1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. This 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,319 Speaker 1: is part two where we're rolling through some of the 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: big science that occurred in some of the little science. 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: It's amazing that you might have missed that. In some 7 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: cases we initially missed. Uh. It's not an exhaustive set 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: it in gold launch it into Space list. We likely 9 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: missed some things that you thought were amazing, and we 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: definitely would love to hear from you about those, uh, 11 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: those particular topics, those particular studies. But this is what 12 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: was what was on our brain. Yes, the stuff that 13 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: we thought was pretty extraordinary and wanted to share with you. Now, 14 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,919 Speaker 1: I do want to just throw in here real quick though. Um, 15 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: there was some of these issues. There might be a 16 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: slight uh so called shrimp on a treadmill scenario that 17 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: can pop up if you're not familiar with that. I 18 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: think we've talked about in the podcast before you have 19 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: to study where essentially a shrimp was put on a 20 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: treadmill all and it became kind of the uh, this 21 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: kind of just pointless science money on this even though 22 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: it was actually a very good study. Was it had 23 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: some importance to it. It wasn't just you know, rogue 24 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: scientists doing silly things with no with no payoff, which 25 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: is kind of the charge. And I'm not even sure 26 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: if it was actually federally federally fund in the first place. Yeah, 27 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: I'd have to I'd have to to review the story 28 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: to get into the details of it. But you still 29 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 1: see this, uh, this idea kind of continue on our 30 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: Facebook page. UM I share not only our content, but 31 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: we try and share links to you know, current science, 32 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: it's trending, neat studies, that sort of thing, And invariably 33 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,119 Speaker 1: there's one particular user who will chime in, we'll find uh, well, 34 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: you know, find flight three seventy instead, why can't we 35 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: find find flight three seventy if we're you know, chronicling 36 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: the genome of the of the Mantish shrimp or doing 37 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: this study or that, always chiming in with well where 38 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: the three So what you're saying is that you'll post 39 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: something you're like, oh, like extraordinary science, and then someone 40 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: will be like, but but where's that fight? Yeah, like 41 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: how can and and I don't want to completely discredit 42 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: it because it's uh. On one level, yes, it's your 43 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: your kind of poo pooing on our celebration of science 44 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: here um and and it's not that fun. But on 45 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: the other hand, I understand how, you know, one can 46 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: look around at this world. We're finding so much about 47 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: the world around is we're landing things on commets for 48 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: the first time in human history. And and then to 49 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: turn around and say, but wait, how can we do 50 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: that and not do this? How can there? How are 51 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: there still so many holes in our understanding of the 52 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: world and and just our ability to even keep track 53 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: of our things in this world? Well, and yes, there 54 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: are very there are so many unanswered questions and um and, 55 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: and many of them will remain that way. But of 56 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: course we have accums razor at our disposal, so we 57 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: can always turn to logic to try to cull out 58 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: what matters and what doesn't and what we can't answer 59 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: and what we can't and oncom's razor and logic and 60 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: all of that is predicated on something called symbolic thought. 61 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: And that just happens to be the first thing that 62 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about in terms of extraordinary science, 63 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: because we Homo sapiens are so proud of our neo 64 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: cortex sitting atop our brain, those cortical folds that help 65 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: us manage our lives and ascribe meaning and symbolism to them. 66 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: But it turns out that Homo erectus was also doing 67 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: the same thing way back when. Yeah, this was pretty groundbreaking. 68 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: I mean, we already had some strong evidence that Neanderthals 69 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: engaged in this. We had there's some fifty thousand year 70 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: old perforated painted seashells and pignic containers that were discovered 71 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: on the Iberian Peninsula and a while back region that 72 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: was inhabited solely by Neanderthals at the time. But but 73 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: here is another non human hominid who seems to have 74 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: have I mean, in a sense, it's almost like some 75 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: sort of ones attempted to make some sort of biblical 76 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: comparison to you know, myths of of eating the fruit 77 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: of of one sacred tree or another, like taking that 78 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: that crucial step towards becoming uh, this kind of uh, 79 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: this kind of rational being that stands apart from everything 80 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,720 Speaker 1: else on earth. Yeah, and this symbolism um we far 81 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: too often take as sort of a modern Homo sapien thing. 