A Blood Factory in a Bone Cave

 Laura: Hello and welcome back…

Laura: Just as I start doing that, the dog got the zoomies through the lounge.

Laura: I'll do that again.

Ron: I liked it.

Laura: Wow.

Laura: I mean, we're into the 7th episode now.

Laura: Lucky number seven, let them have the reality.

Laura: And actually, it's a good episode for Maki to be super involved in because we've got another special guest on this episode, too, haven't we, Run?

Ron: Noki, the cat.

Laura: Noki, the cat appears to try and save my bacon, so hello, welcome to God.

Laura: I nearly said the National Treasures podcast, and I really am garbage at this today.

Ron: For context, Laura woke up 23 minutes ago.

Laura: I did.

Ron: I messaged her when we were supposed to be recording.

Laura: It's been a really long weekend.

Laura: I've just had eight gigs in three days, so, yeah, I really didn't set an alarm.

Laura: When you know that you've got to do something, but you make no effort to get it done, I did that.

Laura: I sort of vaguely remembered that we were recording today, but in no way set an alarm or prepare myself for it.

Ron: And you asked for this time.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: Yes.

Laura: So, welcome to Lex Education, the podcast where I, a real life fool, learn science from my brother, who has it together a lot more than me.

Laura: Ron, what are you up to today?

Ron: I've had a very busy couple of weeks, so today is the first day where I'm just going to do Pistol, I'm going to play minecraft in my pants and I'm going to eat pasta.

Laura: Oh, that sounds lovely.

Laura: If I get all my cleaning done, can we do some minecraft together?

Ron: Yes, we can.

Laura: I love minecraft.

Laura: We should get back into the one that we've got with the skyway.

Laura: We've got a project where I'm building a motorway in the sky that just goes on forever.

Laura: And you're breeding axolotls?

Ron: I've got a dome of Axolotls, yeah.

Ron: But I'm mainly going for a Manhattan kind of thing.

Laura: Oh, yeah, you're building skyscrapers now?

Laura: In my newest one that I'm playing with, Tom, I've got a biodome where I made a mud hut, like Judith's Panic Rooms.

Laura: Judith is sort of bad at minecraft and just makes small, square, sad buildings out of murder.

Laura: Well, I decided to try and make almost like a tubby house, like a dome that is completely blended into the surroundings.

Laura: So I've hidden it in vines and leaves and flowers.

Laura: It's very cool.

Laura: Anyway, enough about how cool we are.

Laura: Let's do GCSE together.

Laura: First of all, as always, we would like to thank Pod Spike.

Laura: We were featured in the Pod Bible this week, which maybe that's how you're listening to this episode.

Laura: You heard us talking on there, so we would never have heard of Pod Bible.

Laura: No offence, Pod.

Laura: Bible, you're wonderful.

Laura: But we would never have known to do that if it hadn't been for Podsbike.

Laura: We literally cannot overemphasise how much they have helped us with the marketing of this podcast.

Laura: So thank you, Podsbike.

Laura: And if you are thinking of starting a podcast, or you have a podcast and you want to give it a little bit more juice in the tank, then give the wonderful people at Podsbike a bell and say, we sent you.

Ron: Yes, do that.

Laura: Have you been enjoying the puns on the Twitter?

Ron: I asked last week for everyone to stop doing that.

Ron: They've not listened.

Laura: I've been really enjoying it.

Ron: I refuse to have the fans be better at puns than us.

Laura: So we asked this week on Twitter what the sexiest element was.

Laura: So if you're listening and you want some stupid science jokes, do find us on Twitter.

Laura: We're on Instagram and TikTok.

Laura: And speaking of that, thank you, Carol, for your making plasma out of grapes experiment.

Laura: So this is our second experiment that we've been sent.

Laura: The first one punching cornflower.

Laura: We have filmed a video for that now, so that will be going out at some point on all of the social medias this week.

Laura: So thank you, Carol, for sending a second one, and we'll get working on that.

Laura: And then the other thing, squirrels for short.

Laura: Want some Lex education science knob based stickers.

Ron: No facts.

Ron: No facts.

Laura: Sorry.

Laura: The dog is going mad in the garden.

Laura: What's she doing?

Laura: I think she's trying to hunt something that's not alive.

Laura: God, she's stupid.

Laura: I love her so much.

Laura: Is that the match you want from not my dog?

Laura: Oh, God.

Laura: I'm so sorry about this intro, Ron.

Ron: That's okay.

Ron: You do it not facts.

Ron: Do you want more, less, or do you want them in sticker form?

Ron: Let us know.

Ron: I thought that thread was very interesting.

Ron: I did several lectures at university about knobs.

Laura: It's great.

Laura: We loved it.

Laura: We loved it, Ron.

Laura: So there you go.

Laura: Thank you very much for all of your sharing and love.

Laura: Please, if you are enjoying us, start to fight my dog.

Laura: What is she doing?

Laura: If you are enjoying us, then please give us a rating not based on this intro.

Laura: Give us a rating based on the rest of the content, because I'm very aware I've been very distracted.

Laura: But, yeah, rate us and we love you and thank you for your tweets and shares and stuff.

Laura: We are growing every weekend.

Laura: It's very exciting.

Ron: Yes.

Ron: And get ready to leave resultant forces and physics angst in the past as we dive into biology for the third time.

Ron: First triple episode.

Laura: Can you hear her?

