Laura: Hello and welcome to another episode of Lexx Education, the comedy podcast hosted by me, Laura Lexx, a comedian who's trying to learn science from her nerdy younger brother, Ron.
Ron: Hello, I'm Ron.
Laura: Hi, Ron.
Laura: How are you?
Ron: Very good, thank you.
Ron: How are you doing this most spooky of seasons?
Laura: It's so spooky.
Ron: There's a spider.
Laura: It's a special episode today at Ron's insistence ee are doing a Halloween special episode. You'll hear in the episode. I wasn't aware we were doing it until it began, and I think you'll.
Ron: All agree in the outro that we smashed it.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: Now, it's been a lovely week on The Socials.
Laura: Thank you very much to everybody who's been getting in touch.
Laura: We had a new review on the apple pocas.
Laura: Thank you very much, Dark Soulful, for your review there.
Laura: They were having a wonderful binge and listened to half the episodes in two days.
Laura: But thank you for taking a moment out of your bingeing to review us there.
Laura: Excuse me, I burped in your thank you.
Laura: And it was not a reflection of how thankful I am, but we are ever grateful, so thank you.
Laura: Ron, one of my favourite things on The Socials happened this week.
Laura: Yes, I know.
Laura: You don't deal with the Instagram.
Ron: No, it makes no sense to me.
Laura: Someone called Abby commented on instagram.
Laura: You remember when we went to Crealy?
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Back in the summer and we took a picture of us reunited and I put it on the Instagram.
Laura: And then Abby commented today, said, this is the man I have started to fall a bit in love with.
Laura: Well, you're getting a fandom.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Well deserved, I think.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: How exciting is that, Ron?
Ron: Super fun.
Ron: It's nice being a bloke on the Internet.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: You are one of the least problematic men on the internet today.
Laura: So, hey, everyone, fall in love with Ron.
Laura: He's great.
Laura: And thank you, Abby, for chatting away with us.
Laura: We love it.
Laura: We also love Clive the Tortoise.
Laura: Thank you for joining us in there.
Laura: We've retweeted that at some point if you want to see scientists Laura and Ron hanging out with Clive the Tortoise and hey, bumps.
Laura: And the Labrad now has their own Twitter account.
Laura: We don't run it.
Laura: That's on you guys.
Ron: That's on fun.
Laura: You guys are doing that.
Laura: But we're really enjoying the creation of Labrad Bingo.
Laura: So if you want to play along, basically on a Sunday, you make your own bingo card of Lexx Education tropes and then listen to the episode and see if you can get yourself a full house.
Laura: So if you want to play with that, look out for Bunce and the lab rat on Twitter and the other lab rats playing along there.
Laura: It's quite depressing, some of the things that people are listening out for.
Laura: But, hey, that's the podcast we make.
Ron: Yeah, they take it pretty seriously.
Ron: You got to submit it by Sunday night for it to count for the competition.
Laura: I like that Sunday night homework vibes.
Laura: So, yeah, enjoy this spooky episode.
Ron: Oh, no, there's a skeleton.
Laura: Hey, skeletons don't have willys badges.
Ron: Skeletons, do they?
Ron: This is a tangent.
Ron: We don't need to go.
Laura: You're in the family.
Laura: What?
Laura: Did you get that picture of that badger skeleton I sent the other day.
Ron: On Instagram?
Laura: Where the badger?
Laura: We were both quite sweaty.
Laura: The badger had died by the side of the cycle path and then for some reason, nothing's eaten it or gone near it.
Laura: And so the body's just decayed away and the skeletons just, like, sitting on top of the fur of it.
Ron: Where is boat?
Ron: Police?
Laura: That's the name of our family.
Laura: What's up?
Laura: He's not just looking for the Coast Guard.
Ron: I'm scrolling.
Ron: Let's pull this up in the outro.
Ron: Oh, I did see that.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: It was horrible.
Laura: I found that pigeon where everything had been eaten, except the wings are horrible.
Laura: And then look at this cowboy.
Laura: That's such a good walk.
Ron: That day you sent them the first time.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Enjoy the Halloween episode.
Ron: Oh, no, there's a bear.
Laura: Alright, lesson 20.
Laura: Laura is a scientist.
Laura: Boo.
Ron: It's the big 20.
Laura: It's the big chemistoire, the chemistry.
Ron: No, it's not today.
Ron: Laura.
Laura: What?
Ron: It's the Halloween education special.
Laura: Is it now?
Laura: How much you like Halloween podcasts?
Laura: That is a weird niche thing for a person to have as one of their special interests as Halloween episodes.
Laura: Do you also like Christmas episodes of things?
Ron: No, not so.
Ron: Like, a bit, but not so much.
Ron: But I love Halloween.
Laura: Halloween podcast specials are your favourite.
Ron: And Halloween episodes of TV shows.
Laura: Okay, we never ever celebrated Halloween as kids.
Ron: No.
Ron: And I don't now.
Ron: I enjoy goblins and ghouls and vampires.
Laura: You are goblin?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Halloween month is the best month for podcasts.
Laura: I love Halloween, specifically Complete Guide, which we've mentioned before, but is our collective favourite podcast, the Complete Guide.
Laura: We always do Halloween month.
Ron: There's also another podcast I listen to called the Common Descent podcast, which is all about, like, evolution and stuff.
Ron: And during Halloween month, otherwise known as October, they will do the speculative evolution of cryptids, which is very fun.
Ron: It's my favourite joke from is that.
Laura: One called Descent to the Earth.
Laura: What is it called?
Ron: The common descent podcast.
Laura: The common descent.
Laura: I'll make a note of that.
Laura: I want to listen to that now.
Ron: Yeah, that's super fun.
Ron: And my favourite joke from 30 Rock is from the Halloween episode, the werewolf bar mitzvah.
Ron: Never fails to make me laugh.
Ron: And yeah, I don't particularly I don't like playing dressup, I don't believe in socialised candy giving.
Laura: But Halloween podcasts, well, I've never done one.
Laura: I'm happy to be here, excited.
Laura: What kind of Halloween are we going to be doing?
Laura: Like how vampires drink blood and stuff.
Laura: When I was little, I thought they had hollow teeth so the blood would go up through the fangs.
Ron: No, we're not doing vampires this year.
Ron: This year we are doing reanimation.
Laura: We're doing this next year, aren't we?
Ron: Yeah, we're having a great time and it's going really well.
