
8 | Carl Zimmer on Heredity, DNA, and Editing Genes
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
What Is This Going to Do to Heredity?
i think that we are a terrible society at treating people equally right now. I suspect people will react to very vicerilly, i agree. Part of the problem here is that we think of jeans as being the sort of absolute definition of who we are. We also think about heredity in the sense that these kids will then pass down these traits to their kids and so on. And you can see this with scientists who developed crisper actually have had international meetings to figure out what should happen next.
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Yeah. Well, listen, if you ever get in the opportunity to perform, I want to perform for the military more. Yeah, I feel like that feels good. Because honest, like I'm, I'll speak for myself, I would assume we're both the same, but I'm too much of a pussy to ever be in the military. I can't be in a war. If you gave me a gun, I think the first thing I might do is shoot myself. I don't know what to do. So I figured the only way that I can helpfully contribute is boost them around and make them laugh and keep them. They don't hold God. They have water guns, right? Because they're in the Navy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The whole thing. The ammunition is all water guns. The whole front row, they were in Swimmies. Yeah. When you go on an aircraft carrier, you ever had I've been on that one? You've been on the Lincoln. Yeah. So you did. So you probably did. You did a show? No, I was there for Comic Con. And they had a MGMT played a concert on it. Okay. So that same place is where I was. Yeah. Yeah. So you saw it. It's like a skyscraper. It's like a mile long. Oh, yeah. It's insane. And they were like, and it's crazy because when these jets land, they have to land, you know, like when you're in a plane and you like slow down, obviously, to like, you know, you'll feel yourself slowing down, they have to hit the thruster because if they miss, basically what happens is when they land on the aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier is moving because it creates its own wind. So it needs to be moving. And then there's these four giant hooks that literally hook on the back of the plane and stop it like a rubber band. Yeah. But you can't be slowing down because if God forbid you miss one of the hooks, which happens, you have to have enough energy, enough thrust to be able to take off again and try again. So you have to just gun it. Oh, wow. And those hooks hits you. And if not, you got to take off. Wow. And he said, you know, we got to land that like, you know, like, he said it was crazy, like during World War II, like guys would have to do that with like enemies firing on them right now. No enemy has fired on on one of those. Wow. I said to I said, what happens? I said, what would happen if like somebody fired one of these things at the aircraft carrier, he said, try it. I was like, no, I'm not talking about me. I don't have to. He squared up immediately. He's like, he put his hand on a super so. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, you know, I have a slingshot. Yeah. That's so funny. So and what rank is Popeye? Popeye, I believe is he's got to be at least a captain. He's got to be up there. He's up there. Yeah. He wasn't wearing that just fun. Right. He was he was in the military. Oh, yeah. No, every single guy I walk past had a can of spinach. Yeah. It's so funny. You talked about politics. You talked about, you cursed. Yes. You talked about what was it? Religion? Yeah. Did you have our religion? Yeah. I talked. I was like, I was like, so that was it. So the end of the show, how did you sign out? You're like, Hey guys, thanks. But you were yelling, screaming. I said, I said, listen, guys, you know, there's like taco trucks over there. I said, go have the taco trucks. I was like, I did like a closing joke. And I just, I said, material. No, I haven't. I tried to weave in and out of material. Yeah. I said, you guys want to see steel and wool? I said, you guys want to see steel and wool? They come one, they were like, yeah, I was like, the mics don't work. You know, and then I said, generator, what we're telling them. Yeah. Got a big laugh. And then, and then, how did you feel walking off? Walking off. I felt good because the crowd that was there all came and wanted to take pictures. I'm like, meet me. So you felt? Well, I did. I did. I felt like it wasn't even necessarily like anything to do with me. It's not like they were like, I'm sure most of them didn't even know who the hell I was, but they were just like so thankful to like, like they for 45 minutes, they were like, you know, we're just yeah, because at any moment, those guys can get can go. Right. All of them can go. I think imagine living like that. I know. And then, you know, where the name as you know, like, it's this entire city, like it's, it's like, it's own ecosystem. And it's not open to the public. And for miles and miles and miles, like you have to go through like these big naval barricades. And then it's like, they have their whole world. Like, some guys don't ever leave that base. Yeah. It was one, and then it took me down to the