You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. Guess what, mango? What's that? Will? All right?
When I say the words cutting edge science and dogs, Okay, you got those two together, what's the first thing you think of? Uh?
Maybe that dog from the Jetsons, like like a robot dog. I know Donald Trump has those around tomorrow logo now and those just creepy out.
Yeah, they add some dystopian nightmare fuel for sure, But don't worry. Today's episode is about actual dogs, like the cute, furry kind good dogs, the ones that we're very big fans of. So, for instance, did you know that student researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a wearable computer that can help prevent injuries in sled dogs and other dogs who do different types of physical activity.
You know, I never really thought of that as a problem, but I guess it makes sense. I mean, pulling a sled is probably hard.
Work, makes a lot of sense when you think about athletes and others. The dogs are doing the same kind of thing, so orthopedic injuries are actually very common, and dogs that are doing certain types of work like this and these things can cause permanent damage and forced dogs to drop out of these long haul races like the Iditarod. Usually mushers have to rely on visual observation to tele
if a dog is starting to suffer. But these days, commercial canine exercise monitors like the fit bark, which is a thing, can actually track basic activity, but you don't
get detailed information about gait characteristics. So the folks that Georgia Tech created a smart harness, and what it does is it sends this alert to the dog's human when it detects gate changes, like if the dog is starting to favor one side just the tiniest bit, it starts to detect this and then the musher can give the puppet break or you know, seek veterinary care.
That is amazing. I also love that they've got like a monitor called fit bark. Me too, Me too, I'm a fan. Does this new harness have an in I.
Was hoping you would ask this question, Mango. It's called the Wearable Activity and Gate Detection Monitor. Now you might think that sounds boring, but if you make it the acronym wagged pretty good.
There is so dog science and dog science puns. I love this episode already, so let's get to it.
Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always, I'm here with my good friend mangesh Hot ticket there and over there, sitting in a literal pile of puppies. And I thought this was going to be at Mango, But there's a combination of work that's been done here from our good friend and producer Dylan Fagan. You know he likes to knit, right, he has knitted weds for each one of these nine dogs, and they say fact number one, Fact number two, Fact
number three. He's named the dogs this, so I think what's gonna happen. I'm predicting he's gonna hold up a different dog each time we hit one of our nine facts here. But that is pretty no idea where these puppies came from. But if you hear barking in the background, that's what's going on.
Well, speaking of barking, that's obviously how dogs communicate, right, So to some extent it's okay or even helpful, like if your dog barks to alert you to a package being delivered at the door or something like that. But obviously with some dogs, like an old office dog, we had it can get out of control.
It was a nightmare. And my dog now, who is named Paul, as you know, very creative name. Paul, loses his mind anytime someone comes within fifty feet of the house. And we're we have tried the training. We're obviously really bad at it. It's quite frustrating, but we.
Still love him too. Can't help it. Well. Ve's actually called this extra barking nuisance barking. And you might have heard about these callers that deliver mild shocks when a dog starts barking. But animal welfare experts, as you might have guessed, say these are not good for dogs. And it's not just about the physical discomfort causes. It can also exacerbate things like anxiety. It can make the dogs more loud or aggressive over time. Then obviously you want
to avoid that. So there is a technology that can help. It's called a calming collar.
A calming collar that actually sounds like something I could use on long days. I don't know if they make these for humans yet, but we should look into that.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like we all could. But the way it works is these callers are infused with DAP or dog appeasing pheromones. This is a synthetic version of the pheromone mama dogs give off when they're nursing puppies early in their life and even in adulthood, dogs associated with a sense of well being. It is completely undetectable to humans, so you or I we wouldn't smell anything, but your dog will pick up on it right away.
And studies have shown that DAP can help dogs calm down when they're agitated, and it can make them quiet down as well. Most dogs do respond to it, a few don't, but since common callers don't have any negative impact, they really might be worth a try. That's super interesting.
It actually ties in nicely with one of the most fascinating facts I've found while I was researching this topic. So it turns out that dogs can experience quote emotional contagion from the smell of human stress, which is super interesting that this can happen. And this is a study that came out just last year from the University of Bristol. So researchers taught a group of pet dogs that a bowl in one location contained a treat and a bowl
placed in a different spot was empty. So pretty soon the dogs would just run straight to the treat location, no surprise there. Then the researchers added a bowl in between the two points, and if a dog went for the new bowl quickly, that was considered an optimistic choice and the dog believed that there would be a treat.
So if the dog hesitated, that was considered a sign of pessimism, like the dog was thinking, well, just my luck, there probably won't be a treat in there, you know that that sort of thing.
That's really interesting. So how did they figure out that human stress affects this behavior?
All?
Right?
