Amusement parks in Japan have some odd advice for patrons as they reopen in the wake of the pandemic. Over in Turkey, President Erdogan has officially decreed the Hagia Sophia will, once again, become an active mosque. Recent research finds that blood extracted from old mice can rejuvenate the minds of out-of-shape and elderly mice. Join Ben Bowlin for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on Twitter: #strangedaily.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I Heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
(00:45):
Things are reopening in Japan and the fuji Q Highland
Amusement Park near Tokyo has an unorthodox request for its
roller coaster riders. The park is asking patrons to help
reduce the risk of spreading corona virus by not yelling
out loud. Instead, they proposed that if you are a
(01:05):
patron of the amusement park, you scream inside your heart.
While some people might be skeptical that it's possible to
quietly ride something like a roller coaster, fuji Q put
out a promotional video proving it can be done, at
least by some folks. The video shows to suit wearing
(01:26):
completely silent executives as they stoically ride the Fujiyama roller
coaster that's fuji Q Highland's main attraction. This odd no
screaming guideline was one of several recommendations that Japanese amusement
park operators released earlier in May, as the country was
(01:47):
beginning to reopen after shutting down due to the pandemic.
Amusement park patrons have been asked to refrain from vocalizing
loudly to avoid spreading droplets of the virus. Several park
goers have already complained and said they felt this request
is unrealistic. One visitor at Tokyo Disneyland said that he
(02:09):
thought it was too strict, adding if a scream comes out,
it comes out. In Japan, the spread of the coronavirus
infection has been comparatively slow, especially when we look at
cases in many other countries. As of today, Japan is
seen just over twenty thousand confirmed cases and recorded nine
(02:33):
hundred and eighty two deaths due to COVID nineteen. In contrast,
the United States is the global epicenter of the pandemic,
with more than three million confirmed cases and roughly one
hundred and thirty two thousand confirmed deaths due to the virus.
Despite these sobering statistics, some theme parks in the States
(02:55):
are already planning to welcome back guests. Take example of
Disney World Over in Orlando, Florida. This park is reopening
to the public on July eleven at a reduced capacity,
and just yesterday Disney held a preview for its annual
pass holders. So far, Disney has not announced any ban
(03:17):
on screaming. And maybe it's just a quirk of translation,
but the concept of screaming inside your heart is something
that unfortunately many people can agree with. In our second story, today,
(03:44):
President urign of Turkey has just signed a decree formally
turning the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. This is a
move which will be, to say the least, controversial to
many Christians around the world. The Hagia Sophia is a
monument in Istanbul, and it's been a disputed symbol between
(04:05):
Christianity and Islam for centuries. It was built back in
five thirty seven a d as a Greek Orthodox cathedral,
but it was turned into a mosque after the Ottoman
Empire captured the city in fourteen fifty three. After the
fall of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War,
(04:26):
the founding father of Turkey, Mustafa at Turk, turned Hagia
Sophia into a museum in nineteen thirty four. This was
seen as a sign of his commitment to a secular
future for the country, making it a culture that separated
state from religion. President Urigon's decision to issue his decree
(04:48):
came shortly after another decision, a landmark decree by Turkey's
High Court that the Haka Sophia's conversion to a museum
was in fact unlawful. Greece described the ruling as an
open provocation to the civilized world, with the US and
UNESCO also among those condemning this decision. To be clear,
(05:12):
the move is not necessarily about creating more space for prayer.
