Season 6 Episode 21: Climate Change Rocks, Black Dogs, and Exploring Space

Are facility dogs with black fur unfairly judged? Join us as we uncover the findings of a recent study tackling black dog bias in courtrooms, revealing surprising insights that could reshape how facility dogs are viewed in legal settings.

Prepare to be amazed by the potential of Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) as we explore its role in combating climate change. Discover the science behind using volcanic rock to reduce atmospheric CO2 by up to 215 billion tons over the next 75 years. Not only does ERW help the environment, but it also boosts soil health and crop productivity. Hear about current test implementations across the globe and how this method works in tandem with other carbon capture technologies.

We also welcome Jasmine Singh, a soon-to-be grad student and science communicator, who adds depth to our conversation with her unique experiences and perspectives.

Our cosmic journey doesn't stop there. Delve into the latest discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, tantalizing tidbits from asteroid Bennu, and the thrilling anticipation of upcoming missions like Europa Clipper.

Jasmine Singh shares her optimistic view on the search for extraterrestrial life and the captivating power of social media in spreading scientific knowledge. Plus, enjoy heartwarming stories of our beloved pets and reflections on the intersection of life on Earth and the vast frontier of space.

Jasmine's Links:

Twitter (X)

Further Links

Bunsen and Beaker's Links:

Join The Paw Pack to Support The Show!

https://bunsenbernerbmd.com/pages/paw-pack-plus-community

Our Website!

The Bunsen and Beaker Website has adorable merch with hundreds of different combinations of designs and apparel- all with Printful- one of the highest quality companies we could find!

www.bunsenbernerbmd.com

Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter!

Bunsen and Beaker on Twitter:

Bunsen and Beaker on TikTok:

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hello science enthusiasts. My name is Jason Zukowski. I'm a high school chemistry teacher and a science communicator, but I'm also the dog dad of Bunsen and Beaker, the science dogs on social media. If you love science and you love pets, you've come to the right place. Put on your lab coat, put on your safety glasses and hold on to your tail. This is the Science Podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Hello everybody.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Welcome back to the Science Podcast. We hope you're happy and healthy out there. This is episode 21 of season six. Here in the hot dog days of summer we have a little heat wave. I know for people that live in very hot areas you will laugh, but it was, I think, 35 degrees Celsius. The other day. That translates to I don't know mid 90s in Fahrenheit. Yes, for the people in Texas that's nothing that you eat, those temperatures for breakfast, but for us Alberta Canadians, uh yeah, that is smoking hot. Too hot for Bunsen, too hot for Bernoulli, but for Beaker, the golden retriever, that's a great temperature to go about on adventures and do some dock diving and dig some holes. And we'll get to some of the animal shenanigans later On the science podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:28

This week in science news we're going to be looking at using volcanic rock to combat climate change. It's a very interesting little discussion. In pet science, chris and I are breaking down a study that looked at black dog bias, but in the courtroom and our guest and ask an expert is the amazing science communicator of all things space, jasmine Singh. Okay, some volcano puns. How do volcanoes communicate on social media? Well, they use hashtags. Okay, that's terrible, but I've got another one. Why did the volcano go to therapy? Well, you know, it's got a lot of pent-up emotions, hi-oh. Okay, let's get on with the show, because there's no time like Science Time. This week, in Science News, chris and I are going to be talking about carbon dioxide absorbing rocks and how it could help fight climate change. Now, on the topical news of climate change, chris, have you heard about this hurricane that's happening? It's on its way to Canada. Has it arrived in Canada? That's Hurricane Beryl.

Speaker 3: 2:44

Yeah, it should be finished the torrential rain by the end of this, but it was the first major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, which is shocking because it's never happened in June. At the end of June, I was listening to a news meteorologist speak about it and the conditions were ripe and it quickly formed and intensified and became the earliest category five hurricane on record for the season.

Speaker 1: 3:14

And climate change doesn't necessarily cause these storms. They load the dice, meaning that if you play a dice game, they're more likely to form, and we're seeing that right now with this her, this massive hurricane that has caused a lot of problems. Where it made landfall, I know, it devastated some of the islands and it knocked out power in texas for a whole, for millions of people I believe there's been eight deaths so far as well.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Yeah, that's tragic, and I guess the reason why we're leading with this is that, as I look for news items to talk about, every week, a journal called Communications, earth and Environment had an interesting topic about ERW, which is enhanced rock weathering. It's this technique that not only improves growing conditions, like soil health, but it can combat climate change, and it's already in practice in Australia, india, kenya, scotland, brazil and parts of the United States. Now I want to make everybody aware we're going to be talking about this. It's very cool and, yes, it's occurring in these places, but they're more like test groups. Right, this is not widespread and, chris, could you break down like what ERW does and why it's a big deal potentially?

Speaker 3: 4:38

So the enhanced rock weathering can significantly reduce atmospheric CO2. And we know that atmospheric CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which is definitely a problem when we're talking about climate change, and so this enhanced rock weathering has the potential to remove up to 215 billion tons of CO2 over the next 75 years.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Like Chris, for people like 215 billion, that's a giant number. Is that a lot? What does that mean?

Speaker 3: 5:13

One person on average emits four tons of CO2 and Canada produces under 1 billion tons of CO2 a year, whereas the United States is 6.3 billion tons of CO2 a year. Whereas the United States is 6.3 billion tons of CO2 a year. So the 215 billion tons of CO2, which can potentially be removed represents a fifth of the IPCC and that's the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change coming from the United Nations and that's their maximum estimate for necessary removals to meet climate goals. So a fifth 215 billion tons of CO2 is a fifth of their recommendation.

Speaker 1: 6:00

Gotcha. This is not the be-all and end all, but it sounds like it could be helpful, and it's not just helpful for the removal of CO2. And I believe, chris, you're going to be talking about how it does that in a second. Agriculturally, it can help and improve soil structure and health. It raises soil pH. So if you have acidic soil from acid rain and rain naturally is slightly acidic it also can help release nutrients in the soil that are trapped by acid. So acid rain is a double whammy or any kind of acid deposition. It can lead to a pH of your soil that's not really conducive to growing things, but it also it binds a lot of the nutrients that plants need to grow. So you raise soil pH and you release essential nutrients for those plants. You're going to increase your crop productivity. Another thing that it would help do is reduce the emissions of nitrous oxide. That's a breakdown of organic matter that happens naturally when stuff that farmers maybe have farmed is tilled under through decomposition.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Another thing that's interesting also is that there's a lot of carbon capture technologies that are being implemented. Alberta is doing this big pipe that's going to suck some CO2 out of the air as a form of carbon capture, and we've talked to scientists before that their whole gig is carbon capture. This is a very efficient method of carbon capture. You're just putting something into the soil instead of having to build massive structures. It also utilizes existing industrial processes, which means that you can just start to do this right now and scale it up if you so choose. I think what people want to know is how does it work and what is the rock?