Ron: Yeah, we are doing reanimation and zombies.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: I have no idea how this is going to work.
Laura: I've got my pencil out.
Ron: So the first thing that we're gonna learn about today is a student should.
Laura: Know students should be able to take the head of a rat and the body of a tortoise and make a rattles a rattles twitch in several places.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: A rat tortoise a rattles.
Ron: That sounds horrific.
Ron: No, we're going to first learn imagine.
Laura: That if you ever just tortoise a shell and then just a rat's arms and legs came out.
Laura: Sorry.
Laura: Go on.
Ron: I've been told off on Twitter for calling you a swamp brain this week.
Ron: Although, speaking of swamp brains, guess which state in America listens to our podcast the most?
Laura: Oh, is it Indiana?
Ron: No, it's florida.
Laura: Oh, hi, florida.
Laura: Where there's all the swamps floridians.
Laura: Hello, Florida.
Laura: We love you.
Ron: So we're going to first be learning about Frankenstein.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Frankenstein.
Laura: I've read that.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: What do you think of it?
Ron: What can you tell me about Frankenstein?
Laura: The book was garbage, as is all books like that.
Laura: I have a big problem.
Laura: I think the problem for me was, like, Frankenstein.
Laura: And to be fair, Frankenstein was better than Dracula.
Laura: Dracula was the biggest pile of rattlestung I've ever read in my life, because it was like someone had had the best idea ever for a story and then written all the worst parts of it and left out all the good bits.
Laura: Like someone had never heard of a story before.
Ron: Is it a large part of Dracula about someone doing paperwork in a castle?
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: And just diaries of, like, women shouldn't be by the sea.
Laura: It's bad for their nails.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: It was so boring and bad.
Laura: And I hated it.
Laura: I hated the whole thing.
Laura: But obviously it's led to this amazing and the whole idea of the story is wonderful, but they've just written all the worst bits.
Laura: Anyway.
Laura: So, Frankenstein, what do I remember?
Laura: He sewed up all the veins together and it electrocuted him into being alive, I think.
Laura: And then the Frankenstein got real sad about what am I?
Ron: Yeah, basically a lot like Mackie.
Ron: He was lots of babies sewn into shape.
Laura: Hey, Mackie learned a new thing this morning.
Ron: Yeah?
Laura: We've been playing lazy fetch, which is where she can't really be asked, but she wants to hang out with me.
Laura: So she sits up on one of her princess cushions, and then she noses the ball to me, and then I throw it back to her on the cushion, and then she just nudges it back with her nose again.
Ron: Jesus Christ.
Ron: You guys are going to die so young.
Laura: Why?
Laura: We go for a walk every day.
Laura: We are exercising, but it was just real cute.
Laura: She just wanted to play, but not run around.
Laura: She nudges it with her nose and then watches it roll.
Laura: To me, it's very cute.
Ron: Anyway, back to Frankenstein.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: It's even harder to keep you on topic when we're not actually doing the syllabus.
Laura: Frankenstein.
Laura: He is a monster.
Laura: Lots of monsters own up in a sad man.
Laura: Frankenstein's the saddest monster in town.
Ron: Very nice.
Ron: So there were Mary Shelley, except did.
Laura: Frankenstein wants to actually have a name?
Ron: Adam, wasn't it?
Ron: But presumably he'd have been Adam Frankenstein.
Ron: So it was yeah.
Ron: So Mary Shelley was very, very young when she wrote Frankenstein, but she was pretty smart.
Ron: And the book was actually inspired by a lot of scientific developments that were going on in the world at the time of writing.
Ron: Two, specifically, that were sort of coming out at the time, one of which you'd have assumed had been around a lot longer.
Ron: And the other one does not read.
Ron: No.
Laura: The Wheel.
Laura: No, that's a call back to my other podcast.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: No.
Ron: So the first one.
Ron: Right.
Ron: About two years before Mary Shelley was born.
Ron: Her mother.
Ron: Who was a philosopher.
Ron: Threw herself off a bridge into the Thames.
Ron: Trying to drown herself.
Ron: And then was dragged out of the Thames and resuscitated.
Ron: Which was a really new thing at the time.
Ron: Because it turns out before.
Ron: Like.
Ron: About the 1780s.
Ron: If someone had been in some water and they weren't breathing.
Ron: Everyone just went.
Ron: F***.
Ron: Leave them.
Laura: Yeah, that's a logical assumption.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So it was around this time that they kind of invented I think it was in the 1770s, they kind of invented resuscitation and realised that a lot of the people that had, like, water in their lungs and stuff could be resuscitated.
Laura: That makes a lot more sense now as to how people died all the time in the past, just by simple things that we now will survive.
Ron: Yeah, so much where you just be like, leave them.
Laura: Whole.
Laura: Body's still twitching.
Laura: Definitely dead.
Ron: Nothing we can do here.
Laura: It's just a splinter.
Laura: Shut up, corpse.
Ron: Amputate it all.
Laura: Are you going to make spooky Halloween music for this episode?
Ron: I might just put some sound effects over the existing music.
Ron: Probably just ghost ambulance noises.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So this got a lot of discourse at the time about the line between life and death, because people that would have previously have been considered dead were being brought to life, essentially.
Laura: Spooky.
Laura: Mama.
Ron: Shelley, what are you looking at?
Ron: What are you doing?
Ron: Are you drawing something?
Laura: Drawing?
Ron: What are you drawing?
Laura: It was trying to be a bow, but actually looks like the skull of a bird.
Ron: So there were two physicians, right, that.
Laura: Wanted to inform the public alike in.
Ron: Dignity about how to resuscitate people, because they basically clocked onto, presumably, the thousands of people that were drowning every year and they're just being left to dead.
Laura: Did your drink go down the wrong way?
Laura: Uhoh, on Sunday.
Laura: Coughing you're dead.
Ron: They were called William Horse and Thomas Cogan, so I think it was them they wanted to investigate the best way to resuscitate people.
Ron: Do you want to have a guess as to how they investigated that?
Laura: Got criminals and drowned them halfway and then tried to bring them back close.
Ron: They drowned a shitload of animals and then cut them.
Laura: Oh, God.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So some of the techniques that they came up with at the time, such.
Laura: As holding ducks under the water.
Ron: Mouth to mouth, breathing air into the victim's airways and the abdominal compressions, those are still things that we use today.
Ron: There were some things that they tried that we don't use today.
Laura: Blowing water up the b******* to try and push all the air back out the mouth.
