June 9, 2025 • 34 mins
Michael and Ryan dive into the colorful world of nudibranchs with marine biology grad student Lexy Reinhardt. From toxin-eating defenses and bizarre mating rituals to their role in neuroscience and insights into ADHD, this conversation blends science, humor, and Lexy’s passion for underwater photography. Plus, a teaser on the unexpected dangers of kelp!
Subscribe and Watch on YouTube
Connect with Us: Michael Judson Berry | Ryan Wilder
Theme: “Happy Dance” by Mr. Smith is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International License. “Running Fanfare” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported.
Subscribe and Watch on YouTube
Connect with Us: Michael Judson Berry | Ryan Wilder
Theme: “Happy Dance” by Mr. Smith is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International License. “Running Fanfare” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Watching a new to brink swim is kind of like
watching a drag queen sneeze in space, Like it's just
sort of aimless, colorful, flopping. Oh, welcome, welcome back back
(00:20):
yet again, back yet again?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Do white noise? How did this happen? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I think I hit record and I just slipped and
hit the record button. It's crazy how that happens. I
am so excited today we're talking about nudie brinks, which
I think I said that right. We have our fabulous guest,
Lexi Reinhardt. Did I say that correctly?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yes? You did?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Okay, great because you would know, as you are a
sea slug expert.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yes, I like to think I am. I'm a grad
student studying sea slug brains and behavior specifically.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So fun.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, So this afternoon, I'm actually going to go take
photos of brains.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Sway, are you going to take a photo of the
brain still in this lug? Or has the brain been
taken out of this lug?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So the brain's been taken out, and they're they're tiny,
but they're like actually really big for you know how
few cells they have in it. And so we can
like take photos of different chemicals in the brain like
serotonin or like dopamine and things like that to figure
(01:26):
out like what each cell in the brain does, and
so we can then like put that onto like what
happens in humans and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I saw something in my kind of research around seahorses
as well.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Oh, I don't know, like about their brains.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Maybe I just got this completely wrong, but there was
something in there about working with like a not for
profit that focuses on sea horses.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yes, so that was like, wow, I think that was
like what six years.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Ago now, But my research is good.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
It's like.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You're like, I've moved on, I've moved seahorses.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Bah. Yeah, there's a Project Seahorses, this like organization that
works mainly with trying to like protect different seahorse species,
but mainly focusing on fishing. So they're trying to like
stop mainly dredging that just destroys their environments. And so
(02:25):
I volunteered with them for I think like two years
in undergrads. So it's been a while since I did that,
but they're still they're still going. They do great work.
I really like working with them. Their stuff is really cool.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, outside of work, you're a big fan of photography
and pottery.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yes, so I do quite a bit of underwater photography,
focusing on small little guys. I just really like taking
like photos of things that people are like, how did
you see that? But I also do some pottery with
like a local like arts house here, and so I
helped run courses sometimes. But yeah, I just one of
(03:04):
my photos just got accepted into like one of our
science funding things in Canada.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, you were on the cover of Canadian Journal for zoology. Yes,
oh my god, congratulations, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Thank you. Yeah. And so there's also a photo contest
for the funding an agency as well for another photo
that I took that I'm a finalist in, and so
there's voting open for that as well. But yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Have to share word to vote, so people, so people
go vote for you.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, shameless shameless plug.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, shameless away all the shameless plugs. I mean, go
for it. And I was going to say you also
the recent accolade is you received the Cassie Lindsay Award
for Best Student Presentation. Did I get that?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yes? Yes, So I just did a presentation at a
conference what like three weeks ago, and I won Best Presentation,
which was surprising but an amazing opportunity, and so I
think mine was really engaging. I had a lot of
jokes in it, and I think that contributed largely to
(04:09):
my win because they were like, wow, what jokes?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
What was the top joke? Like, what was the one
that like took the house down?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I was looking at the speed of the slugs, and
normally people would put it in like, I don't know,
like millimeters a minute because they moved so slowly, and
I put it in kilometers per hour and they thought
that was really funny because it was like zero point
zero zero zero zero one kilometers per hour and they
(04:36):
were all like, they all thought that was very funny.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
And so also, I do enjoy on your Insta, which
is if I follow C slug Scientist at C sucks
lineist that you prank your students sometimes.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, is this true? But like, and I got some
comments from some of them and they were like, I'll
never trust my TA again. Yeah, that was really funny.
We essentially just found like a mushroom washed up on
the shore, and the instructor and I were like, hey, uh,
(05:12):
this kind of looks like a sea sponge. What if
we told all the students that it was like a
mystery animal and that they had to figure out what
it was, and they spent like a week trying to
figure out what it was like, looking through pulling books
from the library. They started feeding it at one point
and they were like, hey, I think I can see
(05:32):
it eating and I was like, oh yeah, and then
they were like, oh, we need to give it like
an air source so it doesn't like suffocate, and I
was like yeah, and then at one point I was like,
I just felt bad, so I had to be like,
it's it's a mushroom, like it's not a sea animal.
And they were so bad, but it was fun.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Are you like, which one of you said you saw
it eating? You're out?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No? Yeah, im media fail, immediate fail. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
None of them, None of them guessed that it was
a mushroom. All of them were like, for sure, this
is a living thing.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, they were. They were convinced that it was it
was a animal, and I felt bad that they trusted
me so much, and I just, like, you know, broke
all their trust.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Today we're not talking about mushrooms. We're talking about Nudi brinks,
which that is how you say it, right. I keep
wanting to say nudy branches, which again that's probably a
very different thing. It's a branch full of naked people.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Nudi brink I said, Did I say Nudi branch earlier?
I probably did.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I think I think people say it both ways personally,
like I don't. I don't see any point in like
being that picky about it, Like I'm like, say it
however you want to say it.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It sluggy nudes, which which you get to choose which
one of us goes first? Okay, so Ryan or me?
Now that you've gotten to know us, Oh so well?
Oh yeah, best friends already.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I think Ryan should go first because they're dressed nicer.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
There you go, going fair.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
For people just listening, I am in pajamas, a hoodie
and a baseball hat because I just rolled out of bed.
And Ryan clearly has been up, looks fresh, very handsome,
and isn't rocking a very nice polo.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Why can I say?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But honestly, for those listening, the one who's winning the
fashion real quick, the fashion prey today is Lexi oh
one fantastic earrings and a kick ass help outfit that
is so cute. So, just for the record, if this
was a fashion show. You've already won, LEXI went, thank you,
but Ryan your close second, and I am many kilometers behind.
