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In last week’s episode, we talked to Leo Smith about his work with venomous fish and the promise they may hold for medical science. It turns out that there are more venomous fish than any other kind of animal, far more than snakes and scorpions combined. One particularly nasty one is the Reef Stonefish. He is an ugly and supposedly delicious species that holds the distinction of being the world’s most venomous fish.

Smith introduced us to the Stonefish during our visit to the “wet lab” at the Field Museum.

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In the most recent installment of Clever Apes, I got a taste of what it’s like to work at the highly secure Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory, dealing with extremely unsavory bugs like plague and anthrax (listen here). I saw all the steps researchers take to protect themselves from infection: respirator, multiple airlocks and air filters, biosafety cabinets, full gown and two pairs of gloves, etc. The protocols seemed to make the risk of any contact with the bugs, which are generally present only in tiny amounts anyway, pretty remote. But, as lab director Howard Shuman put it, “We do everything we can possibly imagine to reduce risk to people who are working. That doesn't mean the risk is zero.”

A recent occurrence at Ricketts’ sister lab, the Cummings Life Science Center on the University of Chicago campus (the university also runs the Ricketts facility), drives this home.

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Just a week after the September 11th attacks, nerves still raw, America was hit with its worst-ever biological attack. The anthrax letters set off a new wave of panic, and reminded scientists how little we understand some of the world’s most dangerous germs. So the government chartered 13 labs to study these pathogens, as well as aggressive infectious disease agents. Given that the anthrax strain sent through the mail was thought to have been stolen from a lab, it’s no surprise that the new labs are highly secure.

But Clever Apes got inside one.

listen to the full episode:

OK, all we really did was ask, and they said, sure.

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If you’ve ever looked for some soothing sounds to help you relax, you may have come across something called binaural beats. If you search online, you’ll find hundreds of websites touting CD’s, mp3’s, and smartphone apps that make all sorts of health claims. Some are advertized as relaxation tools, but others claim to help you quit smoking or to mimic the effects of specific drugs. We here at Clever Apes wanted to dig a little deeper into binaural beats and see what’s going on.

So first of all, what are binaural beats?

Basically, a binaural beat is an auditory illusion created when two slightly different tones are played in each ear.

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Just a little follow-up to Clever Apes episode #16 (“New dimensions”), in which we consider whether the universe is actually a hologram, and if so, how we might know. The effect that Fermilab theoretical physicist Craig Hogan is looking for in his holometer is a jitter – a kind of noise – that would indicate that spacetime is not smooth, but rather made of tiny grains or pixels.

It's hard to imagine what this “noise” would sound like, but Hogan has given us a hint. He’s simulated the signal in the spectrum they expect holographic noise would have, and slowed it down by about a factor of 3000 so it’s audible. Here is the sound of our two-dimensional universe:

Of course, it’s important to remember that this remains in the realm of theory.

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We may not think of it this way, but we hear in 3-D. Good thing, too. It’s how we know what direction to turn when we hear footsteps or where to look for our kid in a crowded playground. But this depth of field is almost impossible to capture on tape. That’s where we come in.

On this episode of Clever Apes, we experience the mind-bending world of binaural recording. It’s an episode best enjoyed with headphones – preferably good quality over-the-ear headphones (though earbuds will work OK).

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When you think of the geniuses that have shaped the modern world, certain names may come to mind: Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, perhaps. One name that doesn’t get as much attention is that of Nikola Tesla, though it probably should. His life and work are on display now in TESLA: The genius spark of Nikola Tesla, an exhibition currently at Navy Pier in Chicago.

Though not a household name, Tesla’s many inventions and his hundreds of patents in areas of electronic and mechanical engineering formed the foundation of the electronic age. He was a pioneer in radio and  remote control. A few of his more creative ideas, like a death ray and a camera that could photograph thoughts, never got made, unfortunately. But his most significant invention was likely the AC motor, which is used in most of the appliances we use today. However, the dominance of AC didn't come easily. Historians call it the "War of the Currents," and it turns out the war was arguably won in Chicago.

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