Ron: Yes, obviously I can hear her.

Laura: It's such a nightmare.

Laura: I love her.

Laura: Okay, enjoy.

Laura: So, Ron, we're back to biology today.

Ron: Your friend of mine, biology, my father best one.

Laura: None of that stinking physics malarkey.

Ron: Yeah, although physics is throwing me off.

Ron: And again, I had no idea how much to prepare for this last episode.

Ron: We got through literally five lines of notes.

Laura: Let's not talk about last episode, because I'm still a little angry about it.

Ron: Let's talk about last biology though.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: What can you remember from that?

Ron: How do you feel about it?

Laura: Let me flick back through my notes.

Laura: What have I written down?

Laura: Oh, God.

Laura: It's not good.

Laura: I've written down magnification microscopy, hadaway, Joy Division, dolphin microscopes.

Ron: When did we talk about Joy Division?

Laura: I don't know.

Laura: Then there's a picture of what I think is a sperm with a fish kissing it.

Laura: I'll put that on the instagram.

Laura: It says 23 pairs of chromosomes.

Ron: Yeah, that's a thing.

Laura: Oh no.

Laura: Then turn the page and we're back onto chemistry.

Laura: Wait a minute, wait, was this all just episode Mg one, SG two?

Ron: Yeah, that's biology.

Ron: That's biology.

Laura: Great.

Laura: Cell specialisation.

Laura: Is that what we were doing?

Laura: Yes.

Laura: Great.

Laura: Remember it all.

Ron: Okay, so, yeah, last time we talked about basically about how different sales can be and the different ways that they can be different.

Ron: They could have different organelles.

Laura: Oh, yes.

Laura: Firms have got like acidy mouths.

Ron: Exactly.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: Different organelles can be different shapes because essentially they're like tiny little machines that have a function to do.

Laura: What are organelles?

Ron: Organelles are like the little organs inside the cell nucleus, lysosome, mitochondria, those things.

Laura: Got you.

Ron: So today what we will talk about mainly in fact, entirely, is stem cells.

Laura: Stem cell research is very important.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: What do you know about stem cells?

Ron: What have you heard in the press?

Laura: Leukaemia don't take a drink now because that's all I know.

Laura: That's all.

Laura: That was a terrible time to take a drink there, Ron, because there wasn't much more information coming out of me.

Laura: Stem cell transplant, that's the thing that happens right then.

Laura: I know all about that.

Ron: Do you know what a stem cell is?

Laura: Nope.

Ron: So a stem cell is an undifferentiated cell.

Ron: A stem cell is almost like the sort of the textbook picture of a cell because it has not gone through any of the specialisations that would make it, say, a muscle cell, or a sperm cell or a liver cell or any of these things.

Laura: So when do you have those?

Ron: In very specific times and places.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: So basically they are undifferentiated cells.

Ron: And then as an organism develops, they differentiate into different cells.

Ron: There are different types of stem cells.

Laura: You just said they were undifferentiated.

Ron: Yeah, but they can be undifferentiated to different degrees.

Laura: Why can't they make any of this easy?

Ron: No, this will make sense to you though, because if you think about it, the cells that are in a little foetus when it is just starting to grow, at one point you are literally one cell and then that divides into two and that divides into four, and so on and so on, those cells are all stem cells.

Ron: Those cells out of those two, four, eight, whatever cells they need to become every single type of cell that you are now.

Laura: It's a lot of pressure, isn't it?

Ron: So that's what we call a totepotent.

Laura: No, it isn't.

Laura: That's a stupid word.

Ron: Take you, Peter.

Laura: You've made that up.

Laura: No, that's not science.

Laura: Who made that word up?

Laura: That was the end of a long day day, wasn't it?

Laura: The patita tudents.

Ron: So there's a total potency.

Laura: Toky potent.

Laura: Sounds like a fart.

Laura: You do in under the dues in the morning.

Ron: Toti potent.

Ron: Sounds like either a toaster London character or someone from Brasseye.

Laura: I'm totally potent.

Laura: And here's the weather.

Laura: Tishi potent.

Laura: I didn't listen after you said the word Tony.

Laura: Potent.

Ron: Those are the ones that can become anything.

Laura: So the first cell I ever was was Toti potent.

Ron: Yes.

Laura: And then TOTY potent did mg one SG two.

Laura: It did and turned into two.

Ron: Actually, this is a side point, but quite interestingly.

Ron: It didn't do all of those things for the love of God, because eggs are huge.

Ron: So the first bunch of divisions that your body does, it just divides and does the DNA synthesis.

Ron: It doesn't do any of the growing, it just cuts itself up.

Ron: We don't need to talk about that.

Ron: And then there are different levels of what is called differentiation potential, or potency.

Ron: So pluripotency, multi potency, illegal potency, and.

Laura: Then finally the League of Potency.

Ron: Flight of the Valkyrie.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: They all come flying in and they were all potent.

Laura: What does potent mean?

Laura: Strong strength.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: So the reason behind that is, like I say, something in your foetus needs to become every single type of cell.

Ron: But then other stem cells don't need to become every type of cell, they just need to become some types of cells.

Ron: So then that's where you get your plural potence and your multipotes and stuff.

Ron: That makes sense.

Laura: No, it's gobbledy gig.

Ron: No.

Laura: I just think it makes so much sense to you that you can't hear the words coming out of your mouth.

Laura: I'll say back to you what you just said to me.

