WEBVTT - Listener Questions #46 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:11.000 I was once a happy carnivore, but after a visit 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:15.760 from Lone Star, it's meat no more. Begrudgingly, I'm an herbivore, 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.639 and while I miss steak tartar, it's not worth dying for. 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.200 I tried to get some internal rhyme in there, and 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.600 I don't think it would the way I imagined it would. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:30.200 No, I think you're basically the eminem of science. Okay, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.760 if alien brains are strange and quantum mechanical, could they 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.360 see quantum effects? Or was Daniel being over dramatical. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.440 Up to eighty percent of women will have uterine fibroids 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.960 by the time they turn fifty, but they're understudied. Wouldn't 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.760 equal representation in medical research be nifty? 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.280 Whatever questions are keeping you up at night, Daniel and 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.720 Kelly's answers will make it all right. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.120 Welcome to Listener Questions, Episode Number. 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:14.039 Hi. 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.280 I'm Daniel, I'm a particle physicist who thinks about aliens, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.679 and I'm the only co host who hasn't been invited 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:21.839 to rap on someone's album. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:25.960 Hello. I'm Kelly Waiter Smith. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.600 I study parasites in space, and it is yet to 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.440 be determined whether or not A that will happen or 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.600 B that was a good decision on that person's part 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:36.840 to invite me to do so. 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.440 I think you have an awesome voice for rapping, Kelly. 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:44.560 Oh sure, yeah, thanks. I'm not sure the poems help 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.400 make that argument, but that's okay. What is the most 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.520 surprising thing you have found yourself doing as an adult 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.280 where you were like, I just did not imagine I 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.560 would ever be doing this because if I do the 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.160 rap thing, that will be my answer. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.840 I've had some funny moments recording ads for the podcast 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:07.400 in the past. I remember recording one for Starbucks Nitro 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:11.200 cold Brew that Katrina listened to, and he convinced her 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:13.919 to get a Nitro cold Crew one day. And now 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:15.800 she says, every time she goes to Starbucks and she 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.600 sees that drink, she hears my voice in her head 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.080 nightdro cold Brew. 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.760 That's amazing. That's kind of cute too. 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.040 How about you, Kelly, You've ended up in some pretty 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.079 funny situations in your science communication career. 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.560 Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I wasn't limiting 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:37.000 the question on purpose to science communication career. I mean, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:42.000 I remember donning a wet suit pretty soon after the 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:46.600 ice had melted in northern Wisconsin and swimming around to 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.560 monitor the behavior of male large mouth bass as they 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:51.840 were guarding their nests, and one of them came over 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.480 and slammed me in the face and knocked my goggles off. 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:56.600 I mean, he's not that big, right. 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:58.840 It was mostly just cute, but like he was defending 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.720 his nest, like amazed because I'm so much bigger than 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:03.519 he is. And then I ended up in the er 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.560 for an ear infection and I was in the er 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.280 for the third time and the woman was like, you're back. 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:12.600 Why do you keep getting into the water. And I 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.280 was like, well, I'm studying the reproductive behaviors of male 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:18.240 small mouth pass and it was like she was kind 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.880 of listening, and she goes, oh, okay, that's interesting. And 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.360 then it like once she processed what I had actually said, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:28.400 she said to you, that's interesting to you, and I 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.880 was like, oh my goodness, I've suffering anyway. I think 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:32.920 that was like that whole summer. I was like, I 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.000 did not imagine that I would be in this situation. 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.800 And people talk a lot about peeing in their wetsuits 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.560 when they have that job, and I just remember thinking 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.440 I thought I was going to med school. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.240 This is what a strange place I've ended up. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.080 But I'm getting face slapped by fish. 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.280 Wow, that's right, that's right. So anyway, that was that 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.960 was a surprising path. I also got slapped by a 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:53.680 leather vackseat turtle and that hurt a lot. 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.120 That does sound like it wouldn't be fun. Well, today 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.520 we are slapping nobody, but we are answering questions that 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:04.800 are interesting to you, hopefully, because everybody out there is 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.680 interested in how the universe works. And we have the 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.400 best listeners, the most curious listeners, ones who think about 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.880 how things work. And sometimes those ideas don't click together 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.719 just right, or bump up against each other in an 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.240 uncomfortable way. People write in to help us sort it out. 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:26.159 We love hearing from y'all questions at danielan Kelly dot org. 