Today's episode is sponsored by Bombus.
It's the time of the year we think about, hmm, what am I going to do differently this year? Maybe I'm going to read more, maybe I'm going to work out more, maybe I'm going to learn a new skill but really at the top of my list is number one to get comfy and that's where Bombus comes in, they're bringing a serious comfort to all my everyday go-to's. We all new Bombus sports socks are engineered with sports specific comfort for running
golf hiking skiing, snowboarding and all sport. This year I'm going to walk my dog more, longer walks, better walks and these socks are going to help me stay comfy while I do it. And from other resolutions like going to the bookstore and picking out more books to read, I'm going to wear my new squishy Saturday-sweet slip-on shoes, which are super comfortable
for being on the go.
Get over to bombus.com/family26 and use code Family26 for 20% off your first purchase.
That's BOMBAS.com/family26 code Family26 at checkout. Friends, we are so super duper excited to tell you that we just added a bunch more cities to our 2026 live show tour. We're ready for singing, dancing, magic tricks, game shows, mystery sounds, and scientists falling from the sky.
It is a totally safe way, we promise. Plus, there's a chance for you to attend special meet and greet parties in every city. So, come on! This spring we're coming to Milwaukee, Saint Paul, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Chetanyuga, Durham, San Francisco, Portland, Buffalo, Toronto, and Ann Arbor.
We're basically going to be everywhere. What behind you? Are we there? No?
Well, we probably will be soon.
Head over to brainson.org/events for tickets, and make sure you grab passes to our meet and greet party. You get to ask us questions, take pictures with us, and I'll even do some close-up magic. That's brainson.org/events. Can't wait to see you.
“Let me know in the comments if you want to have a chat with us.”
Friends on a universe. You're listening to brainson, where we're serious about being curious. What has eight arms and is super cool? An octopus? Well, yes, those are certainly cool, but I wasn't thinking of spiders.
Oh, I love spiders. But I would describe them as having eight legs. Good point. We say octopus has arms, but usually people say spiders have legs, but like, what's the difference?
Well, I guess it depends on what you use them for most walking or grabbing. Yeah, it's like hair and fur. We say animals have fur, but we have hair, but they're made of the same stuff. Oh, gosh, you're right. My brain is starting to hurt.
Yeah, me too, or like a whale's blow-hole.
“It's basically the same as our noses, so why don't we call that hole, the whales knows?”
Or why don't we call this thing on our face a blow-hole? Next time I have the cold, I'm going to say my blow-hole is around eat. Great idea. I'm going to do that too. But back to my original thought.
What has eight legs and is super cool? Spiders. Because when we eat, we chew it up and swallow it and all the breakdown of that food happens inside our bodies with spiders and happens on the outside. That's Dr. Paula Cushing.
She's been studying spiders for over 30 years. We'll hear more from her in event. If you like spiders or wasps or fun, I advise you stay tuned. You know Molly, podcast is a weird name. Don't you think?
I guess I never thought about it.
“When I hear the word "pod," I think of a pod of whales.”
And cast, like casting a fishing lure, are you trying to catch the whales? Well, Mark, I think it was a mashup of the words "ipod and broadcast." I mean, what if cast is like a heart bandage, did the whales break up in? It makes those sense. Well, what should we call them?
How about audio buddies? Or what about earpossodes? Or, say with me, sonic schmorgasphorics. Well, whatever you call them, we're glad you found ours. We love being your audio buddies.
And for one audio buddy to another, consider joining SmartyPass.
You get all our earpossodes and free.
Plus, bonus earpossodes and access to our soon-to-be announced book club.
And you support us so we can keep making shows like this one. It's a fun and easy way to say thanks for this sonic schmorgasphorics science, history, debate, and more. Join by going to SmartyPass.org.
“Okay Molly, what if it's pod cast, like peas and a pod?”
That makes more sense. This pea is proud to be in a pod with you, pal. Oh, come on. ♪ We're listening to brains on part of the brains on universe ♪ I'm your host Molly Bloom and my co-host today is Keon from Bloomington, Indiana.
Hi Keon. Hi Molly.
So you live in Bloomington right now, but you're about to move to India, right?
Um, yeah. What are you looking forward to about moving to India? Well, I'm looking forward to the food and seeing my family and playing on my Nintendo switch in being rich. (laughs) But I'll sound like excellent things.
