1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, he wasn't a stuff to blow 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: your mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 4 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: and we're back with part two of our discussion of 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: the Winter People, the way in which animal existence and 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: especially human existence is seasonally bifurcated, and the way the 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: seasons really warp in command who and what we are now. 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: Last time we talked about traditional cultural beliefs and practices 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: around wintertime. Uh so, we talked about the the amazing 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: winter ceremonials of the Quakakawak people of the Pacific Northwest 11 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: and North America. But we wanted to talk about some 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: other cultural beliefs about wintertime changes to the human being. Yeah, 13 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: we were kind of casting about for something that if 14 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: it felt felt appropriate to to bring up, because there 15 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: are no shortage of winter traditions. But we we lead 16 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: with such a fantastic example in the first episode, it 17 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: it felt intimidating to try and come up with something 18 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:04,479 Speaker 1: of of equal weight. Now, one thing you could bring 19 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: up is, of course, the traditions like the Huga. This 20 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: became very popular, was it last year? The year before 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: there was suddenly all these articles on the internet about 22 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: uh huga and all these related concepts, especially in you know, 23 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: uh northern polar Uh not always polar, but northern types 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: of countries and cultures where they're they have special words 25 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: for getting cozy when it's really cold and bad weather outside. Yeah, 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: this is interesting because I mean, obviously here in the 27 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,919 Speaker 1: States people do like to to snug up and maybe 28 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: binge watch some Netflix or what have you. I have 29 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: a little hot coco during the uh the colder months. 30 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: There's something fulfilling about that. I hear they eat pumpkin pie. 31 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: Have you heard about this the Americans? Like? Okay, I 32 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: mean I didn't know there are songs about it. I 33 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: assume it's true. Which song? Which song is about eating 34 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: pumpkin There's something about you throw a log on the 35 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: fire and coffee and supkin pie. I'm vaguely connecting to 36 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: something from another life, all right, though. I just have 37 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: a lot of questions for people who eat pumpkin pie 38 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: outside of established holidays. Yeah, which are the ones? Is 39 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and when? Well, you can have it for Christmas. 40 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:16,920 Speaker 1: But you're I mean, you've kind of been in the rules, right, right, 41 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: but mostly it is a Thanksgiving pie. It's a delicious 42 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving pie, but it's I don't know, I wouldn't feel 43 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: comfortable eating it. Fill the time of the year. Filling 44 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: from a can, crust from a can, well, yeah, you 45 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: have to use the filling from the can because it 46 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: doesn't matter, because the because because ultimately the pumpkin is 47 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,799 Speaker 1: just a vehicle for the nutmeg and the spice flavoring. Yeah, 48 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: and the sugar. Yeah. But no, despite all the coziness traditions, 49 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 1: some cultures apparently have this special word for the coziness 50 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: seeking tradition, and other cultures don't really. I mean, English, 51 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: as far as I know, doesn't have a word like hugo. 52 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: And I think that's why it suddenly became so popular 53 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: in the English speaking part of the internet. Yeah, and 54 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: of course it's important to realize that coziness do during 55 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: the winter months is is something of a luxury. Uh 56 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: and uh. This led me to seek out a possible 57 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: example in a wonderful book that I hadn't looked at 58 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: in many years, And that's very Lopez's book Arctic Dreams, 59 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape, which is just 60 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: which is just full of beautiful descriptions of life in 61 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: the far North. For instance, he shares the following just 62 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: about the flow of seasons in general. Quote in summer, 63 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: in the sometimes extravagant light of a July day, one's 64 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: thoughts are not of growth of heading wheat and yellowing peaches, 65 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: but of suspension, as if life had escaped the bounds 66 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: of earth in this country, which lacks the prolonged moderations 67 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: between winter and summer that we anticipate as balmy April 68 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: mornings and dry Indian summer afternoons. In this two season country, 69 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: things grow and die, as they do everywhere, but they 70 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: are more deeply than living things anywhere else, seasonal creatures. 71 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: And he goes on later in the book to to 72 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: bring up this concept of the Polar Eskimo people that 73 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: is called purlar or neck. He says, quote winter darkness 74 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: brings on the extreme winter depression the Polar Eskimo called 75 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: plura neck. According to the anthropologist Gene Mallari, the word 76 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: means to feel quote the weight of life, to look 77 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: ahead to all that must be accomplished, and to retreat 78 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: to the present, feeling defeated, weary before starting a core 79 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,119 Speaker 1: of anger and miserable sadness. It is to be sick 80 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: of life, a man named Amina told Malari. The victim 81 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: tears fitfully at his clothes. A woman begins aimlessly slashing 82 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,559 Speaker 1: at things in the igloo with their knife. A person 83 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: runs half naked into the bitter, freezing night, screaming out 84 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 1: at the village, eating the poop of dogs. Eventually the 85 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: person is calmed by others in the family with great 86 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: compassion and helped to sleep parlora neck winter. And I 87 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: have to say he did not say poop. He used 88 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 1: a stronger curse word that we can't say on the show. 89 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: But I felt compelled to self at it there. So, 90 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: as Lopez describes it, does it seem like the idea 91 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,280 Speaker 1: is that sort of the farther you go up north 92 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: or I guess towards either of the poles, but especially 93 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 1: because you know they're more people are more concentrated towards 94 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: the North Pole than in like Antarctica, that sort of 95 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: the weight of the seasons becomes more unbearable. Yeah, that 96 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: that seems to be the point he's he's making here, 97 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: And it just has to do with the fact that 98 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: you essentially have two seasons, one of life and one 99 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 1: of death, one of one of hardship and one of well, 100 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: I guess less hardship. Uh it's it's certainly an impressive 101 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: concept and uh it again brings to mind accounts of 102 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: say that the alleged wind to go madness that you 103 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: uh you hear about in uh in a northern native populations. However, 104 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: we have to point out here that not everyone is 105 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: on board with this being a rough part of pre 106 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: colonial traditions and beliefs among Native peoples of North America. Yeah. 107 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: According to Canadian scholar who uh and scholar who specializes 108 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: in the study of First Nations people, John Steckley, in 109 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: his book White Lies about the Inuit, he says this 110 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: idea of Arctic hysteria is backed up by case studies, 111 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: but it was most frequently touted in the nineteen sixties 112 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: through the eighties by anthropologists such as Jeane Malari and others. 