There are a lot of good reasons to be more optimistic. Interestingly, it also seems simply pretending to be an optimist has many of the same benefits. This episode starts with a discussion on how real or pretend optimism can be good for everyone and why even the most hardened pessimist might want to try looking at the bright side of life. Source: Michael Mercer, PhD author of Spontaneous Optimism (https://amzn.to/3vo7oc9).
To be successful typically requires skill, practice and hard work. However, one often overlooked strategy to being successful is - reverse engineering. In other words, by taking apart and analyzing what others have done to be successful, you can find a better path for yourself, according to psychologist Ron Friedman. Ron is author of the book Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success (https://amzn.to/2REVhc7). Listen as he reveals how some of the top people in their field use this technique to achieve greatness and how you can too.
Few of us are fans of houseflies. I'm sure you don't like them buzzing around your head or landing on your food or ruining your outdoor picnic. As pesky as they are though, we couldn’t survive with flies. There are about 20 million flies on the planet for every human and they actually do some very beneficial things for us, according to biologist Jonathan Balcombe author of the book SUPER FLY: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects (https://amzn.to/3bVgqp3). Listen as he takes you on a tour into what it is like to be a fly and all the gross yet beneficial things flies do.
Growing up I am sure you were told to go play outside. We have all heard that it is good to be outdoors. How good is it? Listen as I explain the very concrete benefits of being outside in nature for all of us – and especially for kids and teens. https://positivepsychology.com/positive-effects-of-nature/
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Today on something you should know why being an optimist is good and faking being an optimist is almost is good, then
reverse engineering, it's a seldom discuss pathway to success and greatness. It's how we got a purse,
Computer and laughed
and even the iphone. What's
it's well known is that reverse engineering also explains how writers, like Stephen king and Malcolm Gladwell, learned their craft also
If it's a getting outside our tremendous for everyone, particularly kids, and as annoying as house flies, are we couldn't live without them? There incredibly valuable,
We want a measure applies value in terms of human benefits. They certainly do benefit as in huge ways, probably the most prominent and those things is pollinators, and it is estimated that the value of insects is pollinators is over half a trillion dollars a year of this today on something you should know.
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something you should now fascinating, enter the world's top experts and practical advice you can use in your life today, something you should now might. Rather, as fellow there
the something you should know
anybody ever asked you if you're an optimist or a pessimist. I've been asked that before and I find it kind of an interesting
and because, at least for me the answer is, it really depends on some
is when things are going well, I feel very optimistic, and there are those days work is nothing goes
right and- and I have to admit, I feel pessimistic, but certainly being an optimist.
Has it rewards optimistic people have better mental, and
physical health and when they do get sick? They tend to recover fast
sure then pessimistic people, they all
earn more money, have more friends and are generally happier all
your level of optimism is somewhat built into your personality. It turns out that if you act like an optimist, you will become more optimistic, so straighten up your posture, optimistic people tend to have good posture and they walk with bigger steps,
act happy use a cheerful tone of voice, even if it feels funny use optimistic language instead of saying things
like I'm going to make changes, say I'm going to make some improvements accord.
to Michael mercer, author of the book spontaneous optimism. Research has proven that doing what optimistic people do will make you more optimistic, and that is something you should
know how
become great at something are the people who are at
top of their game really special? Do they possess some inherit ability that makes them so good, or can we
I'll be graded, something if we practise enough what is the path to greatness
Is it open to everyone
Lord winning social psychologists run friedman. Author of the book decoding greatness has researched what makes for
hop performer, and he says it isn't necessarily what you might think I run thanks are being here thanks for having me
so by definition, greatness.