Ron: I s*** you not, tobacco smoke enemas were on the list.
Laura: Yeah, just lighting a cigar in someone's a** and running away.
Ron: And another old favourite of these times, just bloodletting water in the lungs to stab a hole in them to let it out, I guess.
Ron: What's the thinking?
Laura: One of the things I remember I don't know if you remember this.
Laura: Do you remember, like, as a kid going to a mediaeval jousting?
Laura: Fair.
Ron: Not a specific memory of it, but I've been to those things.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: No, not jousting.
Ron: I don't think I've ever seen anyone joust.
Laura: I don't think the jousting was happening the day we were there.
Laura: Nuts.
Laura: But I remember going around stalls at this, like, place and everybody was dressed up as mediaeval people.
Laura: And then there was one place about mediaeval doctrines, like leeches and all sorts, and then learning about trepanning as a child where you had a headache, so they just drilled a hole in your skull to let the pressure out.
Laura: Me too.
Laura: And as a kid, just being like, oh, my God, my whole day is ruined, my whole week is ruined.
Laura: Maybe my life like, I can't go with it.
Laura: You saw a hole in your head?
Laura: Oh, this is just the worst.
Laura: And, like, this is just a woman dressed up as a mediaeval person.
Laura: This child will love this story.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: I think about it all the time.
Ron: Especially because you know that you can't actually feel pain in your brain.
Laura: I think I probably could.
Ron: No, no, no.
Laura: That's weird.
Laura: Just air being in there hurt.
Ron: No, no, no.
Ron: You don't actually have feeling like that in your brain, so they could have gone way too deep with the drill.
Ron: And you just never move.
Ron: You just forget how to tie your shoes or something.
Laura: Oh, God.
Laura: But you feel pain in your skull.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Oh, in the skull and all of the bits around it.
Ron: And just your mental psyche would be shod for days.
Laura: What are you doing after that?
Laura: Your skull's not growing back.
Laura: You put in a cork in it.
Laura: What's happening to fix that, you have.
Ron: To keep your finger.
Laura: You're practically a dolphin at this point.
Ron: Anyway.
Laura: Give me a tobacco enema any day.
Ron: So around this time, obviously, people getting spooked by resuscitation.
Ron: This is around the time where, like, you know, safety coffins and stuff like that were invented because they basically went like, well, we have no idea now who's dead and who's not.
Ron: But doesn't that just, like, fill you with hope?
Ron: Well, not necessarily hope, but at least I was doing the research.
Ron: This and it really made me look at today's world in a new light because people just being scared of s***.
Ron: That's good for them.
Ron: How there was a moral panic about resuscitation, and everyone going, oh, no, people being saved from drowning.
Laura: Oh, the woke brigade wanting to bring drowned people back from the dead.
Laura: Is it?
Ron: Back in my day, we just died.
Laura: I thought you were going down a different route then.
Laura: I thought you were going to be like, oh, all these people that we've thought are dead for so long, they're fine.
Laura: In 300 years, people be like and even though they were only in skeleton form, people just left them under the floor in churches insane.
Laura: They didn't know that if you just electrocuted their clavicles that they had 400 more years left to live.
Ron: That might happen, to be fair.
Ron: Who knows what will cure in the future?
Ron: And then we'll be like, I can't believe people were dying from getting shot in the heart.
Ron: But yes.
Ron: So that's resuscitation, which was one of the things that led to the build up or helped in the forest by Frankenstein.
Ron: You might have heard of this.
Ron: Do you know what the other thing was?
Laura: Maybe like amputation or giving someone a limb that wasn't from them.
Laura: Like, oh, somebody got their arm cut off in a thresher.
Laura: So they managed to attach another limb.
Ron: Not a million miles away.
Ron: But no.
Ron: So in the 1780s, there was an Italian scientist called Luigi Galvani, who is one of the early contributors to the field of bioelectricity okay.
Laura: Making a frog leg jump.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: He was the guy that was making frog's legs move around.
Ron: And he legit did it with lightning.
Ron: Like, he had things on the roof and then was getting lightning and putting it through frog's legs.
Ron: So obviously he didn't make a jumble frog out of frog bits, but he was kind of just doing Frankenstein s*** in his book.
Laura: All right.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Jumble frog sounds like a ball game that I would play.
Ron: In 1791, he released an essay about all of this.
Ron: So that's kind of when it became in the public discourse.
Ron: But then we had a nephew called Giovanni Aldini, two of the most Italian sounding men ever.
Laura: That's very close to a chocolate I used to like from Thornton's called an Alpine, when Meg worked at Meg's, our little sister well, Ron's youngest big sister and my little sister.
Laura: She used to work in Thornton's and she'd bring me back trays of Alpenis when they went out of date and I'd eat them.
Ron: Yeah, I mean, the trays of millionaire shortbread that she brought back, I'm sure pushed back me losing my virginity by, like, four years.
Laura: Just the muffin box Alpine's involved.
Laura: I added them to the deal.
Laura: Johnson sweet, sweet purse and an Alpine can't delores us.
Ron: So Luigi had a nephew called Giovanni.
Ron: So we've just been doing electricity in physics, right?
Laura: Parallel.
Ron: Don't worry, I'm not testing you.
Ron: That was Christmas we were talking in the last episode we did about it, or a couple of episodes ago, and I was telling you about Volts and I said that vaults were invented by Voltaire.
Ron: Yeah, not the case.
Ron: Voltaire was a French writer.
Ron: Vaults were invented by Alessandro Volta.
Laura: You could be clever as Voltaire, but it won't get you nowhere if you want to sell discs.
Ron: Yeah, that's what you're saying.
Ron: Last time.
Laura: Did I?
Laura: Yes, hold on.
Laura: Me.
Laura: I'm friends with Frederick the Great that we were talking about a couple of episodes ago in the quiz.
Ron: Oh, no.
Laura: Stopping me.
Laura: I am dead.
Laura: You have already seen me die.
Ron: Oh, look at me fLexx my dead muscles.
Laura: Why are you torturing me in a storm?
Laura: Oh, it's lightning.
Laura: It's frightening.
Ron: But Alessandro Volta also, or as you might want to call him, Alessandro 200 and 4230.
Ron: Yeah, it's actually 230 bit.
Ron: The bit that we were doing before is about 240.
Ron: He is also the inventor of the first electric battery.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Ron: So by the time Giovanni comes along, he doesn't have to wait for a thunderstorm like what Luigi has to do.
