In this episode, the yackers are afflicted by chemical chaos, dirty dragonflies, and bloody- beaked birds. Lithium makes a move on fluorine, and sodium explodes all over Matt’s chemical minute, leaving behind the tastiest of residues. And Prof. Doug Mock reveals the secrets of family strife and why you should never turn your back on brother dearest. Join us as we step into the Avian Thunderdome!

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Episode Art: Image modified from great egret (Ardea alba) photo by Mike Baird. CC BY 2.O

Written and edited by Brian Cross and Matt Smith. Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Guest: Douglas Mock, Ph.D.

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  Profile: Douglas W. Mock, George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Biology

• More than Kin and Less the Kind

Links:

Lithium and Alzheimer’s Disease

• Aron, L., Ngian, Z.K., Qiu, C. et al. Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Nature (2025).

New Moon

• New Moon Discovered Orbiting Uranus Using NASA’s Webb Telescope

Dirty Dragonflies

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  The blueprint for survival: the blue dasher dragonfly as a model for urban adaptation (BMC Ecol Evo 25, 67 (2025))