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Mini: How Science Names Things · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we do what we do. Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Why we do what we do? Mini. I'm your
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: host Abraham and I'm Shane. We are a psychology podcast.
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  Speaker 1: We talk about all the things that people do and
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  Speaker 1: animals do, and sometimes we talk about the things that
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  Speaker 1: people give to animals and other things because we can
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  Speaker 1: name things and that's the thing that we do.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it is. So on this episode we are
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  Speaker 2: talking about binomial nomenclature. So on that note, I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to share what my favorite animal is. So I'm gonna
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  Speaker 2: ask you the question, what's your favorite animal? And mine
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  Speaker 2: is the appeneditis forestry.
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  Speaker 1: Mine is the testudinus. There's only got one name. That's
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  Speaker 1: apparently all it has. That's yeah, what is it? There
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  Speaker 1: is a testudent and I it's a turtle.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that mine is an emperor penguin.
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  Speaker 1: Oh nice, very good. Yeah, you wouldn't have known that.
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  Speaker 1: We had to clarify because we used weird Latin words.
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  Speaker 1: But before we dive into that, I'm going to quickly
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  Speaker 1: say that we as I mentioned, we're the psychology podcast.
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  Speaker 1: Thing that we do and we put out two episodes
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  Speaker 1: a week. We put out a full length episode on Wednesdays,
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  Speaker 1: and then the short dive episodes that are just these
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: brief snippets of a thing on Mondays. So thank you
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  Speaker 1: for joining us, and if you were here for the
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  Speaker 1: first time, we are so happy to have you. If
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  Speaker 1: you like to support us, at the end of this discussion,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I will talk about ways that you can do that,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: including joining us on Patreon, leaving us a rating and review,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: telling a friend, or picking up some merchant or merch store.
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  Speaker 1: But I'll explain more at the end of this discussion.
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  Speaker 1: As we said, we're talking about naming conventions and a
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  Speaker 1: lot of Latin.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So specifically today we are talking about scientific naming
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  Speaker 2: conventions or by nomial nomenclature, and these are the formal
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  Speaker 2: scientific names that we use when classifying plants and animals.
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  Speaker 2: By nomial nomenclature or another way to say it. Two
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  Speaker 2: term naming system is also called bynary nomenclature and is
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  Speaker 2: our formal system for naming species or organisms using Latin
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  Speaker 2: grammatical forms.
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  Speaker 1: So if people have wondered why do they always say
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  Speaker 1: this Latin thing when they're talking about some of these animals,
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  Speaker 1: We're going to try and explain that today. But important
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  Speaker 1: to understand often and why things happen is the historical context. So,
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  Speaker 1: prior to using this system of binomial nomenclature or binary nomenclature,
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  Speaker 1: names were polynomial, and that was the alternative, and they
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  Speaker 1: consisted of a generic name with a more specific name,
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  Speaker 1: And so you might see something that was just much longer,
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  Speaker 1: although still binomial sounding, some name like soon fading spider
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  Speaker 1: wort of Virginia also known as the philingium ephemerum Virginianium,
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  Speaker 1: something like that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, i'd I almost start just naming everything like that,
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  Speaker 2: Like I want pizzium with cheesium, thank you. Yes, I
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  Speaker 2: would like my coffee with oat milkium. You know, it's
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  Speaker 2: just it sounds like it. It sounds like everybody is
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  Speaker 2: just trying to add more ums to everything.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're trying to fancy it up. Do you try
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  Speaker 1: and fancy a dirt boy? We don't need to do that.
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  Speaker 2: So we were using this polynomial system, and then came
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  Speaker 2: Casper Baying. He lived from fifteen sixty to sixteen twenty four.
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  Speaker 2: That seems like a long No, it's sound as long
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  Speaker 2: as I thought it was. I thought that was like
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  Speaker 2: an extra one hundred and something.
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  Speaker 1: Years, but I misread that sixty four years.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, sixty four years. And then carl Lnius from seventeen
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  Speaker 2: o seven to seventeen seventy eight, that is seventy one years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, look at that.
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  Speaker 2: I can do math. They show up and they wreck
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  Speaker 2: the whole scene. So Buying actually began using Latin to
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  Speaker 2: describe species and paired down names to words rather than
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  Speaker 2: multiple and Lineus further took this and began using a
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  Speaker 2: trivial name and generic name convention to add to the
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  Speaker 2: specificity of the process. So as an example, we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: go back to that soon fading spider word Virginia. It
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  Speaker 2: changed from Philatingium ef femeroum Virginia Aniana though to Trediscantia Virginiana, Virgiana,
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  Speaker 2: Virginiana Virginiana.