Okay, so do you know if there are like animals that you'll be able to see where you're going to live, that I'm sure you can't see an Indiana right now? Oh, yeah, lions. You're going to be able to see lions very exciting.
“What's your favorite food that you're going to eat when you're there?”
Uh, I don't really have one. Are there like a sweet that you like? Oh, yeah, definitely.
They're called Motitu Landos.
They're taste small little orange fowls, and they're just so good. ♪ We're right now ♪ Today's episode is based on a question that you sent us. Yeah, I asked, can a spider eat a was? Okay, so what made you think of this question?
Well, I know there are really big spiders, which actually I think can eat wasps. And also, I know wasps have really nasty things when you make me think can a spider eat a wasp? So, generally, what do you think of spiders? Um, I think of them as really cool or reckoning. And what are your general thoughts about wasps?
Oh, I've seen people being stung by a wasp and it looked nasty. Yeah, it does hurt. I have been stung by a wasp, it is a lot of fun. When you sent in this question, what did you think the answer was? Did you think a spider can eat a wasp or can't eat a wasp?
I think a spider could eat a wasp. Well, before we get to the specifics of who can eat whom, let's meet these two remarkable critters and answer, give us the scoop, please. Two fearsome foes, one of Fabulous Flyer. The other, a total web end.
It's wasps and spider! In this corner, we have wasps. Float like a butterfly sting like a me, a wasp. Bees booze! Don't mix them up with bees!
Wasps tend to have skiddy or wasps and less fur than their busy cousins. Some wasps have serious stingers. Others are harmless to humans. And plenty of them are downright gorgeous. Like the cool cool wasps.
Which is shiny green, like a jewel. Why werebling when you can bebling? Some wasps are pollinators. Others hunt insects. The biggest wasps are around two inches long.
Like the size of a Lego mini-fig. The smallest wasps are teeny tiny. They're called fairy wasps. And some of them are about as long as the width of a human air. Let's give it up for WoW!
And in this corner, we have Spiderman! Look at these lovely limbs. Eight is great. You know what I'm talking about, huh? Octopus is Sawyer.
Pretty much all spiders have two things in common. They make venom and spin silk.
“But that doesn't mean you have to fear these walking wonders.”
Most are no danger to people. But if you're a bug, watch out!
Some trapbeals in their webs.
Others make trapdoors in the dirt. They hide in a hole under that trapdoor until a bug walks by. Then they jump out and snag it! If I do a dash, something walks by my door, and I dash out and eat it.
Yum! Most spiders eat bugs, but some larger ones have been spotted catching and eating birds. And how about those webs? Look out!
Not only is it super strong stuff, it can do amazing things!
Some spiders let out a small threat of silk. Then it catches the wind and pulls them up into the air. And they float away like a little, it's like a kite!
“That's what a spider's call, surfing the worldwide web.”
Hmm? Let's give it up! Who's spiders? Those are the players. The sticks are high.
Who will eat whom? We'll find out soon. Back to you, buddy! Well, it looks like we're ready for the main event. To find the answer to your question,
we've invited Dr. Paula Cushing from the Denver Museum
of Nature and Sciences to join us. She's the senior curator of invertebrate zoology. Hi, Dr. Cushing. It's good to be with you today. We are very happy that you're here.
So my question is, can a spider eat a wasp? You bet.
“Spiders can eat wasps and wasps attacks spiders.”
So we know that wasps have a stinger and they can sting their prey. So yeah, spiders can eat wasps but they have to be really careful when they do it. So if a wasp gets caught in the web of a spider,
it's a pretty big insect. And so the spider can feel that something big and maybe scary has gotten caught in the web. So what the spider will do is it rushes down and it turns his body around and it throws silk all over the wasp
to trap it in wasp so that the wasp can't sting it. And then the spider can go back down to the wasp and it can bite through that shroud of silk and inject venom into the wasp. So how do spiders eat?
So they don't have chewing mouth parts. They can't chew up their food like we do.
“So instead what a spider does is when it catches an insect,”
it catches it by using silk and venom. So they have venom glands inside their head region and they use fangs to inject the venom through the hard body of the insect to kill it.
