undergrad and then I went back and did a graduate certificate. So graduate level work just without doing a thesis in science communication.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that's cool, so I'm sure we'll get into it then, but that might help you quite a bit as a science fiction writer. When you were young did you love science like little Aaron was a little scientist, or was it something else?

Speaker 3:

Oh man, little Aaron was all about science. I was always watching eyewitness movies and Bill Nye the science guy. We actually have a little paper booklet from the second grade and you can guess which student put oceanographer artist in there.

Speaker 2:

And you were the ocean oceanographer, artist, artist.

Speaker 3:

I do a lot of art. I'm actually a professional illustrator during the day and science author by night.

Speaker 2:

That is wild. That is so cool. So the question I'm sure people are thinking about at home right now is you went from marine biology and now you're an author. How did that switch happen?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we talked about my background as in science and started working at various nonprofits, ended up going into illustration via scientific illustration. I fell into that and then I've just always really enjoyed science fiction and fantasy novels and I've always kind of been writing on the side and doing that for fun. At a certain point it gets to a certain level of well, I guess I should try and publish this, and that's gone pretty well for me.

Speaker 2:

So you have a book called Memoir of a Mad Scientist. Is this your latest book, Memoir of a Mad Scientist?

Speaker 3:

It is. It's actually my debut novel as well.

Speaker 2:

It's your debut. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't, congratulations. Can we talk a little bit about your book? I'd love for you to tell us a little as much as you can with. Obviously, authors want everybody to read the book, but I was wondering if we could talk a little bit about it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely. So the idea is, being a scientist myself, really wanting to hear from the scientist in these big evil empire situations. Who's building the lasers on the Death Star, who's in research and development for these guys? Do they know that it's evil? I know a lot of scientists and some of them might be a little chaotic, neutral, but I don't think any of them are true evil. So the idea is he's working for an empire, worrying about funding, worrying about keeping his job ends up. They keep asking him to do more and more evil things and eventually realizing oh no, it's like that British kid.

Speaker 3:

Exactly Are we?

Speaker 2:

the baddies.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that is a great premise for a book because the Death Star is made up. If we want to use the Death Star as an analogy, it is a massive technological achievement.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

And there had to be, like you're right, like laser specialists that were they just so excited to build the thing and like, do the research or did they start to realize the thing would be used to vaporize planets of billions of people? Like, at what point do you start to say are we the baddies?

Speaker 3:

And how badly do you really want this funding?

Speaker 2:

Right. Can you tell us a little bit about what the empire is Like? Is this set in a far future? Is this set in the presence? Is this set in an alternative universe?

Speaker 3:

So I actually had some fun with this. It's kind of a near to medium future where the earth is starting to get crowded, Overpopulation is starting to become a thing and land and resources are starting to get scarce. So I have fun talking about the implications of warehouse farming. It's easy to grow shelves and shelves of strawberries. Those would probably be pretty cheap, but something like oranges or apples that require orchards for trees. That land's going to get pretty expensive. That's going to become the luxury item.

Speaker 2:

So is this where your training and science started to inform your writing Like, how was it easier? Hard, because I'm thinking sometimes and I'm just going to spitball here the more you know about science, maybe you're like hesitant to bend the rules a bit to make the story like. Just, you might be like, oh, that's a great idea, but, using Star Wars as an example, there's no sound in outer space, so, as great as the TIE fighter wines are, that's not going to happen. Do you know what I'm getting at?

Speaker 3:

I do so particularly as someone with a scientific background the idea in science fiction of techno babble and being able to make up things that sound sciencey. You know, reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, or cross the streams.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, don't cross the streams. You know, and the sort of plausible deniability you know, when you're reading a book you let yourself fall into the story. But also you know you got to make it sound plausible. Particularly someone with a science background listening to some of this going what? No, that doesn't make any sense. You can't just make up new elements, compound, sure, but oh my gosh, unobtainium.

Speaker 2:

That's from Avatar, right, that's an Avatar one, yeah.

Speaker 3:

But if I had a nickel, for every time they invent a new element.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh. We just didn't know it was on the periodic table.

