Hank: Hello and welcome to another episode of the SciShow Talk Show where today we are joined by my friend Peter Winkler who is also the guy in charge of graphics for SciShow.

Peter: Hello

Hank: So thank him for all the pretty graphics.

Peter: Graphics go!

(laughter)

Peter: Nothing happened.

So, in the news we have heard about sink holes happening.

Hank: Sink holes, yes.

Peter: There's another story about a sink hole. What had happened was that there was a major sink hole going on in the bayou area. First I guess I should ask, do you know what - this is like a two parter - What causes sink holes?

Hank: I have a fairly good idea because I grew up in Florida and so I would experience them every once in a while. There was a - When I was a kid, I was like eight or nine, there was a Porsche dealership that got eaten by a sink hole and they lost like six Porsches, which is terrible for them. I don't really care that much. So Florida is limestone which is, I think limestone is like the old - like there's the shells of tiny sea creatures and they go down and they compress into stone. And then that can wear away do to water flowing underground and as that wearing away happens it can actually form big pockets underground. Then it can get so big that they reach the surface of the ground and then all of the land falls into the pocket.

Peter: Right.

Hank: I was right on all that?

Peter: Uh, yes.

Hank: Okay!

Peter: Now, so that is one way for a sink hole to occur.

Hank: Okay.

Peter: Do you know what the second way for a sink hole is to occur?

Hank: That was the only way I knew about.

Peter: Right now there's a lot of drilling, you know, natural gas drilling. Another way for it to happen is for a salt cavern or salt mines. And what happens is that from all the natural gas drilling and everything those will just give away underneath from too much drilling.

Hank: So the pressure of stuff being taken out of the ground, the pressure that was once there holding that stuff up isn't there anymore and that will collapse?

Peter: Right. So in the case of, like here in this Louisiana case, they actually had what's called - It actually did its own natural frack out. All this brine kind of just busted through these caverns and just started taking away this whole area. And now they're saying that they are kind of concerned that the majority of Louisiana actually could suffer from this and that it could possibly just be one gigantic sink hole.

Hank: To all of you in New Orleans: I love your city-

Peter: -and your food.

Hank: -and your food and I love you, but I'm not convinced that in 100 years it will still be there. It's sad.

Peter: It's too much.

Hank: And your music, I also love your music.

Now there's a news. Is there news now?

Peter: Yes, news. Go graphics!

Hank: And news!

Peter: So right now DARPA came out with this robotic mule that can help out with-

Hank: It's like a pack animal but it's made of electricity and metal.

Peter: And it has no soul.

Hank: Do mules have souls!?

Peter: You know, I'm not going to get into that debate, whether or not-

Hank: Comments-

Peter: Down below

Hank: -do mules have souls?

Peter: Well with this right now, they're hoping to get this robotic pack mule done by 2014 to hand off to the marines.

Hank: So that they can have-

Peter: Yeah, so it can go about 29 or 30 miles on a-

Hank: -charge

Peter: Yeah, on a charge without having to-

Hank: So it's electric, it's not like two stroke engine or something?

Peter: Yeah, I think so. I think it's battery operated. And you can see some of the videos too where they've- I've seen them kick it on the side-

Hank: I have seen that.

Peter: -and it kind of balances out.

Hank: And it's like, "Ah, no big! Kick me all you want!" Like a real mule. Not- Don't kick mules.

Peter: But the real thing is, is that after they get done with this, this is sort of a way for them to test out how their robotics work. DARPA has been talking about how they want, by 2020, to have what they call "killer robots."

Hank: No, really? They call it that?

Peter: Well, I mean, that's what everyone's calling it. I mean, everyone's calling it that!

Hank: I would feel like DARPA would be intelligent enough to not name a project "The Killer Robot Project" but you never know.

Peter: Well, I don't think it's actually called the killer robot.

Hank: Okay, I hope not.

Peter: But they are actual humanoid type robots.

Hank: With lethal force?

Peter: Yeah, that's their plan. That's their plan is to go out an to-

Hank: Why do SciShow Talk Shows lately seem to be terrifying?! Has anyone else noticed this trend?

Peter: 'Cause it's good television.

Hank: I mean, I thought we were gonna get robots and they were gonna like make our beds and stuff. Do the laundry. Maybe, you know, like pack orders at the DFTBA warehouse so we wouldn't have to do that, but now it's like, "No! We're instead gonna use them to kill each other."

Peter: Before we get the robots to help us make our beds, we gotta make sure they can kill people first, obviously. We train them in the military. I look at pilots, pilots are trained in the military first before they go and start flying around in commercial jets.

Hank: Robots have to start in the military and everybody-

(laughter)

Peter: Yeah! I can imagine a robot sergeant telling another robot private like, "I'll have you folding sheets in no time!"

Hank: "You're gonna be in the hotel industry by the end of the week if you don't shape up mister!"

Peter: Anyways, yeah that's the biggest news really. This is gonna be done by 2014, this mule.

Hank: Big dog.

Peter: And then after that they're gonna start working on-

Hank: The one's with guns.

Peter: -the more human ones. Yeah, I mean who knows. This pack mule could have a gun.

Hank: That's true.

Peter: There's nothing that could stop anybody from just putting a machine gun on it.

