In this episode of Yackety Science, co-hosts Matt Smith and Brian Cross answer all of the important questions. Why do froggies play possum? Why do monkeys scrump? Why are the Avengers prospecting in South Carolina? Why is NASA turning to the occult? And most important of all, does Princess Ariel sit on a throne of lies?

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Image Credit: Common toad Bufo bufo mating ball (multiple amplexus) by Dariusz Kowalczyk. (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Links:

Drunken Monkeys

• Our ape ancestors’ taste for fermenting fruit may have paved a boozy evolutionary path (Science; July 31, 2025)

• Hominids adapted to metabolize ethanol long before human-directed fermentation (PNAS; December 1, 2014)

Radioactive Wasps

• Radioactive wasp nest found at SC site where US once made nuclear bombs (South Carolina Public Radio; July 20, 2025)

Thanatosis and Explosive Mating

• Thanatosis in the Gold-striped Frog Lithodytes lineatus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) in the tropical dry forest of northeastern Colombia. (Giovany Díaz; Cuad. herpetol. 39 (1): 37-40; 2025)

• Droop dead! Female mate avoidance in an explosively breeding frog by Carolin Dittrich and Mark-Oliver Rodel (Royal Society Open Science; October 11, 2023)

Occultation of Uranus

• Planteray Alignment Provides NASA Rare Opportunity to Study Uranus by Charles Hatfield (NASA; April 22, 2025)

Disappearing Science (mRNA vaccines)

• Press Release from the Department of Health and Human Services

• Public health experts dismayed by RFK Jr.'s defunding of mRNA vaccine research (NPR; Aug. 6, 2025)

In this episode, the Yackers mete out harsh justice for the “savage beast” fluorine, while floating a partial pardon for marriage enthusiast Henry VIII. In Western Australia, they wander the Pilbara Craton looking for signs of a deep impact. And closer to home, they wade into the dubious waters of Spunky Creek with Candice Miller of Blue Thumb.

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Guest Host: Candice Miller

Candice Miller has been a Blue Thumb Educator for the state of Oklahoma since 2013. Miller coordinates water monitoring with volunteers, conducts biological collections in streams, and educates students and the general public around the state. In addition, Miller was Project Wet Coordinator from 2016-2024. A national program, Miller was Oklahoma state representative where she held formal and informal water education in addition to coordinating the annual H2Oklahoma Water Festival. She has a BS in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from University of North Dakota, an MS in Biological Sciences from Eastern Illinois University, and additional graduate work from Oklahoma State University.

Links:

The Oldest Crater Ever Discovered

A Paleoarchaean impact crater in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia by Kirkland et al. (Nature Communications; March 2025)

Biased Sex Ratios

Is sex at birth a biological coin toss? Insights from a longitudinal and GWAS analysis

(Science Advances; July 18, 2025)

Blue Thumb Oklahoma

Water Quality Data and Volunteer Opportunities

Disappearing Science

EPA Cuts

• About the Office of Research and Development (ORD)

• Trump administration shuts down EPA's scientific research arm by Rob Stein (NPR; July 20,2025)

• Dismantling EPA’s research office jeopardizes environmental safety, public health, and US competitiveness (PNAS; June 11, 2025)

NWS Cuts

• NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

• Trump Administration Wants to Close Down Key Weather Labs Nationwide by Emily Kennard (Oklahoma Watch, July 8, 2025)

Chad Johnson joins Matt Smith and Brian Cross to go tripping through the doors of perception. The team takes on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and the sometimes tricky line between psychedelic scientist and spiritual guru. Matt gets in touch with his alchemical roots as he dephlogisticates the element oxygen. In the headlines, Moas rear their lofty heads, the Parker Solar Probe catches the solar wind, and scientists attempt to fix the “Matthew Effect.”

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Guest Host: Chad Johnson, Ph.D.

Dr. Johnson is an Associate Professor in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of Oklahoma and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the OU College of Medicine. He earned his PhD in psychology from Penn State and completed his psychology internship at Vanderbilt University. He is a licensed psychologist with over 20 years of experience in psychotherapy, consultation, training, supervision, research, and teaching. His work centers on themes of personal and spiritual growth, psychedelics, grief, trauma, and advocacy.

Links:

Psychedelics

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

The emergence of psychedelics as medicine (APA; June 1, 2024)

Moas:

Effort to revive New Zealand’s extinct moa stirs controversy (Science; July 11, 2025)

TRNS and Boosting Math Skill

Functional connectivity and GABAergic signaling modulate the enhancement effect of neurostimulation on mathematical learning

(PLOS; July 1, 2025)

Parker Solar Probe and Solar Wind

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Snaps Closest-Ever Images to Sun (Jul 10, 2025)