A Harmful Mutation Evolved for Good, Why Astronauts Are Using Old Sailing Tech in Space, and Cody’s Message

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Science

4.6 • 964 Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2020

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Learn about how a mutation that evolved to protect us against malaria actually makes us more prone to other diseases; and why astronauts are using old sailing technology (sextants) to navigate through space. Plus: a special update from Cody!

A mutation that makes us prone to autoimmune diseases evolved to protect us from malaria by Cameron Duke

Khan, N., de Manuel, M., Peyregne, S., Do, R., Prufer, K., Marques-Bonet, T., Varki, N., Gagneux, P., & Varki, A. (2020). Multiple Genomic Events Altering Hominin SIGLEC Biology and Innate Immunity Predated the Common Ancestor of Humans and Archaic Hominins. Genome Biology and Evolution, 12(7), 1040–1050. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaa125
McRae, M. (n.d.). Humans Might Be So Sickly Because We Evolved to Avoid a Single Devastating Disease. ScienceAlert. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.sciencealert.com/we-evolved-a-way-to-beat-a-deadly-infection-but-it-made-us-vulnerable-to-other-diseases
Varki, A. (2008). Sialic acids in human health and disease. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 14(8), 351–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2008.06.002

Astronauts Are Using Old Sailing Technology in Space by Elizabeth Howell

Holt, G. N., Wood, B. Sextant Navigation on the International Space Station: A Human Space Exploration Demo. (February 2019). NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS). NASA.gov. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190001296
International Space Station Cupola Observational Module. (2011). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/cupola.html
Apollo 13 Accident. (2016). Nasa.gov. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ap13acc.html

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/a-harmful-mutation-evolved-for-good-why-astronauts-are-using-old-sailing-tech-in-space-and-codys-message

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com.
0:06.3	I'm Cody Gough.
0:07.3	And I'm Ashley Hamer.
0:08.4	Today you learn about how a mutation that evolved to protect us against malaria actually makes us more prone to other
0:14.2	diseases and how old sailing technology is being used by astronauts to navigate through
0:19.1	space. Then stay tuned for a special update from Cody.
0:23.0	That's me.
0:24.0	Let's satisfy some curiosity.
0:26.0	Evolution is how organisms change over time.
0:30.0	But it's not exactly a march toward perfection.
0:33.0	Sometimes those changes have trade-offs,
0:36.0	and humanity is dealing with those trade-offs today.
0:39.0	I'm talking about a genetic mutation that helped protect our ancestors from malaria.
0:44.9	That life-saving adaptation came at a cost.
0:48.0	It made us more prone to other illnesses as a result.
0:52.0	Here's how that works. The cells in our bodies are fringed with proteins
0:56.1	and sugar chains. Many of these chains are tipped with special sugars called
1:00.8	scyallic acids.
1:02.5	Sialic acids help with cell recognition by acting as a sort of ID badge.
1:07.4	Like it's okay, I work here.
1:09.6	They also play a role in immunity.
1:11.8	Any pathogen that wants to enter the cell has to contend with the net
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Warner Bros. Discovery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Warner Bros. Discovery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.