82 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: But this year researchers discovered a shell engraved with a 83 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: geometric pattern at an h erectus site known as Tranil 84 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,799 Speaker 1: on the Indianesian island of Java that dates to between 85 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: five hundred and forty thousand and four hundred and thirty 86 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 1: thousand years ago. Yeah, that is crazy because that is 87 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: at least three hundred thousand years older than the the 88 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: oldest previously known engravings from US South Africa. And when 89 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:04,160 Speaker 1: they analyze the engraving, they feel that it was probably 90 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: made with like a sharp tooth or another hard pointed 91 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:11,360 Speaker 1: object to create that that that that fascinating geometric design. Yeah, 92 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: now why is this important? Well? Uh, someone like Peter 93 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: also say, the professor of psychological and brain sciences that 94 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: Dark Mouth might say, well, it's because the emergence of 95 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: symbolic thought had profound consequences for human moral cognition. And 96 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,360 Speaker 1: he says, you might say that the birth of symbolic 97 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: thought gave rise to the possibility of true morality and 98 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: immorality of good and evil. Once acts become symbolized, they 99 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: could now stand for and be instances of abstract classes 100 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: of action, such as good, evil, right or wrong. Symbolic 101 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: thought permitted new dimensions of behavior. And I thought that 102 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: was very interesting because in this way, symbolic thought, which 103 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: is of course what our languages are built upon, is 104 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: the organizing factor. Yeah, I mean, this is the basics 105 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: of language here, this is the basics of the brains 106 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: operating system itself. You know that that we're able to 107 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: take symbols, were able to take signifiers uh, written or verbal, 108 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: and we're able to have these stand in for more 109 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: complicated ideas. And then and then essentially, then you can 110 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 1: combine two complicated ideas, you can combine a third, you 111 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: can start It's almost an externalization of of of of 112 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: of thinking and UH and cognition, and then a a 113 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: re to to reincorporate that back into the mental processes. Yeah, 114 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: and um, I mean the fact of that matters is 115 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: that Homo sapiens are but one of several human lineages 116 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: that use abstract intellect to ponder the world. So that 117 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: tells us that it's far more ancient than we ever knew. Yeah, 118 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: And it just drives home again that the fact that 119 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: humans have ascended to this UH status in the world. 120 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: I mean a lot of it simply has to do 121 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: with with our our ability to adapt a different environments 122 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: and uh, and to what extent we were we were 123 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: able to roll with with with with catastrophic changes that 124 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: were occurring well. And it also means that something as 125 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: rudimentary as a line drawing of a woman in a 126 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: dress or a skirt that's put on a bathroom door 127 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: to indicate that this this room is for females has 128 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: so many more layers upon it than you could ever imagine. 129 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: In your brain, there's the whole database built up about 130 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: that one image, and there are consequences for that image 131 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: as well. Now, another important thing about the power of 132 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: simple is of course that that that when you engage 133 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: with a symbol, uh, be it the symbol in the bathroom, 134 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: be it be a cross beat, the Apple logo, be 135 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: it a swastika, uh, you know, Eastern or or western. Um, 136 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: you are actually your brain is actually doing an unconscious 137 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: analysis and interpretation of that symbol before it ever enters 138 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: into your into your conscious mind. Like that's how powerful 139 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: symbol is. And as we discussed in our Symbols on 140 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: the Brain episode that published, I think uh um a 141 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: couple of years ago. Perhaps maybe it was um as 142 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: we discussed in that episode. I mean, that's that's kind 143 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: of core to the power of these things, and that's 144 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: why when you walk around through your environment, you're just 145 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: bombarded with symbols, be it symbols for the bathroom or corporate, political, 146 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: religious iconography, you name it. Yeah, And I think that 147 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: goes back to David Eagleman and his assertations that the 148 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: conscious I is really sitting on the sidelines