(07:43):
All right, Ryan, are you ready? Yes, Okay, your time
starts now.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
All right, Newdy breaks. So, by the way, it actually
stands for naked gills, and they're part of gastrip is
the broader family and essentially a group of can I say, animals?
Is that fair that essentially abandoned their shells at a
given point and time, And there are gastropods that have
(08:13):
like a semi hards shell and I'm going to talk
a little bit about that. I just kind of looked
up what I thought some of the cool things were
about them. But like I say, I also happen to
know that you talk a lot about your neurodivergence ADHD,
and I discovered in this whole thing there's a very
close relationship between what we know about ADHD today and gastropods,
(08:36):
which is really pretty cool, and that's probably my main
focal point. The main reason that they're studied in a
lot of neurosciences is a little bit about what we've
touched about before is that their neurons are really large
and can be observed rather easily under a microscope, but
also even sometimes just visually, and they're easily distinguished by
their color, and it's easy or not easy, but easier
(08:58):
to attach electrodes to them to understand what they're doing.
They also have I just think some very interesting outside
of their the neurosciences, some other kind of entertaining qualities.
Their bright colors usually are indicative of the fact that
they're poisonous or dangerous or whatever else. But I don't know,
maybe you can correct me on this, but it seems
like none of them are innately poisonous. They actually consume
(09:20):
the poisons from either jellyfish or from anemones, and they're like,
they're kind of like the Marie Quondo of it. They're like,
does this tox and bring me joy? And if it does,
they just keep it and then they use it to
protect themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, So some of them eat sea sponges, and so
they steal the like protective chemicals that are like bad
for other animals from the sea sponges to make themselves poisonous.
But then some of them eat things like aneemies or jellyfish,
and then they steal the stinging things from those animals
(09:59):
and make make themselves, you know, stinging themselves. And so
it's actually really complicated because the stinging cells are essentially
this little harpoon with a spring underneath it, Like they're
super tiny, but they like there's like this whole process
that they have to do to like not trigger it
(10:19):
from releasing so that they can save it for themselves,
like to use.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Maybe that's why they're so slow. They're just very very careful.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's listen, if I had poison in my body, i'd
move pretty slowly.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
So Luckily, most of the time the ones that they're
eating aren't harmful to humans. So I think there's only
like one or like a few that if you touch them,
will actually hurt you, like a jellyfish wood. But I've
definitely had some where because if you pick them up
and touch them too much, they just like get rid
of their their gills. They're just like okay, uh, like.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
They're done with this just yeah, Like they.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Just get rid of them, and then their back's like
totally empty, like they're just like this smooth back and
then they attack and then they try and sting your
hand and I'm like, but I don't feel anything, so
it's just like you just lost all your girls and
I can't breathe.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Like, wait, why did they get rid of their gills?
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Just like they think if they get if they like
get rid of them, the predators will try and eat
those instead instead of them, because they can grow them
back later.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Did they just breathe less or do they like die?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I think a little bit of both. I think they
bring I possible and then sometimes they die.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Because it feels like a crazy strategy. That would be
like somebody trying to mug me and I take out
my lungs and throw them and I'm just.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Like, get those here half my arm.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
That's exactly what happens though, and so they're just trying to, like, yeah, trying.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
To an interesting strategy.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Say. The other kind of cool quality about them is
that they're hermaphrodites, and I did like a little bit
of light research into it. And basically what happens is
to for the booty call, they line up head to
tail and apparent's usually I mutely a mutual experience where
they both secrete sperm and hopes that maybe they impregnate
(12:06):
each other. But there are also ones that, depending on
the environment they're in and if the species where being
the mom is more costly, some of them at times
will do a sperm dump and run. So they get
close and it's not a mutual situation. They're just like
here's all of it, and then they run away.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Yeah, pretty much, there's like there's so many different like ways.
Like what I've seen that really makes me laugh is
when I put them, if I'm holding them separately and
then put them together, they just like immediately start mating
like they're like, oh, I've been away like separated from
others too long, like you know. And so what happens
(12:43):
is if you have three of them, though, the two
will like circle each other and mate, and then the
third one will just kind of like be there with
its like sperm and just be like, hey can I
can I like maybe.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Just a little beauty really, And so it's it's pretty funny.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
But like some someilar like whole like mating dances are
like over three hours. Wow, Like it's crazy. Yeah, they
just like slowly circle each other and then like get
closer and closer and then you know, and it's just
it's it's really silly watching it sometimes. But sometimes it's
only like three seconds, which is funny.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Sounds like dating funny. But how much time do I have, Michael,
So I know, like, do I have to three minutes?
So Eric Candle is the one who won the Nobel
Peace Prize for his study of neurons in ellipsia. I
think that's right, which is also a gastropod and is
(13:46):
in the same family. Is new to Brinks but a
little bit different, but same sort of qualities, like very
visible neurons. And what's kind of cool about this is
that So what he discovered, I'll go through it really quick.
That in short term memory. And if we think about
short term memory, it's like we remember a phone number
long enough to dial it and then it's poof, it's gone.
(14:08):
We don't remember it again. And essentially that happens as
result of turning up chemical volume within the neurons that
we have, so we're not actually creating new pathways. Long
term memory or our durable memory can last hours to years.
It requires growth of new synaptic connections between neurons and
(14:29):
a new gene expression and protein synthesis to build more
roads between neurons, which then creates lasting memories. And he
discovered that repetitive behaviors actually reinforce, so repetition, emotion and
practice repetition build stronger neural connections. Right, So this guy
(14:51):
was working on this stuff from the sixties to the nineties,
in which you know, in a two thousand is when
he won the Nobel Peace Prize. But essentially his work
ended up being the compass for what a lot of
other neuroscientists and behavioral scientists have used to understand human
behavior and how we work in the realm of ADHD. Right,
(15:13):
are an individual who has ADHD, and you can like
just you come in and be like no, but working
memory is basically like our mental whiteboard, and for someone
with ADHD, it's either too small, smudged, or occasionally on fire,
and it just means that it's hard to hold multiple
thoughts at once. So what that means is like we
(15:37):
I just talked about the fact that a Kendle, I
think his name, I say his name wrong, or already
my short term memory misfiring as we speak. Basically, you know,
said that like being able to create and hold long
term thoughts means having repetition and having strong association. If
you're essentially your whiteboard isn't capable of keeping that repetition
(15:58):
in place, then it's much harder to establish long term memories.
