In this episode of Yackety Science, we delve into dodgy French raccoon lore, count up the cost of measles misinformation, and check in on the latest, fastest and most explosive developments at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games. We travel up the Congo River in search of pretty primates, and reflect on the shiniest of all elements. And finally, we talk giant squids and lone wolves with Gaelle Beau of the Natural History Museum of LeHavre, France.

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Episode Art: Photo by Frankfurt Zoological Society. Modified by Brian Cross.

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

Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Our guest this episode is Gaelle Beau, zoological and botanical collections manager at the Natural History Museum of Le Havre, France.

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

Links:

European Raccoons

• The controversial story of the North American raccoons wreaking havoc in Germany by Matthew Ponsford (BBC; 16 August 2026)

2nd World Humanoid Robot Games

• Faster, higher, funnier: what we learned from China’s robot games by Robert Booth (The Guardian; Aug. 29, 2026)

Measles Outbreaks and Vaccinations

• U.S. Measles Tracker

• The Executive Order on Childhood Vaccine Recommendations: What’s in It, What It Means, and What Comes Next

  
  

New Colobus Monkey

• Likweli: A remarkable new species of Colobus monkey from the Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Hart JA, Amboko JD, Arenson JL, Horton ER, Coates KF, et al. (2026) Likweli: A remarkable new species of Colobus monkey from the Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. PLOS ONE 21(7): e0349857.

• Mysterious orange-lipped monkey discovered deep in the Congo rainforest is a new species. (Science; 15 Jul 2026) by Yejin Lhee.

  
  

The Natural History Museum of LeHavre

• Natural History Museum of LeHavre

• Naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur

Ourobookos, A Yackety Science Book Club

Next Book Selection: The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack

“. . . a mind-bending tour through five of the cosmos’s possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay (the one that could happen at any moment!), and the Bounce. Guiding us through cutting-edge science and major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory, and much more, The End of Everything is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know.”