And sometimes they'll wrap the prey and suck first
before they bite it sometimes they bite it first. And then what they do is through their mouth, which is a separate opening in their body. They vomit stuff called digestive enzymes. These proteins, they get all over the insect's body,
get inside the insect's body through those holes. They've just poked inside the insect using their fangs and those enzymes, they break down the tissue. They make it all liquidy. And then the spider just sucks up that
liquified pre-digested tissue. Whereas when we eat, we chew it up and swallow it and all the breakdown of that food happens inside our bodies with spiders and happens on the outside. So spiders spit up enzymes onto their prey
and that melts the prey until it's a slushy bug milkshake. Then the spiders just slurp it up wild. Are there any bugs the spiders can't eat? If they can catch a thing, can eat it. But there are some insects that spiders in general don't like to eat.
For example, not very many spiders like to eat ants. Because ants, they can sting or they can spray acid on something that's threatening them. They can attack and mass. And so for most arthropod predators, including spiders,
they kind of stay away from anything that even looks like an ant. For the most part, most spiders are general as predators. What that means is they don't really care. They'll eat just about anything as long as they can catch it. But there are other species of spiders that
prefer certain kinds of prey over others. There are even spiders that will specialize on eating ants. And they have evolved.
They have developed over time.
These special hunting behaviors that allow them to catch the ants without getting hurt themselves. And I'm guessing this is hard to pick. But do you have a favorite spider? I do not.
I just have favorite questions. Excellent.
“So what's a question that you're interested in right now?”
So I've always been interested in these spiders
that live inside ant nests with ants. Like, that's crazy. How do they get past that, like, none of us as humans would walk willingly across an ant nests. Because we know that we would get all stong and the ants would attack us.
But there are some spiders that actually live inside the nest with the ants. So I'm really fascinated with how that co-evolution has occurred. How has the spider evolved to live with the ants? And I've been studying this group of spiders that not only live inside the colonies of ants,
but they eat in the ants. So the ants are somehow letting their own predator live inside the colony
with them and to me, that's kind of crazy.
That's really cool. How did you get interested in spiders? I grew up in Washington, DC area. And as a high school student, I got a job at the Smithsonian Institution at their natural history museum in the insect zoo.
So I got to work with the live insects. And I became really fascinated with what are called Arthropods and Sex and Spiders. And then when I went to college, I did some volunteer research in the laboratory of a biology professor who did research
himself on spiders. And I just stayed in the field. I really liked it.
Thanks for answering my question, Dr. Koshin.
You are more than welcome, Kian. It was a fun conversation. Thank you for asking such good questions. So Dr. Koshin told us that spiders can eat wasps. I was also really surprised when she told us that some wasps eat ants. And some ants let wasps live inside their colonies.
That is very interesting. Something else that I'm very interested in right now is the-- [Music] You ready for the mystery sound, Kian? Yes, please.
All right, here it is. [Music] Whoa, what do you think, Kian?
“I think it's like concrete scraping against the metal”
or some chalk, it's going to be against a sidewalk. Okay, I am very convinced about your chalk against a sidewalk guest, very good guest. Let's take one more listen though. [Music]
Do you have any other thoughts? Well, I also think it's like a bucket of water scraping against some concrete-- Oh, some rocks. Very good guesses. We are going to hear it again, get another chance to guess and hear the answer at the end of the show.
So keep listening! [Music] We're working on an episode about what we call different generations. My parents are baby boomers. I'm a millennial and you, Kian, are part of a group called Generation Alpha.
These different generation names don't mean a whole lot. So we're wondering, if you can give your generation a new name, what would it be? Kian, what name would you give your generation? Generation Captain!
Tell me more why. Because, in the beginning for Alpha, it's Captain. Well, listeners, we want to hear it from you,
“record your answer, what name would you give your generation, and why?”
And send it to us at Brainson.org/contact. While you're there, you can also send in mysteries, sounds, drawings, and questions. That's Brainson.org/contact. Thanks! Today's episode is sponsored by Bombus.
It's the time of the year, we think about, hmm, what if I got to do different...
Maybe I'm going to read more.
Maybe I'm going to work out more.
“Maybe I'm going to learn a new skill, but really at the top of my list is number one to get”
comfy, and that's where Bombus comes in. They're bringing a serious comfort to all my everyday go-tos. The all new Bombus sports socks are engineered with sports, specific comfort, for running golf, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, and all sport. This year, I'm going to walk my dog more, longer walks, better walks,
and these socks are going to help me stay comfy while I do it. And from my other resolutions, like going to the bookstore and picking out more books to read, I'm going to wear my new squishy Saturdays, swayed slip-on shoes, which are super comfortable for a being on the go.
Head over to bombus.com/family26, and use code family26 for 20% off your first purchase.