So with you know, unsustained attention, not being able to
filter out various directions or prioritizing what's worth remembering, it
kind of like breaks down. So from there we have
three other key scientists that basically use this compass to
(16:20):
establish other deeper insights. And I'll quickly share the three
and I'll call it quits. So we had Barkley in
basically the nineties who was able to study and understand
that ADHD is related to challenges with executive function and
working memory. That's that whiteboard piece. Then in the early
(16:41):
two thousands we have Volcal who was able to study
that less dopamine in the reward circuits so ADHD brings
actually crave dopamine that and then Brown in the like
twenty tens to to like currently is how it's affected
by emotions and motivational systems and how like boring things are.
(17:04):
Just to know, like there's got to be emotion and
engagement and interest to be effective in that high pressure
situations are actually better because they helped bring that focus.
They helped bring that emotion that then help establish deeper memories.
So I think it's pretty incredible that nudi brinks or
(17:25):
gastropods are in reality the whole reason that we know
as much as we do now about actually I think
not just ADHD, but a lot of other neurodivergence, which
is really pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, it's like, that's great. My supervisor's supervisor he was
working with sea slugs and they were really trying to
figure out what each neuron did, what was its actual function,
when was it actually working as a cell. And he
opened up the brain of a sea slug and saw
(17:59):
that you could see them with your naked eye, which
was like one of the first like you know, animals
with neurons where you could just like literally take the
probe and stick it on the neuron without using a microscope.
And so you know that along with like their work
just you know, opened up so many doors because we
(18:20):
could learn things about neurons that we just weren't really
able to do before because they were just so big
and so easy to pinpoint. But also they have so few,
so few neurons, so like they have ten thousand, while
I think we have like I think almost like one
hundred million or something like. It's crazy. But even in
(18:43):
the even in the sea slugs, like, we're taking these
photos and so we label chemicals like dopamine with a uh,
fluorescent dye essentially, so it like when we take photos,
it lights up, so we can tell where those like
chemicals are in the neurons, and the neurons where they
(19:09):
are change between individuals, so like it's so weird, like
they have nine little brains essentially entering the slugs, the
same cell will be in different ones just randomly between
individuals with like no explanation. And so it's just like
(19:30):
even even in slugs who have you know, ten thousand neurons,
they're even like even their brains are different between each other,
like you know, and so it's amazing that we can
apply that to human brains that are so much more
complex and so much just so much bigger. You know,
(19:51):
the brains are like like I can't even like they're
like that big when we pull them out.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Is that part of what drew you to the space
or drew you into marine biology and then specifically native brinks.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, it's like this like crazy intersection between like brains.
But then how do brains cause behavior, Like we know
a little bit about how cells in the brain work,
and but we don't really know much about how that
then causes someone to do something, or like why does
(20:24):
my brain make me react or think differently than someone else?
Like we barely know anything about that, and so that's
kind of where my interest started.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Michael, are you ready? Oh sure, ready, set.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Go high LEXI Uh so fine. It's so nice to
meet you, welcome to my presentation. I'm not going to
win that award that you did, so it's this. This
was actually a trickier one for me in a way.
As you've seen, Ryan usually does very deep research.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I just rabbit hole is really what happens. I'm like,
oh that's interesting, I'll go that way, and.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I love a good rabbit hole moment. But I a
lot of times it's like, what does this make me
think of?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
What memory?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Unfortunately I have no memories with new to brinks. So
I actually, unfortunately for me, attempted to do research. But
one thing just to start out for people listening, which
I don't think we said, but nudio brinks are I
guarantee you have seen them. They are gorgeous. They are
basically the drag queens of the sea. In my opinion,
like if Lady Gaga was a marine creature, it is
(21:42):
a new to break and there are what over three
thousand different species right there. There are many, yeah, there's
too many, too many, and they're all well, at least
the ones I've seen are gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Like I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
There's a fun google if you put in just like
Nudi Brinks and met Gala are like new to brings
fashion and people will put a new to Brink next
to like a celebrity and an amazing but like really
funky gown and I love to play the game of
who wore it better, and in my brain always the
new to Brink wins. Well yeah, oh g oh, obviously
(22:17):
there's so the colors and the textures. It's they're just
absolutely gorgeous. And watching them also try and swim, I
think is one of the cutest things ever because they
just sort of like flop around, so you have this
like beautiful thing that is not graceful at all, Like
how I imagine and somebody else said something similar, It's like
(22:39):
watching a New to Brink swim is kind of like
watching a drag queen sneeze in space, Like it's just
sort of aimless, colorful flopping. But it is really cute
and adorable watching this incredibly exquisite thing move very inefficiently.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's a good laugh.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
One thing though, that I think is sad considering how
absolutely stunning they are. And I know it's for different reasons,
like sometimes it's to be like I'm poisonous, don't eat
me because I'm so colorful and fun, or some it's
just camouflage where they're just like blending into whatever, and
and they do, like some of them like brilliantly blend
into their environment. Yeah, but they're color blind, aren't they they?
(23:17):
Or they really can't see, right, aren't they essentially blind?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
They're so blind there each of each of their eyes,
at least in the one that I work with, is
like five cells, and it's under their skin and on
top of their brain.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Why do they even have eyes?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
So there's some evidence that shows that some of them
will if you put like if you have a white
screen with a black bar, they'll move towards it. They
don't know why they do that or what what that
could be for. But the reason why they probably have
like such small eyes is because they really just need
to know like light versus dark. So okay, they want
(24:00):
to go up or go down because it underwater, it's
kind of it's kind of hard to tell normally, and
so if they want to like get out of a crevice,
they need to know where is it lighter to get
out or.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Like, oh, that there's a lot of light there, that's
a big open bear space. Maybe I shouldn't go there,
as I did ditch mysell my shell when I was
but a wee babe noodle brink.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, or once they sperm domp, they need to know
where to run. They're like aim for the dark.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Because sometimes they also after they may try and eat
each other, so they need to know how to get
away from each other.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I did see that that they're very carnivorous. Yeah, I
think they just will eat anything, is what I've learned.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
So it depends. So some of them will only eat
one thing, some of them will eat anything, and only
a few of them will eat each other. But the
one that I work with does eat each other. But
so because they can't see, they're mostly just using smell
to find their food. And so that's kind of like
what my my work focuses on is like how do
(25:03):
they use smell to find their food? And are they
also using like flow movement to guide that as well?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Oh interesting, I was wondering, like how because it's well,
obviously three thousand species, so they probably hunt differently and
obviously some eat very different things. But I was kind
of wondering how they do track prey because they read
how they track each other. When they want a mate,
like a lot of them find their like trail. I
(25:31):
guess like they can sense their like sludgy trail and
they just kind of follow it until they catch up
to one and then they like bump into its butt
and they're just like, oh, there it is, and then
they have to find it, and then they have to
find its right side right because they like it's the
two right sides that they made on where they send
their little penis bar about. And then it's more of
like a penis high five than it is like sex.