Speaker 3:

Right, oh, and then it decayed in.005 seconds. Is that what happened?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm a chemist myself, with chemistry training. I'm like I kind of think, like does it have a half a proton? Like isn't the periodic table built by protons? Like where would you fit it? There's not a hole.

Speaker 3:

We used our tweezers and put the protons in there one at a time. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Exactly the science within your book memoir of a mad scientist. Were you pretty faithful to known science or predicted science, if it is a bit in the future.

Speaker 3:

I really tried to be and with that science background I did, did my research. One of a, actually a couple of the main characters are cyborgs.

Speaker 2:

Wow, okay.

Speaker 3:

I put specifically in there because of my biology background. I needed something squishy. I was researching, you know, the developments and the new advancements and cybernetics and how to connect computers to brains and the sodium communication with nerves, and it eventually got to the point of I need to hurry up and publish this before it becomes real.

Speaker 2:

Well, lover Hatem Elon Musk. Like this is again in 2023, he just got approval, I think, for some clinical trials of his neural link thing. So, have you heard that? Like that's, the thing seems pretty implausible and there's a lot of like sketchiness around it. But I do believe he got approval for clinical trials of the neural link brain thing.

Speaker 3:

So I do know that they've started playing around with attaching sensors to individual nerves on people who have lost limbs, because your brain is still sending that signal. It doesn't know your arm is missing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And if we can pick up that individual signal I think this one they're attaching it to like a specific small muscle that can twitch. You can control a robot arm.

Speaker 2:

It's not implausible, is it no?

Speaker 3:

it's. It's getting there pretty quickly. It's very cool.

Speaker 2:

I love to think about like there's scary things about the future, like AI and clout you know that kind of stuff. Sometimes I don't like to think about that, so I put it in a box and say that's somebody else's problem, because I'll probably be dead by the time I miss you. Maybe not, but what I love thinking about is the breakthroughs of goodness from like. The slow progression of science and that's a big one is giving people have lost the ability to walk or amputees their mobility back. That's cool.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I really wanted to talk about that kind of from the medical side versus you know the classic sci-fi, you know, ah, cyborgs.

Speaker 2:

So question for you in your book if you were to transport yourself in the book to like you as a character, where would you fit in the book? Or is some of the characters parts of you? Have parts of your personality?

Speaker 3:

Well, they definitely inherited a lot from me. I like to tease that the protagonist, Dr Voss, inherited his anxiety from me.

Speaker 2:

Okay, okay.

Speaker 3:

I have some clinical anxiety depression and wrote that into his character. He's not as well medicated as I am now and some of the poor coping skills that's all me.

Speaker 2:

I know it must be difficult at times if that's something that you struggle with but that gives a character, such a unique perspective.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

To look at.

Speaker 3:

It was actually very cathartic to write about, you know, putting it on paper and separate. But that was, that was definitely me, definitely his, his love of science, getting over focused on things and forgetting to look up every once in a while. But I'm not sure where I would fit in the world as a character. I would fit in the world and not we could shift off to a debtor's prison.

Speaker 2:

But well, yeah, again, I don't know the mythology of your world. I am excited to read the book, but I sometimes do that with myself, like I'm a teacher. Right, like what would if I was a teacher 50 years from now? How will, what would I be doing? Would there still be teachers? You know? Because, like there's AI is progressing so quickly that maybe there'll be robot teachers or cyborg teachers, like who?

Speaker 3:

knows right. Robot, cyborg teachers.

Speaker 2:

You got Wikipedia rate in your brain. No kid can stump you, so I. Before we move on, I do have a question. One more question about your book, and where, where can people find it?

Speaker 3:

So it's available on Amazon, both digital and paperback. Yeah, perfect so we will make sure there's a.

Speaker 2:

We'll make sure there's a link in the show notes. Yeah, you bet, so everybody can take a look at that. Now, sort of related to your role as a science fiction author and a scientist. I love asking people with both like a foot in both worlds about pop culture, because I love talking about pop culture, like science fiction, movies, science fiction, writing, all of that.

Speaker 2:

Is there some stuff that you watch or you read and you're like boy, they get that right. Like, is there some of your? Do you have some favorite types of science fiction, both writing and movies, tv shows, video games?

