April 25, 2018

HBM097: Fox Teeth

April 25, 2018/ Jeff Emtman

In the Westfjords of Iceland, people wait for birds to come ashore so that they can gather the feathers they leave behind. These birds, called Eider Ducks, are the source of eiderdown, a ridiculously expensive and rare stuffing for bedding.

This has landed the Arctic Fox in the crosshairs (quite literally). These relatively common foxes are opportunistic eaters who snack on eider ducks if they get the chance.

So the Icelandic government placed a bounty on each fox killed (if you can provide its tail as proof). Hunters of the Westfjords set up elaborate baiting ambushes for the foxes, and wait in darkened houses with rifles in the middle of blizzards.But some foxes are smart enough to outfox the hunters.

Megan Perra heard a rumor of a three legged Icelandic fox named “Tripod” that beat the odds. A fox that grew to almost twice the normal size from stealing food from traps for three full years (or so the legend goes). Megan is an illustrator/journalist from Portland, Oregon, and she’s currently working on a video documentary about the foxes’ interactions with humans.

*The taxidermied body of “Tripod”, a three-legged fox. Pictured here carrying the body of a seabird (a razorbill).*

Megan retraces the steps of Tripod, from his birthplace in the Westfjords, to the lab in southern Iceland where he was dissected, and to his current home in a glass case at the Arctic Fox Centre.

But some foxes are smart enough to outfox the hunters.

Megan Perra heard a rumor of a three legged Icelandic fox named “Tripod” that beat the odds. A fox that grew to almost twice the normal size from stealing food from traps for three full years (or so the legend goes). Megan is an illustrator/journalist from Portland, Oregon, and she’s currently working on a video documentary about the foxes’ interactions with humans.

Megan retraces the steps of Tripod, from his birthplace in the Westfjords, to the lab in southern Iceland where he was dissected, and to his current home in a glass case at the Arctic Fox Centre.

An Icelandic hunter, Jóhann Hannibalsson, at a remote cabin where he intends to shoot a fox.

She visits a rural gas station where she finds Jóhann Hannibalsson, the hunter who finally shot Tripod after years of trying. The two of them go on a snowmobile ride that brings them to a cabin where, in the dark, Megan witnesses Jóhann’s version of a fox hunt.

Along the way, Megan also speaks to Ester Unnsteinsdóttir (a fox researcher), Siggi Hjartarson (a hunter), Stephen “Midge” Midgley (Manager at the Arctic Fox Centre), and Þorvaldur “Doddi” Björnsson (the taxidermist who preserved Tripod’s body).

Producer: Megan Perra
Editor: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot, Serocell
Images: Feral Five Creative Co / Megan Perra

Icelandic Language documentary on the production of eiderdown.

March 28, 2018

HBM095: The Bats that Stay

March 28, 2018/ Bethany Denton

Not all migratory bats migrate. We don’t know why some choose to stay behind at their summer roosts. But according to the University of Washington’s Sharlene Santana, the bats that stay tend to die.

Content Note: Fleeting language

In this episode, HBM host Jeff Emtman attempts to make a metaphor about bats and humans. Perhaps it’s anthropomorphic, perhaps it’s unnecessarily poetic, or perhaps it’s a fair one.

Jeff leaves his home in Seattle to move cross-country to Boston. Along the way he takes a five day layover in Colorado to meet up with an old friend (Helen Katich) and her girlfriend (Laura Goldhamer). The three drive from Denver to the San Luis Valley of Central Colorado. They visit Valley View Hot Springs and walk to the mouth of an abandoned iron mine 10,000 feet above sea level called “The Glory Hole.”

The Glory Hole houses an estimated 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats each summer. These bats migrate in from Central and South America to eat bugs and raise their pups. They fly together at dusk in gatherings visually similar to the murmurations of starlings. This bat species, also known as the Brazilian free-tailed bat, is extremely social, and perhaps nature’s most gregarious mammal species.

Despite this, their social and hunting calls are completely inaudible to humans. They produce ultrasounds, sounds too high pitched for human ears. But some audio equipment (see below) can still record these sounds, then computer algorithms can pitch them down into human-audible sounds.

A preserved Mexican free-tailed bat at the welcome center of Valley View Hot Springs

The San Luis Valley

The San Luis Valley of Central Colorado

Helen Katich and Laura Goldhamer

Jeff Emtman and the San Luis Valley

The San Luis Valley

One evening, Jeff and Helen and Laura hike to the mouth of the mine. At this vantage point, they watch some of the bats flying out and Jeff manages to record some of their loud, ultrasonic vocalizations, before the storm forces them back downhill. The next day, Jeff flies to his new home in Boston.