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.560 And today we're answering three fascinating questions about biology and physics, 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:32.559 two of them from people named Zach. 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.159 Yes, it's a Zachy sort of day, and so let's 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.200 go ahead and hear our first question from our first 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:40.200 Zach number one. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:40.599 Zach. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:46.120 Hey, they're extraordinaries. I've heard about a tick that can 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:50.080 make you allergic to Meet. I'm allergic to pollen and 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:54.520 avocados because my dad is allergic to pollen and avocados. 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.680 It's genetic. So how the heck can you get an 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:03.479 allergy to Meet from a tick? You're the parasitologist, Kelly, 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.320 so I'm tossing this one to you. Thanks in advance. 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.599 Wow number one, Zach. 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:14.119 All Right, Okay, this is fascinating and terrifying. The idea 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.599 that you could pick up an allergy to a very 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.560 common food just by getting bitten by an insect death. 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.479 Terrifying, absolutely terrifying. All No, ticks are not insects, but 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.320 still terrifying. Nonetheless, they're a racknids, so we're like related 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.919 to spiders and stuff. But what's really amazing to me 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:32.960 is that we ever figured this out. 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:34.080 Okay, so here's the deal. 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.719 You get bit by a tick, and then some period 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.080 of time after that can be weeks or whatever, you 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.279 build up an allergy to meat, and then you eat meat, 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.240 and three to six hours after you've eaten meat, you 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.040 have an allergic reaction. So the fact that we were 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.760 ever able to connect those dots is like mind blowing 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.280 to me. But let's take a step back and talk 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.320 about like how we figured this out. Yeah, so over 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.360 a decade ago, a bunch of just we're getting reports 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.600 from people who were saying I've developed an allergy to meat, 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:09.520 and their initial response was like, uh, it's probably. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.839 Something else, because allergies to meats don't happen. 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.560 Yeah, I mean, allergies to meat are just very uncommon. 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:17.760 It's not a thing that has been documented a lot 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:19.240 in the past. And so I think a lot of 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.839 people were like, Okay, well, you know you should avoid 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.120 meat then, but this is very surprising and doesn't fit 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.080 with what we know about allergies. 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.760 So allergies in general, like I'm familiar with I'm allergic 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.920 to a cat and it makes me sneeze or get hives. 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.680 Or I'm allergic to grass and I get a rash. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.520 Or if you're allergic to foods like peanuts, then when 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.159 you eat them, you're like throat can swell. Is that 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.120 what's happening when you're eating meat and you're getting like 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:46.520 a throat constriction or is it more like affecting digestion 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:47.720 when you're vomiting it. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:49.480 It could be all of the above, So it sort 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:51.200 of depends on who you are but so you can 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:54.520 have you know, let's call it gastrointestinal distress. You can 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.279 get covered in hives, or you can get anaphylactic shock, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:06:59.960 where essentially your throat starts to close. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:01.920 So it's very clearly analergy. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.200 Yes, very clearly analogy. 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.680 Because gastro intestinal distress after eating meat could also be 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.040 caused by like E. Coli or something else. 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.640 Right, yeah, sure, right, if you eat bad meat, you 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:13.960 can get the runs or whatever. 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:15.760 But this is like every. 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.720 Time you eat meat, you reliably get this response, and 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:20.880 so it's probably not a batch of bad meat. It 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.840 is just the way your body responds whenever it encounters 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.840 certain kinds of meat, meat from mammals in particular. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.880 This calls up some memory I have of my younger 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.400 brother eating kemmeenber for the first time. I think he 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.640 was like six, and I was like, wow, this is 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.160 so delicious and creamy, and he was like creamy, this 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.920 is spicy. And I was like, what spicy? What are 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.240 you talking about. He's like, yeah, it's really spicy, and 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.400 then I discovered, oh, he's having an allergic reaction. It 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.840 was like stinging as he was eating it was spicy 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.000 because he was only like six or seven, and so yes. 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.000 Then at the er I had to relate this story 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.360 to the doctor, and my parents were like, why didn't 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.320 you say something anyway? 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:00.920 What was he allergic to? 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:02.480 Canmonberry? 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:04.080 But just the cheese in. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.200 Some soft cheeses, Yeah, you know, because they all have 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.040 different molds, okay, and so some people are allergic to 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.400 like specific cheeses. So if you're eating a hamburger and 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.120 it's not supposed to be spicy and it is, you 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:17.120 might have this allergy. 