WEBVTT - The Appendix: No Respect 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.760 Heart Radio. Hey you, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.840 There's Charles w Chuke Bryant's willing away in some champagne. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.200 You're sorry, sparkling my shando and so it's from NAPA. 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.360 And there's Jerry over there, Jerry Scudder champagne too. We're 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.360 all just hanging out. We're gonna talk to you guys 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.320 while we wait for the shrimp cocktail with aw literally 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.080 and that makes this stuff you should know. That's right. Uh, 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:36.080 we're back in the same room everybody for the first 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.720 time in about fourteen months. And Jerry brought in champagne 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.360 and frozen shrimp cocktail. There's a story behind that. Go 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.040 ahead and say it. You go ahead and say, I 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:48.839 don't remember you were the shrimp you first started it, 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:53.080 Like I feel like twelve years ago we we we 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.000 were tracking to hit number one on iTunes in like 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.360 two thousand and eight, I think at the beginning of 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:05.679 two thousand no nine maybe whatever, and um, I was like, 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.920 I want a shrimp cocktail in the in the recording 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.880 studio when we hit number one. We hit number one, 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.840 came and went stayed number one, hit number one again. 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.560 No shrimp cocktail. This is the shrimp cocktail from two 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:23.120 thousand nine. Yeah, finally has made an appearance, and it's frozen. 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.480 It might literally be from two thousand It might be. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.760 It's turning. The veins are turning kind of purple as 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.800 it thaws. I can't wait to eat the shrimp cocktail. Yeah, 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.639 we're having shampagne. Jerry classed it up basically, I feel 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.440 I feel it was a nice homecoming she did. But 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.280 the three of us are fully backs. Were in a 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:46.080 room together. The microphones don't have fake years attached to them. Yeah, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.040 I mean that joke won't make sense to you now, 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.800 But we recorded another episode before this one, but it 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.680 was getting released later, so this technically our second episode. 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:56.760 It just put that in your button and smoke it 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.000 in your hat. What do you talk about? Have a 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.080 weird urged a curse? I don't know why. I think 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.920 you just did so, Jerry Beppe bp P p peep. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.160 But it's it's great to be back together in a 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.519 little weird um, but not as weird as I thought 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.639 it would be. That first one was weird because we're 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.959 in a different room. Yeah, we got all the weirdness 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.079 out in a weird situation, it would have been weird regardless. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.600 But now we're back in in Studio one A. That 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:24.480 was a really good move. Jerry, did you plan it 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.640 like that to get the jitters out? Jerry thumbs up. 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.520 Jerry's real. Everybody she chooses not to talk. Jerry's let 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.679 her hair grow out. I know she got a ponytail, 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:36.960 but the first time I've ever seen it's got an 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:41.919 even more peppery, no salty in a salt and pepper way. 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.200 It doesn't get more peppery unless you make a you know, 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.320 a move to make it so. And she looks like 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:53.280 a wealthy retiree who drives a Maseratti and knows their 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.200 way around the club. You know what I mean, That's 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:02.040 what Jerry looks like. She looks distinguished but also foxy. Yeah. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.720 So I spent my last January of losing twenty five 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:11.519 pounds and then COVID hit and now I have gained backunds. 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.040 I'm exactly where I was. Is that right? Exactly to 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.160 the pound? And it makes me really angry. Oh no, 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.520 just go with you. Oh I know, but I just, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:22.280 you know, let me get back together. I was like, man, 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.720 I'm doing so good. I'm so good pandemic And I 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:26.760 was like, well, now I can eat and drink all 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.200 I want because it's sad. So you lost the weight 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.640 before the pandemic hit, Yeah, I hit it hard in 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:40.640 January to junior March January one probably, yeah, okay, And 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.000 like I was working with a trainer, like you know, 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:44.920 so I was having to go to her every like 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.080 three days a week, and just you know, I was 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:50.360 making the right decisions and tracking and and the weight disappears. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.600 And then COVID hit and I just started making all 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.040 the wrong decisions and let myself do that. Yeah, that 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.400 happened to all of us, myself included. I went through 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.160 what you went through where I lost a bunch of 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.880 weight and I managed to keep it off. And then 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.960 COVID hit and I was still doing okay, doing okay, 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:09.960 maybe eating a little more than usual, like I'm not 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.720 gonna let it happen though, and I was. I wasn't. 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.040 And then our book hit, and that's what got me. 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.560 When we were writing it and working on a two 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:23.120 hours a day every day, I was eating so much weight. 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:25.839 I gained book weight, and I actually I have not 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.800 been this big since I don't know when. Man, but 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.440 I still got it. So I'm I'm doing what I can. 