Nice Genes!

How wastewater surveillance is tracking diseases outbreaks

When you flush your toilet, where does the waste go? Down the pipes, through the sewers, and into a… lab? That’s right, hidden in our collective waste is a archive of genomic clues revealing our health, habits, and maybe even happiness levels.

In this episode, host Dr. Kaylee Byers teams up with Dr. Jess Steier from the Unbiased Science podcast as they dive into the world of wastewater surveillance. Along the way, they enlist a seasoned “poo detective,” Dr. Natalie Prystajecky, who wades through some wastewater 101, and how sewage can tip us off to disease outbreaks before symptoms even start. Then, Dr. Yemisi Bokinni brings the investigation to the not-so-small town of Makoko, Nigeria, where a new genome sequencing lab is chasing an old culprit: polio.

From your neighbourhood sewers to global health and future pandemics, we're using genomics to identify poo dunnit.

Highlights

(3:26) Wastewater 101: Dr. Natalie Prystajecky flushes out the basics

(9:07) Diving into the murky ethics of wastewater surveillance

(19:13) Tracking down polio in a floating village

(26:45) Can wastewater tip us off to the next pandemic

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Resources

1. Wastewater Surveillance– BC Centre for Disease Control

2. Wastewater surveillance tells a quiet story of polio’s return– BMJ

3. Nigeria’s polio battleground'– Nature

4. Makoko: ‘Venice of Lagos’– SmartCities Dive

Every mystery leaves a trail of clues. Fingerprints, call logs, maybe some tire tracks… or, of course, DNA. And when it comes to mysteries about our health, there are no shortages of leads to chase.

This season, join host, Dr. –or Detective– Kaylee Byers and the Nice Genes! CSI unit as we investigate the genomic breadcrumbs shaping the way we age, treat diseases– and even watch TV. We’ll uncover how “poo water” can tip us off to pandemics before they spread, to why some of the fittest athletes suddenly collapse on the field. And if you thought you smelled a “rat,” well, you’d be correct. Because we'll also learn how our rodent sidekicks are helping us sniff out the world's deadliest infectious disease.

Explore these cases and more in Nice Genes! season 5: “DNA Detectives”– resolving the genetic riddles behind our health, one story at a time.

Click here for tickets and more information about the Nice Genes! Live podcast event on Tuesday December 2nd, 2025.

Houston, we have… a microbe? A mysterious bacterial species has shown up aboard China’s Tiangong Space Station, and Dr. Kaylee Byers and Sarah Lando are hopping into the Nice Genes! mothership to investigate. Where did this intriguing new organism come from? Did it evolve in orbit? And what does it mean for the future of space travel?

Click here for tickets and more information about the Nice Genes! Live podcast event on Tuesday December 2nd, 2025.

Resources

1. New Bacteria Have Been Discovered on a Chinese Space Station - WIRED

2. New space-adapted bacteria discovered on China’s space station - CBC

3. Unknown strain of bacteria found on China's Tiangong Space Station - Live Science

4. Niallia tiangongensis sp. nov., isolated from the China Space Station - International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology 

German cockroaches are notorious for making themselves at home in our kitchens and bathrooms, but how did they become such persistent pests? Dr. Kaylee Byers and Sarah Lando explore the fascinating genomics behind this unwanted guest—and why we’re partly to blame.

Resources:

1.Solving the 250-year-old mystery of the origin and global spread of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica – PNAS

2. The world's most common cockroach is 'a monster of our own creation,' study finds - CBC

3. German Cockroach – Rutgers

4. Prevalence of Cockroaches, Bed Bugs, and House Mice in Low-Income Housing and Evaluation of Baits for Monitoring House Mouse Infestations – Journal of Medical Entomology

The Importance of Biodiversity

Description:

This episode was originally released on October 31, 2022

Conservation is often about protecting the species that still wander around our Earth. But what about those that once did but have gone extinct? In this Halloween-inspired episode, we take a look into how one spooky idea has gone from science fiction to science fact, de-extinction style.

Dr. Kaylee Byers takes us to the upside-down world of wild animals in Australia. She sits down with Dr. Axel Newton whose research addresses how to resurrect a species that has been extinct for nearly a century. Also joining her is Dr. Carolyn Hogg who uses the latest genomic technology to understand the impacts of reintroducing endangered species into their native habitats. In this wacky tale of resurrection and 'devils' will the spirit of scientific discovery mean incredible changes for the future, or is a line being crossed that we can't come back from?

References:

1. Lab takes 'giant leap' toward thylacine de-extinction with Colossal genetic engineering technology partnership | The University of Melbourne

2. Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration Research Lab (TIGRR Lab) | The University of Melbourne

3. Thylacine: How we plan to de-extinct the Tasmanian tiger | Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences

4. Extinction of thylacine | National Museum Australia

5. A year after Australia's wildfires, extinction threatens hundreds of species | Science News

6. Rewilding returns lost species to strengthen ecosystems | Science News

7. Park Conscious | U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

8. Endangered Tasmanian devils insured against future threats | The University of Sydney

9. The 9 Steps to De-Extincting Australia's Thylacine | The University of Melbourne

10. The Value of Reference Genomes in the Conservation of Threatened Species | Marsupial Genetics and Genomics

11. Assessing evolutionary processes over time in a conservation breeding program: a combined approach using molecular data, simulations and pedigree analysis | Biodiversity and Conservation

Mutton was one of the last of the Salish Woolly Dogs– a breed raised by Indigenous Coast Salish communities before colonization led to its disappearance. Sarah Lando and Dr. Kaylee Byers delve into how genome sequencing is helping uncover the Woolly Dog’s legacy—and could even lead to its revival.

