Laura: Hello and welcome to Lex Education, the brand new podcast from comedian, author, star of Live at the Apollo, Mock The Week, Hypothetical, and Roast Battle, Laura Lexx and her brother Ron.
Ron: Hello I'm Ron.
Laura: In our brand new podcast adventure, science fan Ron tries to teach me, comedy queen Laura, enough science to pass a triple GCSE with limited success. Each week, Ron and I will focus on one of the different science topics, alternating between biology, chemistry and physics. Each episode will feature one lesson and one quiz. However, the twist is that even though you will just hear a jingle between the lesson and the quiz, we will have lived a whole week in the real world.That way we really see what's stuck in my brain.
Laura: It's episode one, Ron.
Ron: Yes, episode one.
Laura: What are you doing?
Laura: You're not even... the first f****** seconds of our brand new podcast and you're not paying attention.
Ron: I was correcting your spelling in this.
Laura: Is that how you spell prokaryotes?
Ron: Yes.
Ron: And eukaryote
Laura: I've spelled that wrong in all my notes.
Laura: Anyway, hello, welcome to the podcast. Start as we mean to go on in this week's episode.
Laura: We're starting with biology.
Laura: Ron, your fave!
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Specifically molecular biology, which is what I study at university.
Ron: We're doing cells, we're doing the types of cells, we're doing the organelles that are inside the cells.
Ron: We're doing the stuff that's inside the organelles.
Laura: Yeah, the organelles are little guys that deal with the cells.
Laura: I think I struggled a little bit this week, but overall it's exciting.
Laura: Now, listen, we're a brand new podcast.
Laura: We could not have got going without the help of Pod Spike.
Laura: Lovely Dan and lovely Suji who work at Pod Spike have really helped us to launch this.
Laura: The chances are you listening to this right now is a direct result of Pod Spike telling us how to start a podcast.
Laura: So if you are in the podcasting world and you want a bit more help getting going, please contact podspike, because I cannot overemphasise how much they've helped us.
Ron: Yeah, they really gathered all our s*** and got it together for us.
Laura: We hope you enjoyed this episode of lesson one and our first quiz.
Laura: We'll give you all the socials at the end, but do get in touch as you're listening.
Laura: You can tweet us, instagram us, all of that stuff, but I think Ron will get into the lesson.
Laura: Shall we enjoy?
Laura: So, Ron, what was your degree in?
Ron: I studied biochemistry for one year and then actually got a bachelor's in molecular biology after I switched.
Laura: Right, and you did that at UCL?
Ron: I did, yeah.
Laura: I remember visiting you and your little student houses runs ten years younger than me, in case I'm patronising all the way through this podcast.
Laura: My favourite story of you from school is that music class where you and your friends had to sing A Whole New World and they didn't turn up, so you had to sing it by yourself.
Laura: In Practise.
Ron: He played chords on the piano every day.
Ron: It's Red Letter, you know, like.
Laura: I love it.
Laura: I love you, Ron.
Ron: In as few words as you like.
Ron: What do you think I studied?
Laura: That's a meaning question.
Laura: Molecular biology.
Laura: So, like, small things.
Laura: Biology is like alive things and living things and how they live as reproduced, maybe.
Laura: And molecules are very small.
Ron: What are molecules?
Laura: A molecule is like one gubbit of something.
Laura: Like, one I assume it's bigger than an atom, because I think an atom is the smallest thing ever.
Laura: But a molecule is like no.
Laura: He runs, shaking his head already.
Laura: Oh, God.
Laura: This whole thing is going to be like being in a s*** seat on Qi permanently.
Laura: But a molecule is a very small amount of something.
Laura: One molecule would not fill you up.
Laura: If you're having one molecule of chips, you would still be hungry.
Ron: I mean, you're not wrong, I'll give you that.
Ron: A lot of what you said was wrong.
Ron: That specific bit wasn't wrong.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: This first episode should be a pretty good window into what I studied at university, though.
Ron: Big up AQA.
Ron: I've got an AQA GCSE triple science syllabus.
Laura: Nice.
Ron: That we're going to work through.
Ron: It's about a 200 page PDF, so that will take us as long as it takes.
Laura: Wait, not for this episode.
Ron: No.
Laura: Oh, God.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: My heart just fell out.
Laura: My bum.
Laura: Then I was like, I can't concentrate for that long.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: All right, so where are we starting?
Ron: So we are starting on cell structure.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: So we're going to be talking about how cells work and how they work together and reproduce and become different from each other.
Ron: Because obviously a skin cell is very different to, say, a nerve cell.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Obviously.
Ron: In today, we're just going to talk about the different parts of a cell, okay.
Ron: And what they do and what they're like and how we feel about them.
Laura: Okay?
Laura: Oh, my God, I already feel so nervous.
Laura: Here's my nerves.
Laura: One, I'm nervous that I'm just going to be so stupid.
Laura: Two, I'm nervous that, one, I'm going to be stupid.
Laura: And then people are also going to realise that you're funnier than me and be like, Why is she here at all?
Laura: Okay.
Laura: All right.
Laura: Cells, we can do this.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So what's your definition of a cell?