jail. You do not want to go into a naval aircraft carrier jail. It is very small, very cramped at the bottom of the ship. If anything ever happened, like on the that's the first to fill up with water, you're dead in the cell. Now let me ask you a question. That jail is there for enemies. So they said basically what would somebody who would go in a jail like that is if somebody in the Navy was like, say, like, turned by the enemy and was like found out to be a spy or terrorist. They have a jail for turncoats? Yes, they say he said, but the guy who took me around was a great, I love this kid. He's a great guy. He has he's got a big bald head. He looks like a huge infant. And he he actually looks like my daughter looks like Papa, he looks like Papa. And he was saying that in his 10 plus years on the ship, they've never had to put someone in that jail. But that's typically what it's used for. They said, now listen, if somebody's like, smuggles alcohol on and gets like fucking banged up, drunk or whatever, like they might throw them in there and let them cool it off, cool off. But you can't have any alcohol. That's weird. Okay. He said people, you know, people you can't stop people from going into San Diego. Right. Right. You know, you, well, they all play in like battleship. Like what? No, they, well, it was interesting. Some of them, some of them, they all have army fatigues on. So I'm like, are you guys in the army? Or and then there's all rivalries. Like they say the Air Force are pussy, the army is gay. But I was like, I thought the Navy was gay, because it's semen. Well, they're all gay now. Right. Yeah. Everyone's allowed to have everyone's gay. Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. I mean, like, every, wait, what? What do you mean? They, they feel like certain factions of our military are fully, wholly gay. They said they, I was told by them that I believe it was the Air Force, our army was gay, or the Air Force is, because my thought was, because there's F 16 fighter jets on the thing. And I was like, don't you need the Air Force to fly those? They're like, no, the Navy flies those. I was like, what's the point of the Air Force for? And they were like, the Air Force does more stuff on the ground. I was like, but the name's near. Right. The Air Force. So I was like, I was like, so who does the ground force? They were like the Army. I was like, but you just said the Air Force was confusing to me too. So I don't know. So they weren't in white thing? White outfits. No, they were in, they were in battle ready army to take. I actually would maybe be able to let down by that. Yeah. Yeah. But they were really, really good kids. And if you ever get the opportunity to meet the military or if you're an entertainment perform for them, I want to do it again. Yeah, I've always heard that. Because it's like, you know, it's like doing a college gig, which are hard for comedians, but these kids are different. Right. They're different. They're like not going to be offended. Yeah. Battle hard. And they're like, want to, they actually want to laugh. Yeah, we, we, and every show we invite, like most shows we do, we try to invite like wounded warriors and stuff for freight, like to come right, we give like the bunch of tickets to come. So I always know, those guys are something else too. Yeah. Like, I saw a one guy recently came out to me and he had, I guess his arm was, you know, he had the, what do you call that, like the prosthetic arm? Yeah, but like a fully functioning one. Oh, yeah. And, and even I think even a leg, I think. And this guy was literally like, he had jokes for days. Sure. Like, I'm sure he does it. Like, he's, he's used to it now and he's come to terms that maybe he's just humor as a COVID mechanism or he, he likes to, uh, dis, like, um, what, what's the word I'm looking for when he's like to diffuse, like any tension that people might be nervous because like they come to him. Yeah. And this guy had made like within like five minutes, he made like 10, like 15, like well written jokes, like the head, he had him in the arsenal. Right. It's often like, yeah, man, I mean, I know what else you get to laugh in because you want me to laugh, you know, yeah. What, I mean, what, what can you do? God bless them. God bless us all. Yeah. Um, and then you got off that. He's bringing up the ship and I got off the ship and I, uh, and they gave me, uh, they gave me a Philly cheesesteak, which was really good. And I said, you know what, I don't want to eat the bread. I want to just try to eat keto. So I ate the, I ate it with my, I ate it with my, um, hands. And then Jasmine sent me a picture of the roof damage and I ate the entire bread. I just ate the whole, I just ate, I just ate all the bread and cheese and onions. And then I just was like, and then I walked around San Diego for about four hours, um, sat down by the water, uh, and then got on, got on the flight. I watched straight out of Compton on the flight home. Yeah. That's good movie. Good movie. I enjoyed it. Yeah. Um, and then that's, uh, that's, uh, ice cube son. I'll say Jack's, I'll say, uh, good name, I'll say, good name, good name. Yeah. And then I did, I was in Montauk. I did mushrooms, um, all weekend, last weekend in Montauk, I went to Gurney's and