Laura: Okay.

Laura: Word for word.

Laura: You get a cell, and then the cell cuts itself up into four things.

Laura: Some of those cells have got to be everything.

Laura: Some of those cells have only got to be a few things.

Laura: They're all Plury.

Laura: Omnipotent.

Laura: See you tomorrow.

Laura: My name's Ron.

Ron: I mean, we literally recorded this.

Ron: I'm going to be editing this episode.

Laura: And I'm going to pretty much say exactly.

Ron: You like examples.

Ron: You like examples.

Ron: The foetal thing.

Ron: That makes sense, right?

Ron: Those cells have to become every single type of cell in the body.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: So then I'll give you an example.

Ron: So you adult humans.

Laura: We have thank you for calling me an adult human.

Ron: You're welcome.

Ron: We have stem cells in our bone marrow to make blood.

Laura: So little blood laboratory just inside a boat.

Laura: Hey, that's a good idea for a film, isn't it?

Laura: A little blood laboratory happening in a bone cave.

Laura: No trouble concentrating.

Laura: Ron.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: My heart says no to this film.

Laura: I had another idea.

Laura: Say Romeo and juliet, but they're a Mac and a PC.

Laura: What do you think?

Ron: God, I think there's a hacked comedy.

Laura: Bit from the right, then you hate all my ideas.

Ron: I hate the bad ones.

Laura: My blood cave idea is great.

Ron: All right, talk me through act one, act Two, act Three.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: All right, because I think you're describing the plot of Osmosis Jones.

Laura: What's Osmosis Jones?

Ron: It was a cool cartoon about cells in the body.

Laura: Okay, so when it's that, it's a good idea.

Laura: When it's my idea, you think it's bad?

Ron: Well, no, because that idea was a white blood cell being a police officer, and then he's got a partner who's like an antibiotic or something, and they go around and they solve crimes.

Ron: What you are describing is a blood factory in a bone tape, which is.

Laura: Quite different in that tone.

Laura: It feels like it's going to sound horrible, but maybe it's a factory, right.

Laura: And they all have to make blood and then something goes wrong.

Laura: Actually, maybe it's a bit dark, but that's like the person's got, like, leukaemia.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: And so the blood factory is trying to get back on board.

Laura: Act Two help turns up by way.

Ron: Of whatever poison and radiation.

Laura: Yeah, sexy.

Laura: Radiation is the love interest for the workers in the blood factory in the bone cave and then everything's fine at the end.

Ron: That sounds bleak and gross.

Laura: There's a market for that.

Laura: Hey, do you remember the numskulls in the Beno?

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Yeah, I think about the NUM skulls every day in my life.

Laura: Yeah, that was my favourite Beno.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: If you like Namskars, you'd like Osmosis Jones.

Ron: It was good.

Laura: Should we watch that instead of doing this learning?

Ron: No, we have to keep going.

Ron: We've invested far too much time.

Laura: Right.

Laura: So Totipote is Totipoten.

Ron: They are the ones that can turn into anything.

Ron: He just needs to become all types of cells.

Ron: The cells in your bone marrow, they make blood.

Ron: They don't need to become every type of cell, but it might need to become a couple of different types of sale.

Ron: So they are either multipotent or pluripotent or something and they can become a couple of different types.

Laura: Makes sense.

Laura: Yes.

Ron: And then it might be the case that because they might need to become one of three sales, so they can make them differentiate to be sort of a base for three, and then it's easier to become those different ones.

Ron: All right, so the syllabus says that you should be able to describe the function of stem cells in embryos adult animals and the merry stems in plants.

Laura: Oh, that was Shakespeare's 19th play.

Laura: The mary stems in plants.

Ron: I know so little about Shakes.

Ron: I don't even get the chain that you're making.

Laura: The Mary wives of Windsor.

Ron: So, in embryos, what do you think the purpose of themselves are?

Laura: Making babies.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: Growing babies.

Ron: That's basically it.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: Just a load of cells looking around.

Laura: Let's climb into a baby formation and masquerade as a baby and no one will know.

Laura: It just a load of cells singing.

Ron: The f****** song again.

Laura: Mom was so upset when I sang at that song, she thinks I've lost my mind.

Ron: Arguably, with the genesis of that song, you might have done.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: Okay.

Laura: What's the question?

Laura: Making a baby.

Laura: Their embryos have got split up.

Laura: Embryos themselves have to be total.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: I live in Fulham.

Ron: Telegraph.

Laura: They have to split up.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: My mom's the MP for South Lestershire.

Ron: She has terrible psoriasis as well.

Laura: It's life changing.

Laura: I actually ran an ultra marathon for them in February 2022.

Laura: So they're made up of 20 potent and they've got to become all of the baby.

Laura: You have the potential to become all of a baby.

Laura: You might be totally potent.

Ron: You have to have the ability to not only become your eye, but also your a******.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: It has to be able to do everything.

Laura: It's going to be able an adult.

Ron: Humans.

Laura: Yes.

Ron: You and me included.

Ron: We also have stem cells.

Laura: Yeah, we do.

Ron: In our bomaro, these are known as somatic stem cells.

Ron: And they're actually found somatic in most tissues now, because you're about to be funny about it.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: There's a hierarchy of kind of how bodies are made.

Laura: So you have cells first, ears last.

Ron: Yeah, you do ears.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: I think ears are really weird and messed up.