Ron: What do you think a cell is?
Ron: Because as we've heard, a molecule is the smallest guitar, so a cell is.
Laura: Like the smallest Dubit that makes up a thing.
Laura: So, like, you are made of cells and they are like the building blocks of a you.
Laura: They have a cell wall that in plants is rigid, but in animals is floopy.
Laura: They have a membrane.
Laura: I feel like cell membrane is a word.
Laura: Then in plant ones, they have all the green stuff, the chloroform, and then they have the little club nugget brain thing that makes the cell work.
Ron: About 50%.
Laura: Okay, I'll take that.
Laura: It's been 20 years since I did my GCSE, to be fair to me.
Ron: Yeah, that is fair.
Ron: That's a very long time.
Laura: All right.
Ron: In the syllabus, it says sales are the basic unit of all forms of life.
Laura: That's what I said.
Laura: They're like the building blocks of a.
Ron: You kind of yeah, like Lego.
Laura: So if you're a Lego Millennium Falcon, a cell is one of the bricks.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: Google defines it as the smaller structural and functional unit of an organism, which is typically microscopic and consists of cytoplasm and a nucleus.
Laura: Cytoplasm a nucleus.
Laura: That's what I meant by the brain of the thing.
Laura: The nucleus.
Laura: That's what I meant by cell nugget and cytoplasm.
Laura: That's where they make the chloroform, isn't it?
Ron: No.
Ron: So my next question that I've got in my notes, I was going to say, how many different parts of a cell can you name?
Ron: You've already given me cell nuggets.
Ron: Membrane.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Insane.
Laura: In the membrane?
Ron: In the brain cell wall.
Ron: Something yeah.
Laura: I said about cell wall.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: I'm giving you credit.
Ron: This is me parroting back things you said.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: You're like dad when you're teaching.
Laura: This is a terrible idea.
Laura: Why are we doing this?
Laura: Forecast.
Laura: This is going to be weeks and weeks and weeks of me being very on edge.
Ron: Can you name any other bits?
Laura: Don't use that low tone with me.
Laura: Like you're being very patient.
Laura: We're only eleven minutes in.
Laura: What's the main bit of it?
Laura: What's the main juice in a cell?
Laura: What's the flesh of a cell?
Ron: That's the cytoplasm.
Laura: That's the cytoplasm.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Cytoplasm.
Ron: We'll cover all of this later.
Ron: We're going to talk about cells.
Laura: How many more parts are there?
Ron: So I've got in my notes so the silver kind of leads you on looking at sales from a while away.
Ron: And then we're going to zoom in and talk about this is cute.
Ron: The little bits inside a cell are called organelles because organelles?
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: That sounds like a little like a peller group from the now coming up, it's the organelles bean.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: You can't really do singing bits in Zoom podcast, can you?
Ron: That's not going to work.
Laura: No.
Ron: So I've got in my notes that cells are just prickly bags of goo.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Like mom.
Ron: Right.
Ron: So the syllabus is going to teach us about three different types of cells.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: We're going to learn about animal cells.
Laura: Yup.
Ron: And we're going to learn about plant cells and we're going to learn about bacteria.
Laura: Oh, okay.
Ron: Because I don't want bacteria.
Laura: They're not animals.
Ron: They're not animal cells.
Laura: What are they then, if they're not plants or animals?
Ron: No bacteria.
Laura: Give a water bacteria.
Ron: We'll cover it.
Laura: This is where sites annoys me, because what is a bacteria?
Laura: I just thought it was like a little beetle, but I don't really understand what it is then?
Ron: No.
Ron: Well, we'll cover it.
Ron: So animal and plant cells, those are eukaryotes.
Ron: There's two different types of cell.
Laura: They're what now?
Ron: Eukaryotes.
Ron: Eukaryotes, yes.
Ron: Those are the big ones.
Ron: So the crucial defining thing of a eukaryote is that it has a nucleus.
Laura: It'S got a cell nugget.
Ron: It's got a cell nugget, okay.
Laura: And that's like the brain of the cell ish yes, okay.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: They've got a nucleus.
Ron: All multicellular life is eukaryotes.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: So if you've got more than one cell in you, you're a you carry it.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Basically anything you've ever seen is a eukaryot.
Laura: I've seen bacteria.
Ron: Probably not.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: On microscopes where they zoom in on the petri dish and then they're all blobbing around, you know what I'm saying?
Ron: With your eyes.
Laura: What about like, a lamp or something?
Laura: Is that made of cells?
Laura: That's made of atoms, yes.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: It's a cell made of atoms.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Everything is made of atoms.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: This is where science is just stupid.
Laura: We don't need to know this stuff.
Laura: It's too small.
Laura: What's the point?
Ron: Yeah, we'll get on to how small this stuff is in a bit, because I think that's going to really f*** you off.
Laura: I hate stuff like that.
Laura: It's like space.
Laura: I just hate space.
Laura: I can't see the point in knowing anything about space.
Laura: It's too far away way.
Laura: Who cares about it?
Laura: And this, to me, sounds like that.
Laura: What does it matter if they're so tiny?
Laura: You can't see them?
