WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Genetic Mutations

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

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<v Speaker 1>Chuck and this is Short Stuff, The Mysteries of Genetic

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<v Speaker 1>Mutations Edition.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right, because we're gonna talk about the X Men.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, a mutation. I mean, I don't know if it

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<v Speaker 1>would help you join x men, But there are mutations

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<v Speaker 1>that alter people, sometimes in positive ways. We usually associated

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<v Speaker 1>with negative stuff, like a congenital disease or something. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of them are neutral, I think actually the vast

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<v Speaker 1>majority are neutral. They don't really have any noticeable effect.

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<v Speaker 1>Some are beneficial. Lactose intolerance, immunity to malaria, when someone's

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<v Speaker 1>vestigial tale turns into a glorious full tale. Those are

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<v Speaker 1>all beneficial genetic mutations. But all of them share something

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<v Speaker 1>in common, and that is that the replication of the

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<v Speaker 1>person's genome had some sort of error while it was

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<v Speaker 1>being copied.

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<v Speaker 2>Is lactose intolerance a beneficial No lactose tolerance, I think

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<v Speaker 2>I thought you said intolerance.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh, I'm sorry, Yeah, So lactose intolerance is apparently the

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<v Speaker 1>base line the default lactose tolerance is from a genetic mutation.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, well, let's get into this. Let's talk about

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<v Speaker 2>DNA or deoxy riboonucleic acid as we all like to

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<v Speaker 2>call it, such a great word around the campfire. That's

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<v Speaker 2>a molecule that's going to carry genetic material almost said

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<v Speaker 2>mutation when you're developing as a as a future human.

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<v Speaker 2>And structurally, I think we've all seen the If you've

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<v Speaker 2>seen Jurassic Park, you've seen what these double this double

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<v Speaker 2>helix looks like it's a long molecule comprised of nucleotides

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<v Speaker 2>and there been you know, there's two strands to that

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<v Speaker 2>coil that formed the double helix that kind of wind

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<v Speaker 2>around each other. And that's that's what the DNA, the

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<v Speaker 2>full DNA what would you call it, just molecule looks.

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<v Speaker 1>Like the genome. Yeah, the molecule DNA is a molecule. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and you said it man, it is long. Apparently if

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<v Speaker 1>you stretched it out, it would be about two meters

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<v Speaker 1>or six feet tall, if you could figure out how

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<v Speaker 1>to stretch it out. It's amazing. And it's made of

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<v Speaker 1>three point one billion base pairs of nucleotides, thymine, cytosine, guanine,

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<v Speaker 1>and adenine, and adenine goes with thymine, and cytosine goes

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<v Speaker 1>with guanine and you put all that together. Just with

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<v Speaker 1>those combinations, you have a a galaxy of different code

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<v Speaker 1>that's embedded into the DNA that serves as how like,

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<v Speaker 1>it tells the rest of your body, each cell what

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<v Speaker 1>it's supposed to do and how to do it. And

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<v Speaker 1>usually that has to do with expressing proteins.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you know, like you mentioned, as the cells

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<v Speaker 2>divide and the DNA is making copies of itself, there

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<v Speaker 2>might be errors here and there, and that's where those

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<v Speaker 2>mutations come from. And then if they're in the egg

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<v Speaker 2>and sperm cells, that those are going to be passed

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<v Speaker 2>on to the next generation. So that's a genetic mutation

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<v Speaker 2>that's going to carry on and cause disease or genetic disorders.

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<v Speaker 2>You can also have what's called a somatic mutation, and

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<v Speaker 2>that only affects you. It's not inherited by your future.

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<v Speaker 1>Kids, right exactly. So really the big problem is genes,

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<v Speaker 1>like a gene not being replicated correctly, and a gene

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<v Speaker 1>is just a stretch of nucleotide base pairs along your

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<v Speaker 1>genome that together shows how to encode a protein. It's

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<v Speaker 1>the instructions to how to do a specific thing. And

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<v Speaker 1>again it's just a segment along your DNA, and when

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<v Speaker 1>that stuff gets copied, if there's any kind of error,

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<v Speaker 1>like say you match up an AD nine to a cytosine,

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to prevent that cellular process that whatever the

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<v Speaker 1>gene is telling the cell to do to not be

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<v Speaker 1>able to be performed correctly, hence some mutation.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and our cells are constantly copying themselves, either replacing

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<v Speaker 2>old cells or damage cells. And when that happens, when

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<v Speaker 2>they're doing that copy, that double stranded DNA is going

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<v Speaker 2>to split into the two parts and each strand is

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<v Speaker 2>copied on its own and then they come back together.