113 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: And he points out that historian Lyle Dick suspects, just 114 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: as Stickley himself concurs, that it's quote more likely the 115 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: creature of the White Inuit power imbalance embodied in specific 116 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: contexts unquote, such as forced risky explorations during the winter, 117 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: So forcing the native peoples to, among other things, take 118 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: you out into hostile winter conditions when their their normal 119 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: pattern of behaviors would have limited such risky measures. That 120 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,479 Speaker 1: makes sense to me, And it has also been suggested 121 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: that there's at that possible physical explanations for this kind 122 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: of Arctic madness can be found in hyper vitaminosis ah, 123 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: such as when you consume a polar bear liver exactly, 124 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: and you can and it's something you can also pick. 125 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: It's most famous for the polar bear liver. We've talked 126 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: about it before in the show as far as polar 127 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: bear liver consumption is concerned, but you can also get 128 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: it from consuming a number of different um uh hunted 129 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: animals in these regions, So that's one possibility as well. 130 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: So I think the take home here is that as 131 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: fascinating as the concept is, and certainly as beautifully as 132 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: Lopez wrote about it uh in in Arctic Dreams, it 133 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: seems like it may be a situation that is is 134 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:55,239 Speaker 1: somewhat complicated by the impact of colonial Western society upon 135 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: the traditions of the native people's well. It certainly illustrates 136 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: the way in which our reactions to the seasons are 137 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: both sort of endogenous and exogenous, like that they come 138 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: from both inherent factors in in the climate and in uh, 139 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: you know, physical constraints around us that arrive when the 140 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: winter months set in, but they're also heavily tempered by 141 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: what cultural pressures were having to deal with. So like, 142 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: a society of abundance is probably gonna have very different 143 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: cultural ways of dealing with winter than a society of 144 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: scarcity would, and all kinds of cultural factors like that 145 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: would play in. Certainly. Of course, if you're you know, 146 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: being colonized, that's definitely going to affect what a season 147 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: of hardship means for you. Indeed, all right, well we 148 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: need to take a quick break, and then when we 149 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: come back we will talk more about winter changes in 150 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: winter adaptations. All right, we're back, Okay, So Robert, we 151 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: have discussed how we are not constant beings but sort 152 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: of like seasonal shape shifters. There are so many ways 153 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: that culturally, uh that psychologically, that stabolically our bodies respond 154 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: to the changes in the seasons in a way that 155 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: it might be hard to beat out of us. Even 156 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: though we've got all these nice climate controlled indoor places 157 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,719 Speaker 1: to dwell. Now, our bodies are surfing the cycles of time. Now, 158 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: there is one way in which the changes of the 159 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: seasons affect us much more directly and immediately, and that's 160 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: by being cold. Apart from, you know, the vitamin D 161 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: deficiency you might get from shorter days, and the way 162 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: it might affect the way you eat and and affect 163 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:32,320 Speaker 1: your your metabolism and even affect your behavior and your 164 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: dating and your desire for meaning and things like that, 165 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: it also is just freezing outside. Now. It's no secret 166 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: that exposure to cold can hurt or kill you. But 167 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: did you ever wonder why they're Like several ways you 168 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: can answer this question. One is pretty straightforward and mechanical. 169 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: It's that the body has mostly liquid content. I like 170 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 1: to think of that this sometimes, like whenever you're feeling 171 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 1: a little bit down on yourself, you just think like, hey, 172 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,960 Speaker 1: I'm a bag of fluids doing okay for a bag 173 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: of fluids. Yeah, And if you if you were to 174 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,720 Speaker 1: freeze me solid, then a single Jean Claude van Damn 175 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: kick could shatter you. And well, in fact, if you 176 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: were to freeze me solid, just the act of freezing 177 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: me solid would sort of shatter me because when liquid freezes, 178 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: it can form ice crystals, which cause damage to the 179 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: body's tissues, to the cells, to the cell membranes. But 180 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 1: here's another way to think about it. Animal life is 181 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: characterized by two main physical characteristics i'd say motion and 182 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: chemical reactions, and cold slows down both of these things, 183 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: so cooks out there. I wonder if you ever tried to, 184 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: like mash up some spinach art to choke dip with 185 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: a cold block of cream cheese, Robert, do you have 186 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:51,559 Speaker 1: any comparable experience? Uh No, I do not. It's impossible. 187 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: I mean, you're just like work in your arm, and 188 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: you've gotta you gotta be some kind of like hydraulic 189 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: press type creature in order to achieve it. A similar 190 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: thing would be if you're into baking and you ever 191 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: tried to like whip something with cold butter, it's just 192 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: a bad idea. And likewise, if if you've ever tried 193 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: to trigger a chemical reaction like lighting a fire when 194 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: it's freezing cold outside, not so easy. The body needs 195 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: to be warm, so it's mechanical motions are kind of 196 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: lubricated and squishy, and it also needs to be warm. 197 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: So it's chemical reactions have enough energy to take place. 198 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: But not all bodies are like this. There are creatures 199 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: in this world that can literally freeze almost entirely solid 200 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: and thaw out and survive. So I want to mention 201 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: one example, the wood frog Lithabades sylvaticus, found throughout the 202 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: forests of Canada and the northern United States. So this 203 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: is a frog that survives the harsh winter of northern 204 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: Canadian forests. How would it do that? Well, what you'll 205 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: notice it does is that when the cold north winds 206 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: set in sometime around September, these frogs crawl down and 207 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: nestle in some dead plant matter like some leaf litter 208 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: or dead grass, and then they literally freeze almost entirely solid. 