Laura: Don't worry about them, they're not important.
Laura: It's like vacuuming under the sofa.
Laura: Why?
Laura: You can't see it.
Laura: Nobody is going to come and visit your house and pick the sofa up to cheque.
Ron: Yes, but you are made of a trillion cells.
Laura: All right, I've put weight on.
Laura: There's been a pandemic.
Laura: Jesus.
Ron: So a eukaryotic cell, anywhere from ten to 100 micrometres in diameter.
Laura: Ten to 100 micrometres?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So if they were 100 micrometres across, you could have ten of them in a millimetre or 100 to make a centimetre.
Laura: That's too small.
Ron: That's probably bigger than I don't know.
Ron: That surprised me.
Ron: That's bigger than I thought they'd be.
Laura: So my finger is eight centimetres long.
Ron: So let's assume that's like 800 just.
Laura: In one strip of my finger, probably.
Ron: More, because that's like the biggest ones, I reckon.
Laura: I've got big cells, I've got big paws.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So then the other type is prokaryotes.
Laura: Prokaryote.
Laura: Are you you carry out?
Laura: No, I'm prokaryote.
Ron: Is that helping your learning?
Laura: Yeah, I'm trying to give them characterizations to help me remember and learn.
Laura: So at the moment, I'm like, do you carry it?
Laura: Well, hang on, let me find out a bit about pro carriers and then I'll see.
Ron: Sure.
Laura: Yeah, because at the moment, pro carrier sounds a bit like proletariat, so I'm like, Oh, these guys there.
Ron: F*** these guys.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: No, I'm in support of these guys.
Ron: I thought the proletariat were the Boujee people that we no, that's the bourgeois pro carriers.
Ron: They are anywhere from 0.1 to five micrometres.
Laura: Oh, that's much smaller.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: So, yeah, these are the proletariat.
Laura: These are the peasants of the cell.
Ron: Well, I've got in my notes that they are the small boys.
Laura: Small boys, okay.
Laura: Pro carriers.
Laura: The small boys.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Please don't step on us.
Ron: Always singlecelled organisms.
Ron: So when you say, like, what is a bacteria?
Ron: Is it like a little beetle?
Ron: No, it's because it's one cell that dilly's about on its own.
Laura: Oh, no wonder they're not getting anywhere, because you've got to unionise if you're going to really start a revolution.
Ron: Well, in a sense, they have unionised and they have gotten everywhere.
Ron: So unions work.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Join a union.
Laura: So a plant a plants and animals are eukaryotes and bacteria is prokaryote.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: This is following.
Laura: All right, so this makes sense now, because plants and animals are giving it the big we are the best and bacteria are the underdog.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: They don't have a nucleus.
Laura: No brains.
Ron: I've got in my notes that the genetic material is just p****** around in the cytoplasm.
Laura: They don't have a nucleus and the nucleus is sort of the brain.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: Are they alive?
Laura: Bacteria?
Ron: Yes, bacteria are alive.
Ron: It's viruses that you're thinking.
Ron: Well, it's iffy.
Laura: No, I was not thinking that, but thank you for giving me that benefit of the doubt.
Laura: I don't even know what a virus is.
Laura: I thought, I have no idea.
Laura: Anyway, how does the bacteria know it's alive?
Ron: I think back at GCSE they teach you, mrs.
Ron: Gren yes, which I can't.
Laura: Movement, respiration, sensory perception, no.
Laura: Growth, reproduction.
Ron: Right.
Ron: It is apparently movement, respiration oh, you're right.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: Sensitivity.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Nutrition, reproduction, excretion, and growth excretion.
Ron: Oh, these people do.
Ron: Mrs.
Ron: Gun that's awful.
Laura: Mrs.
Laura: Garn but here's my question, though.
Laura: I don't doubt that bacteria is alive.
Laura: What I don't understand is how a bacteria knows it's alive enough to do anything about.
Laura: Does it have, like, gut instinct?
Ron: In a chemical way, yes.
Ron: Okay, so where the s there in Mrs.
Ron: Grand sensitivity.
Ron: Bacteria will respond to chemical signals in their environment.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: And that's just like a weird drive to be alive?
Ron: No, they don't have a drive to be alive.
Ron: Things on this scale is more just kind of like robots that react to stimulus and multiply.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So they don't have a nucleus, but that doesn't mean that they don't have genetic information.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Where's that stored?
Ron: As I say, p****** about in the cytoplasm.
Laura: In the cytoplasm that's just carrying all their code.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: There'll be a long loop of DNA that is anchored to the outside of the cell somewhere, and then there might be a couple of plasmids floating around as well.
Laura: What's a plasmid now?
Ron: A plasmid is just a small circle of DNA.
Ron: I wrote my dissertation on plasmids, actually.
Laura: And the DNA is like the barcode.
Laura: It's like, this is what this specific thing is.
Ron: It's more like recipes for things.
Laura: I like this.
Laura: Go on, tell me more.
Ron: So you'll often hear statistics about how much DNA is actually doing stuff?
Laura: I often hear those statistics.