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<v Speaker 2>And when that happens, there can be errors. The good

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<v Speaker 2>news is it's approximately one in every one hundred million

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<v Speaker 2>replications this happens. So that's a you know, that's a

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<v Speaker 2>pretty good statistic to have in your hip pocket. The

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<v Speaker 2>other good news is DNA knows what it's doing, so

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<v Speaker 2>it generally knows when an error happens, and they try

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<v Speaker 2>to and often can repair and correct that before any

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<v Speaker 2>problems arise.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, I think that's a pretty good place to take

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<v Speaker 1>a break, Chuck. So let's take a break, Chuck.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's do it.

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<v Speaker 3>Shot shot.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay. So there's basically two ways that you can that

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<v Speaker 1>a genetic mutation can develop, the cell replication, which we've

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<v Speaker 1>talked a lot about, and then environmental influences. And there's

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<v Speaker 1>actually different ways that can happen. Even during cell replication.

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<v Speaker 1>There's tautumeric shifts, which is where the nucleotide itself undergoes

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<v Speaker 1>a quick chemical reaction to where suddenly adnine turns into

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know, silver just for a second and then

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<v Speaker 1>it eventually turns back. But if that if that adnine

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<v Speaker 1>nucleotide is being copied at that moment, you're going to

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<v Speaker 1>have a silver nucleotide in your DNA.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Silver just don't work when it comes to making proteins.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so that's sort of due to bad timing. Another

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<v Speaker 2>thing that can happen as far as those errors go,

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<v Speaker 2>it's called mispairing. And was this a house Off Works article?

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, it was.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they did a pretty good job of putting this

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<v Speaker 2>in terms we could understand. If you imagine those two

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<v Speaker 2>DNA strands that work together are zipped together like a zipper.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes that zipper doesn't.

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<v Speaker 1>Align and get stuck in it.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh my god, And that can happen when the DNA

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<v Speaker 2>is getting zipped back up, and that can cause parts

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<v Speaker 2>of it to be skipped over or maybe something added

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<v Speaker 2>that shouldn't be right.

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<v Speaker 1>And then the third way that a mutation can happen

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<v Speaker 1>during replication is what's called jumping genes cousins of jumping jacks,

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<v Speaker 1>and that is where so these genes are normally I

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<v Speaker 1>don't understand this fully, but gene which again are just

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<v Speaker 1>stretches of code on your DNA, can actually move. They

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<v Speaker 1>can change positions, they can change places. Sometimes they replicate themselves,

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<v Speaker 1>and the replicant goes and embeds itself in another segment

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<v Speaker 1>of your DNA, And if it does so in a

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<v Speaker 1>gene another gene, then it's going to mess up that

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<v Speaker 1>gene's ability to perform its function. Did not know that

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<v Speaker 1>that was a thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Did not either, had never heard of jumping genes. I've

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<v Speaker 2>heard of jumping beans and jumping jacks, but never jumping genes.

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<v Speaker 1>Very nice. So that's the.

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<v Speaker 2>Ways that can happen. As far as like an error

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<v Speaker 2>occurring in your body on a cellular level, you mentioned

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<v Speaker 2>external factors. One of the big ones, and I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>know to this extent even is radiation and you might

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<v Speaker 2>be thinking like, yeah, so you just don't get X

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<v Speaker 2>rayed when you're pregnant, like that solves everything, right, That's

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<v Speaker 2>not necessarily a case, because UV radiation can be a

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<v Speaker 2>very big cause of mutations, specifically when it's called like

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<v Speaker 2>a sunburn on your DNA. If you have too much

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<v Speaker 2>UV radiation, you can they can form something called how

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<v Speaker 2>would you say.

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<v Speaker 1>That, I'm going to say perimidin dimers.

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<v Speaker 2>Perimeding dimers, And I looked, I was.

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<v Speaker 1>Like, is that a misprint? Is it supposed to be dimmers?

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<v Speaker 1>And Nope.

