1 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Daniel here with a quick note that my 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 1: new book, Do Aliens Speak Physics? Is coming out soon 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: November fourth, and I'd love if you considered pre ordering it. 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: The book imagines the arrival of aliens and what it 5 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: would be like to try to make mental contact and 6 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: download their understanding of the universe. Do we have Physics 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: in common with the Aliens? If you like how the 8 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: podcast asks deep physics questions and dabbles in philosophy, you'll 9 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: enjoy the book, which also features cute cartoons of aliens 10 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: from my friend Andy Warner. Find it anywhere or check 11 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: out the book website www dot Alienspeakphysics dot com. Okay, 12 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: on to today's episode. 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 2: How do the pinworms know that it's night when they 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 2: lurk in a place with so little light? 15 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: If I upgraded my quirks to top quark class, what 16 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,639 Speaker 1: I automatically get we had a bigger mass. 17 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 2: If you eat certain foods, your skin will change you. 18 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,320 Speaker 2: Why does that happen? Do we have any clue? 19 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: Whatever questions keep you up at night, and Daniel and 20 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: Kelly's answer will make it all right. 21 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 2: Welcome to Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe. 22 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, and I've never 23 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: had pinworms. 24 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 2: Hi. I'm Kelly, I'm a biologist, and I'm not sure 25 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 2: Daniel can be sure that he's never had pinworms. 26 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to the episode where we dig deep into Daniel's condition. 27 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 2: All right, So, Daniel, my question for you today is 28 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 2: what was the most surprising thing about parenting? 29 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: Wow? Great question. I think one of the most surprising 30 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: things about parenting for me was how the gross quickly 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: becomes monotonous and every day you like wiping somebody else's 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: feces off of your hands or face, it's just like, 33 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: you know, it's just another Tuesday. 34 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 2: Yep. Oh, I totally agree. The first time my daughter, 35 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 2: like projectile pooped and it was on the wall and 36 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 2: on me, I was like, oh my gosh, this is 37 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 2: so gross. And then by like the fifth time, I 38 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: was like, I got some more laundry to do today, 39 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 2: and it was like it was like nothing whatever. 40 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, And when you have visitors and they see the 41 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: inside of your actual day to day routine and they're like, whoa, 42 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: it gives you a taste for like how far you've 43 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: drifted from societal norms. 44 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: But you pretty quickly get back to normal expectations. You know, 45 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 2: when your kids get past the age where you have 46 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 2: to wipe your butt, you very quickly return to I 47 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 2: would prefer to not wipe people's butts if I could 48 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 2: avoid it, Although I think taking care of each other 49 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 2: is one of the best things that humans can do. 50 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: I agree, But if my sixteen year old pooped on me, 51 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: it would be a pretty big memory, and I can't 52 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: remember all the time she did it when she was young. 53 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 2: Right, yeah, things change, things change exactly. 54 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: It would stand out now, that's right, that's right. How 55 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: about you? What is one of your most surprising discoveries 56 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: about parenting? 57 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 2: So it also has to do with hygiene, and it's 58 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 2: how far our species has come with hygiene, because there's 59 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 2: so many things that kids don't do naturally that you 60 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 2: would expect they would want to do naturally, like wash 61 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 2: their hands, like wash their hands or take a shower. 62 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: But doctors weren't washing their hands until like one hundred 63 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: and fifty years ago. 64 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 2: I know. No culture has played such a huge role 65 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 2: in keeping us healthy, and it's amazing and it really 66 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 2: hit home for me when I was a parent. But 67 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 2: I think that one of the things that surprised me 68 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 2: in particular is the number of times I've had to 69 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 2: say the phrase get your hand out of your butt, 70 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 2: and which leads us into question one, because kids sticking 71 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 2: their hands in their butts is how they transmit pinworms 72 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 2: and why this is probably the most common worm infection 73 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 2: in the United States. 74 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: All right, so get ready to get itchy everyone. 75 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 2: That's right. So we have an amazing Discord community, and 76 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 2: you can join us by going to Danielandkelly dot org 77 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 2: and clicking on the link to our Discord channel. And 78 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 2: Julian on Discord had this question that he wanted to 79 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 2: share with us, and let. 80 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: Me add another shout out to our Discord community. If 81 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: you want to reach us, you can write us questions 82 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: at questions at Daniel and Kelly dot org. But the 83 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: Discord community is also a lot of fun. You can 84 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,280 Speaker 1: ask your questions there. There's lots of folks chatting and discussing, 85 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: sharing recent articles, talking about science. If you can't get 86 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 1: enough Daniel and Kelly and science, come join us on 87 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: Discord and be part of the inner synctum. 88 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 2: And I'd just like to shout out to our moderators, 89 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 2: who are the best moderators on the whole entire internet. 90 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: I'm sure, Oh, yes, absolutely, they win all the awards 91 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: they do. 92 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 3: Hey, Daniel and Kelly, this is Julian in Houston. As 93 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 3: the parent of a small child. I've had pinworms on 94 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 3: my mind a bit in the past couple of years, 95 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,080 Speaker 3: and I think I heard on a previous episode you 96 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 3: mentioned the pinworms tend to come out at night to 97 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 3: lay their eggs and cause itchymut. So my question is, 98 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 3: how do pinworms know it's nighttime to come out and 99 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,840 Speaker 3: cause ITCHI mut Thanks so much and I look forward 100 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 3: to hearing the answer. 101 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: So Kelly, tell us what is a pinworm? 102 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 2: A pinworm is a little worm. When it's an adult, 103 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 2: it's about the size of a staple, so they're tiny. 104 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 2: About forty million people in the United States probably have 105 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 2: pinworm right now, and a billion people worldwide. I think 106 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 2: I said a moment ago that pinworms are the most 107 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 2: common worm infection that's in the US, where we don't 108 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 2: have a lot of other kinds of worm infections. They're 109 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 2: very common in children, and they're also kind of common 110 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 2: in people in long term care facilities. 111 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,280 Speaker 1: All right, so let's estimate what fraction of our audience 112 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: have pinworms right now as they're listening to this. We're 113 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: talking forty million people. That's like fifteen percent of the US. 114 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: Is it not evenly distributed because you're saying it's like 115 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: children and old folks homes. 