Do Turkeys Really Drown in Rainstorms?
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2020
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Neil Shubin is back to talk about the viruses lurking in your DNA. You’ll also learn about whether it’s true that turkeys are so dumb that they drown in rainstorms, and why domineering people don't rise through the ranks any faster.
Additional resources from biologist and author Neil Shubin:
- Pick up "Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA" on Amazon: https://amzn.to/36mmaF1
- Neil Shubin's website: http://www.neilshubin.com/
- Neil Shubin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NeilShubin
Turkeys Don't Drown in Rainstorms by Ashley Hamer
- Watson, S. (2007, September 24). Will a turkey really drown if it looks up during a rainstorm? HowStuffWorks. https://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/turkey-drown.htm
- SAVAGE, T. F., HARPER, J. A., & ENGEL, H. N. (1993). Inheritance of Tetanic Torticollar Spasms in Turkeys. Poultry Science, 72(7), 1212–1217. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.0721212
- Halford, M. (2009, November 25). The Mental (and Amorous) Qualities of the Wild Turkey. The New Yorker; The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mental-and-amorous-qualities-of-the-wild-turkey
- McWilliams, J. (2014, November 27). The Enigmatic Intelligence Of Turkeys. The Dodo; The Dodo. https://www.thedodo.com/the-enigmatic-intelligence-of--845163116.html
Despite the stereotype, selfish, domineering people don't rise through the ranks any faster by Kelsey Donk
- Selfish And Combative People Don’t Actually Get Ahead At Work. (2020, September 28). Research Digest; Research Digest. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2020/09/28/selfish-and-combative-people-dont-actually-get-ahead-at-work/
- Anderson, C., Sharps, D. L., Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2020). People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(37), 22780–22786. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2005088117
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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 Curiosity.com. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.0 | And I'm Natalia Reagan. |
| 0:09.0 | Today, Neil Schuman is back to talk about viruses lurking in your DNA. |
| 0:13.6 | You'll also learn about whether it's true that turkeys are so dumb |
| 0:16.8 | that they drown in rainstorms and why domineering people don't rise through the ranks any faster. Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:25.0 | I don't want to freak you out, but not all of your DNA comes from your ancestors. |
| 0:31.0 | Nearly 8% of the human genome comes from viruses. |
| 0:35.2 | Viruses! |
| 0:36.2 | In your DNA! |
| 0:38.2 | But according to today's guest, those viral genes have a silver lining. |
| 0:42.4 | Neil Schubin is a biologist and best. those viral genes have a silver lining. |
| 0:43.0 | Neil Schubin is a biologist and best-selling author, and his latest book is entitled Some Assembly |
| 0:48.2 | Required, decoding 4 billion years of life from ancient fossils to DNA and I asked him how the heck |
| 0:55.5 | did viruses end up in our DNA? Well good question so I think what a |
| 1:00.8 | virus is I guess is very relevant you know virus is, I guess this is very relevant, |
| 1:03.3 | you know, virus is a little piece of genetic material, |
| 1:05.7 | either RNA or DNA, it's a tiny little piece of genetic material, |
| 1:08.8 | surrounded by a shell, more or less. |
| 1:10.7 | And there are a huge diversity of viruses, I should say, you know, the estimate, just |
| 1:16.3 | in the ocean of viruses, there are 10 to 31st power of them, that is a 10 with 31st |
| 1:22.3 | zeros, number of viruses in the ocean. |
... |
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