Laura: Can't walk down the f****** street without somebody chatted away to me about whether the DNA is pulling its weight in what it's meant to be up to.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So DNA essentially is recipes for proteins.
Ron: The part of it that we really understand, DNA is recipes for proteins.
Ron: And then on either end of where you've got a recipe for a protein, there will be instructions on when and how to make it.
Laura: So DNA is chicken recipes?
Ron: Yes.
Laura: It's like a meal planner for chicken.
Ron: Proteins are kind of the macano of cells.
Laura: Like, we were doing Lego.
Laura: We can't mix mediums, so hang on.
Laura: The Lego blocks are made up of tiny macanos?
Ron: There are macanos, actually, it's a bit more Bionical.
Laura: Bionicles were after my time.
Laura: I remember you faffing about with those, but they were very boring.
Ron: Yeah, they're a bit more Bionical, but yeah.
Ron: So the Lego bricks are made up.
Ron: They have McConnell or Bionical, depending on how old you are inside them.
Laura: I'm stickle brick era.
Laura: Can we talk about it in stickle bricks?
Ron: Anyway, so we'll move on to the parts of the sale we just did.
Laura: The parts of the cell.
Ron: No, we haven't talked about organelles at all.
Laura: Oh, my God.
Laura: How are they getting so much stuff in them when they're this small?
Ron: Very small organelles.
Ron: Right.
Laura: What's that making me think of?
Laura: I have told the world and seen its wonders from the organelles to the Monets of Peru, but there's no place like London.
Laura: Do you know that's from?
Ron: I want to say Sweeney Tom.
Laura: Yes, Ron?
Laura: You get 50 points.
Ron: Parts of us, you carry it.
Ron: What's listed in the syllabus for us to learn is nucleus, mitochondria cytoplasm, the membrane, ribosomes, and then for plants, specifically, chloroplasts, backyards and cell walls.
Laura: Those words are all ringing a bell, actually.
Ron: These are the big hitters as far as organelles go.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: I should have written them down, shouldn't I?
Ron: Don't have organelles, but they can.
Ron: Some of them have cell walls, and.
Laura: Cell walls is what makes it rigid.
Laura: So, like, a stem of a plant would have cell walls.
Ron: All plant cells have cell walls, actually.
Laura: I think I said that, actually.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Including the stem.
Ron: So you can have 50 points, too.
Laura: Thank you.
Ron: Right, so Nucleus is the defining aspect of a eukaryotic cell, and it's basically the reason why eukaryotic cells are so successful.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: It allows us to be multicellular because it allows for protection of the DNA, and it also allows increased control over the DNA.
Ron: So, as we were talking about earlier, chemical messages are used to sort of signal these things, turn them on and off, say, when you want to make stuff and when you don't.
Ron: Want to make stuff.
Ron: So the nucleus, that is an envelope around the DNA made of a membrane.
Ron: We'll talk about membranes a lot later.
Ron: They're my favourite bit.
Laura: That's a really creepy sentence.
Laura: What's your favourite part?
Laura: Membrane.
Ron: Wait till you hear about membranes, though.
Ron: Membranes are sick.
Ron: DNA wrapped up in a membrane.
Ron: And like I said, chemical messengers are telling us when to make stuff and when not to make stuff.
Ron: So if you have this extra membrane around it, you have another place where you can stop chemical messages from getting to the DNA and therefore increase the level of control and what you're making and what you're not.
Laura: Okay, that makes sense.
Laura: So you've put your DNA in a little bag instead of it flopping around like in everything.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Just getting in the way.
Laura: Reacting to everything.
Ron: Exactly.
Laura: How does the membrane know what to do?
Ron: More chemical messages, basically.
Laura: Are you basically saying there is a God?
Ron: No, this is proof of not no God.
Laura: Is it?
Ron: Yeah, because it's so random and dumb.
Laura: It might just be a not very good God, like a learner God.
Ron: Everything's just so convoluted and laborious.
Laura: Okay, all right.
Laura: So instead of it just whipping about, it's in a pocket and that makes it more sensitive.
Laura: It's like putting a condom on a.
Ron: Condom with a little window at the end.
Ron: So if you did want a baby, you could open it up.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: All right.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Condom.
Ron: And then I've also got my notes that it protects from things like genetic parasites, but I might not go into that with you right now because I feel like that might be a bit too much.
Ron: The next one cytoplasm.
Ron: It's goo.
Ron: It's a slippery mess of proteins, fat, sugars, molecules, ions, water and everything.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Okay, I get you.
Ron: It is the chemical environment that all the chemical messengers that make everything else happen are in inside the cell.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: I'm imagining these cells are like hot tubs.
Laura: So sometimes you get a hot tub that's all floopy.
Laura: It's just like an inflatable one.
Laura: Sometimes you get one with rigid walls, and then some of them just have, like, a snake in it.
Laura: Some of them have a snake in a bag in a bar.
Laura: And the cytoplasm is the water in the hot tub.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Cells are like things that have stuff in it.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: All right.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Then the next one that you wanted us to learn about was membranes.
Laura: Membranes.
Laura: And that is around the outside of the cell?
Ron: Yes.
Ron: And different things in the cells also have membranes.