Laura: There's no way this is the best shape.

Ron: But you got cells, right?

Ron: And then cells make tissues, tissues make organs.

Ron: Organs make bodies, roughly.

Laura: Okay, Ron, you can't just say stuff like that that quickly when I'm still writing down about tissues.

Laura: What's happening?

Ron: Lots of cells will make a tissue.

Laura: Cells equal tissue.

Ron: So, yes, they're like muscle tissue, fat, tissue, something like that.

Ron: And then lots of tissues will make an organ.

Laura: Tissues times loads equals an organ, not an organelle.

Ron: We are big.

Ron: And then lots of organs make a body.

Laura: Times loads equals laura.

Ron: Exactly.

Ron: So somatic stem cells adopt stem cells are found in most tissues.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: They are interesting for two reasons.

Ron: Mainly interesting times, too, because they can replicate themselves indefinitely.

Ron: So what you might not know is that not all cells can just keep replicating and replicating, replicating and replicating.

Laura: They get tired, man.

Laura: They deserve a break.

Ron: Yeah, it's very interesting.

Laura: Why don't they just lose its meaning once you've realised that there's just loads of you?

Laura: Now, if some other me could do all the me stuff, what's the point of me?

Ron: Exactly.

Ron: So then they need to get s*** canned and then some somatic stem cells need to replace them.

Ron: And then the other thing that makes them interesting is the fact that they.

Laura: Can karate chop policemen and not get arrested.

Ron: No, they can become several different types of cell.

Ron: So you'll have, like, stem cells in your liver.

Ron: There's a bunch of different types of cells that make up your liver, the stem cells will be able to differentiate into the ones that it needs to replace them.

Ron: Why are you drinking like that?

Ron: That was awful, the state of you.

Laura: I didn't know you were looking at me.

Ron: We have done the last couple of essays without zoom.

Laura: I realised recently that I guide things into my mouth using my tongue, like a little air traffic controller.

Ron: Are you talking about that with our sisters?

Laura: And they do it, too.

Laura: I go and get things with my tongue, like, as the forks approaching, my mouth guns out like a lizard.

Laura: And then I put the fork on the end of the tongue, and then I withdraw the tongue into my mouth and it pulls the fork with it.

Laura: Guides it.

Ron: No, I don't do that.

Laura: His faces.

Laura: You tried, though, is a picture.

Ron: I didn't like it.

Ron: I shall not be doing it again.

Ron: Right.

Ron: So just quickly say that back to me, because I thought that was simple and easy and nice, and I'm trying to be really nice.

Laura: Okay, so somatic, stem cells are found.

Ron: In tissues in adult humans?

Laura: Yes.

Laura: They're interesting for two reasons.

Laura: They can replicate indefinitely and s***, I stopped making notes to do my drinking.

Laura: They are livers.

Laura: They're in your liver.

Ron: They are in your liver.

Ron: You're really giving the impression of someone that is repeating words, but it's not necessarily comprehending them.

Laura: Look, Ron, you can either have me not even repeating the words or repeating the words, but not necessarily comprehending them.

Laura: Which one do you want?

Ron: All right, let's talk about it, though.

Ron: Okay.

Laura: Liver kids.

Ron: So sales can't replicate indefinitely?

Ron: No, some sales can't replicate at all.

Laura: Stupid idiots.

Ron: So you need stem cells to replace those ones when they die and they get older?

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: That's the schematic bastards.

Ron: Yeah, the schematic stem cells.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Okay.

Ron: The Mary stem of a plant.

Ron: I'm not even going to assume that you know what that is.

Laura: You have to talk I didn't think that you would like what I had to say, so I thought I'd keep it in.

Laura: You're welcome.

Ron: So the merristem is essentially are you.

Laura: Spelling Mary like Spy Christmas?

Ron: No, meri.

Laura: And then Stem, the meristem of what was it?

Laura: Existence.

Ron: Plant.

Ron: Hence Stem.

Laura: Yeah, but we were already talking about stem cells.

Ron: Yeah, that's true, actually.

Ron: I'll give you that.

Laura: People always talk about women in Stem.

Ron: Yeah, but that's different.

Ron: That stands for science.

Ron: Technology, engineering.

Ron: And I think mathematics.

Laura: I'm a woman in Stem now then, now that I'm doing this ford guys.

Ron: Yes.

Ron: Kind of.

Laura: Well, you're welcome Stem on having me on board.

Laura: Do you think one day we'll be allowed to go around schools and help teach school kids?

Ron: God, I hope not.

Ron: Talk to a bunch of kids.

Ron: Welcome.

Laura: No, don't do that.

Ron: Yeah, but if I say that, then I won't be invited.

Laura: That's true.

Laura: And then I'll have to go on my own and these kids will get stupid up.

Laura: Anyway, the Mary stem of the plant.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: So the Mary stem is essentially small groups of stem cells that exist at the tips of growing plants.

Laura: That's like a rose bud.

Laura: That's a new stem.

Laura: Is it like, you know when a rose has the little and then you prune it just above that and then it forces the growth to come out of that.

Ron: Exactly, yeah.

Ron: So in that new little bit of growth, there will be the marriage stem, which is groups of stem cells.

Ron: Now, why do you think the tip of a new growing bartle or something would need stem cells?

Laura: Because quite often with plants, especially ones that have branches and stuff, they'll spring off there and then that might become like a whole new feeder branch that will have to have leaves and flowers and all sorts on it.