Is reserved for a select few, because if we were all great then what
we'd, all the average
so whenever there is a discussion of top performers in anything sports or business or whatever
it's always, you know Michael Jordan, elon, musk, Steve jobs and enough somehow those
people don't seem that ordinary they seemed. They seem to be very special and while people may find it interesting to hear about them
talk about them. I dont think that most of us
I think we can actually get there. If I were to put my thing,
on the thing that motivated me to write this book. That would be. It is this misperception that we have, that greatness is for others, and it comes from
The stories we ve been told about success. There are to be
stories that most of us have heard throughout our lives. The first story is that greatness comes from talent, it's this idea that were
all born with certain innate strengths and that the key to achieve
greatness is finding a field that allows those strengths to shine whatever those strengths are for you. The second story is that greatness comes from practice and, according to this perspective, getting to the top requires the right practice. Regiment,
and an appetite for doing lots of hard work,
but in doing the research. What I found is that there is a third story
It's one, that's not often told yet it's the path
astonishing number of top performers, everyone from writers and artists, to invent
hunters in entrepreneurs used for generations and invite
mastering skill that few people have heard of and that skill is key.
reverse engineering and it works. How
reverse engineering simply means studying the best in a field and then working backward to figure out how they did it.
Khan valley, its well known, there's a long history of coteries who have deconstructed winning products to learn how their made its, how we got the personal computer and laptops and even the iphone, what's left,
well known, is that reverse engineering also explains how writers, like Stephen king and Malcolm Gladwell, learn their craft and how painters like claude monet, because
a groundbreaking artist and how John appetite became one.
successful, comedy minds of our generation. It studying the best works in a field and then working backwards to figure out how they were created turns out to be a lot
our common than anyone realized. So you mean that if I were to go ask any of the people you just mentioned how'd you do that they would say. Well, I looked at the best and I
verse engineer what they did in, and I did that it's not clear to me that they would identify them
firm, reverse engineering, but it is what
no doubt the component of reverse engineering, that has
able them to form at the level that they have an. I ll give you some some clear examples. In the case of Stephen king, he utilised process called copy work and what that means
Is it in his case? He would take comic books and he would recreate them word for word for memory when he was a kid and that enabled
to pick up on some of the hidden patterns that are embedded
some of the more successful stories in the case of Gladwell gladwell, has said that he would look at william buckley, william
lucky that was his favorite writer growing up. And if you looked at his early work, he describes it himself as an
sanely derivative, because all he was doing was looking for patterns and trying to model off them, and I think that so many of us actually do this. Implicitly, no one's ever tall took no one's ever taught us to go and copy. Someone else's work or to look for hidden patterns, but invariably that is one of the key steps too
figuring out what works in your field and then adapting some of those formulas to create new works, that's the key
when you say copying. Other people do something about.
being that doesn't you know we're told dont copy. You know you,
You come up with your own way of doing things. You come up with your own idea. You know copy somebody else's yes and no
to be clear. I am not suggesting that copying is the path to greatness. What I am suggesting is that the process of copying can teach you some of the sum of the trip
of the trade that you can then apply in new ways by evolving some of those proven formulas, and one of the interesting things that I discovered while doing the research is that copying actually makes us more creative, not less and here's. Why? It's because the process of copying someone else's work,
opens our eyes up to decisions that we might have otherwise overlooked. In that experience of consider
options that we normally would ignore makes us more creative in subsequent work.
So there's research out at the university of Tokyo that had amateur artists, copy the work of an established painter and compare the different group that didn't go through that experience and was just told to create original work and what they found was that the process of copying the work of an established artist action,
he made their subsequent paintings more creative and it wasn't by mimicking the style of the artists they copied. It was ngo
being original and completely new ways, and I think MIKE what you're the key takeover
here is that the last thing that you want to do and you're searching for novel ideas is to be stuck
her own head creativity.
from blending ideas, not isolation, which is why this process of studying other people's work in an analytical way and looking for hidden patterns is so powerful. Still, you can look for
patterns in other people's work and blend ideas and all the things you are talking about, but if you don't have the talent and you're not
willing to put in the time and the practice, then
you got nothing without question. There is no question that if you are born with particular strength that match or feel
You're going to have an easier time, excelling same is true for practice. If you have the right practice, regiment you're going to do much better, but there's a grant glaring problem with the notion that it takes ten thousand hours to succeed at any particular field, or that just practice generally is enough to get get you there, and that glaring problem is that you can't practice and idea you ve never considered the best ideas, don't emerge from hours of isolated practice there waiting to be found inside the work of masters
which is what reverse engineering allows you to do, just because you can identify patterns in other people's work doesn't mean you can.