116 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, So if you have children and they are let's 117 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 2: say preschool or elementary school age, there's a pretty good 118 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 2: chance they have or have had pinworms, and there's a 119 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 2: decent chance they gave it to you, although it does 120 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 2: seem like adults become more resistant, and so even if 121 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 2: your kids have it, you're not definitely going to get it. 122 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 2: But doctors will often prescribe medication to an entire family 123 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 2: if anyone in it gets the parasites, because it is 124 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 2: pretty pretty easy to transmit. 125 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: So maybe like one in ten of our listeners right 126 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: now have pinworms. Maybe the pinworms are listening to this episode. 127 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 2: So if I have to remember our demographics from the 128 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,799 Speaker 2: last time we did a survey, we have a lot 129 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 2: of men over fifty or sixty and they are highly 130 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 2: unlikely to have pinworms, And so I don't know about 131 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 2: one in ten. It depends on how many of our 132 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 2: current listeners have young kids. But there's a good chance 133 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 2: that you have either had it at some point in 134 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 2: your life or if you have kids, you have it now. 135 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: All right, So tell us what do these guys look like. 136 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 2: So they're in kind of nematodes. So these are cylindrical worms. 137 00:06:58,200 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 2: They have no segments, so don't think about an earth work. 138 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 2: Think about just kind of like a hard outer case 139 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 2: and a very tiny worm. They kind of come to 140 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 2: an end, which is why they're called pinworms. As I 141 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 2: mentioned before, they're like the size of a staple when 142 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 2: they're adults. Oh, I see, and you might remember that 143 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 2: a few months ago we talked about geo helmets, or 144 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 2: we call them the dirt worms. These are nematods that 145 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 2: you find in the dirt. This is another kind of nematode, 146 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 2: so they're kind of related to the dirt worms we 147 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 2: were talking about earlier. 148 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: So you're using this phrase nematod, and it sounds like 149 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: it describes a category of worm. What is a nematod. 150 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 2: Nematoda is a whole phylum of worms that have this 151 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 2: like hard outer cuticle. Some of them live in the soil, 152 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 2: some of them are commensal with plants, and some of 153 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 2: them are parasitic. 154 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, if I had to guess, if somebody just asked 155 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: me what a nematoad was, it sounds to me like 156 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: some sort of miniature Japanese frog. That's great, like it 157 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: might be served in a weird sushi or something very 158 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: high end sushi. 159 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 2: I mean, that's completely wrong. That is very cute, very cute. 160 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: So I'm imagining that the life style with these guys 161 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: is not very cute. So tell us about it, and 162 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: everyone finish that snack you're having before you. 163 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 2: Listen to this, or go wash your hands. So the 164 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 2: infection route is what's called fecal oral or poop to mouth. 165 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 2: Good start. 166 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: That's an actual phrase people use. 167 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 2: I've heard it said in my community more than once. 168 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 2: I don't know if it shows up in any textbooks, but. 169 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: Poop mouth, all right, So tell us about it. Yeah. 170 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 2: The idea here is that you accidentally eat the eggs. 171 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 2: So you accidentally consume an egg, it hatches in your 172 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 2: body and when it gets to the intestine, the males 173 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 2: and the females will find each other and they'll mate, 174 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 2: and then the males die. 175 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: Inside you instant having a party inside you. Oh my gosh, 176 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:52,559 Speaker 1: that's right. 177 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,080 Speaker 2: You might not be dating. But the worms inside you 178 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 2: might be so someone's find in love in that body 179 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 2: of you are So. 180 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: That's good news. 181 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 2: I guess. 182 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: I don't know, all right. So they start out as eggs, 183 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: you end up in your mouth. We'll get into that 184 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: in a minute, I imagine. Yep, they hatch, they mate 185 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: inside you, and they have little babies. Oh no, eggs, 186 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:12,319 Speaker 1: I guess. 187 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 2: Well, So the female starts producing eggs. The male, after 188 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 2: reproducing dies and gets digested, and so you'll never see 189 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 2: the male. 190 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: Wow. 191 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 2: The female her eggs. She starts making eggs. They start 192 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 2: maturing a little bit inside of her. Then she moves 193 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 2: down farther into your intestine, and when she is ready 194 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 2: to lay those eggs at night, she will come out. 195 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 2: She will crawl out of your anis. 196 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: One's anis. Excuse me, one's anis? 197 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 2: Crawl out of one's anis. And on the CDC website 198 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 2: it cracks me up because it says anis and then 199 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 2: in parentheses butthole just in case you are sure as 200 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,199 Speaker 2: so crawls out your butthole. And the female needs oxygen 201 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 2: to stimulate the release of eggs, and apparently in some 202 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 2: cases she has what's called a prolapsed uterus, which essentially 203 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 2: just means that her uterus sort of comes out of 204 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 2: her body and expels the eggs. And I guess in 205 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 2: some cases they've observed the eggs going airborne. This expulsion 206 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 2: happens so violently. 207 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: This is much less cute than miniature Japanese frogs. I 208 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: vote for miniature Japanese frogs. We should have that instead. 209 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 2: Well, you know you don't. 210 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:21,439 Speaker 1: Get to juice, all right, But I have an actual 211 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: sides question. Okay, how do the eggs survive in my 212 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,720 Speaker 1: digestive track, Like you're dropping them in stomach acid and 213 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 1: they're surviving. 214 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,079 Speaker 2: So in this case, they're still inside of their mom. 215 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 2: She doesn't expel them until she gets outside of the body. 216 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: But the eggs I've consumed, right, The mom herself was 217 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:39,199 Speaker 1: born from an egg that I swallowed. 218 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 2: Right, yes, And your digestive juices helped it escape from 219 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 2: the egg that it was living in. Oh wow, And 220 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 2: then it's tough cuticle protects it from your. 221 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 1: Juices, all right. So she comes out the enis does 222 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: her little oxygen. 223 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 2: Dance, yes, and she will lay her eggs in the 224 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 2: perianal region, and then often she will die and we'll 225 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 2: talk about what happens. If she doesn't die as a symptom, 226 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 2: that's bad. But most of the time she dies. And 227 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 2: the eggs are sticky, and so they stick to your butt, 228 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 2: and they also kind of make you itch because now 229 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 2: there's like some sticky stuff in your butt, and that's 230 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 2: not great. And kids are likely to stick their hands 231 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 2: in their butts, which is what I learned as a mom, 232 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 2: is that they're always sticking their hands in their butts. 233 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:24,719 Speaker 2: And so they stick their hands in their butts and 234 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,319 Speaker 2: then they get it underneath their fingernails or on their fingers. 235 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 2: And then because they're scratched, because it's itch that's right, 236 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 2: that's right. 237 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: Don't make it sound so weird. They're itchy, so they're scratching. 