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.120 You look the same? I do? Well? Then I what 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.920 I started two weeks ago was kicked in. I guess 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.040 if I look the same, well, you look great. Great, 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.359 everyone looks and feels great. Yeah, let's talk about the appendix, 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.760 the Rodney Dangerfield of organs. This is one of my 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:53.520 favorite articles that we've done in a while. Yeah, and 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.479 you know how I often complain about science. This is 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:02.279 a kind of science I love. Yeah. Understandable, Yeah, body science, understandable. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:07.880 Super cool. This factors into our hygiene hypothesis episode, our 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:12.040 human microbiome episode, digestive system episode. Yeah, it all sort 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:17.920 of fits together. In that little worm like organ, it's 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.200 an organ, right, yeah, it's an organ. Yeah. A lot 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.800 of people thought it was a vestigial organ. They're wrong, right, 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:30.200 But that weird little thing, uh, hanging out there, just 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.120 going just wiggling around like a little worm is really 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.040 kind of cool and fascinating. And I love that it 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:40.520 has a great story behind its lack of usefulness and 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.800 then turns out usefulness. And it's just agreed, this is 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.840 really good stuff. It's smashed bang stuff. You should know. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.840 That's right. Let's talk about it. So um, like you said, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.159 the appendix is like this little worm like thing that 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:59.360 dangles off the bottom of the ascending coal and large intestine. 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.719 Coal in large intestine and large bowl are the one 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:05.480 and the same. So when you hear people say bowl, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.880 they're typically talking about that colon large intestine. It's all 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.400 the same thing, which I found confusing until I looked 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.000 it up and found okay, it's all that um two 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.880 to four inches long the appendix right generally, although the 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.160 biggest one was pulled out of a seventy two year 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:25.600 old Croatian man named Sofranco August during his autopsy, and 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.320 his was ten inches or twenty six centimeters long. What 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.560 do you think they were like in that autopsy? They're like, wow, 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.240 I think that the medical examiner's staff had a T 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.520 shirt made up that Sofranco August was buried in that said, 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.760 I've got the biggest appendix ever. Maybe, I mean that's 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:45.080 crazy because when you, like I encourage you look up 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.919 a picture of the appendix, it is it looks like 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.200 a little worm and it's hanging there on this little 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:55.760 bulbous pouch called the sikum, and the Sikim is kind 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.800 of like where it's it's the part in between this 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.720 all Intestine and Large Intestine where there there's an agreement 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:06.720 that takes place, basically where the small Intestine it is like, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.040 all right, listen, I'll take all this food and I'll 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.880 make it into clime, but I am not going into 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.840 the fecal zone. Now you handle the fecal stuff, colon, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.600 And the colon says, fine, here's my buddy, the secum. 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.760 It'll it'll service a little halfway house. You can pass 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.480 everything along to me. I will broke rate, you won't 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.440 get any poop on you Small Intestine, and I'll send 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.560 it to the Large Intestine. But off of that Secum 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.760 is dangling this this little dude yeah, which as far 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.120 as anybody could ever tell, had nothing to do with digestion, 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.320 which makes it really weird because everything else around here 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.240 has to do with digestion. That's just what they do, 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.920 that's their their their trade. And the appendix is just 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.240 hanging out and people just thought, Okay, this this thing 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.280 doesn't make any sense. But the fact that is attached 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.960 there and doesn't seem to have to do with digestion, 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:02.600 made people for a very long time think that it 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.480 was a vestigial organ right, which we'll get into the 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.200 specifics of one man who really championed that idea in 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.800 a way that frankly made a lot of sense, and 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:13.520 you can see why it took that many years for 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.680 anyone to really poke around further into it. Yeah, because 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.240 you're just like, yeah, you just explained it's sure. But 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.120 there are other mammals that have secums, uh, and in 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.080 some mammals, especially herbivores, that can be really big relative 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.000 to their body size, because in herbivores it acts as 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:35.240 the the predigestion house for plants, and since they're eating 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.920 tons of plants, they have large secums. Yeah, plant fiber 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.120 is really really good for you, but it's also really 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.520 hard to digest a lot of cellulose um. And that's 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.560 that large intestine coming into play again, because in the 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:51.280 stomach and the small intestine there's um, a microbiota, a microbiome, 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.760 which we talked about in that one episode the Human 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.839 Microbiome Project. Um. There's some in the small intestine. I 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.360 think there's far far less even in the stomach, but 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.960 in the large intestine. That's where it really shines. And 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:08.040 those microbes, the pathogens, the virus is the fung guy 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.079 all of the and the bacteria most of all. They 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.800 all kind of work or fight or play and digest 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.280 this stuff. They break it down so that we can 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:21.480 absorb it. They turn it into fiber. Um dietary fiber 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.400 uh keeps you from absorbing a lot of sugar or 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:30.280 fats or whatever at once. Um insoluble fiber bulks your 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.880 stool up, so it really kind of gets everything out 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.520 of the coal and really cleanses it when you finally poop. 