WEBVTT - Druid Hills 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:24.076 Pushkin. Six years ago, before podcasting was even a twinkle 0:00:24.076 --> 0:00:27.116 in my eye, I wrote a screenplay for a TV series. 0:00:27.556 --> 0:00:31.276 It was called Druet Hills, my first and only screenplay. 0:00:31.716 --> 0:00:35.196 I spent a year on it. In the opening scene, 0:00:35.396 --> 0:00:38.636 a battered Honda pulls up to a house on a long, 0:00:38.996 --> 0:00:39.756 leafy street. 0:00:42.356 --> 0:00:48.516 Angela Nation thirty one is behind the wheel, jeans, Afro sunglasses. 0:00:49.196 --> 0:00:52.916 She's beautiful, though trying not to be. The car looks 0:00:52.916 --> 0:00:55.676 like a family's been living in the back seat. She 0:00:55.796 --> 0:01:00.516 pulls up to an immaculate Victorian. A petite, very proper 0:01:00.556 --> 0:01:04.956 African American woman comes out the front door, Ingrid James 0:01:05.356 --> 0:01:07.676 sixty three. She gets in. 0:01:09.316 --> 0:01:12.316 Beak clear, nothing happened with Drewett Hills. I got as 0:01:12.316 --> 0:01:15.236 far as pitching it to a Hollywood studio. I shouldn't 0:01:15.236 --> 0:01:18.956 say who, Well, okay, it was Fox. Imagine a room 0:01:18.996 --> 0:01:22.036 full of TV executives around a table. I talked about 0:01:22.036 --> 0:01:26.596 the big themes, the theories, race, conscience, conspiracies, corruption, blah 0:01:26.676 --> 0:01:28.516 blah blah. I waved my hands in the air for 0:01:28.556 --> 0:01:31.956 a good hour. The room was hushed, and when I 0:01:32.036 --> 0:01:35.596 was done, the executive in charge said, we love it, 0:01:36.196 --> 0:01:38.076 but do you think you could work in a car chase. 0:01:39.196 --> 0:01:48.516 Things went downhill from there. My name is Malcolm Gladwell. 0:01:48.676 --> 0:01:52.636 You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked 0:01:53.036 --> 0:01:56.756 and misunderstood. This is part one of what will be 0:01:56.876 --> 0:02:01.036 two bonus episodes for the holiday season. I'm going to 0:02:01.076 --> 0:02:06.196 answer your listener questions, riff on things Revisionist History ish, 0:02:06.236 --> 0:02:10.076 and tell random stories, including in part two, what about 0:02:10.116 --> 0:02:13.556 my Dad, another about a famous rapper, and beginning in 0:02:13.596 --> 0:02:17.436 an act of shameless self promotion, with the story of 0:02:17.476 --> 0:02:23.436 my failed screenplay. We brought it to life with the 0:02:23.476 --> 0:02:27.556 help of the Pushkin theatrical players. I promise the point 0:02:27.596 --> 0:02:29.036 of all this will be clear. 0:02:29.036 --> 0:02:36.836 In a moment, Angela looks over at Ingrid season Atlanta 0:02:36.916 --> 0:02:39.156 Hawks cap in the bag by Ingrid's feet. 0:02:40.036 --> 0:02:45.476 Oh, Ingrid a Hawks cap? Wait? You made Wyatt take 0:02:45.516 --> 0:02:46.276 you to a game. 0:02:47.076 --> 0:02:49.516 Ingrid leans forward and pushes the cap down in the 0:02:49.516 --> 0:02:54.076 bag so it's no longer visible. My one indulgence, Angela 0:02:54.276 --> 0:02:56.196 rarely gets the upper hand on Ingrid. 0:02:57.596 --> 0:03:00.156 Do you have one of those big phone number one hands? 0:03:00.396 --> 0:03:01.596 I most certainly do not. 0:03:02.796 --> 0:03:05.716 Will you make buy you big things of popcorn? 0:03:06.316 --> 0:03:11.956 Ingrid shutters involuntarily, then with a mischievous flint. Although I 0:03:11.996 --> 0:03:15.076 did once try out for the Hawk's cheerleading team. What 0:03:15.596 --> 0:03:19.276 it was the seventies. She makes a dismissive move with 0:03:19.356 --> 0:03:23.276 her hand, as if that explains everything. I thought they 0:03:23.276 --> 0:03:27.156 were dances. I did ballet, you know, I didn't realize 0:03:27.196 --> 0:03:31.756 it would be so vulgar. The men play a beautiful game, 0:03:32.516 --> 0:03:38.396 the women shake their bosoms. Angela instinctively does up the 0:03:38.436 --> 0:03:41.636 lower of the two open buttons on her blouse. They 0:03:41.676 --> 0:03:49.196 had a player named John Drew. Oh my Ingrid gazes 0:03:49.236 --> 0:03:55.796 out the window. It's nice to be reminded of those days. 0:03:57.316 --> 0:04:00.396 My screenplay was set in Atlanta. Now why did I 0:04:00.436 --> 0:04:04.236 write a screenplay set in Atlanta? Because I'm obsessed with Atlanta. 