Speaker 3:

I do enjoy me some Star Trek.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

And they do a pretty good job, you know, pulling in their scientists and yeah going to research stations. I really love the portal, video games and kind of taking science and technology development and making it silly.

Speaker 2:

Combustible lemons didn't.

Speaker 3:

Oh my.

Speaker 2:

God, I make combustible lemons.

Speaker 3:

Burn his house down with the lemons.

Speaker 2:

Yes, my oldest son. He fell in love with portal one and two and I never. I never got into it. I played it, but one of the people I think, if I'm describing it correctly, it's a puzzle solving game with like gravity and stuff.

Speaker 3:

Yes. Yeah, very cool yeah, very physics based.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, physics based Good.

Speaker 3:

I do think it's more fun to talk about the bad examples.

Speaker 2:

Right. So that would be my next question. Like are there some things you're watching and you're like just no.

Speaker 3:

I'm wearing lab coats outside of the lab.

Speaker 2:

Oh you won't like it. I was in a parade and they wanted me to be the scientist from our school in the parade, so I had the. I was like okay. And then they're like please wear your lab coat. And I'm like, oh okay, I will, because I have to be the character.

Speaker 3:

You need the character, the visual shorthand.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

But in a movie, when you're supposed to be wearing, you know, your PPE in the lab, no one has goggles, no one has gloves, it's just lab coats. And then they walk out and keep wearing the lab coat. I do appreciate Benson and Beaker's attention to lab safety. They look like very safe boys.

Speaker 2:

That's right we do. We would probably, if they were in an active lab, need to work on their feet protection, because that's some of the service dogs cute little booties.

Speaker 2:

They do yeah, the good boys and good girls that help out our science colleagues. They did wear the little shoes, which is adorable. When you're watching a movie, tv show and they get it wrong, do you, can you, can you separate the two? Can you say, oh, this is a type of art, it's okay if they get the science wrong sometimes, or they get it a little weird, or does it? Or is it kind of like pick at ya?

Speaker 3:

It's a little half and half. I do shout at the screen and what are you doing? But I really enjoy the movie Sharktopus. It's hilarious.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 3:

But they put two front halves together. The octopus's beak, where they eat their mouth is it's in the middle of the tentacles, that's not the back of the animal.

Speaker 2:

No, it's their butt, isn't? It? Isn't the beak right? By their mouth and butt. It's the same thing, it's both.

Speaker 3:

They're not built to the same bilateral symmetry that we are or sharks are. But here comes this Sharktopus like a push me, pull you, with the two, two fronts and spikes coming out of its gills.

Speaker 2:

Maybe they, maybe they had like a biologist that they consulted and the biologists is like what are you doing? And the directors are like this is stupid, we need to, we're just going to get and we just need somebody who knows nothing about science to imagine it, because you're, you're being a buzzkill over here.

Speaker 3:

I don't think they had any consultants on that movie. I don't know if you've seen it, but it's a gem.

Speaker 2:

It reminds me, though, of like when Spielberg was doing Jurassic Park, and he did have a dinosaur person on staff to advise everything, and they he wanted to have the velociraptor be as big as it was in the movie and the dinosaur they're about the size of a turkey, and he's like shut up, you're fired. He just did it, he just made them big.

Speaker 3:

It is cooler that way, but that's why you have science advisors.

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly. Well, I love that. Thanks for chatting a little bit about a little bit about pop culture, oh yeah. I'm gonna give a plug for one of my favorite science fiction shows and that's the Expanse. I love that show. It's hard to find it's on like Amazon streaming, I think now but they they do a good job with like how space gravity should work when you're moving around in space.

Speaker 3:

So a lot of my science buddies are really into into that show.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's so cool like, Like when they're traveling, the spaceships move at the acceleration of gravity on earth or close to it, and they build the spaceships like when it's going straight. It's like you're standing against gravity the way that they've built the spaceships. So as long as you're accelerating, yeah, that's really cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so as long as they're, the spaceships are accelerating. Then they have gravity, so they go really, really fast. So they break a little bit of rules there because we don't have that technology. Yeah, yeah, then when they're getting close, the spaceship flips around and it decelerates At gravity. So then they have gravity as they're decelerating. It's just a brilliant way to explain why they have gravity within the spaceship and save a lot of special effects saves a lot on special effects.