I was, I was shroomed out and I, and I, and I wrote this and I, I remember it because I was also drunk, but, um, that's when I, that's when I, uh, uh, posted, you can only control your output, not your outcome. Go out and give it your best. Nothing else matters. I'm on shrooms. I don't know why I said that. I, um, but I, I said it. Of course you were on shrooms in Montauk at a party spot or whatever you are because you were with me, but you leave these walls. Right. And you, you just, you just become another man. But although we shed this skin, we did have the dinner though two weeks ago, we did, we were, we were smoking, uh, vape pens. Yes. Uh, and then, but then where that, but now the tree fell through that. Yeah. Yeah. Go down. You gave me actually a bar of, uh, for the, what do you think? For the mushroom? I didn't do it yet, but I, but every time I open my fridge, I look at it and they go, it's got to be like soon soon. Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, if you eat the whole bar, you can, cause I was reading the portions on the back. So when you do it, do you eat? Because if you, it's, I think it says, if you eat the whole thing, it says you can get actually like, so for me, I, and, and I don't know, I'm, I'm new to all this, but I was micro dosing. I was thinking micro dosing a little by little is good, but I would always get kind of like a constant headache. I liked the way I feel, but I, I didn't, right. So what I did for this one is I, not the bar, a kid who was out there had actual the caps. Yeah. And I took 10 of them. So I said, let me just really do this one big dose gave you who made who said the 10 was a dose. The kid Google, I googled it. They said, if you want to go, if you want to really psychedelic trip out, cause they all have different potencies. So you can never really like, you got to be real careful with that. Well, well, see, I didn't know that. Did you get to a point though? My only did mushrooms twice. Only one time was good with, and it was, but I got all those effects that they say you're supposed to get. Did you get those? I got what happened once for me is I didn't see third eye opening. I didn't see things in different colors or anything. I was, I was so calm and relaxed. And for some reason, my thoughts and my words, I felt the most articulate. I've ever felt in my life, like words that I read and paragraphs that I read in books that I've been reading that I couldn't, that at that moment, I couldn't retain were like opened up in my head. Right. You were just on point and scholarly. Yes. Yes. It was weird. Who was, so were you talking someone's ear off about about words? Yep. And then I said, I must have said that. I must have said, I think I said that to the kid who gave me the shrooms and he was like, Oh, I'm going to write that down. I said, well, I'm going to write it down to you. Okay. And send it out. Did you perform in Montauka? That was so fun. No, it was just for my birthday. Okay. Yeah, it was my birthday out there. So we went the kids, it was nice. Can't back at hand, foot mouth disease. How'd you like the place you stayed at? It was great. It's called, I oh, it's called driftwood driftwood resorts. And I always stay there. Okay. I like that. Yeah. Cool. I like it. I like Montauka. I like we went to Amscarpetta. Oh, yeah. And Gurney's. Oh, yeah. Very good. Great food. Yeah, great food. I had three or four desserts. It was my birthday. You went shorty. I went. I've been deviating from Saturdays for the sweets. I've deviated big time from Saturdays or for the sweets for the past two weeks.
Our understanding of heredity and genetics is improving at blinding speed. It was only in the year 2000 that scientists obtained the first rough map of the human genome: 3 billion base pairs of DNA with about 20,000 functional genes. Today, you can send a bit of your DNA to companies such as 23andMe and get a report on your personal genome (ancestry, health risks) for about $200. Technologies like CRISPR are allowing scientists to edit genes, not just map them. Science writer Carl Zimmer has been following these advances for years, and has recently written a comprehensive book about heredity: She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity. We talk about how our understanding of heredity has changed over the years, how there is much more to inheritance than simply listing all the information we pass down in our DNA, and what the future might hold in a world where genetic manipulation becomes widespread. [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/seancarroll/carl-zimmer.mp3" social_gplus="false" social_linkedin="true" social_email="true" hashtag="mindscapepodcast" ] Carl Zimmer is a leading science writer whose work regularly appears in The New York Times, National Geographic, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. He is the author of thirteen books, including a university-level textbook on evolutionary biology. He has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. He teaches as an adjunct professor at Yale University. Home page Matter column in The New York Times Yale home page Wikipedia page Amazon author page Talk on Science, Journalism, and Democracy Twitter Download Episode
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