Speaker 3: 7:48

How enhanced rock weathering works is a natural process and volcanic rock is used and there is an acid formed from atmospheric CO2 and water and that carbonic acid breaks down the volcanic rock and that breakdown of that rock releases nutrients and forms biocarbonate ions that trap carbon. This biocarbonate flows into the ocean, contributing to marine life and long-term carbon storage.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Gotcha. So the volcanic rock uses the carbonic acid that's already in acid rain and that's a thing. As rain falls on the ground, it absorbs the CO2 in the air, so that's where that carbonic acid is coming from. If you have a pH strip at home, you can actually test your own rainwater and it will be acidic. It can't be basic and if it is, something has gone horribly wrong with your environment.

Speaker 3: 8:48

This sounds so great, Jason, but are there any challenges or concerns?

Speaker 1: 8:54

All right, we're dealing with volcanic rock and the volcanic rock has to come from somewhere. Luckily, there's a whole bunch of volcanic activity happening all over the world at all the time, and that's where you could get a lot of this volcanic rock from. A downside is that you might have heavy metal accumulation in soil from using this pulverized volcanic rock. We also don't know, and it is made and it is in the article made clear that long-term effects is not really known, because we're going to be taking something that's not normally found in soil, putting it in there and messing with the natural order of business, like we live on a farm, chris, and there's not a lot of volcanic activity happening around us for this to happen naturally.

Speaker 3: 9:47

And so what happens to the soil microbes and the adjacent ecosystem? I don't know.

Speaker 1: 9:54

Norbert or beaver? Yeah, we don't know.

Speaker 3: 9:58

We don't know.

Speaker 1: 9:59

I mean, the chemistry says not a lot, but when you scale it up, it's hard to know downstream every single possible outcome. And then, lastly, measuring how much it takes out of the air, how much CO2 takes out of the air, and verifying that as a challenge. And, of course, there are economic concerns. You might divert funds from other climate priorities, like growing more trees. It's just as cost effective to fight climate change as planting a whole bunch of trees. I think, though and this kind of goes back to when I was very lucky to talk to Dr Catherine Hayhoe she's this amazing climate scientist the solution to climate change is everything, and nothing by itself will help by itself, and this is just an interesting thing that I think deserves more attention.

Speaker 3: 10:52

You're right, Jason. The importance of doing anything and everything we can to mitigate climate change is everybody's responsibility.

Speaker 1: 11:01

So what do you think about getting some volcanic rock for the farm, Chris? Should we talk to the steels? Maybe it's something to think about.

Speaker 3: 11:10

It might be something to think about.

Speaker 1: 11:13

That's science news for this week. This week in pet science, we're going to be talking about if there is a bias towards black dogs and it may be a myth, it may be a superstition, but there are some biases towards a different type of black pet. And what's that, Chris?

Speaker 3: 11:34

That's the black cat. We actually had a black cat growing up and his name was Cinder and we had to put him in the house during Halloween. So he was an outside kitty and he definitely had nine lives. But we had to bring him inside on Halloween and I said why? And my parents said because people will harm black cats. And I just was like what? That's very interesting, why? And some people are cruel. But there's this phenomenon where black cats are perceived negatively due to those superstitions and cultural associations which can lead to lower adoption rates and higher euthanasia rates compared to cats of other colors.

Speaker 1: 12:26

I think there was another black cat at the farm too. Gord had a cat named Fang, wasn't he a black cat?

Speaker 3: 12:34

Yeah, you loved Fang.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Oh, he died very young, though. Again, this was more than a decade ago and yeah, fang was an outside cat and had a very short life. But I really liked that cat. He was a really neat cat. So I didn't know about the black cat bias at all, but I guess it's the black cat walks by you or something like that. You're gonna have bad luck like a mirror, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 13:01

Anyways, this study is looking at if there is a black dog bias. However, it has a really interesting spin. The spin in the study from psychology today is looking at facility dogs facility dogs that are used to provide comfort to witnesses like children or emotionally challenged individuals during their testimony in court, and the whole idea of the study is that will a facility dog that is black have a different opinion? The whole idea of the study is if you have a facility dog with a witness and that facility dog is black, will it influence the judge or the jury's opinion of that witness? Kind of like, if black cats are evil or untrustworthy, does that same hold with a dog and then does that make your witness less trustworthy or you're more suspicious of that witness?

Speaker 3: 14:04

less trustworthy or you're more suspicious of that witness. In this study, participants observed a child witness and the child witness was testifying about a sexual assault, and they were either comforted by a black dog or a white dog or no dog. And, counterintuitively, the witness appeared less sad and happier when comforted by a black dog compared to a white dog, and the presence of the dog did not significantly affect the participants' perceptions of the witness. There was no transference of black dog bias to the witness.

Speaker 1: 14:42

So, like having a dog, there had no impact on what the witnesses, what the perception of the witness was.

Speaker 3: 14:49

Yeah, so the implications of this are pretty significant. So when black dogs fulfill a positive role, such as serving as facility dogs, they might violate negative stereotypes, leading to positive evaluations violate negative stereotypes leading to positive evaluations.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Oh, interesting. So that people think like a black dog might be a bad dog, but when they see the black dog doing a good thing, it, like uno, reverses what they think about the dog and then that transfers to the witness. That's funny.

Speaker 3: 15:22

And there's some legal precedent, so most appeals against the use of facility dogs in courtrooms have been unsuccessful, which reinforces using dogs as therapy dogs or as facility dogs because they have demonstrated the benefit of having them.

Speaker 1: 15:42

I gotcha. So the conclusion seems to be that facility dogs are welcome in courtrooms and they don't unfairly sway juries and they're beneficial for witnesses. I love the lawyer shows when they're in a courtroom and they're like doing little chess maneuvers against each other. That's why I didn't like that show you were into Suits that with Meghan Markle because they never actually were in the courtroom, they just it was all about the drama behind the scenes. I don't really understand that show. Is that what was going on, chris?

Speaker 1: 16:14

sometimes they were in the courtroom and you would be like, yes, they're in the courtroom, and then they weren't and you're like, oh, um, but I can see from a lawyer's point of view, like if a witness, if you are having to have a witness and that witness may impact your client, it's gross. But you probably want that witness in the eyes of the jury to look as untrustworthy as possible, be as uncomfortable as possible. So I would hazard a guess that you would not want something like a therapy dog there or a facilities dog to make that witness do the things that you don't want that witness to do. And the good thing I think this study shows is it doesn't seem to sway the jury one way or the other.

Speaker 3: 17:04

So I really like this study because I think that having facility dogs in the courtroom is more beneficial and I'm just glad that it doesn't matter if the dog has stars or stripes, that they're welcome and reduce anxiety and stress in witnesses.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Yeah, and perhaps that black dog bias is not really a thing, unlike. It's a lot more studied with cats. That's pet science for this week. Hello everybody, here's some ways you can keep the science podcast free.

