SoT 288: The Fly On Kauai With The Lavae
Channel: Science on Top
Date: 2018-03-13

SoT 288: The Fly On Kauai With The Lavae
http://scienceontop.com/288

In April 2015, unusually heavy thunderstorms flooded Chile's Atacama desert, the second driest region in the world. This messed up the plans of researchers there to study life in the Mars-like desert, but it also told them more about how life can survive in long periods of drought.
Two Dutch researchers have looked at more than 100 examples of dice from the last 2,000 years. This huge collection can give us some clues about how people have thought about chance, fate and probability over the centuries.
The crickets on the Hawaiian island of Kawaii have gone quiet. They're still there, they're still trying to chirp, but they're not making any sound.
There are 167 known species of tardigrades - the virtually indestructible eight-legged micro-animals. But the recently discovered 168th has unusual eggs.
And speaking of tardigrades, Shayne has some feels about Star Trek: Discovery.

This episode contains traces of the Today Extra TV program discussing a study that didn't suggest eating McDonald's fries could cure baldness.

http://scienceontop.com/288

Chapters:
00:00:26 Science on Top http://scienceontop.com/
00:01:04 Weird Life Found in Earth's Driest Soil https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/weird-life-found-earth-driest-soil-atacama-desert-mars-science/
00:09:27 The Shape of Ancient Dice Suggests Shifting Beliefs in Fate and Chance https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/dice-dice-baby/553742/
00:16:23 These Crickets Can't Sing Anymore - But They're Still Trying https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/these-crickets-cant-sing-anymorebut-theyre-still-trying/553262/
00:22:53 An Even-Weirder-Than-Usual Tardigrade Just Turned Up in a Parking Lot https://www.space.com/39852-weird-tardigrade-found-parking-lot.html
00:26:31 Star Trek: Discovery 
00:29:02 Science on Top http://scienceontop.com/