0:04:04.996 --> 0:04:07.996 Ask anyone who knows me. I'm always threatening to move there. 0:04:11.556 --> 0:04:11.756 You know. 0:04:11.876 --> 0:04:14.636 People always say such and such as the future of America. 0:04:15.316 --> 0:04:18.436 Texas is the future of America, Florida is the future 0:04:18.436 --> 0:04:21.836 of America. No, no, no. Best case scenario for all 0:04:21.876 --> 0:04:24.916 of us is if Atlanta is the future of America. 0:04:25.436 --> 0:04:28.676 Because Atlanta is the most wonderful mashup of all the 0:04:28.716 --> 0:04:32.196 most wonderful bits and pieces of this country. Birthplace of 0:04:32.276 --> 0:04:35.556 the Civil Rights Movement, Janelle Manet in Wonderland, and Gucci 0:04:35.636 --> 0:04:38.436 Mane and Migos, and basically half the entire hip hop 0:04:38.476 --> 0:04:43.236 world CNN, Jimmy Carter, Stacy Abrams, the best Indian food 0:04:43.276 --> 0:04:46.516 in the US outside of Queen's, the Running Oval at 0:04:46.516 --> 0:04:49.676 Piedmont Park, Little Tart bake Shop, I could go on. 0:04:50.196 --> 0:04:52.516 I was once in my favorite coffee shop in Atlanta 0:04:52.756 --> 0:04:56.356 and realized that around me were a rock band writing lyrics, 0:04:56.516 --> 0:04:59.356 a couple of folks having a Bible study, someone from 0:04:59.356 --> 0:05:02.836 the Mayor's office, and a handful of moms with kids, 0:05:02.876 --> 0:05:06.996 all representing, by my count at least six different ethnicities 0:05:07.196 --> 0:05:11.036 and an age range of maybe seventy. How beautiful is that? 0:05:12.116 --> 0:05:14.836 I love Atlanta? And I thought that if I set 0:05:14.916 --> 0:05:18.956 a TV series in Atlanta and somehow magically it got made, 0:05:19.116 --> 0:05:21.996 then I'd have an excuse to go there all the time. 0:05:26.236 --> 0:05:32.276 How have you been, I'm recovering getting there. I've spent 0:05:32.436 --> 0:05:37.156 seven years buried away day and night. Then one day 0:05:37.316 --> 0:05:43.316 it's over. It's almost like I got a divorce. I'll 0:05:43.316 --> 0:05:44.556 tell you the whole story someday. 0:05:45.876 --> 0:05:51.516 I already know Jesus, I will always watch out for you, my. 0:05:51.516 --> 0:05:56.316 Dear, remember that by the way to break in here. 0:05:56.796 --> 0:05:59.716 This is an allusion to the dark mystery at the 0:05:59.716 --> 0:06:00.556 heart of the story. 0:06:01.796 --> 0:06:07.276 She reaches over and grasps Angela's hand briefly. Ingred is 0:06:07.316 --> 0:06:11.836 not one for prolonged displays of a mother. The two 0:06:11.836 --> 0:06:16.716 of them sit in companionable silence from Grant Park, the 0:06:16.756 --> 0:06:23.956 grittiness of the old fourth ward, finally regal Druid Hills, 0:06:25.036 --> 0:06:30.796 leafy streets, turn of the Sentry Mansions. Ingrid is now 0:06:30.836 --> 0:06:33.996 back to her church lady routine, adjusting her hair in 0:06:34.036 --> 0:06:39.156 the visor mirror, subject closed, we see a big sign 0:06:39.756 --> 0:06:45.596 Emory University Hospital. Angela heads toward the main entrance. Ingrid 0:06:45.636 --> 0:06:48.996 shakes her head. Angela keeps driving around to the loading 0:06:49.036 --> 0:06:53.316 docks at the back. Ingrid smiles at Angela touches her 0:06:53.436 --> 0:06:58.316 arm affectionately as she exits the car. There's something so 0:06:58.476 --> 0:07:01.396 ostentatious about the front door, don't you think? 