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Last time around on Clever Apes we dipped into realms of science that some might consider disgusting. Now we turn to the science of disgust itself.

What is disgust, and where does it come from? There are a few places where scientists can look for clues, starting with what disgusts people. We did a decidedly unscientific survey of kids at the Museum of Science and Industry, and the results line up pretty well with what actual experts say. They break out in a few categories: bodily secretions (blood, vomit, feces, puss), animals that could carry disease (insects, vermin), and certain foods (pot pies … don’t ask). A few common ones our pint-sized sample group didn’t bring up, thankfully, include corpses and incest.

Then there’s the strong physiological response to disgust, especially nausea and facial contortions.

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In the latest episode, we took you behind the scenes at the Field Museum where Dermestid beetles and their larvae chew the flesh off of animal specimens, leaving only the skeletons behind.  After observing the beetles at work, we were able to view the collections where all of the skins and skeletons are stored (check out the slideshow above). Besides the pelt of a giant flying squirrel and the jaw of an elephant, one of the most interesting things we saw was the skull of a cougar that had been picked clean by the beetles.

Three years ago today, Chicago Police shot and killed a cougar in the City’s Roscoe Village neighborhood.

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Let’s consider the beauty of a seething swarm of carrion beetles picking clean the carcass of a dead rat.

Sorry – were you eating breakfast?

Yucky stuff has always been part of the mystique of science – alluring for some, forbidding for others. In the latest installment of Clever Apes, we consider the dirty work of science, from the “bug room” at the Field Museum to the lab where scientists analyze dead critters found in food.

But we aim not to titillate. Oh no.

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We close out dino-week with a further appreciation of dinosaur philosopher and man of letters, Dan Telfer. We were so charmed by his passionate dino-comedy that we talked him into performing it here at the WBEZ studio. This took some courage on his part, as interactive stand-up comedy is probably best accomplished in a boozy club, rather than before an earnest, tote-bagging public radio crowd at 2:00 pm. But Dan, to his great credit, was game. (Warning- the video contains stronger language than we can play on the radio!)

After the gig, we sat Dan down to talk about the origins of his dinosaur routine. Hear our interview here:

Learn more about Dan, his upcoming gigs and his CD, Fossil Record.

Huge thanks to Andrew Gill for shooting and editing the video, Michael De Bonis for production and Mary Gaffeny for engineering. Dino palz 4 LIFE.

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The latest Clever Apes is all about demystifying dinosaurs, and why it seems to be taking popular culture so long to catch up with the science. So, with apologies for spoiling your childhood idylls, here are Clever Apes’ Top 5 Dinosaur Myths:

1) Brontosaurus

We hope you know about this one by now, but brontosaurus is no longer with us. I don’t mean as in extinct – I mean as in never around to begin with. Brontosaurus was kind of a Frankenstein, born of the vagaries of field work. Back in the late 19th Century, Othinel Charles Marsh was in an all-out war with other fossil hunters over who could find the most new dinosaurs. In his haste he “discovered” and named two dinosaurs: first apatosaurus, then brontosaurus. Turns out they were the same dinosaur, just different ages. Furthermore, brontosaurus was missing a head (as long-dead dinosaurs often are), so Marsh kindly gave him one. Only problem was it was the head of a totally different dinosaur, camarasaurus.

Anyway, the myth is widespread enough that the U. S.

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Brontosaurus? A sham. Triceratops? Awkward adolescent. Tyrannosaurus Rex? A total wuss. OK, maybe T-Rex was no wuss, but it definitely lacked dignity. It walked all bent over, may have been an opportunistic scavenger and possibly even had feathers. Feathers.

There’s no question: The dinosaurs of our youth have been irrevocably humbled. And yet movies, kids’ books and advertisements still perpetuate all kinds of misconceptions about dinosaurs that scientists long ago left behind. So why is it that dinosaur myths die so hard?

We consider that question in the latest installment of Clever Apes. Eminent Paleontologist Paul Sereno joins us talk about which dinosaur myths bug him, and why they might not all be bad. We’ll also sort out, thanks to Chicago comic Dan Telfer, which is the best dinosaur. Oh yes, there’s an answer.

_{Listen to the latest installment:}

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Let’s talk a little bit about testosterone, shall we?

Sure, it’s a loaded topic, tied up with what behaviors are supposedly “male.” But of course both men and women have it, and it seems to play a big role in the kind of people we wind up becoming. Testosterone is considered an “organizing hormone,” meaning the amount of it present in the womb has lifelong effects on how a baby’s body and brain will develop.

Adam Galinsky is a psychologist at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Being in the business school and all, he was curious how prenatal testosterone levels affect the way people act in a bargaining situation.

_{Listen to the interview with Adam Galinsky}

Testosterone podcast (1).mp3

But before you can do that, you have to measure how much testosterone someone was swimming around in in the womb.

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