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Curiosity Weekly

Death to Skeeters, Swapping Saliva, Messing with Lightspeed

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Self-improvement, Science, Astronomy, Education

4.6935 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, you’ll learn about a brilliant biotechnology that is turning mosquitoes against themselves, how babies use a slimy indicator to figure out who can be trusted and the freaky things that would happen if we messed with the speed of light.

Hate mosquitos? These modified mosquitoes do, too.

Millions of genetically modified mosquitoes may soon be buzzing in Florida and California. Here's why. by Ryan W. Miller

2 Billion Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Cleared for Release in California and Florida by Ed Cara

California's first lab-grown mosquitoes may take flight—stirring controversy by Lisa M. Krieger

Malaria’s Impact Worldwide by The CDC

Mosquitoes and Disease by Illinois Department of Public Health

Want a baby to trust you? Try sharing some spit.

Babies may use saliva sharing to figure out relationships by Erin Garcia de Jesús

Kids attend to saliva sharing to infer social relationships by Christine Fawcett

Babies can tell who has close relationships based on one clue: saliva by Anne Trafton

When babies see people swap spit, they know what’s what by Juan Siliezar

Let’s keep lightspeed where it’s at. Just trust us here.

What would happen if the speed of light was much slower? by Ashley P. Taylor

What Is Relativity? by Michael Schirber

What time is it? That depends on how fast you're traveling. by American Museum of Natural History

'A Slower Speed of Light' turns the strangeness of near-light speed travel into a game by Janus Kopfstein

How Fast is the Speed of Light by LTP NASA

How Fast is the World’s Fastest Human? By Kara Rogers

The Doppler Effect by the Physics Classroom

The Most Extreme Human Spaceflight Records by Mike Wall

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.



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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery.

0:08.5

Time flies when you're learning super cool stuff.

0:11.0

I'm Nate.

0:12.0

And I'm Callie. If you're dropping in for the first time

0:14.0

welcome to Curiosity where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind.

0:18.3

If you're a loyal listener, welcome back. Today you'll learn about a brilliant biotechnology that is turning mosquitoes

0:24.4

against themselves, how babies use a slimy indicator to figure out who can be

0:28.8

trusted and the freaky things that would happen if we messed with the speed of light.

0:34.0

Without further ado, let's satisfy some curiosity.

0:37.0

Nate, if I told you I was going to release 2 billion mosquitoes into your neighborhood,

0:42.0

would that make you excited? No, mosquitoes are the worst. They make you

0:46.5

itchy, they buzz in your ear, they spread disease, and even when you're sure you've clapped them into

0:51.5

oblivion, somehow you've missed and they continue their reign of terror.

0:56.0

And did you know that mosquitoes and the diseases they carry are responsible for more

0:59.9

human deaths than all of the wars in history?

1:03.0

I did not know that.

1:04.4

Okay, wow, they truly are merciless.

1:07.5

But here's the thing.

1:08.8

Our biggest ally in the war against mosquitoes is likely mosquitoes themselves.

1:13.2

Genetically modified mosquitoes from biotechnology company

1:16.1

Oxytec, and they've been in action since last year in the Florida Keys.

1:20.0

Ah, man, there aren't a lot of certainties in life, but hating mosquitoes was one of them.

...

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