Speaker 1: 17:41

Number one in our show notes sign up to be a member of our Paw Pack Plus community. It's an amazing community of folks who love pets and folks who love science. We have tons of bonus Bunsen and Beaker content there and we have live streams every Sunday with our community. It's tons of fun. Also, think about checking out our merch store. We've got the Bunsen stuffy, the Beaker stuffy and now the Ginger stuffy. That's right, ginger the science cat has a little replica. It's adorable. It's so soft, with the giant fluffy tail, safety glasses and a lab coat. And number three if you're listening to the podcast on any place that rates podcasts, give us a great rating and tell your family and friends to listen too. Okay, on with the show. Back to the interviews. It's time for Ask an Expert on the Science Podcast and I am thrilled to have science communicator and incoming grad student Jasmine Singh. Jasmine, how are you doing today?

Speaker 4: 18:39

I'm good.

Speaker 1: 18:41

Good, good, we were just talking about the summer and like where are you in the world?

Speaker 4: 18:46

In Georgia, not too far from Atlanta. So it's pretty dang hot.

Speaker 1: 18:51

Gotcha, gotcha, have you? Are you from that area? Did you grow up there? Have you had to move around a bit?

Speaker 4: 18:57

No, this is where I'm from, born and raised but, I, went to undergrad at Purdue, so I was in Indiana for four years so I got to experience the other extreme of weather, which is very cold, and then in the fall actually I say in the fall, but at the end of this month actually I will be moving to San Antonio in Texas for grad school so it's only going to get hotter.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Oh, very exciting. We know you from Twitter, or X or whatever people are calling it, and you have a very robust science communication account. What's your undergrad in, if you don't mind me asking yes, I did.

Speaker 4: 19:35

I double majored in planetary science and atmospheric science at.

Speaker 4: 19:39

Purdue, my main focus obviously was in planetary science, but I added the atmospheric science double major because planetary science is such a very broad field. You can do literally anything in it. You can do geology, chemistry, physics, atmospheres, whatever. So I wanted to specify my interests a little bit, especially since with the way the degree was set up, like I wouldn't even be getting to my major classes until like junior year. So I was just like I just want to do something else. So I added atmospheric science, since it seemed pretty interesting and more of my interest lies in atmospheres and also astrobiology and stuff like that. So it worked out that way. I'm not really a geology type person.

Speaker 1: 20:27

And you are all in on space. Were you a space kid growing up?

Speaker 4: 20:32

Yes. So the story I tell everyone this is it's not as exciting as like other people's, where they, let's say, their grandpa or someone in their family had a telescope and they would always look into it and that's how they fell in love with space. I wish I had a story like that, but it's really not as exciting. Basically, in my sixth grade earth science class we had a unit about the solar system in the planet. It's basic kind of stuff where you just go through mercury, through neptune and just talk about each of them, and that's just how I fell in love with it. I thought they were so interesting because each planet is so different than Earth and that's only within our own solar system, so I just fell in love from there. Saturn was my first favorite planet. Now it's Jupiter, but I still like Saturn.

Speaker 1: 21:22

Saturn is pretty spectacular with that giant ring.

Speaker 2: 21:25

Yes, yes.

Speaker 1: 21:26

Gotcha. So if we're going to be talking about space, the things that I love about your science communication account is you're just. You can hear the excitement in the texts that you write what are like a couple things that you like the news lately that you're the most excited about.

Speaker 4: 21:51

Yeah, actually this is good timing that we're recording this, because we just got back some preliminary results from asteroid benu the analysis and it's looking very exciting.

Speaker 4: 21:57

So basically, to put it simply, asteroid benu kind of resembles the rocks that we find at mid-ocean ridges at Earth. So basically, currently scientists are speculating that it might have splintered off from an ocean world, an ancient ocean world, which is so exciting, especially in our ongoing search for life and habitable worlds and what like that. So I really hope that with more analysis we get equally exciting results. But this is just preliminary. They haven't really done so much yet since the sample was open not too long ago, but it's really exciting what they found so far. So I would say that's the biggest thing.

Speaker 4: 22:38

But obviously anything that james webb is doing is also really exciting to me. It's breaking its own records and it's only been, you know, we've only been using it for a couple of years now. So it's just insane. The things that we're finding really we're basically looking at the beginning of the universe, with James Webb Finding galaxies and stars have happened like right after the big bang, right after, meaning like millions of years after. But that is still so much closer to the big bang than we we've ever been able to look before. So I think it's really exciting. So those, I would say, the biggest, two biggest things, but also europa clipper I can't wait we'll talk more about that.

Speaker 4: 23:21

I don't know if we'll talk more about that later, but I'm biased because I will be working on that at grad school.

Speaker 1: 23:26

That's very cool. I do have some follow-up questions. Yeah, that the new story is very cool. Is that the one? The probe like it blasted some kind of like yeah, we can't touch on it, yeah yeah, and it scooped up some asteroid goo and it was we're looking at.

Speaker 1: 23:42

It's not goo, it's rock but yeah so I saw your tweet about that and it like filled me full of, like millions of questions and wonder so if it is true that it came from an ocean world, how does that happen? Did it get smoked by an asteroid or something and that chunk got blown into outer space?

Speaker 4: 24:02

yeah, it's our moon formed from something. It got hit and then it just splintered off. So stuff like that happens all the time in space. Things are getting bombarded all the time and they things can come off of them, pieces can come off. And same thing happened to uranus. The reason it's sideways is because something, definitely early on in the solar system, knocked into it and just completely tipped it on its side. So it's not uncommon that stuff like that happens, where it'll just splinter off from wherever it came from and you mentioned, james webb is breaking.

Speaker 1: 24:36

It's like records and that you're talking about it's looking further and further back in time yes, do you? Do you think there's a limit to that, or will they just get closer and closer to time zero as we go?

Speaker 4: 24:50

That's a really good question. I definitely think, with the way technology is, there is a limit to everything, and I've been working on James Webb for a long time. Before it even launched, it had been in the progress for decades. I would say. Even launched, it had been in the progress for decades. I would say I definitely think there's probably a point where it just won't be able to look further, but I really hope that point is really far out so far, I think. Recently, actually, it found galaxies that are 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Speaker 1: 25:28

That's a drop in the bucket.

Speaker 4: 25:30

That is only like 3% of the current age of the universe or something, and that was very recently actually. So I'm hoping that it can continue to look further, because we can answer a lot of fundamental questions about galaxies and stars and everything early on in the universe. So, yeah, hopefully we can keep going, but I'm sure there is a limit to it, as everything we humans make has a limit to it.

Speaker 1: 25:59

And the fun question for you is why are you so excited about the Europa Clipper? What is that for people that maybe don't know who are listening and they're like what's that?

Speaker 4: 26:09

Yeah, so when I was little and getting into space and everything, I always, like every kid, I always looked up at the moon and stars that I could see from home and ask myself questions about what, the scale of everything. And so as a kid, you just so, I was just wondering who's out there and I would even think about people being on the moon and stuff like that. Obviously, as a kid you're not really you don't know. That kind of sparked the question of aliens, life out there and everything. I say the word aliens, which I know people automatically think of the green men, but that's not what I'm. That's why I hesitate to use that word. Extraterrestrial life.

Speaker 4: 26:58

We'll say that I would always question what's out there and I did not learn until college that was called astrobiology, because astrobiology is a relatively newer field compared to everything else because of how technology is and everything. It didn't really get established until, let's say, the nineties or so. Don't quote me on that. But yeah, it's a newer field compared to everything else and I was like, oh yeah, like I've always been interested in this, I've always been asking questions about what's out there. I just didn't know what it was called.

