Sickness Makes You Antisocial, Fruit Fly Facts (w/ Stephanie Mohr), and a Sting Pain Index
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 10 May 2019
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about where fruit flies come from and what they do from special guest Stephanie Mohr, author of “First in Fly: Drosophila Research and Biological Discovery.” You’ll also learn about why your brain makes you extra antisocial when you’re sick, and how entomologist Justin Schmidt created a pain scale from insect stings.
Get your copy of “First in Fly: Drosophila Research and Biological Discovery” on Amazon: https://amazon.com
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
- Your Brain Makes You Extra Antisocial When You're Sick — https://curiosity.im/2GA2npZ
- This Scientist Created a Pain Scale by Letting Bugs Sting Him — https://curiosity.im/2J3vTG2
Additional resources from Stephanie Mohr:
- “First in Fly: Drosophila Research and Biological Discovery” — https://amazon.com
- Follow Stephanie Mohr on Twitter @smohrfly — https://twitter.com/smohrfly
- Harvard Medical School bio — https://fgr.hms.harvard.edu/people/stephanie-e-mohr
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/sickness-makes-you-antisocial-fruit-fly-facts-w-stephanie-mohr-and-a-sting-pain-index
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, we're here from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Cody Gough. |
| 0:06.0 | And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:07.0 | Today you learn about why your brain makes you extra antisocial when you're sick |
| 0:11.0 | and how one researcher created a pain scale from insect stings. |
| 0:15.5 | You'll also hear the fourth and final edition of our Fruit Fly Friday mini-series, where you'll |
| 0:20.0 | learn about the role of fruit flies in our ecosystem, |
| 0:22.8 | with some help from Stephanie Moore, |
| 0:24.8 | author of the book First and Fly. |
| 0:26.7 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:28.6 | According to research, your brain |
| 0:30.0 | makes you extra antisocial when you're sick. |
| 0:32.8 | So don't blame yourself if you've got the sniffles |
| 0:34.8 | and you suddenly feel like blowing off |
| 0:36.3 | that thing you were supposed to do with your friend. |
| 0:38.8 | Because after all, your immune system is connected to your brain and that means that it may in fact |
| 0:44.4 | influence your social behavior. The science here starts with your Vegas |
| 0:48.6 | nerve. That's a network of fibers that connects parts of your body like your |
| 0:52.3 | gut and lymph nodes. |
| 0:54.2 | The vaguest nerve can detect cytokines, which are compounds your immune system shoots out when |
| 0:59.2 | you're fighting an illness. |
| 1:00.9 | Your brain gets word of the illness through the nerve and before you know it you're glued to the couch. |
... |
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