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WEBVTT
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Welcome to Gotta Be Kidding Me, where the weirdest
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true stories from science and history get the
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spotlight they deserve. This week, three generations
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packed inside a single cell. An asteroid we've
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been studying for 169 years without quite noticing
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what we were looking at. A predator condemned
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for a crime its own skull calls into question
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and two missing hours on a New Hampshire road.
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We'll start in Scottish waters with a newly discovered
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microbe and a very strange family arrangement.
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Most single -celled organisms reproduce by dividing
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into two. But scientists studying a newly discovered
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marine microbe from Scottish waters found this
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one doing something very different. The microbe
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belongs to a group of marine microorganisms that
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help break down organic material in the water.
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Nothing about that job suggests what's coming
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next. Instead of simply dividing, a mature cell
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grows new daughter cells inside its own body.
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Eventually, the mother cell ruptures, releasing
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those daughter cells into the surrounding water.
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Already unusual, I know. But when researchers
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looked inside the daughter cells, they found
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another surprise. Some already had the next generation
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developing inside them. Pregnant grandmothers,
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if you will. Generations nested inside generations.
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scientists had never documented this method of
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reproduction in this group before. It's basically
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a set of Russian nesting dolls where, eventually,
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the largest doll explodes. Next, we go to something
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astronomers have been looking at since 1857.
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Turns out, seeing something and knowing what
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you're looking at are not necessarily the same
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thing. Asteroid 44 Nysa has always been a little
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strange. It's unusually bright, and previous
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observations suggested its shape wasn't quite
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ordinary. Then astronomers got a better look.
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High -resolution images from the Large Binocular
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Telescope in Arizona and the Very Large Telescope
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in Chile revealed two deep valleys cutting across
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the nicest surface. Those valleys appear to separate
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three distinct lobes connected by narrow necks.
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There are two possible explanations. NASA could
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be a single body that's been battered into an
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extraordinary shape, or the three lobes could
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have started as separate objects, come together,
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and then remain joined. If the three lobes really
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did begin as separate bodies, NASA would be what
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astronomers call a contact trinary, three bodies
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touching one another and traveling through space
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as one. The same observations delivered one more
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surprise. A small moon is orbiting NASA. So after
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169 years, what we thought was one asteroid may
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actually be three bodies joined together with
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a fourth circling the whole arrangement. That's
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quite a lot to miss in one asteroid. Back on
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Earth, another familiar shape led people to the
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wrong conclusion, and this one had consequences.
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The Thylusian was blamed for killing sheep, and
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its wolf -like appearance certainly didn't help
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its case. But take a closer look at the skull.
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and the case starts to fall apart. An average
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thiolusian weighed roughly half as much as a
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gray wolf, but its skull was about the same size.
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It also had a long, deep jaw, a tall, narrow
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snout, and a widened area around the canine teeth.
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Researchers found that those jaws were suited
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to fast, powerful snapping bites rather than
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the prolonged grip needed to wrestle down large
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prey. That points instead towards smaller, faster
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animals, including prey around the size of a
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bandicoot. Taken together, those features don't
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closely match any other living predatory mammal.
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Unfortunately, people had reached their verdict
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long before anyone examined the Thylusian this
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closely. Its resemblance to a wolf helped cement
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its reputation as a livestock killer, which led
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to Tasmania offering bounties for dead Thylusians,
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and thousands were killed. Sadly, the last known
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Thylusian died in captivity in 1936. And finally,
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we're headed to New Hampshire in 1961 where Betty
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and Barney Hill noticed a strange light during
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a nighttime drive home. The light was only the
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beginning. On September 19th, 1961, Betty and
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Barney Hill were driving through New Hampshire's
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White Mountains when a bright object appeared
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to follow their car. They pulled over. looked
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at it through binoculars, and eventually continued
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home. But the trip had taken about two hours
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longer than expected and neither could account
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for the missing time. Over the following months,
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Betty had vivid nightmares while Barney developed
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an ulcer. A few years later, under hypnosis and
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in separate sessions, they described being taken
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aboard a craft, encountering humanoid figures,
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and undergoing examinations. Betty also remembered
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being shown a star map. She later drew it from
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memory, and years afterward, an amateur astronomer
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argued that the pattern matched a real star system.
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Other astronomers disputed the match. Whatever
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happened during those two missing hours, the
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Hill's story became the blueprint for decades
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of alien abduction stories that followed. And
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that's your Weak and Weird from Gotta Be Kidding
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Me. You can find all four stories and more at
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gottabekidding .me. That's G -O -T -T -A -B -E
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-K -I -D -D -I -N -G -DOT -M -E. And if you haven't
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Koron, and I'll see you next time for more strange
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