of the unconscious, 149 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 1: that all of this decisions that we're making, all those 150 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: judgment calls are happening under cover, and all of that 151 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: stuff gets served up in this kind of like uh 152 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: consciousness belch of the brain and we think, oh, I 153 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:52,599 Speaker 1: just had this epiphany or I just happened to think this. Well, no, 154 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: this this thinking thing that you just made about that 155 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: bathroom symbol has been in the works for years and 156 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 1: whatever I is that come along with it. Well, and 157 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: there have been studies before that have have suggested that 158 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: the Christians behave more honestly when they're exposed to a crucifix, 159 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: that people think more creatively if they're exposed to that 160 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: applehole like the light bulb or the apple logo. So 161 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: if you have the if you're culturally preloaded to be 162 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,439 Speaker 1: affected by that symbol. Then you're kind of it's kind 163 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: of like having like little magnets on the wall pushing 164 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: a little metal do Dad down the hallway, and we're 165 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: the metal do Dad my now, which always gets back 166 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: to the whole thing of constructing your own reality, And yeah, 167 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: what is reality? What is illusion in the first place? 168 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: So that's that's another But that's all the reason why 169 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: this is a great study and one that was easy 170 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: to miss. It's easy to you know, just scroll through 171 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: the headlines and you see, oh, well they found a 172 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: shell with some scratches on it. Big deal. I'm gonna 173 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: go to read about, um, you know, what's happening with curiosity. 174 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: But but when you get down into the deep power 175 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: of it, and it really drives home how how substantial 176 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: the finding was. Indeed it does. Alright, we're gonn take 177 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: a quick break. When we get back, we're gonna talk 178 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: about chromosomes and tractor beans. All right, we're back. Um, Yeah, 179 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 1: let's talk about let's talk about chromosomes and more specifically, 180 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,839 Speaker 1: let's talk about yeast. Let's talk about yeast, shall we This? 181 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: It sounds like a p S A Uh. In March 182 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: of this year, undergraduate students in John Hopkins University, UH, 183 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:33,280 Speaker 1: their their course called Build a Genome recreated yeast chromosome three, 184 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: which controls sexual reproduction. This is kind of huge. Yeah, 185 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: this marks the first time in history, uh that a 186 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,080 Speaker 1: a chromosome has been synthesized by humans and adopted by 187 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: the yeast, which and by the way, yeast serves as 188 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,080 Speaker 1: one of biotechnologies model organisms. So this is kind of 189 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 1: ground level for any kind of future UM breakthroughs that 190 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 1: will happen. Among those future breakthroughs that they hope to 191 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: up to one day, UM synthesize all sixteen yeast chromosomes 192 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: and achieve the goal of what they call synthetic yeast 193 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 1: two point oh. Now, the researchers designed the chromosome to 194 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: include special markers on genes thought to be non essential, 195 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: and the markers were engineered so that they could be 196 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: triggered by an enzyme to scramble, delete or duplicate genes 197 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: duplica jeens. And then they made fifty thousand changes to 198 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: the synthetic chromosome at specific points in the code which 199 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: could have easily killed off the yeast cell, but instead 200 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: it took the mutations and stride and reproduced. So that 201 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: was the other part of this is that could you 202 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:42,839 Speaker 1: kind of tinker with this mess with it and and 203 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,839 Speaker 1: could it still survive? And then even though it's synthetic. 204 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: Now the hope here is that in the future this 205 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: will lead to new tests, new methods to uh, to 206 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: go after specific genes and to alove a better understanding 207 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: of junk DNA cell division and evolution itself. So we're 208 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 1: getting down here to the the core building blocks, and 209 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: and as we discover how to make some of the 210 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: building blocks ourselves, there you go. And does that mean 211 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: that we'll have our teas and all synthetic loaves of bread? Now? 212 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: That would be that would be interesting. And when when 213 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: do we get the first Frankenstein bread? The first because 214 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: you know they'll call it that in the Stein meat 215 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 1: as well, right, it's made from Alright. The next entry 216 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: that we have is a tiny little tractor beam. And 217 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 1: when you think about tractor beans, you probably think about 218 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: the Death Star or really any sort of alien civilization 219 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: trying to suck us up into the spaceship. That's