WEBVTT - The Ins and Outs of Albinism 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.160 Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.000 and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too. So it's a 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.200 good old fashioned bout of stuff you should know. Ready 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.360 to kick you in the duff. Oh my gosh, about 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:29.440 where we a sickness? Yeah, some some would say, oh dear, 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.280 I'm ready for this one. I'm so excited because awesome, 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:38.199 I understand genetics and chemistry like I've never understood it 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.480 before in my life. Well, I think that a little 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.240 credit goes to our palagraphs or who has a knack 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.360 for explaining very complex science stuff. Uh. And we also 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.519 need to shout out, as usual when it comes to science. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.680 A kid's website, which is in this case Frontiers for 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.720 Young Minds. That was a really good one. Yeah. They 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:03.320 had a pretty good breakdown on albinism. Not albinism, let's 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.160 just get that out of the way. Yeah. And I 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.080 also tried to find out it it doesn't seem appropriate 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.880 to say albinos. Uh. I didn't expressly see that anywhere, 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.320 but it just it seems like with the how we 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.040 refer to things these days, that that that that stands 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.920 out as something that we shouldn't do. Certainly did you 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.839 find that though I did not, I didn't um, although 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.160 there are all sorts of like um like pro social 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.480 sites for people with albinism all over the place. I'm 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.520 surprised we didn't run into that, but because I saw 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.880 it used. But I'm gonna err on the side of 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:44.800 caution and just say albinism, yeah, totally, or people with 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:50.840 albinism right well sure, or plants. Yeah, that's that's something 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.920 that came up. Like certainly you've you're familiar that you know, 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.320 not all it's not just people who can have albinism, 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.600 but that um animals can too. Every once in a 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.840 while you hear about it very rare like um uh, 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.360 like a shark with albinism or like you said, an 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.359 alligator with albinism. It's just so um stark and surprising. 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.320 One of the reasons why is because it's exceedingly rare 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.280 in the animal kingdom. UM. But it's still around, and 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.400 it's not just mammals that can have albinism too, although 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:22.680 it would make a lot more sense if it was 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.080 just mammals that got it because it affects a very 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:31.440 specific part of the body, the Melana sites, which we'll 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:35.079 talk about in great, great, great detail a little bit um. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:40.360 But but that like, uh, like a whole cascade of 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.640 events goes from or it takes place within those Melana sites, 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.919 and any part of that can get messed up or disordered. 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.400 And those those are what are the basis of the 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.040 different types of albanism, as we'll see. Yeah, and you 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.800 know the reason that you you indicated that it was 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.919 super rare to see like a guerilla with albinism, although 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.680 you can see that's because and we'll get into the 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:06.280 genetics more specifically, but it's in autosomal recessive trait, which 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:11.040 means that both of your parents have to have this 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.960 Albanism gene. So, I mean, it's rare enough in humans 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.720 when two people fall in love and mate for life 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.320 and stuff like that. But when you're counting on two 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.240 sharks that happened to swim by, that happened to have that, uh, 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.880 express their genes that way, and they happen to, you know, 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.040 get friendly with one another, bump up against one another. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:38.200 Sure rub fins, however sharks do that thing. Uh, it 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.120 makes it even more rare because you're counting on um 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.440 almost just like you know, fate or destiny, not destiny. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.520 Let's not get hippie dippy about it. But you know, 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.520 a couple of guerillas getting together in the midst that 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.400 both have this genetic gene. They wait for the mist 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.280 to settle and then they're like, no one can see 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.640 I just said genetic gene too. That's just what I know. 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.120 So yeah, for whatever reason, Chuck, whether it's like because 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.800 the populations are isolated or what, but it it does 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.600 seem to be much rarer. Albanism does seem to be 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.400 much rare in like the wild than it is among humans. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.480 And even in like some human populations, it's like you 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.680 could call it not rare at all. Like if you 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.479 go to some parts of Africa, UM, some parts of 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.799 central or South America, UM, you'll find you'll find groups 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:30.800 that like are fairly small genetically speaking, um and and 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.360 the and albinism has just become kind of like an 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:37.159 endemic trade among the population. Yeah. And I think that's 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.840 even where the first uh, the word albino was first 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:45.000 used in the eighteen hundreds in Africa for people that 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.880 had albinism. And it's I think the root is the 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:53.960 Latin albus or albo from Spanish, Spanish and Portuguese. That's right. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.320 So when we're talking about albinism, I think most people 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.160 probably know what we're talking about. But um use, really, 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.719 when you see a person with albinism, they have either 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.880 totally white hair or a very light colored hair UM 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:14.360 usually UM, little to no skin pigmentation UM. Or they 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:19.320 can have kind of like a yellowish or pinkish skin pigmentation. UM. 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:24.000 They might have eyes that lack color or seem red, 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.080 which apparently has to do with the blood vessels in 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.159 the eye reflecting the red light from well back out 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.280 at you the viewer. But all of this has to 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:37.320 do with a complete in total or a greatly reduced 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:41.080 lack of melanin. Right. Yeah, And you know, if we're 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.279 gonna crumble a myth, we can crumble the myth that 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:49.120 um you are not. Like, if you have albinism and 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:52.200 you don't have red eyes or pink eyes, then you 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.480 don't have true albinism, And that's not true at all. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.159 There are a lot of different kinds of albinism, and 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:00.960 depending on the way that genes express themselves, there can 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:05.640 be a range of of effects on your body. Uh 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.040 ed was mentioned even with the plant Kingdom with maize, 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.599 you know, there's uh you can have and it's not 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.600 white corn. That's a different thing altogether. But if you, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.279 because it trusts me, if you look up albanism and corn, 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.320 the first thing you're gonna see as a corn snake. 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.960 Even if you so you have to type in maze 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:27.480 and then you're just gonna see white corn. But there 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.640 are a few different kinds of albinism and maze, one 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.680 of which basically is no pigment or chlorophyll, and that's 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.960 not even gonna survive because it's a plant, one that 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.520 will eventually become just a regular ear of corn. And 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.920 then a third type, which is really interesting. It's striped 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.280 and some parts have that pigment in some parts don't. Yeah, 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.080 And like, if you put two different types of albinism, 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:55.800 whether it's corn or humans together, the person who has 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.159 both of those different traits probably won't appear to have 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:04.720 albinism all because you have to have matching gene mutations 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:10.680 to have an autosomal recessive uh uh genetic disorder in 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.360 albi is one of those, like you said, yeah, And interestingly, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.480 if you just sort of look at it in a vacuum. 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:23.840 Albinism isn't necessarily harmful. Uh. There can be comorbidities, and 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.080 there can be other effects that happen, of course, like 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.160 with things like sun and sunburn and sun exposure, and 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.840 there's our vision problems that can happen, and we'll get 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:36.480 into all this more specifically, but just by itself, albinism 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:41.080 isn't necessarily harmful to a person or a population, right, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.680 And there's different types to their syndromic and non syndromic, 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.600 and syndromic means that you usually have other related health issues, 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.000 and there are syndromic types of albinism. But one of 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:57.480 the things that tends to UM tends to go along 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.920 with albinism, along with the lack of skin and hair 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.640 or pigmentation UM is vision problems, which we'll talk about, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.360 but there's other stuff too. There's they've correlated UM autism 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.040 with albinism, which I couldn't find a lot on, but 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:16.040 it maybe wonder there's also a correlation between vision um 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.320 problems and autism, and it's possible, they theorize because no 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.040 one knows at this point what the correlation is, but 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.200 they theorized that UM has to do with a low 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.840 level of visual input leading to autism. So it's possible 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.000 that if you have a low level of visual input 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:38.400 because of albinism, that could lead to autism as well, potentially. Right, 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.079 so much we don't know, but we do know that 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:45.520 it is albinism is a neural crest disorder. And this 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.959 basically means, I mean, we can get as as wonky 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.520 here science wise as you want to, but the easy 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:56.600 version is it means that it's very early in embryonic development, uh, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.640 when a group of cells is folding into a crest, 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.040 and at this point, if something is going on with 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:02.960 those cells, it can affect a lot of different things 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:08.480 moving forward, including albinism. Right, Because those neural crests, when 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:15.600 they form the extremely early embryonic stage, they form um cartilage, bone, skin, 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.320 smooth muscle, cells, neurons, They differentiate into a bunch of 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.079 different stuff. But the point of that is is that 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:27.160 like you're the gene that is responsible for whatever type 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:32.600 of albinism you have, um like differentiated like really early on, 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.280 long before many other genes were active. It also it 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.160 also points out, Chuck, I think, um, something that's that's 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:43.160 worth mentioning that at this point because it's a genetic disorder, 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:48.040 and apparently in extraordinarily early in development genetic disorder. Um, 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.320 there's no treatment for albinism. Everything treating is just to 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.440 take care of the the symptoms that come along with it. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.840 I think that's a good overviewed to get us going. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.400 Don't you think so too. Yeah, let's let's take a break. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.320 I smell a break. Yeah. Well, in fact, I could 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:05.920 just be done and we could just run a bunch 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:07.280 of ads if you want to do it that way. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.160 I don't think everybody would like that. I think they'd 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.920 rather hear is muddle through albinism. All right, we'll do 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.720 a couple of messages from our sponsors and we'll be 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:37.559 right back as watch skul So, when most people think 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.520 of albinism, chuck Um, what they're actually thinking of is 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:44.400 a specific type called oculo cutaneous albinism or O c A, 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.560 which is the most prevalent form, but it's also the 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.920 most distinct form as well. Yeah, and this is you know, 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.960 if you've ever seen the musician Johnny Winner or or 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.520 Edgar Winner or uh, you know a lot of times 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.960 people with alba is m will be cast in movies unfairly. 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.000 A lot of times it's it's the bad guy because 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.560 they have a unique look. Uh, and you know, it's 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:13.760 Hollywood and that's kind of what they do exactly. And 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.839 we'll get into that later on too. But um, it's 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:18.640 funny though. I did see a couple of videos where 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:23.320 people with albinism sat and watched movie characters of people 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.640 with albinism and basically just sort of made fun of it. 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.120 They're just like, Okay, another bad guy. That's a surprise. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.040 But that's exactly that's what you're talking about. It. That's 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.560 o c A. One is when you're talking about maybe 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.400 someone with the pink or red eyes, the lack of pigment, 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:44.560 the skin, that white white hair, right, um, and that one. 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:48.400 So there's supposedly there's somewhere between four and maybe even 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:54.040 nine different forms, but most scientists who study albinism recognize 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.839 maybe four to five different forms. The rest of them are, um, 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:01.720 these really really almost ex oddic rare mutations that have 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.880 occurred in these really isolated communities where albinism is actually 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.160 common enough that it just is mutating in a new form. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.720 So most people say four to five forms. Um, And 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:14.960 if you're like the easygoing type, you just call it 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.760 type one type two. If you're high strung like me, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.440 you probably call the most common one O C A 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.760 one A. There's also O C A one B, O 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.000 C A two, O C A UM three and four 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.280 and so on, actually not so on. That's that's all 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.000 of them. But the thing that all of these are, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.240 at least most of them sharing common is that there's 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:41.559 either a total or complete lack of pigmentation. And then 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:46.880 again it affects the eyes because it's that ocular cutaneous albinism. 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:51.160 And so with this lack of pigmentation, that one, uh, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.160 that's that most people think of when they think of albinism. 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:59.080 O C A one A there's like no pigmentation whatsoever. 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:04.240 And everybody with albinism has those those pigment forming cells 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.880 melana sites. It's just the for different reasons, those melano 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.719 sites are not producing pigments to varying degrees, and in 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:17.040 O C A one eight they're not producing pigment at all. Right, So, 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:18.880 like you kind of said at the beginning, if you 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.120 see someone that has the red or pinkish eyes, it's 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.360 those are the blood vessels that you're saying. Because of 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.160 the lack of pigment, and that's what's also going to 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.040 lead to those vision problems. Uh. Like you kind of 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.400 hinted at it. You know, a lot more light is 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.640 going to be entering your eye that's not being absorbed 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:37.320 like it would if you have pigment in your eye. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.720 It's not being diffracted. Uh at the very least, if 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.440 you have albinism, you're probably gonna be really sensitive delight. Um. 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:48.480 But it can also actually damage the retina as well, right, 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.160 which is a big one. Um. As we'll see, that's 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.000 a it's a huge problem that the idea that um 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.960 it's called photophobia, like deep sensitivity to light. Yeah. Um. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.600 And then also you you just can't see as well, 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.679 um like you can in that in turn can lead 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.000 to problems with learning in high school drops. It's like 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.680 a cascading effect that all just chickins with not enough 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.280 pigment in the eye. It's really astounding with just something 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.360 that seems kind of small has like the impacts that 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.240 it has. Yeah. And you know the great thing about 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:23.040 most schools systems these days is they make great efforts 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.840 for any kind of uh kid in school that has 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:29.240 any sort of a challenge to say like, all right, 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.960 well we have something to accommodate for that now. But 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:33.560 it you know, it's taken a long time to get 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:34.880 to this point and we still have a long way 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.960 to go. But you know, you can't imagine somebody with 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:43.000 albinism in the