Istanbul is already home to more than three thousand other mosque. Instead,
the decision reflects the wider social struggle within Turkey between
secularism and President Urigon's brand of religious conservatism. Doubtlessly due
(05:33):
to the pandemic, there weren't many tourists around when the
announcement came, although the local media did gather outside of
Hagia Sophia. Turkish officials say opening Hagia Sophia to prayer
will not stop tourists from visiting the site. And they
have also offered reassurance that the building's Christian icons will
be somehow preserved. However, some historians don't see how that
(05:57):
will be possible. Historian Zena Bahumba, who has worked conserving
the Hagia Sophia for almost three decades, says, with the
images of Madonna, Mother of Christ and other saints on
the wall, do they accept to pray in the presence
of these images? She adds, It's a UNESCO World Heritage
(06:18):
Site and I want it to be open to all
nations and beliefs and accessible. If it becomes a mosque,
there are restrictions. They try to put up curtains or
other means of restrictions, and that's not acceptable for a
World Heritage monument. She continues, saying, it is not acceptable
to go back in time. I'm really sorry we have
come to and we are trying to go back to
(06:40):
the century. There is already tension in Turkey because there
is a reaction to these conservative people who make decisions
as if we are in Islamic country. To be fair,
Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim and this move to reclaim Hagia
Sophia as a mosque is sometimes seen as a bid
to boost President Erdogan's AK Party's sliding popularity polls. How
(07:05):
will the plan be implemented and what does it mean
for the future of this country so often seen as
a gateway between the East and the West, that remains
to be seen our third story today. It's a pretty
(07:30):
well established fact that physical exercise can also sharpen your mind.
People and mice who work out seem to do better
on cognitive tests, and elderly human beings who remain physically
active reduce their risk of things like dementia. But now,
in an astonishing finding, researchers report that blood from a
(07:54):
mouse that exercises regularly can improve the performance in the
brain of a mouse that's more of a well like
couch potato. This effect can be traced to a specific
liver protein in the blood, and importantly, it could also
point the way to a drug that can give cognitive
benefits of exercise to people who are rarely able to,
(08:18):
for one reason or another, physically exercise. The study comes
from Saul Vieta the University of California, San Francisco. Vieta
is an aging research and lead this study, asking the
question can your brain think that you exercised just from
something in your blood. The study grew out of research
(08:40):
and Vieta's lab and others suggesting that blood from a
young mouse can rejuvenate the brain and muscles of an
older mouse. Some teams have since claimed to find specific
proteins that explain the benefits of this so called young
blood creepy I know, graduate student a lot of Horowitz
and post doc ju La fon in Viata's group also
(09:03):
wondered whether exercise and not just youth, could confer similar benefits.
This was easy enough to test. You just put a
wheel in a cage full of mice. The animals, which
appear to be mostly inactive, will run for miles at night.
The researchers then collected blood from elderly or middle aged
(09:24):
mice that had an exercise wheel in their cage for
six weeks, and they transferred this blood into old mice
the ones that didn't have a wheel in their cage.
The results were astonishing. Couch potato mice receiving this blood
eight times over three weeks did almost as well on
learning and memory tests as the mice were exercising. A
(09:47):
control group of couch potatoes that got blood from other
couch potato mice elderly or non exercising saw no boost
at all. We should mention that the rodents who got
blood from the active mice also grew roughly twice as
many new neurons in their hippocampus, a brain region involved
in learning and memory. Vieta's team reported this earlier this
(10:11):
week in Science magazine. This change is comparable to what's
seen in rodents that directly exercised themselves. The researchers looked
for proteins that go up in the blood of mice
when they exercise, and they zeroed in on an enzyme
that will call gpl D one, which is created in
the mouse's liver. When the scientists injected gpl D one's
(10:35):
gene into the tail vein of couch potato mice, delivering
it into their livers and therefore making the organs crank
out the enzyme, they found the rodents cognitive performance and
brain neuron growth improved after three weeks by about as
much as it would have if they had received blood
from exercising mice. The team also showed that g p
(10:57):
ld one blood levels were much fire in a group
of elderly people who regularly exercised than in those who didn't,
and this suggests these mouse results may also apply to
human beings. Princeton University molecular biologist Colleen Murphy, who studies
aging and worms, says, this is very tantalizing. We always
(11:19):
want people to exercise more, and not everybody is going
to be able to do that. To be able to
give people this in a pill form would be fantastic.
It should go without saying that there's much more research
to be done before you can find this magic brain
boosting pill in your local drug store. That's all for now.
(11:41):
We've been asking you to chime in with suggestions for
stories you think your fellow listeners might enjoy. To hit
us with your best or worst jokes, as well as
your personal experience with COVID nineteen, the ongoing protests, or
anything else that's happening in your neck of the global woods.