Speaker 4: 27:31

So that kind of just sparked my interest in that, made me realize this is what I've always been into, and I was actually doing research for a class presentation and that's when I found out about ocean worlds and including Europa and Enceladus and all the icy moons, and was just so incredibly interested and I was like this is amazing, why are we not talking about this more? These are moons in our solar system that are, you would think, with how far out there, with how cold it is out there, that there's nothing exciting about them. And come to find out with other spacecraft that have traveled around them. We've found a lot of evidence to support that there's these vast oceans underneath them and who knows what could be going on in those oceans? Who knows how deep they are.

Speaker 4: 28:24

You know these kinds of things, and so to me it just seemed like something out of science fiction, honestly and I was incredibly interested and I was like, wow, wow, like Europa Clipper, like that sounds so exciting, I would love to work on that one day. And then, lo and behold, a few years later we get into grad school and that's what I'm going to be working on. Obviously, I can't say too much about it, but yeah, I'll be doing. I'll be doing is secret, but I'll be doing like chemistry related things with its ocean and stuff. So it's just, it's crazy to think about. You know the connection there and how far I came that's very cool.

Speaker 1: 29:02

Yeah, so is europa clipper. Is it landing on the moon? Is it doing? What is it doing? Can you?

Speaker 4: 29:11

yeah, so basically we hope to land on the moon one day, but clipper is not going to be landing on, it's just going to be orbiting jupiter and taking observations and everything.

Speaker 4: 29:21

But I have to always preface to people with clipper we're not trying to find life, we're just trying to determine if europa is even habitable, because obviously you can't answer the second question without answering the first question.

Speaker 4: 29:37

So first we gotta figure out is this moving even habitable, before we can even take the next step to be like, okay, let's land something on it, let's take a sample from the ice shell, something like that, and analyze it, whatever. So yeah, it's just gonna be doing orbits and flybys and everything. But I do think it's gonna get incredible data, because the other spacecraft that have been in that area juno, galileo, etc. They they weren't designed to look at these moons, so everything that they got is just with whatever instruments they have. But now Europa Clipper is going to be specifically designed for analyzing the chemistry and figuring out how thick the ice shell is and all that stuff. So that's even more exciting because we have a spacecraft that's actually designed for these purposes now and I really hope not trying to be too biased or anything, but I hope we get some exciting results from it. It's not going to get there until 2030 something.

Speaker 1: 30:37

That was my question.

Speaker 4: 30:38

Yeah, it's not going to get there for almost a decade, but it'll still be exciting. I hope that we get, we find out something cool I don't know about the life question. You never know is the thing you never know.

Speaker 1: 30:52

Gotcha, yeah, cause Jupiter's a bit away, right Like it takes you, it is so it's going to take a while.

Speaker 4: 30:59

Yeah, because even to get to Mars, which is our neighbor, so to speak, it takes seven months. So imagine Jupiter, which is even more far out than Mars.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Yeah, that's wild. I believe I'm sure you've seen the movie interstellar.

Speaker 4: 31:14

No, I'm joking because I've seen your tweets about it so much. Yes, yeah, I love interstellar.

Speaker 1: 31:20

Um, but that was a shocking thing, was you know? They had to fly to that wormhole-y thing and they it was so far away like it took them years to get there.

Speaker 4: 31:30

Yeah, and that was at saturn, which is even further than jupiter.

Speaker 1: 31:34

Yeah, wow, that's wild. As soon as you can tell the world about what's going on or maybe it'll be nasa or whatever we're like everybody who's a space nut, like me we're gonna be hanging on every word I know that you wrote the first bits out no, for real.

Speaker 4: 31:50

The Bennu news was already so exciting People were, and that was just an asteroid right, and that news was already making people so excited the prospect of that coming from an ocean world and everything. So imagine Clipper. I know people are on the edge of their seats for that one because that's the first mission of its kind that's centered around astrobiology, because the rest of our missions have been just orbiting worlds and taking data and whatever, but they're not centered around habitability. So this is like the first mission that is centered around habitability of another world. So I can imagine everybody that is, you know, even interested in it is just losing their minds. And and me too, because we only have a few months until it launches Fingers crossed that I can attend that launch. I really want to, but that's going to be historic because I've been waiting for it to launch for a long time.

Speaker 1: 32:44

I feel like in the next 20 years, we're in this golden age of space exploration, where all of these different projects are going to be coming online and there's going to be people landing on the moon in the next five to six years, right like the nasa's landing people on the moon soon. That's why yeah, it's a great time.

Speaker 4: 33:06

Yeah, it's a really great time. I always tell people it's such a great time to be involved in this field. I'm so happy I'm I'm in it at this time because technology is advancing at such an incredible rate. Like I said, I keep mentioning web, but I'm serious. Web is like one of the best engineering marvels that we've made in the modern era.

Speaker 4: 33:29

We have that, and then we have these other telescopes that are launching Euclid we just got some images from that which that one has a different purpose to web, but it's still really important and, like I said, all these other spacecraft that are coming. So it's just, it's amazing. I love being able to talk about it and that's why, to me, I think hopefully in my lifetime we can answer the question of being alone, if not get like very close to it, because I think at the rate we're going, we're on the precipice I've heard other space science communicators say that like it could be any day now with our technology, or like either close to home or really far away absolutely the fact that we can also observe if we just step out of our solar system for a second even exoplanets, the fact that we can observe them and get incredible data from them, from, like I said, webb and Roman telescope and all these other scopes that we have.

Speaker 4: 34:28

It's incredible. We're looking at worlds that are thousands of light years away. That might even seem promising. I know people have hopes for the Trappist system and stuff like that. Yeah, looking into their atmospheres and seeing what's going on. That blows my mind. We can never send spacecraft there because they're way too far away, but we can still, from Earth, look at their atmospheres and what's going on a thousand years ago there was life on earth.

Speaker 1: 34:57

So whatever little james webb civilization I kind of mess it up a civilization a thousand light years away would, with web technology, could say oh, this, this planet here, is promising. We are pretty small compared to, I think, some of the planets that Webb has been looking at.

Speaker 4: 35:16

They're usually quite a bit larger. We are yes.

Speaker 1: 35:19

I like people.

Speaker 4: 35:20

I like when people find that out. That's why I like posting images of Earth from so far away, because it gives people a different perspective, because I don't think we realize, if we spend our whole lives here, that we're so small, we are so tiny. Pale blue dot is just that image I think everybody should see once in their lives, because it's just that's us, the little tiny I. I was showing it to my friends the other day and I was like look at how small. And they're like where is it? And I had to zoom in yeah, on the earth and was like that's us. And they're like, oh, my god, you just gave me an existential crisis. I was like, yeah, sorry about that, but it helps to know, it helps to you know.

Speaker 4: 36:00

zoom out.

Speaker 1: 36:02

The whole cosmic cosmology, one of the. I think, like I teach high school science. It is a unifying thing. It doesn't matter what your religion is or if you have one. It doesn't matter where you live on earth or who you love. We are all tied to this rock. Everything that we know is on this little blip, and it behooves us to get along despite our differences.

