Speaker 1: I'm TT and I'm Zakiyah, and this is Dope Labs.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast that mixes hardcore
Speaker 1: science with pop culture and a healthy dose of friendship.
Speaker 1: You know, people are always saying, how do you and
Speaker 1: TT pick what you're gonna talk about on Dope Labs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm like, uh, that's not a problem. It is never
Speaker 1: a problem for us. Yeah, there's so much to talk about, yeah,
Speaker 1: all the time. I mean, as much news as there's
Speaker 1: coming in. We always come with topics, and you guys
Speaker 1: are sending stuff in our dms, in our emails, some
Speaker 1: of y'all are responding to the newsletter. Yes, that's my
Speaker 1: favorite when people respond to the newsletter. Yes, but some
Speaker 1: of the topics are really really good, but we don't
Speaker 1: have time to get to them, or they're not big
Speaker 1: enough to put in a full episode, or we can't
Speaker 1: find a scientist into for like when it's relevant, you know,
Speaker 1: and then to get the episode produced before we're on
Speaker 1: to the next thing. That's straight. That's right, Well, guess what.
Speaker 1: Now we're gonna just address everything we've been wanting to
Speaker 1: talk about, even if we want to talk about it
Speaker 1: just a little bit. Yes, a grab bag if you will.
Speaker 1: Uh huh. Let's start with the first thing that we
Speaker 1: got a message about, and that was the filibuster. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh. Okay, So Senator Corey Booker recently made history.
Speaker 1: He shattered the record that stood since nineteen fifty seven
Speaker 1: by doing a filibuster for twenty five hours straight on
Speaker 1: the Senate floor, no breaks, no naps, no bathroom breaks.
Speaker 1: Isn't that crazy? I'm not that committed. I mean, in
Speaker 1: my spirit, I feel that I committed my spirit. Yes,
Speaker 1: when it's time to do it, I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: able to do it before him. The last person to
Speaker 1: have a really long filibuster, So, the last person to
Speaker 1: hold the record was Strom Thurman with twenty four hours
Speaker 1: back in nineteen fifty seven. And he was trying to
Speaker 1: block the Civil Rights Act back in nineteen fifty seven.
Speaker 1: For his twenty four hour filibuster. Yeah, so what Senator
Speaker 1: Corey Booker did is historic, and it's historic for I
Speaker 1: think two big reasons. One, he was talking about these
Speaker 1: really controversial executive orders that have been coming out rapid fire.
Speaker 1: And I think that the other really important thing is
Speaker 1: to dethrone someone like Strom Thurman who was doing a
Speaker 1: filibuster to block civil rights and having a black man
Speaker 1: stand up there and do it, it really sends a
Speaker 1: message that not only are we fed up with what's
Speaker 1: going on in the government, but we are no longer
Speaker 1: going to allow people who were holding folks back and
Speaker 1: trying to restrict their rights were no longer giving them
Speaker 1: a place to shine. I think the politics are important,
Speaker 1: and I've got some ideas about how we could change
Speaker 1: some of the things we're getting the ways things are
Speaker 1: getting done in politics. I don't think you have to
Speaker 1: have to stand up for twenty five hours to make point, right.
Speaker 1: But when we were first looking at this, I was like, biologically,
Speaker 1: what's happening there? Because there are things we have talked
Speaker 1: about in other episodes. I won't get into circadian rhythms
Speaker 1: and what our bodies need and what kind of stress
Speaker 1: we experience when we don't sleep, let alone stand and
Speaker 1: speak coherently. You know, I was thinking, like, how did
Speaker 1: he not pee for that long? It's mind boggling. And
Speaker 1: at the very end of his filibuster he was saying,
Speaker 1: you know, nature is calling, and that would have happened
Speaker 1: twenty five minutes twenty five minutes. I would have been like,
Speaker 1: I need a restroom break, and everyone would have been
Speaker 1: upset with me. Well, you would not have made it
Speaker 1: into the history books now, and that's at your age.
Speaker 1: And Corey Booker is not a spring chicken. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying he's all, but he's just not a young man.
