POPULARITY
We had an exceptional Thursday crossword -- no rebuses (rebusae(?)), but an inspired theme from the most brilliant Joe Deeney. We cover it in detail in today's episode, and you can see Joe's oeuvre at xwordinfo.com as well.Show note imagery: Look, ma, it's a ZEDONK!We love feedback! Send us a text...Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!
Here are all the new 6's and 7's. Get studying! They go into effect February 29! Includes ZONKEY or ZEDONK or ZEEDONK, apparently combining the ugliest aspects of a zebra and a donkey and putting it on one animal. | adorbs | asshat | atting | birria | bohunk | boujee | broier | bubbas | buckra | cathed | cellie | chagas | channa | cheffy | chicha | cholas | cholos | chonky | cidery | convos | coulda | covids | cringy | cucked | deixes | deleaf | doxing | doxxed | doxxes | dukkah | dukkas | durags | empath | emping | fanart | favest | firees | franco | futsal | ganked | geotag | gepiks | glamps | gnetum | goetta | goyish | greeks | hadean | handsy | haoles | hoasca | hoglet | hokkus | hucked | hundos | hunkey | hunkie | hygges | iftars | incels | innies | inspos | intels | ixnays | jamoke | jesuit | jollof | kanaka | keytar | kharif | kippot | kratom | leafer | lipoed | locing | lueses | maskne | matcha | meetup | midder | modded | modder | mpoxes | nattos | ndujas | neonic | newses | noobie | nookie | onesie | otakus | ouncer | outies | oxgall | paleos | peepal | pommie | proned | prones | pwning | quesos | ramens | randos | repost | retcon | rouxes | salume | salumi | sexted | sharts | shiksa | shikse | shived | siloes | skeezy | spazes | sporks | squaws | swoler | thwaps | tyiyns | unmute | unpair | unsubs | vacays | vaxing | vaxxed | vaxxes | verbed | vibing | wagyus | walier | woulda | yeehaw | yeeted | zaatar | zedonk | zonkey | zoodle | zoomer | | 7s | abyeing | adulted | aedeses | agender | ahadith | altcoin | amirite | angsted | asshats | assless | asswipe | backend | birrias | birther | blueway | bodycam | bohunks | bonsais | boricua | botoxed | botoxes | bougier | boujier | bourgie | broiest | buckras | camgirl | cathing | cellies | ceriman | channas | chatbot | chichas | chiplet | chromis | cohesin | corival | cosplay | cotijas | cringey | crypses | crypsis | cryptid | cubesat | cucking | dashcam | deadass | deboard | degorge | deleafs | demonym | dogpile | doxings | doxxing | dukkahs | dumbass | eelings | eggcorn | ekueles | emailer | empaths | empings | epigyna | e
Hello, do you Okapi? You may be wondering what a wild African animal has to do with the domestication of animals… and the answer is not much, but that's the beauty of what we have going on at What's Going On. We not only try to get to the bottom of how humans came to enjoy the company of many furry companions, but we also look into the strange ways we have influenced some of the animals around us, while also getting sidetracked with a few additional mysterious creatures. Have you ever hear of a Zedonk? No?! Well then, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this, but I think you'll have a lot to learn in this episode. As always, have a blast and try not to learn too much! We have launched our new website!! https://whatsgoingonthepod.com/ If you could, please check out the website and sign up for our email subscriber list to get the fastest updates of when new material comes out! Or if like Mikey you have something you've been dying to hear the What's Going On team discuss please share your brilliant ideas on our contact page: https://whatsgoingonthepod.com/?page_id=133 You may also notice that we have updated the intro song! If you enjoy it please let us know at whatsgoingonthepod@gmail.com or our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/whatsgoingonthepod/ HUGE SHOUTOUT to our amigo Caleb a.k.a Earhead for letting us use his music for two new intros!