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.920 Hand gestures. Yeah, I've missed you seeing my hand gestures 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:45.240 now that I think, even when we're recording at home, Um, 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:51.520 I forgot what it's like to be seeing so um. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.559 So the large intestine has this microbiome that that lives 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.840 in there, and just just remember that. That's a big 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.120 important point. Yeah, put a pin in that, but not 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.680 literally because that would be dangerous. Um. Out of the 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:07.600 three sixty one mammal species, only about fifty of us 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.480 have an appendix or something like an appendix. Obviously, the 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:17.120 great apes do, rabbits, possums, wombats weirdly square poop. Did 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.719 they really comes out in cubes? Really? Yes? I can't 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.400 tell if you're messing with me right now? Wait, hold on, 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.199 keep talking. You're thinking of the square watermelons in Japan, 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:30.360 maybe thinking of all of bees. I'm pretty sure wombats 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.520 have square all right, a rare in show check. But 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.160 dogs and cats don't have appendix, cows don't, oranges don't, 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:41.640 sheep don't. Oh yeah, little poop poop cubes square. Yeah, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.200 it looks like those ice cube chocolates. How do they? 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:46.600 How does that happen? How do they? Yeah? How does 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.320 that work? Um? I don't have time to read that, 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.599 but it looks like there's a science alert from January 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.400 that says wombats are the only animals that poop cubes 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.680 and now we know how Okay, well that's a definite 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.480 short stuff. Okay, we'll do it. Look for that soon. 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:05.600 Uh So, back to the vestigial organ aspect. Charles Darwin 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.840 is the person who came out and said, hey, I've 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:11.960 been looking at these And by the way, that was 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:17.240 named officially by an anatomous named Phelippe Verhan in seventeen ten. 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:23.240 Appendix vermiformists, which means worm shaped detachment, and I think 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:27.000 the first appendix removals in seventeen thirty five. But Darwin 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.760 was the one who said, hey, everybody, I've been looking 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:34.760 at these herbivores and they've got these really big Secum's 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.560 giant for this, for this reason that Josh just described 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.120 future Josh and he said, so, here's the deal is, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.280 when we see a bunch of plants, we had humongous 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.280 secombs as well. And as our diet changed and we 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.360 got away from plants, you know, our body started to 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.240 change along with it, and that seek them just kind 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.840 of shrank. And the appendix is just a little shriveled 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.240 up piece of that formerly large secum and it's just dangling. 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:03.200 They're doing nothing. Isn't that amazing? And everyone until two 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.959 thousand seven said it sounds right to me. Darwin's got 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:08.920 it right. It does. I mean, it totally makes sense 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.679 and seems completely believable. Yes, But now that I know 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.320 it was wrong, I questioned every single thing he ever 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:19.079 thought of or set. Welcome to our world, Darwin, So 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.160 you guys messed up that one thing. I just don't 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:24.760 know I believe anything. May we hear that like every 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.480 week too? Don't we it's fun so um. But yeah, 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.800 it went for We went for well over a hundred 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:34.640 and fifty years of just everyone believing that the appendix 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:39.360 was a totally useless fastigial organ that had no function 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.120 whatsoever any longer. And so it was fine if you 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.120 just took it out, which is we'll see like people 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.320 do a lot actually and it is fine for the 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.199 most part, which we're lucky that it's fine. But also 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.520 I think if if it weren't fine, we would have 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.760 figured out very quickly, like, oh wait, this is you're 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:58.800 not supposed to do that. So the fact that we 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.360 were able to remove the appendix later on, um without 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:07.080 a problem, um, just kind of lent to this, let's 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.559 support to the idea that it was a Vista gi organ. Right. Um, 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.319 But it turns out it does serve some function. We'll 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.840 start talking about that. I think after a break, what 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:17.920 do you think, Chuck? That was so smooth? Thank you 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:42.000 so much smoother in person? All right, we're back from 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.319 our break. Um, who knows what amazing as you guys 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.480 just heard. But I'm envious of you because we didn't 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.840 hear it. We just have a moment of silence in 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.880 between that's right. Uh, And now we can talk about 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.199 the microbiome a little more. And if you want to 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.560 look into our Human Microbiome Project works show that was 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:04.040 it's when fourteen there are trillion cells in the body. 