0:07:03.596 --> 0:07:08.036 Our hero Angela Nation and her mysterious sidekick Ingrid James 0:07:08.396 --> 0:07:11.876 are brilliant scientists on the faculty of the Medical Center 0:07:12.316 --> 0:07:16.516 at Emory University, hence the title Druwood Hills. That's the 0:07:16.516 --> 0:07:20.796 neighborhood in Atlanta, where Emory is now. You may have 0:07:20.876 --> 0:07:24.116 noticed that Emory University is the sponsor of this bonus 0:07:24.116 --> 0:07:27.836 episode of our Visionist History. Emory came to us and 0:07:27.876 --> 0:07:29.516 asked if they could talk about some of the work 0:07:29.516 --> 0:07:32.996 they've been doing during the pandemic. And it's super interesting, 0:07:33.076 --> 0:07:35.516 as you'll hear in a moment. But the offer made 0:07:35.516 --> 0:07:41.276 me happy for more selfish reasons as well. The first 0:07:41.276 --> 0:07:44.636 time I went to Atlanta nearly thirty years ago was 0:07:44.636 --> 0:07:47.356 to visit Emory. I was a science reporter back then 0:07:47.396 --> 0:07:50.676 for the Washington Post, and if you write about American medicine, 0:07:50.836 --> 0:07:55.676 you eventually make the pilgrimage to Emory. Emory is how 0:07:55.676 --> 0:07:59.916 I got obsessed with Atlanta. My disaster of a screenplay 0:08:00.196 --> 0:08:03.236 was a medical mystery set at Emory. I mean, what 0:08:03.316 --> 0:08:06.436 are the odds? How often does life come together so 0:08:06.636 --> 0:08:11.036 beautifully and serendipitously under the sacred umbrella of the four 0:08:11.116 --> 0:08:15.036 h four area code. See here we are Revisionist History 0:08:15.236 --> 0:08:23.436 Bonus Holiday Atlanta Addition Part one. All Right, before we 0:08:23.476 --> 0:08:26.156 go any further, I want to explain why Emory is 0:08:26.196 --> 0:08:29.836 such a magical place for people interested in medicine. 0:08:30.356 --> 0:08:33.796 Healthcare has been part of Emory since the campus moved 0:08:33.836 --> 0:08:39.196 from a small town east of Atlanta to Atlanta in 0:08:39.396 --> 0:08:43.236 about nineteen fifteen, and at that point the Atlanta Medical 0:08:43.276 --> 0:08:46.836 College became part of Emory University as a school of Medicine. 0:08:47.236 --> 0:08:50.036 This is Greg Fenvis, the university's president. 0:08:50.556 --> 0:08:53.756 A decade or so after that. One of the most 0:08:53.796 --> 0:08:58.756 important benefactors for Emory University Robert W. Woodruff. 0:08:58.996 --> 0:09:00.596 He's the Coca Cola guy, right. 0:09:00.516 --> 0:09:05.516 He is the legendary CEO of Coca Cola. But mister Woodruff, 0:09:05.516 --> 0:09:08.836 as we call him here at Emory, loved the rural 0:09:08.876 --> 0:09:13.676 areas in his ranch in South Georgia. Malaria was a 0:09:13.756 --> 0:09:17.956 huge problem, and so Georgia as a state was one 0:09:17.996 --> 0:09:22.356 of the leaders in developing treatments for malaria in the 0:09:23.196 --> 0:09:27.756 early part of the twentieth century. Years later, after World 0:09:27.756 --> 0:09:32.516 War Two, mister Woodroffe was very good friends with Dwight D. Eisenhower. 0:09:33.276 --> 0:09:35.676 Malary had been a big problem in World War Two 0:09:35.756 --> 0:09:40.116 that Eisenhower had had to deal with, and so the 0:09:40.156 --> 0:09:45.196 federal government wanted to establish a research center to solve malaria, 0:09:45.276 --> 0:09:49.676 treat malaria, prevent malaria, and mister Woodroff, through his friendship 0:09:49.716 --> 0:09:55.356 with President Eisenhower had it located on Emory property, which 0:09:55.396 --> 0:09:58.956 became the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that is 0:09:59.036 --> 0:10:02.076 now not only across the street, it's actually on the 0:10:02.116 --> 0:10:08.356 Emory campus. And so that relationship between Emory It's School 0:10:08.396 --> 0:10:13.156 of Medicine and focus on infectious diseases, and the CDC 0:10:13.236 --> 0:10:16.116 has been very, very close since World War Two. 0:10:16.876 --> 0:10:19.596 One of the heroes of the AIDS epidemic was Jim Curran, 0:10:19.956 --> 0:10:22.556 head of the CDC in the nineteen eighties. He's now 0:10:22.556 --> 0:10:25.356 the dean of the Public Health School at Emory. Emory 0:10:25.436 --> 0:10:27.836 was where one of the most important drugs against HIV 0:10:28.356 --> 0:10:31.956 M treva was discovered. When the American medical workers who 