Ron: He just has batteries to do it.
Ron: So he starts touring Europe, just electrocuting dead things for crowds.
Laura: Oh, God.
Laura: See, this is the thing when people are like, oh, culture has gone to the dogs.
Laura: Love island.
Laura: You're like.
Laura: Sorry.
Laura: No.
Laura: Do you know what culture was before Love Island?
Laura: It was paying a shilling to go and watch a frog's leg dance.
Laura: Get over yourself.
Laura: People have always been weird and nutty and they've always wanted to watch weird stuff.
Ron: No, so it wasn't frog's legs.
Ron: By the time Aldini is doing it at the Royal College of Surgeons in London in 18 three, he applied an electrical current to the courts of George Foster, a convict recently executed for drowning his wife and child.
Ron: The body convulsed, applying the coat to the face, caused the jaws to clench and the eyes to open.
Ron: The astonished audience to the astonished audience, the body appeared to have almost come to life again.
Laura: Yeah, all right.
Laura: There's so much to unpack.
Laura: First of all, has anybody checked that George's wife and daughter are dead?
Laura: God, the past.
Laura: Yeah, all right, that's not great.
Laura: And then they've killed him and now just going, oh, do you want his body for this stage show?
Laura: You're doing so much to unpack.
Laura: Why didn't everybody have therapists?
Ron: Yeah, that is a good point about his wife and child.
Ron: Light another cigar.
Ron: We got a double homicide.
Ron: Right.
Ron: So I thought now would be you.
Laura: Had to go to sleep, wouldn't you just be like old wife towers?
Laura: Like, do not fall asleep near a pond, because people will definitely assume you have drowned.
Ron: You will be buried before sundown.
Ron: So we're going to talk a little bit about bio electricity and why this stuff happens now, right?
Laura: I guess if I'd seen somebody drowning and then they got out of a pond, it wouldn't occur to me to just start punching them in the chest.
Laura: Especially in those days, people would think you were trying to kill it a second time or whatever.
Laura: So the first person that just started thumping in the chest and snogging the corpse.
Laura: Yeah, actually, I'm not surprised it took them.
Laura: In fact, I think it's even weirder that we do it now.
Laura: That guy nearly drowned.
Laura: Give me his mouth.
Laura: I was going to kiss him.
Ron: A quick disclaimer that nothing in this podcast should be taken too seriously.
Ron: But when I was doing the research for this.
Ron: It was saying that I saw some reports that you shouldn't actually do the mouth to mouth thing because quite often you end up just blowing air into their stomach and then that makes them vomit and then they get stomach contents in their lungs.
Ron: Which is not helpful.
Laura: Oh, no.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I thought it was like 99% Staying Alive chest pumps.
Laura: And you're supposed to do it like, again, massive disclaimer.
Laura: I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Laura: Please don't tick off taking a health and safety course, having listened to it.
Ron: I'll put this out there with confidence.
Ron: Don't shove a cigar at their a**.
Laura: Well, where else are you going to put it?
Laura: While you're pausing to do CPR at the side of the range, you're not going to put it on the floor.
Laura: That's a handy holder.
Laura: But like, you know, you're doing CPR strong enough if you break their ribs, I think.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Which is grim.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Just let them die.
Laura: Nature's taking its course.
Ron: I'm out with the people of the 1770s.
Laura: Oh, well, she's dead.
Laura: I'll have a house.
Laura: Goodbye.
Ron: Right, so we're going to talk a little bit about how bio electricity works.
Laura: Okay?
Ron: So do you remember what the definition.
Laura: Of current is present right now?
Ron: Try again.
Ron: Try harder.
Laura: A squashy sultana.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: How many can you do.
Laura: The course of a river?
Ron: What about your mom's sister who's a bit of a vagabond?
Laura: Kerr aunt.
Ron: Yeah, it works okay, does it?
Laura: Tell me.
Laura: Ain't now.
Laura: Actually, after that one.
Laura: Current is flow.
Laura: Ron, I'm just going to give you the answer now and I can't make eye contact with you for a while.
Laura: Flow of anything really current in the electricity?
Ron: Yeah, in electricity.
Ron: What's?
Laura: It the flow of electricity.
Ron: You can just say if you don't know the quiz part.
Laura: This is just the electricity.
Ron: Yeah, but what is current?
Laura: The flow of the electricity?
Ron: No, it's the flow of charge.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: Charge is electricity.
Ron: No, electricity is multiple things.
Laura: I was having a really good time.
Laura: And now you've so it's a jumblefrogs.
Ron: That was the player charge, but not specifically electrons.
Ron: So in all of the circuits that we've talked about before, we've been talking about electrons moving around wires, right?
Laura: Yes.
Ron: But you can have an electrical charge.
Ron: Sorry, an electrical current of anything that's charged because it is just a flow of charge.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: Did that actually go in?
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I don't want to do science today.
Laura: We're doing jumble, frogs, science, poker, and.
Ron: I've noticed you've not taken a single one.
Laura: Then I understood it.
Laura: What do you want me to do?
Laura: It will be a quick oh, Ron, I'm so excited about the charge.
Laura: I so understand it.
Ron: No, because you're not just saying yeah.
Ron: You're going like, yeah, okay.
Ron: And if it doesn't make sense, I'd rather you just went, no, I don't get it.
Ron: Could you put it another way, please, or something?
Laura: When I do that, you look at me and go, but you do understand it.
Ron: Just understand it.
Laura: These are the ideas.
Laura: Just understand them.
Laura: So I can't win either way, can I?
Laura: Yes.
Laura: Ron, a charge is happening.
Laura: Brilliant.
Laura: Happy day.
Laura: What else can I say about it?
Ron: Okay, let's just move on.
Ron: So the inside of sales is naturally negatively charged, right?
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: They do this by pumping.
Laura: Why not always?
Laura: Cells are different to atoms.
Laura: Going to write that down again?
Laura: That is now on nearly every day.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: Cells are negatively charged.
Laura: I don't think I knew that.
Laura: OK.
Laura: No, there's a fact that I've.
Ron: Just told you, and then you interrupted me explaining it.
Laura: Well, because I was confused and I thought I thought they could be positive or negative, and that's how they attracted each other.
Laura: But I have just remembered that that is atoms and you said cells.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So the inside of cells.
Ron: So inside the membrane, that's naturally negatively charged.
Ron: They do this by pumping out positive ions through the cell membrane via proteins called ion channels.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: In nerve cells, they have protein pumps that pump three sodium plus ions out of a cell.
