SciShow Quiz Show: Why Humans Are Weird!

TL;DR

Hank Green and Dave Loos compete in a quiz show answering questions about diamonds, changing skin color, fingerprints, and water contamination.

Transcript

[Intro] Michael Aranda: Ladies and gentleman, welcome to SciShow Quiz Show! The show where we do the research, and it's probably all true! Today we have the ultimate SciShow showdown, between SciShow host: Hank Green, and SciShow writer: Dave Loos. Hank Green: Hi, Dave. Dave Loos: Hi, Hank. HG: How's it going? MA: giggle [explosion] MA: Hank! HG:... Read More

Key Insights

• ♦️ Diamonds can have various colors due to impurities or lattice distortions.
• 😋 Humans can change skin color by consuming certain foods.
• 🍃 Koalas have fingerprints similar to humans, developed to help them handle eucalyptus leaves.
• 🕵️ The vomeronasal organ (VNO) in humans is now vestigial, but it used to detect pheromones in other humans.

Questions & Answers

Q: What makes blue diamonds blue?

Blue diamonds get their color from the incorporation of boron into their crystal structure, absorbing red light and reflecting the bluer end of the spectrum.

Q: How can eating too many carrots affect skin color?

Consuming excess carotenoids from carrots can give the skin an orangey tint, a condition known as carotenosis.

Q: What can cause yellow skin in humans?

Eating incorrectly prepared snails that lead to a parasitic infection called liver flukes can damage the liver and cause jaundice, resulting in yellow skin.

Q: Do humans have a vomeronasal organ (VNO)?

Humans do have a vestigial VNO, which used to help detect pheromones in other humans, but it is no longer connected to the brain and has lost its function.

Q: Why did water protection agencies pour millions of black plastic balls into the Ivanhoe Reservoir?

The black plastic balls were used to block sunlight, preventing a reaction that would have produced a harmful chemical called bromate.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Round 1 focuses on diamonds and their color. Diamonds turn blue when boron is incorporated into their crystals, giving them semiconducting properties.

• Round 2 explores how humans can change skin color through eating certain foods. While eating too many carrots can turn your skin orange (carotenosis), eating incorrectly prepared snails can lead to a parasitic infection causing jaundice (yellow skin). Drinking silver can cause argyria, making the skin appear bluish-silver.

• The final round delves into fingerprint evolution and the presence of a vomeronasal organ (VNO). While primates, including humans, have fingerprints that evolved for grasping, koalas also developed fingerprints to help them handle eucalyptus leaves. Humans once had a VNO to detect pheromones in other humans, but it is now a vestigial structure.