0:10:31.996 --> 0:10:34.476 had fallen ill with ebola in Africa a few years 0:10:34.516 --> 0:10:37.516 ago came home to be treated, where did they go 0:10:38.236 --> 0:10:41.196 Emory because Emory was one of the few places set 0:10:41.236 --> 0:10:44.276 up in this country to treat them. Tucked away in 0:10:44.356 --> 0:10:48.036 Druid Hills is a really remarkable place that has played 0:10:48.036 --> 0:10:51.196 a key role in our understanding of infectious diseases for 0:10:51.316 --> 0:10:54.476 seventy five years, which is something to be grateful for, 0:10:55.236 --> 0:10:59.076 especially now. My favorite part of Emory is the Yerkees 0:10:59.196 --> 0:11:02.636 National Primate Research Center, one of the oldest and biggest 0:11:02.796 --> 0:11:06.556 non human research centers in the country. Three thousand non 0:11:06.636 --> 0:11:11.676 human primates and eight thousand rodents eight thousand. Do you 0:11:11.716 --> 0:11:14.236 know what the plot of my screenplay was. Our hero 0:11:14.396 --> 0:11:18.476 Angela was testing an experimental drug for Huntington's disease on 0:11:18.556 --> 0:11:22.396 a specially engineered strain of mice created by her boss, 0:11:22.956 --> 0:11:27.876 Rajen at the Yerkie Center. The whole story was about mice. 0:11:29.236 --> 0:11:29.756 And this. 0:11:31.276 --> 0:11:33.436 Angela opens and adjoining door. 0:11:33.956 --> 0:11:36.356 Is where Rajon keeps his mice. 0:11:36.796 --> 0:11:41.596 In metal cages. We see mouse after mouse, dozens of them, 0:11:41.636 --> 0:11:46.756 moving like old men. Rajon's Huntington's mice. The air is 0:11:46.836 --> 0:11:49.236 filled with a sound of feeble squeaks. 0:11:49.956 --> 0:11:52.156 Rajon is much better with mice than people. 0:11:56.236 --> 0:11:58.556 If there is anyone out there in Movieland who is 0:11:58.596 --> 0:12:02.036 interested in a screenplay about two black women from Atlanta 0:12:02.276 --> 0:12:04.796 trying to cure a deadly disease co starring a room 0:12:04.836 --> 0:12:07.716 full of specially engineered lab mice at the Yerkei Center, 0:12:08.356 --> 0:12:14.516 call me let's make this happen. Okay, Time for the 0:12:14.556 --> 0:12:18.956 listener mailbag. Ryan am asks, if you could have dinner 0:12:18.996 --> 0:12:21.716 with any three people from history, who would they be 0:12:21.836 --> 0:12:25.996 and why I think it would be my great grandmother's. 0:12:26.516 --> 0:12:29.356 I only met one of them, Martha Nation, a very 0:12:29.396 --> 0:12:32.036 regal Jamaican lady who when she died in her late 0:12:32.116 --> 0:12:35.276 nineties had just a few strands of gray hair. She 0:12:35.436 --> 0:12:38.876 was the embodiment of black Don't Crack. But I never 0:12:38.916 --> 0:12:43.076 met the other three. How great would that be? Here's 0:12:43.076 --> 0:12:46.876 a comment from a listener on iTunes, DC Commute. You 0:12:46.916 --> 0:12:50.956 know I read the comments right. DC Commute says, I 0:12:50.996 --> 0:12:54.796 think you should revisit The Obscure Virus Club, Season four, 0:12:55.156 --> 0:12:59.676 episode ten. The recent success of vaccine development stands on 0:12:59.756 --> 0:13:03.156 the shoulders of giants. This is actually a great point 0:13:03.276 --> 0:13:07.156 and it deserves a long answer. Obscure Virus Club, if 0:13:07.196 --> 0:13:09.716 you haven't listened to it was about all group of 0:13:09.796 --> 0:13:13.836 virologists who spent years and years in a scientific wilderness 0:13:14.236 --> 0:13:17.276 studying a group of weird animal viruses that no one 0:13:17.276 --> 0:13:22.916 else thought were even remotely meaningful. They were ridiculed, ostracized. 