right, Uh, 220 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 1: you know, you think of sci fi and it it 221 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: makes perfect sense because the term comes from sci fi. 222 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: The term tractor beam was coined by E. Smith. Uh 223 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:54,679 Speaker 1: is also a PhD by the way, and a food engineer. UH. 224 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: And this was in his novel novel named a Space 225 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: Hounds of I p C. I p C stood for 226 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:06,319 Speaker 1: Interplanetary Corporation. Uh. Smith was is considered by many kind 227 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: of one of one of the fathers, at least of 228 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: space opera, which, of course we you know, we see 229 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: in in Star Wars seeing doun Uh. Any of these properties, Um, 230 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: he was. A lot of stuff was published in the 231 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,319 Speaker 1: Pulpse of the Day, Amazing Stories and the like, but 232 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 1: he was also widely read by scientists and engineers and 233 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:27,719 Speaker 1: future scientists and engineers at the time. Uh. From the 234 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,559 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties and on up into the nineteen seventies, his 235 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: his series, such as the Linsman series of Skylark series, 236 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: and so he ended up accidentally coining a number of 237 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: scientific terms, terms for things that did not yet exist, 238 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: that were purely science fiction, that ended up becoming a 239 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: part of the language of science in the decades to follow, 240 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: including the tractor being. Indeed, all right, the tractor beam 241 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: we're about to talk about is not actually on par 242 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: with say something like the Death Stars tractor beam. And 243 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: we just want to mention that because we really want 244 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: to square your expectations here. Yeah, it's kind of like 245 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: advances that we've seen over the years with so called 246 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: invisibility cloak technology. UH. It's not as awesome as somebody 247 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:12,439 Speaker 1: putting on a Harry Potter invisibility cloak or a predator 248 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: stealth system. UH. What we're able to do and those 249 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: experiences takes place at a at a very small level 250 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: and in the future could have much larger possibilities. And 251 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: the same thing with the tractor beams. Tractor beams have 252 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 1: have been a matter of study, UH for for years now. 253 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: But this particular study comes to us from Australian National 254 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: University UM. They have a laser based tractor beam that 255 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: they wrote to successfully a pull the part of pull 256 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: these tiny particles a distance about eight inches or twenty centimeters, 257 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: which is about a hundred times farther than any previous 258 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: experiments with tractor beams UH. During there During the experiment, 259 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: the researchers used a laser that projected a kind of 260 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: uh Ring shaped beam of light UM with a without 261 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: with a hot outer ring and a cool center and 262 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: they used this, uh, this light being to suck in 263 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: tiny glass spheres, each of which measured about point two 264 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: millimeters or point zero zero eight inches wide. So the 265 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: key here is is heat. Okay, this is how this 266 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: is working. The laser warms up the air around the 267 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: tiny glass sphere, causing tiny hot spots on the surface. 268 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: The air particles hit the hot spots and they bounce 269 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: off and that propels the sphere in the opposite direction. 270 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: So you want to make the back hotter than the 271 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: front and then you can propel it along. So yeah, 272 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: this is not the stuff of moving around starships or 273 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: capturing the millennium falcon. But uh, the scientists believe that 274 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: there could be possible applications, say dealing with pollution. Uh, 275 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: you could you could successfully extract toxic particles from a 276 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: given body. Uh. Of course, we have a long way 277 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: to go before this can can deal with with greater 278 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: distances than those plunged in the study. He also wanted 279 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: to mentioned that there was another chapter being Shenanigan's thing 280 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: going on here, and I'm talking about researchers at the 281 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: University of Dundee in the UK. They used acoustic tractor 282 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: beams to pull an object by firing sound waves at it. 283 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: So what they did is they used this ultrasound device 284 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: that was clinically approved for use in mri I guided 285 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 1: focused ultrasound surgery, and the team was able to move 286 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: surprising large objects will large in this sense, um or 287 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: in this application, of approximately one centimeter in size. And 288 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: so the idea here is that in addition to just 289 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: manipulating objects, you could also manipulate fluids and tissues inside 290 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: the body, and you could deliver encapsulated drugs to the 291 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: exact location in the body that requires treatment. Yeah. So again, 292 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: you know, we're in the early days of tractor beams, 293 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: and and tractor beam is kind of, to a certain 294 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: extent a catch off for a number of different techniques 295 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: of pulling in something, uh without actually grabbing it with 296 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: some sort of a grapple or a hook or what 297 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: have you. Because there's also also been experiments where you're 298 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: using the mass of an object in space to pull 299 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,439 Speaker 1: in a smaller body, uh in the same way that 300 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: any smaller massed object can potentially orbit around another. I'm 301 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: just trying to imagine this technology fifty years from now 302 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 1: on the black market you know, you just you're welcomed 303 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: down the street and all of a sudden you're being 304 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: pulled into some sort of direction that it sucks all 305 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: the particles out of your body. Terrible particles, terrible. All right, 306 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 1: we should take a quick break. When we get back, 307 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,239 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how there's another breakthrough this 308 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: year and tinkering with the brain and memory again. All right, 309 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 1: we're back. Um. You know, we love to talk about 310 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: the brain and our manipulation of the brain and how 311 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:52,640 Speaker 1: as we learned to manipulate the brain. I mean, we're 312 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: still learning how the brain works, and then trying to 313 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: learn how the brain works. We're trying to learn how 314 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: we work, how our experience, ourselves in the universe works. 315 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: And some memory comes up quite a bit. We've we've 316 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: done whole episodes on the sciences memory, the fallibility of memory. 317 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: You can't trust it. You change a memory every time 318 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: you draw it out of your head. And uh, we 319 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: inevitably come back to the the issue of what about 320 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 1: what about bad memories? What about memories that are traumatic, 321 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,199 Speaker 1: even that that mess up our our our lives on 322 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: a daily basis. Is there a way we can zap them? 323 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: Is there a way we can deal with them. Can 324 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: we eternal sunshine them? Inevitably that the movie is referenced 325 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: in any news article covering these breakthroughs. Yes, Eternal Sunshine 326 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: of the Spotless Mind clinics popping up around the country 327 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: right now. Uh No, but this is interesting Stanford psychiatrists 328 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: and neuroscientists, Dr Carl That's Roth uses optogenetics. This is 329 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: a technique that manipulates neuronal activity with beams of light. 330 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:55,879 Speaker 1: Here we go again, with beams of light. He and 331 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:01,200 Speaker 1: his researchers show that they can manipulate specific memories in mice. 332 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: They can delete existing memories, and they can implant false ones, 333 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: and they went so far as to switch the emotional 334 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 1: content of a mouse memory from good to bad and 335 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,240 Speaker 1: vice versa. Yeah, it was important here to to break 336 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: down is that we're talking about contextual information about an 337 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: event where and what they happen, and that's recorded in 338 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: the brains of a campus, whereas you also have the 339 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: emotional component of the memory and that's stored separately in 340 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: the amygdala. So you know, you have like one file saying, oh, yeah, 341 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,440 Speaker 1: we went to the beach and uh saw a shark 342 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: in the water, that memory is is filed away. But 343 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: but then there's the emotional context. Did you see that 344 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:42,159 Speaker 1: shark in your feet were still you were in the 345 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:43,919 Speaker 1: water up to your ankles and it just freaked you 346 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: out to an amazing degree. Or was it a moment 347 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: of wonder where you're like, ah, there is a shark 348 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: and I live in an amazing world and being alive 349 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 1: is fantastic. The emotional coloring of that experience has a 350 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: huge effect on our lives. Yeah. I was just thinking 351 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 1: about in terms of tattoos, like a sort of tattooed 352 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:02,120 Speaker 1: on your brain, and this this process, and this goes 353 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 1: back to the symbolic thought too. That tattoo of what 354 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: a shark is in your brain could be lightened a bit, right, 355 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: or could be reduced. You could have a little bit 356 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: of that tattoo thought removal. You could have the residue 357 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: of what that symbol means, but maybe not fully. Um. 358 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,479 Speaker 1: Obviously this isn't as simple. It's just zapping a memory 359 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,400 Speaker 1: and there there's a bunch of complexity involved in here. 360 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:29,719 Speaker 1: But it's one more uh research study that is showing 361 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: us that memory manipulation is on the horizon. And here's 362 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:36,679 Speaker 1: just another way to get at it. And I wanted 363 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 1: to mention that optogenetics are predicated on proteins called options, 364 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 1: and these are found in human eyes, in microbes and 365 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: other organisms. And when light shines on an option, it 366 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: absorbs a photon and changes it. And that's how uh 367 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,479 Speaker 1: Dr Dysrerov has really gone about this. And by the way, 368 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,680 Speaker 1: dest Wroth is huge in this field. He's done a 369 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: ton of stuff in turn of um options and optic genetics. 