Speaker 1: Bladder discipline looks different over time. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna be we won't get into it, but that's about
Speaker 1: five hundred milliliters all have to be carrying over twenty
Speaker 1: five hours. I don't resist, but I think my body
Speaker 1: would be resisting too. Whoa. I mean. I heard that
Speaker 1: some folks that do these really long filibusters that they
Speaker 1: use adult diapers, they dehydrate themselves, like get into a
Speaker 1: steam room to like sweat out all the liquid. I
Speaker 1: don't know what Corey Booker did to prepare. He said
Speaker 1: he dehydrated himself, and I don't know what his doctor
Speaker 1: feels about that, but I'm sure he is making a
Speaker 1: doctor's appointment very very soon. We're all proud of you,
Speaker 1: Corey Booker, so proud, so proud, and of that bladder. Now,
Speaker 1: Corey Booker is a politician making a stand. And now
Speaker 1: we're seeing somebody who's made some political stands, kind of backtracking.
Speaker 1: Have you seen the latest Chapelone interview? Yes, Chaperone. She's
Speaker 1: been doing podcasts and interviews with magazines and she's basically like,
Speaker 1: leave me out of it. I'm just a pop star.
Speaker 1: But then also we'll turn around and get up on
Speaker 1: a stage to accept an award and say here's my
Speaker 1: political thought. So I'm not really sure how you can
Speaker 1: do both. But she got a lot of backlash from
Speaker 1: a recent interview that she did on Call Her Daddy,
Speaker 1: And in that interview, she talked about being a parent,
Speaker 1: and she said, all of my friends who have kids
Speaker 1: are in hell, and I actually don't know anyone who's
Speaker 1: happy and has children at this age. I've literally not
Speaker 1: met anyone who's happy, anyone who has light in their eyes,
Speaker 1: anyone who has slept. And it started this whole big
Speaker 1: thing on the internet because some people were feeling a
Speaker 1: little bit triggered by these statements and really upset about
Speaker 1: what she was saying, like, oh, it's not possible to
Speaker 1: be happy if you have kids. But then on the
Speaker 1: flip side, some folks felt like, you know, maybe there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of truth, and she's saying the quiet
Speaker 1: part out loud. Well, I'm not a parent, so I
Speaker 1: look to you, neighbor. Did she lie? She did not lie? Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Okay. I think two things can
Speaker 1: be true at the same time. You can absolutely love
Speaker 1: and adore your kids. You can love being a parent, right,
Speaker 1: then you can also be tired as hell, like you
Speaker 1: can be just wrecked because of what it takes to
Speaker 1: be a parent. You've seen Tyson in the background of
Speaker 1: my videos. That little boy is always on go and
Speaker 1: he does not care if I'm tired. That's right, because
Speaker 1: he's his mama's son. Okay, that's what I know. That's
Speaker 1: what I know. Oh my goodness. But you know what,
Speaker 1: this also makes me think of what last year the
Speaker 1: former US Surgeon General, THEVEC Murphy, he came out with
Speaker 1: a health advisory about how being a parent can affect
Speaker 1: your mental health. I believe it just being alive can
Speaker 1: affect your mental health, right, taking care of somebody else
Speaker 1: on top, right, because and it wasn't just parents like
Speaker 1: you're saying, it's also caregivers. And in this study, it
Speaker 1: highlighted that stress levels for parents were really high compared
Speaker 1: to adults who don't have children, So high for parents
Speaker 1: and caregivers compared to adults that don't have children. So
Speaker 1: they said that thirty three percent of parents reported high
Speaker 1: stress levels in a month, compared to twenty percent of adults. Additionally,
Speaker 1: forty eight percent of parents felt overwhelmingly stressed most days
Speaker 1: versus twenty six percent of other adults that don't have kids.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think anybody that's taking care of
Speaker 1: themselves and somebody else any kind of responsibility, that is
Speaker 1: a lot to keep up with, because not only are
Speaker 1: you looking at what's happening in the world, but what's
Speaker 1: happening with my child or loved one right now? What
Speaker 1: does this mean for their future? Even thinking about the
Speaker 1: economy and the financial strength, time constraints, like all of it.