0:13:23.396 --> 0:13:26.276 Then one day all those naysayers woke up and realized, oh, 0:13:27.196 --> 0:13:30.276 the work these people were doing, often the shadows is 0:13:30.316 --> 0:13:32.316 going to save the world. And if you want to 0:13:32.356 --> 0:13:34.836 know how the Obscure Virus Club saved the world, you'll 0:13:34.836 --> 0:13:36.916 have to listen to the episode because I don't want 0:13:36.916 --> 0:13:39.836 to give away the ending. The point of the episode 0:13:39.876 --> 0:13:45.036 was that's how science works. Everything important and beautiful begins 0:13:45.156 --> 0:13:49.076 years and years earlier with someone's quixotic obsession. And so 0:13:49.196 --> 0:13:52.836 thanks for your comment, DC Commute. This is absolutely the 0:13:52.916 --> 0:13:56.476 case with COVID vaccines as well. There are countless examples. 0:13:56.716 --> 0:13:59.636 But since we're telling Emory stories, let me pick one 0:13:59.676 --> 0:14:02.956 from one of their scientists, a guy named Rama Amara, 0:14:03.236 --> 0:14:06.756 who is so obscure Virus Club. In his case, his 0:14:06.796 --> 0:14:10.676 obsession was with something called the envy a vaccine. This 0:14:10.756 --> 0:14:14.156 is a vaccine made from the pox virus family. A 0:14:14.236 --> 0:14:16.916 version of it has been used as a vaccine against smallpox. 0:14:17.636 --> 0:14:20.196 It's been tweaked so that it can't cause disease anymore, 0:14:20.396 --> 0:14:24.236 but because it still resembles something menacing, the immune system 0:14:24.276 --> 0:14:26.476 goes on high alert the minute it comes across it. 0:14:27.116 --> 0:14:29.916 And the theory that scientists like Amara had was that 0:14:29.996 --> 0:14:33.916 if you tinkered with MVA and customized it, you could 0:14:33.916 --> 0:14:38.156 produce an immune response against other deadly infectious diseases. 0:14:38.596 --> 0:14:42.876 I was working on tuberculosis vaccines and I used to 0:14:42.916 --> 0:14:48.956 go to TV sanitoria to collect samples from TV patients. 0:14:49.996 --> 0:14:53.036 That's when I started seeing HIV infection. 0:14:53.476 --> 0:14:55.436 That's amara So then. 0:14:55.556 --> 0:15:00.476 I developed interest in also developing a HIV vaccine. That's 0:15:00.516 --> 0:15:02.436 how I came to Emory to. 0:15:02.396 --> 0:15:05.476 Work on that problem. He moves to Atlanta to Emory, 0:15:05.996 --> 0:15:08.596 and just to put this in perspective, he moves to 0:15:08.636 --> 0:15:12.316 Atlanta in the year two thousand. So for twenty years 0:15:12.476 --> 0:15:15.276 his lab works on the problem, learning everything they can 0:15:15.516 --> 0:15:19.996 about how this particular vaccine, emery MVA, interacts with the 0:15:20.036 --> 0:15:23.356 body's immune system. You've been working on this vaccine for 0:15:24.156 --> 0:15:27.876 this model for twenty years, as yet nothing had reached 0:15:27.876 --> 0:15:32.436 the market. Did you get discouraged? Did you wonder whether anything, 0:15:32.516 --> 0:15:34.316 whether this research was ever going to bear fruit. 0:15:34.756 --> 0:15:38.996 Personally, I was not, but I have heard a lot 0:15:38.996 --> 0:15:42.556 of times from my friends that you know, this is 0:15:42.596 --> 0:15:46.596 going to be a long road, maybe you should start 0:15:46.916 --> 0:15:52.236 working on other vaccines as well, so that there is 0:15:53.156 --> 0:15:56.796 some result at the end. So I was never going 0:15:56.876 --> 0:16:02.276 to leave the HIV vaccine at foot, but I did 0:16:02.676 --> 0:16:07.636 think about branching into other vaccines as well. So I 0:16:07.876 --> 0:16:12.316 was thinking too. We started actually working on vaccines for 0:16:12.396 --> 0:16:16.356 TB so that was that's where I started it's again 0:16:16.436 --> 0:16:17.236 a hard target. 0:16:17.436 --> 0:16:21.596 So you picked two of the toughest targets out there. Yes, 0:16:21.796 --> 0:16:24.476 you're someone with a you're a glutton for punishment. 0:16:25.076 --> 0:16:30.756 That's true. So but I wanted to tackle something really challenging. 