Today I learnt that tigons and ligers are what you get when lions and tigers interbreed?!’ surprised listener Jamz G tells the doctors. ‘What determines whether species can interbreed?’ Geneticist Aoife McLysaght studies molecular evolution. She explains the modern definition of a species, built on ideas from Aristotle, Linnaeus and Darwin: a species is a group of organisms capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring. Hybrids – such as ligons and tigers – are usually infertile, because their common ancestors long ago diverged into the lions and tigers we know today. However, this definition isn’t absolute, and there are many ways a new species can be formed. Hybrids also offer rich study subjects for scientists. Mathematical biologist Kit Yates discusses why he’s been reading research papers about hebras and zorses (horse x zebra) as their patterns offer insights into how cells spread and develop into organisms, building on a prediction made by codebreaking mathematician Alan Turing. And it turns out that these hybrids are even more intriguing. As speciation and evolution expert Joana Meier explains, hybrids are not always infertile. Hybridisation can lead to successful new species arising, such as in Lake Victoria’s cichlid fish, who it seems have been having a wild evolutionary party for the last 15,000 years. And the picture gets even murkier when we discover that modern genetics reveals our human ancestors successfully mated with Neanderthals. Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford Producer: Jen Whyntie
‘Today I learnt that tigons and ligers are what you get when lions and tigers interbreed?!’ surprised listener Jamz G tells the doctors. ‘What determines whether species can interbreed?’ Geneticist Aoife McLysaght studies molecular evolution. She explains the modern definition of a species, built on ideas from Aristotle, Linnaeus and Darwin: a species is a group of organisms capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring. Hybrids – such as ligons and tigers – are usually infertile, because their common ancestors long ago diverged into the lions and tigers we know today. However, this definition isn’t absolute, and there are many ways a new species can be formed. Hybrids also offer rich study subjects for scientists. Mathematical biologist Kit Yates discusses why he’s been reading research papers about hebras and zorses (horse x zebra) as their patterns offer insights into how cells spread and develop into organisms, building on a prediction made by codebreaking mathematician Alan Turing. And it turns out that these hybrids are even more intriguing. As speciation and evolution expert Joana Meier explains, hybrids are not always infertile. Hybridisation can lead to successful new species arising, such as in Lake Victoria’s cichlid fish, who it seems have been having a wild evolutionary party for the last 15,000 years. And the picture gets even murkier when we discover that modern genetics reveals our human ancestors successfully mated with Neanderthals. Presenters: Hannah Fry & Adam Rutherford Producer: Jen Whyntie
We dedicate this episode of the podcast to Chapter 9 - Hybridism in Darwin's Origin of Species (OoS). We all agree that this chapter is one of the most challenging chapters to read in OoS. In this chapter Darwin force marches the reader through example after example of hybrids while simultaneously admitting his ignorance on why these creatures should exist.It is not inherently obvious to the reader why they are being subjected to this catalog of biological anomaly and minutiae concerning pollination of orchids and other flowers but Darwin is adamant to share his knowledge, like a proud new parent inflicting others to look at numerous photos of their newborn. Darwin , early in Chapter I of OoS, argued against the notion that new species are formed through hybridization of existing species and we expected him to make that point in this chapter, but he never really does.It seems that by the end of the chapter we are exhausted from Darwin's recounting various animal and plant hybrids and admitting his ignorance of sterility in hybrids but that does not dissuade Darwin from concluding he was right all along - “…the facts given in this chapter do not seem to me opposed to the belief that species aboriginally [emphasis added] existed as varieties”. Darwin stays on point.We started off our discussion identifying our favorite hybrids. Josh first suggested mermaids as his favorite hybrid but James required he offer up a "real" hybrid.Mermaids James grew up with in FloridaJosh introduced us to the Liger, a hybrid between a male lion and female tiger both species have 38 chromosomes which also allows for reciprocal mating. Male tigers and female lions create tigons. The hybrid nomenclature is a portmanteau word derived from using the male species as the prefix and the female as the ending of the name hence a liger and tigon being separate types of hybrids.900 lb Hercules Sarah mentioned the Zedonk, a hybrid between a zebra and a donkey. This is another one of the hybrids that are created artificially in captivity. Few people realize that there are actually three different species of zebras - Grevy's, Plains and Mountain zebras - and each species has their own number of chromosomes. Grevy's zebras zebras have 46 chromosomes, Plains zebras have 44 and the Mountain zebra has 32 chromosomes whereas the donkey has 62.Image from Carole Coleman James suggested the Grolar, a hybrid between a grizzly and polar bear, was his favorite hybrid.A grizzly bear with her grolar cubsUnlike the liger and zedonk, the grolar occur in nature when the two species of bears interact. Historically grolar bears were less common since Grizzly bear distribution was further south than Polar bears but the warming of the climate has caused both bears to extend their range, polar bears southward and grolar bears northward, such they now more commonly overlap during the breeding season. Research suggests Polar bears "recently" diverged from brown bear ancestors with the speciation event occurring only 343,000-479,000 years ago. A mere blink of time in terms of the geological record.We discussed the most famous of all hybrids, the mule and how it is formed from the male donkey breeding with a female horse. Pictured below is a horse (left) and a mule (right) showing how the mule is often much larger than either of its parents, an example of Hybrid