(25:53):
They're just like hey, bro.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And sometimes there's like there's like fencing that happens.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I read about penis fencing.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
To see which one which one because they they want
to inseminate the other one, but they don't want to
be inseminated. So if they can inseminate the other one
and then run away quickly, that's the best.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah they want to do.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
So again Ryan or early twenties behavior. But yeah, they're
like sword fighting, but they're a little now to bring penises,
which I guess is like infamous in visin Underwater World.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
There's also it gets worse, so I don't think this
happens in nudobranks, but in gasterpods, so like the bigger group.
There's also love darts, which are these like little like
hard calcareous darts filled with sperm that they will like
stab each other with and then it just not even
(26:46):
like in anywhere, just like in the body wall. And
then if they want to, they'll like use it to
fertilize their eggs, but if they don't want to, they'll
just digest it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Can you imagine if we had that, if like people
had little sperm spears and they're just like running down
the street and you just get like stuck with one. Oh,
like you're like, oh damn, well, I went out for
a jogging got pregnant.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Like at least you get dinner though, you know, or
you're like this one was delicious.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
That's true, I guess yeah, instead of you know, you
could potentially just eat it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I did read about the penis battles though. I thought
that was really funny with their little like penis sword
fights but like little nowdu brank version. And also while
speaking of their penises, they're hooked right, so sometimes the
penis gets stuck in the other one, so they just
break it off.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I don't know, I have not that I'm not saying no,
but in.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Mind might be only certain species.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It's like this little like it's like a little light
bulb looking thing. It's weird.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Oh. Some have like little hooks and so once it
get in they hook the other one. So also I
think maybe I can't get away, but then it stays
in there, so then they just like break it off
and then they just leave it and the other.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I don't know what's going to happen with my Google
ads and whatever else, but I did just google Nudi
Brink penis. Oh yeah, I got lots of images. Oh,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I watched a video of new to Brink mating and
it was really it was well, it was very slow.
It took a while, but like once they got there.
It was weirdly kind of fascinated to watch, and they
both got each other. Yeah, but sometimes too, they'll their
store since they have a penis and a vagina, they'll
store their penis in their own vagina, like they'll sort
of like pop it in there, which don't judge, but
(28:32):
it just seems like, you know, I mean if the fits.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Like say, if you had both, I mean, wouldn't you
kind of be like you.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Could some po exploration. But they can't impregnate themselves, like
you can't, and it can't. It's not like one of
those creatures where it can.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Like no, I don't think so. I don't think that
they can. They can reproduce asexually so that they I
don't think that they can just like make a bunch themselves.
But they can store sperm for seven times that they
lay eggs, and they can lay like one hundred thousand
eggs each time, so like one mating could result in
(29:11):
like almost a million babies.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
How often do they make because it seems like if
that's the case, you don't want them doing it like
every day as pretty as new to brains are, we
don't need, you know, we don't want to go crazy.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Sounds like a terrible family reunion, a lot of child support.
Just looking around, like I don't know any of their names.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
They made more than we thought they were going to.
We thought it would be kind of rare, but it
kind of just happens all the time. It seems like
they're just yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Little bastards.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Huh. Then they eat each other and then I'm like,
why are you doing this? You don't need to do this,
and they're like I.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Must, well I have more reason to try and figure
out the behavior. You're like, this makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Is there one that like is there one that tends
to eat? Like is there like is it the younger
one always eats the older one? Or like what's the
like who ends up being the loser in that situation?
Speaker 3 (30:03):
So just quickly, that's what we're trying to figure out.
Because they can't see, so how can they tell who's
bigger or like who's older? So we we definitely I
saw that there was like one individual that would like
try and eat like five individuals, and so like it
might just be like, oh, like I'm going to be
(30:24):
predatory today and I'm going to eat a bunch of
my buddies but we don't really know actually like.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Actually might even be brothers and sisters, like hey, I'm
just gonna ye assume my ken geez.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
And so yeah, we don't know because like how do
they if they are bigger ones eating smaller ones? How
could they tell if they were smaller because they can't see? Right?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Oh wait?
Speaker 1 (30:49):
One more thing, one more fact that I'll leave us
with that I found fascinating is never French kiss a
newdie brink because their tongue is covered in teeth and
it will mess you up. That was my biggest takeaway,
other than the fact that their butt is surrounded by
their gills, which sounds like a rough day if you
have a new to brn fart, but like they're they're yeah,
that their tongues are covered in teeth, which is also
(31:09):
as beautiful as they are, they're just like a little
terrifying in that respect. And I don't know if that's
every species, but at least some of them.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I say so, it's like it's like ninety nine percent
of them have teeth. I think there's like I think
a few species that don't have teeth, but they have
like they have ten thousand teeth at any one point
in time. And they look like which is like sharks
have like three hundred and they can have as much
as like almost like a million teeth in their life.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Good lord.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Oh yeah, so they're gorgeous but terrifying up clothes.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, and they look like shark teeth.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Why no one has made this horror movie?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I know.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, now you get the fun job of choosing
a winner, whatever that means to you.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I think it has to be Ryan, just because I
feel like you did such you did such a deep dive,
and you know, you really got into the neurobiology, and
that's what I'm really interested in.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I'm sorry, Michael, It's okay, I shall Sasha away yet again.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
I did.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I thought that the connection with the ADHD was fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
That was very cool.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
But if I if I had an award, I would
give it to both of you.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh, thank you. And our topic for next week? Yeah,
where are we going next week?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Okay? I think because I'm wearing the Kelp, the Kelp
clothing today, I think you should do you should do Kelp.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
I think great. I love Kelp.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah. One of my favorite fun facts about kelp is
that one of them they have like a float, and
in the float is carbon monoxide, which can like kill things.
And there were there was a scientist that determined experimentally
that there's enough to kill a chicken.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Oh whoa, he'll help.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, in one kelp you could kill a chicken. He
also worked with I think Gerbils hamsters, so that could
be that can be your jumping off point.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
That poor chicken murdering chickens and cow I hope he
ate it all right, Well, thank you so much, LEXI. Yeah,
mind people where they can follow you, and and how
do they vote all the things? And yes, where they
can and all the shameless plugs go, yes, shameless.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Plugs starting now. Okay, I am really mostly just on
Instagram at sea Slug Scientist and then yeah, it's the
en cerc N s e R see Science Exposed contest.