Speaker 4: 36:34

I know I've been emphasizing that a lot recently because obviously I'm not going to get a deal, but everything going on recently I just it helps to just stop and think about that for a second. That's why sometimes I'll just post a little picture of earth and be like, hey, this is us, like just remember, we are all here, we're all same species at the end of the day and we should get along. We should protect our planet, especially because it's temporary, and I know people are hopeful about getting to mars or doing this and that, getting off the the planet, but it's, if that even is possible, that's not going to happen in our lifetimes at all. That takes a lot of planning.

Speaker 1: 37:15

That's thousands, and thousands of years away.

Speaker 4: 37:17

Exactly. It's going to take a lot of planning. It's taking us a while to even go back to the moon, and that's right there. So imagine going even further than that and establishing some kind of sustainable presence somewhere. That's not going to happen in our lives.

Speaker 1: 37:31

So we have to at least protect the planet while we're here and preserve it for future generations yeah, yeah, so one of our canada has a astronaut that's on the artemis mission, artemis 2, jeremy hansen. Yeah, we, I was lucky enough to actually hear him speak. He's a, a great speaker and he's not even landing on the moon. That's how hard space is. They're just going around the moon to make sure all of their technology is good. Like back in the space race between the Americans and the Russians, there was a bunch of tries. They went around the moon. It's just so hard. Space is very difficult.

Speaker 4: 38:11

It is. It's just so hard. Space is very difficult. It is, and that's why I try not to argue with people when it comes to them saying the same old, why has it taken us 50 plus years just to go back to the moon? Like, why aren't we going further? Blah, blah, blah. And it's like you don't realize how difficult it is.

Speaker 4: 38:25

Like you said back then, like in the apollo era, first of all, there was a lot of funding, so they were able to keep on just going back and forth. Second of all, we was a lot of funding, so they were able to keep on going back and forth. Second of all, we lost a lot of lives. So, yes, we ended up on the moon and it was awesome, but we did lose a lot of lives in the process of doing that, and so obviously, nasa doesn't want that to happen again. They don't want another disaster like Challenger, columbia or the Apollo disaster, so they're being very careful. So I don't care, frankly, how long it takes them. I want it to be successful and, honestly, we should just be excited that we're seeing, we're going to witness another moon landing in our lifetime, the first for a lot of us the first for me and everybody that's younger than 50 plus, so I'm just excited that I'll get to witness somebody walk on the moon in my lifetime.

Speaker 1: 39:18

That is going to be a wild moment. Like the whole world is going to stop when that happens.

Speaker 4: 39:24

Yeah, because the original moon landing was like one of the most watched television events in history. So, this one will probably beat it. Television events in history.

Speaker 1: 39:34

So this one will probably beat it. Yeah, I've talked about the nasa's budget before. During the space race, nasa, I think, had four percent of the american total federal spending yeah and now it's less than 0.5, right? So, um, and that that's everything. The 0.5 percent and what nasa's been able to accomplish is pretty amazing oh yeah, can you imagine what it would be like if it was four percent?

Speaker 1: 40:03

that's bananas. Yeah, anyways, so you answered it. I I always ask any space communicator I have on the show if you think we're alone or if you think there's life out there. So, just on the record, what do you think, jasmine?

Speaker 4: 40:23

Yeah, I think there's just no possible way that we are alone. Just from the sheer size of everything and the fact that the universe is, I don't think there's any possible way that this planet was just out of everything, is just the only one that happened to get lucky, so to speak. But now when I talk about aliens, I'll use that word again Again. People always think what in movies? But I'm just talking about any life in general, and that could mean bacteria. So I think people need to realize, even if we find bacterial life somewhere else, that is huge, because people are always just hoping it's intelligent life. And in my opinion, I think intelligent life is super duper rare. I think it's out there, but I just don't think it's as common as just bacteria. It's the conditions it would take to evolve all the way to intelligent life Just not as common. I think it would take a long time as well, because it took a long time on earth for us to even get here.

Speaker 1: 41:24

So, yeah, it's such a fun conversation.

Speaker 4: 41:28

It is. I love talking about it with people. It definitely is anxiety inducing to think about, but I don't know. It's comforting at the same time to think, huh, there's someone else out there exploring. Maybe they're asking the same thing about being alone or whatever Cause thing. There could be civilizations more advanced than us. There could be civilizations less advanced than us, who knows? And, sad to say, I don't know if we'll ever be able to communicate because, like I said, the sheer distances and our technological limitations. But I at least hope we find bacteria somewhere because that'll still answer the question right.

Speaker 1: 42:10

Finding bacteria will be like oh yeah, that's it, that's life. Yeah, maybe on Europa, who knows? So, before we get to some of our standard questions, I have to give you props for your Twitter account, or your ex account, or whatever we're calling it.

Speaker 4: 42:19

Twitter yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:20

You have a massive following of highly engaged followers. Like your tweets go huge. You get better engagement than like legit organizations that are trying to know.

Speaker 4: 42:35

Sometimes I like get more than nasa and I'm like, why no?

Speaker 1: 42:39

but that's very props to you. Congratulations. That's awesome, like we're on twitter too, and we, we do, we all whenever we're tweeting about things as well. Sometimes we do better than the news in canada. We always do better than the news in canada because nobody cares about what's happening up here. Why do you think that is? Do you have? Do you sit there and wonder sometimes?

Speaker 4: 42:58

I do. If we go back to like how it all began, I basically started doing this in 2020. So, like peak COVID time, and it was because at the time, I was a junior in college I yeah, I was a junior, sophomore junior and I was like I should probably start networking in my field because I was hoping to get an internship at the time and do all these things. So I was like how can I do that? And obviously LinkedIn comes to mind. But I didn't want to use LinkedIn because that place scares me and, frankly, it's a weird place.

Speaker 4: 43:37

I'm sorry and a lot of people just don't even really talk about it. I know people use it, but it's like nobody's thinking LinkedIn anymore. So I was like let's do social media, because I know people use social media for a variety of reasons, and so I was like there's definitely scientists on there, so I can try and do that. And so Twitter came to mind, because I'd already had an account, a personal one, but I didn't really use it, so I just repurposed it to a science one and just started going from there. I just started searching people to follow and was starting to tweet just things about space, whether it was pictures or facts or news or whatever just things about space, whether it was pictures or facts or news or whatever. And lo and behold, it just grew and grew, eventually at a very exponential rate, which was far beyond what I ever thought was going to happen. But I'm super grateful for it because it really has changed my life. I've gotten so many opportunities from it.

Speaker 1: 44:36

That's awesome.

Speaker 4: 44:37

Yeah, I did end up getting a NASA internship, I would argue. So many opportunities from it. That's awesome. Yeah, I did end up getting a NASA internship, I would argue. Twitter helped me with that and I've done a lot of things, like this podcast right now. I've done a lot of interviews I hope to do more in the future and I went to NASA social, which was super awesome. Got some other people and I got into grad school.