238 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, they're itchy. So they're scratching. They're humans. And 239 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 2: then these grubby little creatures we call children go around 240 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 2: and touch things, you know. They put their fingers in 241 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 2: their mouths, they put their fingers in your mouth, they 242 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 2: put their fingers on the kitchen table, and in that way, 243 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 2: these sticky eggs get to lots of different places, and 244 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 2: when they get consumed, then you're back up at the start. 245 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,199 Speaker 2: Of the cycle that we talked about, where your stomach 246 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,199 Speaker 2: juices will open up the eggs and the process will 247 00:11:58,200 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 2: start again. 248 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: So this is the story I use to convince my 249 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,319 Speaker 1: kids to keep their fingers out of their mouth. So, 250 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:06,959 Speaker 1: you know, kids like to chew on their nails or whatever. 251 00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,319 Speaker 1: And anytime I see my kids chewing on their nails, 252 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: I just make this wiggly fingers hand gesture and it 253 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: recalls for them the story I told them about pinworms, 254 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: and they go, oh, They're immediately grossed out by what 255 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: might be under their fingernails, and they stop. So this 256 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: has been an effective parenting technique. 257 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 2: Fantastic. Now you have your kids ever had pinworms that 258 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 2: you know of? 259 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: I don't think I should be discussing my kids medical 260 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: history on the podcast. Let's keep it abstract. 261 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 2: Okay, have you ever had pinworms? 262 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 4: No? 263 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: I have not personally ever had pinworms to my knowledge. 264 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 2: Right, So that's the thing. Most who No, not to 265 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 2: my knowledge. But I've had periods of itchiness where I 266 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 2: wondered if maybe maybe I had it. Anytime there's a 267 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 2: little itch, I think good worms. 268 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: And now everyone listening to this podcast is suddenly feel 269 00:12:58,640 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: and itchy. 270 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 2: That's right right. I mean the females lay like ten 271 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 2: thousand eggs. 272 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: Oh my god, how tiny are these? Can you not 273 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: see them? 274 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 2: You can't see them. They're teeny tiny. 275 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: You can't even see them when you lay ten thousand 276 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: of them, Like, it doesn't look like a little blob 277 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: or a smear or something. 278 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 2: No, it's teeny tiny. I mean if you put it, 279 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:16,319 Speaker 2: you don't have to put it under a super high 280 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 2: powered microscope to see it, but you do need a 281 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 2: microscope to see it. You know, they're kind of clear, 282 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 2: they're not very big. These eggs can survive for two 283 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,720 Speaker 2: to three weeks, like out on a counter or something. 284 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 1: Wow. 285 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 2: But the way that you find out if someone is 286 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 2: infected is called the Scotch tape test. 287 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no, where at the Scotch tape? Kelly, 288 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: where around the black hole? 289 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 2: The physicist that comes in with the black hole joke, Yes, 290 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 2: around the black hole. Yeah. So, so the females come 291 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,080 Speaker 2: out at night to lay their eggs, which is going 292 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 2: to get us to the listener's question in just a minute. 293 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 2: But they lay their eggs at night in particular, and 294 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 2: so in the morning right when they wake up, before 295 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 2: they've you know, used the restroom or wiped or anything. 296 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 2: You take a piece of tape and you sort of 297 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 2: pat it around the perianal region and then you stick 298 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 2: it on a glass slide and you put it under 299 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 2: a microscope, so you can see those eggs. Sometimes you 300 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 2: even catch the mom because she's just sort of died 301 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 2: and she's still there, and so you'll see a worm 302 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 2: and those you can see. So sometimes you do know 303 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 2: that someone's infected because you find one of the mom 304 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 2: worms and you're like, oh, shoot, well we've got worms. 305 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: Yikes, yikes. 306 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 2: Yeah. 307 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: So then the listener asked, how does the mom know 308 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: that it's nighttime and she should come out and do 309 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: her dance? Why doesn't she come out during the day? 310 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 2: All right, great question. I didn't know the answer, and 311 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 2: I asked the American Society of Parasitologists Facebook page, which 312 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 2: has like fifteen thousand followers, and I was like, all right, team, 313 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 2: how do we know that pinworms know that it's nighttime? 314 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 2: Because I looked through a bunch of medical books about 315 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 2: parasitic diseases and they all said pinworms come out at night. 316 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 2: Some of them would say that the pinworms were detecting 317 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 2: our drop in body temperature when we sleep. Oh, and 318 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 2: then others would say they might be detecting a drop 319 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,520 Speaker 2: in body temperature, but they wouldn't say it definitively, And 320 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 2: none of them included an inline reference that I could 321 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 2: check for the study that showed that they're responding to 322 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 2: body temperature, because they could also be responding to like, 323 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 2: you know, you're not moving for a couple hours. 324 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: So there's the question of how the worms know it's 325 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: night to come out. But how do we know they 326 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: only come out at night? And why do they only 327 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: come out at night? Do they come out at night 328 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: because that's the best time to lay the eggs while 329 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: we're asleep, or do they need the darker environment or what? 330 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 2: Yes, I think the answer at the end of the 331 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 2: day is we don't know. Because the American Society of Parasitologists, 332 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 2: when I asked them, the best answer I got was 333 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 2: from my friend Brandon, who said they have little watches 334 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 2: and that's how they know it's nighttime. I thank you, Brandon. 335 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 2: But anyway, as far as I could tell, we haven't 336 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 2: done studies to figure out one why it's nighttime, or 337 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 2: two to confirm that they're actually queuing in on temperature. 338 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 2: I think we suspect that that's the cue that they're using, 339 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 2: but we haven't ruled out other possible cues. And as 340 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 2: to why they do it at night, it could be 341 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 2: possible that while people are sleeping is a time when 342 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 2: you are less likely to have a bellel movement. And 343 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 2: this parasite doesn't pass in feces, it passes on fingers. 344 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 2: And the reason that we know that it happens at 345 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 2: night is because if you do the Scotch tape test 346 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 2: in the morning, you get a bunch of eggs. If 347 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 2: you do it at other times of day, you don't 348 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 2: get a bunch of eggs. And you would expect if 349 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,760 Speaker 2: they were laying randomly throughout the day, the Scotch tape 350 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 2: test would give you eggs at just about any time 351 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:38,840 Speaker 2: of day. 352 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: Fascinating. So Julian's question is really at the forefront of science. 