209 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,439 Speaker 1: About two thirds of their bodies water content turns into ice, 210 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,960 Speaker 1: and even temperatures as low as zero degrease fahrenheit won't 211 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,679 Speaker 1: kill them. And then when warm weather comes back, they 212 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:21,959 Speaker 1: thaw out they hop away unharmed. Uh. Speaking to the 213 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: l A Times, the herpetologist Don Larson said, quote, on 214 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: an organismal level, they are essentially dead. The individual cells 215 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: are still functioning, but they have no way to communicate 216 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,319 Speaker 1: with each other. So you might be wondering how do 217 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: they do this? Well, the body essentially manufactures cryoprotectant chemicals. 218 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 1: It looks like glycogen in the frog's liver gets converted 219 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: into glucose, which keeps the frog's individual cells alive throughout 220 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: the freeze. And then also uria, which is the nitrogen 221 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: based crystalline compound you excrete in your urine, might also 222 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: play a role. Uria came up a little bit earlier 223 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: when we were talking about cold protection. But Larsen points 224 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,319 Speaker 1: out this thing that's not known, but it's an interesting possibility. 225 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: He points out that freezing alive might not just be 226 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: a survival mechanism, but that could actually be beneficial to 227 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: an animal that wanted to rid itself of parasites. Oh 228 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: this is so good. I mean, we we we see 229 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: a similar cases. For instance, where if you have frozen fish, 230 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 1: you have you worry less about there being parasites in 231 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:29,679 Speaker 1: the fish. And also if you're worried about dust mites 232 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: on one of your child's prize stuffed animals, you stick 233 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: it in the freezer overnight and that takes care of 234 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: the mite. So all the dust mights go to your 235 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: frozen shrimp. Yeah. Well, you know what's the difference between 236 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: a mite and a shrimp, really shrimp hugetticbal bugs. So yes, 237 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: you've got the wood frog, but we've got another freezing champion, 238 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 1: even more hardy that I want to mention the red 239 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:58,559 Speaker 1: flat bark beetle, which is kuka just clavippies. Usually we 240 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: would find them living under loop spark in North American 241 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: deciduous trees. And I found a report from the University 242 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: of Alaska, Fairbanks that biologists Todd's form of quote cooled 243 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: the beetles in a lab to minus seventy degrees celsius, 244 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: which is minus ninety four degrees fahrenheit, and they did 245 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: not die. And then there was another experiment subsequently in 246 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: California they could that they found they could lower the 247 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: temperature of these beetles to minus a hundred and fifty 248 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:29,000 Speaker 1: degrees celsius, which is minus two hundred and thirty eight 249 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: degrees fahrenheit, colder than any natural temperature on Earth without 250 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: freezing the beetles. That's incredible. Now, obviously our bodies are 251 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: not like this. We do not have such strong crier 252 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: protectant mechanisms, and freezing will definitely injure or kill us. 253 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: Direct exposure of body parts to cold weather can lead 254 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: to frostbite, which has a simple explanation and a more 255 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: complex explanation. The simple version is just that frost bite 256 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: is when body tissues freeze. The more complex one is 257 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: a little bit chemical. It's when ice crystals form in 258 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: the body e tissues at dehydrates cells, causes damage to 259 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: sell membranes. Essentially, you don't want to let your outer 260 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: body parts freeze because there's sort of the point of 261 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: no return there. They didn't come back. Yeah, I feel 262 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: like most of us have probably read various accounts of explorers, 263 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: adventurers or refugees and in really chilling environments and accounts 264 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: of frostbite where you you you realize that is a 265 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: it is a terrible thing to have to experience. Yeah, 266 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: there's something especially disturbing about it because it's almost like, um, 267 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: I don't know, just having like it's like necrosis. You know, 268 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: It's like there's a part of the body that is 269 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: dying or is dead, but it's still attached to you. 270 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: It's not like it's been chopped off. It's just it's 271 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: still there and it's not working for you. Yeah, it 272 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: is in d and d terms ne chrotic damage. Uh So, 273 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: we obviously are not as hardy as bark beetles, but 274 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: we do have adaptive mechanisms. And you'll see the first 275 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: signs of the human body reacting to cold weather really 276 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: just within a few seconds of exposure to sub thermo 277 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: neutral temperatures. So our skin has these thermo receptors and 278 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 1: it the detect both absolute and relative temperature differences, and 279 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: they let us know if the environment is too hot 280 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 1: or too cold. So when the body detects cold, it 281 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: begins to shunt blood away from the extremities. You you 282 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: probably feel some sensation of this and kind of you know, 283 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: the numbness and all that when the blood is being 284 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: drawn away from the skin and away from the arms 285 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: and legs to keep it closer to the vital organs 286 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: like the heart and the lungs. This is essentially a 287 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: choice to sacrifice the outer skin and use it as 288 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: a layer of insulation. By keeping the blood away from 289 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: the outside, the blood stays warmer. Another defense mechanism is 290 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: running nose. You ever wonder like why your nose runs 291 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: in the cold. Uh So, cold air tends to be 292 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: very dry and of course very cold, and since you're 293 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: constantly pulling that dry air in through the nose, when 294 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: you breathe, it dries out the exposed surfaces within the 295 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: nasal cavity. In the nasal cavity, one of the things 296 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: it does when you breathe through it is it warms 297 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: the air on the way down to your lungs. So 298 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: if you're drawing in this really dry cold air that 299 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: is not being appropriately warmed inside the nose by your warm, 300 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: nice mucous layers in there and drying out the inside 301 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 1: of the nose, the body tries to compensate, and so 302 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: what it does is it moisturizes these passages by secreting 303 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 1: mucous fluid, leading to cold induced rhine a rhea, the 304 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 1: diarrhea of the nose. You know, I spent a few 305 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: years in my childhood in Roddington, Newfoundland, Canada, so we 306 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: had pretty intense winters up there. Uh So I have 307 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: on one hand, I have these really pleasant memories of 308 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: scaling giant snow banks and tunneling through them. But I 309 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: also have these