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  Speaker 1: There we go, I think Virginia.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, good, I got it. I landed.
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  Speaker 1: I've also heard that pronounced Linnaeus, but who knows. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Carlum Linnaeus.
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  Speaker 2: Lenaia Yeah, I mean it looks like Linaus Latin and Linnaeus. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway, So that was the example that you ate that
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  Speaker 1: you gave of maybe pairing down a multi named thing
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  Speaker 1: a polynomial thing down to just the two the binomial. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but why do this? Why are we doing this thing
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  Speaker 1: at all? Isn't it more fun to call the sula
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  Speaker 1: nabuxi a blue footed booby? Yes, obviously it is, but
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  Speaker 1: the that's that's the Latin name there. Well, let's start
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  Speaker 1: with this. Science generally benefits from a standard It's best
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  Speaker 1: we found when we can communicate using some kind of
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  Speaker 1: shared language or approach to our dissemination, like a shared
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  Speaker 1: measurement system. And so here we are. There are a
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  Speaker 1: few reasons why we might use the system. Binomial nomenclature
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  Speaker 1: provides a simple structure for naming conventions than previous systems,
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  Speaker 1: and another reason is that the use of the system
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  Speaker 1: is currently governed by international codes and guidelines, meaning it
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  Speaker 1: allows some standardization and universality across cultures and regions of
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  Speaker 1: the world.
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  Speaker 2: Right. By having identifying names that are unique to species,
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  Speaker 2: we're able to more easily classify species and related organisms.
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  Speaker 2: I think that related piece is really important because you
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  Speaker 2: might have similar species that belong to different the same genus,
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  Speaker 2: but maybe are different species underneath that or different subspecies,
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  Speaker 2: and there is a stability in consistency with the current
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  Speaker 2: naming system. So as an example, a species may move
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  Speaker 2: between genera or genus, but their species doesn't actually change,
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  Speaker 2: and so you might actually see that a name change
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  Speaker 2: where the first word or the genus is altered, but
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  Speaker 2: the second name, which is the name for the species
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  Speaker 2: or the subspecies, that remains the same. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: you might have something that is the trade a Scantia
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  Speaker 2: virginiana that changes to something like the Ephemeroum virginiana. As
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  Speaker 2: an example, that's all made up that I just said,
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  Speaker 2: but like it is one of those things where you
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  Speaker 2: might see that and it's still a name, the current
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  Speaker 2: name for that specific species.
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  Speaker 1: The first one wasn't made up, but the second one was. Yes. Yes.
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  Speaker 1: But there's another I think really important practical reason why
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  Speaker 1: we would want some kind of standard here, and I'll
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  Speaker 1: get to that right after a commercialum turtum also known
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  Speaker 1: as an ad okay. I left you on a cliffhanger
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  Speaker 1: of another really good reason why we would want such
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  Speaker 1: a system as this. Now. Honestly, I think the landing
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  Speaker 1: of the Latin was more a matter of convenience in politics,
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  Speaker 1: would be my guess. But sure, the other reason to
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  Speaker 1: go with this is that. There's a couple of things.
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  Speaker 1: One is that without some kind of standard for how
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  Speaker 1: we go about naming things, one common strategy was to
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  Speaker 1: just name it after yourself, and so we had all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of people's names running around being attributed to things,
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  Speaker 1: and that sometimes meant that it was superimposed on top
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  Speaker 1: of a name given by indigenous people of the area.
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  Speaker 1: It sometimes meant that it was really confusing because we
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  Speaker 1: had the same name for very different things. If we
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  Speaker 1: were naming them after people, or people were coming up
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  Speaker 1: with names that really didn't tell us anything about that species, right,
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  Speaker 1: So moving to a system where we used Latin allowed
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  Speaker 1: us to actually name it in a way that told
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  Speaker 1: us something about that like if you understood some of
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  Speaker 1: that Latin, as many of the biologists and other scientists
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  Speaker 1: in these fields will, then giving it that Latin name
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  Speaker 1: tells you something about the animal from the name itself,
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  Speaker 1: rather than saying, this is a bob and now I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what that. What that means is what is
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  Speaker 1: a bob? Is it a mammal? Is an insect? Is
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  Speaker 1: it a flying creature? Is it a c creature? Is
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  Speaker 1: it underground creature? Is it large? Is it small? Like
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  Speaker 1: having that name convey some amount of information can really
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  Speaker 1: help clarify things about it that are unique and importance
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  Speaker 1: to characterizing that that.
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  Speaker 2: Thing, right, and so so all of that to say
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  Speaker 2: that this is operating in a system that is described
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  Speaker 2: as our taxonomic hierarchy.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: So this taxonomic hierarchy system, it includes all of our
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  Speaker 2: favorite scientific groupings domain kingdom, philum, class order, sub order, family, genus, species,
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  Speaker 2: and subspecies. So you might be familiar with that from
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  Speaker 2: you know, early science classes. If you're in Florida, you've
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  Speaker 2: never heard those terms except for animal kingdom, and you
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  Speaker 2: stray away from that because it's run by animals and
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  Speaker 2: you're scared. Now, the binomial system allows us to specify
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  Speaker 2: the species down to its last to identifying classifications genus
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  Speaker 2: and species, we don't need to describe domain kingdom, file
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  Speaker 2: them all the way down. We can use genus and
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  Speaker 2: species because the taxonomic hierarchy organizes it in such a
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  Speaker 2: way that everything before genus is assumed right as part
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  Speaker 2: of that, as part of that hierarchy. So what ends
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  Speaker 2: up happening is we go down to genus and species
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  Speaker 2: is the formal name for all of the organisms that
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  Speaker 2: live on this planet.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because just as you said, if you have one
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  Speaker 1: that is more specific, then you know what other general,
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  Speaker 1: more general categories it belongs to. Like if I say
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  Speaker 1: socks brown, like, you don't really need the category of
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  Speaker 1: clothing to understand what wre socks belong in the hierarchy
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  Speaker 1: of like human made objects, right, right, Like if I
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  Speaker 1: were to hierarchy human made objects from like human made objects, textiles, clothing, socks,
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  Speaker 1: then just saying socks and then something about those socks,
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  Speaker 1: like the color, you can already like understand that that
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  Speaker 1: belongs to clothing, textiles, human made objects. Right. So that's
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  Speaker 1: that's I think why that the level of taxonomy is
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  Speaker 1: implicit in the way that it gives a lot of
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  Speaker 1: information using very very little, Like it doesn't need a
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  Speaker 1: lot to communicate a lot, Does it make sense? Right? Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 2: So, Like an example that I think everybody will love
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  Speaker 2: is because everybody here loves dogs. So the genus of
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  Speaker 2: canis includes dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, and dingoes. So
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  Speaker 2: those are all dogs like, but they have specific species
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  Speaker 2: underneath that. Wolves are different species and coyotes, and even
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  Speaker 2: inside of that there are subspecies of coyotes of wolves,
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  Speaker 2: of jackals and dingoes and so on and so forth.
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  Speaker 2: So like when you start looking up genus, you start
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  Speaker 2: realizing that the genus assumes also that all of those
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  Speaker 2: mammals belong to the Canaday family, and the Cannaday family
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  Speaker 2: may also include things like bears and raccoons. Sure, so
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  Speaker 2: as you trying to drill down to Cannis, then you
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  Speaker 2: get more specific to four legged furry creatures that look
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  Speaker 2: like dogs.
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  Speaker 1: And so if you get Canis lupus, then that is
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  Speaker 1: a wolf. But you also already know then, like what
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  Speaker 1: other hierarchy it belongs to that's more general than that
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  Speaker 1: from Canis. Yeah, so why Latin? Like why not French
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  Speaker 1: or Russian or something else? Largely, unfortunately, because we've always
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  Speaker 1: done it that way, at least, the contemporary scientific endeavor,
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  Speaker 1: the foundation upon which it was built, was heavily Latin influenced. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: there are a lot of other versions of science and
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  Speaker 1: other cultures around the world that did not use Latin,
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  Speaker 1: but this is the way that science is currently being
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  Speaker 1: disseminated the most widely, and so that foundation has used
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  Speaker 1: Latin for a long time. Not to say that that
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  Speaker 1: is correct or the only or the best way it
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  Speaker 1: is just the current most common way. It was used
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  Speaker 1: during the Middle Ages, and so it was adopted and
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  Speaker 1: refined over time. Take whatever umbradge with that that you will.
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  Speaker 1: I understand. I don't disagree, and I'm just saying this
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  Speaker 1: is where we are at currently. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's not like a really like tried and true
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  Speaker 2: reason for Latin other than we've been doing this for
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  Speaker 2: a long time and a change would be a pain
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  Speaker 2: in the butt. However, change is coming and we'll talk
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  Speaker 2: about that now. There are five rules for kind of
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  Speaker 2: coming up with a name scientific name for a species.
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  Speaker 2: First is that each name has two parts. You've got
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  Speaker 2: your generic name or your genus name, and your specific epithet,
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  Speaker 2: which is going to be the actual species name. And
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  Speaker 2: also inside of that there's kind of like you've got
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  Speaker 2: your layperson name and your scientific name too, so you're
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  Speaker 2: gonna have a little bit of that inside of there.
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  Speaker 1: Also, all names are usually in Latin and written in italics,
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  Speaker 1: so when you see it written in italics, that's telling
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  Speaker 1: you also something that this is the Latin name of
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  Speaker 1: this thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, the first name always identifies the genus and the
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  Speaker 2: second name always identifies the species. So it's really important
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  Speaker 2: that it's always in that order.
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  Speaker 1: If they are handwritten, because I mentioned the italics, then
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  Speaker 1: they are underlined. But if they're typed, then they're italicized.
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  Speaker 1: But this is specific to Latin syntax.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and the genus starts with a capital letter and
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  Speaker 2: the species always starts with a lowercase letter in the name.
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  Speaker 1: Ooh, you guys are walking away with some workable information here, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: all right, as you alluded to, though there are some
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  Speaker 1: updates here. In recent years, the scientific community has been
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  Speaker 1: urged to begin including or returning to using indigenous names
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  Speaker 1: four species. Besides the obvious need for I think trying
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to undo some of the damage that has been caused
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  Speaker 1: by colonization, the need for decolonizing and undoing some of
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  Speaker 1: that damage in that space, there is actual practical use
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  Speaker 1: for this. Indigenous names rarely, if ever change, so they
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  Speaker 1: often have at least this enduring cultural legacy that is consistent. Right.
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  Speaker 2: So the example that we've got here is that in
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand there's a forest tree that goes by the
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  Speaker 2: scientific name proum nepitis at Taxifoldia, and it has five
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  Speaker 2: separate epithets, so it's got five separate names out in
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  Speaker 2: the world, with names changing over many centuries. The only
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  Speaker 2: name that actually hasn't changed is the indigenous name Matai,
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  Speaker 2: which has been consistent for centuries. The indigenous peoples have
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  Speaker 2: called this specific tree the Matai for this its entire time,
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  Speaker 2: and it's never changed. So there's this utility in kind
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  Speaker 2: of the old foundations and structures of using the same
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  Speaker 2: name that is consistent with the culture that it exists in.
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  Speaker 1: So and moving forward through this like it makes the
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  Speaker 1: most sense probably for us all to just have a
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  Speaker 1: lot of honest and thoughtful conversations where we allow space
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  Speaker 1: for those people who have had naming traditions around this
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  Speaker 1: to share their voice and share their sort of reasons
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  Speaker 1: and share the names that they've given, and consider that
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  Speaker 1: there might be alternative ways to approach this that will
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  Speaker 1: be very informative and also more inclusive of a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people who might have a lot to contribute to
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  Speaker 1: understanding the places where we're trying to study and do
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: good science anyway. So, yeah, broadly speaking, the value of
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: science has shifted more consistently toward the idea of inclusivity,
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  Speaker 1: and so I think that let's just hope that trend continues,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: and we'll be right there cheering along that move.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely, one hundred percent.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: As a show that is specifically, maybe not us entirely
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  Speaker 1: as a species, but those of us who find value
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: in learning and getting better at things as opposed to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: those who don't find value in learning and getting better
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: at things. Yeah, exactly. And you guys know who those
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: people are, but you are not them because you found
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: your way to this podcast. And thank you so much
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: for joining us today. As I said, this is a
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: short form series that we're released on Mondays, with full
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• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a short episodes, we haven't got time for that because
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: we've got to get out of here, but I would
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: like to thank you all so much for listening. Anyway,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: if you like to tell us about your opinions on
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: binomial nomenclature or other scientific naming, Latin or other things
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: that we discussed in here, or just to say hello,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: you can email us at info at WWD wwdpot cast
• 16:00
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• 16:03
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• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and review, or just go tell a friend to be like, hey,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: check out this really cool podcast about bino meal nomenclature,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and they'll be like, that sounds very interesting. Thank you
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: for recommending it, and then both of you will go
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: about your very day, adjusting your monocles and all that exactly.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: But I think that is what I have to say
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: about this. Is there anything that I forgot you that
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: you would like to add before we say oh goodbyes
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: to everyone? Shane, Nope, I think that covers it all, right,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: go forth and name things. This is Abraham and this
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: is Shane. We're out. I E. You've been listening to
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Why We Do what We Do.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: going to WWD WWD podcast dot com.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and we hope you have an awesome day.