Speaker 4: 44:55

Like I said, I would say Twitter has helped with a lot of things and that's why, despite whatever people are saying, despite the way that things are going with that platform, I could never leave it. I could never leave it because it's I have too big of a platform, I have too much of a connection to it to leave.

Speaker 1: 45:15

And also, I think not to be not to toot my own horn, but I do think that I brighten people's days with my tweets absolutely so I just could never leave with everything that's happened yeah, you're, I'm just looking at the one that I you know, the one that I'm looking at right now, you can't two, two million views on it.

Speaker 4: 45:37

It was one definitely blue, nasa's actual.

Speaker 1: 45:45

I think it's just your. It comes across very genuine right? Yeah, I think anyone.

Speaker 4: 45:50

Yeah, typing in all caps definitely helps, but I do that because that's genuinely how I feel. I mean it's I want to express my excitement for these things, which is why, like when a new James Webb image comes out, or even new Hubble image whatever, I'll put it in all caps, guys, new image. Because that's just genuinely how I feel when I see it, and obviously you can only interpret tone through text. You know so much. So I try to make it seem like yes, I'm very excited. I want you to know I'm very excited, and I would also argue that putting things in all caps like draws more attention, like people are like oh, she has something to say. So, yeah, I think people get the enthusiasm from the tweets, which I'm glad.

Speaker 4: 46:34

That's how I am. I'm genuinely so passionate about it. When I talk about it to you, my hands are moving all over the place, my eyes light up. I just love. I love that. I love being passionate about something like this, because I'm very fortunate that my passion I stuck with since childhood. How many people can say they stuck with their childhood dream?

Speaker 5: 46:55

That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 46:56

Yeah, folks who listen to the podcast know that I have. A huge part of my heart is space science, and I can just listen to people talk about space for hours. Just tell me space facts, I'll just sit back. It's the greatest. So yeah, and of course, we'll have a link to your Twitter or X account. That's an astro underscore Jazz, j-a-z or J-A-Z for the American. We ask all our guests to share a pet story from their life. The Science Podcast mixes science happening in the human world and science in the pet's world, and I was wondering if you could share a pet story with us story with us.

Speaker 4: 47:39

Oh man, I will just. I love my pets dearly. I have quite.

Speaker 2: 47:41

I have a few so I have a turtle named squishy.

Speaker 4: 47:42

Oh what? Yeah, she's turning 11. Actually that's crazy. And then I have a cat named flapjack who is like eight, nine years old and then two dogs, bubby and o Ozzy. Bubby is an English Mastiff, so a massive dog. He is 220 pounds and yeah, mastiffs are no joke.

Speaker 1: 48:04

I didn't know you had a Mastiff. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4: 48:06

Jazzy, I do, that's Bubby yeah.

Speaker 1: 48:08

Oh my God, I totally missed that.

Speaker 4: 48:11

Yeah, he's huge and we got him. He is a COVID dog, so unfortunately he did not have the greatest of training, so he's sweet to us but not sweet to other people, but he's still the greatest and I love him very much. And then ozzy is my dog. I got him my senior year of college. He's a lab, he's a red fox lab, so different color lab and love him too. Those are brothers. They cannot, they cannot be separated, which is so funny considering their sizes. Bubby is literally three times ozzy's size and ozzy will just play with him like it's any other dog. But yeah, I love them to death.

Speaker 1: 48:53

I'm trying to think stories like a funny one, because anything just even telling us about your pets is very cool, like I knew about Ozzy, but I did not know about the puppy is great, it just sucks.

Speaker 4: 49:04

You know his I mean his size like it's a good and bad thing, because when we take him to the vet or grooming or anything he would get eyes the amount of people that have asked me can I get a picture of your dog or what kind of dog is that? Or you have kids pointing at him and all that stuff. It's he gets a lot of attention. They even call him a horse. I mean he is like when I stand up, he's like to my waist, just standing up on all fours. He's like at my waist because people have never seen. I didn't even know before. Before we got him I had no idea what breed that was. I was like massive. Yeah, I didn't even know. Before we got him I had no idea what breed that was. I was like Mastiff. Yeah, I didn't even know dogs could get that big. I just knew about like Great Danes and stuff. But he's great. Definitely, once he gets to know you, he's a bundle of joy. He's a gentle giant, so to speak. But at first he's not and it's just, like I said, his circumstances. But yeah, that's a little bit about them.

Speaker 4: 49:57

Funny story. I guess putting him in the car is quite the task, I will say. We literally have to lift his back legs because he'll put like half of his body, so he'll put the front two paws. You have to get the back two in the car and it's quite the task, very bad. He also has a lot of anxiety just so bad. But he's a baby to me, so despite being more than I weigh, he's two of me. But and he's a lap dog too, he will. If you're sitting on the couch, he'll put his weight on you and, oh my goodness, it hurts a lot, but you just can't do anything about it. You just have to accept what's happening. Um, but yeah, I love my pets a lot, um, especially bubby and ozzy. So, oh, yeah, I try to post about them when I can I went.

Speaker 1: 50:44

I'm snooping through your media. I've got a. I've got a. If not, I can send you pictures but you've seen one he's a big guy, yeah, he's so big. I know it's just yeah, we think bunsen, our bernice mountain dog, is big and everybody thinks he's big, but compared to other big dogs he's not how much does he weigh?

Speaker 4: 51:02

he's?

Speaker 1: 51:02

only 100 pounds. Oh yeah, that's half of bubby. So that would be small to me yeah, exactly so for most people when they see him like he looks huge oh yeah, and I'm like you guys know that he's like. Like in the large breed, bernice Mountain dogs are the smallest of the large breeds. There's dogs out there which are monsters.

Speaker 4: 51:21

Yeah, exactly, but it's good to have a big dog. It's protection, even though, like I said, he's really not. He's lazy, he does protect, he does get protective, like I said. That's why, like in public, um, we try to tell people please do not come up to him. Like, let him come up to you. Sometimes he will just start sniffing people and he's fine, um, but we always tell people just don't come up to him.

Speaker 1: 51:47

We get so scared um, we even have to put a dog and try to give it yeah, we even have to put a muzzle on him sometimes, but it's just his circumstances.

Speaker 4: 51:56

We would have if it wasn't covid time. We would have definitely exposed him to more dogs and people, but it's the way it is yeah, our golden retrievers is like that with other dogs she's very slow to warm up because beaker was a covid puppy too, like everything shut down for dog socialization, yep, and that sucked for her.

Speaker 1: 52:16

So she's very slow to warm up to other dogs, but for people she just has that golden retriever oh, that's good. I was gonna say as a golden retriever, like yeah, you expect them to be so friendly oh yeah, she loves everybody with the force of a thousand hurricanes, so that's good but yeah, that's a little about me.