Speaker 1: You know, our parents didn't have to worry about all
Speaker 1: this technology, right social media? What are they doing on
Speaker 1: the computer? I was playing Maybus Beacon teachers typing. Although
Speaker 1: we were doing a little, I was doing too much
Speaker 1: on Black Planet. I I was coding on Black Planet. Honey,
Speaker 1: HTML was hex cos you didn't tell me you Matrix.
Speaker 1: It was so much fun. I was in all these
Speaker 1: Nickelodeon chat rooms talking about rug Rats and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: It was fun, and yeah, that was fun. Internet Now
Speaker 1: you got to worry about if somebody's activating your child's
Speaker 1: webcam in their bedrooms or whatever else. And you also
Speaker 1: have to worry just about the peer pressure and the
Speaker 1: pressure to keep up with other people who are showing
Speaker 1: only the best parts of themselves. These are things that
Speaker 1: adults fall victim too. But now kids have social media,
Speaker 1: they have the ability to be on social media, so
Speaker 1: that's also something you have to think about. And then
Speaker 1: on top of all that, you have to be able
Speaker 1: to future cast but then also be present in your child,
Speaker 1: like do you know what I mean? Like you have
Speaker 1: to be present, but you also have to think of
Speaker 1: the future. And the fact that the former US Surgeon
Speaker 1: General had to put out a health advisory about this
Speaker 1: as a real health concern, let you know that this
Speaker 1: is a real talk. And some of the recommendations that
Speaker 1: he had was that policymakers should be putting things in
Speaker 1: place to have family support programs and implement national paid
Speaker 1: family leave and medical leave, and also to have more
Speaker 1: community so encouraging parents and caregivers to band together use
Speaker 1: the village mentality to help them with raising their child
Speaker 1: or caring for a loved one and really lean into
Speaker 1: that to help alleviate some of this stress. You know. Basically,
Speaker 1: the Surgeon General said, you should let me help you
Speaker 1: raise your child, basically. And I think the Surgeon General
Speaker 1: is making some great points, but I do have to say, now,
Speaker 1: this doesn't feel like the same Surgeon General growing up, Okay,
Speaker 1: because they're talking about village mentality and you know, stress
Speaker 1: and overload. I feel like the Surgeon General's recommendations back
Speaker 1: then were like don't smoke tobacco or cigarettes, and don't drink,
Speaker 1: but only don't drink if you're pregnant, right, everybody else
Speaker 1: have a drink, Okay, wacky Tobacci. We are old enough
Speaker 1: to remember when secondhand smoke became like a thing where
Speaker 1: they were like, oh, you know, secondhand smoke can also
Speaker 1: be a problem. I'm like, this is crazy. Now it's
Speaker 1: like mental health and all these things like that, and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, this is so good. I'm so glad
Speaker 1: that these resources are available to fun. Yeah. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: even before I think just two years back, the Surgeon
Speaker 1: General was talking about friendship and loneliness, like being able
Speaker 1: to get with men. Yes, yes, and so I mean,
Speaker 1: thank you to the Surgeon General. But also I've had enough,
Speaker 1: Like you're putting too much on my plate. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with Okay, So I'm trying to exercise, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to eat right. I'm trying to uh have a
Speaker 1: village mentality because I don't care what anybody says. If
Speaker 1: you're an only child and your parents are still around,
Speaker 1: you are a caregiver. And so I'm feeling those same stresses.
Speaker 1: It's just like having a toddler. Don't let my parents here.
Speaker 1: I do think that, like there's all this stuff going on.
Speaker 1: And then also I gotta remember take my Zyrtec every
Speaker 1: day because the pollen, the polling, help me, it's every
Speaker 1: con it's too much. I was at Low's the other
Speaker 1: day trying to get the highest parts per million filter
Speaker 1: I could find. I said, make it enough, please? Did
Speaker 1: you find it? It's I bought the best one money
Speaker 1: could buy. Okayerfect, I'm so happy for you, friend. I
Speaker 1: got to remember to change my air filters. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like you can't escape it. The itchy eyes, the
Speaker 1: running nose. I've been using my inhaler because my asthma
Speaker 1: has been getting tripped up because of all the pollen.