Do it, though I mean I could spend years analyzing and reverse engineering, Michael Jordan's ability to play basketball,
It's unlikely I will ever have the ability to play basketball like him. In the case of Michael Jordan, that's a physical sport
and without question there we're all gonna have particular physical limitations.
invitation to that thinking. Is that reverse engineering, although it might not make you Michael Jordan, identifying what he's doing differently will
likely improve your performance on the basketball court and
enable you to guard against other players more effectively, and so, if we make it a black and white discussion of either I'm going to become Michael Jordan or this doesn't work, then most strategies
are not going to work because, Michael Jordan is such a singular talent. What we should.
Looking at is what's the quickest way to improve, what's the quickest way to him in
moving our skills and wrote. This no question that reverse engineering can help us improve our skills in ways that go beyond simply simple practice by how much
You know, there's no real. I can't point
particular number, because it depends on your inborn ability.
It depends on how we you're going about reverse engineering. How well you are applying it there. So many factors there that make it difficult to pinpoint to give it.
finish of answer again
what I mean is. The implication is that if you reverse engineer greatness, you too can be great, and my question is: can you be great or can you
may be better than you might otherwise have been tat, such a great question mike
I don't know whether I can say definitively that you can be great, but
do you know that if you ve given up
on your dreams, because you are you become convinced by one of the two
Conventional stories that a u dont, have the inborn talent or be you
we have ten thousand hours or the ability to just practice practice practice for wait for a decade of time. Then this offers an alternative.
and to not just improving your skills, but allowing you to strive for some of the things that perhaps you ve given up on. How do you do it honey
reverse engineer someone else's success, and how do you know what you're looking at is actually the reason that they got there? There are a wide variety of tax
eggs for reverse engineering and all of them involve looking for clues. That reveal how an object was created. So it ultimately depends on what field your
to reverse engineer, work, and so in the world of writing. Nonfiction authors will often go to the bibliography at the end of a work to identify the sources that went into creating it in the world of cooking shafts will offer-
order food to go where they can place certain sauces on a white plate in parts out the ingredients. Sometimes I use a microscope photographers
scan images for clues like the length of shadows that reveal the time of day and location of light source, the crew
Coping ultimately, is to not
enjoy an object passively, but to continuously think how was this constructed? What can I learn from this? And how does the supply to a project I'm working on
talking about peak performance and how to use reverse engineering to achieve it, and my guess is so-
psychologists run friedman, author of the book decoding greatness. This episode is brought to you by caesar gourmet food for dogs. Your dog deserves the best, so give them what they ve always wanted. Real food for dogs, caesar wholesome balls are made with real chicken or beef as the
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Are you currently enjoying the show on the stitched up, then? You need to know. Sticker is going away on august, twenty nine yup going away as in conflict, guy's, dead, rest in peace dinner and thanks for fifteen years of service to the pod cast community, so switch to another part cast out then follow this show their apple,
spotify or wherever you listen so
Sometimes I think that in the question
reverse engineer greatness to figure out what someone did to get to the top. Typically, you would look at their talent
in their abilities, but some time,
It isn't just talent and ability that propels you to the top.
and so here, and so here's an example. Okay, so
Let's say you want to be a great singer.
a really successful singer and you could fall
besides how other great singer sing. But I've talked to enough people and
using business it'll tell you that
There's a lot of people who can sing really well, you
to know how to play the game of being a success in the music business?