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:18.040 So here's the thing. 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.480 You usually don't respond at all for three to six hours, 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.119 which is which is kind of weird. And so often 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.840 when you have an allergy, your immune system has essentially 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.960 decided that something you've consumed is bad even though it's 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.040 not so. For example, there are proteins made by peanuts, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:38.360 and our bodies will produce immune cells that are constantly circulating. 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.520 Whenever they see proteins from a peanut, they decide that 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.280 there is an invader that must be attacked, and they're 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.400 bringing along other immune cells, and when they find the peanut, 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.160 those immune cells like burst open and create like a 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.760 massive inflammatory response to try to destroy what they think 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.280 is a harmful invader, but actually it's just you know, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.520 this thing that isn't really going to hurt you. Peanuts 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.360 aren't going to start replicating and trying to like take 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:02.800 over your. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.280 Lungs or something. They're just something that's there because you 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:06.359 ate a peanut. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.360 Right, So, in general, an allergic response is your immune 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.520 system responding to something that's benign. 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.120 Yes, right, okay. So there was this cancer drug that 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:20.559 came out called situm tuxaab. 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:23.920 Matt, I want you to keep all of those attempts 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:24.320 in there. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.920 Yes, Oh, come on, so tuxaab or something like that, 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:32.000 and very unfortunately, there were some people that were taking 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.720 the cancer drug and they would die, and they clearly 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.600 were dying from an allergic reaction to the drug. So 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.920 allergists were called in, and the allergists started like looking 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.880 at the people who have allergic responses to this cancer 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.560 medication and those who don't. And it turned out that 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.040 this cancer medication had a sugar in it that we 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.360 usually just call alpha gal and has a much longer 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.080 chemistry name, but none of us want to hear that, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:58.240 least of all Daniels, so we're just gonna call it 0:09:58.280 --> 0:09:58.719 alpha gal. 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.319 Alpha gal sounds like a teenage superhero. 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:02.000 It does. 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.240 Yeah, no it's not. I mean it sounds awesome. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:06.920 Let's call Alpha gal to solve this problem. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.400 But now it's also become the name of the allergy. 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.160 So if you have alpha gl syndrome, you know, you 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.760 don't have amazing superheroes who come to. 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:17.720 Get you out of trouble. 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.240 You get anaphylaxis when you have a Hamberger much less cool. 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:22.959 That's not very cool superpower. 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.560 No, no, And so they were trying to figure out like, Okay, 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.880 this sugar is what's causing the allergy, but it doesn't 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.360 cause the allergy in everyone. 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:35.199 And so they started like laying maps of. 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.040 Different like kinds of diseases from the United States over 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.200 the maps of areas where people were getting allergic reactions 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:41.800 to this drug. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.880 Such cool detective work. Yes, right, this is like Cholera 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:46.840 episode all over again. 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:48.760 I got, which was such I had so much fun 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.280 researching that episode. And so so anyway, somebody, after looking 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.400 at maps and maps and maps and maps of diseases, 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.160 noted that the areas where people were more likely to 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.760 get allergic reactions to this drug overlapped with areas where 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.120 people were likely to get rocky mountain spotted fever, which 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.440 is a disease that you get from ticks boo. And 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.199 so they reached out to a bunch of people and 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.440 they were like, do you remember getting bit by a 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.240 lone star tick? And when they ask people, some of 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.200 them were like, yeah, I got bit by a lone 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.600 star tick, you know, a year ago. And then they'd 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.240 be like, oh, well, did you start also like responding 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:28.040 strangely to meat because meat also has alpha gau sugars 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:29.679 in it. And they'd be like, yeah, I get these 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:31.920 hives now after I have a burger. And they were 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.920 able to like create this correlation. I know, it was 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:35.920 totally incredible. 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.880 They must have been so skeptical of this connection when 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:40.960 they first saw that, like what, how could it be this? 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:41.480 No? 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.120 But then you know, that's the thing about science, the 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:45.560 data speaks right yeah. 