Resources:

1. The history of Coast Salish “woolly dogs” revealed by ancient genomics and Indigenous Knowledge – Science

2. Salish Woolly Dog – The Canadian Encyclopedia

3. Extinct Woolly Dog was carefully bred for weaving, ancient DNA confirms – Washington Post

4. Extinct Woolly Dog Analyzed in Collaborative Study with Coast Salish Co-authors – American Museum of Natural History

This episode was originally released on September 19, 2023

Is the world running out of bananas? Well, no. Not…yet — but nature is flashing a big, yellow, squishy "caution" sign. In this episode, Dr. Kaylee Byers peels away our assumptions about food security by looking at bananas. Venturing Down Under, we connect with Dr. James Dale from Queensland University of Technology – a bona fide banana expert, who tells us exactly why this iconic yellow fruit could one day become a rarity. But, with the help of a clever genomic idea, he and his intrepid team of Aussie researchers and farmers are looking at how to hit "abort" on complete Bananageddon.

Special thanks to Mark Smith with Darwin Fruit Farm Party Limited for providing field recordings for this episode.

References:

1. Why Don’t Banana Candies Taste Like Real Bananas? | Science Friday
2. What We Can Learn From the Near-Death of the Banana | TIME
3. Banana Wars: Power, Production, and History in the Americas | Duke University Press
4. Chinese coolies | National Library Board
5. The Story of the Cavendish Banana | Tenerife Weekly
6. Not your mother’s banana | Bananageddon
7. Fungal attacks threaten global food supply, say experts | The Guardian
8. The banana is dying. The race is on to reinvent it before it's too late | Wired
9. QUT-developed GM Cavendish offers safety net to world banana industry | Queensland University of Technology

Credit:

1. Journey to Banana Land: By the United Fruit Company (1950) | Institute of Visual Training
2. Ag Report: Fighting rural farm crime; banana disease; and ag grant award | ABC News

The food supplement industry rakes in billions of dollars every year. So with so much money being spent on things like vitamins, they must be worth it, right? Right?! Dr. Kaylee Byers and Sarah Lando give you the down low on what’s good for you– and what’s just good for business.

Resources:

1. Is There Really Any Benefit to Multivitamins? – Hopkins Medicine

2. Daily multivitamins do not help people live longer, major study finds – The Guardian

3. Multivitamin Use and Mortality Risk in 3 Prospective US Cohorts – JAMA

4. Do You Need to Take Magnesium Supplements? – The New York Times

5. Role of Beta-Carotene in Lung Cancer Primary Chemoprevention: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression – National Institute of Health

6. Dietary Supplements Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Ingredient (Vitamins, Minerals, Probiotics), By Form (Capsules, Gummies, Liquids), By End User, By Application, By Type, By Distribution Channel, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030 – Grandview Research

This episode was originally released on November 14, 2023

Sleep is essential to our lives, but our perception of how it functions in our non-waking life is not always well understood. So in the mires of our busy daily lives do we overlook sleep by seeing it as a means of refilling our energy for a productive day? By questioning this assumption, one term rolls from out of the haze: The ‘Circadian Rhythm’.

Dr. Kaylee Byers speaks with Dr. Hiroki Ueda from the University of Tokyo in the Faculty of Medicine on demystifying the links between our sleep and genomics. Then neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Coogan shares the connection between sleep and ADHD. Finally, we hear from Dr. Ueda and Dr. Hiroshi Ono, from Hitotsubashi University Business School, on how their homeland of Japan is reckoning with an off-balance relationship with sleep and work.

References:

1. Molecular Mechanisms of REM Sleep | Neurosci
2. The ability to dream may be genetic | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
3. Next-Generation Mice Genetics for Circadian Studies | Neuromethods
4. Evolution of temporal order in living organisms | Journal of Circadian Rhythms
5. Learn about the bunker experiment to understand the human biological clock | Britannica
6. Genetic sleep deprivation: using sleep mutants to study sleep functions | EMBO reports
7. Circadian rhythms and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: The what, the when and the why | Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
8. Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences | Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
9. No Sleep for Japan? Survey Reveals Half of Population May Have Insomnia | Nippon.com
10. Why Sleep Matters: Quantifying the Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep | Rand Corporation
11. Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world. It’s trying to change | CNBC
12. Announcement of the establishment of the nonpartisan "Parliamentary League to Promote Initiatives for People's Quality Sleep" | Sleeping Council Federation
13. Founder/Director CTO Yasumi Ueda gave a speech at the inaugural general meeting of the nonpartisan "Parliamentary League to Promote Initiatives for People's Quality Sleep" | ACCELStars
14. Free-running circadian activity rhythms in free-living beaver (Castor canadensis) | Journal of Comparative Physiology

Credits:

1. Dr. Rackeb Tesdaye
2. Curbing death by overwork | Financial Times
3. Why does Japan Work So Hard? | CNBC Explains
4. Worked to Death: Japan questions high-pressure corporate culture | France 24 English
5. Inside Japan’s growing ‘lonely death’ clean-up service | CNN International
6. How can governments help stop overwork? | The Question | CBC News: The National

We’ve all been there— tempted by the irresistible smell of hot, melty cheese. So what is it about this perfect blend of milk and microbes that keeps us coming back for more? What does cheese do to our brain? Dr. Kaylee Byers and Sarah Lando slice through the science.

Resources:

1. Is cheese actually addictive? Here's the real science – Salon

2. Which Foods May Be Addictive? The Roles of Processing, Fat Content, and Glycemic Load – PLOS ONE

3. Cheese really is crack. Study reveals cheese is as addictive as drugs – LA Times

4. Science Says Cheese is Basically Cocaine – GQ

5. Divergent effects of central melanocortin signalling on fat and sucrose preference in humans – Nature

6. Your Genes May Influence What You Like to Eat – Scientific American