and yes singing important, but there's a lot more,
who had been that. So, if you're spending all your time perfecting your pitch and how you breathe,
The way you pronounce words you're missing the boat. I love that example, because indicating greatness, I talk about,
some of the formulas that musicians using are to be successful and why
those formulas is standing out for
other musicians and also evolving their approach over time. They some of the great like, for example, David, bowie and beyond, say what you'll
is that every year or so they will evolve their image and that's a pattern to and they're doing it because they were, they
realize that if they continue to put out the same product album after album they're going to fade,
and this is often what you see with many music with many musical acts is that they fade over time because they continue to bring out the same types of songs. The same look and feel, and that's an element that contributes to their success as musicians that you may
pick up on unless you attempt to reverse engineer what they're really doing. So when you
reverse engineer. What are you doing? Are you sitting down with a piece of paper and going ok? Also, let's see here, he did this and he did this. I mean. What's the process specifically, it depends on the particular field, but one of the things that are often plays a role is some
I called zooming out. Zooming out essentially means elevating yourself to a higher love
and evaluating what is really happening without staring at the details is the difference between standing,
close to a canvas and seeing the brush strokes and taking a few steps backwards, witnessing the totality of what is on the canvas and an example of this in writing. Is a process called reverse outlining so
everyone has heard of outlining its what we do in middle school in high school, where we plan a paper in advance. By listing the major points, we intend
to address in the various sections of our paper: reverse outlining, entails working backwards and outlining the major points contained within a completed peace. So it's a simple process, but in power,
where's you to uncover hidden structures within the work of public of a var authors other than yourself. So I can tell you: I've taught
riding on the on the graduate level and on the undergraduate level, and one of the things that you too
People is to reverse outlined because Wednesday reverse outline. They can't help but see
certain paragraphs, aren't contributing anything.
You can also do this with the works of published authorised to identify what it is. That's happening over the trajectory of a essay or of a book now reverse outlining, goes beyond right,
marketers can use it to reverse outline memorable advertisements consultants. Can you
to reverse outlined successful proposals. Podcast
Can use it to outline a programme structure and when
Do that you're able to pick up on things that you might otherwise miss that can help contribute to your evolving, the form
in a new way, and what about that? You know that the idea that which I think is kind of in bread
in how we approach success, is you know yet that's good that work for him
Second work for you. You have to come up with your own way of doing things because his work,
isn't going to be your way, I'm glad you brought that up, because the truth is someone else's formula.
huge, simply try to reproduce it. The chances
you being able to pull it off in a way that feels authentic to you are low and are given.
ample were actually reverse engineer. A ted talk actually them, but one of the most popular ted talks of all time
can robinson and I looked to see what he is doing within that talk and try to show people how they can reverse engineer. Other ted talks to identify with the former
is, and also evolving in a way that feels authentic to them, and one of the things that you discover when you analyze can robinsons TED talk is that he actually relies on very few facts. Although he's in education expert, he actually just conveys us one fact throughout the entire talk
now he's able to do that, because he's an education expert
actually relies on anecdotes and storytelling to become persuasive to tattoos audience. But if you're, not an education expert, you might not, you might feel like you actually do, need some facts and present a persuasive talk or it
another thing that can Robinson does is a. He relies on a lot of jokes. What, if you're, not funny when it for that
your personality, and so what I tried to tell
People is that you don't need to just simply identify a single formula. Often the best for the best outcomes can come about
You reverse engineer four or five or six examples
really resonate with you and pick out the elements that feel like they would work best for in your particular circumcised
yes, and so it's not about finding of a single formula and then utilizing it in your for yourself, but rather being inquisitive about what it is.
It's working, and how might I apply this to what I'm working on
Why certainly see the value of finding
someone else who is successful and deconstructing
reverse engineering their success. But I guess what
wondering is
Y know that when I
and if I were the reason they were successful, is they did it this way,
how do I know that? That's really the reason that they were so
zestful they might have been successful because they were put
good and they knew the right person or they were at the right place at the right time? How do I
No, what I think is the reason for success is actually the reason for success and then
my success on
of that. I dont think that what we are trying to do here is reverse engineer
one particular persons career path. What we're trying to identify are what makes a particular work within a given field so impact
full, and I think that is a crucial difference, because we're not trying, for example, to recreate, might if we, if I want to write a great book, I might say to myself. While
that malcolm Gladwell. He's really successful. Why don't? I just try to figure out what he's doing and copying it. That probably is likely to do not work in france
some of the reasons I mentioned, which is that audience expectations tend to evolve and also because we
malcolm Gladwell did in the early to fail.
This was unique at the time and is no longer quite is unique,
like to get like one really solid example of somebody. We might know that that right,
verse, engineered someone else's success and used it to be successful and you say
Barack obama is a perfect example.