Speaker 3:

That's really cool.

Speaker 2:

So we have a couple standard questions we asked our guests about, and one is a pet story. Um, aaron, do you have a pet story you could share with us?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I have two kitty cats, mab and uh periwinkle. Okay sweet um peri. I mentioned the, the anxiety, depression, and periwinkle has Self appointed herself my emotional support cat.

Speaker 2:

Oh, very sweet.

Speaker 3:

I, if I tell a story and get my voice all worked up like this and start start really getting into it, she'll come running and paw and walk across my lap and it's like no, it's just a story, periwinkle, don't worry, but it's, it's very sweet. She also cries when I go grocery shopping and what color are the cats? Uh, mab is a brown and black tabby okay, very classic, very stripey, and Miss winkel is a muted tortoise shell. So she's gray and tan instead of black and orange.

Speaker 2:

How long have you had them both for?

Speaker 3:

so periwinkle We've. I've had four, probably a good nine or nine years or so. She approved the boyfriend and then husband.

Speaker 2:

That's very important.

Speaker 3:

It is very important. And then little mab we got a few years ago and she's still very much a a kitten, cute, she's very sweet.

Speaker 2:

Uh are they? Are they playful? Do they chase stuff? Our cat, ginger Uh, gets in playful moods but isn't like the most playful cat in the world.

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh, so they're. They're indoor cats. I don't let them roam, it's not safe for them here, but they have a little catio that they can access through a window and it's like three foot square cute tops, and mab has caught not one, not two, but seven Voles in the catio and brought them into the house. That's amazing.

Speaker 2:

See, that's common. We have a catio for ginger and she caught a mouse in her catio and you know, that's just. You know I do feel bad for the mouse a bit, but it kind of brought that violence on itself.

Speaker 3:

Right at at a certain point. You know, after five or six you kind of have to wonder if it's just the same vol. Who's just very, very stupid oh.

Speaker 2:

Was it released unharmed or no?

Speaker 3:

we released all but one of them oh funny. Wait, we got two in time. We're gonna have to, like, start putting a ribbon around it or something.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's right, tag it.

Speaker 3:

Do we need to tag it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, secretly, your cat and the vol are just best friends and they're just playing.

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh, the distress call for vols. They are so loud. It is impressive for such a tiny animal.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I love it. That's very cool. Well, thanks for sharing your pet story with us.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

One of the other questions is the super fact. So it's something that you know, that when you tell people, it kind of blows them away. Uh, do you have a super fact for us?

Speaker 3:

So I know that you guys are a science podcast, so I went to my science podcast to try and find something especially juicy for you Okay and the I think the top runner was that Lobsters actually pee out of their face. What?

Speaker 2:

What.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the the way that they're built. They they pee out of their face and they'll actually use it as a Cumin acutication.

Speaker 2:

I did not know that that. Okay, that is mind-blowing. Yeah, you can google it, it's. It's a real thing Okay. We're, we're on their face. Does it come out of? I'm not exactly sure.

Speaker 3:

Uh, buddy of mine, I'm on a marine biology Dungeons and Dragons podcast On the regular and, uh, he's a actually trained lobster biologist. Okay, I'm sure he would know, but I just know the crustacean biology is Like we were talking about what the octopus is there. They're just built to a different schematic.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they're passive, very path towards the way they looked took a very different trip than Us apes on land, yeah, or even fish. At least they're bilaterally.

Speaker 3:

Symmetrical to Shay. Yes to Shay, good grief.

Speaker 2:

That is yeah, but using pee to communicate is actually something that happens in the ocean.

Speaker 3:

I guess because that medium, that medium is everywhere, right yeah.

Speaker 2:

I guess dogs pee to communicate. But maybe yeah, yeah, the scent marking Maybe not in the same way. They don't pee out of their face. I think that would mean not out of their face, way less puppy kisses in our household. Yes, Okay, erin, thank you for that super fact. It was kind of gross, but Love it. Welcome to biology.

Speaker 3:

Marine biology is wild.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, really crazy stuff down there. The last thing, as we're nearing the end, is we get to know our guests a little bit more outside of what they're doing, and you're an author right now. Um, do you have any Hobbies or causes that you're really passionate about? I really enjoy video games.