Speaker 1: I have my allergy medication on deck. I feel like
Speaker 1: I have to take it every day just to survive.
Speaker 1: My combo is a Zertec first thing in the morning, okay,
Speaker 1: because if I press snooze on my alarm, my throat,
Speaker 1: sorry chip, It's like the pollen is your alarm clock. Yes,
Speaker 1: get up and take a peal and then I'm doing
Speaker 1: naser cord. Okay, Like those are my things. But I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people are taking allergy medicine right
Speaker 1: now because there's just so much pollen. And I think
Speaker 1: I sent you something about that pollen cloud. Yes, that
Speaker 1: was where people are showing all that pollen everywhere. It's
Speaker 1: like a Pallen tornado. It's crazy. But I got some
Speaker 1: bad news, well not bad, but something to just be
Speaker 1: thinking about. Oh no, there were some recent studies that
Speaker 1: looked at whether certain types of allergy medicines, particularly diaphen
Speaker 1: hydromenes like benadryl, whether they might be linked to a
Speaker 1: higher risk of developing dementia later on. Wow, So they're
Speaker 1: looking at first generation antihistamines and they're saying Okay. The
Speaker 1: reason this might be happening, or the reason we might
Speaker 1: even see this type of effect at all, is because
Speaker 1: first generation allergy medicines they block acetylcholine, and that's something
Speaker 1: that's a chemical in the brain that's super important for
Speaker 1: memory and learning. Now, I gotta be careful there, because
Speaker 1: these meds and the use of these well not even
Speaker 1: just these myths. The use of these meds are associated
Speaker 1: with dementia, but that does not mean that they cause it.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that's something that we often see
Speaker 1: getting overlooked or misconstrued, and so when people share stories,
Speaker 1: they tend to miss this. I want to make sure
Speaker 1: we say very clearly, correlation does not equal causation. So
Speaker 1: when we say there's a correlation, and you know that
Speaker 1: means two things are happening together more often than we
Speaker 1: expect by chance, there's a strong correlation between eatn ice
Speaker 1: cream and getting unburnt, Okay, that doesn't mean ice cream
Speaker 1: causes sun burned, right, That's we don't have the causation there.
Speaker 1: Like the real factor there is the summertime baby, Okay.
Speaker 1: And so I think they're still trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what the allergy is and dementia correlation. They're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, you know, what's what's tying that the good news?
Speaker 1: Though you're giving me good news, there's there are plenty
Speaker 1: of second generation antihistamines that you know, don't easily cross
Speaker 1: the blood brain barrier and don't work against the cetocline,
Speaker 1: so they have fewer side effects. Like my girls are tech.
Speaker 1: I am a clariton girl. Honey, mmm, see this. The's
Speaker 1: got to stick together their tech for Zekiah. So that is,
Speaker 1: it's not bad news unless you are taking a bit
Speaker 1: of drill every night. And if you're I don't even
Speaker 1: know how you're operating daily. Anyway, I'm so drowsy after honestly,
Speaker 1: I take a Beta jo, I'm asleep for the next week. Okay,
Speaker 1: that stuff is strong. Out of office, I feel like
Speaker 1: pollen is always my big allergy. But I also think
Speaker 1: about people who are allergic to like animals, so like
Speaker 1: pets and things like that. Yeah, I can't imagine being
Speaker 1: allergic to pets. I mean, you know, I have my
Speaker 1: dog Daisy. Yes, she's getting old and stressing me out.
Speaker 1: I could not handle more stress from that. You know,
Speaker 1: I think maybe that's exactly what maybe that's the stress
Speaker 1: you get is balanced out because you know, people are
Speaker 1: saying it's good to have pets, like it's good for you,
Speaker 1: good for you mentally. Absolutely, I've seen studies like that
Speaker 1: that said that people who have pets, you know, have
Speaker 1: less stress, less anxiety, and there's even been a few
Speaker 1: early studies that say that people with pets live longer.