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.160 About thirty trillion of those are human cells with DNA 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.679 and the rest of those hundred trillion are the microbiome. 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.520 That isn't just amazing and it's really there's something about 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.040 the digestive system that just frankly turns us both on 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.920 a little bit. Yeah, there were these animations that can 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.560 I remember who made them? Um many many years ago? Yes, 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:29.400 but the animator just understood us on a level that 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.040 even I'm like, I'm like, oh, I didn't know myself. 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.080 Just little shorts from clips show. They did one about 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:37.800 a four and a half minute clip from how the 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.160 digestive system works, which is worth looking up on YouTube. 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.360 It's where I watched it the other day. They are 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.520 they were just gifted and talented. It's one of my 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.080 favorite little things that we ever that someone ever did 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.080 for us. I want to say, Nick Nick sounds right? Okay, 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.520 I think it was Nick. I hope it's Nick Nick. 0:14:56.040 --> 0:15:00.520 Please like right in if you still listen. Nick moved on. Okay, well, anyway, 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:02.600 they were really great. What Nick's work, and if it 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.800 wasn't Nick, Nick's new nickname is Nick. That's right, Okay, 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.400 So um, Yes, the digestive system does get us jazz, 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.160 and in particular the microbiome, which we wouldn't have a 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.560 digestive system, or at least one that functions, because again, 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.280 those bacteria help us break down stuff that we would 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.120 normally have trouble breaking down, help us form poop all 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.520 of that stuff. And there's a it's a symbiotic relationship 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:30.120 because in breaking those those things down, like that plant 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:34.680 fiber for instance, they're eating, they're happy, they're reproducing, but 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.600 then the byproducts and the stuff that they break open 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.920 make that stuff bioavailable for us, so we can kind 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.800 of get the nutrients and all that stuff from it 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:48.240 as well. It's a beautiful relationship. Not all bacteria is good, though, No, 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:50.760 there's the bad stuff. And we should point out that 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.040 most of this bacteria is in that large intestine, uh, 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.360 the in the stomach and the small intestine. Most of 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.760 it's killed off by gastric acid. But the bad bacteria 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.200 is if you eat some bad chicken or if you 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.240 have you ever done that? Yes, yeah, you know me. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.880 I've had all manner of stomach issues over the years. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.440 Where where did you get your bad chicken? I don't remember. 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.680 I don't remember specifically, but I know I've had bad 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.640 food before that made me sick. And in my case 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.240 in Guatemala, if you remember, you and Jerry both well, 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.640 it was not me. You know what, we were even 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.880 closing our mouth in the shower. We're being so careful. 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.720 But on that last night it was the ice, the 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.120 mixed drinks. I forgot the ice is made from water, 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.680 and that water was not good for Americans. And I 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.360 stayed home that night so I didn't get diarrhea. It 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:44.760 was worth it though, Jerry and I had such a 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.280 good time. So yeah, I got bad sick after our 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:52.040 guatte trip. But that's the bad bacteria, and and that's 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.520 how it can get into your body. And your body 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.960 is solution to this, uh as Jerry can affirm, is 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.160 is diarrhea. It's your body's way of saying, we're just 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:06.400 gonna flush you out human being. Just get rid of everything, 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.080 get rid of all the stuff. But that's gonna take 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.840 a lot of the good stuff with it, and that's 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.320 no good because if you have all the good bacteria 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.600 or a large amount of good bacteria leaving your body, 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:20.080 then that can leave you very vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.280 and other bad stuff. Sure, yeah, because I mean, like 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.439 a lot of the neurotransmitters that make your brain function 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.879 correctly or produced in your gut from the function of 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:30.760 the bacteria. Like, there's a lot of bad things that 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.919 can happen if you don't have a balanced microbiome in 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:38.000 your gut. Right. So Interroduke University in two thousand seven, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.600 I guess someone was staring at a picture of the 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.359 human body from the inside out and locked in on 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.640 that appendix and they're like, it's just sitting there attached 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.960 to the scumb It's got to do something right. And 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:58.760 they did some studying and testing I know exactly you 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:04.200 like me, and they figured out this theory that this 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:06.920 is a safe house essentially for that good bacteria. It's 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:11.200 got a really rich uh biofilm, which is we've talked 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:13.240 about biofilm in a bunch of episodes. I feel like 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:16.640 it's like coating on the inside of the blindings of 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.760 all kinds of things. Yeah, it keeps bacteria from being destroyed. 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.159 It's like a protective mucus get exactly, which is you 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.000 know that sounds gross, but it's a really a good thing. 