Speaker 3:

I've been playing a lot of a subnautica with some of my marine biology friends where we talk about the alien ecology and real-life physics of diving. It's a underwater survival crafting game, very fun. I definitely have heard of subnautica that good good game, really love that.

Speaker 2:

and then you know pokemon overwatch.

Speaker 3:

We talked about portable Pokemon overwatch. We talked about portal. I love the, the from software games, dark souls and blood born especially.

Speaker 2:

Oh my goodness, you've played blood born. That is the oh my gosh that is. I talk about this game sometimes with my gamer students. It is the hardest game I've ever played in my entire life.

Speaker 3:

It's so hard, it's so good.

Speaker 2:

I beat it, but I beat it out of spite. No time during that game. No, I love Um, like Elden Ring and the dark souls love love them. They're hard, but that blood born At no time very mechanic yeah at no time Did I have fun playing that game I get. I get why people love it? Because it's like fast, right, like it's like, it's like a dance, your dance.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, very, very much like a dance. I just love the uh, the aesthetic, the All the best parts of love, crafty and horror with guns.

Speaker 2:

I know I get it. I it is very like moody. The artistic design is excellent. Just if you are a new person to video games and you're like, hey, I'll pick up blood born. No, maybe Start with something.

Speaker 3:

It's a commitment. Yeah, have the wiki open. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

That is cool. Um, yeah, I love the. Uh we, we got Elden Ring, we got Elden Ring and uh, oh, that's a great one I was. I played that as much as I could without getting any help and it blew me away. That game is so wild, like I'll be in. I was in a forest and there was this little like like alcove where there's I don't know. I was like, oh, that's cute, and I ran into it and it turned into an elevator and took me down Into it's a whole cave system, massive, like what would happen if you miss that. I keep, I talk.

Speaker 2:

Yeah time with the gamer kids, I teach what would happen if you miss that little. You would miss like a third of the game, this giant area underground. Yeah, the whole game is like that. You just have to like that whole.

Speaker 3:

That's huge sprawling map.

Speaker 2:

Yeah is wild. That's a great game.

Speaker 3:

I love the mounted combat and, uh, getting to ride around on your pretty pony and kill people.

Speaker 2:

Now we're getting a little nerdy, so we might. Uh, I'm sorry for the people that, but do you have some elder ring questions for you? Um, what?

Speaker 4:

what type of character class.

Speaker 2:

Did you play as like? What did you? What did you do? Were you magic or were you like all two hand weapons, or what the heck?

Speaker 3:

My first started out doing a quality build, so strength decks very just basic.

Speaker 5:

Right.

Speaker 3:

Feel it, and then I found out about the clerics and I switched that immediately and that's that's the one I've been playing through with.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome.

Speaker 3:

Really love the casting and all of the really cool spell animations and feel like Gandalf going around the fields. That's awesome. What about you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I only played through it one time and I stumbled across this like weirdo boss guy and I killed him and he dropped this sword. That was like a blood sword and it changed my life. I was like kind of struggling and then I got this sword and everything was easier. I forget the name of the sword.

Speaker 3:

I haven't quite beaten it, but that's more because I don't want it to be over than it is that I'm struggling, but but if I beat it it will be over.

Speaker 2:

That's true. That's true. Well, I'm so happy we got to nerd out about video games. That's great.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, I do Before we go.

Speaker 2:

I do have one question that you mentioned and I was wondering if you could talk. You kind of name dropped it. You you're on a Dungeons and Dragons podcast for Marine scientists. What's going on there?

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah. So I mentioned I did marine biology for my undergrad. At one point you know years after one of my old professors contacted me and was like oh hey, you know, we're doing a live show at this giant convention in DC. Do you want to play Dungeons and Dragons with me? Oh, cool. And at this point I played like one game before and made my then boyfriend handle the character sheet because all those numbers were really intimidating.

Speaker 2:

It's complicated. Yes, uh huh.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I went and I had fun at the show. I made a moody druid because it was a biology show and I wanted to turn it animals.

Speaker 2:

OK, yes, they do have that power.