persistent memories of of wearing a full 310 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: ski mask that is at once warming but also just 311 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: soggy with with snot you know, just just partially frozen 312 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 1: and partially warmed snot discovering the whole front of the 313 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,679 Speaker 1: ski mask. You know. With exertion in cold weather, one 314 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: of the risk factors you need to watch out for 315 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: is that your clothes don't become sweat soaked, because then 316 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: though that sweat is going to the cool and you're 317 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: you're essentially freezing in your own sweat. Yeah, no good. 318 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: So another thing we've all done it shivering. It's one 319 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: of the body's main defense mechanisms against cold. The purpose 320 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: seems to be to force your muscles to generate extra heat. 321 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: Movement and friction tend to produce heat. If you doubt this, 322 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 1: just rub your hands together for ten seconds. You'll feel 323 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: them warm up. And so the shivering is the body's 324 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: way of enlisting your muscle tissues as a kind of 325 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: emergency internal space heater, forcing them to rapidly contract and 326 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,480 Speaker 1: rhythmic patterns all over the body and generate extra heat 327 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 1: to keep your vital organs and blood warm. Another adaptation 328 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:53,120 Speaker 1: that seems to not really help very much anymore, goose bumps. Yes, 329 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,679 Speaker 1: you ever wonder why, Like, what's the point? It almost 330 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,160 Speaker 1: feels like when you get goose bumps, the bumps are 331 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: coming up on your skin, which would seem to increase 332 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: the surface area of your skin, which would make you 333 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: get cold even faster. Well, and then also it would 334 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: seem to move body hair away from the body. Yeah, 335 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: it was. It's like, oh, well, now this protective layer 336 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,680 Speaker 1: of you know, barely visible arm hair is not even 337 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: touching my arm anymore. But no. Goose bumps are believed 338 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: to be a vestigial trait from our recent ancestors who 339 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: had much more body hair than us. So when they 340 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: got cold, they could raise the hairs on their skin 341 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: to become extra fluffy and insulated. And it's true that 342 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:36,920 Speaker 1: actually lower density things are better insulators. Right. You notice that, 343 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: like when you put insulation in the walls in your house, 344 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: it's not like some tightly packed metal or would kind 345 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: of thing. It's this loose, fluffy stuff because it conducts 346 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: heat less well, and so that's essentially what your body 347 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,160 Speaker 1: is trying to do. It remembers the time when you 348 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 1: your ancestors had much more hair, and it's trying to 349 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: fluff it up to become less conductive of of heat 350 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: and to insulate skin better from the cold. Now, of 351 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: course we don't have much of that hair anymore, but 352 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: we still have this reaction, so we get the bumps, 353 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,159 Speaker 1: but without the insulation. Here's the seasonal fact. I know 354 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: you have heard what time of year do people commit 355 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: suicide the most? It's winter, right, Yeah, well I believe 356 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: that is the that is sort of the common idea 357 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: that's out there. Yeah, I mean it sounds very truthy. Yeah, yeah, 358 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: I mean we it's it's it kind of goes back 359 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: to the idea of arctic madness. Right. It feels appropriate 360 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: like it gets a little cold here in Atlanta and 361 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: we start thinking, oh this this weather is driving me crazy. 362 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: It's it's it's it's depressing me, or it's making me 363 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: behave radically, it makes me want to just shut myself 364 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 1: up in my home and not encounter the outside world again. Yeah, 365 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: it makes your mind connect naturally to all kinds of 366 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: anecdotes that you have within, you know, some part of 367 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: your long term memory, stories about what it's like to 368 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 1: be in the in the Antarctic research stations, or or 369 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: these stories about perlernarek Um. But yeah, it turns out 370 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: that this very truthy sounding fact that more people commit 371 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: suicide in the winter is not, in fact a fact, 372 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,679 Speaker 1: it is a myth and yearly suicide rates do not 373 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: generally peak in the winter, but they do appear to 374 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: have a seasonal peak, and it's not in the winter, 375 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: it's in spring and early summer. So how much more 376 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,480 Speaker 1: suicide is there in the spring? Well, it varies a 377 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: lot between societies. But according to Fotus Papadopoulos, a professor 378 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: of psychiatry at Upsala University in Sweden, quote, if we 379 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 1: take winter as a baseline, there is a twenty to 380 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: sixty higher suicide rate during spring. That's a pretty big difference. 381 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: I mean, that doesn't sound like noise. That sounds like 382 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 1: a real effect. Yeah, I mean it. I'm hesitant to 383 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: try and make too much sense out of it, you know, 384 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,719 Speaker 1: but it does lend itself to interpretations of Right, if 385 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,639 Speaker 1: the winter is about survival, then what happens when you 386 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 1: get to the other side of that survival. It's like 387 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 1: like managing to cross a rickety bridge age and you 388 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: relieve that you made it across that bridge without plummeting 389 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: into the abyss. But here you are on the other 390 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: side and you have how many more leads to walk. 391 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 1: You know, um, it's I can imagine the other hardships 392 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,359 Speaker 1: of life kind of opening up again for you in 393 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: a new and perhaps more profound way. Yeah, I can 394 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 1: see that too. Now. There have been scientific attempts to 395 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: look into what causes this spike in spring and early 396 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: summer for suicide attempts. There was, for example, a massive 397 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,680 Speaker 1: literature review combining the findings of studies from nineteen seventy 398 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: nine until two thousand eleven that had to do with 399 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: seasonal variations in suicide, and that was by wu uh Uku, 400 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:48,639 Speaker 1: Saga and postlach In in the International Journal of Environmental 401 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:53,240 Speaker 1: Research and Public Health in twelve. In the major findings 402 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,080 Speaker 1: uh were Here are a few of them, I guess. 403 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: Many studies have replicated the finding of a spring suicide 404 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,120 Speaker 1: p gruffly in the April May June region of the calendar, 405 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: and this peak does not exist equally in all populations, 406 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: but shows up with varying intensity among many or most. 407 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: There are also summer peaks for some populations. In most studies, 408 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,479 Speaker 1: winter months actually have the lowest rates of suicide of 409 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: the entire year, so when it's the coldest is when 410 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,919 Speaker 1: suicide happens. The least um. However, despite massive amounts of research, 411 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: the relationship between seasonal change and suicide behavior is still 412 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: not very well understood, like what would cause these seasonal variations. 