Ron: Exactly.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: So essentially the tip of a bud or the tip of a new stick or whatever you call it when it's actually on the plant, that needs to have the capability to become all of the different types of cell of a plant.

Ron: And that's what a merit stem is.

Ron: And then that's why cutting those off will do different things to plants.

Laura: So is that why if my arm gets chopped off, I can't grow a new arm because I don't have a merry stem in my shoulder?

Ron: Essentially?

Ron: Yeah, kind of.

Laura: But like your liver can repair itself a bit because it's got.

Ron: Stem cells.

Laura: Somatic stem cells?

Ron: Yes, essentially.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: All right, cool beans.

Ron: The next thing that it wants to talk about.

Laura: So we don't know how to make a stem cell go in a certain direction, otherwise we could grow a finger.

Ron: No, we know how to do that.

Laura: Why don't we grow people's legs and stuff?

Ron: Have you ever seen, like, they grew an ear on the back of a rat?

Ron: Hang on, I'm going to get you.

Laura: No, thank you.

Laura: I don't like ears or at.

Laura: Imagine having a backpack in the shape of an ear.

Laura: Horrible.

Ron: Well, there's so many of them.

Ron: I'll send you this one.

Laura: No, don't send me anything.

Ron: It looks a bit more shrekish.

Laura: Don't want it.

Laura: Ron, please don't.

Laura: Why don't we grow people's legs and stuff then?

Ron: Because they are hard to grow.

Ron: Legs are a lot more complicated than just kind of growing the outside of any ear.

Ron: And then I just think we don't really have the technology to grow a whole leg.

Laura: You didn't tell me the rat was hairless.

Laura: Oh, Ron, that's disgusting.

Laura: That all rat.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: Now I don't even believe everybody's ears are non cruelty to animals.

Ron: But I do think that lab grown organs are becoming a thing.

Laura: I hope they don't involve rats anymore.

Ron: I don't know.

Ron: I can't research it now.

Ron: It's becoming a thing.

Ron: Not necessarily with legs, but like hearts grown in tubes and livers in boxes and stuff that might become the norm of the future.

Ron: The next thing that it wants us to go into is treatments with stem cells.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: So the two that it wants to go into are how you can use stem cells to treat diabetes and how you can use themselves to treat paralysis.

Ron: That is literally what it says in the syllabus.

Ron: We don't need to go too far into it.

Ron: But essentially with diabetes, type one diabetes is the one that they're targeting with this that I was researching.

Laura: Is type one the one you're born with or the one you get?

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: Type one is the one that you're born with, I think, all the time.

Ron: And it happens because you have problems with the insulin producing islets in the pancreas.

Laura: Yes.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: So essentially what I believe they do is they use stem cells to differentiate into other insulin producing cells, and then your body will just produce its own insulin.

Ron: They have not yet gotten to the point where they have cured it, but apparently there have been documented cases where patients have gone years without needing injections.

Ron: Whereas I think you actually have to inject yourself several times a day, I think, if you don't receive this stuff.

Ron: So that seems pretty dope.

Laura: So they're using the stem cells to make new islands.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: Maybe not new islets, necessarily, but definitely insane in producing cells.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: And then with paralysis is because nerve cells don't replicate themselves, so they can use stem cells to fix gaps.

Ron: If you paralyse this often because there's a disconnect between your spinal cord in your brain or something like that, and then they're looking into using stem cells to bridge those gaps.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: Fix these problems.

Laura: All right, that makes sense.

Ron: Okay, cool.

Ron: So now we go on to cloning.

Laura: Yeah, let's clone ourselves.

Ron: So it wants us to talk about cloning.

Ron: It says in therapeutic cloning, an embryo is produced with the same genes as the patient.

Laura: Is this like where you breed a sister in case your elder son goes wrong and you don't have an heir to the monarchy?

Ron: What.

Laura: Like an heir and a spare?

Laura: We'll have this one in case we need parts of it to make a new one better?

Ron: No, that's just banging.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: I don't think they usually clone anyone.

Laura: Has anyone ever been cloned?

Laura: Not publicly, but probably privately.

Ron: Well, this is just like where my tinfoil hat comes out a bit, because the crazy s*** that goes on around the world and the first mammal was cloned in the 90s.

Ron: Dolly and sheep.

Laura: I remember.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: And I just don't believe that no government like the sneaky s*** that the US gets up to or any of these world powers.

Ron: I just don't believe that no one's done it.

Laura: Gina lexic for more conspiracies with Ron.

Laura: But didn't Dolly the sheep only live for like, 13 days?

Ron: No, I don't think so.

Ron: I think lived a full sheepy life.

Laura: How long does the sheep live?

Laura: Like 14 days.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: How can a sheep get yeah, donny.

Ron: The sheep lived donny the sheep died on Valentine's Day in 2003.

Ron: She was seven.

Laura: Is that good for a sheep?

Ron: Let's have a look.

Ron: Domestic sheep.

Ron: Finn dorset average.

Ron: How long does a Finn Dorset sheep live?

Ron: Eleven to twelve.

Laura: Okay.

Laura: So a bit to you.

Laura: How does cloning work?

Laura: Does she just turn up as a grown up or she just come out as a baby and then grow up?

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: So cloning in the sense that we know it in reality at the moment, is not like you put some gunk in a box and then it comes out fully formed.