Speaker 3:

And that was like three or four years ago. I've I've been playing with this group about once a week, twice a week, and we play Dungeons and Dragons, we roll dice and we work in marine biology, fun facts and talk about problems in ecology and it's a really fun time.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Can people listen to that on all podcast players?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, just about everywhere it's. Do gons and sea dragons, do you? Go instead of Dungeons and Dragons.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, ok, gotcha.

Speaker 3:

Like the animal and sea.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're, we're nerds, if you hadn't noticed you know, dungeons and Dragons, or Dungeons and Dragons, are coming back though, erin, they're coming back.

Speaker 3:

It's becoming more mainstream. You, have.

Speaker 2:

You have the popularity with stranger things, like all the kids in that play Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, the Dungeons and Dragons movie, which was way better than I thought with Chris Pine, there's some great points.

Speaker 3:

Right, that was a really fun that's, that's a campaign. That is exactly what happens.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Then there's critical role, the cartoon.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, very popular and Baldur's Gate 3 is like sweeping the world right now as this like huge movie. Oh so fun, yeah so really enjoying this. It's coming. Oh, you're playing that game. I'm so, I am jealous, so jealous.

Speaker 3:

I broke down and paid the $60.

Speaker 2:

I have to wait for it to come out and console. Well, erin, we're at the end of the chat. This was very fun. It's very different from what are normal discussions with with folks, so this was really cool. Thank you for saying yes to being on our show.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2:

This was great fun and a couple of things. Where can people find you on social media?

Speaker 3:

So I am on most social media platforms at Erin of the Z Okay, so this is for Erin Z Anderson, right, and my book is available on Amazon and Barnes Noble and then our on my podcast. Every week there's a huge backlog of me trying to do silly voices.

Speaker 2:

Sounds good, Erin.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And again, that's memoir of a mad scientist. We are proud to have Bark and Beyond Supplycom now as an official sponsor of the Science Podcast. Bark and Beyond Supplycom is a small family owned company that started off making joint supplements for dogs, but now they sell toys and treats and a whole bunch of other goodies. Skip the big box stores and check out the amazing deals and awesome stuff at Bark and Beyond Supplycom. You'll see a link in our show notes and use the coupon code Bunsen B U N S E N for 10% off at Bark and Beyond Supplycom. Click the link. Skip the big box stores. How about the little guy?

Speaker 1:

Okay, it is time for story time with me, adam. If you don't know what story time is, story time is when we talk about stories that have happened within the past one or two weeks. Dad, do you have a story?

Speaker 2:

Sure. So my story comes from today. I took the dogs on a walk by myself. It's been a while since I've taken a solo walk. The last time was when Adam and Chris were in the mayor times and I was by myself for 10 or 11 days or something like that.

Speaker 2:

And Bunsen really doesn't like to go without his mum, may, and he does this thing where he will walk a bit out. He'll make to, he'll check to see if she's coming and then, if she's not coming, he tries to sneak his way back home. He's like, no, I'm not going on a walk if she's not here. So usually what I have to do is leash him up. And then he's like, okay, I'll come with you on a leash so I could leashed him up because he wasn't going to come, got down our ravine and then up the big hill on the other side and he was doing this funny thing where he would take two steps, stop, look back at the house and then like Bunsen, come on, I'd have to give him a little treat, so he'd come to forward to me and then he'd stop, and then he'd look back at the house and he'd come forward two steps and stop and look back at the house. So he was like waiting as long as possible, like maybe, maybe she's going to come because he's actually got decent eyesight from far away and maybe she's going to come. But Chris didn't come and eventually he's like, well, I guess we'll just finish this walk then and away we went.

Speaker 2:

So when it gets colder, bunsen is much more happy to go on a walk, but today was kind of hot, except that it was raining. So usually he's a fan of rain walks. In the end, both Bunsen and Beaker had a great time. They got soaked and it was. It was a really refreshing half an hour walk through the wilderness. That is my story for the week.

Speaker 1:

Mom do you have a story.

Speaker 5:

I sure do. We are back at work. I miss the dogs the end. No, it's true, I really do miss the dogs and hanging out with them every day. One of the rituals that I do before I leave in the morning is I check to make sure I can find Bunsen and say goodbye, bunsen, I love you, have a great day. And then I go and find Beaker and I say hi, beaker, and I usually find her on the couch, not on the couch for a side, and I say bye, beaker. And then I find Ginger. Today I had to shake the treat bag and she came running and she was so happy to get a treat, and then the dogs got treats too. And then I said bye, have a great day. But I miss them now that we're back at work and that's my story.