0:16:31.396 --> 0:16:34.436 And then what happens and we had. 0:16:34.316 --> 0:16:37.916 A meeting in the center at the Erkes Primate Center, 0:16:38.036 --> 0:16:42.036 and all our colleagues got together and we were talking 0:16:42.036 --> 0:16:45.156 about what we should be doing. I think that was 0:16:45.476 --> 0:16:49.156 towards the end of February or beginning of March. I 0:16:49.156 --> 0:16:54.836 think then at that point it, you know, I came 0:16:54.916 --> 0:16:58.836 back to my lab from the meeting. Then I was 0:16:58.876 --> 0:17:03.116 discussing with my people. You know, it would be good 0:17:03.116 --> 0:17:06.756 to make a vaccine, but do you think we have 0:17:08.196 --> 0:17:11.676 the band right now? And then they all said no, no, no, 0:17:11.756 --> 0:17:14.196 we really want to do it, and they're also excited. 0:17:15.276 --> 0:17:18.236 Everybody wanted to do it, so that gave me a 0:17:18.276 --> 0:17:22.596 lot of push and then I decided that we should 0:17:22.636 --> 0:17:23.996 do one. We should make one. 0:17:24.196 --> 0:17:27.116 And what the idea was that if you'd made such 0:17:27.196 --> 0:17:31.956 progress against HIV and HIV is much harder target, the 0:17:32.076 --> 0:17:34.276 notion was, well, we should be able to make really 0:17:34.276 --> 0:17:36.356 good inroads against COVID. Was that the thinking. 0:17:36.556 --> 0:17:39.436 Yes, that's the thinking. 0:17:40.236 --> 0:17:43.036 HIV is hard to make a vaccine against because it 0:17:43.156 --> 0:17:46.316 mutates like crazy, So you have to design a vaccine 0:17:46.356 --> 0:17:50.636 that can handle all these constant changes. And HIV integrates 0:17:50.676 --> 0:17:53.876 into your body's DNA, it literally becomes part of you. 0:17:54.476 --> 0:17:58.276 HIV is mount Everest. Then COVID comes along and it 0:17:58.316 --> 0:18:01.396 doesn't mutate as much, doesn't hide in your DNA, and 0:18:01.476 --> 0:18:04.836 Amara realizes, I can make my vaccine climb that mountain. 0:18:05.516 --> 0:18:09.756 Had you not done those two decades of prepper work, 0:18:10.116 --> 0:18:12.076 you would not have been in a position to jump on. 0:18:12.556 --> 0:18:16.156 You wouldn't know whether MVA was a safe and effective 0:18:16.236 --> 0:18:18.716 vehicle for COVID. If you hadn't done all of that 0:18:18.836 --> 0:18:19.756 preparatory work with. 0:18:19.836 --> 0:18:23.636 HIVA, no, I would not have any clue. 0:18:23.916 --> 0:18:26.716 Now, will the Emory MVA vaccine turn out to be 0:18:26.796 --> 0:18:30.716 effective against COVID? We don't know yet. It's still being tested. 0:18:31.076 --> 0:18:34.516 At best, it's a second generation vaccine after the first 0:18:34.516 --> 0:18:37.916 wave of vaccines that were created in record time. But 0:18:38.116 --> 0:18:41.956 if the Emory vaccine works, it will be a crucial addition. 0:18:42.556 --> 0:18:45.836 The first wave vaccines are all super specific. They work 0:18:45.876 --> 0:18:49.916 against COVID nineteen. This COVID, the Emory MVA vaccine would 0:18:49.956 --> 0:18:53.636 be different because it triggers a much broader immune response. 0:18:54.196 --> 0:18:56.916 It could work against news strains of COVID. It could 0:18:56.996 --> 0:19:00.436 conceivably be used as a booster to extend your initial 0:19:00.516 --> 0:19:05.036 vaccine immunity. Here's my point. The lone success story in 0:19:05.076 --> 0:19:08.396 the pandemic thus far has been medical science. We have 0:19:08.516 --> 0:19:11.916 vaccines available just over a year after the pandemic started. 0:19:12.276 --> 0:19:15.156 That's bananas. But we shouldn't draw the lesson from this 0:19:15.476 --> 0:19:19.516 that science is fast. Science only looks fast. It's actually 0:19:19.596 --> 0:19:23.716 really slow. The quote unquote sudden development usually has twenty 0:19:23.756 --> 0:19:26.356 years of work behind it, and you can't order up 0:19:26.436 --> 0:19:29.996 progress because sometimes the magic happens only at the end 0:19:30.276 --> 0:19:33.596 of a wandering, serendipitous journey that may have looked like 0:19:33.676 --> 0:19:36.956 folly before it became a success. And what all this 0:19:37.076 --> 0:19:40.316 means is that progress doesn't come from ideas. It comes 0:19:40.316 --> 0:19:43.996 from places where smart people have the time and freedom 0:19:44.236 --> 0:19:48.116 to wander around and make mistakes and pursue interesting ideas 0:19:48.476 --> 0:19:51.076 that one day may end up saving your life. Well, 0:19:51.076 --> 0:19:54.636 thank you so much and good luck, Thank you much. 0:19:54.636 --> 0:19:55.516 We're all cheering for you. 0:19:55.956 --> 0:19:57.116 Thank you, thank you very much. 0:19:57.116 --> 0:20:17.316 Okay, we're back with more of your insightful listener questions. 