The Science Pawdcast

Episode 10 Season 7: Lightning Trees, Space Miso, and Fostering Cats

• Jason and Kris Zackowski • Season 7 • Episode 10

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On this week's episode we dive deep into nature's most shocking survival strategy exploring how the Alamendro tree has evolved to harness lightning strikes as a competitive advantage. We also examine the fascinating results of fermenting miso in space and discuss the challenges and rewards of cat fostering programs.

• Lightning-resistant Alamendro trees have 100% survival rate after strikes while 56% of neighboring trees die
• These trees grow wider crowns that attract lightning, increasing strike probability by 68% and eliminating competition
• Space-fermented miso develops a nuttier, more roasted flavor with unique bacteria not found in Earth samples
• New Zealand study reveals cat fostering helps manage 37,000+ cats annually while providing both challenges and benefits to fosterers
• Foster programs create community connections while offering flexible pet companionship without long-term commitment
• Emotional attachments, sick animals, and space constraints present challenges for fosterers despite the rewarding experience

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Speaker 1:

Hello science enthusiasts. I'm Jason Zukoski. And I'm Chris Zukoski, we're the pet parents of Bunsen, beaker, bernoulli and Ginger.

Speaker 2:

The science animals on social media.

Speaker 1:

If you love science.

Speaker 2:

And you love pets.

Speaker 1:

You've come to the right spot, so put on your safety glasses and hold on to your tail.

Speaker 1:

This is the Science Podcast. Hello everybody and welcome back to the Science Podcast. This is episode 10 of season 7 and we hope you're happy and healthy out there as we enter April. The snow is rapidly going away. It's actually been raining, so the winter, I think, is behind us. We might have the few odd spurts of snow as April becomes May, but I think spring is coming. There's already birds arriving from south, ducks are in the creek.

Speaker 1:

But I guess the big news that's actually kind of sad is that our beaver norbert has gone. There's been no activity in the last like three or four months, which is to be expected for the cold parts of the winter. But yeah, it's such a bummer. We don't know what happened. Perhaps he didn't attract, or she didn't attract, a mate. The creek did dry up, so perhaps the beaver moved on to greener pastures. That might be a better place to build a, a dam. Or, sadly, norbert is a wild creature and sometimes wild creatures just get eaten or they die of old age. But the forest definitely feels a little bit more empty without him around.

Speaker 1:

All right, well, let's get on to some happier news. Like we've got a really fun show today in science news. We have two science articles a lightning resilient tree and space miso, which is awesome, and a really cool study from new zealand that looked at the pros, cons, trials and tribulations at calf foster. Okay, let's get on with the show, because there's no time like science time. This week in science news we have a shocking study to break down about the alamandro tree. Our story begins with lightning. We get quite the lightning storms out here on the farm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we sure do. Sometimes it's like a laser light show, like a Pink Floyd laser light show.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, out to the north of us where we watch the Northern Lights. That's where the farm field opens up and there's not a lot of trees and sometimes we can just watch the lightning arc across the sky. During really big storms, lightning has hit really close to our house. Before we built this house, we lived in a little trailer. As we were a young, financially strapped couple, we were saving up money for a house or maybe just trying to survive, and I remember an explosion explosion. It shook me up out of bed, I think you too and we were running around the house trying to figure out what happened because our whole trailer shook.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's incredibly scary what happened and as well. Lightning actually hit the end of our pole of the farmhouse with the transformer on it, and it exploded too.

Speaker 1:

I couldn't figure out what made that explosion. I thought, I don't know, there's a guy that cuts wood on our property. I thought his propane tank blew up Like it sounded like a bomb, but yeah, the lightning hit the pole and blew the transformer to smithereens, which was wild.

Speaker 2:

I imagine being like, oh my goodness, what? What are we going to do? No power and no means to fix it, and it was very expensive to replace that transformer.

Speaker 1:

I remember driving out and that power pole was just like from a movie, like lightning hit it and it splinters it and blows it to smithereens. It was pretty incredible. So there's a lot of power behind lightning. And what if we told you there may be a tree that has inadvertently harnessed the power of lightning to murder everything around it that it doesn't like? This is a wild study.