353 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. I encourage any young people out there 354 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 2: to search for this answer. I don't know what it 355 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 2: would take to answer this question. I think pinworms are 356 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 2: pretty host specific, and so like Ancherobius vermicularis, which is 357 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 2: the species that humans have, I don't know you might 358 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 2: be able to do it in some other mammalians species 359 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 2: do the experiments, But I don't know. Maybe you'd have 360 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 2: to heat people up and cool them down and see 361 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 2: what their worms were doing, or ask them to stay still, 362 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 2: or mess with some hormones that are associated with sleep 363 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 2: that maybe the pinworms are queuing in on. But anyway, 364 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,199 Speaker 2: inquiring minds want to know, but we don't know the 365 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 2: answer as far as I can tell. 366 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: Well, if you've always been interested in black holes and 367 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: this podcast has peaked your interest in biology, maybe this 368 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,440 Speaker 1: is the perfect crossover topic for you. 369 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 2: Could be all right, Julian, thank you so much for 370 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 2: this question and for joining us on discord. Did we 371 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,479 Speaker 2: scratch your itch? Please don't give us worms? 372 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 3: Hey, y'all, yes, you absolutely scratched my itch. I think 373 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 3: my favorite part was hearing about the violently explosive egg laying. 374 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,199 Speaker 3: Also how small the eggs actually are, as I always 375 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 3: assume that you'd be able to see them in the 376 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 3: poop or something like that. I'm also glad to hear 377 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 3: Kelly give a we don't know answer, and I hope 378 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 3: Daniel Guest to drop on it depends soon. Thank you 379 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 3: so much for your answer, and my kid will one 380 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 3: day figure out the answer, though hopefully not by catching pinworms. 381 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: All right, we're back and we're answering questions from listeners 382 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: because your curiosity literally powers science. If people didn't want 383 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: to know the answer to these questions, we would not 384 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 1: get to do it. So we want to hear what 385 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: you wonder about the universe. Right to us two questions 386 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: at Danielankelly dot org. Our next question comes from a 387 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: lawyer in the UK. Rebecca wants to know about top quarks. 388 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 5: If I weigh fifty five kilograms on the basis that 389 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 5: my protons are upquarks and down cork, how much would 390 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:01,200 Speaker 5: I weigh if my protons were made of top quarks? 391 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 5: And why is there a different if any All. 392 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,359 Speaker 1: Right, this is a really fun question about what it 393 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: might be like to have top quarks in your life. 394 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 2: I can imagine there being a new diet fad where 395 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 2: people say, oh, I've created a thing that turns your 396 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:17,159 Speaker 2: bottom quarks to top quarks and that's how you're going 397 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 2: to lose ten pounds. So you better not say this works. 398 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't recommend no, no, definitely, no particle physics 399 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: inspired diets do not fall for that. 400 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 2: Oh, there's got to be some quantum something, something diet 401 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 2: out there that people have tried out. 402 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: Well, you can have quark, right, Quark is some German 403 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,159 Speaker 1: yogurt like product, and that sounds kind of quantumy, but 404 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: it's not any more quantum than anything else. I mean, literally, 405 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: everything is quantum because we're all made of quantum particles. Right, 406 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: So your diet is already quantum. 407 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 2: That's right, all right? Well, so mass is a concept 408 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 2: I understand biologically. Let's go ahead and understand it physically. 409 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 2: Where does mass come from? 410 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, so Rebecca wants to know what would happen if 411 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: you built your protons out of top quarks. We got 412 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: to understand mass for that. So your mass mostly comes 413 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 1: from the stuff you're made out of. Right, The mass 414 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:11,400 Speaker 1: of Kelly is very close to the mass of all 415 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: of Kelly's parts added up. You are not much more 416 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,679 Speaker 1: than the sum of your parts. I mean, intellectually, of 417 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: course you are. Personally you are. When it comes to 418 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,200 Speaker 1: a mass point of view, you're mostly your chunks added up. 419 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 2: Thank you for pulling me out of the depression black hole. 420 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 2: I was inevitably going to slide into. 421 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: And that's where our intuitive sense of mass comes from. Right, 422 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 1: Like stuff is made of smaller stuff, and the mass 423 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: of the bigger stuff is the sum of the mass 424 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: of the smaller stuff. Like you weigh a cat made 425 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:40,919 Speaker 1: out of legos, and then you take it apart and 426 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:42,880 Speaker 1: you weigh the legos, you get the same answer. Right, 427 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: that's where our intuition comes from. 428 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 2: Cats are way less fun when you take them apart, 429 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:49,360 Speaker 2: and also. 430 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,440 Speaker 1: When you make them out of legos, they're not as cozy. Yeah, 431 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 1: And so you're made out of your atoms, and your 432 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: atoms are made of protons and neutrons and electrons, and 433 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: we can mostly ignore the electrons because an electron weighs 434 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: almost one two thousands of a proton, so they're basically 435 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: irrelevant when it comes to what you're made out of. 436 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 1: So mostly you're made out of your protons and your neutrons. 437 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 2: Sorry electrons, all right, So then where does the mass 438 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 2: from a proton and a neutron come from? 439 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: Right? And so Rebecca is referring to upquarks and down 440 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: quarks because that's what makes up protons and neutrons. Protons 441 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: and neutrons are just different combinations of the same two bits, 442 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: which is awesome and amazing and also requires them to 443 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: have these weird charges. Like to make a proton, you 444 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: add two quarks that have a charge two thirds and 445 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: another quark that has a charge negative one third, So 446 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: plus two thirds plus two thirds gives you four thirds 447 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,440 Speaker 1: minus a third gives you three thirds. Or charger one 448 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: that's a proton neutron is one quark with a charge 449 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: two thirds and two quarks with a charge negative one third, 450 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: so you get plus two minus one minus one zero. 451 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: It's amazing how you can build these things out of 452 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: the same building blocks, right, That's something sort of cool. 453 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 2: We're talking the other day about whether or not the 454 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 2: universe is like beautiful and sort of meets the expectation 455 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,400 Speaker 2: of our esthetic preferences, and I got to say, there's 456 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 2: something about plus two thirds and negative one third charges 457 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 2: that's not aesthetically pleasing to me. But I like that 458 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 2: You no. 459 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: What I thought you were going to go the other direction. Tweet. 460 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: That's beautiful showing how you can build two very different 461 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,760 Speaker 1: things out of the same pieces. It's like when you 462 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: see somebody build something incredible out of legos, You're like, Wow, 463 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: that's awesome that you can do it out of the 464 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: same bits. That's something simple and organomic about it. That 465 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: appeals to my aesthetic. 