Ron: At the same time, pump two potassium plus ions into the cell.
Ron: So while they are pumping positive ions in, because they're pumping three out and two in, there is a net positive charge outside the cell.
Ron: Do you understand?
Ron: What are you bibling about with your pencil?
Laura: I did drop my pencil.
Laura: They're getting rid of positives and sucking.
Ron: In negatives no, not what I said.
Laura: Sodium is going away and then they got some negative protein.
Ron: No, not what I said.
Laura: Well, listen, I think we both understand the gist of it.
Ron: Three positive sodiums go out, two positive potassiums come in.
Ron: So there is a net movement of positives out.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: What do you mean?
Laura: When is that happening in nerve cells?
Laura: All the time.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Well, when they're not firing.
Laura: Every second.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: So is that why I have to eat potassium to get it into my nerves?
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Sometimes.
Laura: I haven't had a banana for a long time.
Laura: These bananas look a bit over.
Laura: I might have to make banana bread with these.
Laura: Well, that's very 2020, isn't it?
Laura: I'm doing a little bit where I give myself banana lips.
Laura: Banana lips.
Ron: It's quite horrifying.
Laura: Does it look like my mouth?
Laura: Hang on.
Laura: Oh, it's not bad, actually, is it?
Laura: Do you see how much better it was when we were talking about interesting stuff?
Laura: And now we're back to science.
Laura: It's hard, isn't it?
Ron: We're going to do a bit of science and then we're going to go back to interesting stuff.
Ron: Okay?
Ron: Promise.
Laura: But now it's just making me realise that every other episode until this time next year, we do the signs of Father Christmas at Christmas.
Laura: Signs.
Laura: The bells.
Laura: I have been signs of mistletoe.
Ron: I have been trying to.
Laura: Hung my bananas on the microphone now.
Ron: I have been trying to work out.
Laura: What we could look at me up a blonde hair.
Ron: Jesus Christ.
Ron: You know how in the last episode we were talking about how high blood pressure is bad for your arteries?
Laura: Yes.
Laura: You need to eat some good stuff, mate.
Laura: I'm going to be a fruit girl.
Laura: I can't get the oranges.
Laura: Stay up.
Laura: No, I've got the orange as well.
Laura: Sorry, Ron.
Laura: Please continue.
Ron: So the difference in charge outside and inside the nerve leave.
Ron: Put that orange down.
Ron: Is called an action potential, which is a bit like potential difference that you have in circuits.
Ron: Okay?
Laura: Yes, sir.
Ron: Top a******.
Ron: Nerves also have ion channels for potassium and sodium.
Ron: Individually, the potassium ones are always open, so they're sort of flowing in and out freely.
Ron: The sodium ones are always closed.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: So that's another way that they build up the positive charge outside of the nerve cells.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Then what happens is, when the synapses in the nerve is triggered, this gets the sodium channels at that end of the nerve to start opening, and then obviously, the sodium atoms, the sodium ions, will start flowing into the nerve.
Ron: Now, these sodium channels have voltage sensors in them.
Ron: So when the voltage changes and the sodium ions come in, it triggers the sodium ion channels that are next to it to open as well.
Ron: And then you get kind of like this Mexican wave of sodium channels opening, which is how a nerve signal travels down a nerve.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: That's good.
Ron: And then because that is based on voltage and not like an active process that in a live thing needs to do, that's why electricity can trigger that in did things.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Do you prefer the name Simon or Simeon?
Ron: Simon, I guess.
Ron: But it's probably because of.
Ron: Familiarity, not necessarily quality of name.
Laura: I think I prefer Simian.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: Don't see many simian these days.
Ron: Doesn't simian mean, like, monkey?
Ron: Aren't simians, like, all monkeys and apes and stuff?
Laura: Yeah, I think so.
Ron: Should we just stop?
Laura: No, you're not teaching me anything.
Ron: Yeah, because you're on your f****** phone.
Laura: Yeah, I didn't need you.
Laura: A picture of this fruit person I've made.
Laura: He's called Simon.
Ron: We don't have to do this.
Laura: We do.
Laura: No, we could just you were doing the bit that wasn't about Frankenstein, so I was letting the listeners listen without me interrupting.
Ron: Is that not you don't think that's interesting at all?
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Make some wave.
Ron: All right, we're just going to move on.
Laura: I don't know what you want from me at these points.
Laura: One, because what kind of be like it's just the sodium floats.
Laura: Cool.
Laura: I don't love sodium like you do love sodium.
Laura: All right.
Laura: Sodium is about I do love sodium.
Laura: I don't know how to get excited about sodium and potassium being not in a cell like you do.
Laura: Like, I'm excited about leg jittering and about making a jumble frog.
Laura: I don't know how to express in an audio format my love for a Mexican wave of potassium.
Ron: Right.
Laura: The concept of this and also I wasn't listening.
Laura: I know you've been quite a crude.
Ron: And bad fruit person that you've decided.
Laura: I would have made it more complicated, but you wanted me to at least pretend to listen, I think.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Let's not get sloppy, right?
Ron: Because it's episode 20.
Ron: The premise of this podcast is not for me to just rattle off information while you are present and make the.
Laura: Information more interesting so I can engage with it.
Ron: You're supposed to learn it either way.
Ron: Like a little bit of inside baseball.
Ron: Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this in front of the listeners, but sometimes it's kind of funny when you learn things that you don't find interesting because then you get frustrated about it, but if you just don't engage I was engaged.
Laura: I listened.
Laura: There's a little flow hatch, and some of the potassium goes back out, but the sodium one is shut, so they stay in, and then everything's like it's positive and so negative outside.
Laura: Whoop.
Laura: Woop woop.
Laura: Get the electricity.
Laura: Go.
Laura: Jackie.
Laura: Jackie frog leg.
Laura: Boop boop boop.
Ron: This is exactly what you get at will for in your other podcast when he's not listening, he just parrots stuff back to you.
Laura: Yeah, well, okay, let's redo that bit then.
Laura: And I won't play with the fruit tone again.
Ron: No, it's over.
Ron: It's for the listeners now, not for you.
Ron: We're going to move on now.
Laura: So Mary Shelley, I learned all about that.
Ron: Moving on now.
Ron: We're done with Frankenstein.
Laura: Why?
Ron: Because we're going on to the next bit.
Laura: We haven't even talked about Frankenstein.