I'll explain that will long before he became president obama was a dreadful speaker
trounced in his first congressional race and that's a little bit hard for people to believe and the reason that he did not succeed as a speaker is because he had been a law prefer
and was used to lecturing students. Voters didn't appreciate
lecture to, and they let him know at the ballot and after that stinging loss
a while Obama actually considered leading politics until he noticed
way that pastors delivered sermons at church and he started applying that approach to speeches, and so when he came back to politics, he started
use now telling more stories. He was modulating his tone he was using
petition. To drive home points in what obama's story illustrates. Is that often the quickest path to success isn't finding your talent or practicing harder? It's about plucking strategy.
That work in other fields and in them and then importing them into your own. Well, it's interesting is
listening to you speak out. I'm thinking that
without knowing what I was doing have done this several times in my life in my career in my personal life, I've done what you're
talking about where I've kind of
where's engineered what people who are good at it do and then too
to emulate them in my own way. So it's interesting to hear that that, but that its
get em at way to achieve success. Run Friedman been my guests. The name of his book is decoding. Greatness.
And you'll find a link to his book at amazon in the show notes, thanks for being here run, I enjoyed it. Thank you for your time
in
spring and summer when you go outside it seems there are always flies waiting to bother. You
they buzz around your head. They land on your food and on your drinks. They can be a constant annoyance and when you take it,
to account all the species of flies which includes mosquitos,
something I didn't know until today fly
Are your almost constant summertime, companion and pest so
what our flies where they come from
do they serve any useful purpose and is?
their anywhere in the world that doesn't have flies with the answer.
These questions in more is biologists, Jonathan balcombe he's the author
book called superfly, the unex,
did lives of the world's most successful insects. A jonathan welcome I might great to be here
So, let's start with some facts. What is it we know about flies on the planet, earth flies or a major group in the most successful group of animals on earth, insect insects make
about eighty percent of all known species and flies make up about a hundred and sixty thousand of those, and
estimated there maybe is five times as many on earth that are yet to be described by us,
But there are massive group there, like the entrepreneurs of insects there very nimble,
they're very clever. They do a lot of
raising things, how they interact with other species and their environments. And so that's kind of why I wanted to talk about these these animals and so at any.
given moment? How many flies are there in the world its estimated
there are twenty million flies about twenty million flies for every human so
if you do the numbers that puts them in niger quadrillion. I think this is where there is estimated to be quintilian of insects. Tat one with.
eighteen zeros after it? So there's just huge numbers and when, when we talk about flies, we talk about power flies, horsfall
as dragonflies? Are they all flies? He has confusing
no some of those are horse lies our dear flies, mosquitoes there's a lot
obscure ones, but dragon flies or not. That's another group beetles, of course, have wings people know. Beetles aren't flies, was
some bees are not flies their hymen options. So there's quite a few
of winged insects. A lot of them are flies, but not all of them. So when I think of a fly, I think of, like the common house fly
that's the thing and I remember having a conversation I think on this podcast with somebody about what what purpose could they
possibly serve not just flies, but just insects. In general, I mean I mean I'm sure
they have their own purpose, which is to multiply and keep making more flies, but but but but they seem to move more trouble than
are worth, which is why we swat them in smacked amends
ray them and try to kill him yeah it's easy to
get how useful they are. Many people may not know it all. Hence the question better
We want. A measure applies value in terms of human benefits. They certainly do better
thus in huge ways, possibly the most prominent. Those things is that their pollinators, that they are its ranks second only to the bees and washed his apologies
is it an alpine and northern regions? There are the champions of pollinate.
and it's estimated that the value of insects as pollinators to humans is about,
over half a trillion dollars a year. The total
commercial value of pollination of plants, crops that we eat
and flies, or a huge part of that there also important those waste disposal. They clean up dead, rotting bodies and poop. They clean up huge amounts of
and sure that's gross, but hey would be living in a mac, much less clean and pestilential in a much more pestilential planet. If we didn't have
lies, and the other really critical point here is that there are very important members of food webs. There is predator.