0:20:18.916 --> 0:20:25.556 Marianna Missic at Mariana Missic writes, do you actually watch Friends? 0:20:26.436 --> 0:20:28.956 This is actually a question related to my book Talking 0:20:28.956 --> 0:20:32.476 to Strangers, which had an entire chapter on friends. And 0:20:33.076 --> 0:20:36.436 in answer to the question, of course I do. And 0:20:36.476 --> 0:20:38.316 while we're on the subject of friends, let me tell 0:20:38.356 --> 0:20:41.996 you the following true story. Now you need to know 0:20:42.036 --> 0:20:44.996 something about me before I start. I'm not good with faces. 0:20:45.556 --> 0:20:48.356 I usually identify people by the way they walk or 0:20:48.396 --> 0:20:51.676 how they dress. So this is years ago. I'm in 0:20:51.716 --> 0:20:54.996 a coffee shop in Miami, working away. Woman sits down 0:20:55.076 --> 0:20:58.716 next to me, leans over and says, super friendly, Hey, 0:20:59.396 --> 0:21:02.236 what's that you're eating? Is that good? And I'm working 0:21:02.756 --> 0:21:05.676 so I kind of grunt and ignore her. Five minutes 0:21:05.716 --> 0:21:09.956 past and I think, you know, she was really attractive. 0:21:10.876 --> 0:21:14.436 Five more minutes past, and I think you know, she 0:21:14.556 --> 0:21:18.916 looked really familiar. Five more minutes past and I'm like, 0:21:19.196 --> 0:21:25.036 oh my god, Jennifer Aniston. By that time she was gone. 0:21:25.276 --> 0:21:31.196 My big chance at tabloid immortality, and I blew it. Next. 0:21:31.556 --> 0:21:37.156 Courtney Miller at co A, Miller asks, is Canada better 0:21:37.196 --> 0:21:41.396 than America? Is even a question I actually thought of? 0:21:41.396 --> 0:21:43.836 This a lot this past summer, during all the George 0:21:43.876 --> 0:21:47.996 Floyd protests. You know how police departments all have slogans. 0:21:48.396 --> 0:21:52.196 In Los Angeles, the LAPD motto is to protect and 0:21:52.236 --> 0:21:56.716 to serve. In New York City it's fidelis ad mortem, 0:21:56.716 --> 0:22:00.276 faithful unto death. You know what it is in my 0:22:00.356 --> 0:22:05.436 hometown in Ontario, people helping people. Now, I don't want 0:22:05.436 --> 0:22:08.036 to read too much into the meaning of mottoes, but 0:22:08.076 --> 0:22:11.076 if you live in a society struggling with persistent problems 0:22:11.076 --> 0:22:14.556 of police violence, would you be happier with the police 0:22:14.556 --> 0:22:18.076 department that thinks of itself as a quasi military force 0:22:18.436 --> 0:22:21.996 engaged in life or desk struggles, or one that chooses 0:22:22.036 --> 0:22:27.036 to self identify as people helping people. I don't know. 0:22:28.716 --> 0:22:33.476 Mitch at Papa MITCHI asks who's smarter, you or Michael 0:22:33.516 --> 0:22:37.156 Lewis Michael is. It's not even close. Let's put it 0:22:37.156 --> 0:22:39.716 this way. If you said to me, would I trade 0:22:39.796 --> 0:22:42.756 Michael's literary output for my own? Would I do it? 0:22:42.956 --> 0:22:45.676 And the answer is in a heartbeat, I actually think 0:22:45.836 --> 0:22:48.836 that The blind Side is a perfect book. I would 0:22:48.876 --> 0:22:52.836 have retired after writing that and his podcast Against the Rules, 0:22:53.276 --> 0:22:56.276 which he does for pushkin, I might add, is so good. 0:22:58.196 --> 0:23:00.396 This is actually a great time for me to give 0:23:00.436 --> 0:23:04.636 you my grand unified theory of Michael Lewis. Ready, it's 0:23:04.716 --> 0:23:08.396 that virtually every one of his books is a biblical allegory. 