Speaker 1: Now that's an interesting case because my parents didn't let
Speaker 1: me happen, and so you know, these parents are against us.
Speaker 1: I will have to take that information back because I
Speaker 1: didn't grow up with pets. Though you know, it makes
Speaker 1: me such a lover of all my friends pets like
Speaker 1: your Chihuahwah Daisy. Yes, And I think at this big age,
Speaker 1: the way that shows up my love for pets is
Speaker 1: watching non stop had videos like I'm watching the poodles
Speaker 1: with attitudes, the huskies that are growling in barker back.
Speaker 1: Oh my girl. I love watching all the videos. And
Speaker 1: before you jump on me, I feel like Daisy has
Speaker 1: personality just the first dog I knew that could make
Speaker 1: the b sound. Excuse most dogs they woof and how
Speaker 1: but they don't use their lips to make the meat.
Speaker 1: And Daisy chim I know to do that, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I have a lot in common with the
Speaker 1: creators online, like Tony Baker and Super Ray fourteen. When
Speaker 1: they're doing those voiceovers, I'm like, yes, give me the
Speaker 1: personality of these animals. What are they thinking? You know
Speaker 1: what's going on? Do you not watch these people on it? No?
Speaker 1: Not really No, I've seen a few of them, but
Speaker 1: I don't really watch them consistently. Do you think? What
Speaker 1: do you think? Days sounds like I have a voice
Speaker 1: that I used to imitate Daisy. What's your voice for Daisy?
Speaker 1: Because Daisy I know her so well. I know she's
Speaker 1: not smart, she has a whole backstory and everything. So
Speaker 1: my Daisy voice I have to like close my eyes
Speaker 1: because I can't even look at you and do it.
Speaker 1: It's like DZ does like foods. DZI was in your
Speaker 1: foods on used plate. GESZ doesn't want Diz's food. It's
Speaker 1: not good. That's wild. First of all, Daisy Southern in
Speaker 1: my books. And maybe because I'm thinking about Daisy, Duke's Okay,
Speaker 1: that's all wrong. I know that's your dogs, so you
Speaker 1: can have your own voice, but I think it's wrong. Okay,
Speaker 1: But all of these things like with these voiceovers, it
Speaker 1: makes me wonder like do animals have feelings? Like are
Speaker 1: we is it just anthropomorphism? Are we assigning these values?
Speaker 1: Or is there more than what we think is going on?
Speaker 1: Like do they actually have feelings? And if they're using
Speaker 1: those buttons, do they really know what's happening? Is it
Speaker 1: because they're trying to tell us something? You know, when
Speaker 1: I had Daisy, When I first got Daisy and I
Speaker 1: was back in Durham and grad school with you, I
Speaker 1: would leave her in my apartment to go to campus
Speaker 1: to educate myself, and I would get back and she
Speaker 1: would flip her She would have flipped her water bowl
Speaker 1: over and I would come back and see it in
Speaker 1: waters everywhere. I got the message communication protest. I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you don't pay no bills here. I don't know. She
Speaker 1: definitely got a personality. Daisy Dog and Corey Book are
Speaker 1: both taking a stand for rights. When I was thinking
Speaker 1: about this, it sent me down this whole rabbit hole.
Speaker 1: And I was reading this like editorial was a perspective
Speaker 1: piece in science and it was called evaluating Animal Consciousness,
Speaker 1: And they're basically saying that a lot of what we're
Speaker 1: doing to under we don't even have a real definition
Speaker 1: for consciousness basically, And I said, the science is lagging, right,
Speaker 1: that's wild. So they're saying conscious we should think of
Speaker 1: consciousness as this continuum because so much of what we
Speaker 1: do is basically inference. Like we're looking at what we
Speaker 1: do as humans and we're saying, do these other animals
Speaker 1: do this? And not like what we call quote unquote
Speaker 1: smart animals like dolphins and dogs and primates. But they're saying,
Speaker 1: do we see other things we do like in other animals?