Some parasites themselves? They consume a lot of creatures, but there are
consumed by many, so it flies disappeared. The food webs would collapse. The planet with would essentially collapse into chaos, and we wouldn't survive that event. Probably now, let's go
that's really surprising these me new respect for flies, but they they certain
are annoying and when winter
eyes annoy people when they when their buzzing around it there. I assume there just looking for something to eat. For the most part, that's right, the other thereof.
of course, in the case of a mosquito horse fly. The food thereafter is, is that lovely lacquer that we have coursing through our bodies, blood
but also your house flies zipping along here arm. I was visited by many house lies researching my book. I asked,
I quite like the tickle of them, but most people would rather they not be there, but yeah they're looking for scraps and they have this proboscis on their mouth and they have this wonderful ability to use it as a as both a
of squeezing as a set of a squeaky mob, so they can release fluid
through the mob through the preposterous to liquid
I food on the surface, and then they can invite it. They can last second up through the preposterous soda, very, very complex organ, a very use
organ for them to get by
terms of pests and an that's everything, it did,
worth mentioning the bad side of flies is that they are they parasatize us. The
for our blood, some of them do and there also
vectors of diseases such as, of course, malaria, zika, yellow fever, fortunately not covered by annex crop. Pests quote unquote past, because I suppose that's how we
I garage them. So in those ways there that's the bad side of flies but to you know, they're just indispensable, and I just want to add that they are also very useful. We know
or about genetics thanks to flies. The fruit flies through the darling of genetics, research and their also crime, solvers their capacity to locate a dead body. It's great speed and with greater
piracy has led to many murder convictions and also
examination, ended
The thing I wanted to mention there in terms of the utility to us beyond being pollinators and waste disposal is the day.
we are also used in medicine is wound for wound healing. They have properties that lend itself very well too
killing intractable wounds, which is diabetic, also risen and the like so wait a minute, let's go
as to how they solve crimes. I explained that I mean you can't say: hey Freddy. The fly go, find this body like you, might tell a dog, so how did they find bodies? And how do we know that's what they're doing freddie flying fines?
The dead body by his home resumed her own resources there, their sense of chemicals
Well, if you like, is so acute that there are very quick to recognise the presence of a dead,
the dead body in the vicinity, so they will come along and they will land on the on the carcass and they will
start their life history, which in that case is not so much food, although that is something they will use it. They will use the carcass for, but mainly it's to lay eggs
those eggs hatch out on a particular schedule, depending on the species in the weather conditions them.
Gets feed on the carcass and if, by looking at the carcass and the stage of development at the maggots forensic entomologists, which is the specialists who specialise in this rather morbid field, they can determine, took two two within our,
the time of death of the of the victim and that's really critical piece of information that the amount of time that
lapses there their death and that's why?
evidence from insects has led many many times too
exaggerations, as well as convictions and murder cases, wait and wait, though it's it's not that the the flies off
finding the body in their if they're, following the flies to locate them it. It's not that I know it's me.
it's more a case of not knowing where the carcasses and then when it when somebody's body is discovered in the woods and could be day.
Or weeks later, the development of the stages of develop
the evidence either left by flies or still present by the flies allows
the researchers, the entomologists determined to very closely
long ago it was it that body died and that can be very import
piece of evidence in terms of knowing the whereabouts of the idea of us of a suspect or suspects. In the case I should add, Michael
that there is quite a lot of research, the ongoing
has been done in the past, including at the university of tennessee. When I was a grad student there there's a place,
the body farm which is accordant off area. Many acres of woodland
than other habitats and the same
actually place dead human bodies there. They have to get special permission to do this and then they get,
de the baseline data on when and what kind of flies arrive. Of course, it's only specific to the particular jog geographical regions.
This kind of research is going a lot going on around the world when flies, maggots are
be flies basically right new right, yes,
I don't know much about insects, but it seems it most. Animals, don't
lay their eggs on their food, but flies seem to do that. Yes, there
typically lay their eggs on their food. Why? Well they
he'd, and then they gives earth headstart for their young by laying eggs on the on the carcass or the poop or the
never food source, it isn't it and there are flies. You eat more
grable things such as nectar and in such better
What, by laying the eggs there, you give a good head start to your young also, so it's a fool
source for the young. That's correct, yeah,
a bit with the wound healing I mention that that's the same case it's it's gross to think about, but these maggots, which are contained in a pouch like a sort of like a teabag, a mesh pouch
their feeding on democratic tissue.