Ron: Like, the nucleus has a membrane around it that's made of the same stuff.
Ron: Things like mitochondria, chloroplasts, those have membranes as well.
Ron: Maybe the phrase plasma membrane rings a.
Laura: Bell from I think that was the type of gun on descent.
Laura: Do you remember that game?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Number four.
Laura: My attention is really dying.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Membranes.
Ron: The current model of how membranes work is called the Fluid Mosaic.
Laura: Fluid Mosaic.
Laura: That's a lovely name for a band.
Laura: Hi, I'm Laurelk.
Laura: Welcome to Wembley.
Laura: This is Fluid Mosaic.
Laura: We're quite influenced by Pink Choice.
Ron: It's called a fluid Mosaic because there's lots of different gubbins anchored to the membrane.
Laura: How come I'm not allowed to say gubbit, but you're allowed to say gubbins?
Ron: I applauded you for the word garbit.
Laura: Thank you.
Laura: It's a nice word.
Ron: I used it several times after you did.
Laura: Gubbit is the lead singer of Fluid Music.
Ron: Gabbit gubbins.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So different stuff anchored to the membrane, but the membrane is kind of a liquid, but only in one direction.
Laura: No, find a new way for that to be a fact, because that is nonsense.
Laura: No, Ron, don't try and explain it just it can't be that.
Ron: Find another way.
Laura: So basically no, don't say basically when it's not you can't be liquid going in one direction, like a stargate.
Laura: That's insane.
Ron: It's quite a lot like a stargate, actually.
Laura: Is this my first good analogy?
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Things can float around, but kind of only in 2D, as in on the plane of the membrane, things can float around really freely, but they can't leave the membrane.
Ron: So move in the third direction, if you see what I mean.
Laura: Like a fly stuck on a spider's web.
Laura: That's what I'm picturing now.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: If you like.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: It's kind of like something just floating around on the surface of water.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: All right.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: It can do whatever it wants on the surface, but maybe this thing can't go dive and it's like a water boatman.
Ron: waterboatman, yes.
Laura: Okay, perfect.
Laura: A stargate water boatman.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Imagine if somebody actually managed to listen to this and learn anything.
Laura: That'd be incredible, wasn't it?
Ron: So the way that membranes are made and this is really cool.
Ron: This is why they're my favourite bit.
Ron: So you know how oil and water don't mix?
Laura: Yes.
Laura: Unless you whisk it.
Ron: Unless you whisk it.
Ron: But then even if you whisk it, they will separate again.
Laura: Like Brad and Jen.
Laura: You think that they're going to oh, no.
Ron: Every time you whisk them, they separate again.
Laura: I would whisk Jennifer Aniston.
Laura: I can whisk her off and treat her nicely like she deserves.
Ron: Haven't they been broken up for, like, 20 years?
Laura: Yes, they have.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: About when you were doing your GCE membranes are made out of, basically things that have oil on one end of it and then something that dissolves in water on the other end of it.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: So they have a head that what, membranes?
Ron: No, the molecules that make membranes that's even smaller.
Laura: I thought we'd done membranes.
Laura: They were a pond, a flat pond.
Ron: No, but this is really interesting.
Ron: Right.
Laura: I don't believe, you know.
Ron: They have a healthy head on the molecule that can dissolve in water.
Ron: Right.
Ron: And then coming off that molecule, they have two little legs that are oil, essentially, they're oil molecules.
Ron: Lipids fats.
Ron: Okay, so when you release a bunch of these into what are you looking at?
Ron: What are you doing?
Laura: I'm drawing a picture of what you're saying to remind me.
Ron: F****** show me.
Laura: All right, here you go.
Laura: That is the molecules.
Ron: Get rid of the body.
Ron: Just keep the legs you said it had a head.
Ron: Yeah, that's why I'm saying get rid of the body.
Laura: So it's just a head and legs?
Ron: Yes.
Laura: And then the water dissolves.
Laura: The head legs are made of oil?
Ron: Yes.
Ron: And then when you release a lot of these into an environment that is water based, like the cytoplasm, all of the heads will be on the outside trying to dissolve in the water.
Ron: And all of the legs go into the middle so that they can only react with oil, the other legs.
Ron: And then what you get is just a membrane of all of the inside bit is the legs.
Ron: And then there's an outside layer of the heads that dissolves in the water.
Ron: And it just happens because of the inherent properties of the molecule and it organises into membranes.
Ron: It's awesome.
Laura: So the membrane already existed.
Ron: When?
Laura: Before all these little blokes turned up.
Laura: So you had a membrane and the membrane was water.
Laura: And then all these guys came along and stuck their heads in the water and their little legs sticking out like little synchronised swimmers.
Laura: And so there's all oil on the top and all their heads are underneath in the water.
Laura: Who's in charge, the membrane or these molecules?
Ron: The molecules make the membrane.
Laura: No, you said the molecules went to the membrane.
Ron: No, they are the membrane.
Ron: The membrane is made of these molecules, the waters in the cytoplasm and outside and everywhere.
Ron: Great.
Ron: Your little drawing there.
Ron: Just draw like a couple of them all standing in a line like that.
