Why the US Military Made Shark Repellant, Why Moths Are Drawn to Lights, and the Difference Between Mummies and Fossils
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2020
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To wrap up our Shark Week coverage, learn about why the US military tried to develop "Shark Chaser" shark repellent during World War II. Then, learn about the leading theories explaining why moths are drawn to lights; and the difference between mummies and fossils.
Get even more from Shark Week 2020 on Discovery’s Daily Bite Podcast: https://www.discovery.com/shark-week/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-daily-bite-podcast
During WWII, the US military tried to develop shark repellant by Cameron Duke
- Foley, K. E. (2018, July 27). Shark Week 2018: The US Navy developed a “shark repellant” during WWII. Quartz. https://qz.com/1341175/the-us-navy-developed-a-shark-repellant-during-wwii/
- Julia Child and the OSS Recipe for Shark Repellent — Central Intelligence Agency. (2015). Cia.gov. https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2015-featured-story-archive/shark-repellent.html
- Delano Samuels, & Orwig, J. (2016, July). Here’s what the US Navy learned about shark attacks during World War II - Business Insider. Business Insider; Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-navy-developed-a-shark-repellent-2016-6
- Roach, M. (2017). Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Oneworld.
- American Chemical Society. (2020, January 13). The US Government Issued Sailors and Soldiers Shark Repellent That Didn’t Work – Here’s Why [Video]. SciTechDaily. https://scitechdaily.com/us-government-issued-sailors-and-soldiers-shark-repellent-that-didnt-work-heres-why-video/
- Spaceflight and Surviving Shark Attacks. (2018, July 24). National Air and Space Museum. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/spaceflight-and-surviving-shark-attacks
We still don't know why moths are drawn to lights by Grant Currin
- Wolchover, N. (2011, March 25). Why Are Moths Drawn to Artificial Lights? Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/33156-moths-drawn-artificial-lights.html
- Lees, D., & Zilli, A. (2019, November). Why Are Moths Are Attracted To Light? Science Friday; Science Friday. https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/why-moths-are-attracted-to-light/
- Callahan, P. S. (1977). Moth and candle: the candle flame as a sexual mimic of the coded infrared wavelengths from a moth sex scent (pheromone). Applied Optics, 16(12), 3089. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.16.003089
- Norm MacDonald’s moth joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUjIM-GFWhk
What's the difference between a mummy and a fossil? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Luke)
- Clark, L. (1998, January 20). Mummies 101. PBS.org; NOVA. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/mummies-101/
- Asher, C. (2015, February 12). How long does fossilisation take? Curious Meerkat. http://www.curiousmeerkat.co.uk/debunking/how-long-fossilisation-take/
- Keylses, S. (2018, October 23). Do Mummies Decompose? Science Connected Magazine. https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2018/10/do-mummies-decompose/
- Leveille, D. (2015, May 11). As Chile’s climate changes, the world’s oldest mummies are turning moldy. The World from PRX. https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-05-11/chiles-climate-changes-worlds-oldest-mummies-are-turning-moldy
- Moyer, A. E., Zheng, W., & Schweitzer, M. H. (2016). Keratin Durability Has Implications for the Fossil Record: Results from a 10 Year Feather Degradation Experiment. PLOS ONE, 11(7), e0157699. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157699
- Lamb, R. (2010, August 25). How can soft tissue exist in dinosaur fossils? HowStuffWorks. https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/soft-tissue-dinosaur.htm
- Wilson, T. V. (2007, December 19). How Fossils Work. HowStuffWorks. https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/fossil2.htm
- Greshko, M. (2017, May 11). This Is the Best Dinosaur Fossil of Its Kind Ever Found. Nationalgeographic.com. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/06/dinosaur-nodosaur-fossil-discovery/
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/why-the-us-military-made-shark-repellant-why-moths-are-drawn-to-lights-and-the-difference-between-mummies-and-fossils
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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 |
| 0:04.8 | Curiosity.com. I'm Cody goth and I'm Ashley Hamer and today we're wrapping up |
| 0:09.5 | Shark Week. On today's episode you'll learn about why the U.S. military once tried to develop shark |
| 0:16.6 | repellent and why moths are drawn to lights. |
| 0:20.1 | We'll also answer a listener question about the difference between mummies and fossils. |
| 0:24.0 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:30.0 | During World War II, the U.S. military developed and deployed shark repellent. |
| 0:36.0 | But, spoiler alert, it didn't work. Here's the story. |
| 0:40.0 | World War II was the first time Americans fought a war in tropical seas, and inevitably that led to rumors about shark attacks. |
| 0:49.0 | Pilots and sailors were pretty scared about the potential predators that lurked in the ocean beneath them, and those rumors did not help. |
| 0:58.0 | The Navy decided they could easily solve their |
| 1:04.0 | answer? |
| 1:05.0 | Shark-repellent, obviously. |
| 1:07.0 | So the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, the 1940s version of the CIA, assembled a scientific development team that curiously |
| 1:16.8 | didn't include any shark scientists. |
| 1:20.3 | That wasn't an oversight. |
| 1:21.9 | In 1942, shark scientists didn't really exist. |
| 1:26.0 | Besides that, though, there was one other small problem. There were no confirmed records of |
| 1:31.5 | sharks killing servicemen. |
| 1:33.8 | Zero. |
| 1:34.9 | The Navy knew how rare shark attacks were. |
| 1:37.9 | They at least wanted what they called a pink pill, |
... |
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