Ron: So what happened with Dolly the sheep was they took the egg of a sheep and then they took the nucleus of a cell of a different sheep.

Ron: They took it from the breast tissue, which is why Dolly the sheep is called Dolly, because tissues and then they put that nucleus into the egg cell and then implanted that egg into another sheep.

Ron: So it is cloned in the sense that all of its DNA is identical to the sheep that they took the breast tissue from.

Ron: Yeah, but it's not like they didn't.

Laura: So the egg was already fertilised.

Ron: I'm not sure if yeah, I think it had been fertilised.

Ron: And then they just swapped out the nucleus.

Ron: But that's all just me talking about it off the top of my head.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: But yeah, so then it was born like a born a lamb and grew up.

Ron: We don't have the technology to clone two people and have them look exactly the same.

Laura: If you were a billionaire, would you want a little cloned baby you to look after?

Laura: I didn't think I would.

Ron: They're not billionaires.

Ron: But don't you think that some government might have started cloning people, trying to make them stronger or something?

Laura: Cloning prisoners just to do the experiments?

Ron: Maybe?

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: Or if they had, like, some really?

Ron: Because a lot of people might have been cloned and not even know.

Laura: I bet I have been.

Laura: Everybody would want a me.

Laura: I'd be like, the new Tamagotchi.

Ron: What went wrong?

Ron: How can we fix it?

Ron: Let's try again.

Laura: How can we make this one?

Laura: But it needs less attention.

Ron: They don't really give much information in the cloning stuff.

Ron: In the celebrity would be useful to.

Laura: Clone yourself if your paralysis was more like a sleep paralysis demon, because you could clone yourself and have two of you in the bed, and then when it climbed on your chest, you'd be like, you idiots.

Laura: Not even me.

Laura: It's Leonard, my clone.

Ron: It's baby me.

Laura: You can sit on that baby all night.

Laura: I don't care at all.

Ron: Baby Leonard the clone.

Ron: It wants you to know that the use of stem cells has potential risks, such as transfer of viral infection, and that some people have ethical or religious objections.

Laura: All right, Fair enough.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: Some people have ethical objections to Percy pigs, though.

Ron: Well, that's like one of the things that gets bandied around by pro life trash heaps a lot is that they're using the aborted foetuses to harvest themselves.

Ron: But let's not give too much light to these things.

Ron: Religious subjections.

Ron: Some people have religious objections to a lot of stuff.

Laura: Yeah, like my entire life.

Laura: Don't you, Mum?

Laura: Love you, bye.

Ron: She was not going to listen to this.

Laura: No.

Ron: Stem cells from meristems and plants can be used to produce clones of plants very quickly and economically.

Ron: This means that rare species of plants can be cloned and protect them from extinction.

Laura: Like bananas.

Ron: Yes.

Laura: Bananas are all cloned?

Ron: Yes, I think so.

Laura: They come from a single cloned one?

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: There's certainly not a lot of jeanette, which means that we're just parroting stuff that the complete guys talked about, but, yeah, they always talk about how there's going to be a new banana plague.

Ron: Where is it?

Ron: Where the bloody h*** is it?

Laura: Do you hate bananas?

Ron: No, I'm just saying, if you're going to bang on about it so much, then where is it?

Laura: Banana plague, by the way, I asked on Twitter about the whole chilli with banana and lemon juice thing, and it seems like it was a thing for some families and it repulsed and upset quite a lot of people.

Laura: If mom and dad get interviewed by anybody from Child Protective Services, it's because they're worried about us.

Laura: In retrospect.

Ron: A mate of mine at university told everyone that his parents met when they were the bananas in Pyjamas, and they met and fell in love.

Ron: He used to tell people it's like, why do you think I've got a picture of the bananas and Pyjamas on the mantel piece at home?

Ron: It was all house we'd all been to, but never really clocked that picture did not exist.

Laura: Such a weird thing to just what a legend.

Ron: So, yeah, rare species can get cloned and protected from extinction.

Ron: Or crop.

Ron: Plants with special features, such as disease resistance, can be cloned to produce large numbers of identical plants for farmers.

Laura: And with plants, you can do like cuttings.

Laura: You can grow from cuttings, which is kind of just that is a form of cloning cloning, isn't it?

Ron: Kind of, yeah.

Ron: Plants won't grow up to be horrified that they're actually a clone of Putin or something.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Do you reckon when Putin went on their way out, they cloned him?

Laura: No, I don't think he's organised enough at the moment.

Laura: I think he's a mess.

Ron: Maybe that's kind of why I think the leadership in North Korea oh, he.

Laura: Might have done it.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: He still got a strong grip, though, because I think the problem with Putin is that his inner circle is super loyal, but everything else around him is starting to crumble, because isn't it true.

Ron: That the Kim's in North Korea, they're still pretending that all of them are still alive since the 50s.

Laura: Really?

Ron: I think that's true.

Ron: I think they technically, like they're all the leader because they have not admitted that Kim Jongun and the ones that ill yeah.

Ron: Are dead.

Laura: Oh, wow.

Laura: I didn't know that.

Ron: I think that's true.

Ron: I'll cut this out if it's not, so maybe just clones.

Laura: Clones.

Laura: Clones.

Laura: Clones.

Ron: Hey, this is Ron doing the editing.

Ron: I can't find anything to back this up, to be honest.

Ron: So if anyone knows what fact I'm half remembering, let me know.