413 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,399 Speaker 1: So here are a few of the ideas that have 414 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: been studied. One of them is changes in sunlight and temperature. 415 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: Some studies seem to have demonstrated there's actually a positive 416 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: correlation between suicide and exposure to sunlight. That seems kind 417 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:53,199 Speaker 1: of counterintuitive, but these findings are also disputed. However, a 418 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: peak in late spring and early summer would correlate to 419 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: the longest days of the year. Also, this could be 420 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,719 Speaker 1: informed by findings that side is more common among rural 421 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: populations than urban ones, and more common in outdoor workers 422 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 1: than indoor workers. It also varies a lot by geographical regions, 423 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: so spring peaks are found all over the place, but 424 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,159 Speaker 1: are a varying intensity in different countries. For example, there 425 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,360 Speaker 1: was a n study that found a very narrow seasonal 426 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: fluctuation in Canada, so the ratio of average spring to 427 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,160 Speaker 1: winter suicide rates was one point zero eight, so barely 428 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: more in spring. But in the same study in Portugal 429 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 1: the ratio was one point seven, so you know, getting 430 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: close to double as many in spring. Here's another really 431 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: odd one. A series of findings seemed to link suicide 432 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: rates to spring allergies and too people with allergies. For example, 433 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: one of these studies was a two thousand four study 434 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: that found a correlation between the times of year with 435 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,359 Speaker 1: peak suicide rates and the times of year with the 436 00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: greatest concentration of allergenic tree pollen in the air. UH. 437 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 1: And that study was called tree poll and peaks are 438 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: associated with increased non violent suicide and women. Now, while 439 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: these changes show up in a lot of countries, UH, 440 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: there does seem to be a flattening effect in recent decades. 441 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:17,400 Speaker 1: Like while suicides are still frequent, recent studies in England, Wales, 442 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:22,440 Speaker 1: Hong Kong, Sweden, and Denmark shows seasonal variation on suicide rates. UH, 443 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: really flattening coming down, So there's not as much variation 444 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: from time of the year to another time of the year. 445 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: But in other countries like Finland, in the United States, 446 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: you have a much more persistent seasonal pattern still peaking 447 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: in the spring. So that just makes me think about 448 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,360 Speaker 1: the rural and un urban distinction that you touched on earlier. 449 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: You know, like maybe these are these maybe feeling in 450 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: the US. I mean, certainly there's a urbanization going on 451 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: in in all major Western cultures, but maybe there's still 452 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 1: enough of a rural base to to support like an 453 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: uptake in rural environments. Yeah, A lot of times people 454 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,879 Speaker 1: don't think to think about suicide rates as like a 455 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,640 Speaker 1: public health question, something that really should be researched and understood, 456 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: and if you can understand the underlying causes and why 457 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 1: and when these things happen, that you could treat it 458 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:16,880 Speaker 1: like a disease that can be treated and prevented. Indeed, 459 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 1: but to get back to the winter thing, the winter 460 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: suicide myth, I'd say that is thoroughly busted. Not only 461 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 1: is it not the peak for suicide in the year, 462 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,640 Speaker 1: it is generally the lowest time in the entire year 463 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: for suicide. And I wonder why this myth is so persistent, 464 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,880 Speaker 1: because I think if you'd asked me before I looked 465 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: into it, I would have thought, oh, yeah, yeah, wintertime. Well, 466 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: I think part of it, especially here in the United 467 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: States and in other Western countries, that there's the link 468 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: with the holidays, with Christmas, with especially the modern westernized 469 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: American Christmas, where it's all, it's not as much about 470 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 1: surviving the winner, and it's more about this just unrealistic 471 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: level of happiness that you're supposed to feel every time 472 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 1: somebody jingles a jingle bell uh, and and it rarely 473 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 1: matches up with our experience of life, much less wide 474 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: life during during the winter. I think that's exactly right. 475 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 1: I think that there there are two different levels on 476 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: which this myth is sticky. One is the the sort 477 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: of straightforward truthiness feeling, which is that in the winter 478 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: it's darker, it's colder, and we just associate these atmospheric 479 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: feelings with low mood, and then we associate low mood 480 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: with things like suicide. But then also there's the contrarian truthiness, 481 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: where we think, oh, it's you know, the time when 482 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,359 Speaker 1: everybody's telling you to be happy, and actually that's just 483 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 1: making everybody more miserable and you're you're trying to get 484 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: ready to for the holidays, and this is leading to 485 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: all this commercialism and stress and having go to the 486 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,199 Speaker 1: shopping mall, and so there's a sort of like folk 487 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: level gut feeling that this is just driving everybody nuts 488 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: and making people miserable and unhappy. Well, and it's also 489 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: wrapped up in some of the culture of our Christmas 490 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: as well. I mean, It's a Wonderful Life is one 491 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: of our key American holiday films, and it is about 492 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 1: a guy who is depressed and contemplating suicide at Christmas. Yeah, 493 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,200 Speaker 1: you forget that's a bridge jumping movie. Yeah, but that 494 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: on some level it's basically letting it telling everybody, Hey, like, 495 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: suicide at Christmas is uh, it's it's part of Christmas. 496 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: It's in it's in the Christmas movie that you're watching. 497 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:22,200 Speaker 1: So it's Christmas as a as an American holiday since 498 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: of some weirdly mixed messages. Yeah, though, of course we 499 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 1: should say no matter what time of year it is, 500 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: if you are having suicidal feelings or ideation, you should 501 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,440 Speaker 1: reach out to somebody. You should talk to somebody, let 502 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,200 Speaker 1: them know. That's right. And hey, if anyone out there 503 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: needs to make a call, you can contact the National 504 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: Suicide Preventional Lifeline at two seven, three eight to. Now 505 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: here's a cold weather question, does true or false? Robert? 