And the photo is called Coral Connoisseur because the slugs
(33:40):
that I work with mostly eat coral, and so there's
a photo of the slug eating coral.
Watching a new to brink swim is kind of like
watching a drag queen sneeze in space, Like it's just
sort of aimless, colorful, flopping. Oh, welcome, welcome back back
(00:20):
yet again, back yet again?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Do white noise? How did this happen? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I think I hit record and I just slipped and
hit the record button. It's crazy how that happens. I
am so excited today we're talking about nudie brinks, which
I think I said that right. We have our fabulous guest,
Lexi Reinhardt. Did I say that correctly?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yes? You did?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Okay, great because you would know, as you are a
sea slug expert.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yes, I like to think I am. I'm a grad
student studying sea slug brains and behavior specifically.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So fun.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, So this afternoon, I'm actually going to go take
photos of brains.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Sway, are you going to take a photo of the
brain still in this lug? Or has the brain been
taken out of this lug?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So the brain's been taken out, and they're they're tiny,
but they're like actually really big for you know how
few cells they have in it. And so we can
like take photos of different chemicals in the brain like
serotonin or like dopamine and things like that to figure
(01:26):
out like what each cell in the brain does, and
so we can then like put that onto like what
happens in humans and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I saw something in my kind of research around seahorses
as well.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Oh, I don't know, like about their brains.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Maybe I just got this completely wrong, but there was
something in there about working with like a not for
profit that focuses on sea horses.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yes, so that was like, wow, I think that was
like what six years.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Ago now, But my research is good.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
It's like.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You're like, I've moved on, I've moved seahorses.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Bah. Yeah, there's a Project Seahorses, this like organization that
works mainly with trying to like protect different seahorse species,
but mainly focusing on fishing. So they're trying to like
stop mainly dredging that just destroys their environments. And so
(02:25):
I volunteered with them for I think like two years
in undergrads. So it's been a while since I did that,
but they're still they're still going. They do great work.
I really like working with them. Their stuff is really cool.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, outside of work, you're a big fan of photography
and pottery.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yes, so I do quite a bit of underwater photography,
focusing on small little guys. I just really like taking
like photos of things that people are like, how did
you see that? But I also do some pottery with
like a local like arts house here, and so I
helped run courses sometimes. But yeah, I just one of
(03:04):
my photos just got accepted into like one of our
science funding things in Canada.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, you were on the cover of Canadian Journal for zoology. Yes,
oh my god, congratulations, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Thank you. Yeah. And so there's also a photo contest
for the funding an agency as well for another photo
that I took that I'm a finalist in, and so
there's voting open for that as well. But yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Have to share word to vote, so people, so people
go vote for you.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, shameless shameless plug.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, shameless away all the shameless plugs. I mean, go
for it. And I was going to say you also
the recent accolade is you received the Cassie Lindsay Award
for Best Student Presentation. Did I get that?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yes? Yes, So I just did a presentation at a
conference what like three weeks ago, and I won Best Presentation,
which was surprising but an amazing opportunity, and so I
think mine was really engaging. I had a lot of
jokes in it, and I think that contributed largely to
(04:09):
my win because they were like, wow, what jokes?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
What was the top joke? Like, what was the one
that like took the house down?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I was looking at the speed of the slugs, and
normally people would put it in like, I don't know,
like millimeters a minute because they moved so slowly, and
I put it in kilometers per hour and they thought
that was really funny because it was like zero point
zero zero zero zero one kilometers per hour and they
(04:36):
were all like, they all thought that was very funny.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
And so also, I do enjoy on your Insta, which
is if I follow C slug Scientist at C sucks
lineist that you prank your students sometimes.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, is this true? But like, and I got some
comments from some of them and they were like, I'll
never trust my TA again. Yeah, that was really funny.
We essentially just found like a mushroom washed up on
the shore, and the instructor and I were like, hey, uh,
(05:12):
this kind of looks like a sea sponge. What if
we told all the students that it was like a
mystery animal and that they had to figure out what
it was, and they spent like a week trying to
figure out what it was like, looking through pulling books
from the library. They started feeding it at one point
and they were like, hey, I think I can see
(05:32):
it eating and I was like, oh yeah, and then
they were like, oh, we need to give it like
an air source so it doesn't like suffocate, and I
was like yeah, and then at one point I was like,
I just felt bad, so I had to be like,
it's it's a mushroom, like it's not a sea animal.
And they were so bad, but it was fun.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Are you like, which one of you said you saw
it eating? You're out?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No? Yeah, im media fail, immediate fail. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
None of them, None of them guessed that it was
a mushroom. All of them were like, for sure, this
is a living thing.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, they were. They were convinced that it was it
was a animal, and I felt bad that they trusted
me so much, and I just, like, you know, broke
all their trust.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Today we're not talking about mushrooms. We're talking about Nudi brinks,
which that is how you say it, right. I keep
wanting to say nudy branches, which again that's probably a
very different thing. It's a branch full of naked people.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Nudi brink I said, Did I say Nudi branch earlier?
I probably did.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I think I think people say it both ways personally,
like I don't. I don't see any point in like
being that picky about it, Like I'm like, say it
however you want to say it.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
It sluggy nudes, which which you get to choose which
one of us goes first? Okay, so Ryan or me?
Now that you've gotten to know us, Oh so well?
Oh yeah, best friends already.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I think Ryan should go first because they're dressed nicer.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
There you go, going fair.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
For people just listening, I am in pajamas, a hoodie
and a baseball hat because I just rolled out of bed.
And Ryan clearly has been up, looks fresh, very handsome,
and isn't rocking a very nice polo.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Why can I say?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But honestly, for those listening, the one who's winning the
fashion real quick, the fashion prey today is Lexi oh
one fantastic earrings and a kick ass help outfit that
is so cute. So, just for the record, if this
was a fashion show. You've already won, LEXI went, thank you,
but Ryan your close second, and I am many kilometers behind.
(07:43):
All right, Ryan, are you ready? Yes, Okay, your time
starts now.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
All right, Newdy breaks. So, by the way, it actually
stands for naked gills, and they're part of gastrip is
the broader family and essentially a group of can I say, animals?
