How Blind People Describe Animals, Plague Myths About “Ring Around the Rosie,” and Radiation Shields Made from Fungus

Learn about how blind people can describe what animals look like, how “Ring Around the Rosie” probably doesn’t reference the Plague, and why scientists used Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a radiosynthetic species of fungus, to build a radiation shield.

Ring Around the Rosie probably doesn't reference the plague by Kelsey Donk

Mikkelson, D. (2000, November 17). Is ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ About the Black Plague? Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ring-around-rosie/Opie, I. A. and Opie, P. (1985). The Singing Game. Oxford University Press. https://archive.org/details/ibald00iona/page/221/mode/2upBlind People Can Describe What Animals Look Like — But How? by Sonja Hodgen

Tantibanchachai, C. (2019). Flamingoes, Elephants and Sharks: How Do Blind Adults Learn About Animal Appearance? News from The Johns Hopkins University. Jhu.Edu; Johns Hopkins University. https://releases.jhu.edu/2019/05/21/flamingoes-elephants-and-sharks-how-do-blind-adults-learn-about-animal-appearance/Kim, J. S., Elli, G. V., & Bedny, M. (2019). Knowledge of animal appearance among sighted and blind adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900952116We might be able to use fungus as a radiation shield by Cameron Duke

Ryan, J. (2020, July 26). Self-replicating Chernobyl mold could protect the ISS from space radiation. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/news/self-replicating-chernobyl-mold-could-protect-the-iss-from-space-radiation/Shunk, G. K., Gomez, X. R., & Averesch, N. J. H. (2020). A Self-Replicating Radiation-Shield for Human Deep-Space Exploration: Radiotrophic Fungi can Attenuate Ionizing Radiation aboard the International Space Station. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.16.205534Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-blind-people-describe-animals-plague-myths-about-ring-around-the-rosie-and-radiation-shields-made-from-fungus

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