506 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: Going out in cold weather can cause you to catch cold. Ah. 507 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: We hear this one all the time. Right, go out 508 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: in that cold you'll catch your death. But you also 509 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: here nowadays from you know, your skeptical say like that 510 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: is a myth, not true. It's actually more complicated than 511 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: true or false. It seems to be somewhere in between. Now. 512 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: Of course, we know that the cold itself will not 513 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: make you sick. Winter is traditionally known as cold and 514 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 1: flu season. But we do not live in the you know, 515 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: the miasma theory of disease age anymore, where people thought 516 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,120 Speaker 1: that disease was caused by bad air. We live in 517 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: the age of the germ theory of disease. So the 518 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: cold weather itself does not directly cause infection. But winter 519 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: months do seem to put us at risk for these 520 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: seasonal epidemics, and it's not an illusion. There are studies 521 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: that show that that these these infection rates really do 522 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 1: go up in the winter, and there are several reasons 523 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: people have hypothesized why that might be. A commonly cited 524 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: hypothesis is that people spend more time indoors huddling together 525 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: in winter months due to the cold weather, and physical 526 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: proximity to other people and touching and stuff can increase 527 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: your transmission rate of infectious diseases. Of course, your general 528 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: really more likely to catch something from somebody you're sharing 529 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,600 Speaker 1: a blanket and cuddling with. But there there are also 530 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: other mechanisms that might be operative. For example, there was 531 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: a twenty sixteen study from the Yale School of Medicine 532 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: that found that some of the human body's viral defense 533 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: mechanisms are simply less effective at lower temperatures. But there's 534 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: actually a much deeper way that your body adapts to 535 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: the germ threats of winter months. The change in seasons 536 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,719 Speaker 1: is in your d n A. Alright, we're gonna take 537 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: a quick break and we come back. We will dive 538 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: into this, uh, this alarming notion that that that winter 539 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:40,080 Speaker 1: changes our genetic expression than alright, we're back. So we 540 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: tend to think of our d n A is being 541 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: safe from the winter. I would think, you know, I 542 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 1: had not really thought about this previously. I mean, you 543 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: tend to think of your d n A as being 544 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,960 Speaker 1: safe from pretty much everything except you know that which 545 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 1: would cause mutations or uh maybe maybe maybe you're not 546 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: safe from cosmic rays, maybe you're not safe from X 547 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: ray bombardment, but you are at least safe from the 548 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: seasons down in your very DNA. But no, it turns 549 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,719 Speaker 1: out our our d N A. While the basic genome 550 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: does not tend to change the way it's expressed, does 551 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: tend to change based on a lot of different factors, 552 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,239 Speaker 1: and I'll explain what that means in a minute. So 553 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,720 Speaker 1: a study in Nature Communications found that roughly twenty three 554 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: percent of the genes found in human white blood cells 555 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 1: and adipose tissue change their expression depending on the change 556 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 1: in seasons. Now, if you if you've read about this before, 557 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: you might have seen headlines like your DNA changes in 558 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: the winter that maybe you know, if you're being generous, 559 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: that could be thought of as correct, but it could 560 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:47,239 Speaker 1: also meeting misleadingly implied that the literal code of the 561 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: genome is altered, and that's not the case. So we 562 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: should explain the difference between the genome itself and gene expression. 563 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: Your genes are sequences of DNA code found in the 564 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 1: cells in your body, and the genes generally don't change 565 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 1: unless there's a mutation. What changes is the expression of 566 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 1: individual genes and gene expression. Whenever you hear gene expression, 567 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: you can sort of think of that as genes doing something. 568 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: Gene expression is when the code inside a gene is 569 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,240 Speaker 1: chemically translated into a product like a protein or a 570 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: string of RNA, usually a protein that does something inside 571 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 1: the body. And gene expression is how the genome makes 572 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: things happen. So if there are changes in which genes 573 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: get expressed and when this leads to changes in the body, Yeah, 574 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: I often think about this and about the you know, 575 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: just epigenetic changes in general as being kind of like 576 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: these settings in a video game, particularly in a simulation game, 577 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: where you have all these various realism toggles you can 578 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: switch on and off, and they ultimately affect how the 579 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,480 Speaker 1: game manifests to the player. Yeah, where you can think about, 580 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: I mean to follow the video game and alogy. Another 581 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: way you can think of it is that the code 582 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:04,959 Speaker 1: of the video game does not change. That like the 583 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 1: programming code that creates the game is set, but different 584 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: parts of it are executing at different times, and so 585 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: the expression is sort of like the execution of a 586 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 1: line of code. So what's the chemical basis for gene expression. Well, 587 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: genes are expressed when they get exposed to another chemical 588 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: called messenger RNA or mrn A, and the mRNA reads 589 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: the code and the genes and uses it to set 590 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: off a process that creates proteins that lead to changes 591 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: within and between cells. So the question then would be, 592 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: how come mr and A isn't constantly reading all of 593 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,800 Speaker 1: our genes at once all the time and setting off 594 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 1: these these protein creating processes all the time. Well, here's 595 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 1: one reason. There are tons of genes inside a cell 596 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,880 Speaker 1: nucleus of a eukaryotic organism, and the body fits them 597 00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: in there by coiling them tightly around alkaline protein means 598 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: called his stones. Now, if you've seen a picture of 599 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: this before, it's often compared to beads along a string. 