Let us know. Tag hashtag Strange Daily on Twitter, or
reach out to me directly. I'm at Ben Bowling hs
(12:02):
W on Twitter or at Ben Bolan on Instagram. Thanks
as always to our super producer Dylan Fagan, our research
associate Sam T. Garden, and most importantly Thanks to you,
I'm Ben Bully. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange.
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I Heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
(00:45):
Things are reopening in Japan and the fuji Q Highland
Amusement Park near Tokyo has an unorthodox request for its
roller coaster riders. The park is asking patrons to help
reduce the risk of spreading corona virus by not yelling
out loud. Instead, they proposed that if you are a
(01:05):
patron of the amusement park, you scream inside your heart.
While some people might be skeptical that it's possible to
quietly ride something like a roller coaster, fuji Q put
out a promotional video proving it can be done, at
least by some folks. The video shows to suit wearing
(01:26):
completely silent executives as they stoically ride the Fujiyama roller
coaster that's fuji Q Highland's main attraction. This odd no
screaming guideline was one of several recommendations that Japanese amusement
park operators released earlier in May, as the country was
(01:47):
beginning to reopen after shutting down due to the pandemic.
Amusement park patrons have been asked to refrain from vocalizing
loudly to avoid spreading droplets of the virus. Several park
goers have already complained and said they felt this request
is unrealistic. One visitor at Tokyo Disneyland said that he
(02:09):
thought it was too strict, adding if a scream comes out,
it comes out. In Japan, the spread of the coronavirus
infection has been comparatively slow, especially when we look at
cases in many other countries. As of today, Japan is
seen just over twenty thousand confirmed cases and recorded nine
(02:33):
hundred and eighty two deaths due to COVID nineteen. In contrast,
the United States is the global epicenter of the pandemic,
with more than three million confirmed cases and roughly one
hundred and thirty two thousand confirmed deaths due to the virus.
Despite these sobering statistics, some theme parks in the States
(02:55):
are already planning to welcome back guests. Take example of
Disney World Over in Orlando, Florida. This park is reopening
to the public on July eleven at a reduced capacity,
and just yesterday Disney held a preview for its annual
pass holders. So far, Disney has not announced any ban
(03:17):
on screaming. And maybe it's just a quirk of translation,
but the concept of screaming inside your heart is something
that unfortunately many people can agree with. In our second story, today,
(03:44):
President urign of Turkey has just signed a decree formally
turning the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. This is a
move which will be, to say the least, controversial to
many Christians around the world. The Hagia Sophia is a
monument in Istanbul, and it's been a disputed symbol between
(04:05):
Christianity and Islam for centuries. It was built back in
five thirty seven a d as a Greek Orthodox cathedral,
but it was turned into a mosque after the Ottoman
Empire captured the city in fourteen fifty three. After the
fall of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War,
(04:26):
the founding father of Turkey, Mustafa at Turk, turned Hagia
Sophia into a museum in nineteen thirty four. This was
seen as a sign of his commitment to a secular
future for the country, making it a culture that separated
state from religion. President Urigon's decision to issue his decree
(04:48):
came shortly after another decision, a landmark decree by Turkey's
High Court that the Haka Sophia's conversion to a museum
was in fact unlawful. Greece described the ruling as an
open provocation to the civilized world, with the US and
UNESCO also among those condemning this decision. To be clear,
(05:12):
the move is not necessarily about creating more space for prayer.
Istanbul is already home to more than three thousand other mosque. Instead,
the decision reflects the wider social struggle within Turkey between
secularism and President Urigon's brand of religious conservatism. Doubtlessly due
(05:33):
to the pandemic, there weren't many tourists around when the
announcement came, although the local media did gather outside of
Hagia Sophia. Turkish officials say opening Hagia Sophia to prayer
will not stop tourists from visiting the site. And they
have also offered reassurance that the building's Christian icons will
be somehow preserved. However, some historians don't see how that
(05:57):
will be possible. Historian Zena Bahumba, who has worked conserving
the Hagia Sophia for almost three decades, says, with the
images of Madonna, Mother of Christ and other saints on
the wall, do they accept to pray in the presence
of these images? She adds, It's a UNESCO World Heritage
(06:18):
Site and I want it to be open to all
nations and beliefs and accessible. If it becomes a mosque,
there are restrictions. They try to put up curtains or
other means of restrictions, and that's not acceptable for a
World Heritage monument. She continues, saying, it is not acceptable
to go back in time. I'm really sorry we have
come to and we are trying to go back to
(06:40):
the century. There is already tension in Turkey because there
is a reaction to these conservative people who make decisions
as if we are in Islamic country. To be fair,
Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim and this move to reclaim Hagia
Sophia as a mosque is sometimes seen as a bid
to boost President Erdogan's AK Party's sliding popularity polls. How
(07:05):
will the plan be implemented and what does it mean
for the future of this country so often seen as
a gateway between the East and the West, that remains
to be seen our third story today. It's a pretty
(07:30):
well established fact that physical exercise can also sharpen your mind.