0:23:08.716 --> 0:23:14.116 It's why they strike such a chord. So Liar's Poker, 0:23:14.276 --> 0:23:16.996 his book about being a young naive college grad in 0:23:17.036 --> 0:23:20.476 the heart of a hostile Wall Street bank. That's Daniel 0:23:20.516 --> 0:23:23.836 in the Lionstan The blind Side is Easy. A couple 0:23:23.916 --> 0:23:27.396 rescues a young boy literally as he is walking alone 0:23:27.436 --> 0:23:30.156 and neglected by the side of the road. That's the 0:23:30.156 --> 0:23:33.956 Good Samaritan Flashboys, his book about a group of people 0:23:33.996 --> 0:23:36.796 trying to clean up crooked trading on Wall Street. That's 0:23:36.916 --> 0:23:40.116 Jesus and the money Changers. My father's temple is a 0:23:40.156 --> 0:23:42.196 house of prayer. You have turned it into a nest 0:23:42.196 --> 0:23:46.156 of thieves. Moneyball, which is about a group of baseball 0:23:46.196 --> 0:23:50.236 executives finding value in a group of players others have overlooked. 0:23:50.516 --> 0:23:53.916 I mean, come on, that's Jesus and Mary Magdalen, the 0:23:53.996 --> 0:23:58.276 prostitute and the outcast he drafts onto his team. Just 0:23:58.316 --> 0:24:00.996 so you know, I once ran this theory by Michael Lewis, 0:24:01.236 --> 0:24:08.276 and he looked at me like I was crazy. This 0:24:08.356 --> 0:24:10.116 next one is actually more of a comment than a 0:24:10.236 --> 0:24:15.796 question from Ryan x J nine hundred on iTunes boring 0:24:16.116 --> 0:24:21.276 two stars. I tried, it just didn't interest me. Scroll 0:24:21.356 --> 0:24:24.476 through the episode titles and see for yourself. It's kind 0:24:24.476 --> 0:24:30.156 of random and nothing all too interesting. Mah wait, isn't 0:24:30.276 --> 0:24:33.716 it's kind of random? A compliment I live for kind 0:24:33.716 --> 0:24:38.996 of random, Ryan, dude, lighten up? Okay? Final question from 0:24:39.036 --> 0:24:44.436 Twitter from normal guy one. What show idea that didn't 0:24:44.516 --> 0:24:48.356 make the cut was most surprising? Also? What idea ended 0:24:48.396 --> 0:24:54.356 up being different than expected? Well, it was this, Wait, Casey, 0:24:54.516 --> 0:24:56.196 can you play that song for us? Is it going 0:24:56.276 --> 0:24:56.676 to be two? 0:24:56.916 --> 0:25:15.676 Let's say? Okay, okay, Well we'll see if this happens. 0:25:16.396 --> 0:25:23.596 She grew up playing Calgary girl in Reilroadtown. 0:25:23.836 --> 0:25:26.236 Dream and she'd see oh shoot, hold on. 0:25:27.356 --> 0:25:29.516 I went to Nashville when I was reporting the final 0:25:29.556 --> 0:25:32.436 episode of season three, which may be my favorite ever 0:25:32.756 --> 0:25:38.316 analysis parapraxis Elvis. It's about the one song Elvis couldn't sing, 0:25:39.036 --> 0:25:41.436 and I arranged for a session musician to do a 0:25:41.516 --> 0:25:45.156 version of Elvis's song for me, very straightforward. So this musician, 0:25:45.316 --> 0:25:48.956 Casey Bowles, shows up. We start talking and eventually I 0:25:49.076 --> 0:25:52.556 persuaded her to sing one of her own songs, and 0:25:52.556 --> 0:25:55.436 it's one of the most magical moments I think in 0:25:55.596 --> 0:25:57.316 all of Revision's history. 0:25:58.876 --> 0:26:05.876 Dream and she'd see Hollywood Sunday, she do some distant 0:26:06.116 --> 0:26:11.516 Friday night at just right. 0:26:13.316 --> 0:26:14.516 Fate would come in. 0:26:14.596 --> 0:26:16.036 And carry her away. 0:26:20.436 --> 0:26:23.636 It's far shake cut safe from there. 0:26:24.636 --> 0:26:27.556 I never thought when I started this podcast that it 0:26:27.556 --> 0:26:30.916 would be a way of making friends, but it has. Anyway. 0:26:30.996 --> 0:26:33.516 I've stayed in touch with Casey and she's made some 0:26:33.596 --> 0:26:36.716 new music, including a song for kids called Dare to 0:26:36.716 --> 0:26:39.836 Be Me, which is really really lovely. 0:26:44.156 --> 0:26:48.236 Dare to be Dead to be Dare to be. 0:26:51.236 --> 0:26:55.036 Stay tuned to this feed for another bonus episode because 0:26:55.156 --> 0:26:58.596 I can't quit you, Atlanta, but for now, this is 0:26:58.636 --> 0:27:01.996 what I'd like to leave you with, Casey Bowls, Dare 0:27:02.076 --> 0:27:07.716