Laura: Yeah, do that.
Ron: And then you'll see a membrane.
Laura: The membrane is the feet.
Ron: It's the whole thing.
Ron: It's the heads and the feet and the two layers.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: And the water is just in the cytoplasm.
Ron: The water's everywhere.
Laura: Everywhere.
Laura: Not any drop to drink.
Ron: Cool.
Ron: Right membranes for my reckoning.
Ron: Most important thing in the cell.
Laura: Oh, I couldn't agree more.
Ron: Reactions happen there.
Ron: They separate stuff.
Ron: They're semi permeable.
Ron: So, like, some things can get through, but other things can't.
Ron: They're very, very cool.
Ron: Okay, the next organella we're learning about is the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell.
Ron: This is, again, enclosed in a membrane.
Ron: They're kind of losing shaped and then full of, like, a wrinkled membrane for more reactions to happening.
Ron: And this is where respiration happens in cells.
Ron: You're frowning.
Ron: Is that all?
Ron: Good.
Laura: Hang on.
Laura: I've got a jelly bean.
Laura: That's a mitochondria.
Laura: And inside the jelly bean is a little baggy.
Laura: And that's the breathing bit?
Ron: Yes.
Ron: It's kind of like someone stuck a blanket in a bag and that blanket respired.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: All right.
Ron: So respiration happens here.
Ron: Oxygen plus energy sources.
Ron: So, like sugars and stuff like that are turned into an energy currency called ATP.
Ron: Automatic tectonic petrol adenosine triphosphate.
Laura: Yeah, that's the Latin name which is.
Ron: Used all over the cell.
Laura: All over the cell.
Ron: So ATP is essentially 20 less than a pound.
Laura: He hated that.
Ron: I thought that made me so cross.
Laura: Why?
Ron: Tell you why it made me so crossboy.
Ron: Because I did two years of A level biology and then I did three years of a f****** degree and no one ever said that.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: ATP molecules are essentially like tiny one off batteries that can power reactions or mechanisms themselves until I come.
Laura: Do you remember that song?
Laura: That was ATV?
Ron: So ribosomes, that's the next organelle that we're going to learn about.
Ron: Ribosomes are just where we make proteins.
Laura: The chicken factory.
Ron: Why do you keep talking about chicken?
Ron: I let it slide the first time and then you did it again.
Laura: I always think of protein, I think of chicken.
Ron: Everything's got protein in it.
Ron: Yeah, it's a biochol of the cell.
Ron: Chicken has got loads of protein or muscle in general.
Ron: Just has lots of protein.
Laura: Yeah, like a chicken, chickens.
Ron: A recipe is fed into the top of the ribosome and then it kind of s**** out a protein at the bottom.
Laura: So DNA goes in the ribosome.
Ron: Not DNA, mRNA of vaccine fame.
Ron: That stands for messenger RNA.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: And then the messenger RNA is fed in kind of to the top of the ribosome and then a protein comes out at the bottom.
Laura: Okay, all right.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: And then the other ones that they want you to learn about, just for plants, are chloropasts.
Ron: This is where the chlorophyll is and that's what makes plants green.
Ron: That's where photosynthesis happens.
Laura: Yeah, I remember that bit.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: They're a lot like mitochondria, chloroplasts.
Ron: And both chloroplasts and mitochondria are believed to have started out as bacteria that made their way into eukaryotic cells and then they formed a symbiotic relationship with the cells that they lived in and they're now organs inside the cell.
Ron: Right.
Laura: I don't really understand what you said.
Ron: Right, so there's a bacteria one day that was going around and for some reason this bacteria is just making absolute gangbusters, making ATP, which is just a lovely molecule.
Ron: Right, so then a big EU character excels, trundling along, and then it's like, oh, it's quite nice living next to these bacteria that make all the ATP.
Ron: What if they lived inside us and made the ATP there?
Ron: We could keep them safe and then they could make us the ATP.
Laura: And then they started kissing and the bacteria came to live inside happily forever and ever.
Ron: Exactly.
Laura: All right, so you could look at that two ways, really.
Laura: You could either say that the UK is doing a protection racket of hey, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to your son, or you can think about them as falling in love and being together forever and ever.
Laura: Choose the latter.
Ron: It's much nicer.
Ron: It's kind of like if your liver was like a squirrel or something.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: Go on.
Ron: The squirrel was just like, around being nice.
Laura: See, analogies are not as easy as they look, are they?
Ron: Then you ate the squirrel and then squirrel lived inside you, processing toxins in your blood.
Laura: And that is what that's like.
Ron: Yeah, right.
Ron: The other one that they want us to learn about with plants is vacuoles, which are essentially just big spaces in the middle of the cell that holds SAP.
Laura: SAP.
Ron: SAP.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So that's kind of where I thought we should get to with the syllabus at the moment.
Speaker UNK: Okay.
Ron: I would just shout out to my boys.
Ron: The other organelles that weren't mentioned, we've got the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulums.
Ron: They're good.
Ron: Golgi apparatus.
Ron: Looks like a stack of pancakes.
Ron: Yeah, it does have a gross name.