People and mice who work out seem to do better
on cognitive tests, and elderly human beings who remain physically
active reduce their risk of things like dementia. But now,
in an astonishing finding, researchers report that blood from a
(07:54):
mouse that exercises regularly can improve the performance in the
brain of a mouse that's more of a well like
couch potato. This effect can be traced to a specific
liver protein in the blood, and importantly, it could also
point the way to a drug that can give cognitive
benefits of exercise to people who are rarely able to,
(08:18):
for one reason or another, physically exercise. The study comes
from Saul Vieta the University of California, San Francisco. Vieta
is an aging research and lead this study, asking the
question can your brain think that you exercised just from
something in your blood. The study grew out of research
(08:40):
and Vieta's lab and others suggesting that blood from a
young mouse can rejuvenate the brain and muscles of an
older mouse. Some teams have since claimed to find specific
proteins that explain the benefits of this so called young
blood creepy I know, graduate student a lot of Horowitz
and post doc ju La fon in Viata's group also
(09:03):
wondered whether exercise and not just youth, could confer similar benefits.
This was easy enough to test. You just put a
wheel in a cage full of mice. The animals, which
appear to be mostly inactive, will run for miles at night.
The researchers then collected blood from elderly or middle aged
(09:24):
mice that had an exercise wheel in their cage for
six weeks, and they transferred this blood into old mice
the ones that didn't have a wheel in their cage.
The results were astonishing. Couch potato mice receiving this blood
eight times over three weeks did almost as well on
learning and memory tests as the mice were exercising. A
(09:47):
control group of couch potatoes that got blood from other
couch potato mice elderly or non exercising saw no boost
at all. We should mention that the rodents who got
blood from the active mice also grew roughly twice as
many new neurons in their hippocampus, a brain region involved
in learning and memory. Vieta's team reported this earlier this
(10:11):
week in Science magazine. This change is comparable to what's
seen in rodents that directly exercised themselves. The researchers looked
for proteins that go up in the blood of mice
when they exercise, and they zeroed in on an enzyme
that will call gpl D one, which is created in
the mouse's liver. When the scientists injected gpl D one's
(10:35):
gene into the tail vein of couch potato mice, delivering
it into their livers and therefore making the organs crank
out the enzyme, they found the rodents cognitive performance and
brain neuron growth improved after three weeks by about as
much as it would have if they had received blood
from exercising mice. The team also showed that g p
(10:57):
ld one blood levels were much fire in a group
of elderly people who regularly exercised than in those who didn't,
and this suggests these mouse results may also apply to
human beings. Princeton University molecular biologist Colleen Murphy, who studies
aging and worms, says, this is very tantalizing. We always
(11:19):
want people to exercise more, and not everybody is going
to be able to do that. To be able to
give people this in a pill form would be fantastic.
It should go without saying that there's much more research
to be done before you can find this magic brain
boosting pill in your local drug store. That's all for now.
(11:41):
We've been asking you to chime in with suggestions for
stories you think your fellow listeners might enjoy. To hit
us with your best or worst jokes, as well as
your personal experience with COVID nineteen, the ongoing protests, or
anything else that's happening in your neck of the global woods.
Let us know. Tag hashtag Strange Daily on Twitter, or
reach out to me directly. I'm at Ben Bowling hs
(12:02):
W on Twitter or at Ben Bolan on Instagram. Thanks
as always to our super producer Dylan Fagan, our research
associate Sam T. Garden, and most importantly Thanks to you,
I'm Ben Bully. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange.
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