Speaker 1: Is are they avoiding pain? And I'm like, there's more
Speaker 1: to life than just avoiding pain. Are they choosing comfort?
Speaker 1: You know, are tending to their wounds? But because there's
Speaker 1: no solid definition and most of the evidence that we
Speaker 1: used to define consciousness is directly related to pain, I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot more to explore there, right. Because
Speaker 1: it was a philosophical study, so somebody was reading a
Speaker 1: bunch of other articles. It wasn't experimental. But that made
Speaker 1: me feel like, you know, Dacy turned that bowl over
Speaker 1: for a reason. It wasn't an accident. It was not
Speaker 1: an accident. Oh, I mean when Tyson came around, there
Speaker 1: was a clear shift in attitude. Daisy became the ultimate teenager. Mom,
Speaker 1: leave me alone. You always just want to talk to
Speaker 1: the baby. You're not talking to anybody, like, oh god, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying the animals might have something to say,
Speaker 1: and we need to be careful because there's something else
Speaker 1: going on with the animals too. What now, This is
Speaker 1: an update from my field, So a little bit spooky,
Speaker 1: but a little bit fun. Okay, Okay. So there's this outfit.
Speaker 1: They're called Colossal Biosciences. They're a company out of Texas,
Speaker 1: and they're basically doing some de extinction projects. It's a
Speaker 1: extinction so things that have if we think of about
Speaker 1: animals that have become extinct, put a d in the front,
Speaker 1: take it away, bring it back in the Jurassic Park.
Speaker 1: So that's what they're doing. Well, they're starting out. They
Speaker 1: were looking at the wooly mammoth and they were saying,
Speaker 1: you know, when we look at genetic information, when we
Speaker 1: even when we compare humans to other species, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of core genetic information, but then there are some
Speaker 1: things that are different, and what of those differences which
Speaker 1: are responsible for the features that we say, hey, this
Speaker 1: is what makes this species species a versus this species
Speaker 1: B and species B. And so they looked at the
Speaker 1: wooly mammoth and they said, when we look at all
Speaker 1: these things, there are a couple of genes that we
Speaker 1: feel like are responsible for features that feel very key
Speaker 1: to the wooly mammoth, like that really long coat and
Speaker 1: having a lot of fat for I mean, the wily
Speaker 1: mammoths was in very cold environment, so being able for
Speaker 1: thermal insulation, yes, insulation, and for energy because fat storage,
Speaker 1: you know a way to burn keep that energy on.
Speaker 1: And so they said, let's take those things that are
Speaker 1: distinct to the wooly mammoth. Let's see if we can
Speaker 1: put it on a mouse. And they did. They had
Speaker 1: these mice at store fat in the way that wooly
Speaker 1: mammoths do, and they had like a wooly coat, like
Speaker 1: a wooly mammoth coat on a mouse. Isn't that crazy
Speaker 1: They genetically engineered that. Let me tell you this, This
Speaker 1: doesn't feel correct. This really is making me nervous. It
Speaker 1: sounds like Jurassic Park. When these little wooly mice rise
Speaker 1: up and decide, stand on their hind left and decide
Speaker 1: no more. They're in trouble. Like when it planted the apes,
Speaker 1: when Caesar said, no, exactly, that was wild. Well, I
Speaker 1: hate to tell you that's just the tip of the
Speaker 1: iceberg of the wooly mammoth iceberg, because what else did
Speaker 1: they make wooly Well, it didn't make something those holies.
Speaker 1: But the latest thing is somebody messaged me about this
Speaker 1: and was like, did you see the dire wolf is
Speaker 1: coming back? I said, I know you're not talking about
Speaker 1: John Snow in the Game of Thrones. Turns out that
Speaker 1: same company took gray wolf cells and they modified about
Speaker 1: twenty genes that are tied to key features of dire wolves, okay.
Speaker 1: And to even get that, they have to collect ancient bones,
Speaker 1: and so they were using ancient DNA technology to be
Speaker 1: able to even assemble those genomes, figure out those important genes,
Speaker 1: modify them. I'm here to tell you today that there
Speaker 1: are three wolves with the dire wolf DNA okay that
Speaker 1: are alive right now, three hybrid gray wolf dire wolf creatures.