nineteen you know, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.720 and what schooling must have been like when it was 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.840 basically just like sorry, you know, you can't you obviously 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.280 can't keep up. You're struggling to learn to read, and 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.720 we don't quite know what to do with that, right 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.760 and there, and and they always punctuated with him. And 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.280 by the way, everything your classmates are saying about you 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:07.480 is true. Hopefully teachers are at least kind about it 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.600 even back then. Maybe, but kids are always mean. Yeah, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.160 for sure. They're getting nicer, though, are they. That's great, man, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.840 that's a huge improvement. Well, they are, but it's um, 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:19.640 I mean, obviously they're still bullying and a lot of 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.920 problems with that stuff. But the kids are getting better 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.840 because it's I think we've proven as parents and educators 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.520 that that can be taught, that you start them at 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.480 a young age teaching about facial differences. Or just any 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.600 kind of differences and that you know that we're all 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:36.960 the same. Uh. You know, it sounds very free to 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:38.120 be you and me, but we're all the same on 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.560 the inside. And so that kind of like teaching that 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.120 stuff actually works. That's why it's frustrating when people push 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.640 back on that kind of thing. Yeah, I don't want 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.360 Mike could be nice. You can't make my kid be nice. 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.240 It's a First Amendment issue. That was just a little 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.960 soapox moment for me. I like it. I put one 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.480 foot up on there with you too, Thank you so 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.880 um so there's room for you in eat chuck. Yeah, 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.440 Jerry's always up here. Of course she won't stop. It's 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.760 a little much if you ask me, so, chuck. Before 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:11.960 we keep moving on, because I think we need to 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:16.760 talk about that social aspect of albinism now. Um but 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.400 but before we hit that, I want to say, there's 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.160 one other thing that one of the big differentiators about 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.960 between the different types of albinism is, like we were saying, 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.960 at what point in the process of creating melanin that 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:36.240 the pigmentation um is disrupted, means that you could actually 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:40.880 produce some levels of pigment or some different types of pigment. Like, 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.400 we have a couple of types of pigment that we 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.640 produce us humans. You melanin, that's one. That's the money melanin. 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.400 Everybody thinks about its like it produces like the browns 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.480 and everything like that. It gives you your tan if 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.080 you have brown or dark hair, that's all you melanin. 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:00.080 But there's also fail melanin, which is kind of a 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:05.320 red yellow pigment producer. And people can have types of 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:10.480 albinism where you're producing uh no you melanin whatsoever, but 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.560 plenty of yellow red pao melanin. So that will adjust 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.879 the different kinds of skin pigments you have. And sometimes 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.040 you'll see people with albinism we have like you know, 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.639 totally pale skin, but like a big shock of yellow 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.480 gold hair. They're producing plenty of phao melanin. Just no 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.760 you ma melanin. And those are the different like the 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.840 different gradiations of of albinism have to do with how 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.360 much in what type of melanin can escape out into 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.440 the skin, into the eyes and into the hair. Yeah, 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:46.000 And interestingly, birds and mammals are the only living things 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.680 that have melanostes, which are those cells that produced the melanin. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.600 So this is why you're not going to see a 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.600 lot of bright colored mammals. Like, you're not gonna see 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.359 a lot of bright green or blue mammals. Uh. And 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.360 then when its to birds to but you're like, wait 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:05.320 a minute, why are humans you know, basically shades of 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.119 sort of brown? Uh? And why can birds be like 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:11.920 pink and orange and red. It's for a lot of reasons. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.240 So we talked about some of these before. But one 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.000 of the reasons is their diet, like in the case 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.520 of the flamingo, of flamingo is white except uh for 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.800 their diet, which turns them red or pink. Yeah, they can. Um. 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.280 They can also produce certain kinds of chains of amino 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.880 acids that produce blue or green. They can combine some 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.159 of the pigments they produce with some structural stuff, like 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.920 in in the way that their feathers are built, to 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.040 create entirely new colors. Um. There's a lot of stuff 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.119 you can do, but that's typically birds. And the reason 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.960 they think that birds are so colorful is because the 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.800 visual acuity in the bird world is a little more 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:53.280 important even in the human world. As important as it 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.080 is for us. But there's also another thing that that 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.240 um melanin does is it can provide like structure and 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.840 toughness UM. Like if you look at the outer layer 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.880 of fur and like a cold um, like a cold 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:12.080 dwelling animal, that's usually gonna be fairly dark UM. And 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.720 