WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Beethoven’s DNA

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck and this is short stuff, a pretty interesting

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<v Speaker 1>one that comes from our friends at How Stuff Works,

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<v Speaker 1>I believe, specifically from Robert Attenborough. Yeah, and lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other places. Because this I just saw this all over

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<v Speaker 1>the news last week. The story of Beethoven's DNA has

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<v Speaker 1>been researched, and it just I don't know, it's like

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<v Speaker 1>it hit the news cycle and I saw it in

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of places. I mean, I can understand why.

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<v Speaker 1>It's very very fascinating, more fascinating than it appears on

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<v Speaker 1>the surface. And the surface is Beethoven was fairly famous

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<v Speaker 1>for suffering from a lot of terrible health maladies for

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<v Speaker 1>many years late in his life until his death, very

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<v Speaker 1>most famously his hearing loss, which is just fascinating that

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<v Speaker 1>he was still able to compose with hearing loss. That's

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<v Speaker 1>just insane. Yeah, But people, some people are very much

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<v Speaker 1>fast sinated with Beethoven, even more than other people. And

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<v Speaker 1>one of those people is Justin Beg who is a

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<v Speaker 1>student of biological anthropology at UC Santa Cruz and also

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<v Speaker 1>an enormous Beethoven enthusiast. And he said Hey, I want

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<v Speaker 1>to put my two things together and figure out what

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<v Speaker 1>the heck was going on with Beethoven's body. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>now we back up a little bit and talk a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit about DNA and the challenges of taking DNA

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<v Speaker 1>from a dead person to figure anything out. It's it's

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<v Speaker 1>not that easy. DNA from a live human is much

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<v Speaker 1>easier to work with in sequence, but if you're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to get good DNA from a body, you're gonna want

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<v Speaker 1>teeth ideally, or the petris bone in the skull, which

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<v Speaker 1>we did not have from Beethoven. But during Beethoven's day,

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<v Speaker 1>collecting locks from brilliant people's hair was a thing, and

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<v Speaker 1>so by virtue of that, it turns out there were

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<v Speaker 1>quite a few samples of Beethoven's locks around the world,

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<v Speaker 1>and they ended up with what they thought was eight

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<v Speaker 1>of them. Yes, Tristan beg had eight that he was

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<v Speaker 1>able to access. None of them had roots, which was

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<v Speaker 1>made the whole thing much more difficult. If you have

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<v Speaker 1>a root, you got a much better chance of extracting

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<v Speaker 1>a whole genome from it, right. Yeah, But plucking a

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<v Speaker 1>whole handful of hair from Beethoven said was not allowed

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<v Speaker 1>Beethoven did not want that to happen. He said, sure,

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<v Speaker 1>you can use some old timey scissors on me, or

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<v Speaker 1>maybe even a sharp knife, and I'll sit here and

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<v Speaker 1>let you do it. But I do not pluck my hair.

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<v Speaker 1>So that meant that the DNA in there in this

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<v Speaker 1>hair was composed of short, broken fragments. But Tristan Beg

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<v Speaker 1>is such a Beethoven enthusiast and such a student of

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<v Speaker 1>biological anthropology that he said, I don't care. I'm going

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<v Speaker 1>to piece together different fragments of DNA from these hair samples,

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<v Speaker 1>from each hair sample to create basically as close to

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<v Speaker 1>a net profile as I possibly can for each of

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<v Speaker 1>the eight locks of hairs. And he did it. That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>I was so trying to come up with a joke

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<v Speaker 1>about plucking hair, and what do you think? I am

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<v Speaker 1>a harpsichord player. And then I tried to think of

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<v Speaker 1>a like maybe Bach or somebody I couldn't remember who

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<v Speaker 1>was most notable for their harpsichord work. And then I

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<v Speaker 1>thought maybe Beethoven had some harpsichord stuff, and I bailed,

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<v Speaker 1>But I was just in my head that entire time.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh man, you missed some great stuff. Men. All apologies

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<v Speaker 1>all to think of a joke that I missed the

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity of, but at least you got to explain it,

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<v Speaker 1>all right. So the big reveal is is that he

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<v Speaker 1>ended up with two locks of hair that had with

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<v Speaker 1>DNA sampling where they were like, all right, it's western

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<v Speaker 1>central Europe. We got great providence records, yeah, going back

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<v Speaker 1>to yeah, going back to the early nineteenth century. So

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<v Speaker 1>these two, we feel really good about three more that

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<v Speaker 1>are genetically identical to those, So that's also probably Beethoven.

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<v Speaker 1>And this is pretty good providence records, So we think

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<v Speaker 1>these are for sure Beethoven's. But the other three are

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<v Speaker 1>problematic because one is a woman, so that's somebody got

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<v Speaker 1>you know, probably paid way too much money for fake

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<v Speaker 1>Beethoven locks. Yeah, and then another is a little side note.