So they made the dog owners take a math test and collected sweat and breath samples while they were doing it. This sounds like torture. This was considered stressful. I guess none of these people were mathematicians or something like that. Then they had the humans listen to relaxing soundscapes and collected samples again, and the dogs exposed to the stress sense were slow to approach the unfamiliar bowl, but the relaxed sense didn't affect them in the same way like.
The researchers hypothesized that the scent of human stress conferred a negative emotional state on the dogs. And they were trying to avoid the disappointment of confronting an empty treat bowl.
Isn't that interesting? That is really not so. I mean, a math test is almost the most surprising thing. Yeah, but it's great. So if you need to learn how to relax and manager stress for Paul's sake, well maybe you and Paul could start going to the gym together as a stress reliever. That's not gonna happen. But do you ever run with the Uh?
No, Paul's pretty good at walking, but Paul's Paul's a pretty chill dog. I don't think he wants to. I don't think he wants When he runs, he's running much faster than me. Then that happens in quick spurts.
Got it. So these days dogs aren't just getting exercised by going for walks and fetching sticks. They're actually doing strength training. And it turns out the science is pretty much the same as it is for humans. Like cardio is fine, but to stay healthy as we age, we need to maintain muscle mass. And if you're trying to rehab an injury, building strength and stability is super important.
You know, It's funny this gave Dylan an idea, because now he's holding up a sign that he's drawn. It's picture of dogs pumping iron and matching tracksuits. I think you gave him some idea.
Station Well, I can't wait for the fully knit tracksuits next season. But instead of track suits, you might want to consider getting your pup a weighted dog vest to make a romp in the park much more strenuous. So these buckle onto the dog's back and have pockets that owners fill with different weights of different sizes, and you shouldn't exceed ten to twenty percent of your dog's total weight, like you want to do less than that, and it's
only safe to do with fully grown adult dogs. But this almost like mimics the exercise pattern of rucking that people are doing today. But some people actually also teach their dogs to do weight pulling exercises, and these involve a long harness that you attached to a heavy object, like a gallon of water, and you kind of let the dog drag it around. Or if pilates is more your dog speed, you can pick up specialized canine resistance bands that emphasize proper leg and foot alignment.
God, that's such a funny image there is.
A company called an Emotion that makes these, and the way it works is the resistant band clips to a harness at the dog's shoulders and then it has cuffs that slip over the hind feet, so they're hind legs get a real workout as they walk. These bands are actually designed as therapeutic tools for dogs with certain illnesses and injuries, but they're also helpful for overweight dogs who just kind of need to get back in shape.
That is amazing, and the fact that these dogs are doing more sophisticated workouts.
Than we're doing is pretty wild. All right.
Well, if we're talking about weight training, you know, we have to talk about protein, right, If we're going to get jackamanga, we got to talk about protein. And you might think dogs are carnivores, right, like you would assume that, right, But apparently this is a common misperception. It stems from the fact that dogs came into our lives as domesticated wolves. And wolves aren't just carnivores, they're obligate carnivores, and that means that their bodies are meant to run purely on
animal protein. They can't get what they need from plants. But dogs are actually different. Their genetics diverged from wolves about twenty to forty thousand years ago, so it's not the same thing. And why did that happen Exactly, It's all because of us. So when dogs began living in close proximity to hear humans, they began eating our leftovers, and so over time their bodies adapted to a more diverse diet.
Today, dogs are really omnivores.
In fact, whole grains, vegetables, and fiber can help balance their gi systems and avoid those messy poop situations. But if your dog wants to get swoll, like I know your dog probably does, or if he's recovering from illness or an injury, then yes, science has invented doggie protein supplements and this is just fantastic. And so they come in different forms like powders, tablets, treats, and many of them are made with the same core ingredients you'll find
than protein powders for humans. This does not mean you should share your morning protein shake with your dog, though. Our protein powders are full of flavorings and additives and this can actually be quite dangerous for dogs.
That's a good tip, So no athletic greens for spots. No, no athletic greens. I actually thought you were going to say, like you should give your dog creative right. So this is a really inspiring story that I love, dogs like humans, can suffer hearing loss and that can have a serious
impact on their quality of life. So back in the nineteen eighties, an audiologist named Curtis Smith took his dog to the vet for a checkup, and while he was there, he asked if the vet ever saw dogs with hearing problems, just kind of out of professional curiosity, right, And the vet said yes, but you know, there's nothing you could
do to treat hearing loss and dogs. So Smith actually decides to take this as a challenge, and after a few tries, he modifies a human hearing aid to fit dog's ears, and today an Animal Hearing and Bioacoustics Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati has actually become the center
of canine audiology treatment. Is that amazing? I love that it is the only place in the world where people can get certified as animal audiologists and the only clinic that does complete hearing assessments and hearing aid fittings for dogs.