466 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 2: And I guess that's why this question about whether or 467 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,399 Speaker 2: not physics and math meet our definitions of beauty is 468 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 2: so hard, because what's beautiful to some person is you know, 469 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 2: maybe not beautiful to others, and we don't even have 470 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 2: the same definition of beauty. 471 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. And I can also get rid of 472 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: the one thirds easily if I just redefine the electron 473 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,439 Speaker 1: mass to be negative three, then the upquarks and down 474 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: quarks have charge plus two and minus one. And you 475 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 1: know it's just because of Ben Franklin that the quarks 476 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: have charge one third. There's no absolute scale there. 477 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 2: Why is it Ben Franklin's fault that the charge is 478 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,719 Speaker 2: negative one third? We're getting way off track here, But 479 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:08,879 Speaker 2: what is Ben? Was Ben Franklin around when we were 480 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 2: figuring this stuff out? 481 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: Well, Ben Franklin, you know, the best president of the 482 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: United States. He helped to find the direction of the currents, 483 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: and so the direction that we later discovered was caused 484 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,200 Speaker 1: by electrons he called negative. 485 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 2: Was Ben Franklin ever a president? 486 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: No, he was not a president. That's an internet joke. 487 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 2: Oh, I did that one right over my head. All right, Look, 488 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 2: this isn't a history podcast, Daniel, Let's get back on track, 489 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 2: all right. 490 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 1: Anyways, so your protons and neutrons are made out of 491 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,160 Speaker 1: upquarks and down quarks. But this is where our intuition 492 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: breaks down. You might imagine that the mass of the 493 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,160 Speaker 1: proton is just the mass of the quarks it's made 494 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:44,639 Speaker 1: out of, added up, the way the mass of the 495 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: lego cat is the mass of the legos. But it's 496 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,920 Speaker 1: not true because mass is not just the stuff you're 497 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: made out of. Mass is a measure of your internal 498 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: stored energy, which is a much weirder and more astract concept. 499 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: The universe is not required to be intuitive, right, or 500 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: to make any sense to us at all. It's amazing 501 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,280 Speaker 1: we can't understand any of it. But like to give 502 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: you a sense for what I'm talking about. If you 503 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: have a box made of mirrors and you shine a 504 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 1: photon in there and then slam the door. So now 505 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,720 Speaker 1: the photon is bouncing around inside of it, and I 506 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: ask you, well, what was the mass of the box before? 507 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 1: And after you'd say, well, you've just added a photon. 508 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 1: Photons have no mass. You've put a zero mass thing 509 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,160 Speaker 1: in the box, so it has the same mass before 510 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,239 Speaker 1: and after, And you would be wrong because now that 511 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,360 Speaker 1: photon is trapped in the box, it's internal stored energy 512 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: of the box. So the box gained some mass by 513 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: e equals mc squared. 514 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Wait a minute. The other day you 515 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,359 Speaker 2: were telling me that energy doesn't have I thought you 516 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 2: were saying that energy doesn't have mass, and people get 517 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:50,439 Speaker 2: confused about equals mc squared. Doesn't imply that photons have mass. 518 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: Photons do not have mass. Okay, photons do not have mass, 519 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: But what is mass anyway? Mass is internal stored energy. 520 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,479 Speaker 1: Photons have no internal stored energy. But you can capture 521 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: a photon same way that for example, if you absorb 522 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: a photon you lay in the sun, you absorb photons, 523 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: you gain mass because those photons energy gets converted into 524 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,120 Speaker 1: other kinds of energy in your body, and any internal 525 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: stored energy, that's what mass is. 526 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 2: So can we get a short answer for how do 527 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,640 Speaker 2: you define energy then? Or is that another philosophical side road? 528 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 2: So if you've got if you've got a photon in 529 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 2: a box and now you have more energy, what does 530 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 2: that imply that energy is? 531 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 3: Then? 532 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we don't really know what energy is if 533 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: you want to go like really deep and fundamental. It's 534 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,120 Speaker 1: not even something that's conserved in the universe, which makes 535 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: it even harder to define. But we have categories. There's 536 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: energy of motion, which is what a photon has. A 537 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,360 Speaker 1: photon is pure energy of motion. Is also internal stored energy, 538 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: which is what mass is. So we have these examples, 539 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: and we know that in many situations that some of 540 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 1: these two things is conserved that you can convert one 541 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: kind into another and back and forth they slosh back 542 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,719 Speaker 1: and forth. There's also potential energy, which is just energy 543 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,439 Speaker 1: of like configuration. You know, if you have a ball 544 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: on a shelf in a gravitational field, then it has 545 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: energy stored. Like you can make a gravitational battery just 546 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,199 Speaker 1: by lifting concrete blocks up to the top of a building, 547 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 1: and like that has energy in it, and you can 548 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: recover that energy by like dropping those rocks, and then 549 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: it turns into kinetic energy and you can have that 550 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: spin a wheel which then generates electricity, for example. So 551 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 1: there's lots of different forms of energy, but mass is 552 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: a measure of your internal stored energy, which is really 553 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: weird because me and what we're talking about is the 554 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: inertial mass of the object, right, Like, how hard is 555 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 1: it to accelerate it? And if you shine a light 556 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: into a box and then slam the door, you need 557 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: to give it a bigger push to accelerate it to 558 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: the same velocity. 559 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 2: Okay, all right, So you've got that photon in a 560 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 2: box and you switch one of the quarks to up 561 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 2: and now you have two or no, you've got three 562 00:26:59,320 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 2: quarks in there. 563 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: So photons that you're talking about, photons and protons. Oh, 564 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:05,400 Speaker 1: I was talking about photons, which. 565 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 2: Have no mass, but they have quarks. 566 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: No, no, no, protons have quarks, photons, photons. I was using 567 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: photons because they have no mass, which it makes it 568 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: especially obvious that when they add mass to the box, 569 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: it's not because they have stuff to them. It's because 570 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: you now have internal stored energy. You've captured their energy. 571 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 2: Okay, got it. 572 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: So let's return to the proton, which is a good idea. 573 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: Where does the mass of the proton come from? It 574 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: does get some contribution from the mass of the quarks, 575 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 1: like those little lego pieces, but those masses are really 576 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: really tiny, like they're about one thousands or two thousands 577 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,879 Speaker 1: of the mass of the proton. Most of the mass 578 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: of the proton comes from the energy of those quarks, 579 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,680 Speaker 1: the binding of them into a proton. There's a lot 580 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: of energy stored in there. And we know there's a 581 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,919 Speaker 1: lot of energy in protons because there's a lot of 582 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,679 Speaker 1: energy in the nucleus. It's the strong nuclear force. This 583 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: is what fission and fusion and deal with, and that's 584 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,400 Speaker 1: why they're so powerful. And so most of the mass 585 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: of the proton doesn't come from the bits it's made 586 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: out of. It comes from the binding energy. And the 587 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: mass of the quarks themselves does come from the Higgs boson. 