Ron: Here's something that I thought was worth mentioning, just because I think it's cool and I think it's crazy to think that all of your cells in your body and all you carry it have skeletons.
Laura: No.
Laura: What?
Ron: They've all got skeletons.
Ron: The cytoskeleton is a thing.
Ron: Gives them structure and strength and shape.
Laura: Not made of bone, though.
Ron: No, made of protein.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: But then there's the other thing that I wanted to mention.
Ron: Vehicles, in general, very cool.
Ron: Basically, bags of membrane that they can use to transport stuff around a cell.
Laura: Fun.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: Made out of the same type of membrane as the cell membrane.
Ron: So when they're travelling around inside the cell, they use the cytoskeleton, the cell skeleton, as kind of like roads to move stuff around on.
Ron: And there's a protein that pulls the vehicles and it literally has, like, two little legs and it just walks down the cytoskeleton and pulls stuff along, which is cool.
Ron: What else?
Ron: Lysosomes.
Ron: Those are specialised vehicles that hold vehicles.
Laura: Is a stupid name.
Laura: It just sounds like vehicles, but wrong.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: And they're like little trucks taking stuff around the cell.
Ron: It's perfect.
Ron: Lysosomes.
Ron: They are kind of like cellular suicide pills, but also kind of chemical bulldozers.
Ron: So they kind of have like it's kind of like the acid from Richie Rich.
Ron: They can just release it onto s*** and it breaks it down.
Ron: And then there's something called a centriole, which is like it's kind of weird.
Ron: It helps organise when cells divide, but then it's also the basis of flagellum and cilia.
Laura: Cilia are the little wigglers that help you breathe.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: So there's two types of wigglers.
Ron: Cilia are just kind of like they're kind of the ones that look like hairs, all sway in emotion.
Ron: And then Flagella, they're basically like propellers for bacteria.
Ron: I was talking to Judith about this last night.
Laura: Judith is Farm's girlfriend.
Ron: They know one of my favourite facts about what goes on inside proteins.
Ron: There's a bacteria that has a protein that spins its flagella to motor it along.
Ron: That protein has gears.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: That's binoculars.
Ron: Yeah.
Ron: And I think that's less than one.
Laura: Okay thank you Ron.
Laura: Wellfair listener it is one week later and Ron and I have settled down to find out how much of that episode stayed in Laura's brain.
Laura: I'm nervous.
Laura: I've just been repeating to myself all week the word vacuole.
Laura: So what we're going to do is ron you've prepared a quiz.
Ron: I have indeed.
Laura: And you're going to quiz me.
Laura: We're going to see if I learn.
Laura: Obviously for the listener this is slightly easier because you've just listened to this.
Laura: But what we thought we'd do to make it a true test of learning is to wait a week and then try it.
Laura: So I mean I'm nervous.
Ron: Yeah, I mean don't be too nervous.
Ron: I think if you do badly that's a reflection on a bad teacher, not a bad student.
Ron: I'm taking it really personally as well.
Ron: Okay.
Laura: We might be too sensitive to work together.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: How many questions are there going to be?
Ron: It's going to be five but it's not out of five because some of them are like list as many as you can.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: All right let's go.
Ron: Okay question number one.
Ron: Can you tell me the main differences between a eukaryote and a prokaryote?
Laura: So a eukaryote has a nucleus and that means that the DNA strands in it are not in a little membrane bag.
Laura: No they are if you have a nucleus they're in the little membrane bag.
Laura: So that means the prokaryotes, their DNA is just wiggling about wild and is therefore more sensitive.
Laura: It can't be controlled.
Ron: Yes, that's one difference.
Ron: One point.
Laura: Are there more?
Laura: Right Laura edits out some thinking time.
Laura: Some of them had like a symbiotic relationship.
Ron: Millions of years ago.
Ron: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: So they don't have a nucleus because they don't have any organelles pro carriers.
Laura: That's good to know.
Ron: Okay we'll make the quiz for episode two easier.
Laura: No, I want to be challenged.
Laura: If I've got to know this, I've got to know this.
Ron: We all know.
Ron: You've got to know.
Laura: As much as I've got to do anything for my career I've got to do this.
Ron: Okay.
Ron: How many structures can you name from inside the cell?
Ron: You've already named one of course.
Ron: Actually two.
Laura: So some cells have a cell wall.
Laura: They all have a cell membrane.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: There's the nucleus.
Laura: There's the vacuum.
Laura: Old.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: There's chloroplasts.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: There's flagellum.
Ron: Yes.
Laura: They're the little I'm the little wigglers that helped them move about.
Laura: What was the little printer called?
Laura: There was something that the mRNA went into and then it pooped out chicken.
Laura: There was, I can't remember what that was though.
Laura: What was that called?
Laura: Brian.
Ron: I'm just impressed you got mRNA.
Laura: Thank you.
Ron: No points for that there.
Laura: All right.
Laura: I'm happy with that though.
Laura: That's not bad.
Ron: Retention six.
Ron: Not bad.
Laura: I've got seven points in total now.
Ron: Okay so based off something you said earlier.
Ron: Which two of the organelles may have arisen via symbiosis?