Speaker 2:

So the study comes to us from Panama and the general perception is that lightning strikes are typically harmful to trees harmful, not helpful and they used. The scientists use camera arrays and drones and ground teams to study the overall impact of lightning on tropical forests. Their initial expectation was that lightning would only harm trees but that's not what they found.

Speaker 1:

So this maybe goes back to one of the first incidents that got the researchers minds ready to go to study this. In 2019, there was a huge lightning strike on a liana covered alamando tree, so it's got all these liana vines on it, which are parasitic, so boom lightning hits this tree and 115 neighboring trees were seriously damaged. 50 of them died within two years. All of the liana vines on the alamendro tree were vaporized and the tree survived unscathed. So from from here, that's where they started to get some data that you mentioned in the study.

Speaker 2:

So the study sample included 93 lightning-struck trees, which included nine of the oleandra trees, and after two years there was 100% survival of the oleander trees and 56% mortality among the other tree species there.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy. 100% of those trees survived. Now trees, especially this one. These are taller trees so they make really good lightning rods. I don't know if our house has. Does our house have a lightning rod? I remember back when I was a kid, taller houses had to have lightning rods to channel the lightning if it gets hit by lightning like down to ground. I don't know if our house has one. I keep I'm worried because we sit on a bluff, don't we? We're a sore thumb sticking out of the side of the hill yeah.

Speaker 2:

So now I'm thinking maybe we need a weather vane and or a lightning rod.

Speaker 1:

Something. But you can imagine a scenario where, due to evolution, this taller tree, when it got struck by lightning, the best of the best survived, not only surviving the lightning, but also that lightning destroyed the liana vines, which drain light and nutrients from the tree. They're parasitic and even wilder. The liana vines act as electrical bridges, like wires spreading the lightning current to other trees, worsening damage to all of the tree's competitors. And normally, on average, nine neighboring trees die per lightning strike. And you can imagine that if you are a big, tall tree and you've got nine competitors chomping at the bit for the ground, nutrients and the water and the space and the light that taking them out makes, you have a better chance of survival. And, as evolution says, the better you are suited towards your niche, the better chance of survival. And, as evolution says, the better you are suited towards your niche, the better chance you are to survive and pass on your genes.

Speaker 2:

So much so that their chances of reproductive success was 14 times increased, 14 times.

Speaker 1:

And, interestingly, the study does say that these trees grow wider crowns than their neighbors, as if they are inviting lightning strikes, and when they crunched the data and made these trees 68% more likely to be struck by lightning so much so that the average tree is estimated to be struck five times over their 300 year lifespan.

Speaker 2:

In fact, one tree was hit twice in five years.

Speaker 1:

That's wild, even like thinking like five times hitting the lightning does strike the same place, but the hitting the same tree five times over their very lengthy year. Now of course they have some ideas why this would be like, but they're not sure and I think you looked into that in the study like how they survive lightning so the lightning strikes of course last milliseconds, but the effects don't unfold.

Speaker 2:

But the effects don't unfold for months. So long-term tracking was essential to uncover patterns. And they have two hypotheses about why or what is the unknown mechanism for their survival. And the first hypothesis is a low electrical resistance in the wood which allows safe conduction to the ground. And their second hypothesis is that their crown structure. And the second hypothesis is that the crown structure itself redirects the current away from the trunk toward the neighboring trees.

Speaker 1:

Because if the roots of a tree die, that's the end of it.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, but there needs to be some interdisciplinary research to maybe understand what is actually going on. So ecologists are calling for a collaboration with physicists to fully understand the tree lightning dynamics.

Speaker 1:

I love this story. We don't really get to talk about lightning and chemistry at all. Electricity for sure, voltaic and electrolytic cells is a big part of stuff that I teach. But kids are fascinated by lightning, you know, it is such a cool force of nature and I've got this little handheld Tesla coil that it's hot, Jason.