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<v Speaker 1>Beethoven would probably be mad about that, because there are

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<v Speaker 1>no side notes. Each notice as important as the last. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>the notes that I wrote. But the side note is

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<v Speaker 1>that that lock, it turns out, had been previously used

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<v Speaker 1>to conclude that Beethoven had lead poisoning, and it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that probably wasn't even Beethoven's hair, right, So the

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<v Speaker 1>upshot of the whole thing is is that he had

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<v Speaker 1>on his hands now five locks of hair genetically identical

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<v Speaker 1>to one another, two of which were basically one percent

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<v Speaker 1>guaranteed Beethoven's because they had Providence records. So as he

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<v Speaker 1>had five locks of Beethoven's hair to work with. So

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<v Speaker 1>I say, Chuck, that that is a great point to

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<v Speaker 1>take our ad break. Let's do it all right. So

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<v Speaker 1>here we are with Beethoven's hair. And they did some

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<v Speaker 1>research on his DNA and they came back with some

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<v Speaker 1>pretty interesting results, one of which and they kind of

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<v Speaker 1>figured this, but they were like, all right, his hearing

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<v Speaker 1>loss wasn't genetic. It rarely is genetic anyway when you

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<v Speaker 1>have adult onset hearing loss. So they kind of figured

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<v Speaker 1>that was coming and that was kind of proved out.

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<v Speaker 1>But they said, he does have poopy pants a lot. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>he suffers from GI issues, and he has liver disease

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<v Speaker 1>or had liver disease. Yeah. So they could not find

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<v Speaker 1>anything that they could connect to the GI problems. It

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<v Speaker 1>sounds like he just had some bad clams that stayed

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<v Speaker 1>with him or some sort of bad luck. But it

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't a genetic thing. But the thing that they did

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<v Speaker 1>connect to his genetics. His genes were his liver issues. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>apparently he suffered from pretty bad cerrosis. It looks like

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<v Speaker 1>they know from just sort of historical record that he

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<v Speaker 1>did have attacks of jaundice, a pretty clear issue with

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<v Speaker 1>your liver going on. Yeah, but they actually found genetic proof.

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<v Speaker 1>They found particular variant two copies of the p and

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<v Speaker 1>p LA three gene linked to cirrhosis, and then single

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<v Speaker 1>copies of two variants of a gene that causes hemochromatosis nice,

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<v Speaker 1>another liver condition. And then they also found a little

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<v Speaker 1>surprise and that I don't think they even knew about

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<v Speaker 1>this at all until then, that he had hepatitis B. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>at the very least in the final months of his life,

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<v Speaker 1>possibly before. The thing is is that's not scandalous. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people in Europe had he be at the time.

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<v Speaker 1>Another thing that a lot of people did at the

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<v Speaker 1>time was drink lots and lots of booze by today's standards,

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<v Speaker 1>And they'd long been question about whether Beethoven's jaundice was

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<v Speaker 1>brought on by liver disease brought on by excessive drinking.

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<v Speaker 1>And apparently there's even you know, record that mentions he

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<v Speaker 1>liked to drink, but it was not clear how much

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<v Speaker 1>he liked to drink and if he liked to drink

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<v Speaker 1>more than the average person. So apparently Tristan Beg went

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<v Speaker 1>one step further, examined records as closely as they could,

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<v Speaker 1>and said, I think he just drank like a normal amount, Like, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it'd be a lot today, but that's not what causes

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<v Speaker 1>liver problems. It was genetic, right, pretty interesting stuff. Have

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<v Speaker 1>you ever seen Immortal Beloved the Beethoven movie Gary Oldman? No,

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<v Speaker 1>and I have not. It was good. I think I

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<v Speaker 1>think it was nineties. I want to say it was nineties.

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<v Speaker 1>It was good. I enjoyed it. But when's the last

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<v Speaker 1>time you saw the professional with Gary Oldman? That's been

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<v Speaker 1>a while. I saw it a month ago. It's good,

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<v Speaker 1>but it holds up even better than it was back. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's amazing. And Natalie Portman being twelve like out acts

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<v Speaker 1>everybody else on the screen. It's nuts man that she's great.

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<v Speaker 1>That whole movie is just so good. Leon Um. The

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<v Speaker 1>Immortal Beloved is good, it's not. It's not Amadeus level Um,

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<v Speaker 1>as evidence by the fact that it didn't like clean

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<v Speaker 1>up at the Academy Awards. But it was pretty good.

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<v Speaker 1>So just remind me Amadeus was played by the guy

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<v Speaker 1>who who was in Animal House, right, Yeah, okay, I

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<v Speaker 1>wanted to Abraham. Yeah if Murray Abraham was was Salieri? Right?

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<v Speaker 1>And boy boy, that was good. I want to see

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<v Speaker 1>that again soon. That's a good one. I've not ever

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<v Speaker 1>seen it. I never got around to it. Hmm. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>a Dais is good. It's worth a look if you

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<v Speaker 1>ever get a hanker. And for nineteen I think that

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<v Speaker 1>was eighties biopic, Yes for sure, because the theme song

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<v Speaker 1>rock Me I'm a Dais hit the charts in the

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<v Speaker 1>eighties like Wildfires. Well that's it for short stuff, everybody.

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<v Speaker 1>If you wanted to know more about Beethoven, you couldn't possibly.

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