Speaker 4: 52:35

And then, like I said, ozzy, oh he is, I have stories about him. He plays you, he loves sticks. So like, he knows the word stick. So if we say, get me the stick, he'll go get you. And it's not a stick, mind you, it will be a branch, like a whole tree branch. You imagine a tiny dog, like a 70 pound dog, picking up a whole tree branch, running across the yard with it and he doesn't have spatial awareness so he doesn't know that the branch, if he swings his head it's gonna hit something. So there's so many times where we've had to tell him move him away, because the cars, if he hits one of the cars, will scratch us. We have to be so careful with him. But he loves sticks, he loves playing ball. We tell him can you give me the ball? He'll bring me the ball and play for God knows how long. And he likes going on walks too, every yeah. But those are his main things are stick and ball.

Speaker 1: 53:28

What a good life. Those are awesome stories about your pets, jasmine, thank you for sharing. As we close, one of the last things we challenge our guests to give us is a super fact. It's something that you know that blows people away when you tell them. I was wondering if you got a super fact for us in the tank.

Speaker 4: 53:45

Yes, technically, I just posted one today and it was something that I told my friends a few days ago. So I just remembered it, because I always tell people the same we're made of stardust thing, which I know a lot of people know. At this point, I'm always tell people the same we're made of stardust thing, which I know a lot of people know. At this point I'm still. I still think it blows people's minds but yeah, we are made of stardust.

Speaker 4: 54:05

But the one I wanted to share was that we so basically, the last time that every human was on earth was in october of 2000. So if you were born after then, you have not been on earth with everyone else at the same time, because ever since then, we've been continuously sending people to the ISS. So there's always been at least one person on the ISS and then everyone else is on earth. So I just tweeted that today and a lot of people liked it. But that was something I remembered and I don't know why. That's just so crazy to me. Oh my God, I was born like, not to like, a few months before we had one person go up to space at least that is.

Speaker 1: 54:42

I love that one, that's a real. It's a different one, Makes you think, right.

Speaker 4: 54:47

It does. Yeah, so there we go. We've always had someone in space for almost 24 years.

Speaker 1: 54:54

Very cool and maybe in our lifetime there'll be a time where it will be the moon. There'll always be somebody on the moon.

Speaker 4: 55:02

Yes, I hope so. I think that's definitely more doable than Mars. People are, like I said, they're very enthusiastic about Mars. Maybe they watched the Martian and they were inspired or something. But yeah, I think the moon is more doable to have a base there, a sustainable presence. Mars maybe that's a little.

Speaker 1: 55:21

Let's push the pause button I think nasa needs its four percent back to get to mars quickly, I do oh my god.

Speaker 4: 55:28

Yes, I've definitely been. No, I'm serious, I've definitely been pushing for, I've tweeted about it, and so because I think it's important that people know, because there are the people that say why do we care about this? Because we need to focus on Earth. And it's actually. Nasa does care about Earth a lot. They do a lot of things with Earth, and I would also argue that space exploration does help us on Earth. We discover a lot of things and they help us, and a lot of technology that was originally intended for space exploration helped on earth. I try to tell people and also, we can care about both. I think people forget we can care about earth and space at the same time.

Speaker 1: 56:07

I feel that if somebody's telling you that on a cell phone that's talking to, a satellite in outer space.

Speaker 5: 56:15

They, they've kind of lost the plot about why space exploration is so important.

Speaker 4: 56:20

I know I could go on and on about it. It's like we should know more about the solar system and where we came from, actually, and we don't even know everything about Earth. Don't get me started on the oceans thing. We don't really know anything about the oceans, which is terrifying. We don't even know everything about our own planet.

Speaker 1: 56:39

yeah I talked to dr dawn right. Uh, she went to challenger deep, which is the deepest part of the ocean is so crazy. Yeah, dr dawn is amazing and that was just it was wild listening to her story going down in the submersible not the sketchy one piloted by a PlayStation. It's called limiting factor anyways, and it was a great conversation.

Speaker 4: 57:02

That's so crazy to think about because the ocean is. That's another story. I definitely think people talk about aliens. They're on our own planet. Have you seen deep sea creatures?

Speaker 1: 57:13

or an octopus. Exactly, they're like they. Evolution went one way and the octopus were like nah bro, they went a different way yeah, and honestly, that's why.

Speaker 4: 57:25

So people talk about if we go back to europe, actually, if we tie it all together, people talk why is if there's no sunlight hitting the ocean? Right, because there's a big crust of ice that we don't know how thick is A thick crust of ice covering it. There's no sunlight hitting it. How would life even survive? Earth is a perfect example. We can also use that to help us, because there are organisms extremophiles, as we call them that survive in very extreme environments, and we have the ones at the bottom of the ocean hydrothermal vents. There's no sunlight, but they're still surviving, and so it is. That's literally aliens to me, the fact that we have organisms that can survive in like volcanoes and like super hot places, super cold places, super toxic places. I think that's blows my mind and that definitely makes extraterrestrial life more possible.

Speaker 1: 58:20

That makes me feel better about living in a place where our winters are colder than on Mars. So thanks, we are a bit of extremophiles up here in Canada. On the other end, you're moving to San Antonio, texas, which I have on good authority from Texans that during the summer it's the seventh circle of hell, or something like that. That is what they quote.

Speaker 4: 58:44

Yeah, I've already heard from the students. We wish you well. Thank you, yeah, because when I visited it was in March, so obviously that's not the peak yet. The peak is like summertime. So I'm nervous because I'll be leaving at the end of this month and so, yeah, what I've been told is just don't go outside, which I was like yeah, that's makes sense to me not to go outside same thing when it's minus 40 for us.

Speaker 1: 59:07

Yeah, just don't go outside, I guess the good part is.

Speaker 4: 59:10

I guess the good part is I sadly won't be having my dogs with me, but I guess that's a good thing in a way, because I wouldn't want to subject them to that. The heat here is already bad enough, like when I took them to get groomed, like a week ago, and the pavement when they came out, the pavement was so hot they were doing the little dance thing with their paws.

Speaker 4: 59:27

And I felt so bad I was like no, we're going to get in the car. Like just wait for dogs yeah, early in the morning and homes with air conditioning.

Speaker 1: 59:41

And yeah, dogs do okay in Texas for sure yeah. Jasmine, this has been a blast talking to you. I wanted to uh pick your brain for a while, um, and thank you for saying yes to being our guest oh yes, I can always yap about space. And we're just wishing you the best and your future is very bright and we just hope you just keep reaching for the stars. You'll get there, or at least a probe will that. You'll be analyzing the data from.

Speaker 4: 1:00:10

Absolutely. Yeah, that's crazy to me that Clipper is going to be in space and I'm going to be doing stuff with that, but that's oh. I don't even want to think about how crazy that is.

Speaker 1: 1:00:21

Besides your Twitter account, do you have anything any place else that you'd like people to know about, where they can connect with you? Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 4: 1:00:29

I have Instagram as well. I started using it a little more just because I wanted to vary my content a bit, and so Instagram is a different way to do that. So it's also Astro Jazz, but it has two underscores instead of one. And then I also have my blog, astrojazzspace. So go there. I'm going to have to update that soon, but, yeah, my Twitter and Instagram are like my main.

Speaker 1: 1:00:53

Okay, have yourself a great night and thanks for being a guest and good luck going down to Texas there. Okay.