Ron: Let me know on Twitter, because I'm certain I heard it somewhere, but can't back it up.

Ron: Can't say anything that says that it's not true.

Laura: Grand.

Laura: All right, well, the thing is that we always get to this point in the episode and I think that felt right.

Laura: And then next thing I know, we're quizzing it and I'm like, Jesus, what have I written down here?

Ron: At least it's biology, though.

Laura: I made no notes on the cloning section.

Ron: Yeah, me neither.

Ron: You might have noticed.

Laura: All right, let's give it a week and we'll be back in seconds of your listening ear.

Laura: Time for the quiz.

Laura: Okay, we are approximately one week later in our world, but mere seconds later for you, we're back.

Laura: Ron has got a test for me and for you, the Listener, it'll be on sales.

Laura: And that is about all I can remember.

Ron: Yeah, I was going to say, because when we did the sound test a second ago, it did not seem like you knew what we were going to be talking about.

Laura: I'm annoyed, to be honest, because I feel really sprightly today.

Laura: I feel really ready to learn and crack on, but I just can't remember about what.

Ron: So, stem cells last week.

Laura: S***, it doesn't even ring a bell and I remember it going well.

Laura: All right, well, let's get into the questions and see what pings out.

Ron: Yeah?

Ron: Okay, cool.

Ron: So question one, I think.

Laura: I love how much of this episode of this podcast is me editing out.

Laura: You counting things.

Ron: Six points, I believe.

Laura: Six points for question one?

Ron: No, for the whole question.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: They're more long form answers.

Laura: What I think the answer is, and then you sit there in silence and just raise your eyebrows at me, waiting for me to say more.

Ron: Potentially, yes.

Ron: Laura, for one point, what is a sales differentiation potential?

Laura: What is it?

Laura: What it says on the tin?

Laura: Like, it's its potential to do different stuff.

Ron: Pull that thread, define different stuff.

Laura: So I remember that, like, your liver could be anything, but your skin can only be skin and stuff like that.

Laura: Like the cell, like sun cells can only be one thing, but then, like, on a plant nub, that cell can be everything.

Laura: So it could go on to be loads of different types of cells.

Laura: Is that it?

Ron: I'll give you that.

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: So it's the number of different cells that a stem cell can differentiate into.

Ron: So some will be totipotent.

Laura: Yeah, I remember that.

Laura: What?

Ron: Some will be total potent.

Ron: So they'll be able to differentiate into anything?

Ron: Others will be multipotent.

Ron: There'll be a few, and then others will be they'll only be able to turn into one type of self?

Laura: Yes.

Ron: So following up on that, where can you find stem cells in adult humans?

Laura: Bone marrow in the blood laboratory.

Laura: In the bone cave.

Laura: Is that not right?

Laura: Oh, no.

Laura: Why are you being silent?

Laura: I'm so confident.

Laura: Oh, s***.

Ron: I'll give you half a point for that.

Laura: Is that not right?

Ron: Stem cells could be found in most tissues, so they are found in the bone marrow.

Ron: And it is one of the examples we talked about, but they are found basically all over your body.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: You can have half a point for that.

Laura: Are those Mary's key just squeaking?

Ron: Yeah.

Ron: Let me let her in so she can hang out.

Laura: Yucky.

Laura: Is Ron's cat.

Laura: She loud.

Laura: Hi, noisy puss.

Laura: Hey.

Laura: Nyockie.

Ron: Yes.

Ron: For anyone that didn't know, Knockie was my cat.

Ron: That would have sounded a lot like if you just asked about some whistling pasta.

Laura: You know, you're squeaking potato dumplings.

Ron: Okay, the next one.

Ron: Are the cells in the Mary stem totally potent or unipotent?

Laura: Now, I think the merry stem is that little knob on a plant, and they are toti potent.

Ron: They are total potent.

Laura: I've been thinking about this all week, Ron, because when the builders were here fixing my back garden, one of my roses got broken, right?

Laura: And some of it came off like a stick, but it had quite a lot of root ball attached to it.

Laura: So I thought I might plant this and just, I don't know, let's have a look.

Laura: And then for ages, it just looked like a dead stick, but it did have some little nubs on it.

Laura: And now it's all flowering and branching off those nubs like it was still alive.

Laura: And I've been thinking about how they had the whole of a rose bush just in those tiny knobs.

Laura: Total potent.

Ron: Totipotent.

Ron: Okay, and then last question for two points is actually only five points.

Ron: I miscounted because you started talking about the accounting reasons that we mentioned last time in the syllabus.

Ron: Why is cloning of interest for plants?

Laura: Bananas, plant disease.

Laura: You can, like, replicate them to help with lights and diseases.

Ron: How many?

Laura: How?

Laura: I don't know.

Ron: More fuel for the fire?

Laura: What do you mean?

Ron: What, so there's a plague affecting the plants?

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: How does cloning the plants help?

Laura: Like, when they've all died, you just clone them from a bit of banal you found stuck in your teeth.

Ron: Okay.

Ron: Actually, I'll give you that.

Ron: One of the uses is to bring back, like, rare plants or extinct plants.

Laura: Yes.

Laura: Cool.

Laura: Well, then me and another reason for closing a plant might be let's say you've got a really good plant that wins loads of awards and you just want more of them.

Ron: Yeah, two points.

Laura: What?

Ron: The other one is a plant has a desirable trait, so then you clone it and then you have more of that plan.