Speaker 2:

I think it's a hot force of nature. It's a what you said it was cool. You said it was a cool for you, but it's actually hot.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, okay, got you. Yes, hot, chris. Right, because a lightning bolt is fairly hot. It's cool in the fact that it's interesting. So I guess, if you're a tree and you want to get rid of your competition, get yourself a big old crown, cover yourself with vines and zap away the people trying to take away your space. In our second science article we're going to talk about this is a weird one fermenting food, but not here on ground, not here on earth, outer space. Are you a fan of fermented foods, chris?

Speaker 2:

I am not, although I'm interested in maybe exploring some kombucha I was asking my colleagues about it, I know but I'd like to increase my healthy gut microbes and I know that this could potentially be one way to do that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like, fermented foods are traditionally quite good for you and they are acquired taste. Not everybody likes fermented foods. I know Adam and Annalise they love kimchi, which is a Korean dish from, I think, cabbage right, like a bunch of different things, so they have kimchi at restaurants occasionally. Do you know what my favorite fermented food is?

Speaker 2:

Cabbage, you know you like the sauerkraut.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I love sauerkraut, oh, so good. Yes you love it Sauerkraut on a hot dog S tier topping right there. But, of course, aside from kombucha, another fermented product that you enjoy is yogurt.

Speaker 2:

Oh yes, exactly that's something that I can handle is yogurt. It tastes delicious and it potentially is putting microbes in my gut.

Speaker 1:

And sourdough bread, which there's a little bit of a knack to growing, the right kind of mixture to get your sourdough bread right. But I do appreciate a good loaf of sourdough bread, as do I.

Speaker 2:

But currently, if we're talking about fermentation in space, current astronaut diet, the current, the current astronaut diet is primarily freeze dried foods and it has minimal microbial content. So, like I remember, at Christmas time you went to a whimsical store and bought the kids some freeze dried food like from space.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I did Whimsical it was a whimsical purchase. I thought it tasted good, but you're missing some of that microbial content. Yeah, fermentation foods, they've got some benefits. It gives you those beneficial microbes for your gut, keeps the food from rotting and this one may be up for debate it does give it a unique flavor and a variety of flavors. So what happened with this experiment, chris?

Speaker 2:

It was actually called the miso experiment and the chosen food was miso, which is a traditional Japanese condiment, and they chose it due to its firm texture, its strong recognizable flavor and the cultural and scientific significance. Now they prepared it with cooked soybeans and salt and fermented rice and they made about a kilogram of the miso mixture and they sent it into three different places. They sent it to copenhagen, which is, of course, on earth, and they sent it to cambridge, which is also on earth, and they also sent it to the iss they sent it to space they did and they had a tasting panel of 14 individuals, including chefs and researchers on the testing panel, and what they found was the flavor profile of the ISS.

Speaker 2:

Miso was described as nuttier and more roasted and that flavor correlated with higher levels of something called pyrazines, which are compounds produced during fermentation.

Speaker 1:

One of the reasons why there might be a flavor difference is that the miso on the ISS was kept at a warmer temperature, probably because it was next to something that was giving off heat at a warmer temperature, probably because it was next to something that was giving off heat. So the ISS miso was fermented at 36 degrees Celsius, where on Earth it was closer to 20. And that may have accelerated the fermentation way up in outer space on the ISS. But one of the cool things that you were really excited about was the microbial differences.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so all three batches did have similar microbial communities, but there was one unique bacterial species only found on the ISS batch. And now you mentioned the, it's the, I believe Koji fungus or Koi fungus showed more genetic mutations in the space sample and that could possibly be due to radionics, then that could possibly be due to radian, then that could possibly be due to the radiation exposure in space yeah, exactly because the iss is not as shielded from cosmic wind as we are here on earth, underneath the different layers of the atmosphere and closer to the earth's gravity.

Speaker 1:

Well, very cool, very cool.

Speaker 2:

Unfortunately, the researchers could not isolate which environmental factor caused the specific changes in the MISO, because they are fairly complex variables. Could it have been the radiation? Maybe it's the microgravity, or the temperature could have played the key part.

