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Better Than Human the Podcast: Your favorite science biology podcast, where each week we pick an animal or topic to illuminate how fascinating our subject is and prove, once and for all, humans are not the epitome of the evolutionary chain.
134 Episodes
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The monarch is a common butterfly, found in the Americas that is considered a poster species of pollinating insects. The monarch butterfly is easily recognizable because of its bright black, orange, and white patterns. Monarch butterflies are a parasite to their caterpillars’ only food source, milkweed. This plant itself is toxic to thwart insects from consuming its plant body, this includes an attempt to be toxic to monarchs. This has resulted in an evolutionary arms race between the two spe...
In this episode, Jennifer and Amber explore the history of the potatoes. Or as a hobbit would say, "Po-tay-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew." However you like them, potatoes have changed the world. Jennifer insists potatoes are not roots or stems, but they’re tubers. Amber insists they are technically a specialized stem called a stolon. These tubers evolved to store food for potato plants when resources were scarce. The Native Americans living in what is now Peru quickly realized...
Most widely known as the 'feel good chemical,' dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the pleasure area of the brain's reward system that plays a role in many important body functions, including movement, memory, and pleasurable reward and motivation. But do you really know what Dopamine really is, and what it actually does in your brain? Or how it works in other parts of your body, or even how other life forms use it?Dopamine is made up of a benzene ring, which is one of the most important c...
Dragonflies are some of the fastest flying insects in the world. With 360-degree vision, they can eat hundreds of insects per day, including those pesky mosquitoes and other biting insects. Their adaptations for flying are unique among insects and so precise that humans can only dream of being able to someday make machines that fly as well as dragonflies.Dragonflies are similar in structure to an ancient group of insects informally called Griffinflies, which contains some of the largest flyin...
Goblin Sharks are a species of rare sharks found in the deepest oceans throughout the world. The goblin shark gets its name from its terrifying unhinged mouth that is full of razor sharp teeth. These sharks use a stealth attack to float through the ocean until close enough to swallow their prey. (Its low-density and large liver make it buoyant, allowing it to drift towards its prey with minimal motions to avoid detection). Which mean, what the goblin shark wants to eat, will not see it coming...
Penguins are flightless aquatic birds that are almost exclusively found in the Southern Hemisphere. Penguins are evolved to catch fast-swimming prey and to live in cold temperatures. Their bodies have densely packed feathers, heavy muscles and huge fat supplies. Because of these adaptations penguins have lost their ability to fly, and while they might not look graceful on land, they are incredibly agile in the water. There was a penguin-like bird living in the Northern Hemisphere, the Gr...
Regardless of what people may think or believe, the coral reefs are going extinct, and humans are to blame. Why should you care, besides the fact that coral reefs are living animals that deserve their chance to thrive? Because coral reefs are among the most diverse, complex and densely populated ecosystems and are often thought of as the rainforest of the ocean. Though they only take up 1% of the oceans, at least 25% of all ocean wildlife rely on the reefs at some point in their lives. C...
It has been estimated that over humanities history more than 50 billion people have been killed by mosquitoes. That is approximately half of all humans that have lived on this tiny blue dot killed by mosquitoes. For this reason, mosquitoes have been called man’s greatest nemesis.Mosquitoes are so dangerous to humans that some scientists have proposed eradicating them from this planet. Is that a good idea? Well, that’s up for debate. But what we do know is when we control the mosquito populati...
Peregrine Falcons are the clear winner to the question what is the fastest animal on the planet. Their top speed is double that of the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah. Peregrine falcons, also called duck hawks, are one of the most common falcons and birds of prey on this planet. They can be found on almost every continent, and they’ll happily live in a city or the countryside. You can thank them for helping keep the pigeon population in check in many cities. “Peregrine” means “W...
The Chinese zodiac stated that rats are creative, intelligent, honest, ambitious and generous hundreds of years before scientific studies proved all of these traits to actually be true. Except for, perhaps, honesty. Rats are among the most used research subjects and were the third animal, after humans and mice, to have their entire genome sequenced. Their genome proved that rats have accelerated evolutionary adaptation, meaning they evolve faster than most mammals. The fact that tw...
