Episode 2: Xenogenesis - Dawn: I. Womb - Chapter 3

Richard and Michael discuss the new revelations about the Jdahya’s species in chapter 3, leading to a conversation about how do we know the sequence of our genome nowadays.

Timestamps

00:00:36 – Intro
00:01:00 – Introduction to the previous predictions
00:02:40 – Clarification on few things said in Episode 1
00:04:00 – Discussion about biology and its complexity. How do scientist prepare to do research
00:07:30 – Introduction to the chapter 3
00:10:00 – Discussion about cancer and immune system [1 – 5]
00:13:20 – Naked Mole Rats – Superman from animal kingdom – a being that does not get cancer [6, 7]
00:14:00 – Big animals also don’t get cancer? Peto’s Paradox [8].
00:16:00 – Don’t rely on cancer killing a cancer…
00:17:50 – Discussion about Lilith’s attitude to Ooloi – the 3rd gender in the alien species
00:20:40 – Discussion on the ominous ways of ooloi do to understand humans – human trials [9 – 12]
00:24:30 – Thalidomide [13]
00:26:36 – Continuation on introduction to the chapter 3
00:31:06 – Discussion about Lilith’s reaction to the Oankali
00:34:00 – Exposure therapy – discussion how Oankali are trying to get Lilith get used to them [14, 15]
00:35:01 – Discussion on the relationship between human doctor and Jdahya.
00:35:56 – Was Jdahya’s form changed to resemble human form?
00:37:22 – Uncanny Valley [16]
00:38:06 – Oankali finding human genetic structure disturbing – discussion on why?
00:38:30 – Continuation on introduction to the chapter 3 – finale
00:39:30 – Discussion on the ooloi ability to sense genome
00:43:35 – What is DNA [17]
00:49:50 – Genomic sequencing explained [18 – 20]
00:53:39 – How would the Oankali perceive the genomic sequence?
01:00:50 – Oankali – The Traders – what could that mean?
01:03:12 – Discussion on the experience of traveling and learning about different cultures
01:05:47 – The cost of genome sequencing nowadays
01:07:05 – What is research and how much can you know? [22]
01:10:39 – Confidence vs experience/knowledge [23]
01:15:00 – We will try our best to give the best sources (or at least some basics)
01:18:38 – PREDICTIONS TO CHAPTER 4 (AND MAYBE CHAPTER 5)
01:21:12 - Outro\

References

Immune system and cancer:

• [1] https://www.immunopaedia.org.za/immunology/basics/1-a-snapshot-of-the-immune-system/ - Really nice website describing the basics of our immune system
• [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s – Kurzgesagt – The Immune System Explained – the first of few videos about immune system. Very informative.
• [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmFEoCFDi-w – Amazing video from TED-Ed describing the beginnings of cancer
• [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6169832/ - Review on the role of immune system in cancer (Gonzalez et al., “Roles of the immune system in cancer: from tumor initiation to metastatic progression”, Genes & Development, 2018, doi: 10.1101/gad.314617.118)
• [5] https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/developmental-biology/apoptosis-in-development/a/apoptosis - Controlled cell death – a way for our bodies to remove cells with too many mistakes.

Animals and cancer:

• [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat - Wikipedia page about Naked mole rat and its resistance to cancer
• [7] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/06/why-naked-mole-rats-dont-get-cancer - Brief article on why naked mole rats do not get cancer
• [8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AElONvi9WQ – Kurzgesagt video about why big animals don’t get cancer – the Peto’s Paradox.

Human trials in history:

• [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment - Wikipedia article about the clinical study on the untreated syphilis in Black Americans in U.S.A.
• [10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation - The list of experiments Nazi’s performed on their victims.
• [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials - Nuremberg trials
• [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_subject_research#Ethical_guidelines – The Ethical rules for human trials
• [13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide#Adverse_effects – Effects of Thalidomide on pregnant women and their children

Exposure therapy:

• [14] https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/exposure-therapy - American Psychological Association website describing what exposure therapy is.
• [15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome - Stockholm syndrome

Uncanny Valley:

• [16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley - The description of the human behaviour towards an object’s resemblance to a human being.

Genome:

• [17] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kK2zwjRV0M – What is DNA
• [18] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvHRio1yyhQ – video on DNA sequencing
• [19] https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-biology/hs-molecular-genetics/hs-biotechnology/a/dna-sequencing - DNA sequencing
• [20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Sanger#Research_and_career – Frederick Sanger
• [21] http://genomics.umn.edu/downloads/sequencing-methods-review.pdf - List of sequencing methods.

What is research:

• [22] http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ - the diagram we talked about that relates to our understanding of the world
• [23] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect – Experience vs confidence

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Intro: L’Etoile danse (Pt. 1) by Meydän

Outro: Long Way Home by Spinning Ratio