The Secret History of DNA

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2022

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's been over 150 years since the first article was published about the molecular key to life as we know it — DNA. With help from researcher Pravrutha Raman, Short Wave producer Berly McCoy explains how DNA is stored in our cells and why the iconic double helix shape isn't what you'd see if you peeked inside your cells right now. (encore)

Curious about all the other biology that defines us? Email the show at [email protected] — we're all ears ... and eyes and toes and ... a lot of things. Thanks, DNA!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey friends, Emily Quang here.
0:01.9	Today, I want to revisit a weird chapter in science history,
0:06.1	all about the basic building block of life, DNA.
0:10.7	The story involves some pus and lots of fish sperm,
0:15.0	and I don't want to give too much away,
0:17.0	but let's just say the history of DNA is both awesome and gooey.
0:22.1	All right, I'm going to kick it over to Burley and Maria.
0:25.3	Enjoy.
0:27.0	You're listening to Shortwave.
0:29.7	From NPR.
0:31.4	Hi Shortwaveers, Maria Gidoi here with producer,
0:34.4	Burley McCoy.
0:35.4	Hi, Maria.
0:36.5	All right, Burley, what do you have for the pod today?
0:39.7	I want to talk about the beautiful, extraordinary substance
0:43.4	that is responsible for all of life as we know it.
0:48.8	Nucleon.
0:49.8	Uh, say what?
0:51.9	You don't know about nucleon?
0:53.6	Not so much.
0:55.4	It's got beauty.
0:56.5	It's got mystique.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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