That's b-o-m-b-a-s.com/family26, code family26 at checkout. You're listening to brain song, I'm Keon. And I'm Molly. And we're talking spiders and wasps.
“We just found out that, yes, spiders can eat wasps.”
But Molly, we need to tell them about a flip side. Oh, absolutely, we do. There are wasps that eat spider. Bet you didn't see that one coming. And if you did, high fives.
And these wasps are called, wait for it, you'll never guess, spider wasps.
I bet someone guessed that it's kind of exactly what you name a wasp that eats a spider. Yeah, you're right. There are several different kinds of spider wasps, and they can be found all over the world. They're usually dark in color, sometimes shiny, sometimes with stylish orange or yellow accents. There's a really cool kind called wait for it.
You'll never guess. Chorantula hox. Now that one, I did not see coming. A hawk? A wasp called a hawk? Mind blown?
Yeah, it's a pretty big wasp. Imagine a wasp, but as big as a hot we'll call her. Whoa, I guess that makes sense if they eat tarantulas, because tarantulas are very big spiders. They can be as big as the palm of your hand. If they weren't so furry and cute, I would find that disturbing.
But I don't. In Venezuela and Colombia, some spider wasps are called Mataka bios. Don't be scared by the name, it might mean horse killer, but they don't kill horses. They're just big and intimidating. These wasps get some pretty metal names.
In Brazil, they're called throat lockers.
“So now you might be thinking, what do these wasps do to earn these names?”
Let us set the scene. Spider wasps live alone, not in hives. When it's time for a female spider wasp to lay an egg, the hunt begins. She spots a spider, she attacks. She stings the spider.
And now the spider is paralyzed, it can't move. The spider wasp will then either dig a hole to put the spider in, or drag the spider to a nest or hole that was already around. Sometimes the spider wasp will cut off the spider's legs to make it easier to transport. Then the spider wasp lays an egg right on the abdomen of the spider.
That's the middle part of the spider. Next, this mama spider wasp will cover the hole and leave the egg to grow. Eventually, a larva hatches from the egg and starts eating the spider, which is still alive. As it grows, the baby spider wasp keeps eating the spider. Leaving it's heart and brain for last, so the spider will stay alive as long as possible while it's
being eaten. Throttle and amazing! Coming up, spiders are great at catching prey, and we're going to hear about some really creative methods they use right after we check the male bag. Okay, let's see here. This is a good one. A really good one. A really super duper fantastic one.
My name is Beatrix.
the listener mail sounds like it contains more code, so I tried to coding it and I think it says "Brains on." Am I right? If I'm right, that's so cool. Beatrix, this is so exciting. Mark is the one who embedded this mystery in the message. So I'm going to let him tell you. Beatrix, you're so smart. Those dots at the beginning are in fact Morse code,
“and you are in fact, in fact, correct! That's how you spell "Brains on" in Morse code.”
And since Morse code is a way to send messages, I thought that sound would be a good way to signal that we're getting messages. Plus, it sounded kind of musical to me, so I just added some fun sounds with it. High five's Beatrix, and by that, I mean, high five's in Morse code.
Incredible work Beatrix. We are all so impressed with your astute ears and decoding skills.
Thank you for writing. Hit it, Morse code. Want to hear "Brains on" without the ads? Just subscribe to Smarty Pass. Not only will you get ad free feeds of all of our shows, that's "Brains on" smash room best forever go and moment
“of um, but you'll also get the warm fuzzy glow that comes with supporting the shows you love.”
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your support. "Brains on" And we're back. We've heard about spiders that eat wasps and wasps that eat spiders, but there are a lot of cool ways that spiders trap the insects they're going to eat.
And do you know what this means, Keon? That biodiversity is a wonderful and amazing thing to the
whole. Yes, and it's time to activate game show mode. Today's game show is called Spidey Sense. I'm going to tell you about a way a spider catches prey and you're going to tell me the name of the spider. You ready? Okay. Here's the first question. This kind of spider actually eats other spiders. They climb on another spider's web, then they shake it to pretend like they are a bug stuck in the web. That other spider thinks, "Oh, I got a meal, but when they walk over to check,
“the first spider catches them and makes them the snack." What is this kind of spider called?”
Is it a trickster spider? B. Liar spider. C. Cannibal spider or D. Pirate spider.
Chickster spider. The answer is actually Pirate spider. I hope he has a little eye patch and a sword.