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.600 Well, and so one of the amazing that this problem 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.480 was solved concurrently by scientists in Australia and a scientist 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.640 at the University of Virginia named doctor Platts Mills. And 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.280 one of the things that he emphasizes in his career 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.400 is that you need to be like open to things 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.360 that are supper and so when people were like, I'm 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:06.440 allergic to meat. You know, he admitted that he was like, yeah, 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.480 allergic to me. And then but he's like, but you know, 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:12.160 I listened, and then a lot more people were like, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.400 I'm allergic to meat. And he I think he was 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.360 part of the team that figured out this alpha gal 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.920 sugar thing. And then it turned out that he went 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.959 on a hike once and he walked through an area 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.439 where lone star tics had been breeding and he picked 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.960 up a bunch of baby loan star tics and now 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.400 he has this disease. Oh no, And so he's been 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.320 experimenting on himself. I found a quote where he said, 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.600 I'm covered in biopsy scars from doing research on myself. 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:38.680 So I think he'll like eat a little meat and 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.160 then be like boop, biopsy a collect some data and 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.360 he takes a little bit. It's a little sample of himself. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.000 So here's a couple additional things that are like surprising 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.920 about this. So usually allergies are to a protein. Alpha 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:55.360 gal is a sugar. That's weird. Usually you don't get 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.920 allergies transmitted by organisms like tics. And to be honest, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.439 we don't know, oh why ticks are giving us this allergy. 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.200 So we know that ticks sometimes when they're taking a 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.960 blood meal, they definitely spit in you while they're taking 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.400 the blood meal. To add insult to injury, what they're 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.200 spitting in there is like anticoagulants and other things to 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.400 make sure the blood flows nicely into their face. But 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:20.000 when they essentially spit into you, they have this sugar 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.040 and they're putting it into your bloodstream, and your bloodstream 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:29.000 responds by creating this allergic response, but not always. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.280 So hold on a second. Ticks spit some stuff into you, 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.400 I get it. But one of those things they spin 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.880 into you happens to also be a sugar that's in 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.080 like hamburgers. Is that coincidence? 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.640 So we don't understand, right, So that's a great question. 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.640 So this sugar is made by almost all mammals, but 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:50.120 not humans and some of our close primate ancestors. We 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.880 don't totally understand why we didn't make it. But this 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:55.920 sugar is one of the reasons why it's hard to 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.720 do transplants of pig hearts into people, because pigs do 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.400 make this sugar, and our bodies, our immune systems respond 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.120 to pig hearts, and so one of the things that 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.600 people are doing when they're genetically manipulating pigs to try 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:10.240 to make it so that their organs can go into 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:14.120 people is they're removing the genes that cause the pigs 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:14.880 to make this sugar. 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.720 And so does that mean if you have this allergy, 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.000 you can't eat a hamburger, but you could eat a 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:21.760 people burger. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.960 Oh, I should have known our big cannibalism. 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:28.880 I want to answer to my question for the point. 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.040 The answer is yes, yes, you would not have anaphylectic 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.040 shock if you eat a human burger a Daniel Berger. 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:40.520 And also you won't get anaphylectic shock if you eat chicken, 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.560 for example. And so because this is a protein that 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.880 you tend to find in mammals, so pigs, cows, you know, 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.360 bacon would would give you hives or something like that 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:51.360 if you have this reaction. 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:53.360 Well, I don't eat a lot of mammals anyway, and 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.160 I'm not a big fan of eating mammals, So this 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.520 is feeling less apocalyptic to me, but it's still a 0:14:58.520 --> 0:14:59.360 fun science puzzle. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.680 Well, I have some neighbors in my community who have 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.880 this allergy because one of the hotspots is Central Virginia, 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.840 where I live. And I have some neighbors who raise 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.600 cows for like a living, and they have this allergy now, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.120 so they can't, you know, they can't eat the cows 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:16.720 they raise. They have to like sell that meat to 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.000 other people now, And so you know, for some people, 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.560 it is a pretty big problem. Yeah, And apparently if 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:23.480 you are the kind of person who itches for more 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:25.880 than two weeks after you get a lone star tick bite, 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.880 you are more likely to develop an allergy to meat. 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:32.280 And I definitely have a tick bite that's manaching for 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:33.080 more than two weeks. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.080 And so last night I went out to eat and 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:36.520 I was like, do I have the burger? Do I 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:37.320 not have the burger? 