You know, one of the things I love most about the research that the team does and that we do as we think about these episodes, is you find these universities and colleges and places just all around the country, and it feels like each one has its own super unique specialty, Like I wouldn't have ever thought about a premier place for this specialty to exist, But University of Cincinnati.
That's pretty cool.
And are they still using modified human hearing aids? Yeah, for now they are, which means they're actually pretty pricey. They can cost as much as three thousand dollars and it is not an overnight fix. You kind of need these tests to check your dog's cock clear function because dogs have to have a certain level of remaining hearing in order to be able to use these hearing aids.
But if your dog is a good candidate, the next step is making molds of their ears, and finally you have to get the aids custom fitted and tuned, and from there it could take a while for your dog to adjust. But you know, the team in Cincinnati is working on developing a more affordable hearing aid designed specifically for dogs, and if all of this goes well, that'll make canine hearing loss treatment, A lot more are accessible.
Aren't you curious what this doggy hearing lab is called?
Oh? I wasn't thinking about that, but yes, I want to know.
Now what is it called. It is called the Facility for Education and Testing of Canine Hearing and Laboratory for Animal Bioacoustics.
I was trying to keep up with that latch last fetch las Okay, I knew.
It had to be an acronym. That's pretty great.
Well, wordplay is clearly an important part of dog science here.
But you know, hearing aids for dogs are.
Cool, But you know what else is cool? Mango lasers.
Lasers are also cool. And laser therapy isn't an emerging treatment for several common canine conditions, including joint paint, ligament strains, wound healing, even things like skin lesions that are caused by repetitive licking, which I think we've all had dogs that were guilty of that, and it's not super common and more studies are needed, but there's been some promising research that's showing that it can reduce pain and dogs with arthritis, and unlike oral medications or inject it's an
easy treatment to give.
The dog just has to lie there while it gets zapped.
So it's a super easy way to try to treat.
This and it's not painful.
This is a low level or cold laser therapy as they call it, meaning it's not high powered kind of laser treatment that can destroy tissue. However, any type of laser treatment can damage vision if you're not careful with this. So if you look up pictures of dogs getting laser therapy, which I urge you to do this, you'll see that they're all wearing goggles or sunglasses, which is pretty terrific and adorable at the same time.
Yeah, I feel like extra cute medical treatments make it easier to send your dog to medical treatments. That's right. So how does all of this actually help them?
Well, it's kind of complicated, but the short version of it is it's believed that the healing effects of the laser happen because it causes lymphatic vessels to expand, which helps reduce tissue swelling. It also decreases the release of chemicals that cause inflamma and increases blood flow to the lasered area, which can promote the healing. Now, it usually takes multiple treatments to have an effect, but for dogs, each session can be as short as you like, fifteen minutes or so.
That's really interesting. So I see Dylan is holding up a puppy with fact number eight on it. But Dylan, you're gonna have to keep holding that because we've got an ad break. We've got to take move back right after this message, Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where
we're counting down nine facts about modern dog science. You know, well, before we talk about this, I did want to say I found an article today and this isn't modern dog science, but it's amazing how much research is out there about dogs. And one of the papers that I guess came out somewhat recently is about a list of medieval English dog names. That's pretty great. It's amazing. It's everything from Charlemage the dog to find well Plotter, Achilles, Geester, best of all
with B Steve because it's felled in older English. Pretty boy, there's all one word with a pr e t I boy and have good day was Apparently Kelly Paul is not on that list, unfortunately. That's pretty great. So I am amazed at how much research is going into keeping dogs healthy and treating their illnesses. You know, I feel like we grew up as dog lovers, but it's amazing how people have become even more obsessive over time and then really treat dogs like family.
I think it just speaks to the importance of dogs in our life, how they become like family members. I mean, as you know, our daughter's off at college and when she calls to check in, the first thing she wants to do is get on FaceTime with Paul. Of course, Paul has no idea what's going on. I mean, hears her voice and everything, and then when she gets home, she can't wait.
To see Paul first.
But it's it really is amazing, like they do become, as you said, part of the family.
That's incredible. So, you know, one of the hardest things about having a dog or any pet really is knowing that they'll eventually pass away. And I found this amazing New York Times article about dog longevity, and there's a quote from a dog owner that, you know, just feels pretty poignant. She said, when you adopt a dog, you're adopting future heartbreak. But there is a new drug that
may be able to extend dogs lives now. Of course, you can't make your dog immortal, and this isn't a product that's on the market yet, but it is being developed by a biotech company called Loyal and it's still in the clinical study phase, but Loyle says they've completed pre clinical trials and a pilot study and they expect to get FDA conditional approval later this year. The drug is so new it doesn't even have a real name yet. It's just known by the identifier lois res or two.