You that's not going to heal and that may have
humble bacteria in these little maggots eat that they consume that they they scoured out. Then there than the scaring
there, the rasping mouth parts
to clean the wound. They don't eat fresh good tissue. There only go for thee, rotting, nick product tissue,
So that's why they're so valuable healing, intractable wounds.
So knowing what you know about flies when you're sitting
a picnic in one lands on your hot dog. Do you still eat the hot? On its a great question, it depends, I think, I'd bobby
a bit off. I'd Bobby, given little wipe just just to be on this.
Inside your fly
The house flies are definitely contaminated, often because of the sum of the types of an unsavory items that their attracted to and they can mechanically.
for a from wanting to another so
yeah. I think you know covering food is a good idea and if, if a fly lands on something, then
If you get off to a good idea, there was a study done actually and more people were grossed out by the presence of cockroaches on their food than flies. But it's it's been suggested as data that says
the cockroaches are a little bit cleaner than flies. That's interesting here yet make people because flies world
color roger picnic in land on your food peoples. You know, waved their arms
get rid of him, but they still go ahead and eat the food, because tonight, if
we throw it all away. Well, nobody would eat anything. Yes in it
rising biologists in a border area where there is food chaos outside, I think it was in Guatemala, nay,
They wanted to impress upon the food vendors that the flies do transfer bad things to our
and what they did was they sprinkled.
A white flour. I think it was on the latrines near by and then a few hours later little bits of white flour were showing up in the footprints of the flies. You'd gone from the trains to the food food outlets,
that was one way of demonstrating in the vendor started, covering up there shoot after that here is it possible.
To go anywhere in the world and there not be flies.
I can tell you there found on all seven continents, and I believe that the only group of insects that can make that claim so
in that basis, perhaps not of course, in the depths of winter in the antarctic, You'Re- probably not you're, not going to have any mosquitoes buzzing around you, but to you.
Stay until summer- and you probably will, if a fly,
I mean how to flies get around like to do flies like hiding suitcases and then, when you get to your destination and open your suitcase, the fly pops out and and and off he goes, and neither do they ve tried
that way or do they just fly where they fly on their owner. How did they get around yeah? Most
Dispersal is a gorgeous using their wings, but
I've seen I've seen flies in an enlarged aircraft on intercontinental flights, and I think you know is that fly getting away
her figure. Occasionally. Some of those lies exit the plane on landing when the doors open
Imagine if maybe a bewildering h experience for a fly too
They find themselves in nairobi when they left new york nine hours earlier, so
for sure, because of their omnipresent
and their ability to move quickly. They will definitely help to disperse
you mentioned suitcases and have to just add that flies are incredibly good at getting into tight spaces, not so much the adults, but it
the larvae, the little maggots, the very small, their small maggots and actually can can crawl between the teeth of a suitcase zipper that little bit event
action is proved useful in again back into this friends, entomology cases where murderers have have hidden their victims in in suitcase
in that the flies can get in there and access that again. Today,
the trail of evidence as to when and where that it that victim was killed. Talk about her
flies relate to each other. Do they mate for life today
a mess around. Did I have girlfriends in boy friends, we did
that, whatever? How did they communicate with each other? That kind of thing? Yet,
sure do mess around the flies have very colorful sex lives. I like to say that the fly sex comes in fifty
shades of brown. They have a cordial,
songs, they have wing fanning, they have curses some quite complex courtship.
as you get male male competition, where males will square often fights, but do they live in communities? Where did they go at night? How long?
do they live that kind of thing? Well,
most of the lifespan of most insects is in the larval stage is a short egg period is the same with caterpillars, turning into butterflies and mass, so the larvae need maybe
a couple of weeks to mature and then they, the adult period,
Actually there adult period of some flies can be in months. That's a lot of small ones. Midges in such it may be a day or less so
It varies quite a bit not surprising, with such diverse group of insects, so
the house fly buzzing around my house that that I then see on the window sill a couple days later may have lived a good long life. Some of them
Some of them may have. Indeed, I have to tell you MIKE
I rescue them out of my my house sites. It just give me a good feeling to libya.
the main you know, if I see them buzzing, bouncing against the wind windowpane
happens in the warmer months. It's fun to take them out and let them fly well, but that's hard to do
when I was going to ask you about their very hard to catch their very hard to hit, because what because? Why
It's a way of escaping predators, they're they're, great speed is probably
because they have a history of being passed through other humans, primate
other animals with swatting tales. You know when you
cows in the field in the summer or horses, those tales swatting constantly they're, not swatting at marshmallow.