588 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 1: But so most of your mass comes from the binding 589 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 1: energy of quarks inside protons, not from the Higgs boson, 590 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: which gives those quarks mass. 591 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 2: So, to imagine what this experiment would look like, if 592 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,640 Speaker 2: you wanted to switch your quarks from down to up, 593 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 2: you would need a bunch of energy to break that 594 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 2: bond and switch it, and then you don't even really 595 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 2: have protons anymore. 596 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: Yeah, you wouldn't have protons anymore. So a proton is 597 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: defined as this combination of up and down quarks, and 598 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:42,800 Speaker 1: you can have other combinations, like you can replace one 599 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: of the up quarks with a charm, or you can 600 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: replace the down with a strange and we've done all those. 601 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 1: We've seen those particles. We call them other weird things, 602 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: delta's and omegas. You can have three strange quarks. It's 603 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: all sorts of different combinations. These particles can be neutral 604 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 1: in triplets. It's meaning like their color charges are all balanced. 605 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: And so we've made every possible combination we can make, 606 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: but most of them are not stable. Like even the 607 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: neutron is not stable. The neutron will decay to the proton. 608 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: The proton is the stable one. It's the lowest energy 609 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,800 Speaker 1: state of all of these things. So you can make 610 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: other particles out of quarks, but they wouldn't be stable, 611 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: and they wouldn't be protons. But let's say you did. 612 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,000 Speaker 1: Let's say you took a proton and you made the 613 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: top quark version of it, whatever you call it, and 614 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,160 Speaker 1: you make it like top top bottom, which is an 615 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: analog of like up up down number one. It would 616 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: already be a lot more massive because the quarks themselves 617 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 1: are much more massive, Like a top quark has the 618 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: mass of one hundred and seventy five protons, right, So 619 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: the upcork has the mass of like a thousands of 620 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,719 Speaker 1: the proton, and the top cork has the mass of 621 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 1: like almost two hundred protons, So it's a huge ratio. 622 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: Nobody understands this. By the way, why is the top 623 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: quark so much heavier than the upqork. Nobody knows. It's 624 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: just this incredible heavy grand papa of a particle. Nobody 625 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: knows why it's so much more massive, if. 626 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 2: We could take a quick step back, So up and 627 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 2: down quarks are different than top and bottom quarks. And 628 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 2: what are top and bottom quarks again? 629 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, top and bottom quarks are the heavy versions of them. 630 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: They're up and down quarks which we use to make 631 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: the proton and neutron. And then, for some reason that's 632 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 1: a mystery to us, there are other heavier versions of them. 633 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,480 Speaker 1: The charm and the strange are just like the up 634 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: and the down, but they're heavier. The top and the 635 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: bottom are just like the up and the down in 636 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 1: terms of like electric charges and weak charges and behavior 637 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: and stuff like this, but even heavier, and the top 638 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: and the bottom are like the grandma and grandpa of 639 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: these things. They're much much heavier than they up and 640 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: the down okay, and that's why I think Rebecca was 641 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: asking you about this, because they feel like different flavors 642 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: of the same particle. In fact, we call this field 643 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: flavor physics because if top quark and bottom quark feel 644 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: like different flavors, and people who study this we call 645 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: them heavy flavor physicists, which makes them sound much cooler 646 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: and hip hoppier than they actually are. 647 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 2: That does sound way cool? Yeah, yeah, they have big 648 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,920 Speaker 2: necklaces and stuff. Yeah, okay. 649 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: So if you replace the upquorks with top quarks and 650 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: the down quarks with bottom quarks you already just from 651 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: the stuff you're made out of, just from the quarks, 652 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: would increase the mass of this new version of the 653 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: proton by a factor of hundreds, right, So, like a 654 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: particle made out of a top top bottom would have 655 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: a mass just from the quarks of like three hundred 656 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: and fifty five protons. And that doesn't even account for 657 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: the binding energy, which is most of the mass of 658 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: the proton. So now this new particle you're building, what 659 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: would be the binding energy this thing? How much binding 660 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:41,960 Speaker 1: energy is required to bring two top quarks and a 661 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: bottom cork together. We don't know. We can't do that 662 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: calculation because quantum physics in the strong force is too hard, 663 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:52,760 Speaker 1: Like we can barely calculate what the mass of the 664 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: proton is. It's like not an easy thing to calculate 665 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 1: because the strong force is so strong that every time 666 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: you try to do a calculation, there's gluons, and those 667 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: gluons make more gluons, and those gluons make more gluons, 668 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: and those gluons stick to each other and interact with 669 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: each other. It gets very complicated, and all the tricks 670 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 1: we can use for other weaker forces don't work because 671 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,240 Speaker 1: the approximations break down. So we can't make that prediction. 672 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: I don't know the answer to that. Nobody knows the 673 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: answer to that. But I can tell you that that particle, 674 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 1: if you made it, it wouldn't be a proton, and 675 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be stable. Right. Top quarks are not stable, 676 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: bottom quarks are not stable. No combinations of these quarks 677 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,000 Speaker 1: are stable except for the proton, And so this top 678 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 1: top bottom thing that Rebecca wants to build would definitely 679 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: not be stable. So if you're designing some like super 680 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: massive version of humanity and you made it out of 681 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 1: these things, it would last for like ten to the 682 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: negative twenty three seconds before decayed into something else. Probably 683 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: you would end up with protons. 684 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 2: You know, I gotta admit I misunderstood Rebecca's question initially. 685 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 2: So what she says is the proton is made of 686 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 2: up and down quirks, which are light. I thought she 687 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 2: was asking if we instead of having up up down, 688 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 2: what if it was all up up up, How would 689 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,040 Speaker 2: that change the mass? But now, oh, and I thought 690 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 2: maybe top was another way of referring to up, because 691 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 2: it's because up it's on top. But now now it 692 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 2: is all clear. 693 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: The top is just another example of particle physicists being 694 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: brilliant at naming things. You know, top and bottom is 695 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: like an analogy to up and down. Don't ask me 696 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: why charm and strange are called charm and strange. It 697 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 1: breaks the pattern. 