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.800 And the appendix is just lousy with this great biofilm. 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.440 And they said, I think we think the Duke University 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.600 blue devils think that this is a safe house for 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.879 that good bacteria. Because when the body is being flushed 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.840 out with diarrhea from his illness, the appendix is down 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:43.119 there at the end of the cul de sact. It's 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.640 not even getting affected, basically, right. And so when that 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.439 bacteria leaves and takes the good with it, the appendix says, hi, 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.399 I'm here, look at all my good bacteria friends, go 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.760 forth and do your work. Exactly, goes bloop and pushes 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.520 all like a big hunk of mucasy bacteria or bacteria 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:04.560 ridden mucus into your large intestine to recallonized, which is amazing. 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.199 And and all of a sudden, the science world was 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.720 turned upside down because they thought they and it turns 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.880 out they did find a use for the appendix. Yeah. Um, 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.479 and not only uh is it a storehouse they found 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.760 for bacteria, the good bacteria that make up our microbio. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:27.960 It's also a place where um lymphocytes and other immune 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.720 cells are produced. Like it's called limphoid tissue, where like 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.760 T cells, B cells. I think there's one called T 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.000 natural killer cells, which you don't want to mess with 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:44.639 the iced tea. Yeah, or um the uh Woody Harrelson 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:51.280 and Julia Juliet lewis of immune cells. Um, they're produced 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:57.359 in the appendix right. Um, So when the recollonization process 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.840 is going on, you could still have bad bugs in 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.960 are but to prevent them from taking hold, those immune 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.520 cells come in and just wipe them out while the 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.440 good stuff comes back in and recolonizes. So the appendix 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.800 is a really apparently a very useful organ It has 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.600 a use after all. Yeah, but you can still live 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.800 without it. That's the weird thing. Why why if it 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.919 produces this really important function, why would we still be 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.080 able to live without it? I don't know. Oh, well, 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.800 well we'll talk about it later. Well, now, what I 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:35.480 didn't see anywhere was like if you have if you 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.760 live you know in an adverse way because you don't 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.440 have your appendix, Like does that make you more susceptible 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:44.440 to certain things? If you have that food borne illness 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:49.240 or right, okay, So here's the other thing. Um, the 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:51.920 there was more support from the fact that you can 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:57.159 have your appendix remove so there's more support for the 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:02.159 idea that the appendix plays a role um and isn't vestigial, 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:06.359 from the fact, weirdly that if you remove it, at 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.479 least in the developed world, you're you're still gonna be 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:13.959 okay without it. Okay, it makes no sense. It's a paradox. 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.159 But then when they looked into the paradox there, like, actually, 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.240 this does make sense because of that hygiene hypothesis that 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:23.680 you mentioned earlier. Should we dive into it? All right? Uh? Well, 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.760 hygiene hypothesis in a nutshell, And I recommend you listen 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:29.280 to that episode because it was really good, but is 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:35.040 sort of it goes a little something like this, uh 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:39.160 and developing. I'm sorry. In the developed world are immune 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.440 systems can be overactive, and that's why we have things 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:46.400 like allergy allergies, especially food borne allergies to like peanuts 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.000 and trimp that's sitting here in front of us thawing 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:54.439 out slowly because our immune system really wants to do something. 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.920 It is not good at Netflix and chill it likes 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.800 to really be act of and if you've got clean 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:03.840 water and really good fresh food and you know your 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:05.680 body didn't have to worry about that kind of stuff, 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.960 it starts to attack your body in other ways just 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.680 because it wants something to do. Right. It's like one 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.000 of those people at work who, like, you know, break 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.480 something and then fixes it just to show they're working. 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.240 Do people do that? There's gotta be some people out 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:23.840 there we like nudge of vase off their desk or 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.600 what right at the at the base putting back together plane? Okay, 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:29.679 but there haven't been any breaks for a while, so 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:31.280 I'm just trying to see how that would happen at 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:34.120 our office, Like how does somebody break a podcast? Uh, 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.480 you can break in RSS feed or something like that, 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:38.800 or maybe an I T person who like screws up 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.479 the system, so everyone's like, you gotta help us fix it, right, 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.240 kind of like that? What about this? What about somebody 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:47.760 who organizes things when they're already a certain way, but 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:50.320 they just have too much idle time, so they organize 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:52.880 stuff and all of a sudden there's a problem. That's 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.879 kind of what I'm talking about. So um with the 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:00.119 hygiene hypothesis. The idea as far as it relates to 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.520