Ep. 99: Ask a boffin – surviving the unsurvivable

We’ve got your favorite scientist Eileen Marks-Nelson back with us to answer more super weird science questions! This time she’s tackling tips for how to survive scenarios that are nearly impossible to make it out of alive!  

Highlights:

[0:00] Mark tells CoRri and Eileen about the strange case of the dog suicide bridge
[18:02] Thanks for coming to our watch-along and for your Ko-fi support!
[26:00] Eileen explains sensation-seeking behavior, and administers a test to find out where Mark and CoRri stand on the scale
[61:11] We get into surviving (or NOT surviving) some unsurvivable situations

Stuff we referenced:

1. Zuckerman, M. (1994). Behavioral Expressions and Biosocial Bases of Sensation Seeking. (p 27)
2. Lust for Life | Psychology Today
3. Sensation seeking and risk-taking – ScienceDirect
4. Sex Differences in the Developmental Trajectories of Impulse Control and Sensation-Seeking from Early Adolescence to Early Adulthood | SpringerLink
5. Steinberg 2007 | PDF | Executive Functions | Adolescence (scribd.com)
6. Around the world, adolescence is a time of heightened sensation seeking and immature self‐regulation (wiley.com)
7. Testosterone exposure, dopaminergic reward, and sensation-seeking in young men – PubMed (nih.gov)
8. A twin study on sensation seeking, risk taking behavior and marijuana use – ScienceDirect
9. Genome-wide association analyses of risk tolerance and risky behaviors in over 1 million individuals identify hundreds of loci and shared genetic influences – PubMed (nih.gov)
10. Genetic underpinnings of risky behaviour relate to altered neuroanatomy – PubMed (nih.gov)
11. Genetically influenced change in sensation seeking drives the rise of delinquent behavior during adolescence (utexas.edu)
12. Sensation Seeking | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication
13. Dopamine Promotes Cognitive Effort by Biasing the Benefits Versus Costs of Cognitive Work – PMC (nih.gov)
14. Dopamine and desire (apa.org)
15. Why We Take Risks — It’s the Dopamine – TIME
16. Sensation seeking and hormones in men and women: exploring the link – PubMed (nih.gov)
17. Full article: Cortisol and behavioral reaction of low and high sensation seekers differ in responding to a sport-specific stressor (tandfonline.com)
18. Burns: First aid Mayo Clinic
19. Fire and suicide: a three-year study of self-immolation deaths
20. Fire Prevention and Preparedness
21. Fire & Carbon Monoxide (nasa.gov)
22. What to do if your clothes catch fire
23. Toxicity of toxic gases emitted during a fire and ventilation – ScienceDirect
24. How to behave in sloth bear territory – Research Outreach
25. Staying Safe Around Bears – Bears (US National Park Service).
26. Bear Spray (US National Park Service) 
27. PBS What to Do if You Encounter a Bear 
28. Sloth Bear Attack Behavior and a Behavioral Approach to Safety 
29. 5 Expert Tips for Surviving a Shark Attack | Mental Floss
30. Effectiveness of five personal shark-bite deterrents for surfers – PMC (nih.gov)
31. How To Survive A Shark Attack, According To A Shark Researcher – YouTube
32. Marine Ecology Progress Series 631:165 (int-res.com)
33. Effects of environmental conditions on predator-prey interactions between white sharks and Cape fur seals at Seal Island, South Africa (springer.com)
34. Shark Trauma – StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)
35. The anatomy of a shark attack: a case report and review of the literature – ScienceDirect
36. Human casualties are the dominant cost of human–wildlife conflict in India – PMC (nih.gov)
37. Case report: surviving a tiger attack – PubMed (nih.gov)
38. Management of BengalCase report: surviving a tiger attack tiger attacks – A case report and literature review – ScienceDirect
39. Fatal tiger attack: A case report with emphasis on typical tiger injuries characterized by partially resembling stab-like wounds
40. Fatal captive tiger attack – A case report with review of literature
41. Georgia zoo flooding: what to do if you encounter a tiger | Georgia | The Guardian
42. Is There Too Much Pressure to Escape Out of a Casket?
43. https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculators/soil-calculator.php
44. 4 People Who Were Buried Alive (And How They Got Out)
45. Rescuers revive escape artist after ‘buried alive’ stunt goes wrong
46. What It’s Like To Be Buried Alive — And Survive