Speaker 1:

I think this is fascinating because the astronauts that eat freeze-dried food I know. I've watched a ton of videos when Chris Hadfield was up in outer space he's a Canadian astronaut and he did a great job of doing these daily videos. I have to say the food looked really unappetizing. Like it came out of tubes, it came out of pouches, it was all like cooked ahead of time and or freeze dried. So giving the astronauts a really unique flavor to something maybe they're no, maybe to something they're used to on earth, I think that would be really cool. So I'm curious would sauerkraut taste different? Really cool. So I'm curious would sauerkraut taste different? Would yogurt taste different? Or kombucha? Would you pay for space kombucha, chris?

Speaker 2:

I haven't even paid for earth kabocha, I've never had it, so maybe I should try that first.

Speaker 1:

I would try space sauerkraut on a space dog in a second. It probably would be thousands of dollars, though. All right, that's science news for this week. This week in pet science, let's talk about cats, but specifically cat fostering. Chris said do you have the bug to get another cat or do you like the cat we have?

Speaker 2:

I love the cat we have, and she is the only cat that we will ever have. She's, you never know, the food worked for her with me, the food did work for her, it worked for you, but there will never be another Ginger.

Speaker 1:

Oh, she's one of a kind, obviously yeah, she's a unique cat.

Speaker 2:

She is.

Speaker 1:

So I'm not familiar with cat fostering. What's going on there?

Speaker 2:

The cat fostering programs are similar to other fostering programs and they are essential for managing stray or relinquished and abandoned cats. And the programs expand the shelter capacity, which is amazing because shelters are full all the time and it can reduce stress and disease and increase adoption rates when cats are fostered. There isn't a lot of data on cat fostering programs but our study comes from New Zealand and some statistics there are that there are 37,000 plus cats that pass through rescue organizations yearly. That is a lot of cats and about 80% of rescue groups use fostering as their core strategy.

Speaker 1:

That would be tough if you were a cat lover, because it's like dog fostering is you have the dog for a short time until a more permanent place is found for the dog and man. If we got to foster the dog, it'd be hard to say goodbye to that dog. Right, absolutely my hat's off to people that do that kind of stuff. If you're listening, Right.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. My hat's off to people that do that kind of stuff. If you're listening, thank you for doing that. But then also there are some foster families that do take on the dogs and then they make space right, they take care of the dog, they foster the dog out and it's a success story for the dog for the rest of the dog's life and then it offers up some more space that they can do the cycle again. And the study was done in New Zealand and it was a qualitative study where they had two groups of people who were cat fosterers and they were sharing their stories and some of the motivations for becoming a fosterer was a love of animals, so having a deep emotional connection and a longstanding attachment to cats. So there are cat people out there and they were motivated by the love that they had for them and it also Chris, that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

I've talked about that before. That the dog programs where people can go in the anti-stress dog room. If you're stressed out, you can go see a dog. That is a common thread is that there are people who would prefer to spend time with a cat rather than a dog. So it's not that they're out there, it's just that I don't know there are cat people, which is cool.

Speaker 2:

There are, and the idea of becoming a cat foster is an alternative to actual ownership, so it's a flexible option for those you know that are unable to keep a permanent pet. Additionally, it's a desire to help. So being a member of your community and contributing to your community was one of the motivating factors of becoming a cat fosterer. And I think that us, as dog people, we would be equipped to contribute if we were to do dog fostering. But people who are cat people, who sign up to be a cat fosterer, they have that same personal capability. They feel well-equipped to contribute.

Speaker 1:

As you had mentioned Chris, there's not a lot of data on what happens when you foster a cat. Who are cat fosterers? What are some challenges? So that's the section I looked at because I'm like, if you foster a cat, what are some things that can be potentially problematic? And the first one is it's pretty intense emotionally because you'll have grief, because you'll have grief over the loss of a cat once it goes somewhere. And then there's a lot of distress when cats get ill or you have to give them up, or euthanasia if everywhere is completely full. I see that on TikTok, that, and I know why it happens, but it just hurts my heart. So bad is that the shelters are full and, like some of the dogs are euthanized to make room for other dogs because they just don't have space and that is would probably be very distressful to be around that all the time.

