Monster Month: Monster Mash

Monster Month meets its ghoulish end, and we’re throwing it a swinging wake! This week, all the monsters we didn’t talk about during the rest of October come together for a great big Monster Mash!

Halloween is my favorite time of year, and this one has been more than a little weird. But working on Monster Month helped make up for some of the creepy fun I'm missing out on, and I hope it did the same for you!

RIP Monster Month! For now...

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Stefan: @itsmestefanchin Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @slamschultz Hank: @hankgreen

If you want to learn more about any of our main topics, check out these links:

[Truth or Fail]

King Kong suit experiments

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(15)00946-X

https://www.livescience.com/52209-apes-remember-ancitipate-scary-movie-scenes.html

Thieving puppet experiment

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/research-with-thieving-puppets-demonstrates-toddlers-caring-sides/

Parrots wasting food

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/02/science/why-parrots-waste-food.html

Social interaction puppet experiment

https://munewsarchives.missouri.edu/news-releases/2015/0210-babies-can-identify-complex-social-situations-and-react-accordingly-2/

[Fact Off]

Birdcatcher tree

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-ecology/article/dispersal-and-germination-of-seeds-of-pisonia-grandis-an-indopacific-tropical-tree-associated-with-insular-seabird-colonies/60178D05BB8FFDED4565F2EB72E9061D

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-tree-seems-to-kill-birds-just-for-the-heck-of-it

https://www.academia.edu/16969627/_Birdlime_Sticky_Entrapments_in_Renaissance_Literature_

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/this-tree-lures-birds-with-a-free-lunch-and-then-kills-them/2017/03/31/27aa04c0-1309-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16882829.birds-killed-illegal-glue-traps-horsham-nature-reserve/

Bloodsucking (Capri Son) ant

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-12/uoia-dap120618.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9dsINb64Q0&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=AntLab

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dracula-ants-snapping-jaws-are-fastest-known-appendage-any-animal-180971061/#:~:text=According%20to%20Hannah%20Devlin%20of,them%20%E2%80%9Cfull%20of%20holes.%E2%80%9D

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/shadow-labyrinth-mirror-new-species-of-child-eating-dracula-ants-get-cool-ninja-names/

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/pp-snd032814.php

[Ask the Science Couch]

Organ transplants

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/programs/transplant-center/programs/kidney-pancreas/abo-incompatibility.html

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/transplant/programs/reconstructive_transplant/hand_transplant.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41423-019-0215-3

https://jbioleng.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13036-017-0089-9

Blood compatibility 

https://www.rch.org.au/bloodtrans/about_blood_products/Blood_Groups_and_Compatibilities/

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/programs/transplant-center/programs/kidney-pancreas/abo-incompatibility.html

[Butt One More Thing]

Yeti poop actually bears

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/yeti-legends-real-animals-dna-bears-himalaya-science/