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Curiosity Weekly

First Animal That Doesn’t Breathe Oxygen, Biggest Explosion in the Universe’s History, and Improving Memory with the Brain’s Immune System

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Self-improvement, Science, Astronomy, Education

4.6935 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2020

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Learn about the first animal scientists have ever discovered that doesn’t breathe oxygen; how we might be able to hijack the brain’s immune system to improve memory; and the biggest explosion in the history of the universe.

Scientists discover first animal that doesn't breathe oxygen by Cameron Duke

  • Specktor, B. (2020, February 24). Scientists discover first known animal that doesn’t breathe. Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/first-non-breathing-animal.html
  • Yahalomi, D., Atkinson, S. D., Neuhof, M., Chang, E. S., Philippe, H., Cartwright, P., Bartholomew, J. L., & Huchon, D. (2020). A cnidarian parasite of salmon (Myxozoa: Henneguya) lacks a mitochondrial genome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201909907. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1909907117

We might be able to hijack the brain's immune system to improve memory by Grant Currin

Astronomers detect biggest explosion in the history of the universe by Grant Currin

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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/first-animal-that-doesnt-breathe-oxygen-biggest-explosion-in-the-universes-history-and-improving-memory-with-the-brains-immune-system



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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.

0:06.0

I'm Cody Gough. And I'm Ashley Hamer.

0:08.0

Today you learn about the first animal scientists have ever discovered that doesn't breathe oxygen, how we might be able to

0:14.2

hijack the brain's immune system to improve memory, and the biggest explosion in

0:18.6

the history of the universe. Let's satisfy some curiosity.

0:22.1

How long can you hold your breath?

0:24.0

Well, however long that is, I guarantee that the parasite

0:28.0

Heniguia Salmonecola has you beat.

0:31.0

It doesn't breathe at all. Yeah, that's right. Scientists have discovered

0:36.4

the first multicellular organism known to science that doesn't breathe. Here's the scoop.

0:42.4

H. Salmoneca is a distant cousin to jellyfish that makes

0:46.0

its living by burying itself in the muscles of fish and underwater worms. It's not a nice parasite.

0:53.0

It's the cause of tapioca disease, a nasty infection that looks like a bunch of little white

0:58.0

tapioca beads bursting from the fish's skin.

1:01.0

It reproduces by making little swimming spores that venture out to find and bury themselves

1:06.6

in the tissues of other hosts.

1:09.1

There is not much oxygen to be had when you're buried within muscle tissue, and that doesn't bother H. Salomonocola one bit.

1:16.4

This parasite doesn't have to hold its breath when it dives in.

1:19.6

It actually couldn't breathe even if it wanted to. The lack of breathing is weird because animals

1:25.1

need oxygen to get energy from their food. Within animal cells there are special

1:29.7

structures called mitochondria that contain the genes that are responsible for

1:33.6

respiration. H Salmonecoa doesn't have any mitochondrial genes. That means

...

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