698 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 2: But I'm sure my confusion with the question reveals how 699 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 2: clear you guys are with your naming. 700 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 1: You know, there's a whole group of physicists who reject 701 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: the names top and bottom, and they call them truth 702 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: and beauty. And so there's a whole group of people 703 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 1: who say, we don't do flavor physics, we do beauty physics. 704 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 2: Oh wow, do you guys like get really heated? Do 705 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 2: guys and gals get really heated at conferences about this 706 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:42,440 Speaker 2: kind of stuff? 707 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: More snide and snarky than heated. 708 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:50,040 Speaker 2: But yeah, we're all just human beings after all, all. 709 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: Right, Rebecca. So the answer your question is, if you 710 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: tried to put Rebecca together with top quirks, you would 711 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 1: be very very massive, at least hundreds of times more massive, 712 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: probably much much more, and you would also decay very 713 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: quickly down to protonic. 714 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 2: Rebecca, sounds like a bad idea, Rebecca, I don't recommend it. 715 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: No, let us know how it works. I'm curious. Maybe 716 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: you'll discover something awesome. 717 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,800 Speaker 2: We don't want to lose a listener, all right, Rebecca, 718 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 2: what do you think? 719 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 5: Daniel N Kelly, thank you so much for giving me 720 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:22,880 Speaker 5: the extra time and your indulgence responding to your answer. 721 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:28,279 Speaker 5: Don't think I didn't notice the terminology drift from a 722 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 5: barrister to lawyer, and I know that you have spared 723 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 5: yourself having to explain to all of your viewers that 724 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 5: in the UK, barristers don't actually make coffee. Anyway, back 725 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 5: to the quirky cork question. Thank you very much Daniel 726 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 5: for explaining the difference between the ups and the tops 727 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 5: and the downs and the bottoms, which now actually makes 728 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:57,759 Speaker 5: good sense to me. However, it strikes me that there 729 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 5: is research to be had because it doesn't explain why 730 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:06,920 Speaker 5: people gain weight over the winter months, specifically in the 731 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:10,640 Speaker 5: holiday season. And I wonder if there is a moment 732 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:15,839 Speaker 5: in time, possibly due to reduced photons in the atmosphere 733 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,520 Speaker 5: at that time of year, that in fact all of 734 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:25,120 Speaker 5: the fields do a switcheraroo and my protons are comprised 735 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:31,480 Speaker 5: of top bottom rather than up down, and that accounts 736 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:34,800 Speaker 5: for the weight gain. I think that there is money 737 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,680 Speaker 5: to be had in researching this. What do you think? 738 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 2: All right? Sorry? Next question is from Robert noted that 739 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,320 Speaker 2: on an episode I made a mistake by joking about 740 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 2: something that actually happens. Let's hear Robert's question who. 741 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 4: In one of the podcasts for Passing Months, Kelly made 742 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:13,640 Speaker 4: a random side comment about how it'd be cool if 743 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,560 Speaker 4: he didn't carrots turn the orange, which, as it turns out, 744 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,759 Speaker 4: actually does. I don't really understand how though, so I'd 745 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:21,560 Speaker 4: love it if you can look into why and do 746 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 4: some sort of segment about krotinemia beta caroteenes and all that. 747 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,360 Speaker 1: Thanks, all right, Kelly being called out by our audience. 748 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:33,800 Speaker 1: I wonder if this is a physics inspired listener that 749 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: would be juicy. 750 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 2: I don't know, but I would like all listeners to 751 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,400 Speaker 2: call me out. At least I assume you'd like us 752 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 2: both be called out if you if you catch us 753 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,879 Speaker 2: making a mistake, please correct us. We want to get 754 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 2: this stuff right. And you know, lots of times knowledge 755 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,960 Speaker 2: is moving quickly and we might not be all caught up. 756 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,799 Speaker 2: But in this case, this is something that I got wrong. 757 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,200 Speaker 2: We've known this for a long time. I think I 758 00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 2: knew it, but I've since forgotten. 759 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: And so well, let's dig in and marinate in your wrongness. 760 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: What exactly did you say? And exactly how. 761 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:10,319 Speaker 2: This is my favorite thing to do? Uh so, so 762 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 2: I said, I think I made some joke about like, 763 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 2: wouldn't it be funny if you turned orange when you 764 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 2: ate carrots? And this is called caratinemia. And it's not 765 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:26,720 Speaker 2: called caratinemia because you ate carrots. It's called caratinemia because 766 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,440 Speaker 2: of the carotene that you find in a lot of 767 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,280 Speaker 2: different kinds of fruits and veggies. 768 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 1: And are carrots called carrots because of beta carotene or 769 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:36,120 Speaker 1: is it just a totally random connection. 770 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 2: I'm gonna bet that carrots had a name long before 771 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 2: we knew what carotene was. 772 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,360 Speaker 1: Well, Google tells me that the word originates from a 773 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 1: Greek word, which is derived from an Indo European word 774 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,920 Speaker 1: for horn or head. So it has to do with 775 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,640 Speaker 1: the shape of the top of the carrot. 776 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,840 Speaker 2: Okay, Well, and caratene is not spelled C A R 777 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,759 Speaker 2: R O T E ny, It's just got one R. 778 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 2: So maybe it's just a coincidence. So anyway, around World 779 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,239 Speaker 2: War One and World War Two, actually caratinemia I'm going 780 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,360 Speaker 2: to slow down and stumble every time I have to 781 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,880 Speaker 2: say it was actually moderately common because there were some 782 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 2: food shortages and lots of people kept eating large quantities 783 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,560 Speaker 2: of the same fruits or of veggies, and lots of 784 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 2: different kinds of fruits and vegetables not just carrots have 785 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 2: carotene in them. 786 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,239 Speaker 1: What's an example of something that's not a carrot but 787 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: has a lot of bit of carotene in it? 788 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:33,400 Speaker 2: Apricots, mangoes, oranges, green beans, et cetera. Lots of different 789 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 2: fruits and vegetables have it. 790 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:36,640 Speaker 1: So these are all sort of orangey stuff until you 791 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 1: got the green beans. 792 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't have to be orange. And if you remember, 793 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:45,040 Speaker 2: we were talking about krotenoids when we were talking about flamingoes, 794 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 2: and we were talking about how flamingoes extract the krotenoids 795 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:51,520 Speaker 2: from the food that they eat and they use that 796 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 2: to make themselves pink, and they're not always eating pink foods. 797 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:56,960 Speaker 2: It has to do with how your body sort of 798 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 2: converts and deals with these products. So in our body, 799 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 2: when we consume carotenoids in our liver, we convert some 800 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 2: of those carotenoids into vitamin A using a particular kind 801 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,040 Speaker 2: of enzyme that we have, and then we go ahead 802 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:12,680 Speaker 2: and we use that vitamin A to help us with 803 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,280 Speaker 2: things like vision and the functioning of our immune system. 