This wording. It flies. So am I
think flies. Speed and guile is a product of their unpopularity among other animals.
Member hearing I dont remember from who but seems like they were a credible source
that flies experienced time differently that, although we think we're swatting a fly really fast, this flies the fly perceives us is moving,
very slow and they they have tons of time in flight.
To get out of the way. I love that idea to it gets
question over, you know, what's the experiencing a fly, and I want to just make a note here that
flights have been shown in export, close, careful experiments to have an attention span. They do have some cognitive
skills. So the question of whether there alert or conscious does
come to mind all the flu
around my house in that are outside. Where did they go at night? They live in a community. Do they just sit in a tree? They hang out with their girl friend what what were we
are they? Their property were the kind of places where
let's go at night, you know, we see them in the day, they're all over the place, they're calling their flying everywhere and then,
Where are they, of course, some birds that
the night, and there are some flies active at night, but most of them, as you say that they go to bed somewhere. Where are they might mice? My guess is, and I
say. This is not an expert answer. I dont remember researching this. They problem
just find nooks and perched quietly there they do sleep. I can tell you that flies. Do sleep
and so they are probably doing what birds do. They find a quiet perch that sir, on an outer limb mandatory in the case of birds and bags, under an eve or under a little bit of bar
in the case of flies and they hide their for the night and all going well, they'll be ready to resume their activities. And next morning you mention
at the beginning, that there are thousands and thousands of species of flies and probably thousands of species that have yet to be discovered but of
the species we know is there any species that like really is particularly interesting or the view that you find fascinating.
Allow me to give a bizarre want. Botz lies eyes.
just mentioned a bit about them to something I thought was fascinating about their life. History. Bot flies are quite large, bumbling flies, they dont have any mouth parts, they dont feed as adults, and they in they get their maggots inside our body in the maggots feed on as it's kind of gross, but
it's also pretty morbidly fascinating. How did they address the maggot entered our body and how that happens is really
I think, an interesting situation that involves a courier involves the involvement of another fly. So what about fly? Does a female whose ready to delay eggs she perch
and look for a mosquito. Hopefully, a female mosquito cause, it's only females, invite us and I missed
it comes by butterfly flies out grabs. The mosquito temporarily holds the mosquito captive
while she lays an egg on the mosquito, then let the mosquito go the egghead,
into a maggot which crossed the mouth. Parts of robust
if the mosquito that biting mouth part and then when the mosquito, if from the bob flies perspective and the mosquitoes
the events of mosquito successful in finding someone to bite, and, of course this need not necessarily be
human, it could be a rhino or another mammal, then the mosquito bites the little maggot cross down them. Preposterous gets onto the hosted the tools being bitten.
ghetto withdraws, flies away and then the little maggot crawl through the whole left by the mosquito to start his or her
little bit of several. We,
the development and growing inside the the host before
hatching out and dropping under the ground and pew painting and eventually becoming another at all, but fly. That's just disgusting understand
fact: this whole conversation has been kind of gross but interesting, nonetheless, Jonathan
outcome has been my guest he's, a biologist and author of the book, superfly the unexpected lives of the world,
most successful insects, and
we'll find a link to that book at amazon and the show notes next Jonathan
we're coming on thanks MIKE, it's been a real pleasure
growing up. I imagine we all receive some variation on the same advice that you need to go.
Outside play outdoors, be a nature that it's good for you to be outdoors
How good is it well there?
actually been studies regarding the effects of nature on kids and their development, and it turns out mother nature, does know best
simply being outdoors and interacting with nature has shown to reduce stress, gets kids more folk.
And even enhances a child's emotional and social development ones
daddy in environment and behaviour magazine said that the more natural surroundings, even them
greenery around the home, the more significant the stress reduction, even team,
benefited from being outdoors, they showed increase.
esteem independence, initiative and more interaction with nature, and that
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Transcript generated on 2023-07-01.