Speaker 1:

All right, my turn. My story isn't very interesting because I haven't been doing all that much stuff that's interesting with the animals. As of recently, however, ginger has been very nice to me. She, like Bunsen and Beaker, can't come downstairs because there's a baby gate, although Beaker really loves, really wants to go downstairs, like, if, like, um, uh, like Anna Lisa and I are like a friend and I were downstairs because beaker's been here when I've had friends over and we're downstairs and she's not. She actually cries at the top of the stairs and we let her down, which is unfortunate because she's so cute and she cries and it's so sad.

Speaker 1:

Um, but ginger is like the only animal that can freely come up and down the stairs and so she comes downstairs whenever she wants, and when I'm playing my game or when I'm just going to bed, she comes and she On my door, so it sounds like someone's trying to break into my room, um, and then I open the door and she goes, or I the the way that I know it's not a serial killer as I go ginger and then she goes On the other side of the door and I open it for her, but she actually today was sitting on my lap as I was playing video games and was staying there. Um, even as I Did very poorly in my video game, she stayed there and I would have a little pet break every time I died in my game. Um, but yeah, that's kind of my story is, ginger is a very good gaming buddy. When she's not on my lap, she'll be on like the. I have another chair in my room for my other desk and it's like turned towards my gaming setup. Um, and ginger will lay on there or she'll lay on the couch behind me, because I have a couch in my room too. Um, but she will lay as I'm playing my video games and she'll flip upside down sometimes, which is really cute and really she does like jedi barrel rolls yes, she does. It's really funny. Um, one time she fell off the chair, um, and as she was rolling and it was, it was. It was funny. Um, but yeah, that's my story is ginger is a very good, uh, gaming pet. She also knocks over everything in my room because, like, I'll stand things up against the wall, like my base or something, and she'll rub her head against it and just watch it fall over. Just terrible.

Speaker 1:

Um, yeah, we have, we have a secret. We have a surprise guest again on the podcast surprise guests. We, maybe we should stop. Maybe, maybe we should stop having her as a surprise guest. Maybe she should just be a regular guest. I, uh, uh, not surprise guest appearance, and at least, what is your story?

Speaker 4:

Hello, um, my story is also about ginger, um. So it's only been like recently when like I can hold her and I can hold her for a while, but you have to keep walking around, and so I show her outside, I show her the kitchen that she Comes to all day, every day anyways, but I just show her around the house as if she never knew that she lived here, and but she actually like stays in my arms and like she, she's not. Before she would wiggle around and she's like no, I do not want to be here. But now she's like fine with it, and I think that's for everybody here too. We're like she's become a lot more cuddly, or Like she'll cuddle up with adam Well, he plays his game and like she likes to hang out with people a lot more than she used to. But just my little short story.

Speaker 1:

Mom, why do you have your computer bag right behind me? I sat on your computer. Um, okay, that is story time. Thank you so much for listening to my section of the podcast. Yeah, bye, bye, see you in the next one.

Speaker 2:

That's it for this week show. Thanks for coming back week after week to listen to us on the science podcast, and special Thanks to erin anderson. Think about picking up her book if it floats your boat. We'd also like to thank our top tier sponsors by giving them a shout out. They are our top tier of our paid community, the pop pack, and without them we wouldn't be able to do what we do. Chris, take it away.

Speaker 5:

Alicia stanley, the herd, wendy, diane mason and luke linda sherry, tracy halberg, carol mcdonald, tellon chin elizabeth bourgeois, pecky mckeel, mary la magna writer, holly birch, sandy brimer, brenda clark, andrew lin, maryann mcnally, kathryn g, jordan, tracy domingue, diane allen, julie smith, terry adam, shelly smith, jennifer smathers, laurice deafenson, tracy linebaugh, courtney provin, fun, lisa, brianne haas, bianca hide, debbie anderson and uchida donna, craig amy c, susan wagner, kathy zirker, lis button and ben rathard for science, empathy and cuteness.