Is that fair that essentially abandoned their shells at a
given point and time, And there are gastropods that have
(08:13):
like a semi hards shell and I'm going to talk
a little bit about that. I just kind of looked
up what I thought some of the cool things were
about them. But like I say, I also happen to
know that you talk a lot about your neurodivergence ADHD,
and I discovered in this whole thing there's a very
close relationship between what we know about ADHD today and gastropods,
(08:36):
which is really pretty cool, and that's probably my main
focal point. The main reason that they're studied in a
lot of neurosciences is a little bit about what we've
touched about before is that their neurons are really large
and can be observed rather easily under a microscope, but
also even sometimes just visually, and they're easily distinguished by
their color, and it's easy or not easy, but easier
(08:58):
to attach electrodes to them to understand what they're doing.
They also have I just think some very interesting outside
of their the neurosciences, some other kind of entertaining qualities.
Their bright colors usually are indicative of the fact that
they're poisonous or dangerous or whatever else. But I don't know,
maybe you can correct me on this, but it seems
like none of them are innately poisonous. They actually consume
(09:20):
the poisons from either jellyfish or from anemones, and they're like,
they're kind of like the Marie Quondo of it. They're like,
does this tox and bring me joy? And if it does,
they just keep it and then they use it to
protect themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, So some of them eat sea sponges, and so
they steal the like protective chemicals that are like bad
for other animals from the sea sponges to make themselves poisonous.
But then some of them eat things like aneemies or jellyfish,
and then they steal the stinging things from those animals
(09:59):
and make make themselves, you know, stinging themselves. And so
it's actually really complicated because the stinging cells are essentially
this little harpoon with a spring underneath it, Like they're
super tiny, but they like there's like this whole process
that they have to do to like not trigger it
(10:19):
from releasing so that they can save it for themselves,
like to use.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Maybe that's why they're so slow. They're just very very careful.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's listen, if I had poison in my body, i'd
move pretty slowly.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
So Luckily, most of the time the ones that they're
eating aren't harmful to humans. So I think there's only
like one or like a few that if you touch them,
will actually hurt you, like a jellyfish wood. But I've
definitely had some where because if you pick them up
and touch them too much, they just like get rid
of their their gills. They're just like okay, uh, like.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
They're done with this just yeah, Like they.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Just get rid of them, and then their back's like
totally empty, like they're just like this smooth back and
then they attack and then they try and sting your
hand and I'm like, but I don't feel anything, so
it's just like you just lost all your girls and
I can't breathe.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Like, wait, why did they get rid of their gills?
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Just like they think if they get if they like
get rid of them, the predators will try and eat
those instead instead of them, because they can grow them
back later.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Did they just breathe less or do they like die?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I think a little bit of both. I think they
bring I possible and then sometimes they die.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Because it feels like a crazy strategy. That would be
like somebody trying to mug me and I take out
my lungs and throw them and I'm just.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Like, get those here half my arm.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
That's exactly what happens though, and so they're just trying to, like, yeah, trying.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
To an interesting strategy.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Say. The other kind of cool quality about them is
that they're hermaphrodites, and I did like a little bit
of light research into it. And basically what happens is
to for the booty call, they line up head to
tail and apparent's usually I mutely a mutual experience where
they both secrete sperm and hopes that maybe they impregnate
(12:06):
each other. But there are also ones that, depending on
the environment they're in and if the species where being
the mom is more costly, some of them at times
will do a sperm dump and run. So they get
close and it's not a mutual situation. They're just like
here's all of it, and then they run away.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Yeah, pretty much, there's like there's so many different like ways.
Like what I've seen that really makes me laugh is
when I put them, if I'm holding them separately and
then put them together, they just like immediately start mating
like they're like, oh, I've been away like separated from
others too long, like you know. And so what happens
(12:43):
is if you have three of them, though, the two
will like circle each other and mate, and then the
third one will just kind of like be there with
its like sperm and just be like, hey can I
can I like maybe.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Just a little beauty really, And so it's it's pretty funny.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
But like some someilar like whole like mating dances are
like over three hours. Wow, Like it's crazy. Yeah, they
just like slowly circle each other and then like get
closer and closer and then you know, and it's just
it's it's really silly watching it sometimes. But sometimes it's
only like three seconds, which is funny.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Sounds like dating funny. But how much time do I have, Michael,
So I know, like, do I have to three minutes?
So Eric Candle is the one who won the Nobel
Peace Prize for his study of neurons in ellipsia. I
think that's right, which is also a gastropod and is
(13:46):
in the same family. Is new to Brinks but a
little bit different, but same sort of qualities, like very
visible neurons. And what's kind of cool about this is
that So what he discovered, I'll go through it really quick.
That in short term memory. And if we think about
short term memory, it's like we remember a phone number
long enough to dial it and then it's poof, it's gone.
(14:08):
We don't remember it again. And essentially that happens as
result of turning up chemical volume within the neurons that
we have, so we're not actually creating new pathways. Long
term memory or our durable memory can last hours to years.
It requires growth of new synaptic connections between neurons and
(14:29):
a new gene expression and protein synthesis to build more
roads between neurons, which then creates lasting memories. And he
discovered that repetitive behaviors actually reinforce, so repetition, emotion and
practice repetition build stronger neural connections. Right, So this guy
(14:51):
was working on this stuff from the sixties to the nineties,
in which you know, in a two thousand is when
he won the Nobel Peace Prize. But essentially his work
ended up being the compass for what a lot of
other neuroscientists and behavioral scientists have used to understand human
behavior and how we work in the realm of ADHD. Right,
(15:13):
are an individual who has ADHD, and you can like
just you come in and be like no, but working
memory is basically like our mental whiteboard, and for someone
with ADHD, it's either too small, smudged, or occasionally on fire,
and it just means that it's hard to hold multiple
thoughts at once. So what that means is like we
(15:37):
I just talked about the fact that a Kendle, I
think his name, I say his name wrong, or already
my short term memory misfiring as we speak. Basically, you know,
said that like being able to create and hold long
term thoughts means having repetition and having strong association. If
you're essentially your whiteboard isn't capable of keeping that repetition
(15:58):
in place, then it's much harder to establish long term memories.
So with you know, unsustained attention, not being able to
filter out various directions or prioritizing what's worth remembering, it
kind of like breaks down. So from there we have
three other key scientists that basically use this compass to
(16:20):
establish other deeper insights. And I'll quickly share the three
and I'll call it quits. So we had Barkley in
basically the nineties who was able to study and understand
that ADHD is related to challenges with executive function and
working memory. That's that whiteboard piece. Then in the early
(16:41):
two thousands we have Volcal who was able to study
that less dopamine in the reward circuits so ADHD brings
actually crave dopamine that and then Brown in the like
twenty tens to to like currently is how it's affected
by emotions and motivational systems and how like boring things are.