Speaker 5: 1:00:58

Okay, have yourself a great night and thanks for being a guest and good luck going down to Texas there. Okay, it is time for Storytime with me, adam. If you don't know what Storytime is, is that Bernoulli? Bernoulli's going because Annalise is messing with him. It's time for Storytime with me, adam. If you don't know what Storytime is, storytime is when we talk about that have happened, happened within the past one or two weeks. Um, I'll tell a story this story is more about. I'll tell the story this story is more about.

Speaker 5: 1:01:27

Um, uh, like annalise and I and the dogs more okay, so we've been having popcorn at our house a lot recently. One way or another, the dogs get popcorn and then they start begging and then they start doing cute things for the popcorn, and I'm used to it, so like I can tell them no, but Annalise keeps giving them popcorn. So Annalise and I are slowly creating popcorn monsters of the dogs. So, like, bernoulli will come over and he'll try to jump up and he can't get on the couch just yet, so I'll just keep trying until you give him popcorn, and then Beaker will sit down and do her cute face, and then Bunsen will stand there and breathe on you until you give him popcorn Cause he breathes very loud and very hot, like after he breathes on you. There's like a layer of of bunsen which is gross, um. So he grosses you out until you, until you give him food. But they will. They know popcorn now and they like it. They like popcorn. That's. My story is about the dogs becoming popcorn monsters. Dad, do you have a story?

Speaker 1: 1:02:38

It's been a couple of weeks since we had a family section. Adam was gone at the Calgary Stampede last week and Chris was sick. So you know a couple of developments that we can let you in on is, beaker started dock diving again and she goes one or two times a week. It's been really fun taking her for a little stints. It's something just for her. She loves to swim, she loves to retrieve from the water and incrementally I think she's getting better.

Speaker 1: 1:03:10

And on the Bunsen health update, he had a CAT scan a couple of weeks ago at the of June and we were hoping for blood tests. His blood tests to come back to like kind of like pinpoint exactly why he had muscle atrophy on the one side of his head. The CAT scan luckily showed no cancer. So now they're thinking it could be teeth or something in his blood like a autoimmune disorder or something like that. So we'll let everybody know when we when we get that back. But I I don't really see him having any other health issues like he's still the same bunsen he was weeks ago. Um, so again, that's why the vet, as they were going through his cat's kind of, they were saying you know, like with cancer it gets worse and worse over time. Um, you'll see some other things and if it's in the his brain or his mouth, like, you'll see some other things that start to happen. So, yeah, so we'll let you guys know when we know a little bit more and we have a treatment plan for him, hopefully.

Speaker 5: 1:04:11

And that's my stories of the week um, mom stepped out of the room so we can have our special guest right now, annalise. She has a story and she'll tell it right now. Annalise, what's your story?

Speaker 2: 1:04:25

Sorry, we just had some more popcorn, as Adam was saying earlier. Yeah, so I'm going to actually just try and redeem myself, because I, we were on the couch and we were all watching a show you know, having a good time. And, yeah, bernoulli looked at me with his sad little puppy eyes and was like give me popcorn, give me popcorn please. And I couldn't resist. I'm sorry, and all the dogs know that now. So every time I eat, they come up to me and they're like can I have some food? And I'm like yes, you can, of course, you've been such a good dog. Here's all the food. And then Adam's like stop it, you're making monsters of them. And I'm like they're not monsters. Look at them, they're not monsters. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that they're not monsters. That's just Adam's lie. That's my story.

Speaker 1: 1:05:29

I don't know, brunelli can be kind of a bitey monster sometimes.

Speaker 5: 1:05:33

Mom, do you have a story?

Speaker 3: 1:05:35

I sure do. My story has to do with this past week, but today I got it on video. Bernoulli went for a swim in Beaker's Pond, beaker's Slough.

Speaker 1: 1:05:51

Actually it's called Lake Norbert. Now the internet has named it that.

Speaker 3: 1:05:55

Okay, lake Norbert, anyway, bernoulli. Let's just back up. The other day we were walking and we had the three dogs and they were all off leash and Jason said moose. And there was a moose running not towards us, thank God. But now we have to corral all the dogs. So I am trying to get Beaker, I'm trying to get Bunsen, you're trying to get Bernoulli. It was a gong show. We get down to Beaker's Slough, also known as Lake Norbert, and they went for a swim and Bernoulli went for a swim and I didn't get it on tape because it was just too chaotic. The moose, the dogs, it was chaotic. But today I thought I'm just going to have the camera rolling because that's what Jason says. He's like. You just have to have the camera rolling because you've got a cute moment with Bunsen, andernoulli, where bunsen was hugging bernoulli.

Speaker 3: 1:06:58

Today, yeah, and you just have to have the camera rolling. Anyway, I had the camera rolling. Bernoulli went into lake norbert. I followed him and it went and went deep and I went all the way up to my waist. My boots are soaked, my rubber boots and I got Bernoulli swimming and he swims the exact same way as Bunsen.

Speaker 1: 1:07:27

Meaning that his.

Speaker 3: 1:07:29

It's terrible. His like bum is in the water and his paws are reaching up for the sky. It's definitely a non-swimmer ladder drowning experience.

Speaker 1: 1:07:42

He swims vertically just like bunsen he swims vertically. Anyway, that's my story but he went in the pond himself right like nobody forced him. He went in there. There was no forcing.

Speaker 3: 1:07:55

There was no forcing. He he was like oh, this was like from yesterday or this was from there. Oh, there was no forcing. There was no forcing. He was like oh, this was like from yesterday or this was from the other day where there was the moose. Beaker was looking for the moose today.

Speaker 2: 1:08:05

Yeah, she was, she was.

Speaker 3: 1:08:06

She was on point. She's like I think there might be a moose and I'm going to look for it and I'm like, oh no, please. But yeah, no, Bernoulli, definitely. He went in all by himself and then we rinsed him off so he doesn't smell like disgusting slew.

Speaker 5: 1:08:24

Thank you so much for listening to my section of the podcast, thank you for sticking through to story time and, yeah, I hope to see you all on the next podcast episode.

Speaker 1: 1:08:34

Bye, bye. That's it for this week's show. Thanks for coming back week after week to listen to the Science Podcast. Special thanks to our amazing guest this week, jasmine Singh, and to all of our top-tier patrons. On the Paw Pack Plus, you can join to support us. Check out the show notes. And, chris, as a perk, people get to hear their names, so take it away.

Speaker 3: 1:08:56

Bianca Hyde, mary Reiter. As a perk, people get to hear their names, so take it away. Bianca Hyde, mary Ryder, tracy Domingue, susan Wagner, Andrew Lin, helen Chin, tracy Halberg, amy C, jennifer Smathers, laura Stephenson, holly Birch, brenda Clark, anne Uchida, peggy McKeel, terry Adam, debbie Anderson, sandy Brimer, tracy Leinbaugh, marianne McNally, fun Lisa, shelley Smith, julie Smith, diane Allen, brianne Haas, linda Sherry, carol McDonald, catherine Jordan, courtney Proven, donna Craig, wendy, diane Mason and Luke Liz Button, kathy Zerker and Ben Rathart.

Speaker 1: 1:09:42

For science, empathy and cuteness.