370 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: And he also created something called hydro gel. Oh, yes, hydrogel. 371 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: This was This is another really cool study that came 372 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: out this year which basically answers that question, Hey, if 373 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 1: I had a dead rat um and I wanted to 374 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: make that rat translucent, how would I go about that? 375 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: And uh and and that's what what we're talking about here, 376 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: the ability to to take a a cadaver even and 377 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: make it into this translucent, visible man, visible rat body, 378 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: which of course has a tremendous importance when it comes 379 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:44,679 Speaker 1: to studying anatomy, looking at the physiology of diseases, etcetera. Yeah, this, 380 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: this substance they created, hydro gel, is similar to that 381 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: used for contact lenses, and the method is called clarity, 382 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: and the result is you get the see through brains 383 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: and the innerds are revealed in a way that no 384 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: current technologies cand We're talking about large structures like the 385 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: hippocampus showing up with the clarity of organs and transparent fish. 386 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: That's pretty exciting. It's like putting a flashlight into the 387 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: brain there, and you can even see neural circuits and 388 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: individual cells. So yes, um, you know, you could dissect it. 389 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,680 Speaker 1: You can have ultra thin slices, examining each slide under 390 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: a microscope and and this is what is traditionally done 391 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: heretofore um before this technique came along. But when you 392 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: do that, you're you're you're changing that sample and you're 393 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: effectively removing some clues that you might not otherwise see 394 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,400 Speaker 1: unless it were whole, a whole brain that you could 395 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: just see through. Indeed, I do have to say when 396 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: I'm initially discovered the study, I was a little bit 397 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 1: disappointed when I of course realized that the individual must 398 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: be dead, because for a split second, I was imagining, 399 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 1: like the new fashion trend would be to make yourself translucent, 400 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,680 Speaker 1: and I was, you know, French run white models walking 401 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: around with translucent skin. It was, it was, it was 402 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,159 Speaker 1: a great like three seconds of my life. And then 403 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 1: I realized that, well, this is actually a practical thing. 404 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 1: You never know again, hundred years from now we could 405 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 1: have translucent engineered models possibility. Now, I wanted to mention 406 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: that hundreds of papers have been published about not just 407 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 1: the hyndrogail, but also the opto genetics, and according to 408 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: Huge Escoff at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers are 409 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:36,440 Speaker 1: using and developing techniques to study brain wave sleep, memory, hunger, addiction, aggression, courtship, 410 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,960 Speaker 1: sensory modalities, and motor behavior. Of course this is in 411 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 1: mice and rats. But again, the extra appolation here is 412 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: that we're getting a far better picture of the brain. 413 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: Um and even three years ago, two years ago, you 414 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: and I were talking about reverse engineering the brain and 415 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: how difficult that is. But now there's more technologies online 416 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,680 Speaker 1: to actually do that in a more meaningful way. Indeed, 417 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,640 Speaker 1: now when it comes to changing the I keep getting 418 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:05,959 Speaker 1: hung up on just the idea of changing the emotional 419 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 1: context of a memory. Uh, Like, I can't help but 420 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: imagine like a future scenario we're say it's say say 421 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,159 Speaker 1: Julie Douglas goes into her local doctor's office, and the 422 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: doctor says, look, I can't do anything about that bad 423 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: memory that you have about clowns that just set off 424 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,399 Speaker 1: this whole clown phobia for you. But I can change 425 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,640 Speaker 1: the context. But you might have to buy some grease pain, 426 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: you might have to behavioral therapy. You might end up 427 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: in enrolling in clown colleging. I mean, I'm thinking probably 428 00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: not because because phobias are a little more more complicated 429 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: than that. But imagine a world where you could you 430 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: could simply change a life