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.520 And like, anyway, so I'm starting to worry that I 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.000 will eventually have. 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:42.640 This, And did you have the burger? 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.920 I did have mammal meat, and I was fine, My 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:48.360 back kind of hurts. 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:51.640 That sounds so unappetized. 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.080 It does sound unmal meat. 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.640 Yeah, it's like, I'll have the mammal meat burger. I 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:57.880 don't really care which one. Just throw in some mammals, 0:15:58.120 --> 0:15:58.520 just some. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:02.400 Mammal you can mix them all together. I'm fine whatever. 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.600 A little raccoon burger, Oh. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.520 Never mind, all right. Okay, so there's a couple things 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:09.880 we still need to figure out. Why is it that 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.880 some people get bit by loan star ticcks and don't 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.000 get the allergy. Yeah, we don't really know. I mean, 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:16.840 I guess that's sort of similar to the question for 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.840 why are some people allergic to peanuts and others aren't. 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:24.320 But there's also lots of other immuno responses that we 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.320 don't understand. You know, for example, like one percent of 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.200 people get type one diabetes, but something like thirty something 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.200 percent have the genetic disposition for it. There's some environmental trigger, 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.440 and so there must be some combination of being bitten 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.240 by tick and something else you also, like struck by lightning, 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.440 or we're sick beforehand, or some other environmental combination. 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.800 Yeah, yeah, I mean loads of job security if you 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:47.320 work in the field of allergies. 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:48.760 There's a lot we don't know yet. 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.320 And it seems like there's some ticks whose bites are 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.360 more likely to give you this allergy. 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:55.600 It's not just loan star ticcks. 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.920 There are ticks in Australia that do it, ticks in 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.120 Europe and Africa that do it, but not every tick 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.880 bite is equally likely to give you this allergy, and 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.200 so trying to figure out what it is that makes 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.520 some ticks more likely to make you allergic to meat 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.320 is an open area of investigation. And so one of 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.320 the things that I was wondering when I was doing 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.960 this research is like, presumably this allergy has been around 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:22.560 forever or like for a very long time, because like 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.479 loan star ticks have been around for a very long time, 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.280 but we didn't figure this out until more recently, right. 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.080 But having tick bites been going up a lot. 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.440 Yeah, so we think that tick bites have been going up, 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.359 and we don't know one hundred percent why, but some 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.879 guesses are because deer numbers have been going up and 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.280 ticks lots of ticks have deer as like a very 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.359 important host. And since we killed the predators of deer, 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.919 and deer numbers are going up and they're encroaching in 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:50.480 our habitats more, this might be why we are coming 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:53.280 into contact with ticks like the lone star tick more often. 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.560 Wow, this is like revenge of the Wolves. 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:56.960 Yeah, that's right. 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:59.000 We killed off the wolves and now we can no 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:00.280 longer eat hamburger. 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:04.760 That's right. Yeah, Yeah, I mean this is some nasty stuff. 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.360 So anyway, stay tuned to find out if Kelly can 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.600 no longer have mammal burgers in the future and has 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.480 to convert to cannibalism, and Zach did this. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.600 Slate your thirst for alpha gel info. 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.480 Thanks Kelly for the dive into this weird allergy, which 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.080 I feel is definitely owed a place and Ripley's believe 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.760 it or not. I was especially intrigued by the history 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.280 of its discovery and the way it took input from 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:37.880 so many different areas of science allergology and oncology, epidemiology, parasitology. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.439 Given the usual way this allergy is framed like becoming 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.439 allergic to a hamburger, I had the impression that it 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:50.080 was somehow an outgrowth of industrial intensive cattle farming, but 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.919 it sounds like it might be driven more by different 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.840 human behavior, namely more contact with wildlife as we encroach 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.919 on their habitats, and maybe climate change improving conditions for ticks. 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:03.560 I'd be really curious to see if anyone has gone 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.960 back in time to look for medical case studies on 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.400 meat allergies, Has this happened before, or if other parasites 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:15.800 can cause other kinds of allergies. Also, what purpose does 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:20.240 alpha gal serve in mammals and why don't other taxonomic 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:24.159 classes of animals have it? These are good things to 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.879 ponder as I toss a dry brind ribbi steak on 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.680