600 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,640 Speaker 1: That's kind of what it looks like. The DNA associates 601 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,360 Speaker 1: very easily with the histones because the DNA is negatively 602 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: charged and the his stones are positively charged. And a 603 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: gene from this coiled strand of DNA that coils around 604 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,600 Speaker 1: the his stones gets expressed when it picks up a 605 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,480 Speaker 1: methyl marker, which makes it loosen from the his stone core. 606 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 1: And once it loosens and uncoils, the DNA can match 607 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 1: up with mRNA and then undergo expression, which, as we said, 608 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 1: generally means making proteins, which means something is happening. So 609 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 1: all kinds of triggers lead to changes in gene expression, 610 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,800 Speaker 1: which genes are are sort of like being brought forth 611 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,080 Speaker 1: to manufacture their will on the world. One example, it's 612 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: been shown in a lot of context that some gene 613 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: expression changes occur over the natural day night cycle. In 614 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: the morning, you're going to be expressing some genes, and 615 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 1: then at night you're going to be expressed others. Uh So, 616 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,960 Speaker 1: for example, if you're studying what genes are being expressed 617 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: in a sample of tissue, it could actually matter what 618 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,920 Speaker 1: time of day you take the sample. So one of 619 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,720 Speaker 1: the authors of this twenty sixteen study I mentioned earlier, 620 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: the Cambridge immuno geneticist Chris Wallace, told Wired magazine in 621 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,440 Speaker 1: a good article about this quote. We knew that there's 622 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,399 Speaker 1: some genes that changed their expression throughout the day. Then 623 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: it hit us, lam, what is the effect on genes 624 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: of the length of the day throughout the year. Great 625 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: piece of deductive reasoning. So of course it's leading to experiments. 626 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 1: Wallace inter colleagues compared findings from several studies which tracked 627 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 1: gene expression in populations from different times of the year 628 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,920 Speaker 1: in both the northern and southern hemispheres and the countries 629 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:50,960 Speaker 1: where Germany, Australia, the US, the UK, Iceland, and the Gambia. 630 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:53,879 Speaker 1: And of course, as we we've said before, this matter 631 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,560 Speaker 1: is because in the northern and southern hemispheres, winter and 632 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: summer are reversed, so in the summer hemisphere it's summer 633 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 1: January and winter in July. And this helps because it 634 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: allows you to isolate that any differences really were caused 635 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,760 Speaker 1: by natural changes in the seasons and not probably by 636 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:13,080 Speaker 1: human cultural factors like the calendar or the month or 637 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,279 Speaker 1: something like that. So they found that in these white 638 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 1: blood cells there were thousands of genes that showed seasonal 639 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 1: changes in expression. Uh, there were two thousand, three hundred 640 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:26,440 Speaker 1: eleven summer genes they identified and two thousand, eight hundred 641 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,200 Speaker 1: and twenty six winter genes, and it looks like most 642 00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,880 Speaker 1: of these changes had to do with immune system function. Now, 643 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,000 Speaker 1: of course they were looking at white blood cells as 644 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:40,040 Speaker 1: if the immune system were ramping up inflammation responses to 645 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: deal with the germ threat of winter. And in the 646 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: samples from tropical Gambia, the changes for immune system gene 647 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: expression came not during winter, but during the rainy season 648 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: when people are exposed to the greatest risk of malaria. 649 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,120 Speaker 1: So what we're seeing here is that the body does 650 00:36:57,239 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: have some kind of seasonal changes in the way that 651 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,480 Speaker 1: it expresses your genome, different parts of the code that 652 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: makes you you get activated depending on what time of 653 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 1: the year it is, uh and on you know, not 654 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: so much what time of the year it is, but 655 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:15,440 Speaker 1: the seasonal triggers around you in the environment. And one 656 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,080 Speaker 1: of the things that this is very tightly controlling is 657 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,799 Speaker 1: the inflammation response. Now, the inflammation response, as we know, 658 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,640 Speaker 1: it helps keep us from getting sick. It's very primitive, 659 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,480 Speaker 1: ancient type of immune response. It's not very pleasant, but 660 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,600 Speaker 1: it does help keep you know, germs and stuff from 661 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,279 Speaker 1: destroying your body. But as we also know, inflammation can 662 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: lead to all kinds of other health problems. It can 663 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:43,319 Speaker 1: lead to metabolic problems, it can lead to arthritis. You know, 664 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 1: it's implicated in wide arranging medical problems. So this sort 665 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: of opens up a door into a whole arena of 666 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: new research that could take place about how our genes 667 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:56,920 Speaker 1: are not just helping defend us from these seasonal epidemics, 668 00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 1: but also in how they put us at risk. Now, 669 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: earlier we mentioned the idea that there are certain like 670 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:07,239 Speaker 1: cardiovascular problems that people have increased risk of of of 671 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 1: dying from in the winter, and this also seems to 672 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 1: indicate that there are inflammation related problems that could really 673 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,240 Speaker 1: put us at risk in these months, and maybe studying 674 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:19,520 Speaker 1: the way our genes change over the seasons could help 675 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,319 Speaker 1: figure out ways help us figure out ways to protect us. Now, 676 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,880 Speaker 1: a question in the study, of course, is what exactly 677 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: triggers the change in gene expression. Is it the temperature, 678 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: is it the length of the days and how much 679 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,160 Speaker 1: the body has access to sunlight? Or could it be 680 00:38:35,239 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: something else? I mean, maybe it's not impossible. There could 681 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:40,880 Speaker 1: be some kind of cultural practices that that trigger this, 682 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 1: but it doesn't seem likely because it's manifested across so 683 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,600 Speaker 1: many different countries and regions. It would be different. There 684 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,280 Speaker 1: there's a group where they eat a particular pickled fish 685 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: during the winter, and you could you could potentially blame 686 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,640 Speaker 1: it on that one pickled fish totally. So the traditions 687 00:38:56,680 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: that cast us as seasonal shape shifters are in anyways 688 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: literally correct. There are ways in which our bodies are 689 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,800 Speaker 1: adapting to these seasonal changes to make us a different 690 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 1: kind of animal when the winter sets in isn't that interesting? 691 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 1: I mean it not only does it back up this 692 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,720 Speaker 1: idea that there there is a winter self in some ways, 693 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,920 Speaker 1: but it also just drives home the the ever changing 694 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 1: nature of of of the human being. You know, not 695 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: just not just in in our thoughts and our memories, 696 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,480 Speaker 1: but not just in the aging of the body and 697 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,719 Speaker 1: the acquiring and the healing of injuries or or illnesses, 698 00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:40,160 Speaker 1: but that our our body is going through cyclical phases 699 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: in order to keep up and thrive within the seasons 700 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:47,359 Speaker 1: of our environment, even if we don't actually hibernate. Now 701 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,279 Speaker 1: here's the question I really want to understand. What is 702 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,439 Speaker 1: the biological mechanism that forces humans to continually make new 703 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:58,800 Speaker 1: adaptations of Charles Dickens a Christmas care starring the cast 704 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: of pre existing chises of cartoons. Ah, well, you got 705 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: flint Stones, You've got Mr Magoo, you got uh. I'm 706 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: sure I'm forgetting something. But there's like a Jetson's Christmas Carol? 