altering fear into a life 431 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: altering enthusiasm for something uh with just with just a 432 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: little uh neural tinkering. But see, I don't want clowns 433 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: to to be eradicated from my memory. I mean, that's 434 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: part of the rich tapestry of narrative, right, Well, yeah, 435 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: I mean that's that's kind of what you get into 436 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 1: when you discuss any changing of the brain or or 437 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 1: certainly with you know, talking about would you change something 438 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,880 Speaker 1: in the past. What you're what you're talking about when 439 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: you're changing the memory of the something in the past, 440 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: you're essentially changing the past is in terms of your 441 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: your perception of it, So you kind of get into 442 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: the same time travel paradox uh situation. Well, if I 443 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: remove that uh trauma from my history, am I the 444 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: same person anymore? And is that good or bad? Yeah? 445 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: And if I smoked from cannabis, how does that change 446 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: the perception of all of it? Yeah, but that was 447 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: kind of a really crappy way to try to transition 448 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: and not into a section about cannabis. We're not going 449 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: to do that, but just to mention that this this 450 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,440 Speaker 1: might have been the year of cannabis. Oh yeah, I 451 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,439 Speaker 1: mean this was even the year that we actually had 452 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:59,440 Speaker 1: a single country fully legalized marijuana, that being Uruguay, UM 453 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,679 Speaker 1: and number of US states following along with parts of 454 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: Europe moving in a similar direction. Yeah. So perhaps we 455 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: will do an episode in the future here about cannabis 456 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: and medical marijuana recreational And we've already touched on it 457 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: a bit when we've talked about hacin genics and um 458 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: how they made treat depression and and and help the 459 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: brain in certain ways. But it's a it's sort of 460 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: a minefield this year, if you ask me, there's so 461 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:29,600 Speaker 1: many studies that have come out. Yeah, there's been a 462 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: lot of studies. Some one in particular that came to 463 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: mind was really more dealing with the with the adverse 464 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 1: effects from it. But even this study was only looking 465 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 1: at it really from an addiction point of view, and 466 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:46,439 Speaker 1: and and not a medication point of view, and in 467 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: terms of developing brains too, because we know that that 468 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: this is not good to introduce substances that can alter 469 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: brain structures in someone who is not fully developed as 470 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: not just even a person, but their brain. So interesting 471 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: stuff here and uh and if you doubt the reach 472 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: of cannabis, then just consider I would say the reach 473 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: of reefer. That would have been the reach of refer 474 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: the reach of reefer. Then know that the word of 475 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: the year for I believe it was Oxford Dictionary O 476 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 1: is vape? Oh yes, I mean the vape technology is 477 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 1: very impressive in terms of marijana, but's certainly in terms 478 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:31,159 Speaker 1: of just um normal tobacco cigarettes as well. I've uh, 479 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 1: there's several people in my life, um, including my mother 480 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: in law who has has transition from traditional cigarettes to vaping. Um. Um, 481 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: you know, for health reasons, for personal life choice reasons, 482 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,399 Speaker 1: and uh that the technology is is fascinating. The whole 483 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: growth industry is people, do you know, making their own 484 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,439 Speaker 1: technology and tinkering with it. It's uh, I mean, just 485 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: from a purely technological standpoint, it's it's it's really fascinating stuff. 486 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,879 Speaker 1: So well, you nineteen twenties people sitting around going, did 487 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: you guys hear that pouka is the word of the year, 488 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: trying to imagine that. Yeah, equivalent individual in our office 489 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: who will remain nameless. I guess that has like a 490 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 1: vape puuka. Yes he does, alright, So there you have it. Um, 491 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: just till you know, a run through some of the 492 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 1: the studies that caught our eyes this year. Again, that's 493 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 1: not an exhaustive list. Certainly there were other studies that 494 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:27,679 Speaker 1: that we got to kick out off, that we've blogged about, 495 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: that we podcasted about, that we did videos on, and 496 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: you'll find all of those. It's stuff to blow your 497 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: mind dot com. And if you have some thoughts to 498 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: share with us, we'd love to hear from you. You 499 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: can send an email to you below the mind at 500 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: house to works dot com. For more on this than 501 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Is that house touff works dot 502 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: com