Speaker 1: They're on a private facility that they say is over
Speaker 1: two thousand acres and one of them is named Kalisi.
Speaker 1: So you know they're watching Game of Thrones. They're playing
Speaker 1: in our faces. Oh my goodness, Colossal Biosciences. Somebody needs
Speaker 1: to check on them over there, because this seems not okay.
Speaker 1: Did they not watch Jurassic Park? I watched Jurassic Park,
Speaker 1: and with everything I know, Colossal Biosciences invite me out.
Speaker 1: I want to see I want to see what's going on.
Speaker 1: DT won't come, but I will be their composition book
Speaker 1: in hand to take notes. Okay. And all of this
Speaker 1: just makes me think about, like what happens next with
Speaker 1: these animals that now have lives. I mean, are they mating?
Speaker 1: Are they having babies? I mean, how does all of
Speaker 1: this work? Are they able to like when they have
Speaker 1: a baby, are they able to lactate to feed the baby?
Speaker 1: Or are they all just mixed up? I would assume.
Speaker 1: I mean biologically, if you're a mammal, you have the
Speaker 1: physiological thing, like the biological structures, like that's part of
Speaker 1: being a mammal, having those glands to lack tape. That's
Speaker 1: such a good point because most people with mammary glands
Speaker 1: and the right hormone levels can lactate. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: got a question about lactation, Yes, absolutely, So you don't
Speaker 1: have to be a cis gendered woman to produce milk
Speaker 1: postpartum due to some hormonal shifts with prolactin and oxytocin.
Speaker 1: That's what makes people lactate, and you can induce those
Speaker 1: hormones even if you aren't pregnant. Isn't that wild? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that makes sense. Think about wet nurses from
Speaker 1: back in the day. It's so true, and that means
Speaker 1: that trans people are able to lactate, Folks that adopt
Speaker 1: children are able to induce lactation. It's a really beautiful
Speaker 1: thing because they're basically able to trick their bodies into
Speaker 1: believing that they just had a baby by pumping, and
Speaker 1: their body just starts producing milk, which is amazing because
Speaker 1: that means that you could have a baby, or you
Speaker 1: cannot have a baby, physically give birth to a baby,
Speaker 1: and still have the ability to do something that you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of women really love doing when raising their children.
Speaker 1: The only thing I really know about lactation is that
Speaker 1: there's some cookies for us, you know what, lactation cookies.
Speaker 1: There's lactation drinks, teas, and I think there used to
Speaker 1: be such I don't know if it still exists, but
Speaker 1: I remember breastfeeding used to be such a thing. It
Speaker 1: was really being pushed, and then like people were saying
Speaker 1: formula is bad, now people are saying formula is good.
Speaker 1: You should, you know, now to have formula with probiotics
Speaker 1: and probiotics in it. So it's like, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: there are so many conflicting stories and people have very
Speaker 1: strong feelings about one or the other. And I remember
Speaker 1: when I was pregnant and reading all these different things.
Speaker 1: I had to just eventually stop reading everything because it
Speaker 1: was stressing me out. And I'm sure I just was like,
Speaker 1: you know, if I'm able to produce breast milk, wonderful.
Speaker 1: If I'm not, that's okay too. But then it turned
Speaker 1: out that, you know, not only did I produce breast milk,
Speaker 1: I was an over supplier, Zakia. You remember being with
Speaker 1: me pumping and traveling, Yes, And it felt like I
Speaker 1: had to pump all the time, and our freezer was
Speaker 1: filled with milk and I was just miserable. And I
Speaker 1: remember like seeing a lot of things when I was
Speaker 1: pregnant that was you know, women who were struggling with lactation,
Speaker 1: and I just felt bad because I was so miserable,
Speaker 1: and I didn't want to do it anymore. But I
Speaker 1: eventually stopped, and I felt a little bit, well not
Speaker 1: not even a little bit, a lot of shame because
Speaker 1: I felt like, wow, you know you have the ability
Speaker 1: to do this, and you're gonna stop doing it because
Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable, it's painful, and basically I felt like I
Speaker 1: couldn't leave my house because I have I felt like
Speaker 1: I had to pump all the time just to get
Speaker 1: get the milk out, and it was just really hard.