Laura: Oh, my God.

Laura: Yes.

Laura: Sometimes science just is saying the stupidest thing that pops into your head.

Laura: Brilliant.

Laura: Well done, me.

Ron: Well, that's what selective breeding is.

Ron: That's how we have most of the plants and animals that we use.

Laura: By cloning.

Laura: I thought it was by just making and bang other good plants.

Ron: Well, yeah.

Ron: Well, no, with plants, though, like, if you take a cutting or something, that's cloning.

Laura: Yeah, but like, s*** cloning, isn't it?

Ron: Old school cloning?

Ron: Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Laura: True, that's true.

Laura: Well, was that four and a half out of five?

Laura: Is that my best score on a quiz yet?

Laura: I think it might be, yes.

Ron: It was a generous four and a half out of five.

Laura: P*** off.

Laura: I did really well there.

Laura: Well done, Me.

Laura: Cool.

Laura: Four and a half out of five.

Laura: Ron, I think I was right to be pleased with myself there.

Ron: Yes, you did very well.

Laura: Oh, come on, sound happy for me.

Ron: I wasn't paying attention when you started recording.

Laura: Well, I was garbage in the intro.

Laura: We were both brilliant throughout the show and now you are garbage in the outro.

Laura: I like it.

Ron: Yeah, well, biology remains, I think, your strongest subject.

Ron: It would be interesting to see the scores collated by subject to see how that's done.

Laura: Yeah.

Laura: If anybody wants to be in charge of keeping note of the scores, and we can add your scores in if you want to play along, let us know what scores you've had.

Laura: Should we start a discord?

Laura: Would a discord be welcomed?

Laura: Let us know if you'd like a.

Ron: Discord audience scores and then compare to.

Laura: Yours audience versus Laura.

Laura: So, yeah, let us know that.

Laura: We're also welcoming Dolly the Sheep facts this week.

Laura: So please let us know if you've got any cool facts about cloning and what is wrong on about concerning North Korean rulers.

Laura: Maybe you could clarify that for all of it.

Ron: Definitely a thing.

Ron: There is a thing.

Laura: I really loved it when you said there's nothing on the internet that says it's not true.

Laura: Like, there's one website that's just like, here are all the rumours that aren't true.

Laura: So if you know, maybe you are part of the North Korean royal family.

Laura: Hey, reach out.

Laura: Sign off in the comments.

Ron: Are all of your dead relatives actually alive?

Laura: The complete guide that we mentioned in this episode is the podcast The Complete Guide To Everything, which is our favourite podcast.

Laura: So give it a listen.

Laura: We love it so much.

Laura: And if you like this, there's no way you won't like that because it's brilliant.

Laura: It's not much better.

Laura: Ron, don't.

Laura: Down, dog.

Ron: Stay down again.

Ron: Vietnam flashback.

Laura: Stoppage.

Laura: Stop it.

Laura: You're on.

Laura: Stoppage don't down.

Laura: I hate that episode so much.

Laura: Listen back to that one now.

Laura: I'm like, oh, Tom said to the other day, he was like, how much do you put it on?

Laura: You're not stupid.

Laura: And I'm like, I don't want to have this conversation with you.

Laura: Go away.

Laura: It's such a combination of not being able to concentrate, not caring and not understanding.

Laura: It horrible.

Laura: So there we go.

Laura: Thank you so much for coming back and listening again.

Laura: Ron, should we sing The Mackey as a baby song as an exit?

Ron: Right.

Ron: I love making this podcast, but to be honest, though, I've got very little skin in the game, whereas I think singing song to the public legitimately end your career because the men in white coats will be sent to your house.

Ron: It's mental.

Laura: Okay, we won't sing The Mackey as a baby song, then.

Ron: It's also one of the most horrific earworms you'll ever know in your life.

Ron: Once you start seeing it, you can't stop.

Ron: Every now and again, Judith and I would just be sat on the sofa and one of us will go, oh, no, I started singing the song in my head.

Ron: And then we have to not talk to each other for a while.

Ron: Let it spread.

Ron: That's 100% true.

Laura: Okay, so, no, Maggie is a baby song, but please do take a moment to give us a rating on Spotify Apple podcast.

Laura: It really makes a difference to how many people we can reach and we're very grateful for all your love.

Laura: Every time you share the episodes, we're really watching the numbers grow this end, which is so fantastic.

Laura: And that is down to you guys, like, sharing and engaging with us when we talk and spread videos and stuff.

Laura: So, thank you.

Ron: Had some people make us some stuff.

Ron: If more people want to make us stuff, we're not going to say no.

Ron: That gets the word out just as well.

Laura: Oh, Ron likes toys.

Ron: I like tribute.

Laura: Amazing.

Laura: Well, we love you very much and we will see you next week when we are back to chemistry again.

Ron: Goodbye.

Laura: No.

Laura: Ron, why are you backing out on having a catchphrase?

Ron: I bailed on the catchphrase in, like, episode number three.

Laura: The catchphrase has been in every episode.

Ron: Class dismissed.

Laura: No, do it in your class of Smith Voice de Smith.

Laura: You can't start a catch raise and then get shy about having a cat.

Ron: And I will.

Laura: Especially not when you're asking for tribute.

Ron: Tribute.

Ron: Let's catch this.

Laura: I'll clip it out of previous episodes where you've done it properly.

Ron: Club dismissed.