Ron: Yeah, we did.
Ron: We talked about the scientific developments there.
Ron: This is a science podcast.
Ron: This isn't about books.
Laura: Oh, f*** it up.
Laura: Is that all it was going to be?
Laura: I thought this was like the intro to the bit where we talk about how to bring someone back from the dead.
Ron: No, that's not possible.
Laura: Are you serious?
Ron: Yes, but we're going to talk about zombies now.
Ron: We're not going back into science.
Laura: Okay, cool.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: All right, I'm in.
Ron: So, zombies, common Halloween trope.
Laura: Like a zombie.
Ron: Often not always caused by zombie.
Laura: Zombie, zombie.
Ron: Very good.
Laura: That's your favourite song.
Laura: Used to be, wasn't it?
Laura: You used to like singing that one on SingStar.
Ron: Yeah, it's a good SingStar track.
Ron: And I think we can all admit I crushed it.
Ron: My little voice breaking your self.
Ron: Zombies, common Halloween trope, often caused by a disease in the things that they are.
Ron: So we're going to talk about some real life zombies that you get in nature.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: Amazing.
Ron: Have you ever heard of cordyceps?
Laura: No.
Ron: You might recognise them.
Ron: These are the funguses that infect the brains of ants.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Laura: No, I have seen this.
Laura: And then isn't there like a wasp that can give them this fungus?
Laura: Or they eat a wasp or something and then a wasp goes mad, too, and then they all like their brains all mush up.
Ron: I don't know if there's a wasp involved in cordy sex.
Ron: I don't think so.
Ron: I think it's just something that the ants stumble up.
Ron: We will talk about wasps in a bit, actually.
Laura: Fine.
Ron: I think they are just a fungus that it comes in, but it actually changes the behaviour of the ant because what it does is it gets the ant to climb up to the highest point that it can and then it bites down onto the branch that it's on and just waits to die while the fungus eats it from the inside out.
Laura: And then by the highest branch it.
Ron: Can, because then the cordyceps grows out of the ant and then it can release its spores.
Ron: So what it's done is it's used the app to try to get it into a place where it is easy for it to do that.
Ron: Let me send let me send you some pictures of these on the WhatsApp web.
Laura: Sorry about my washing machine.
Laura: I don't know if you can hear that.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: There'S like a stick coming out the top of the ant's head and the ant is all desiccated.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: So how does it get that?
Laura: Does it eat something with the spore in or does the spore just airborne and it gets into the ant?
Ron: I think it's just airborne and gets into the ant.
Laura: Do an ants have ears?
Ron: No, they have antenna.
Laura: Antenna.
Ron: But there's like 600 different types of cordyceps and then they all look a bit different and do stuff like this.
Laura: But we'll put these on the instagram.
Laura: Some cordy.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: I think they've been on a David Attenborough.
Laura: Yeah, that would be where I've heard of it, because I'm sure as h*** not googling this.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So that is ants staying on the insect train.
Ron: Prepare and moving on to the wasps thing.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: There's something ringing a bell in the back of my head about a wasp being a zombie.
Ron: No, maybe not one of these making someone a zombie.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So there's a type of wasp, right, that lays as eggs in a ladybug, and when it does that, it then injects a virus into the ladybug that then makes the ladybug really docile.
Ron: The wasp larvae then eats the ladybug from the inside, but f****** purposefully without killing it.
Ron: Oh, yeah.
Laura: How does the larvae already know which bit?
Ron: Because then the wasp larvae sort of hatch out of the ladybug.
Ron: And then because of the virus that the wasp is put into the ladybug's head, the ladybug looks after the larvae and feeds it and stuff.
Laura: No way.
Laura: That's insane.
Laura: That must be on the front cover of ladybird magazines constantly.
Laura: You know how, like on Women's Weekly and stuff, they always have, like I went to Malaga and I came home and there was a lump in my arm and then 800 spiders came out of it.
Laura: Or like, blah, blah, blah.
Laura: Ladybirds must be telling these stories for £500 every other week.
Ron: Yeah, well, here's the other thing, is that the ladybug, if they don't get too much of them eaten, they can be just completely unaffected by this.
Ron: And then when the wasp p***** off and leaves home and goes to uni or whatever, the ladybug can just sometimes just go on living a normal life, and then all of its ladybird mates are probably like, do you remember when you adopted that wasp?
Ron: That was f****** neat.
Laura: Like me with my pigeon.
Laura: Don't talk to Linda.
Laura: She's got a little wasp son.
Laura: He's joined the army now.
Laura: Do they grow back, the bit that got eaten?
Laura: I guess it doesn't eat very much of them, then.
Laura: Just a little hole out.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: I assume they grow it back.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: They seem pretty surgical with the bits of the ladybug that they can and can't eat.
Laura: I don't know which one I'd rather be.
Laura: Like a ladybird stepmom or an antenna fungus spore graveyard.
Laura: Probably the ladybird.
Ron: I guess once the wasp's finished eating you, it's just a classic mother wasp relationship.
Laura: Yeah, but like, childbirth as a human sounds bad enough, but imagine the baby has to eat its way out, munching through your tummy button.
Laura: And then when it comes out, it's like a kangaroo or something.
Laura: And you're like, oh, my God, that kangaroo did kick me the other day.
Ron: F***.
Laura: Well, better raise it now.
Ron: So there is a species called the horse hair worm.
Ron: Their larvae infect the brains of crickets and make crickets drown themselves instead.
Ron: That they end up in rivers.
Laura: Does the horse hair thing get any benefit from that?
Ron: I think it's just part of their life cycle, so I think they like lay their eggs on land infect the thing, and then the cricket transports them back to the water.
Ron: Okay, but lots of these things are all just about the lifecycle of the parasite or the virus or whatever.
Ron: We're talking about a really interesting one as the last one, but before that, this one.
Ron: I'm not sure how much it counts as a zombie, but I thought it was interesting and it was in the same vein.
Ron: So there's a species of small parasitic barnacles called Sacchalinas, right.
Laura: That was Scaling.
Ron: But Saccalina don't know that song.
Ron: No.
Ron: And put down those oranges.
Ron: So they infect a crab, right?
Ron: And then they make the crab infertile.
Ron: But the crab can lay the parasite eggs.
Laura: Wait, what?
Laura: They infect the crab.
Laura: So the crab can't have its own babies, but it puts its own eggs into the bit where the crab's lay an eggs from.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: And then the crab obviously just stupid, dumb, idiot crab.
