True Facts: The Science of Real-Life SuperPowers

Go to to get a 30-day free trial the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription. merch: patreon: classical music: sponsor music: SHOULD BE INDEX OF REFRACTION NOT REFRACTORY INDEX!!!! SORRY! Thanks to: Dr Paul S. Hamilton, The Biodiversity Group Dr Andrés Concha, Adolfo Ibañez University Dr Carlos Taboada, Vanderbilt University Dr Junjie Yao, Duke University Dr John G. Capano, Brown University J. Monge-Najera Citations Baer, A. & De Sena Oliveira, Ivo & Steinhagen, Max & Beck-Sickinger, Annette & Mayer, Georg. (2014). Slime protein profiling: a non-invasive tool for species identification in Onychophora (velvet worms). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 52. 265–272. Baer A, Mayer G. Comparative anatomy of slime glands in onychophora (velvet worms). J Morphol. 2012 Oct;273(10):1079-88. doi: Epub 2012 Jun 18. PMID: 22707384. Baer A, Schmidt S, Haensch S, Eder M, Mayer G, Harrington MJ. Mechanoresponsive lipid-protein nanoglobules facilitate reversible fibre formation in velvet worm slime. Nat Commun. 2017 Oct 17;8(1):974. doi: Bagge LE, Kinsey ST, Gladman J, Johnsen S. Transparent anemone shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) become opaque after exercise and physiological stress in correlation with increased hemolymph perfusion. J Exp Biol. 2017 Nov 15;220(Pt 22):4225-4233. doi: Capano JG, Boback SM, Weller HI, Cieri RL, Zwemer CF, Brainerd EL. Modular lung ventilation in Boa constrictor. J Exp Biol. 2022 Mar 15;225(6):jeb243119. doi: Concha A, Mellado P, Morera-Brenes B, Sampaio Costa C, Mahadevan L, Monge-Nájera J. Oscillation of the velvet worm slime jet by passive hydrodynamic instability. Nat Commun. 2015 Mar 17;6:6292. doi: Müller M, de Sena Oliveira I, Allner S, Ferstl S, Bidola P, Mechlem K, Fehringer A, Hehn L, Dierolf M, Achterhold K, Gleich B, Hammel JU, Jahn H, Mayer G, Pfeiffer F. Myoanatomy of the velvet worm leg revealed by laboratory-based nanofocus X-ray source tomography. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Nov 21;114(47):12378-12383. doi: Pomerantz AF, Siddique RH, Cash EI, Kishi Y, Pinna C, Hammar K, Gomez D, Elias M, Patel NH. Developmental, cellular and biochemical basis of transparency in clearwing butterflies. J Exp Biol. 2021 May 15;224(10):jeb237917. doi: Taboada C, Delia J, Chen M, Ma C, Peng X, Zhu X, Jiang L, Vu T, Zhou Q, Yao J, O'Connell L, Johnsen S. Glassfrogs conceal blood in their liver to maintain transparency. Science. 2022 Dec 23;378(6626):1315-1320. doi: