Why and how do Jellyfish sting?
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Melissa:I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:Podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Okay, Jim. So a few weekends ago, I was with a friend of hours, I think you know her too. Her name is Emily s, not your wife, Emily.
Jam:Yes. Emily s was also on the trip where I remember, For the most part, 1st meeting you when we get asked that were asked that question by a listener a few weeks ago, that's the first time I also met Emily s.
Melissa:Yes. So we were together, and we were talking about how she had gotten a bad jellyfish sting on her honeymoon
Jam:Oof.
Melissa:And how she had to treat it. And and I started to wonder, what makes a jellyfish sting hurt? Like, what's the chemistry of a jellyfish sting?
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:And then there's the age old question. You know the question?
Jam:I do know the question. Yep.
Melissa:Does ping on it actually work?
Jam:Okay. Dang. Hard hitting questions here today on coaching for your life. I've always wondered that. I feel like one of the things is that's been, I think, somewhat debunked now, but not really explained.
Jam:You know what I mean? Mhmm. I've just heard a lot of people say like, oh, no. Don't do that. It's just a, you know, misunderstanding or whatever.
Jam:But they don't ever explain Why why it doesn't work or why people ever thought it might work at in the first place?
Melissa:Yeah. So that's what we're gonna talk about today, about if, what makes a jellyfish sting hurt
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:If being on it works, and why or why not. And, you know, some jellyfish tend to sting and others don't. So we're gonna talk about that a little bit. So there's a lot of moving parts to this, and it's gonna be a longer episode.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Sometimes I try to keep it short or I break these up. I couldn't find an easy place to break it up, so I just decided to embrace a lengthier episode today.
Jam:Okay. Sweet.
Melissa:Okay. So before we talk about jellyfish, I want to remind you about something we talked about in our episode about cooking eggs.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:We talked about how eggs have a lot of protein in them, and proteins are?
Jam:Long chains of they're made up of amino acids and then Mhmm. They're kind of, like, Connected together and stuff?
Melissa:Yep. Exactly.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And they're technically polymers.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Technicolor. Sorry. Yep.
Melissa:No. That's okay. I mean, that's not really relevant to this, what you said was good enough. But Okay. I always love that they're polymers.
Melissa:I think that's fun. Yeah. And they're all folded in on themselves like you said, and we can denature them. Do you remember us talking about that?
Jam:Yes. Yes. I do.
Melissa:And do you remember what that does?
Jam:That I think more than just untangling them, doesn't it start to, like, break the chains apart?
Melissa:Yeah, it definitely untangles them. It might break the chains apart as well. Okay. But the biggest thing is by unfolding them, they can't act the same way that they would before. So the nature is changing.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So that's why they call it denaturing. And you can do that with heat, and you can also do that with conditions.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So that is really a big part of today's lesson, but we'd already talked about it, so I just wanted to quickly review it. Go ahead and dive in.
Jam:That makes sense. Okay.
Melissa:And I also think in this episode, it's gonna be a lot like the Venus flytrap episode from last week where it's more of lessons we've already learned in different applications like that one. So it's a little bit different.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. Don't worry. Next week, you'll get a more traditional chemistry lesson again.
Jam:Okay. Sounds good.
Melissa:Okay. So jellyfish. A jellyfish sting is all about their prey and their protection.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So they have these tentacles which sting their prey and their predators so that they can, you know, live their lives. That's all they're trying to do.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And some types of jellyfish, they eat mostly just plankton in the ocean or really small particles of things that we can't see with our eyes. So to sting that prey and immobilize it and ultimately consume it Mhmm. They don't need really big stings.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:So some jellyfish, when they come into contact with us, we don't feel anything because they're not trying to eat us.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Other jellyfish actually prey on bigger things like vertebrates.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And so they need toxins that will impact these bigger creatures.
Jam:Got it. So, like, would that mean, like, small fish that actually are vertebrates? Or
Melissa:I think so. Yeah.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Or maybe even bigger ones. I don't know. I didn't look into their feeding habits other than the reading that some of them consume vertebrates or other large prey.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So those ones that consume the bigger prey, those are the ones that sometimes hurt human beings unintentionally.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:And they're not seeking you out. They're just kinda living their lives. And if they come into contact with us, this is where the problem comes in.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So if we come into contact with jellyfish's tentacles, they have a cell on their tentacles called a cnidocyte. It's spelled with a silent c at the beginning, which I don't understand. I don't understand much about biological naming systems, but that was how I learned that it was pronounced. So they have a cnidocyte. And inside that cell, there's an organelle.
Melissa:Do you remember the word organelle from, like, biology in high school?
Jam:I do. And that means, like, the things within a cell that has specific Functions. Right? So
Melissa:Yes. Like I'm so impressed.
Jam:Mitochondria or, And I used to know all these. And sorry, hippie biology teacher, miss Wise, but
Melissa:I'm sure
Jam:as you as you say other things about this, It'll come back to me. And that class was not for nothing, I'm sure.
Melissa:No. Yeah. That that's a really good understanding, so, yes, they function as I like the phrase, they function as an internal organ of the cell
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Kind of. They're made up of proteins and lipids and other macromolecules, which is really just a fancy word for big molecules.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So that's what is inside your cnidocyte is an organelle called a nematocyst. So it serves a specific function.
Jam:And it is something that they would uniquely have that we and other animals wouldn't have in their selves?
Melissa:I believe so. I don't know if there's something similar in other creatures, but I think that this might be unique to this genus of or species of creatures.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:So what a nematocyst does is when we brush up against a jellyfish, nematocysts get all on our skin.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Now picture in your mind those creepy Jack in the Box toys.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Do you have it in your mind?
Jam:Yes. I do.
Melissa:It's a box. And if you spin the handle, there's a spring that eventually the tension builds up to a point the the box bursts open and a clown jumps out.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Such a cruel toy.
Melissa:A terrifying toy. I don't know what the point is. That is exactly what a nematocyst does.
Jam:Okay. It's
Melissa:a coiled up spring, and it is almost like a spear or has a barb or like a needle that it's gonna prick you with.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Sometimes that barb often, I think that barb has toxins on it.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But the thing is that the barb is coiled up inside of a membrane, it's membrane bound from what I can tell. And, basically, that means that like the Jack in the Box toy, with the right conditions, the spring can burst out of its membrane and get you. You'll get stung.
Jam:Interesting. Okay. And it all happens, like, Quickly. So for us, it just feels like this this thing that touched me stung me immediately, but it's More more complicated than that.
Melissa:Yes. And, actually, the uncoiling I was gonna say this for a fun fact, but I'll tell you now. The uncoiling, they occur so quickly, it says, nematocysts are just discharged onto the skin within a fraction of a second, making a jellyfish nematocyst discharge one of the most rapid mechanical events in nature.
Jam:Woah. Dang.
Melissa:I know. And that's a direct quote from one of our sources we'll cite in our show notes and on our website
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But also the springs are really small. There's American Chemical Society video about jellyfish, and they showed microscopic video image of these brings uncoiling, which is really cool to watch, so I highly encourage you to go check that out. We also reference that in our show notes. But it looks, even on a microscope, it looks like tiny hairs just unspringing and coiling uncoiling all on their own. It's very cool.
Melissa:Weird. And it's crazy that they just cause you so much pain.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:So so far, that's a lot of biology, but we're we're getting into the more chemistry part here in a minute. Okay? So these spring needles are the culprit for our pain, and the way that they'll be caused to burst open, there's 2 main ways that we control, and 1 is by pressure.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So similar put putting pressure on the cell or on the organelle, I guess, is a better way to put it. Putting pressure on this nematocyst can cause it to uncoil and sting you.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So just brushing up against a jellyfish feels like a sting because you're putting pressure on that.
Jam:Oh, yeah. I see.
Melissa:Another thing is these membrane bound organelles, these these nematocysts springs are inside. I think of it as like a little pouch. Yeah. But the pouch is semipermeable, which means water can flow in and out of it. Mhmm.
Melissa:And the water inside of these nematocysts pouches is what I'm gonna call them. It's an informal word.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It's used to being in salty seawater. Right? Right. So if you splash fresh water on them, process called osmosis occurs where, naturally, things want to even out the amount of salts between the internal and external layers
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Of a membrane, so the salt level in the membrane is gonna try to match the salt level outside of the membrane. If you pour water onto something that has a lot of salt inside of it, that fresh water will rush in to try to dilute the salt content and ultimately cause the organelle to burst.
Jam:Okay. So
Melissa:that is another way that you can get stung is by bursting through osmosis.
Jam:Uh-huh. Would that, like, cause stinging, but then because the orinal bursts, it would stop it, or does it not really work that way?
Melissa:I think it does work that way. It would burst so it couldn't prick you again, but you are gonna they're all gonna prick you instead of, you know
Jam:Yeah. So it it'll initially just hurt worse.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So we're gonna talk about that some too at the end here. And then the last thing they said was just a relaxation of the muscles that contain the mena nematocysts, but I don't think that we can control that. I think that's on the jellyfish side, so I couldn't find much information about that.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:So that is what will cause the nematocyst to unspring and attack you like a creepy jack in the box coming out and getting you.
Jam:Dang. Like, tiny little jack in the boxes that Have been able to be attached to your skin.
Melissa:Yeah. Exactly. Yes.
Jam:That's crazy. So
Melissa:and when the nematocysts release onto your skin with that prick, that is painful enough.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But there are also toxins on them. Right. So this is very chemistry y. There are different jelly jellyfish with different toxins. Hundreds of toxins have been identified.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Some of them are lethal toxins, and some of them are not even felt by humans because the nematocysts are so small, they can't even penetrate your skin.
Jam:Oh, okay.
Melissa:So there's all kinds of levels of different toxins going on here. One specific type of toxin is a protein. They're called porins.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:These are proteins that literally create holes or pores in your cells.
Jam:Woah.
Melissa:Mhmm. And they cause pain and inflammation as you can imagine.
Jam:Yeah. Dang.
Melissa:So that's what happens when you get stung by a jellyfish.
Jam:With that I mean, I'm guessing that part kinda makes more sense about maybe, if they're attacked with something smaller, how That damage could be much more than just an irritating sting for them. Who knows? I mean but it could be enough to allow the jellyfish then to Get them and eat them or whatever. But
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Yeah. Dang. That's crazy.
Melissa:I know. I'm kinda surprised because I feel like I don't think much about what stings or something like that is, but it's so much more complicated than I thought it would be.
Jam:Yeah. Totally.
Melissa:Now what you said earlier, I'm gonna circle back around to. If you just have coiled up nematocysts on your skin that haven't been triggered yet, this sting will just sort of come back randomly and painfully throughout the day or the next day until they've all burst.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And my sister actually studied jellyfish for her master's degree
Jam:Oh, wow.
Melissa:Which Dang. I know. This is very fun. So she has a lot of experience with that. And so she talked about how it'll just randomly sting you painfully for the rest of the day after you get that initial sting.
Jam:Wow. Gosh. That's so annoying.
Melissa:I know. I I feel like my job is dangerous too, but jellyfish sting is an interesting hazard of that field.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Seriously. Gosh. That would be such a regular thing to have to worry about and know about, Pam.
Melissa:Well, so now our next question is, how can hemp chemistry help us with the pain, and, of course, should we pee on
Jam:it? Right.
Melissa:So scientifically, it doesn't seem like there's a strong consensus on one way to treat all jellyfish stings.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I read an article that was basically a review. It compiled all these different studies on all these different jellyfish, and it went by jellyfish and what treatment were recommended. I'm just gonna go through the top treatments Okay. For those. So if we know why they're hurting us, we know that we either need to physically remove the nematocyst or we need to basically hack the system chemically and make them useless.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:To physically remove them, using fresh water is not going to help because of what you said. It will cause them all to burst at once.
Jam:K.
Melissa:So if you have a small jellyfish sting from a nontoxic jellyfish and you think it'll be worth it, you just pour fresh water on it, all those hematocysts burst at once, and then you can start the healing process.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Maybe that's fine. But if you have a jellyfish sting from a jellyfish that's very toxic and you pour fresh water on it, then all of those nematocysts will discharge poison into your skin at once.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that's not the best option for physically removing the nematocysts because it doesn't physically remove them. It just basically cause uses osmosis to cause them all to trigger at once.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:But you can use salt water from the same body of water you're in. Make sure there's no more jellyfish in it, obviously. And use that to pour or splash on your skin, and that should, to some degree, remove a lot of the nematocysts without causing them to burst because there's not gonna be any osmosis taking place. It's already at a nice equilibrium.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So those are your physical ways. Renee also mentioned, I wouldn't recommend this because pressure can be one of the things that cause nematocysts trigger. Right?
Jam:Right.
Melissa:But sometimes people would get a thin card, like a credit card if they were maybe on the boat or desperate or something and grape the top of their sting to try to remove the rest of those cells.
Jam:Okay. Interesting. Organelles.
Melissa:Yeah. I guess it's the right term. So that's another physical way to remove, but you could put pressure on them because you can't see them because they're so small and then cause them to burst.
Jam:Right. Right. Seems like it'd be a fine line between, like, Am I really getting under them and kinda scraping them off, or am I just pressing them down as I grip my cart along my leg or whatever? Right exactly.
Melissa:So in general, I don't love those methods. I, of course, am a big fan of chemically over physically doing anything.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So to chemically render them useless, the biggest thing you need to do is denature the proteins.
Jam:K.
Melissa:There's proteins in the toxins, and there's proteins in the nematocysts.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:The their organelles, they're made up of macromolecules including proteins.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So there's 2 ways to do that that we know of that are easily accessible, and 1 is an acidic solution or heat.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So what the review I read generally recommended using hot water around 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Hot water but not boiling because you don't wanna obviously hurt yourself, so that's why that that is about recommended.
Jam:Mhmm. And
Melissa:that should denature the proteins. So it won't burst. Or if the cells burst, it doesn't matter because the nematocysts have basically been rendered useless and so have the toxins.
Jam:Right. Right. Okay. So it wouldn't it would them first and instead of just causing them all to unspring or whatever?
Melissa:I think it'd be sort of a simultaneous situation.
Jam:Okay. Got it.
Melissa:But also, if you feel better about it, you could try to boil your seawater, and then it definitely wouldn't cause them to burst.
Jam:Oh, I see. Okay. Nice.
Melissa:So hot water, that's one option to denature the proteins. But another option that you can use is vinegar.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:Is that as an acidic solution? So theoretically, that is acidic enough. It has a low enough pH or concentration of protons that it could denature the proteins beans and have the same effect as the hot water.
Jam:Okay. Sweet.
Melissa:I saw both of those mentioned as some of the top choices for treating jellyfish stings in a paper
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:There is some evidence that acetic acid, also known as vinegar, may cause some triggering of the nematocyst, but I think it's becoming one of the most widely accepted. So I don't think anything's perfect. I'm not a medical doctor, but this is what I found in academic papers.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:My sister, who's around all these jellyfish who studied jellyfish, also recommended meat tenderizer. Because meat tenderizer tenderizes meat by denaturing and breaking down protein.
Jam:Oh, okay. Gotcha.
Melissa:So it could do that to the nematocysts and the toxins being released into your skin.
Jam:Yeah. Dang. Interesting.
Melissa:So that's how we use chemistry to hack the system and get those nematocysts to stop hurting us.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:Which I think is very fun.
Jam:That's crazy. It's also just crazy to think about the sting. I'm still kinda wrapping my head around that part, but, like, It not just being 1 event that happened when you're touching the jellyfish, but you're still being stung later. It's not just like You're it's not just a feeling. I've always heard that described.
Jam:I've been with people who've gotten stung, but never have been stung myself. And just that description of it being You're still being stung, but just weird to That, man. What a weird problem to have to solve. K.
Melissa:I know. I know. It is very interesting. Jellyfish are so fascinating because it doesn't also seem like they're doing too much on purpose.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:So it's just interesting. So now the question we've all been waiting for.
Jam:Yes. Yes. Yes.
Melissa:What about pee? And you may be thinking urine isn't freshwater, and it is acidic, and it's a solid stream so it could wash away these nematocysts. Mhmm. But that's none of that is true, really. It's sort of true, but it's not true enough.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:It's not warm enough to denature proteins.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:It's not acidic enough to denature proteins. It's just barely more acidic than water.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:It's not salty enough to truly find a equilibrium with the cells, so or organelles, I guess, is a better way to say that is the more correct way.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:So what will happen if you pee on your jellyfish sting is the same thing that will happen if you pour fresh water on it, basically, it will cause all those to trigger
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:And you'll be in more pain, not less.
Jam:Dang. And that's funny because It's it's funny to think that it's the same as fresh water. And fresh water is much less gross Then urine last time I checked. And so all the people who've actually done that to find out that it's actually no better than just Regular old water are gonna be pretty pretty bummed. And worse chance.
Melissa:Than just worse than seawater. Just go back out into the ocean and splash it all up.
Jam:And seawater is not clean. I mean, it's like, use some dirty seawater instead that's right there everywhere. So it's just kinda funny. This this is not the kind of this is funny that, like, in many scenarios where the intuitive sort of assumptions we might have as nonscientists Are completely have so many chances of being wrong. It's like and it's actually better to use dirty seawater than to use Fresh bottled water.
Jam:It's just, like, so funny.
Melissa:That is. I I it really is so count everything about this is counterintuitive, I think.
Jam:Yeah. This
Melissa:freshwater is bad. Really hot water is pretty good, actually. Not so hot that you're gonna burn yourself or just go back out into the sea or pour acid on it like, you don't pour acid on wounds normally.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:It's just different. It's very different. So that is your lesson on jellyfish. So if you'd like to, you can take a stab at explaining it back to me. I had a few fun facts for you, and now I just have one because you scooped one of them.
Jam:Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to. Yes. I'd love to spit back what I learned.
Jam:There's a lot there. There is a
Melissa:lot there. You don't have to get every detail. Maybe just overarching.
Jam:Okay. So main thing being that When we get stung, that brief little moment that happens, the jellyfish's tentacle, is not necessarily, like, itself doing the stinging, which is interesting. It's Mm-mm. Passing off sort of These little stingers, little these little organelles that are in the cells. You said this the cell name, Earlier, but I forgot it.
Melissa:It is The one that starts with
Jam:the silent c?
Melissa:Yeah. Cnidocyte.
Jam:Nidocyte. So organelles in that cell get In that brief moment attached to our leg or our back or whatever ends up getting stung, And then they probably pretty quickly some of them start springing hearse. I don't know what yeah. You'd say it, but, basically, they end up being the thing that pokes us. And so there's more steps to that process than most of us would realize, And then they stay with us for the most part, unless we do something about that.
Jam:So we will continue to be stung by them even after We have been around the jellyfish, which makes so much sense. It's like so there's so many things that, like, that Pain we experience is residual because of damage done, and it just hangs around. That's kinda confusing. Like, You get stung by a wasp. It might hurt for a while, but the the stinging is basically done.
Jam:It's like Right. Or you just get a splinter. I mean, it's it's like Sometimes the pain of something is just it hanging around, but the act of whatever hurt you is already done. But this is so tricky because it's like, nope. We're still stinging you.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Which is crazy. And you said that the Numen.
Melissa:Here's a close. Nematocyst.
Jam:Nematocyst. Okay. The the nematocysts are like a jack in the box, basically, having tension, and then they release it, which is What? Or we can cause it to be released if we do certain things, which is what caused it to poke us. And then some jellyfish Beyond just having that happening, also have other things that can that are toxic that can make holes in our cells?
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Jeez.
Melissa:I know. Those are called.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Mhmm. So
Jam:that's what we're experiencing. Before we even get to the part about trying to fix it, that's what many of us experience when we get stung by jellyfish.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And so then the question becomes, how can we Either burst or, these little nematocysts That are on our leg or back or wherever we got stung, ideally, it without them all bursting All at once and stinging us all at once. Mhmm. And that's where the Having something either hot, like hot water
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Especially if it could be hot seawater so that it doesn't cause them all to burst because of osmosis
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Or something acidic Like vinegar, which we almost all have in our homes. Maybe we don't have at the beach with us, though, which is one downside.
Melissa:But you can bring it if you're worried.
Jam:Nice. Yeah. Just like a little spray bottle of it or something.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And or if you have salt and vinegar chips with you. They could just kinda rub
Melissa:it over. That would work as well. Just shove them into your sting ew. No. Don't do that.
Melissa:Yeah. I'm sure
Jam:it would just end up bursting all of the things because you're putting pressure or whatever On
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Feel like and who knows, like, all the, like, oils and stuff might have their own negative effect. Who knows? But Yeah. And that can cause the proteins that make up the nematocysts to denature because of the acid, and then they fall apart in the sense that maybe they don't have a chance to sting you because they're before that can happen.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And he doesn't really do any of Those things well.
Melissa:No.
Jam:Most comparable to just fresh water, which is a lot more pleasant to Put on yourself then pee.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But still also not a great option, if you can help me
Melissa:out. Great option.
Jam:Did I miss anything?
Melissa:I don't think so. I think you got it. I do wanna say, I forgot to mention, painkillers can work, like lidocaine or other things that will just numb your pain but what that does is numb your pain. It doesn't treat the problem of removing those nematocysts, which are really the thing that's causing you pain, and if they're toxic and you're in danger from not only the pain, but also you're having some kind of bad toxin
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Put into your body, that is the biggest most important thing is getting rid of those, not just managing the pain.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So that's something to be aware of. It's hard to know because you usually don't see the jellyfish that has dung you. So you're you don't know if it's extremely toxic or if it's just more mild, but that's just something to be aware of is is the primary thing is treatment from removing the pain source and then pain management. So one of the fun facts I was gonna give you was how quickly the nematocysts are just charged, but you already know that one. And then also, nematocysts can function even when separated from the organism or if it's dead.
Melissa:So don't step on a jellyfish that's on the beach because you can still be stung by a dead jellyfish.
Jam:Wow. That's interesting. That makes sense now to know the the mechanics of it, and that it's just Mhmm. An organelle that seems like a good, yeah, attached to your skin Even if it's not a conscious decision by the jellyfish, but I can see why people would think that they wouldn't sting them if they thought that it was kind of like a Like a action taken place initiated by the conscious jellyfish. You know?
Jam:Yep. Woah.
Melissa:So there you go. Some paper did talk about also treating possibly with ice, but that's probably not gonna be as effective for you as some of these other methods, I think it's more numbing than anything, honestly.
Jam:Yeah. Dang interesting. I have seen many of the elevations. Must still have not been Stung. So I hope my I can keep that record up.
Melissa:But at least I know
Jam:it's a bit yeah.
Melissa:Now you know. Well so this topic of jellyfish came up when I was chatting with my friend Emily S at my wedding. I thought
Jam:they should say grocery store. Wedding right right
Melissa:there. So that is my happy thing from this week. My husband, Mason, and I got married, so that's very exciting.
Jam:Nice. It
Melissa:was a perfect day. Some of our family came. We had a really small ceremony. It was quick and easy to plan. I highly recommend fast engagements because wedding planning is stressful if you have 2 months or if you have 6 or 12 months.
Melissa:So the last time you're stressed, I think the better.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you already know and have already gone through, like, Counseling or whatever else, and it's like, okay. Well, what's the point in waiting then? We've gotten all the input that we need.
Jam:You know?
Melissa:Right. Yeah. And just focus on the important things, you know, that my important things are that everyone had a good time and that it was good food and that we were happy, and we definitely were I got to wear my mom's wedding dress, so that was really special. So she couldn't be there. So Yeah.
Melissa:It is a perfect day. And this crazy guy officiate it. So
Jam:Yeah. I'm gonna piggyback on this because it was Definitely the coolest thing of that week for me too, but, loved getting to be at your wedding. And I appreciated the wedding, which is Weird, but also was so fun.
Melissa:And Yeah. Jam's the crazy guy. He was the little crazy person. Yeah.
Jam:No. I subbed in for the crazy guy. He was unavailable. But I, yeah, had a lot of fun doing that, and it's just kinda cool and special. But in general, y'all just It ended up being able to make a really cool event and with with some unusual challenges, at play like COVID and also The, you know, craziness ending happening in your dad's backyard, all that kind of stuff.
Jam:But basically overcoming all that and making a fun day anyway, and, oh my gosh, the sliders y'all's wedding Mhmm. Were so good.
Melissa:Yeah. That was one of my most important things is good food
Jam:at
Melissa:my wedding. So
Jam:Yeah. Man.
Melissa:If you're ever in Dallas, swing by Deep Ellum and go to Easy Slider because they have, because they have, I think, some of the best burgers in all of DFW, and that's a lot of burgers. Yeah.
Jam:There, yeah, there are tons. And there's tons of Grilly Good Burgers, but that I mean, there's something about some of the creative combos that they made that were very unique. Man. Mhmm. But, yeah, you guys had an awesome day, and that was the 1st wedding I've ever officiated.
Jam:So who knows how many there will be? But if there's a lot, it's cool that That this was the first one.
Melissa:That is it was cool either way, I think. So it's really fun. We'll post pictures just as soon as we have them, and you guys can sort of get to experience some of that special day, because it feels like y'all are our friends too. You should get to see at least some of what that was like.
Jam:I I got to talk with 1 of our friend of the show, Nikki, before the ceremony. And we were joking about, like, what if when you guys, you know, walked up and every all the intro stuff is done, and then you and Mason are standing up there. If it was like if I handed the mic to you and it was like, hey. I'm Melissa. I'm Jam, and then I'm Mason.
Jam:And then we like, we swoosh, like, a Circle of
Melissa:how we introduced
Jam:you there. It's like, I'm a chemist. I'm not. I'm also not. And then we're just kinda joking about how cumbersome that would be to to end up forcing introductions like that during a wedding.
Melissa:Or if that was we made a podcast episode out of it. The our whole wedding is broadcast as a podcast episode.
Jam:That'd be so funny. You'd probably feel pressured to Incorporate some sort of chemistry lesson, which would be kinda hard to figure out
Melissa:what to do. Yeah. There isn't I can't think of that off the top of my head. So Yeah. So that was a happy thing from this week.
Melissa:But so thanks, Jen, for coming and officiating and
Jam:Of course, dude.
Melissa:For, you know, being a great friend through all of that. And thanks to all of you listeners for coming and learning about jellyfish. It was so fun.
Jam:Well, thank you for teaching us, and thanks for getting married. And that was really fun. And, you guys, these ideas, like, what do you do if you get stung by a jellyfish, and Should you or should you not pee on it? Some of these really good ideas come from you guys. So if you've got questions and things that you've wondered about that could be chemistry, Please let us know.
Jam:Reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at chem for your life. That's Kim, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas. If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to kodashfi.com/chem for your life, and donate the cost of a cup of coffee. Between now and the end of May, which is only a couple more weeks, you can sign up on our Ko Fi for any amount monthly. And Melissa and I will send you a sticker that's very exclusive And a note to say thank you.
Jam:But if you're not able to donate, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and rating and writing our review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry Free Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Jam Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to Vee Garza and Innoel who reviewed this episode.