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<v Speaker 2>Now it's dimers and especially diming dimers that can distort

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<v Speaker 2>that DNA structure. And that's sort of like a sunburn

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<v Speaker 2>on the DNA, and that happens when a couple of

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<v Speaker 2>DNA building blocks are stuck together, and that's oftentimes caused

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<v Speaker 2>from you know, sun exposure.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's also chemical factors too, which are basically biological

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<v Speaker 1>or environmental factors. Essentially, what it is is there's different

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<v Speaker 1>kinds of chemicals that can make their way into the

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<v Speaker 1>DNA in the nucleus of a cell and just mess

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<v Speaker 1>with it. Sometimes they nucleotides and they get pulled in

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<v Speaker 1>like like just some guy walking down the street getting

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<v Speaker 1>pulled into the Jimmy Fallon Late Night Show because they

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't get enough people to fill seats. That can happen

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<v Speaker 1>during DNA reproduction replication, and when that nucleotide that didn't

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<v Speaker 1>mean to be there gets entered into that the new

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<v Speaker 1>code of DNA again, problems arise. That's a mutation.

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<v Speaker 2>The problems arise when they have to sit there and

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<v Speaker 2>watch Jimmy Fallon. Oh man, boy, I'm gonna hear it.

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<v Speaker 2>They're also biological factors like a virus can cause that

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<v Speaker 2>can get in the DNA and that can lead to mutations.

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<v Speaker 2>And then there's some other environmental stuff as well, right, yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>De animating agents they actually remove parts of our DNA.

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<v Speaker 1>Substances like stuff found in cigarette smoke can stick to

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<v Speaker 1>the DNA like so much tar and change the shape

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<v Speaker 1>of the DNA. Essentially, you don't want anything going anywhere

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<v Speaker 1>near your DNA. And if there's something that happens, and

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<v Speaker 1>it happens on an important gene, that mutation is going

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<v Speaker 1>to produce some sort of problems down the line. But

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<v Speaker 1>our body is actually really really good at either preventing

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<v Speaker 1>these errors or correcting them. When it finds them, which

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<v Speaker 1>is just mind boggling to me.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's super cool that our body can do this.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes it's like it's called a direct fix and these

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<v Speaker 2>are these are just small little errors. Like they likened

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<v Speaker 2>it to a road crack, and they also likened it

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<v Speaker 2>to just a quick patch on that road. The cell

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<v Speaker 2>just directly fixes it super quick.

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<v Speaker 1>Like yeah, and we should say the cell the Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>the cell that's transcribing the DNA is aware of it

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<v Speaker 1>because there are different different molecules that proofread the newly

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<v Speaker 1>created DNA to make sure it matches the original.

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<v Speaker 2>Amazing.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it is. So if they find a mismatch, if

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<v Speaker 1>they find just some stretch it could be big, small, whatever,

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<v Speaker 1>they'll actually cut it out excision. They'll digest it and

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<v Speaker 1>then they'll reproduce the correct version of it and then

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<v Speaker 1>connect it to that part that they cut out of

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<v Speaker 1>the DNA and then zip it together.

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<v Speaker 2>And if it's if a whole section of DNA gets damaged,

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<v Speaker 2>they can go to another DNA strand and say, hey,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm glad you're here because we're gonna use you now

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<v Speaker 2>to come fix this other strand.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, thank god you're here. They were about to pull

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<v Speaker 1>us into Jimmy Fallon and we needed something to do.

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<v Speaker 2>That's a off said thing in my house. Thank God

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<v Speaker 2>I was here because I know we mentioned one of

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<v Speaker 2>the roses the movie How It Holds Up. That's one

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<v Speaker 2>of the great lines from one of the roses when

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<v Speaker 2>they are separated, but Michael Douglas is still in the

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<v Speaker 2>house and the Christmas tree catches fire and he runs

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<v Speaker 2>downstairs and puts it out and screams, thank god I

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<v Speaker 2>was here. And I say that a lot, and just

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<v Speaker 2>whenever anything dumb happens that I saw for the Face family,

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<v Speaker 2>I go, thank god I was here.

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<v Speaker 1>That's great. That's a great thing. Man Chuck. Everybody loves

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<v Speaker 1>Chuck for reasons like that.

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<v Speaker 2>Not everybody, just like Raymond.

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<v Speaker 1>All those people can go soak their heads.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, since I think we're out of stuff to talk about,

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<v Speaker 1>short stuff is out.

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<v Speaker 2>Stuff you should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For

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