Jeff recorded the bat calls in this episode with a Tascam DR100MK3 at 192kHZ sample rate and an Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro at sample rates of 256kHZ and 384kHZ. The calls were recorded at frequencies of approximately 21kHZ to 36kHZ and time/pitch-shifted with Elastique 3.2.3 Pro.

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Editor: Bethany Denton
Music: The Black Spot and Laura Goldhamer

January 17, 2018

HBM090: Two Small Creatures with Human Eyes

January 17, 2018/ Bethany Denton

Lucy and her mate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Photo by Jeff Emtman.

Natural history museums are art galleries. Scientifically focussed art galleries, but art galleries nonetheless.

Ian Tattersall, of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is a paleontologist who sometimes oversees the construction of models for the museum. Of personal interest to Here Be Monsters producer Jeff Emtman are reconstructions of very lifelike early humans, one with an arm draped over the other. Ian calls these the “Laetoli Figures”—named for the place in modern-day Tanzania where some remarkable footprints of two hominids were found preserved in volcanic ash.

As far as early humans go, Australopithecus Afarensis are well understood. There are 300+ individuals in the fossil record, including the famous ~40% complete fossil of “Lucy”.

Given the evidence, there’s a lot scientists can be pretty certain in declaring: they lived in the trees, but they could walk upright. They had small brains and big jaws, but their canine teeth looked a lot like a modern human’s.

There are other questions that are answerable through inference, through studies of modern animals and other fossils. These techniques can yield a strong degree of certainty.

But if the artist were to stop constructing at the edge of certainty, the models would never be completed. There are certain things that are essentially unknowable about these early hominids, like: “What did their skin look like?” “What color was their hair?” “Did they have the dark sclera of an ape, or the whites-of-the-eye of a modern human?”

These uncertainties are ultimately up to the artist to answer. “When you’re making a museum exhibit,” Ian (not an artist) points out, “you’re trying to create an illusion. And to work at all, the illusion has to be complete. And so you have to have all the details in there.”

Ian Tattersall, Curator Emeritus of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History and a replica of an early human colloquially named “Lucy”.

But these details are a form of artistry used as evidence by biblical creationists to lambast hominid reconstructions. They see it as part of an effort to deceive the public, to lead them to believe that these ancient hominids were more human-like than they actually were. Of particular interest to them is that question of the light sclera vs. dark sclera. One author writes:

Notice that a fossilized eyeball was not found. So how would anyone know that the sclera was white, which would cause it to look more human. [sic] The reconstruction is pure speculation about how Lucy’s eye looked.

Natural history museums are faced with a decision: create full-flesh reconstructions that by necessity contain elements of artistic license, or, present the public with mere bones. Most seem to opt for the former, and understandably so. The museum serves the public, and, like HBM producer Jeff Emtman, they want to see something relatable and remarkable, a piece of scientifically-oriented art.

And this question the artist must face, the question of the dark sclera (more ape-like eyes) and the light sclera (more human-like eyes) reveals something interesting about the artist and the process used to create the art. The choices an artist makes can speak to their worldview, their biases, and their knowledge per their location in the world and the current moment in time.

Ian recognizes this, saying,

You could not do a reliable reconstruction of an ancient human being or a dinosaur, or an extinct mammal without the science; and you certainly couldn’t do it without the art. And this is where the two really intersect in a meaningful way.

And the AMNH itself houses exhibits related to the ways in which modern assumptions about the past have affected the way the past is present, such as: Griffins in the Gobi Desert (protoceratops), Cyclops of the Mediterranean (dwarf elephants), and the infamous unicorn horns of Western Europe (narwhal).

The Griffin

The Unicorn

The Cyclops

Ian says that, in the quarter century since the construction of the Laetoli Figures, dominant scientific perception has changed to suggest that Australopithecus afarensis might have actually had dark sclera. As he puts it, “science is a work in progress.”

Jeff Emtman produced this episode and took the photos.
Voicemails from HBM listeners including Daniel Greene, Rachel Schapiro and Tony Baker.

Music: The Black Spot, The Other Stars

We want your questions for an upcoming mailbag episode. Maybe you’ve got a question about how we make the show. Maybe you have a question for someone we’ve talked to on an episode. Maybe you want some relationship advice. Maybe you can’t fix your damn microwave and you just need someone to tell you what to do.

Give us a call: (765) 374 - 5263 or send us a voice memo: HBMpodcast@gmail.com.

Also, check out our new meat poster, designed by Adam Fein, of HBM circle shirt fame. Get your HBM meat poster today!

May 24, 2017

HBM079: The Tingles

May 24, 2017/ Bethany Denton

Devaan describes it as a pulsing, tingling feeling on the back of his neck. His preferred stimuli are whispers, shuffling cards, scissors, tapping noises, anything that makes a crisp enough sound to trigger his ASMR. These sounds make him feel relaxed, euphoric and drowsy.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is a physical reaction experienced by some unknown percentage of the population (to varying degrees). Due to being only recently recognized and named, ASMR is still poorly understood scientifically. Its evolutionary purpose (if any) is uncertain, though one popular theory suggests that it might serve a social bonding or grooming purpose.