Ron: Right.
Ron: Crab doesn't know the difference.
Ron: So then the crab will raise those eggs because it's just like, well, these are my eggs that came out my bum hole.
Laura: Yeah, you would.
Laura: Man, that is some dodgy IVF clinic, isn't it?
Laura: It'd be fuming.
Laura: Sorry, I paid £18,000 for this cycle and I think this is a dog.
Laura: It came out of your b*** hole, madam, so you will raise it.
Ron: Right.
Ron: Are you ready for the last case of zombies that I've got?
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Can I just say, though, one of these ants that you sent me looks like a very delicious pudding.
Laura: It looks like a sort of salted caramel ant with white chocolate spirals coming off it.
Laura: I'll put it on the instagram, but it looks it does look a bit.
Ron: Like it's made of worth originals.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: So have you ever heard of something called toxoplasma?
Laura: I weirdly.
Laura: Think I have.
Laura: Is that a sport as well?
Ron: So it's a parasite that lives in cats intestines.
Laura: Is this the one why you can't clean out a litter tray when you're pregnant?
Ron: Potentially, yeah.
Ron: And I think it is a fairly prevalent thing.
Ron: So it's a parasite that lives in cats intestines and then obviously gets pooped out by the cat every now and again.
Ron: The lifecycle of this thing or how it spreads from cat to cat, right, is that if a rat or a mouse comes across that cat poop, the toxoplasma will infect the rat, then it goes into the rat's brain and it reverses the rat's natural instincts.
Ron: And instead of being really scared of cat pheromones and the smell of cats and cat p***, these things will make the rap very h**** for cats.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Well, basically, it doesn't know, right?
Ron: Like, it's just like what's the word?
Ron: Aphrodisiac, basically, for the rat at that point.
Ron: So then it will obviously start seeking out cat p*** and, like, the smell of cats, essentially, like giving it a death wish, because where there's cat p***, there's cats.
Ron: So what it does is it infects the brain of the rats.
Ron: They then run to where all the cats are, get eaten, and then the toxoplasma can infect a new cat.
Laura: So that is a symbiotic relationship.
Laura: Like the squirrel in your liver because the cat is getting food and the toxoplasma can live in the cat.
Ron: Exactly.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: All right.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: It almost sounds like a minecraft hack, doesn't it?
Laura: Although, annoyingly, the other day I was out and about with my cat and a creeper still came, blew up me and the cat.
Laura: I thought creepers are supposed to be scared of cats.
Ron: I thought so, too.
Ron: I'm not 100% sure age managed to shoehorn minecraft into this.
Laura: I love minecraft.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Those are the real life zombies that I managed to dig up.
Laura: Thank you, Ron.
Laura: I absolutely loved the beginning and end of this episode.
Laura: I might edit out the middle of it, the science bit, but it was all science.
Ron: You know that like the science bit.
Ron: That's the podcast, right?
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I just prefer the other bit.
Ron: Do you want to change the podcast?
Laura: No, Ron, I love our podcast, but I think you have to just embrace who I am within our podcast.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: I can't love potassium like you do.
Ron: I just thought it would be nice for you to find out how nerves worked.
Laura: But fine, I knew.
Laura: Right.
Laura: And now you are being a soggy little witch.
Laura: Classic Pearson behaviour here in that there is nothing more I could have given you in loving that Mexican wave little jerky nerve thing.
Laura: But I haven't liked it in the way you wanted me to like it and now you're sad.
Ron: What true?
Ron: You said you didn't listen.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: What else do you want me to know about it?
Ron: Nothing.
Ron: We're moving on.
Ron: We're not going to talk about it again.
Laura: What are you f****** pissy about, then?
Ron: We're going to do a quick.
Laura: I don't even understand what you're mad about here.
Laura: I understood it.
Laura: I told you about it.
Laura: I get it.
Laura: Fun.
Laura: Well done.
Laura: And that's why even a thing that's not alive can move, because it is electrical impulse going through a positively charged outside of a nerve and then a negatively charged inside of a nerve and it wakes up the little Mexican wave thing, which is how nerves get messages along.
Laura: I f****** know it.
Laura: So what are you mad about?
Laura: I'm just jealous because I forgot fruit to play with.
Ron: Just wasn't very nice of you.
Laura: What did I do?
Ron: I think when you listen back, when you're editing this, you'll probably open up your WhatsApp?
Ron: Web and you'll probably be like, Hiron, I'm sorry.
Laura: Sorry, Laura, I was oversensitive because I was tired and not in my normal house.
Laura: And I just want you to know I love how much effort you're putting into learning.
Ron: Maybe I will think about doing that because I am riddled with anxiety, but I'll open up my whatsoever.
Ron: And I'll see that you're already typing.
Ron: And I'll stop typing because you'll be messing up.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: You won't see me typing there, because I will not apologise for how much I've listened today, because I have listened like a f****** champion.
Laura: And I'm sorry if I needed a tiny break to look at a banana in the middle, but I wanted to.
Ron: I'm going to do the most ruthless Halloween quiz and I'm going to publicly humiliate you in front of our phone.
Laura: Go for it, because I've written everything down.
Laura: All right?
Laura: Halloween quiz.
Laura: Spooky questions.
Laura: Spooky your answers.
Ron: How are you doing, Laura?
Laura: I'm all right, Ron.
Ron: Do you remember what we covered in the Halloween episode?
Ron: Do you remember how much of a f****** nonce you were?
Ron: About some of it.
Laura: I thought that you could call me a nonce about it, actually.
Laura: No.
Laura: And I must have been interested because my notes are an absolute shambles.
Laura: I've written down tobacco, but trepanning is awful jumble.
Laura: Frog cells are different to atoms.
Laura: And that's about it.
Laura: We talked about ants and we talked about how much I disliked Dracula, but I remember the gist of the episode, but not the science of it.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So it's funny that in hindsight, you think that a lack of notes is because you were so interested.
Ron: In fact, it was very much the opposite.
Laura: Nah, nah, nah.
Laura: Because in the past, when I've made fewer notes is because I've been invested.
Ron: And it's made sense in the past, not the present.
Laura: Okay, well, let's see how it goes.
Laura: I hope there's a lot of questions about jumblefront.
Ron: I don't know how many marks there's going to be, because one of the questions is just going to be qualitative out of 100.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: It's out of 100.