707 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:13,480 Speaker 1: Was it really a flint Stone's Christmas Carol? There's a 708 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,840 Speaker 1: flint Stones. There's famously a Mickey Christmas Carol. H yeah 709 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:21,319 Speaker 1: for me, muppets, muppets for me. I really only have 710 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:23,840 Speaker 1: two that I get really only one. It's got to 711 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,799 Speaker 1: be the musical Scrooge. One of the few musicals that 712 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:31,000 Speaker 1: I enjoy, uh to this day is is the Albert Finney. 713 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,920 Speaker 1: Albert Finney is Scrooge, and that the film all has 714 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,840 Speaker 1: wonderful songs, and also like the one of the darker 715 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,480 Speaker 1: visions of the supernatural elements found in a Christmas Carol, 716 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:45,040 Speaker 1: like that the ghosts are all tremendously frightening. Um Alec 717 00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:49,200 Speaker 1: Guinness plays Marley, and I believe that even muscular devil 718 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:52,440 Speaker 1: show up. There's a scene where scroogees in Hell and 719 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,239 Speaker 1: having to deal with the chains of Hell, and you 720 00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: have all these muscular red devils up trooping around. That's awesome. 721 00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: Have you ever seen the nineteen forty nine vincent Price 722 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,759 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol? What? No, I had no idea how he 723 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 1: ever played No, no, no no. I don't get excited. 724 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,360 Speaker 1: He doesn't play Scrooge. He just shows up holding a 725 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,839 Speaker 1: book and he's like, well, Charles Dickens and sort of 726 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:18,520 Speaker 1: introduces it. It's it's worth a watch. It's on YouTube. 727 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:22,360 Speaker 1: It's hilarious. It's uh, probably the worst adaptation of a 728 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol. I've ever seen a list of issues include 729 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 1: it spells Ebeneezer wrong in the opening credits, It gets 730 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:31,600 Speaker 1: the title of the book wrong. It is called the 731 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,760 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol. You can sometimes see like the wrong side 732 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,719 Speaker 1: of set walls, so there's just like beams holding up 733 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,680 Speaker 1: the walls of the set. And their Scrooge is this 734 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:47,319 Speaker 1: guy who's like chrish mesh bag heysh. Now, now here's 735 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,360 Speaker 1: the here's a question. You see so many different actors 736 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 1: who've played Dracula, so many different actors have played Scrooge. 737 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: But how many actors can you think I've have played both? 738 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:58,239 Speaker 1: The only one that comes to my mind off hand 739 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:03,080 Speaker 1: is Jack Palin's whoa that's was Michael Caine ever Dracula? Oh? No, 740 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:05,640 Speaker 1: I don't think he was. It seems like it seems 741 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 1: like he could. He easily could have been. Kine could 742 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:11,240 Speaker 1: have played Dracula. But I go through the others, like, um, 743 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:17,560 Speaker 1: has uh Albert Finney ever played Dracula? Knowledge has has 744 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:21,160 Speaker 1: Luis or Don ever played Scrooge? No, I don't think 745 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,759 Speaker 1: there's ever been a French Scrooge. Likewise, like all the 746 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,040 Speaker 1: Draculas and all the Scrooges, there seems to be very 747 00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,399 Speaker 1: little overlap between the two roles much, you know, much 748 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,400 Speaker 1: less the characters. I don't think anyone's ever made a 749 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:35,240 Speaker 1: Christmas Carol with Dracula in it was Gary Oldman. Ever Scrooge, 750 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,280 Speaker 1: I don't think he was, But again, there's no reason 751 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,400 Speaker 1: why he shouldn't. He's played Churchill, and I believe what 752 00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:44,720 Speaker 1: Albert Finny has played Churchill. So it's there's there's every 753 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,040 Speaker 1: reason in the world that you would see more crossover 754 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:49,280 Speaker 1: between these two roles. You here about the upcoming Christmas 755 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:52,120 Speaker 1: Carol with Christian Bale as Scrooge. Is that true? Is 756 00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:54,960 Speaker 1: that real? No? I'm missing But because Christian Pale Bale 757 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,440 Speaker 1: ever played Dracula, I guess not. He's got to choose, right, 758 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: there's some hidden, like hooded council that decides whether you 759 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,320 Speaker 1: get to play Scrooge or Dracula. And unless you're Jack Palents, 760 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:09,680 Speaker 1: you you cannot choose both. We're just digging ourselves deeper 761 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:12,880 Speaker 1: and deeper. All right, Well, this week I feel like 762 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:16,759 Speaker 1: we've we've really had a fabricous exploration here of of 763 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: how we think about our winter selves, how we culturally 764 00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:24,080 Speaker 1: frame our winter selves in some cases, and then what 765 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,520 Speaker 1: our body is actually doing during the winter, What is 766 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: it doing differently, how is it adapting, how is it 767 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:35,640 Speaker 1: behaving within different parameters, and what those two different things 768 00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:37,440 Speaker 1: may have to do with each other. Yeah. So I 769 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,000 Speaker 1: would suggest for listeners out there, one thing you might 770 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,239 Speaker 1: want to try this winter is come up with the 771 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:46,560 Speaker 1: new winter name for yourself. Yes, I like this, Either 772 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:50,719 Speaker 1: an adaptation of your existing name or just something altogether 773 00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,520 Speaker 1: new but fitting for the winter you. Maybe it's just 774 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:56,560 Speaker 1: your name but with a W as the first letter, Yeah, 775 00:43:56,680 --> 00:44:00,120 Speaker 1: so woe and Wobert. Yeah. Or it could be more 776 00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:03,319 Speaker 1: like really like more of a title that defines what 777 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 1: you do. Like he who binge watches Netflix and eats chili, 778 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,920 Speaker 1: that's sort of a thing. He who foolishly buys fresh 779 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:13,680 Speaker 1: tomatoes in the winter, that's a good one. But hey, 780 00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:15,200 Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from all of you out there. 781 00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:18,759 Speaker 1: What would your winter name be? And indeed, how is 782 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: the winter you different from the summer you? Do you 783 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: experience seasonal effective disorder? Uh? Do you think you have 784 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,719 Speaker 1: seasonal effective disorder? Either way, let us know we would 785 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. Oh, and especially if we 786 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:33,399 Speaker 1: have any listeners with Kua Kwakuwa heritage. I would love 787 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:35,759 Speaker 1: to hear from you with your thoughts about these winter 788 00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:39,480 Speaker 1: ceremonial traditions. Indeed, in the meantime, you can always check 789 00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:42,120 Speaker 1: out past episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind at 790 00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:44,320 Speaker 1: stuff to Blow your Mind dot Com. You'll also find 791 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,920 Speaker 1: links out to our various social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, 792 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:52,280 Speaker 1: Tumbler and Instagram. As always, big thanks to our audio 793 00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:55,719 Speaker 1: producers Alex Williams and Tary Harrison. And if you want 794 00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:57,840 Speaker 1: to get in touch with us directly, as always, you 795 00:44:57,840 --> 00:45:00,720 Speaker 1: can email us at blow the Mind at how staff 796 00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:14,080 Speaker 1: works dot com for more on this and thousands of 797 00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 1: other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com the 798 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:28,080 Speaker 1: biggest