Speaker 1:

Some of the cats that you would get as a foster are sick or have behavior challenges. So, lucky for us, ginger just tears up the couch and occasionally bops the dogs. But there's lots of other behavior problems you might have with a cat or it might have some kind of illness or disability which is costly. Then as well, cats have space constraints. You'd think a cat doesn't need a lot of space, but if you have multiple cats in the same house, the current research shows they should all have their own stuff. They should all have their own cat tree, their cat litter box, cat toys, and you may not have enough room for that or time to deal with everything with the cat.

Speaker 2:

Those are some challenges of cat fostering but there are benefits of fostering too. One of those is social well-being and having a cat as a companion. That will reduce the loneliness and also offers emotional support to. I think it's a symbiotic relation to the human and the cat and you can make new friendships and community building amongst additional cat fosterers right. It builds that network, so that network definitely enhances social well-being. And another thing that's a benefit of fostering is emotional well-being, the feeling of joy and pride and fulfillment and having improved mental health.

Speaker 2:

And it's always so satisfying to see animals grow and thrive and I that's what they found in the study that people were very satisfied to see those cats grow to fruition and there's practicality to it. So having the experience of pet companionship, you know, without the long term responsibility. So you know without the long-term responsibility. So you know if you like to put a ring on it, you don't have to put a ring on it, you can just experience the pet companionship. And then ongoing learning and skill development. We got a lot better with taking care of each subsequent dog and we got more skills for sure All right, so why is?

Speaker 2:

getting all this data important.

Speaker 1:

Why are they asking questions? So why is getting all this data important? Why are they asking questions? Why are they gathering all this qualitative survey work?

Speaker 1:

There's implications for rescue organizations. The more you know, the more you can improve training and ongoing education for those who might want to foster cats in the future, and then you can have support systems for when things get hard, like it's time to give up a cat or a cat gets sick or dies. If you have no support system there, it might be once bitten, twice shy kind of thing where you may never decide to foster a cat again. Just like in a lot of the other studies that we covered about shelters, a big part of being involved in a shelter is having autonomy within like the cogs of an organization, so not not feeling you don't have a say that you're. It's important for your voice to be heard and have your voice matter and then also finding where people's skillset is, first before they decide to foster, and then building on that Because, as you said, chris, you get joy out of doing better with each subsequent animal and it keeps the motivation going to do more in the future.

Speaker 2:

For sure. Now there were some limitations to the study. The sample really did only include current fosterers, so that could have a potential bias towards positive experiences or relating positive stories about fostering and there could have been the social desirability bias due to the group format in that organized setting. So I did say there were two groups and they shared together. So I don't know if you would want to be the one person in the room going, oh fostering is terrible. So there might have been that. Go with the flow. This is great. So there is need for further studies on former fosterers and why. What was the, the emotional labor, what was the foster grief and exploring those and why would they be a former fosterer? What happened to to remove them from that network?

Speaker 1:

so I think, as we wrap this up, like I did not know a lot about this before we started, chris, I did not know even it was a thing that you could be a cat fosterer and just from New Zealand alone, like 37,000 cats passed through their rescue organizations and we think Ginger is the best. We think Ginger is this amazing cat because she is. But I think everybody thinks that way about their cat. Isn't everybody's cat a special creature too? And just thinking that there's thousands upon thousands of cats that have their lives saved and they have a new home thanks to the fostering programs that are available in every country, I think this is just good data to have for those organizations in the future.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely 100%.

Speaker 1:

All right, that's Pet Science for this week. That's it for this week's show. Thanks for coming back week after week to listen to us. And two things. We want to thank everybody who supported us with the Bernoulli stuffy presale. It has gone way better than we ever thought. Thank you so much. You might be listening to this. You might have time still to get on the presale. Check our website. We got a link in our show notes. And again, big shout out to our top tier patrons, the top dogs who support the podcast and help keep it free. One of the perks is Chris reads your name at the end of the show. Chris, take it away.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

For science, empathy and cuteness.