Next question, this kind of spider only eats male moths. So they snag the males by making a sticky ball of silk and dangling the ball of silk in the air. The amazing part thinks to chemicals in this spider's webbing. This ball actually smells like a female moth. So the male moth smells that and thinks, "Hey, there's a female nearby. They come to check it out, but they end up getting eaten instead of going on a date." This spider is called a dating game spider. B. Moth eater spider.
C. Bolas spider or D. Cupid spider. A moth eater spider. Excellent guests. They are moth eaters, but they're actually called bolas spider. Because bolas means ball. So the little sticky ball of silk they're named after. Here is our last one. There's a kind of spider that traps its prey by spitting on it. What does the spit do when it lands on the prey? It a. Dries and sticks the prey in place. B. It fizzes and then paralyzes the prey.
C. It makes a loud sound and makes the prey dance. Or D. It turns purple and leads the prey to spin in circles. A. Correct. That's exactly what it does. It drives kind of like glue and the prey is stuck there. Excellent working on. This has been Spidey Sense.
Spiders are amazingly cool creatures.
spiders. And a huge variety of ways that spiders catch their prey. That's it for this episode of
“Bringson. This episode was produced by Molly Blue, Mark Sanchez and Sandin Totten. It was sound”
designed by Mark Sanchez who also wrote our theme music. Special thanks to Dan Arnt, Restion on your Chondani and Ken Taborski at Code of the North for his website help. Okay, Keen, are you ready to hear that mystery sound again? Definitely. Okay, here it is.
Okay Keen, you were a pretty confident in your first guesses. You talked about
Chuck or bucket of water on concrete. Did you hear something new? You're going to stick with your original guesses. The bucket of water. Okay, so we're still thinking concrete. Something
“being dragged on it. You think it's a bucket of water? Perfect. Let's hear the answer. My name is”
Margaret. I live in Washington, D.C. Put in the sound you just heard was E-Rubbing Totten on my front porch. Thank you. Chuck, Chuck, Keon, you were right. Oh boy. I'm going to pretend the bucket
guessed never happened and that you were 100% right. Was that work for you? Uh huh.
Now it's time for the Bringsoner role. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions ideas. Mystery sounds, drawings and high fives. Anthony from Batavia, Illinois, Clara from Cincinnati, Reese from Dunedin, Florida, a relief from Pasadena,
“California, Wesley from Brussels, Belgium, Sofia from Charleston, South Carolina, Ruth from”
Sunderland, United Kingdom, Bira from Atlanta, Stewie from Tampa, Florida, LA from Vallejo,
California, Daniel and Charlotte from Anaheim, California, A-Lis from Edinburgh, Scotland,
Junia from Minneapolis, Ada from Richmond, Virginia, Matilda from Champaign, Illinois, Olivia from the Bronx, New York, Holden from Flamington, New Jersey, Seth from Atlanta, James from Harp and Dunedin, United Kingdom, Jack from Gilbert, Arizona, Iowa from Fort Worth, Texas, Mia from Westerville, Ohio, Clara from Air, North Dakota, Ganon from Harman, Utah, Olivia from Murphy'sboro, Tennessee, Daphne from Vancouver, British Columbia, part from Gorgon, India,
Mia Rose and Ariana from Perth, Australia, Jade from Bethesda, Maryland, Zade from Pennsylvania, Braddock from San Mateo, California, Otis from Campbell River, British Columbia, Milan from Jamaica, Plain, Massachusetts, Hawken from Red Hook, New York, Arlo from St. George Utah, Emmy from Rancho Santa Fe, California, PJ from New Orleans, Logan Conner from Hanover, Massachusetts, LA from Wago, Texas,
Aubrey from Concord, North Carolina, Emma, and Henry from LaFayette, Louisiana, Parker and Arlo from Old Park, Illinois, Hartley from Virginia Beach, Sanaya, and Cecilia from Arizona, Luna, May from Richmond, Virginia, Toby from All Day from Virginia, Ruby from Irvington, New York, Greta from Barrington, Illinois, Astro from Kansas City, Missouri, Nate from Cleveland, Ohio,
Oliver from Littleton, Colorado, Momol from Herosha, Yamaja Pan, Michael from Connecticut, Chris and AJ from Bergenfield, New Jersey, Rebel from Baltimore, Rosie from Xlanny, Michigan, Imagine from Melbourne, Australia, Ruby from Spokane, Washington, Quinn from Calgary, and Francis from Brooklyn, New York.