804 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,879 Speaker 2: But if you have too much vitamin A, it can 805 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:23,680 Speaker 2: be toxic. So no matter how much beta caroteen we consume, 806 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 2: our bodies only convert a small amount of it to 807 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:27,319 Speaker 2: vitamin a. 808 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,960 Speaker 1: Is that because we only need a certain amount of 809 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,520 Speaker 1: vitamin A, our body is not capable of converting more 810 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 1: or why is it rejected? 811 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:35,560 Speaker 2: We only need a certain amount, and if you have 812 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:37,879 Speaker 2: too much, it becomes toxic, and so our body sort 813 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,799 Speaker 2: of protects us from that toxicity by only converting some 814 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 2: amount of it well into vitamin A. Yeah, go us, 815 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,160 Speaker 2: go us. But our body still has it, and it 816 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:51,480 Speaker 2: binds to fat, and if you accumulate enough of it, 817 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 2: sometimes you can actually see those accumulations in our hands 818 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,200 Speaker 2: and in the soles of our feet. So when you 819 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 2: get caratinemia kerosinemia, see how fast I said it, I'm 820 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:06,279 Speaker 2: really good. So when you get keratinemia, you mostly can 821 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 2: see like a yellowish tint in your souls and in 822 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 2: your hands. You don't tend to get it in your 823 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 2: eyes because your eyes don't have the right kind of 824 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 2: stuff for the carotenoids to bind to. And this is 825 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:18,280 Speaker 2: one of the ways that you tell the difference between 826 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:22,959 Speaker 2: if somebody has jaundice, which is a liver problem, versus keratinemia. 827 00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 2: If their eyes aren't yellow, they probably don't have jaundice. 828 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:27,600 Speaker 2: But anyway, so it tends to build up. And you 829 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 2: could also get licopenia, which is when you have too 830 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:36,359 Speaker 2: many tomatoes, which has a different kind of carotenoid called lycopene. 831 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 2: I eat a lot of tomatoes, which, yeah, well are 832 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 2: you yellow? 833 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:42,920 Speaker 1: Everyone's a little yellow, right, I. 834 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 2: Get well, you're not noticeably yellow, and you don't have 835 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 2: yellow hands, so you have probably haven't eaten too much. 836 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:51,960 Speaker 2: In general, this condition isn't dangerous, and you know we 837 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,520 Speaker 2: think that in general. Like you, if you become orange 838 00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:57,840 Speaker 2: or yellowy, the solution is to just change your diet, 839 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 2: stop eating that stuff. Eventually your body will extract the 840 00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:05,279 Speaker 2: kerotene and you will go back to your normal tone. 841 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,319 Speaker 2: But I did find a paper that said, you know, 842 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:13,040 Speaker 2: this problem is almost never associated with poor health. Quote. However, 843 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,000 Speaker 2: a man who allegedly ate six to seven pounds of 844 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:20,440 Speaker 2: carrots weekly was found to have constipation, hyper keratinemia, increase 845 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 2: liver enzymes, and possible vitamin A toxicity. So you can 846 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,640 Speaker 2: overdo it, guys. Your body tries to save us. But 847 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,040 Speaker 2: if you're eating six to seven pounds of carrots weekly, 848 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,000 Speaker 2: you might have some problems. 849 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,840 Speaker 1: Is this a carrot farmer or what's the story with 850 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:34,319 Speaker 1: this guy? 851 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:38,360 Speaker 2: That's all I could find. I don't know. Man, moderations, 852 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,239 Speaker 2: that's right, that's right, that's right. 853 00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,760 Speaker 1: Throw in some tomatoes, dude, geez. 854 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:47,920 Speaker 2: That's right. Have a little leycopenia to go with your caratinymia. 855 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,880 Speaker 1: Wow, this is fascinating, and so can people google to 856 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: get like pictures of people with kerotinemia that look crazy orange? 857 00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:59,200 Speaker 1: Is it impressive or is it sort of underwhelming? 858 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,840 Speaker 2: It's kind of under not super impressive, And that's a 859 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,479 Speaker 2: fairly safe Google search as far as I can tell, 860 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,440 Speaker 2: I don't remember seeing anything. 861 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: More than pinworms. 862 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,680 Speaker 2: I'm guessing yeah, yeah, I don't recommend actually looking up 863 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 2: pinworms pictures of pinworms. But anyway, that's the answer that 864 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:18,000 Speaker 2: I have for Robert. 865 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:20,799 Speaker 1: And so is there anything else that if you eat it, 866 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,120 Speaker 1: you will turn that color? Can I turn purple by 867 00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:24,239 Speaker 1: eating enough eggplant? 868 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,200 Speaker 2: I don't know about eggplant in particular, but any of 869 00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:31,400 Speaker 2: those plants, be they fruit or vegetables that have a 870 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:36,480 Speaker 2: lot of carotenoids, you risk your body storing them in 871 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:40,000 Speaker 2: your in your body as something that will make you yellowy. 872 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:42,959 Speaker 1: So well, as a kid, I enjoyed having a blue 873 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: tongue after eating blueberries. It's something really cool about that. 874 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:48,879 Speaker 1: But like, you are what you eat, and you get 875 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:51,479 Speaker 1: that color. That's super cool. So it's kind of cool 876 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,239 Speaker 1: to like turn orange after eating carros. It feels like 877 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:56,879 Speaker 1: cartoony biology, but real it does. 878 00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:59,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I like that you can do this without 879 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:01,640 Speaker 2: yourself too much. 880 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:02,080 Speaker 5: Yeah. 881 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,839 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it is so sort of counterintuitive that if 882 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:06,840 Speaker 2: you eat too many green beans you could turn yellow 883 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 2: or orange. But it is weird. 884 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, well it depends, right, because it's biology. 885 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:14,960 Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. But unlike physics, I had a 886 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:20,640 Speaker 2: clear answer. And so let's see what Robert thinks of 887 00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:26,480 Speaker 2: our clear answer. And Robert pick a team biology. Ooh no, 888 00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:28,239 Speaker 2: I'm just kidding. You don't have to do that. Can't 889 00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:30,600 Speaker 2: we all just get on you started it. 890 00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,520 Speaker 1: I say, after tossing so many bos. 891 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 2: All right, that's right. 892 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,239 Speaker 4: That is super interesting. I would not have expected it 893 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:40,040 Speaker 4: to be a lipid binding process. Wonder if that means 894 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,480 Speaker 4: if a person got liposuction procedure, if the adiposse would 895 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 4: also come out more yellowish. Super cool regardless, So thank 896 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,120 Speaker 4: you for so much for ixporing my question. And as 897 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:50,759 Speaker 4: my degrees are social work, psychology, and sexuality, I'm gonna 898 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,880 Speaker 4: have to abstain from your biology and physics rivalry. I 899 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,200 Speaker 4: think all science is great, nothing more human than one 900 00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:56,880 Speaker 4: to understand. 901 00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,239 Speaker 1: All right, thank you Robert for writing it, and thanks to 902 00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:01,839 Speaker 1: everybody who's saying and your questions. We really do love 903 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: hearing from you. Write to us Questions at Daniel and 904 00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 1: Kelly dot org. 905 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:14,720 Speaker 2: Looking forward to hearing your questions. Thanks. Daniel and Kelly's 906 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,400 Speaker 2: Extraordinary Universe is produced by iHeartRadio. We would love to 907 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:19,120 Speaker 2: hear from you. 908 00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,160 Speaker 1: We really would. We want to know what questions you 909 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,000 Speaker 1: have about this Extraordinary Universe. 910 00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:28,040 Speaker 2: We want to know your thoughts on recent shows, suggestions 911 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 2: for future shows. If you contact us, we will get 912 00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:31,520 Speaker 2: back to you. 913 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,319 Speaker 1: We really mean it. We answer every message. 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