Hank: -strapping a gun to it. Yeah, or laser beams

Peter: Laser beams, gosh

Hank: Frickin lasers. Alright, now it is time for Jessi from Animal Wonders to show us...something. And here we are with Jessi from Animal Wonders and her friend Fluffy.

Jessi: This is fluffy. She the Chilean rose hair tarantula and she is one of the largest spiders, not one of the largest tarantulas, but tarantulas are one of the largest spiders in the arachnid family because you can count how many legs she has.

Hank: Yep, she's an arachnid.

Jessi: Fluffy here is fluffy.

Hank: Yes.

Jessi: And that's one of the things that makes tarantulas is that they have that very fluffy looking exoskeleton.

Hank: Yeah, but why do you say fluffy looking? It's not actually fluffy?

Jessi: Because it's not actually fur.

Hank: Like if I touched it would it be soft?

Jessi: No-

Hank: Okay.

Jessi: -it would not.

Hank: But I'm not going to because you told me not to do that before this started.

Jessi: No, it'd feel - No (laughter) don't touch her!

Hank: Can I have her?

Jessi: Sure, she'll crawl right onto your hand.

Hank: Oh, you're very light. I expected more weight.

Jessi: Get that last leg! There you go. The reason that she has-

Hank: Oh, there! Your butt is heavy though. No offense, I don't-

Jessi: Yeah! That's not really her butt.

Hank: Right, your abdomen?

Jessi: Mhmm

Hank: And why is there so much weight in there?

Jessi: Well that's gonna carry all of her goody stuff that's gonna make her live.

Hank: Nutrition and-

Jessi: Yes, really technical words I used there.

Peter: I like "goody stuff."

Hank: "Goody stuff!"

Jessi: Yeah, well, she's also gonna carry her egg sack in there as well.  The very tip here, she has them tucked up in there, so it almost looks like two fingers that are gonna go like this. She pulls them out, they're her spinnerets and she's going to spin her web with those.

Hank: So you do make a web. But I wouldn't imagine that she crawl on her web.

Jessi: It's a different web than you're thinking. She doesn't do a big web like this, she's gonna be a ground dwelling spider. She's going to make almost like a hammock out of webbing and then underneath there, she's called a trapdoor spider, because underneath that web she's gonna dig a little, maybe cave you could call it, burrow for herself.  That web is going to have little tendrils sticking out a ways, so when a little animal comes along and gets stuck on that web it's gonna be like ringing the doorbell. She's gonna kind of flip up that web, come running out, and she's going to inject them with her venom.

Hank: Yum. What kind of damage does a bite from her do?

Jessi: It wouldn't feel good but it's not gonna kill you.  It will immobilize a cricket. What will happen is, let's say she bites a small mouse, she's going to inject it and that venom is going to go into that mouse and kind of break down all of the insides of that mouse. It's going to turn it into like gel, goopy stuff, and she doesn't have a mouth like us so she doesn't have teeth, she doesn't have a jaw, she doesn't have a tongue.  She basically has a hole and it's a vacuum. So what she's gonna go is she's gonna go grab a hold of that mouse and she's going to (sucking noise) suck it up like a Slurpee.

Hank: Why isn't she doing that to my hand right now?

Jessi: She thinks you're the ground. Remember how I told you not to touch her?

Hank: Right.

Jessi: If you came from up above she'd go, "Oh someone's trying to eat me!" And then she'd do all of her defensive things to protect herself.

Hank: But as long as she thinks I'm the ground I'm good?

Jessi: You're pretty good, hopefully.

Hank: Hi! I have no idea how I'm going to get this animal off my hand.

Peter: Yeah man, you're on your own.

(laughter)

Hank: This may be my life now.

Jessi: She'll stay there!

Peter: "Hello, my name is Hank Green"

Jessi: She's claimed you.

Hank: No, seriously.

Peter: "No, seriously take it off!"

Jessi: You want me to- You want some help? Alright.

Hank: That, oh, that was easy! Well, thank you very much for joining us today on the SciShow Talk Show, Fluffy. It was a pleasure to meet you. And thank you Jessi for bringing her in.

Jessi: Thanks for having me.

Peter: Thanks for creeping me out.

Hank: Man up

Jessi: Sure you don't want to hold her?

Peter: Nah, I'm pretty sure I don't!

Jessi: Okay

Peter: I don't know. I probably should. I'm not gonna get this chance ever again. Alright let's do it.

Jessi: Do you want to? Alright. You just keep your hand still and she'll crawl onto it.

Peter: Ah, does it smell fear?

Jessi: No

(laughter)

Hank: Look at that little butt quiver.

Jessi: Yeah

Hank: Sorry, abdomen

Jessi: Abdomen. I'm not sure she's doing the one that's quivering. Good job!

Hank: Crawl right up your arm

Jessi: Here

Hank: You've done it. You've done it, it's all good now.

Jessi: Good work!

Peter: Yeah!

Hank: Thank you for watching this episode of the SciShow Talk Show. Thank you to Peter Winkler for joining us and for doing the graphic and-

Peter: Boom!

Hank: And thank you to Jessi from Animal Wonders for joining us as well. I hope you enjoyed watching this as much as we enjoyed making it, and we'll see you next time.