Hey, what's up? This is Ramses Job. And I go by the name, Q Ward. And we'd like you to join us each week for our show Civic Cipher. That's right. We discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people, but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence, and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle.

We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other.

So join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast.

Welcome to Brain Stuff, a production of IHeartRadio.

Hey, Brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here. The duck bill platypus has been

called a lot of things since it arrived on the zoological scene in 1798. But one adjective that's

likely never been applied to this mammal is normal. After all, its physiology and anatomy borrow from birds, reptiles,

and mammals in a baffling conglomeration. Biology experts in England laughed off the first

skin and sketch brought over from its native Australia, believing it to be a hoax and a poorly

constructed one at that. Because the platypus has fur and the female nurses its young, the animal is classified as a mammal.

But a female platypus doesn't nurse with nipples.

Instead, she secretes milk into folds of her abdominal skin for the babies, called puggles, to suckle on.

They have duck bills and webbed feet like birds,

and lay soft leathery eggs like reptiles. Also, like birds and reptiles, platypuses only have one

orifice for the excretion of digestive remains and for reproduction, the cloaca. The only other living mammals on the planet with this

setup are echidnas. They're together in their own special taxonomical order, the monotrems.

The platypus even shares a special sensory capability with sharks. The platypus lives in and around

rivers and feeds off of insects,

larva, shellfish, and worms, which it locates underwater. Because it closes its eyes and seals off

its nostrils upon submersion, scientists wondered how it manages to hunt without the help of sight

or smell. It turns out that tiny pores called electroreceptors dot the

...