Nice Genes!

How Mice and CRISPR are Reversing Blindness

One small step for science, one furry leap for mousekind. Scientists have found a way to reverse a common mutation that causes blindness in both people and mice using gene editing technology.

References:

In Mouse Study, Scientists Use Gene Editing to Reverse a Major Cause of Blindness | US News

Credits:

Children's Songs by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians | Internet Archive

Three Blind Mice - Beidernecke, Bix | Internet Archive

How Deleted DNA Reveals the Origins of Humanity

In 2007, researchers pitted humans against chimpanzees in a memory test competition. Who was the victor of this mental jungle gym? Phoebe Melvin and Dr. Kaylee Byers delve into Yale University research that reveals what DNA humans share with our primate relatives but, more intriguingly, what sets us apart.

References:

Mankind’s Missing Puzzle Pieces: The “Deleted” Genes That Made Us Human | Yale University

Chimps Beat Humans on Memory Tasks | ABC News

Credits:

ABC News, Chimps vs Humans | ABC News & laffsteve

How an Oddball Bunny Saved Millions of Lives

Can a make-believe tale have real-life consequences? Perhaps a 1930s legend from a snowy town in Wyoming illustrates signals just how the strange things found in nature can become life-saving treatments.

References:

Are jackalopes real? | Live Science

New Research Shows the HPV Cancer Vaccine Saves Lives | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Credits:

The Legend Of Bigfoot | Internet Archive (CC)

Somewhere In Wyoming 1930 Joe Green Orchestra | Internet Archive (CC)

Meet the Magic of Mushrooms on Colour Blindness

Roughly 300 million people have a colour vision deficiency. But with a few mushrooms and some magic, those who experience colourblindness might be able to see a whole range of colors for the first time.

References:

Magic Mushrooms seem to have a strange effect on color blindness | Science Alert

Ishihara test: Color Blind Test | Colormax

What is LSD | Science Alert

Case report: Prolonged amelioration of mild red-green color vision deficiency following psilocybin mushroom use | Drug Science, Policy and Law

Improved colour blindness symptoms associated with recreational psychedelic use: Results from the Global Drug Survey 2017 | Drug Science, Policy and Law

Indigenous Environmental Stewardship

Description:

The Indigenous peoples of what’s now known as Western Canada had a relationship of reciprocity with the land. But when explorers from Europe arrived eager to tame the land and absorb its vast natural resources these two world views came to a head. And caught in between an iconic species of the Pacific Northwest—the Gary Oak—has become threatened. So how can we reconcile the harmful assumptions of the past that overlooked other ways of managing ecosystems?

Dr. Kaylee Byers and Co-Host Dr. Lyana Patrick, look to the forests, rivers, and oceans of Turtle Island to uncover the various food systems and traditional stewardship practices that existed before colonization. Ethnobotonist, John Bradley Williams shares the traditional use of Garry Oaks and how they became systematically destroyed. Dr. Tabitha Robin from the University of British Columbia shares her experience working with and studying Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Lastly, Canadian Anthropologist and National Geographic explorer Dr. Wade Davis, through insights from his career visiting communities around the world shares how we can dismantle the prevailing biases that continue to threaten the health of our planet.

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Highlights:

(3:53 - 8:55) An icon on the brink, J.B. Williams shares the origins and challenges of Garry Oak meadows

(11:24 - 14:50) Moving forward, Dr. Tabitha Robin shares the overlooked history of Indigenous food sovereignty

(18:45 - 23:20) How an academic divide threatens our planet, anthropology lessons from National Geographic's Dr. Wade Davis

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/3GPwxnf

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Resources:

Indians and Europeans on the Northwest Coast: Historical Context | Center for the Study of Pacific Northwest

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is mentioned for the first time in April 1596 | History Link

Purchas His Pilgrimes: Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells by Englishmen and others | Center for the Study of Pacific Northwest

The Garry Oak Learning Meadow | Parks Canada

Harvesting strategies as evidence for 4000 years of camas (Camassia quamash) management in the North American Columbia Plateau | The Royal Society

Conservation status of native tree species in British Columbia | Global Ecology and Conservation

Seeing the garden through the trees: The Indigenous forest gardens of coastal B.C. | Canadian Geographic

Bison Bellows: Indigenous Hunting Practices | National Parks Service

Weir Fishing | Heritage Lower Saint Lawrence

Combining Genomic Insights and Traditional Indigenous Knowledge for the Conservation of Pacific Salmon | Genome British Columbia

Puyallup Tribe hosts c’abid (camas) harvest at PLU | Pacific Luthern University

Saving the planet means listening to Indigenous peoples: Wade Davis | CBC

Spatial and temporal assessments of genetic structure in an endangered Garry oak ecosystem on Vancouver Island | Canadian Science Publishing

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Credit:

Interview with Tibet's 14th Dalai Lama by Robert AF Thurman, Harvard 1981 | Tibet House US Menla Online

Challenging our assumptions about pain

When Jackie Gonzalez was just young, doctors assumed that she was pining for attention when she restlessly tried to rub her feet and describing that she was in constant pain. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that doctors and scientists diagnosed her with Erythromelalgia, also known as ‘Man on Fire Syndrome’. It's a rare condition, and even rarer for people to be born with it, like Jackie was. But what if this uncommon ailment could be cured with the help of an even less common animal?

