This week, we’re joined by Trace Dominguez from the YouTube channel Uno Dos of Trace to talk about genetic mutations! Tiny changes in an organism’s DNA sequence can lead to big variations or absolutely nothing. It’s just a roll of the dice! So what mutations have shown up in modern humans—different bones, livers, or even eyeballs? What is “foreign DNA” and where does it even come from? And can anybody name as many X-Men as Sam?

If you want to know more about any of the topics discussed today, check out these links:

[Truth or Fail]

Hypoxia:

https://www.sciencealert.com/indonesian-bajau-genetic-changes-adapt-them-to-aquatic-lifestyle-2

Bones:

https://www.the-scientist.com/notebook-old/the-worlds-densest-bones-47155

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa013444

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28893644

Smoking:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-17-mn-51362-story.html

[Fact Off]

Tetrachromats:

Colchicine and watermelons:

https://csuvth.colostate.edu/poisonous_plants/Plants/Details/79

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4656054/

https://scialert.net/fulltextmobile/?doi=jbs.2013.277.282

https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/CAT71326739/PDF

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/hortupdate_archives/2000/may00/h5may00.html

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/for-plants-polyploidy-is-not-a-four-letter-word/

[Ask the Science Couch]

Foreign DNA:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uonc-ahc111815.php

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/290835.php

https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-015-0607-3

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2009.1679

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7934/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6177113/

[Butt One More Thing]

Beautiful buttocks:

https://www.nature.com/news/2002/020917/full/news020916-3.html