Laura: The ribosome, I think, might have oh, that's a bad noise.
Laura: Okay, then.
Laura: I don't know.
Laura: I thought it was the chicken pooper.
Laura: No, something about making something.
Laura: It was a guy that came and sat in him and made something else.
Laura: Made proteins.
Laura: Something made no, I don't know.
Ron: No, it was the mitochondria made.
Laura: ATP.
Ron: Yes.
Ron: Yes, indeed.
Ron: Oh, skip to question five, as you brought it up.
Ron: What's ATP?
Laura: A chemical that makes protein.
Ron: No, not everything makes protein.
Ron: Only one thing makes protein.
Ron: We already said there was the ribosome.
Laura: Oh, ATP.
Laura: All I can think is my brilliant joke I made about it.
Laura: ATP.
Laura: I know it had an effect that things liked, but I can't remember what it was.
Ron: It's the energy currency of the sale.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Laura: Remember the time ATM an ATM is where you get money and ATP is where you get energy currency.
Ron: Yes, currency.
Ron: That's synergy.
Ron: All right, last question.
Ron: Can you briefly describe how membranes are held together?
Laura: Oh, I can describe it.
Laura: So much detail.
Laura: Yes.
Laura: So you've got little men.
Laura: The little men like having their heads under the water, and they got leather trousers on that can't get wet.
Laura: So all the little men band together and put their heads in some water, and then all their little leather trousers are sticking out the other end.
Laura: And then that makes a stargate.
Laura: I see you waving your hands at me.
Laura: It's just as a podcast, Ron.
Laura: Yeah, that's what I said.
Laura: They stick their heads together and then all their little trousers are sticking out the other end.
Laura: And then you got a little wet head pool in the middle.
Laura: It's like an oreo of wet heads in the middle and leather trousers sticking out the other end.
Ron: Yeah, that's the bit I wanted you to say that.
Ron: There's two layers, so the legs are contained.
Laura: Yeah.
Laura: A membrane is basically an oreo where the middle is water and the outside is oil.
Ron: It's a stargate oreo made of tiny men wearing leather trousers.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: Perfect.
Ron: Well, that's eight out of however many.
Laura: How many were possible just for people?
Laura: Because I know if I was listing a home and had got them all right, I'd want to know if I'd got them all right.
Laura: So do you want to run through the answers quickly?
Ron: Okay, so the main differences between the eukaryote, you got one which was the nucleus.
Laura: Yeah.
Ron: And then multicellular unicellular, that's another one size difference.
Ron: Organelles.
Ron: Those are the main differences.
Laura: Okay, cool.
Laura: So you get a point for each of those.
Laura: So how many was that?
Laura: Four possible points there.
Laura: Okay.
Ron: Four in total then, for parts of a cell, nucleus, mitochondria, cytoplasm, membrane, ribosomes, chloroplast, vacuole, cell wall, that's eight.
Ron: And then we've also got rough endoplasmic reticulum, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, golgi apparatus, vehicles in general, the cytoskeleton, lysosome, centriole, flagella and cilia, which I think is another 1917 available there.
Laura: We got six.
Laura: That's bad times.
Ron: Then.
Ron: Two possible for the third question.
Laura: What were the answers there?
Laura: Just so people can mark up.
Ron: Oh, mitochondria and chloroplast.
Laura: Yes.
Ron: How are membranes held together?
Ron: I mean, point for that.
Ron: If you got the legs in the centre and then ATP, energy currency of the sale.
Ron: I'd also accepted adenosine triphosphate because that's the chemical name.
Ron: All right, one point for that at two points of view.
Ron: Said both of those things.
Laura: Two points for that.
Laura: So that brings us to a total of three, four, 5926 possible points.
Laura: So let us know how you got on with the quiz there.
Laura: You can let us know on social media, obviously.
Laura: We're a brand new podcast.
Laura: We're just trying to get this off the ground.
Laura: So if you've enjoyed listening, hey, give episode two a try.
Laura: See if we're your new best friend's in your ears.
Ron: Let me know if I'm wrong about anything.
Ron: I'm not qualified to do this.
Laura: Oh, yeah, have a chat with Ron.
Laura: Don't tell me if I'm wrong.
Laura: Don't do tell me if I'm not Ron.
Laura: I'm not.
Laura: But please don't tell me what I got wrong.
Laura: I'm very sensitive.
Laura: You can like and subscribe to podcast.
Laura: We would very much appreciate getting going with a bang.
Laura: Tell people that you liked it.
Laura: Say, Hey, this is new.
Laura: Cool podcast I just listened to.
Laura: It's sexy.
Laura: It's not sexy.
Laura: It's brother and sister learning science.
Laura: It's the least sexy podcast you can tweet us.
Laura: We are at Lex Education.
Laura: We are at Lex Education on Instagram as well.
Laura: And should you want to correct Ron or tell me I'm brilliant, you can also email us lexeducation@gmail.com.
Laura: Ron, thank you for teaching me.
Laura: Do you have anything you'd like to add?
Ron: Dismissed.
Ron: So that could be a catchphrase.
Laura: I love it.
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