(17:04):
Just to know, like there's got to be emotion and
engagement and interest to be effective in that high pressure
situations are actually better because they helped bring that focus.
They helped bring that emotion that then help establish deeper memories.
So I think it's pretty incredible that nudi brinks or
(17:25):
gastropods are in reality the whole reason that we know
as much as we do now about actually I think
not just ADHD, but a lot of other neurodivergence, which
is really pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, it's like, that's great. My supervisor's supervisor he was
working with sea slugs and they were really trying to
figure out what each neuron did, what was its actual function,
when was it actually working as a cell. And he
opened up the brain of a sea slug and saw
(17:59):
that you could see them with your naked eye, which
was like one of the first like you know, animals
with neurons where you could just like literally take the
probe and stick it on the neuron without using a microscope.
And so you know that along with like their work
just you know, opened up so many doors because we
(18:20):
could learn things about neurons that we just weren't really
able to do before because they were just so big
and so easy to pinpoint. But also they have so few,
so few neurons, so like they have ten thousand, while
I think we have like I think almost like one
hundred million or something like. It's crazy. But even in
(18:43):
the even in the sea slugs, like, we're taking these
photos and so we label chemicals like dopamine with a uh,
fluorescent dye essentially, so it like when we take photos,
it lights up, so we can tell where those like
chemicals are in the neurons, and the neurons where they
(19:09):
are change between individuals, so like it's so weird, like
they have nine little brains essentially entering the slugs, the
same cell will be in different ones just randomly between
individuals with like no explanation. And so it's just like
(19:30):
even even in slugs who have you know, ten thousand neurons,
they're even like even their brains are different between each other,
like you know, and so it's amazing that we can
apply that to human brains that are so much more
complex and so much just so much bigger. You know,
(19:51):
the brains are like like I can't even like they're
like that big when we pull them out.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Is that part of what drew you to the space
or drew you into marine biology and then specifically native brinks.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, it's like this like crazy intersection between like brains.
But then how do brains cause behavior, Like we know
a little bit about how cells in the brain work,
and but we don't really know much about how that
then causes someone to do something, or like why does
(20:24):
my brain make me react or think differently than someone else?
Like we barely know anything about that, and so that's
kind of where my interest started.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Michael, are you ready? Oh sure, ready, set.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Go high LEXI Uh so fine. It's so nice to
meet you, welcome to my presentation. I'm not going to
win that award that you did, so it's this. This
was actually a trickier one for me in a way.
As you've seen, Ryan usually does very deep research.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I just rabbit hole is really what happens. I'm like,
oh that's interesting, I'll go that way, and.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I love a good rabbit hole moment. But I a
lot of times it's like, what does this make me
think of?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
What memory?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Unfortunately I have no memories with new to brinks. So
I actually, unfortunately for me, attempted to do research. But
one thing just to start out for people listening, which
I don't think we said, but nudio brinks are I
guarantee you have seen them. They are gorgeous. They are
basically the drag queens of the sea. In my opinion,
like if Lady Gaga was a marine creature, it is
(21:42):
a new to break and there are what over three
thousand different species right there. There are many, yeah, there's
too many, too many, and they're all well, at least
the ones I've seen are gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Like I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
There's a fun google if you put in just like
Nudi Brinks and met Gala are like new to brings
fashion and people will put a new to Brink next
to like a celebrity and an amazing but like really
funky gown and I love to play the game of
who wore it better, and in my brain always the
new to Brink wins. Well yeah, oh g oh, obviously
(22:17):
there's so the colors and the textures. It's they're just
absolutely gorgeous. And watching them also try and swim, I
think is one of the cutest things ever because they
just sort of like flop around, so you have this
like beautiful thing that is not graceful at all, Like
how I imagine and somebody else said something similar, It's like
(22:39):
watching a New to Brink swim is kind of like
watching a drag queen sneeze in space, Like it's just
sort of aimless, colorful flopping. But it is really cute
and adorable watching this incredibly exquisite thing move very inefficiently.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's a good laugh.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
One thing though, that I think is sad considering how
absolutely stunning they are. And I know it's for different reasons,
like sometimes it's to be like I'm poisonous, don't eat
me because I'm so colorful and fun, or some it's
just camouflage where they're just like blending into whatever, and
and they do, like some of them like brilliantly blend
into their environment. Yeah, but they're color blind, aren't they they?
(23:17):
Or they really can't see, right, aren't they essentially blind?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
They're so blind there each of each of their eyes,
at least in the one that I work with, is
like five cells, and it's under their skin and on
top of their brain.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Why do they even have eyes?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
So there's some evidence that shows that some of them
will if you put like if you have a white
screen with a black bar, they'll move towards it. They
don't know why they do that or what what that
could be for. But the reason why they probably have
like such small eyes is because they really just need
to know like light versus dark. So okay, they want
(24:00):
to go up or go down because it underwater, it's
kind of it's kind of hard to tell normally, and
so if they want to like get out of a crevice,
they need to know where is it lighter to get
out or.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Like, oh, that there's a lot of light there, that's
a big open bear space. Maybe I shouldn't go there,
as I did ditch mysell my shell when I was
but a wee babe noodle brink.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, or once they sperm domp, they need to know
where to run. They're like aim for the dark.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Because sometimes they also after they may try and eat
each other, so they need to know how to get
away from each other.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I did see that that they're very carnivorous. Yeah, I
think they just will eat anything, is what I've learned.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
So it depends. So some of them will only eat
one thing, some of them will eat anything, and only
a few of them will eat each other. But the
one that I work with does eat each other. But
so because they can't see, they're mostly just using smell
to find their food. And so that's kind of like
what my my work focuses on is like how do
(25:03):
they use smell to find their food? And are they
also using like flow movement to guide that as well?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Oh interesting, I was wondering, like how because it's well,
obviously three thousand species, so they probably hunt differently and
obviously some eat very different things. But I was kind
of wondering how they do track prey because they read
how they track each other. When they want a mate,
like a lot of them find their like trail. I
(25:31):
guess like they can sense their like sludgy trail and
they just kind of follow it until they catch up
to one and then they like bump into its butt
and they're just like, oh, there it is, and then
they have to find it, and then they have to
find its right side right because they like it's the
two right sides that they made on where they send
their little penis bar about. And then it's more of
like a penis high five than it is like sex.
