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feel good travel. Hi, we're here from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm

Cody Goff. And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you learn whether cockroaches really can survive

a nuclear apocalypse and how to change

behaviors using a subtle suggestion. But first you learn what it means when you have

something in your genes with help from award-winning author Carl Zimmer.

Let's set us fast some curiosity.

Last month, Cody and I recorded a couple live podcasts at the annual meeting

for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS. And we got the super cool chance to interview one of my favorite science

writers Carl Zimmer.

He's a columnist for the New York Times and author of the best-selling new book called

She Has Her Mother's Laugh, The Powers, Perversions,

and Potential of Heredity. I've read the book and it's awesome. And the thing is, it turns out that what

our genes tell us about ourselves is really complicated.

Right, for instance, let's say you've got someone with no history of any autoimmune disease anywhere in his extended family. And yet, he gets diagnosed with... immune Well, that kind of happened to me.

And here's what he said to help us understand what it means when something is quote unquote in our genes a little bit better.

The connection between our genes and diseases is still a work in progress.

So what the genetic influence might have been that led to you getting type 1 diabetes and your

...