one of the reasons why it's dark is because it's 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.119 also providing like structure and toughness to that that outer 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:23.800 layer for not just you know, UM, preventing U light 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.880 to get through, UV to get through, right, But then 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:31.040 you start scritching underneath, you get to that little baby soft, 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.800 lighter colored undercoat. Even with my dog Charlie, who's got 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:38.080 the longer hair, she's you know, she has an outer 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.240 coat and an undercoat, and that undercoat is different. It 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:44.600 feels a little different, it looks a little different. The 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.480 exception to that, of course, is polar bears. They're not 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.800 actually producing any kind of white pigment. I think it's 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.600 the structure of their um, their hairs, their clear hollow tubes, 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.440 so they refract light so that all of the light 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.760 comes back at you. Yeah, just google green polar bear 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.200 if you want to freak your kids out a little bit. 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.280 Oh yeah, yeah, it sounds sousical. It's kind of a 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:13.120 green polar bear. So while we're on that though we talk, 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:14.520 you know, I want to talk a little bit about 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:19.240 the um sort of social implicate implications of having Albanism. 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.920 And you know, it's interesting that it's much more common 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.879 in parts of Africa, especially in Sub Saharan Africa, but 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.600 that's also where you can find some of the most 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:34.960 uh stigma and people being ostracized, which is I don't know, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.359 it's really kind of sad that it seems like something 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:39.879 that is more common might be accepted a little bit more, 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.120 but that's not really the case, is it. No, it's not. 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:46.400 And unfortunately the reason why is because people with Albanism 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.920 in Africa are in some parts of Africa. We've learned 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.080 over the years you can't just be like in Africa 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:57.800 because it's just so ridiculously different culturally and geographically. But 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.760 in some parts of Africa, I believe Bigeria, Um parts 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:05.840 of Nigeria, if you're if you have alb albinism, you 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:11.080 are extraordinarily valuable. I think the body of a person 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.200 with albinism is worth about seventy five thousand U S 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.800 dollars in in places where people are living on like 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.320 six dollars a day is for like medical research. No 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:25.639 oh no, no no, no, I know you're talking about for 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:30.240 witchcraft and sourcery. They're considered the bone. They there's lower, 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.640 there's so here's here's the problem. Um. Not only are 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.240 people with albinism subject to being ostracized and isolated because 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:41.160 they're different and they look different the people and people 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:43.920 not just in Africa, but in other places where education 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.119 is less prevalent and less standardized and science is less 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:53.840 um relied on. I guess um, there's just a lot 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:58.040 of myth and lower surrounding albinism, and so people think 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:01.080 that it's like contagious. So you just want to stay 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:04.040 away from those people because you don't want to catch it. Um. 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.800 And then all the way across the spectrum to their 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.120 bones are made of gold dust. And if you get 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.600 your hands on the cadaver of an person without albinism, 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:16.200 you can you can create potions and sell them to 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.400 people in in the wholesale market. You can. You would 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.800 pay seventy five dollars for the the corpse of a 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:25.760 person with albinism. And it happens like people get murdered 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:30.200 for their bodies because they're they have albinism, and it's 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:33.840 just it's it's a despicable practice and trade. But part 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.960 of it is like figuring out how to get across 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:41.320 to like these large groups and populations the science behind 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:43.239 all this, and that at the very least it's not 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:48.480 contagious and at best their their bones are not filled 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:51.200 with gold dust, so please stop chopping them up kind 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:54.560 of thing. Yeah, And as far as you know here 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.959 in the United States, if you know this is like 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:00.320 we talked about, you know, kids teasing or stay airing. 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:03.919 As as parents and educators, you should be armed, I 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:07.199 think with the barest bones of information at least to 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:09.240 be able to say, oh, well, you know, that is 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:12.200 somebody with albinism and that means their body doesn't produce 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:14.360 pigment and so their skin looks different than ours does. 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:16.679 And if your parents you can just leave it at that. 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:20.200 And that's really all you have to do. Like, if 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:22.600 you want to listen to this episode and get into 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:28.359 uh Melana sites, knock yourself out, that's parenting plus. But 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:31.000 at the very least you should be able to describe it. 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:32.840 And like I know when I was a kid and 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:34.400 this is not a knock on my parents. They were 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:37.040 both smart people and teachers. But but just scared to 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:40.240 death of people with albinism. No, no, but they probably 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:43.520 would not have known what to tell me. Uh. They 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:46.760