Devaan’s ASMR awakening came one day at work when a co-worker whispered into his ear. He googled “Why does my brain tingle when I hear whispering?” He stumbled into the online community of “ASMR artists” (aka. “ASMRtists”) who stimulate huge audiences with their preferred triggers.

He used these videos daily to combat his mild insomnia. Soon he became reliant on them for sleep, consuming ASMR videos endlessly. He became desensitized, even to his favorite videos, and thinks that he was (and maybe still is) addicted to them.

Today, Devaan still uses ASMR videos to fall asleep, though he says he’s now more careful with his consumption.

Producer: Molly Segal
Music: The Black Spot, AHEE
Additional Sounds: Arnaud Coutancier, Richard Frohlich
Screaming: Benjamin Harper, John Hill

March 29, 2017

HBM075: The Weight of Science

March 29, 2017/ Jeff Emtman

Anita Woodley went to the Rhine Research Center for scientific confirmation. Since childhood, she’d dreamt the future, able to predict imminent murders in her neighborhood. She prayed away her abilities for a period of her early adulthood, but they returned unexpectedly after the birth of her first child. Her psychic abilities troubled her. Going to the Rhine Center was her doctor’s suggestion. Her doctor said she wasn’t alone, that there were others with her gift.

The Rhine Research Center is America’s oldest parapsychology lab. It started in 1935 as the Duke Parapsychology Lab under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine. Dr. Rhine, a botanist with a growing fascination of psychics, turned his attention from plants and towards ESP. He devoted the rest of his life to legitimizing its study as a science.

Duke University severed its affiliation with the Rhine Center in 1965 when Dr. Rhine reached retirement age. The lab moved off campus and operates today as an independent non-profit.

John G Kruth, the Rhine Center’s Executive Director, breaks ESP down into five categories: telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis and survival studies (persistence of self outside of the body).

While living, Dr. Rhine believed he found evidence for ESP. Other academics were skeptical. What’s not up for debate is that Anita Woodley and others like her feel validated to have the weight of science confirming their abilities.

Anita was given a test similar to a Ganzfeld Experiment. Also, she was tested for remote viewing abilities. She says that she scored highly. Due to the Rhine’s policy of not releasing records, we couldn’t confirm this.

We produced this episode in conjunction with Hi-Phi Nation, a story-driven philosophy podcast hosted by Barry Lam. This episode serves as the introduction to his series called Hackademics which looks into modern overreliance on statistical significance. Listen to Part One. Listen to Part Two.

Barry Lam is a professor of philosophy at Vassar College and a visiting fellow at Duke University’s Story Lab.

Jeff Emtman edited this episode with help from Bethany Denton.

Music: The Black Spot, Serocell, Phantom Fauna

Conduct your own Ganzfeld Experiment from the comfort of your home.

Find images in the static from the comfort of your own home.

October 12, 2016

HBM065: We Pay Them In Meat

October 12, 2016/ Jeff Emtman

Owl skull with a flesh eating beetle. Photo by Jeff Emtman.

Walk through any natural history museum and you’ll see rows of effortlessly clean animal skeletons. Chances are you're looking at a strange form of human/insect symbiosis happening in the museum’s back rooms.

Preparing an animal’s skeleton for display is incredibly labor intensive for human hands. So curators have turned to a family of beetles with millennia of experience.

The dermestidae family of beetles have followed humans since our early history. They’re opportunistic eaters, and they like the things we like: grains, bacon grease, leather, silk scarves, books, carpets. And as early humans traveled, the beetles came with, colonizing across the globe.

The majority of humans’ relationship with these beetles is and has been contentious, as they tend to wreak havoc on human possessions. They’re often exterminated as pests.

But several species of the dermestidae family have a taste for dead flesh. Including dermestes maculatus, aka. “The Hide Beetle”. And for this reason, curators have enlisted their help as “museum volunteers.”

At least, that’s what Chris Stinson of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver, British Columbia calls them. He’s the Curatorial Assistant of Mammals, Reptiles, and Amphibians and he approximates that he has 20,000 of these volunteers to prep the museum’s collection.

In this episode, Here Be Monsters producer Jeff Emtman smells the beetle tank, listens to them eat an owl skull, and holds a real flesh-eating beetle.*

Jeff Emtman produced this episode, with help from Bethany Denton and Nick White.

Music: The Black Spot

Happy Birthday Paul. We don’t know when your birthday actually is, but we hope it’s a good one...this year and every other.

*Due to dermestes maculatus’ preference for dead foods, they’re perfectly safe to handle, unless you’re a wild turkey (and if you’re actually reading this, you probably are).