22 January, 2019 – Episode 755 – Directing Space Traffic

What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?

Interview w/ Dr. Moriba Jah, Cancer T Cells, Snakes And A Virus, Watery Mars Dirt, Wet Rattlesnakes, Helper Parrots, Psychoactive Mood Bump, Greying Hair?, Playful Wolf Pups, And Much More…

Want to listen to a particular story from TWIS, the This Week in Science podcast? You can do that here. Just look for the time-code link in the description.

DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER!!!

This is not the world you signed up for!

When you were born into this world, your biology was prepared a very different place

Millions of years of evolution, a hundred thousand years of language, thousands of years of civilization and now you are a part of an artificial environment the world has never seen before.

But no worries, you happen to have been born as one

of the most adaptable species the planet has ever seen

Your kind has rolled with the changes before,

and changed in ways that made it easier to survive.

and while your new environment may pose challenges, your biology will follow!

Thanks to advances in technology, you might not need to rely on such a large brain

So it may shrink a bit.

Your keen physical prowess can relax into a more sedentary society

No one will ask you to join a mastodon hunt anytime soon.

Don’t be concerned if there are some hiccups of disease along the way, it’s a temporary trade off, all change takes time.

Besides, what’s a little diabetes if you no longer need to run from a pack of lions, or chase off a family of bears to get the good cave?

Just never forget that the skills that allowed your ancestors to overcome the toughest challenges are still with you…

That smart phone in your hand?

Just the latest version of a tool mankind has wielded to circumvent the world for millions of years…

No longer stone, but still crafted to fit nicely in the palm.

The modern world is not the one your biology was built for… but we’re work...