Ron: So there's 105 marks on 105.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Because for one of them, I'm just going to ask you a question and then depending on how well you answer, I'm going to give you a score of 100.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: I hate the ones where I have to talk for a long time.
Laura: I like it when there's just an answer.
Ron: Yes, but that's not today.
Ron: What are the two scientific developments that inspired Frankenstein?
Laura: Oh, drowning.
Laura: They worked out about drowning.
Laura: You didn't have to be drowned if you drowned.
Ron: What's that called?
Laura: Respiration.
Ron: Look, here, Mary.
Ron: We've just worked out there, if we put her in the pond for too long, she stops breathing.
Laura: You laugh at some point.
Laura: That was a scientific discovery.
Laura: Thank you.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: And the other one was twitching up a dead leg.
Laura: You could run electrical current through a muscle and the Mexican wave of nerves would make it happen as an impulse.
Laura: So a dead thing would move?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Can you remember the name of that or the sort of phenomenon that causes that?
Ron: Bioelectricity.
Ron: But I'll give you that two marks.
Ron: Two marks out of two.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: And as a special treat, for you.
Laura: I'm going to write down the word bioelectricity.
Laura: That's not how you spell it and.
Ron: It'S not in the syllabus, so it won't come up again.
Ron: This was the Halloween episode.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Laura: I don't even need to learn this stuff.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: What were the two failed resuscitation techniques that we discussed?
Laura: Did we?
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Praying and staring very hard at the wet person.
Ron: Praying and staring.
Laura: It feels like that's what medicine was pre.
Ron: No, I think this will ring a bell when I tell you.
Ron: Do you want another go?
Ron: Can I have one more guess?
Laura: Stick something absorbent in the mouth.
Laura: It all up, like the tape one, but the other way for water.
Ron: No.
Ron: So one of them was bloodletting.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Ron: And then the other one was that's.
Laura: How we got on to talking about trepanning.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: And then the other one was a tobacco smoke enema.
Laura: Oh.
Laura: And I've written down tobacco bar.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: See, when I've made notes, that's the bit I didn't get, isn't it?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Are you ready for the qualitative question?
Laura: No.
Ron: For 100 potential marks, how do nerves work?
Laura: Hang on, let me think for a second so that I can say it all in the right order, instead of just I've noticed when I'm editing this, like, my instinct then was to shop Mexican way, and although that is part of the answer, it's not the beginning of the answer.
Laura: And I think you mark me down for that.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Because it's unintelligible when you teach it.
Laura: Second to think before I speak, which is not something I've done before.
Laura: No, it's not helping if I don't talk.
Laura: I'm not thinking about it.
Laura: I was just looking out the window, thinking about listening to Judith.
Laura: So it's a Mexican wave where a nerve gets a bit of electricity and it opens a valve at one end of the nerve and the electricity jumps into the next nerve and then the valve behind it closes and the next valve opens and the electricity carries on.
Laura: I don't know how you're going to divide the hundred marks across those words.
Laura: I feel like because there's 100 words, there's a longer answer, but I don't know what it is.
Ron: No.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: There's not 100 marks to get.
Ron: There's not 100 things I want you to say, this is the bid that you just didn't listen or care about, so I'm just punishing you for that.
Laura: It feels like you're punishing yourself because I largely don't care.
Laura: Whereas you were annoyed I wasn't listening to first time and now it feels like you're annoyed again that I don't know it now.
Ron: No, I think I'm going to give you five marks for that.
Laura: Five out of 100?
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: What the h*** else could I have said?
Ron: You talk about valves letting electricity into nerves and then it's spreading from the next nerve.
Ron: You didn't talk about sodium ions, potassium ion.
Ron: You didn't talk about voltage gates or ion channels I don't know about any of that stuff.
Ron: Yes, I know, because you weren't listening.
Laura: There's sodium in your nerves.
Ron: Yes, we talked about it at length.
Ron: Four out of 100 that's gone down.
Ron: Yep.
Laura: Oh, you are a little wick.
Ron: Three out of 100.
Laura: Happy Halloween to you.
Ron: You sloth two out of 100.
Laura: I don't even care.
Laura: It's not even a real lesson.
Laura: This is like the end of term when we should be watching Mr Beam before we go on holiday, not f****** learning.
Laura: Who plans a quiz on the holiday episode?
Ron: Me.
Laura: Nonsense.
Laura: I'm going to start calling you Ronce Run, the nonce.
Ron: Stop calling me a nonce.
Laura: You started.
Ron: I'm not mad about it.
Ron: Oh, I forgot to include how many marks there were for the last question, which is still to come.
Laura: That was named the final question.
Ron: No, I just didn't tell you about this last one.
Ron: Okay, describe to me, please, the life cycle of toxoplasma in rats.
Laura: Short and sad.
Ron: Come on, you must remember this bit.
Ron: This bit was cool.
Laura: Okay, I'm thinking back.
Laura: Do we talk about wait, yes.
Ron: Cordyceps no, toxoplasma.
Laura: Yeah, hang on, hang on.
Laura: It's waking back up again.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: Now, the toxoplasma is a toxin and bacteria.
Laura: It's a bacteria and it lives in the lives somewhere.
Laura: Then it gets into a rat.
Laura: Then it gets into a rat.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: And the rat gets sexy for cats.
Laura: Maybe it's in the p*** of cats or the poop of cats and it gets in the rat.
Laura: And then the rat has a big rat stiffy for a cat and all it wants to do is get near cat p*** so that it can feel sexy even more.
Laura: But then, obviously, the cats like to eat the rats.
Laura: We've all seen the Pie Piper of hamlin.
Laura: So the cats get a free meal, the toxoplasma gets back in the cat and it's a symbiotic relationship where the rat is really getting the hard end of the deal, but he dies hard, which is how we can all hope to go out.
Ron: Yeah, nice.
Ron: He lives in the gut of cats and then from the poop gets into the rats, and then the rats it gets back into the cats.
Ron: I'm going to give you a maximum three out of three for that.
Laura: Brilliant.
Ron: Okay, so you got seven out of 107.
Ron: How do you think about the quistler?
Laura: I just think you were vicious about it because there wasn't a hundred to.
Ron: Say about yeah, it was qualitative.
Ron: I was ranked.
Laura: Yeah, but if you're given a perfect.
Ron: Answer, you'd go on a hundred.
Laura: Yeah, but I didn't know any of the facts.
Ron: You weren't listening.
Ron: That's it, really, isn't it?
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Laura: Yeah, it is.
Ron: You.