Dr. Kaylee Byers sits down with Adele Gonzalvez from the University of Sydney on her work to understand the genetic properties of platypus venom. Researchers indicate that their peculiar toxin could put a halt to chronic pain. Meanwhile, producer Sean Holden, puts on rubber waders and sloshes into the boggy waters of Southern Australia to find the notoriously elusive platypus and its venom.

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Highlights:

(6:28) A lifetime of pain, Jackie Gonzalez on having Erythromelalgia

(13:51) A weird and wonderful platypus with Adele Gonzalvez

(21:30) On the platypus prowl, Josh Griffith and his team search for platypus and their venom

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/3Nv5X6v

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Resources:

Next-gen painkillers from nature’s deadliest life forms | The University of Queensland

Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2019–2021 | MMWR and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

You Won’t Think the Platypus Is So Cute if You Feel the Excruciating Pain of Its Venom | Slate

The Science of Pain | GI Society

The mysterious science of pain - Joshua W. Pate | TED-Ed

Human pain and genetics: some basics | British Journal of Pain

Genetic contributions to pain: a review of findings in humans | Oral Dis. 2008 Nov;14(8):673-82

Why Do I Have Pain? | KidsHealth Medical Experts

Channelopathy-associated congenital insensitivity to pain | Medline Plus

Erythromelalgia | StatPearls Publishing

SCN9A gene sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit 9 | Medline Plus

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Credit:

Special thanks to Jackie Gonzalez from the Erythromelalgia Association for providing field recordings of her daily experience living with EM.

Challenging our assumptions about sleep

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.

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Highlights:

(06:37) - Clocks in our bodies, understanding Circadian Rythms

(10:17) - Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder and later sleep, a chicken or egg dilemma

(15:19) - Challenging overwork in Japan and the importance of sleep

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/47PXwuv

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Resources:

Molecular Mechanisms of REM Sleep | Neurosci

The ability to dream may be genetic | Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)

Next-Generation Mice Genetics for Circadian Studies | Neuromethods

Evolution of temporal order in living organisms | Journal of Circadian Rhythms

Learn about the bunker experiment to understand the human biological clock | Britannica

Genetic sleep deprivation: using sleep mutants to study sleep functions | EMBO reports

Circadian rhythms and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: The what, the when and the why | Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry

Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences | Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

No Sleep for Japan? Survey Reveals Half of Population May Have Insomnia | Nippon.com

Why Sleep Matters: Quantifying the Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep | Rand Corporation

Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world. It’s trying to change | CNBC

Announcement of the establishment of the nonpartisan "Parliamentary League to Promote Initiatives for People's Quality Sleep" | Sleeping Council Federation

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

Free-running circadian activity rhythms in free-living beaver (Castor canadensis) | Journal of Comparative Physiology

Credits:

Dr. Rackeb Tesfaye

Curbing death by overwork | Financial Times

Why does Japan Work So Hard? | CNBC Explains

Worked to Death: Japan questions high-pressure corporate culture | France 24 English

Inside Japan’s growing ‘lonely death’ clean-up service | CNN International

How can governments help stop overwork? | The Question | CBC News: The National

Challenging our assumptions on toxins

What’s more terrifying than the true life tales of bloodcurdling and breathstopping toxins? This Hallows' Eve we're taking a page from the history books to make sense of puzzling poisons of our past and present.

Dr. Kaylee Byers speaks with Toxicologist Dr. Kimberly Garrett as they connect the dots across the globe of some of the most notorious and subtle poisonings in history. From investigating the final words of a disgraced emperor, tragic fates of conquesting explorers, wisdom from whimsical alchemists and desperate Victorian candy maker ploys, they demystify the distinction between necessary warning labels to lifelines concocted with a drop of poison.

In these ghoulish stories, a healthy dose of information could be a lifesaver.

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Highlights:

(08:46) - Origins of 'the dose Makes the poison', a sometimes right alchemist

(20:30) - A deathly candy maker on hallows eve

(23:28) - Toxins in the water, understanding PFAS

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Learn-A-Long:  https://bit.ly/47ub5Qo

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Resources:

Was Napolean Poisoned? | American Museum of Natural History

A Visit to Longwood | Napoleon.org

Pick Your Poison - 12 Toxic Tales | National Geographic

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Safe Shellfish | Fisheries Research Board of Canada

Unprecedented toxic algal blooms impact on Tasmanian seafood industry

Paracelsus, the Alchemist Who Wed Medicine to Magic | Science History Institute

“The Dose Makes the Poison” | Chemical Safety Facts

Everyday Toxicology – The dose makes the poison & the cure | Michigan State University