This week's episode is a re-run that is all about rats, the long-tailed rodents that tend to be looked down upon within our society. Rats, however, are intelligent, clean, social, and resourceful animals that can survive almost anywhere.Listen as we delve into the history of rats. What makes a rat, a rat? How are rats used in scientific research? (Spoiler alert, rats are used for a lot of research that impacts your daily life without you probably even realizing it.) How are rats perceived in ...
Algae. It's one of the greatest things on the planet and it's responsible for all life on Earth, including your life. But how much do you really know about this incredible species? Is it a plant? Why is it green? Can you eat it? Can we make it into fuel? What's up with algae blooms? Learn more in our newest episode where we talk about the benefits of algae and how it is better than human. Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1on Facebook @betterthanhumanpodcaston Instagram @bettertha...
This episode on the Villisca Axe Murder House, was recorded live inside the Villisca House, back in September of 2021. And guess what? Host Amber knew nothing about the history of the Villisca house before we started recording. Listen as Jennifer tells Amber the history of the house, from inside the house's living room. And, not only did Amber and Jennifer record an episode in the house, we spent the night there, recording the next morning and documented if anything occurred during ...
Caffeine is the most consumed stimulant on the planet. In fact, 90% of humans consume caffeine on a daily basis. Most people do not even think about this tiny molecule as they drink their morning coffee, or sip on their afternoon tea, or as their children chug soda at a birthday party. We’ve gone so far as to claim that it’s the sugar affecting the children, not the psychoactive drug they just consumed. And, humans aren’t the only animal addicted to caffeine. Bees prefer nectar with caffeine ...
Humanity might be the worst thing in the known universe, so why not take a break from that and learn about the non-mythical Unicorn of the Ocean, aka Narwhals. The first thing that comes up when you Google search Narwhals is “Do Narwhals still exist?” proving Amber isn’t the only one that thought they were a made up animal, and that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to this whale.Narwhals are not technically endangered. However, narwhals are especially threatened by climate change. Li...
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a cat-sized mammal native to the Himalayas and China. Despite being protected in all countries it has ranges in, the red pandas’ populations continue to decline. Red pandas are the original pandas; they were 'discovered' by Europeans first and their discovery gave rise to the name panda, and giant pandas were later named after them. However, we now know that red pandas and giant pandas are not related. So which species is the "true" panda? Depends on who you...
The Great American Interchange, also called Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI), is the epic geological event that occurred when the South American continent, which had been isolated for 50 million years, connected with the North American continent. The Great American Interchange is one of the most important events in the history of land mammals in the Americas.The landmass that is South American used to be home to many unique animals, like Australia is today. However, when t...
Axolotl. You’ve probably seen a picture of this cute, meme-worthy animal, but what do you really know about this captivating animal? Do you know the one place on earth where they're natively found? Do you know how few are left in the wild and what hinders conservation efforts? Why some consider them the fruit flies of amphibians? Or, perhaps the most important question, why are they so darn cute?The axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum, is a close relative to the tiger salamander. Native ...
The platypus is one of (or is) the weirdest animals on this planet. With its beaver-like tail, otter-like fur, and duck-like bill, the platypus looks like someone took leftover animal parts and sewed them together to make a hoax. When the first platypus arrived in England European scientists thought they were looking at a hoax, and we don’t blame them. If someone handed us a platypus with no context, we’d probably assume it was the jackalope of Australia. This Monotreme (a special group ...
Fruit Flies, Drosophila melanogaster, are easily the best understood multicellular organism on the planet. Why do we know so much about Drosophila? Who decided to start studying this fly? And why do we keep investing time and money to fruit fly studies?Drosophila and humans share over 60% of our DNA, and about 75% of known human disease genes have a match in the DNA of fruit flies. Meaning, most human diseases can be studied using fruit flies. Drosophila is currently being used as a genetic m...
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