It's a daily pill for senior dogs and according to Loyle, it targets metabolic processes that break down over time, and this kind of metabolic dysfunction can drive a lot of the ailments we associate with aging, things like coronary artery disease or arthritis, or you know, even cancer or cognitive decline.
Yeah, I mean, all pretty complicated stuff.
Yeah it is, but the effects of metabolic aging are pretty familiar now. Aging dogs tend to lose muscle and gain fat, especially around their organs. They can develop insulin resistance, which is less likely to lead to doggy diabetes than in humans, but it still has negative health effects, And of course you can alleviate some of this by making sure your dog eats healthy and gets plenty of exercise.
But Loyal's drug actually inhibits a growth hormone. It's called igf one, and this hormone is linked to aging, and by reducing the impact of that hormone, loyl actually says that you can slow down the progression of metabolic dysfunction. Apparently levels of this hormone by size, so Loyal is working on different versions of the drug for very large dogs.
Well, you mentioned large dogs, and we've always heard that large dogs don't live as long as small dogs, and I feel like we've just seen that anecdotally.
But is this related to that, Yeah, exactly. So larger breeds tend to have very high levels of IGF one, up to twenty eight times higher than small dogs. But on average, a really big dog like a Great Dane, only lives about seven or ten years, but a tiny Chihuahua lives fourteen to sixteen years on average, And so Loyal says it's drug could increase dogs' lifespans by at least a year, and more importantly, it prolongs healthy life, so you don't just get more time with your dog.
Your dog gets more quality time and good health.
That is amazing, and you have to wonder, like if there are implications for human health here too. You know, it's a perfect lead than to our final fact of the day. Hold it up, Dylan, all right, last back number nine. A roomatology professor at Yale School of Medicine
has developed a cancer vaccine for dogs. His name is doctor Mark Mamula, and he spent years studying autoimmune diseases like lupus, where the immune system attacks the body's own tissues, and eventually he shifted this expertise into cancer research, and there's been a ton of interest in Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment, as you well know, and the idea is that certain drugs can stimulate the immune system to attack these cancer cells.
Yeah, I've definitely heard about that and it's fascinating. But how do dogs get involved in all of this?
So in twenty fifteen, Mamula met a veterinary oncologist named Gary Post at a party and they start talking about cancer and animals. You know, when you're a party and you want to talk about uplifting things like cancer and animals. But apparently one in four dogs will get cancer at
some point in their lives. So Mamula had a first hand experience of this his own dog had tragically died from cancer, and in their conversation, he and Post realize that human and canine cancers are actually very similar in terms of how they behave, but there are way more treatment options, obviously for humans.
So they decided to come up with something for dogs that's exactly right.
And they call it an immunotherapeutic vaccine because remember it's stimulating an immune response, but it's given as a treatment after a dog has been diagnosed with cancer. And what it does it tells the immune cells to crank out antibodies that attack two specific proteins that help cancerous tumors grow. So, according to Mammula, it's more effective than many existing treatments
because it generates this polyclonal response. In other words, it gets multiple types of immune cells involved in antibody production, not just one type, and that makes it harder for the cancer cells to develop resistance. And still in the clinical trial phase, but so far over three hundred dogs have been treated, and for some types of cancer, the twelve month survival rate has gone from thirty five percent to sixty percent, so obviously showing promising results.
This could be a major breakthrough. That's so amazing. I know you probably have a lot of holiday parties to go to. How many diseases are can occur?
Yeah, it's a fair question, a lot of pressure.
So I mean I am curious though, like if human and dog cancers are similar, Like, could this actually improve immunotherapy options for people as well?
Yeah, it's certainly possible, But for right now, Mammulas says he's happy to focus on people's best friends.
Well, I think for sharing that amazing fact and the fact that you actually have a dog and I don't have a dog, this one goes out to you and Paul.
I was predicting you might go that way just for that reason. Well, on behalf of Paul, all of Paul's barking, and all of the people who've tried to deliver packages at our house.
I will accept this award. Well, that is it for today's episode. As you may have guessed, we're animal lovers here at PTG, so you can always always tag us in your pet posts. I don't know if you know this, but Will and I and our colleague Jason previously had started a weird at mental floss called poppies wearing hats eating bacon sharing fat.
Yes, puppy's wearing hats heed bacon sharing facts.
So if you want to share any of your puppy photos with us, we would love to see him. But if you like our show, please rate and review us online. You can find us at part Time Genius on Instagram and from Gabe, Dylan, Mary, Will and myself. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back with new episodes very very soon. Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This show is hosted by Will Pearson and Me Mongas Chatikler and research by our good pal
Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for iHeart by Katrina Norvel and Al Perry, with social media support from Sasha Gay, trustee Dara Potts and Viney Shorey. For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.