Box Jellyfish | National Geographic

Phylogenetic and Selection Analysis of an Expanded Family of Putatively Pore-Forming Jellyfish Toxins (Cnidaria: Medusozoa) | Genome Biology and Evolution

Following Lewis and Clark’s Trail of Mercurial Laxatives | Discover

How Tainted Treats Led to a Halloween Tragedy in 1858 | Atlas Obscura

Multi- and Transgenerational Effects of Developmental Exposure to Environmental Levels of PFAS and PFAS Mixture in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) | Toxics

PFAS Resources | PFAS Exchange

PFAS Free Producsts| PFAS Central

The US National Institutes of Health's searchable chemical database | PubChem

Improving governance of “forever chemicals” in the US and beyond | One Earth

Arsenic Exposure and Toxicology: A Historical Perspective | Society of Toxicology

The gastric disease of Napoleon Bonaparte: brief report for the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death on St. Helena in 1821 | Virchows Archiv

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Credit:

Bonapartes Retreat - Kay Starr - Pee Wee King | Capitol

Rule, Britannia - Royal Choral Society - The Philharmonia Orchestra | His Master’s Voice

Challenging our assumptions around fatness

ShantaQuilette Carter was in her late 30’s when she had her first stroke. It felt like death was lurking over her shoulder. But when her doctor suggests fending it off by using a drug she had never heard of before, a boatload of questions come to the surface.

Dr. Kaylee Byers sits down with experts to challenge the everyday assumptions we make about our health and weight. She speaks with professor and journalist Harriet Brown on the fact-finding mission she embarked on to help her daughter struggling with anorexia. Then, Dr. Michael Lyon, with the Obesity Medicine and Diabetes Institute, shares the scaly lizard origins of one of the world's most powerful tools in treating type 2 diabetes.

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Highlights:

(06:57) The drug that changed her life, ShantaQuilette on struggling with weight

(09:00) How a lizard from Utah is saving lives, Dr. Michael Lyon explains the origins of Ozempic

(17:00) Harriet Brown on a mission to display assumptions on weight and health

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/3QM7EPi

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Resources:

Diabetes: Key Facts | The World Health Organization

How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic | Global News

I’m a Fat Activist. I Don’t Use the Word Fatphobia. Here’s Why | self.com

Shortage of diabetes, weight-loss drug Ozempic expected in Canada, says manufacturer | Canadian Broadcast Corporation

An Aggressive New Approach to Childhood Obesity | The New York Times

Body of Truth: By Harriet Brown | Da Capo Lifelong Books

Is Body Positivity Glamourising Obesity | The Wellness Insider

Why People Become Overweight | Harvard University

Here’s How Your Genes Impact Your Ability to Lose Weight | healthline

What Made Humans ‘the Fat Primate’ | Duke University

Genes and Obesity | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

After his suicide, a man’s family says Ozempic should carry a warning label | ABC News

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Credit:

Ozempic commercial ™ | Ozempics TM

New Ozempic lawsuit over alleged 'stomach paralysis' | WNN | ABC News

Why Are Some Using Diabetes Drug Ozempic for Weight Loss? | Inside Edition

Jimmy Kimmel’s Oscars Monologue 2023 | Jimmy Kimmel Live

Questioning persistent myths about same-sex behaviour in nature

Can we predict who we love from our genetics alone? For LGBT History Month in October, Dr. Kaylee Byers is joined by co-host Dr. Julia Monk to look at what our genes teach us about diverse forms of sexuality and identity. Starting by witnessing a pair of male penguins cozying up, our hosts join flippers to unearth research from naturalists who have recorded same-sex behaviour in the wild. Then they invite socio-geneticist Dr. Robbee Wedow to guide us through his own research, where he puts the question: "Is there a gay gene?" to the test.

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Highlights:

(00:30) A match made in pebbles

(07:15) Buried papers, Darwinian Paradoxes, and reframing same-sex behaviour

(20:27) Is there a Gay Gene? 'Damned if you do damned if you don't.'

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Learn-A-Long: https://bit.ly/3FNfz8C

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References:

Gay Penguins Klaus, Jones ‘rekindled their romance’ at Melbourne aquarium | New York Daily News

Nature is queer. Queer ecologists want us to learn from it. | Grist

Is nature Queer? | Out & About | CBC

Terra Nova notebooks describing penguin sexual behaviours acquired by the Museum | Natural History Museum

An alternative hypothesis for the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals | Nature Ecology & Evolution

Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior | Science

Many Genes Influence Same-Sex Sexuality, Not a Single ‘Gay Gene’ | The New York Times

No 'gay gene', but study finds genetic links to sexual behavior | Reuters

How Earnest Research Into Gay Genetics Went Wrong | Wired

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Credit:

Gentoo Penguin · Pygoscelis papua | xeno-canto

"No Gay Gene"-Born This Way Is A Lie Says GOP Lawmaker | Michael McIntee

Australian current affairs programme "The 7.30 Report" (1995) "Gay Brains" | The 7.30 Report

Nature or Nurture - Are People Born Gay? | Naked Science