Speaker 1: But then I saw a meme not too long ago
Speaker 1: that was basically just like if you don't lactate, if
Speaker 1: you choose not to breastfeed, if you they basically were
Speaker 1: running through all these scenarios for why you would not
Speaker 1: be breastfeeding your child, and they're said that basically all
Speaker 1: of them are valid, and I was like, man, I
Speaker 1: wish I would have seen this back then, because I
Speaker 1: was crying big tears. Honey. It's just so much pressure
Speaker 1: that they put on the child bearing parent, or like
Speaker 1: I'm just like, oh, it's too much, too much. It
Speaker 1: is too much. Because I saw somebody recently where somebody
Speaker 1: was like, I know you're not still breastfeeding because they
Speaker 1: felt like the baby was too old. Everybody shut up,
Speaker 1: you know, I know that's right with what other people
Speaker 1: are doing with their bodies. Shut up. I feel like
Speaker 1: that's the that's the hugest thing. Hopefully we can, you know,
Speaker 1: release ourselves from the burdens of other people's peering eyes
Speaker 1: and sticking their noses in where they don't belong. This
Speaker 1: feels like we've covered quite a few things and that's
Speaker 1: not even our full grab bag, y'all. I know. Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, we talked about a lot. Let's run through
Speaker 1: it really quick so we can remind the people that
Speaker 1: this wasn't just any old conversation. Well, you started at
Speaker 1: the very top protecting our rights with Senator Corey Booker.
Speaker 1: We followed that up with talking about parenting with Chapel
Speaker 1: Romee's comments on parenting. Then we started talking about allergies
Speaker 1: and how pollen is kicking our butts, and how there
Speaker 1: is a correlation between benadryl and dementia, but not causation,
Speaker 1: not ouration, not causation, And then we moved right on
Speaker 1: into some of the latest genetic engineering technology. Yes, Jurassic
Speaker 1: Park is upon us. Everyone prepare yourselves. But even before
Speaker 1: we got to that we were evaluating animals consciousness. The
Speaker 1: animals are everywhere and they have things to say. I
Speaker 1: think yes. And then we started talking about lactation and
Speaker 1: societal pressures that force you know, the lactating parent into
Speaker 1: sometimes a depression. Yes, okay, talk about it. Well, hopefully
Speaker 1: we were able to shine a light on some of
Speaker 1: the things. These are questions you all sent to us.
Speaker 1: And if us talking about this brought up another question,
Speaker 1: send it to we want to hear it. We're reading
Speaker 1: all of your messages and that's how we built this episode.
Speaker 1: And this is how means a kid talk to each
Speaker 1: other on the phone. I fear like it is zig
Speaker 1: zagging all types of different things, but it's always fun,
Speaker 1: always a good time. Yeah, So just dial our number
Speaker 1: next well three way. You can find us on X
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Dope Labs. Podcast, tt is on X
Speaker 1: and Instagram at d R underscore t Shoe and you
Speaker 1: can find Takiya at Z said so. Dope Labs is
Speaker 1: a production of Lamanada Media. Our senior supervising producer is
Speaker 1: Kristin Lapour and our associate producer is Issara Savez. Dope
Speaker 1: Labs is sound design edited and mixed by James Barber.
Speaker 1: Lamanada Media's Vice President of Partnerships and Production is Jackie Danziger.
Speaker 1: Executive producer from iHeart Podcast is Katrina Norvil. Marketing lead
Speaker 1: is Alison Kanter. Original music composed and produced by Taka
Speaker 1: Yasuzawa and Alex sudi Ura, with additional music by Elijah Harvey.
Speaker 1: Dope Labs is executive produced by us T T Show
Speaker 1: Dia and Pakia Wattley.