Vigor. picture by MerleWe noted that the mule hybrid can only be formed from male donkeys and female horses and rarely rarely formed from a male horse and female donkey. Sarah suggested that the reason the mule can only be formed from a male donkey and female horse has to do with the constraints of difference in gestation times between horses and donkeys. It turns out that horse gestation is 11-12 months whereas donkey gestation period is 11-14 months. There is a lot of overlap in gestation time between the two animals but it is an intriguing idea to consider it may influence non-reciprocal successful mating. We introduced the idea of prezygotic isolating mechanisms and how they would evolve to prevent hybrids from being formed. Behavioral isolation is frequently seen in the complex displays and calls given by a variety of birds species and James mentioned the beautiful flashing patterns exhibited by the different species of fireflies. The image below shows the species-specific color and flash pattern of lightning bugs in Florida.Go here to learn more about firefliesJosh introduced us to the sordid and dark world of duck mating behavior and male duck genital morphology. Here is just one example of the size and complexity of the male duck penis which has evolved in response to female duck vaginas. Female ducks have evolved elaborate shaped vaginas to avoid fertilization from other species of ducks.This interesting topic is covered nicely in this short article here. Sarah spent some time explaining the intricacies of pollination and how pollen is actually greatly reduced multicellular structure that produces sperm - pollen is actually plant testicles. Plants evolve complex pollen grains, much like the extreme duck penis, to create reproductive barriers between species. The forms of inter-specific (between-species) barriers to reproduction would evolve because those individuals who are more discerning in their choice of mates would waste less time/energy fertilizing and producing those hybrid offspring which are often, at best, viable but infertile but more likely enviable. Often it is the female of the species that is the one who evolves the reproductive challenge for the male because she produces fewer, and often more metabolically expensive, gametes (eggs/ova) than her male (sperm) counterpart and therefore has more to lose if she errs on who she mates with than he. Public domain image (created by the Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility) Ultimately we conclude that hybrids exist because Darwin was correct in his model of speciation, that is new species derive from varieties of preexisting species (see Chapter 4 blog post) so they share many of the common genetic traits with their ancestral or closely related species. Surprisingly Darwin did not recognize that hybrids are his best argument against the special creation model of immutable species since one should not expect hybridism to occur between two immutably formed species that were specially created."That's a Wrap" & "Aces High" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
The Bellamy Brothers' Zoo Animal Radio's Season of Stars continues with The Bellamy Brothers' David Bellamy. He practically has a zoo at his house which includes dogs, cats, a parrot and even a Zedonk! Treating Your Pet With OTC Drugs Dr. Robert Ridgeway wrote a book on how to treat your pets with over-the-counter medicines from your local store. He says this book is for those that would never go to the vet. Our Dream Team is somewhat skeptical. Wings' Steven Weber Guests In a Season of Stars Double Header, actor Steven Weber explains what it's like to work with a dog in his made-for-TV Hallmark movie. He plays a war veteran suffering from PTSD and finds solace in his dog Duke. California Governor Making Enemies Governor Jerry Brown is trying to pass an initiative that would further limit an animal's time at a shelter from 6 days to 72 hours. In addition, there would be no required holding period for pets like turtles or guinea pigs; they could be killed immediately, simply to save the state some money. More this week
Sassy Seniors - Celebrating Senior Pets - Pets & Animals on Pet Life Radio (PetLifeRadio.com)
In this inaugural episode of Sassy Seniors, host Kelly Jackson talks with Dr. Debbye Turner Bell of CBS' Early Show. Dr. Turner Bell is the Early Show's resident veterinarian and correspondent. They discuss senior pet care, attitudes toward older dogs, and the do's and don'ts of pets and hot temperatures. Debbye also shares some of the latest animal stories she's reported on including a baby Zedonk, and a military working dog serving in Iraq who was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Enjoy! More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - CBS' Resident Vet Talks Senior Pets and Zedonks! on Pet Life Radio Mevio {Mevio-cf5d06a62c3bde37f439ead03ff48d56}
We begin this episode with another Nature Walk, in which Warren asks us to guess what animals contributed to some unusual hybrid mammal names. Could you tell a horse from a zebra or other zebroid based only on shape? If you can, let us know by email (maskedman@limitedappeal.net) so we can ridicule you specifically. Then in an unusually contested Foody Goody segment, Luc explains the usage of the word pudding in Britain. The real confusion strikes when Warren asks about cheese options after meals. We discuss different parts of the cheese, the etiquette involved in eating them, and the many possible dinner arrangements involving post-main course cheesy comestibles. Theme music courtesy of General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners and Ipecac Recordings.
We begin this episode with another Nature Walk, in which Warren asks us to guess what animals contributed to some unusual hybrid mammal names. Could you tell a horse from a zebra or other zebroid based only on shape? If you can, let us know by email (maskedman@limitedappeal.net) so we can ridicule you specifically. Then in an unusually contested Foody Goody segment, Luc explains the usage of the word pudding in Britain. The real confusion strikes when Warren asks about cheese options after meals. We discuss different parts of the cheese, the etiquette involved in eating them, and the many possible dinner arrangements involving post-main course cheesy comestibles. Theme music courtesy of General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners and Ipecac Recordings.