(25:53):
They're just like hey, bro.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And sometimes there's like there's like fencing that happens.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I read about penis fencing.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
To see which one which one because they they want
to inseminate the other one, but they don't want to
be inseminated. So if they can inseminate the other one
and then run away quickly, that's the best.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah they want to do.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
So again Ryan or early twenties behavior. But yeah, they're
like sword fighting, but they're a little now to bring penises,
which I guess is like infamous in visin Underwater World.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
There's also it gets worse, so I don't think this
happens in nudobranks, but in gasterpods, so like the bigger group.
There's also love darts, which are these like little like
hard calcareous darts filled with sperm that they will like
stab each other with and then it just not even
(26:46):
like in anywhere, just like in the body wall. And
then if they want to, they'll like use it to
fertilize their eggs, but if they don't want to, they'll
just digest it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Can you imagine if we had that, if like people
had little sperm spears and they're just like running down
the street and you just get like stuck with one. Oh,
like you're like, oh damn, well, I went out for
a jogging got pregnant.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Like at least you get dinner though, you know, or
you're like this one was delicious.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
That's true, I guess yeah, instead of you know, you
could potentially just eat it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I did read about the penis battles though. I thought
that was really funny with their little like penis sword
fights but like little nowdu brank version. And also while
speaking of their penises, they're hooked right, so sometimes the
penis gets stuck in the other one, so they just
break it off.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I don't know, I have not that I'm not saying no,
but in.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Mind might be only certain species.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It's like this little like it's like a little light
bulb looking thing. It's weird.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Oh. Some have like little hooks and so once it
get in they hook the other one. So also I
think maybe I can't get away, but then it stays
in there, so then they just like break it off
and then they just leave it and the other.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I don't know what's going to happen with my Google
ads and whatever else, but I did just google Nudi
Brink penis. Oh yeah, I got lots of images. Oh,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I watched a video of new to Brink mating and
it was really it was well, it was very slow.
It took a while, but like once they got there.
It was weirdly kind of fascinated to watch, and they
both got each other. Yeah, but sometimes too, they'll their
store since they have a penis and a vagina, they'll
store their penis in their own vagina, like they'll sort
of like pop it in there, which don't judge, but
(28:32):
it just seems like, you know, I mean if the fits.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Like say, if you had both, I mean, wouldn't you
kind of be like you.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Could some po exploration. But they can't impregnate themselves, like
you can't, and it can't. It's not like one of
those creatures where it can.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Like no, I don't think so. I don't think that
they can. They can reproduce asexually so that they I
don't think that they can just like make a bunch themselves.
But they can store sperm for seven times that they
lay eggs, and they can lay like one hundred thousand
eggs each time, so like one mating could result in
(29:11):
like almost a million babies.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
How often do they make because it seems like if
that's the case, you don't want them doing it like
every day as pretty as new to brains are, we
don't need, you know, we don't want to go crazy.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Sounds like a terrible family reunion, a lot of child support.
Just looking around, like I don't know any of their names.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
They made more than we thought they were going to.
We thought it would be kind of rare, but it
kind of just happens all the time. It seems like
they're just yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Little bastards.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Huh. Then they eat each other and then I'm like,
why are you doing this? You don't need to do this,
and they're like I.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Must, well I have more reason to try and figure
out the behavior. You're like, this makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Is there one that like is there one that tends
to eat? Like is there like is it the younger
one always eats the older one? Or like what's the
like who ends up being the loser in that situation?
Speaker 3 (30:03):
So just quickly, that's what we're trying to figure out.
Because they can't see, so how can they tell who's
bigger or like who's older? So we we definitely I
saw that there was like one individual that would like
try and eat like five individuals, and so like it
might just be like, oh, like I'm going to be
(30:24):
predatory today and I'm going to eat a bunch of
my buddies but we don't really know actually like.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Actually might even be brothers and sisters, like hey, I'm
just gonna ye assume my ken geez.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
And so yeah, we don't know because like how do
they if they are bigger ones eating smaller ones? How
could they tell if they were smaller because they can't see? Right?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Oh wait?
Speaker 1 (30:49):
One more thing, one more fact that I'll leave us
with that I found fascinating is never French kiss a
newdie brink because their tongue is covered in teeth and
it will mess you up. That was my biggest takeaway,
other than the fact that their butt is surrounded by
their gills, which sounds like a rough day if you
have a new to brn fart, but like they're they're yeah,
that their tongues are covered in teeth, which is also
(31:09):
as beautiful as they are, they're just like a little
terrifying in that respect. And I don't know if that's
every species, but at least some of them.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I say so, it's like it's like ninety nine percent
of them have teeth. I think there's like I think
a few species that don't have teeth, but they have
like they have ten thousand teeth at any one point
in time. And they look like which is like sharks
have like three hundred and they can have as much
as like almost like a million teeth in their life.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Good lord.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Oh yeah, so they're gorgeous but terrifying up clothes.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, and they look like shark teeth.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Why no one has made this horror movie?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I know.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, now you get the fun job of choosing
a winner, whatever that means to you.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I think it has to be Ryan, just because I
feel like you did such you did such a deep dive,
and you know, you really got into the neurobiology, and
that's what I'm really interested in.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
I'm sorry, Michael, It's okay, I shall Sasha away yet again.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
I did.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
I'm with you on that.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I thought that the connection with the ADHD was fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
That was very cool.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
But if I if I had an award, I would
give it to both of you.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh, thank you. And our topic for next week? Yeah,
where are we going next week?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Okay? I think because I'm wearing the Kelp, the Kelp
clothing today, I think you should do you should do Kelp.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
I think great. I love Kelp.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah. One of my favorite fun facts about kelp is
that one of them they have like a float, and
in the float is carbon monoxide, which can like kill things.
And there were there was a scientist that determined experimentally
that there's enough to kill a chicken.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Oh whoa, he'll help.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, in one kelp you could kill a chicken. He
also worked with I think Gerbils hamsters, so that could
be that can be your jumping off point.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
That poor chicken murdering chickens and cow I hope he
ate it all right, Well, thank you so much, LEXI. Yeah,
mind people where they can follow you, and and how
do they vote all the things? And yes, where they
can and all the shameless plugs go, yes, shameless.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Plugs starting now. Okay, I am really mostly just on
Instagram at sea Slug Scientist and then yeah, it's the
en cerc N s e R see Science Exposed contest.
And the photo is called Coral Connoisseur because the slugs
(33:40):
that I work with mostly eat coral, and so there's
a photo of the slug eating coral.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.