4 Months Break Wasn't Enough

 4 Months Break Wasn't Enough

This is the first episode of Lex Education as an A level episode

Laura: Foreign. Hello and um, welcome to another episode of Lex Education. It's the comedy science podcast where comedian Laura Lex has officially passed her GCSE Lex education exams and is now trying to learn as and A level sub science from her non comedian science enthusiast. Ah, brother Ron.

Ron: I was thinking that was a very professional intro for the Patreon, but no, we're doing a proper lesson, Ron.

Laura: We're professional podcasters now and you've gubbed it. You didn't even say hello.

Ron: Hello, I'm Ron.

Laura: Ron. This is professional podcast.

Ron: Yeah, but I thought we were doing the Patron where we're not very professional.

Laura: It isn't the Patreon. No, this is, um, this is the very first as an A level episode.

Ron: Shit, it's not going great. I was late to the record because I just sat down at my desk and I saw this message from you saying you need to join the studio or whatever so that we can record. Then I had to go shower because last time we recorded a Patreon episode, someone said I looked like a grubby wizard. And I don't mind the wizard part of that, but I. I didn't want to be grubby again.

Laura: Yeah, I always forget that. The Patreon ones, we try and do them in video until the moment I sit down and look at my disgusting hair unwashed and my potatoey face and whatever oversized jumper I'm wearing. Anyway, enough about the Patreon episode. Although if you want to listen, join up, Ron.

Ron: It's the start A level new pastures green. And we start out on such a good foot.

Laura: Yes. And I feel like, like you and I personally, we're in a good place. We've just had a lovely weekend in Leicester together.

Ron: Yep. That was after we recorded this, though.

Laura: Yeah, it was, yeah. But just, you know, it's before we did this intro outro. So look, we're back to messy timelines, Ron.

Ron: Yeah, uh, it's nice to be back.

Laura: The Leicester episode, by the way, will be out on the 30th of May. For anybody that couldn't attend live and wants to listen to it, it will be out on the Patreon. Um. Uh, that is, in addition to the two extra Patreon episodes you get per month.

Laura: So what are we covering today then, Laura?

Ron: So what are we covering today then, Laura?

Laura: Well, today, Ron, we, we. Well, we start a little recap on the gcse. Um, and then the episode today, it's, um. Well, actually, first of all, we discuss the KitKats in my hotel. Um, but once we've done getting distracted with that it's all monomers, polymers and Luca.

Ron: Ron Luca. Yeah. That is a good episode.

Laura: Yeah. Should we not dilly dally? Should we just let people jump?

Ron: We'll let him crack on, shall we?

This is episode one of season two or 140 in Old Money

Laura: Yeah. So this is officially episode one of season two or 140 in Old Money. So. So I know we're professional podcasters, but a cup of tea is okay, isn't it?

Ron: I've got four different liquids with me.

Laura: So in this hotel room that we've recorded in before, weirdly, but not, you know, um, you know when you're in a hotel and they give you like, Borders biscuits or whatnot.

Ron: I've never had Borders, but yes, I'd remember if I'd had Borders.

Laura: Look at what I've got in this hotel room.

Ron: Two little Kit Kats.

Laura: Two Kit Kats.

Ron: But not a fawzy.

Laura: No, not a Fawzy. 2 like lunchbox kit kittens.

Ron: I think that was like a substitution in their grocery delivery.

Laura: Yeah, it feels like something's gone wrong. They can't. It's a travel lodge. They can't just be kicking out Kit Kats willy nilly.

Ron: Yeah, it has to be off brand.

Laura: Yeah. Um, Ron, a level.

Ron: A level.

It's been so long since we've done a lesson, Ron

Laura: Do you want to see the notebook? Which I'm assuming will be the first notebook because we're gonna be here a while.

Ron: We might be here a while.

Laura: Ta da.

Ron: Oh, is this that guy?

Laura: David Shrigley?

Ron: Yeah, I like David Shrigley's stuff.

Laura: I know it's not science, but I'm in Manchester and I had popped out to try and get my microphone m out of the car, which I'd locked in a car park. Anyway, it's been a big morning, Ron. And then I was like, I don't have my notebook and I didn't want to have a repeat of gcse where for I did not have my notebook for the first two sessions. And then there was, um, a great looking shop over the road. So I went in, I bought a notebook, I bought a present for Child of the podcast. I bought a cute new little two player game.

Ron: What did you get her?

Laura: Um, a little matching pairs game called Find My Butt. Uh, where you have the front of an animal and the back of an animal and you have to put them together.

Ron: That sounds like you guys.

Laura: Yeah, and it's also,

00:05:00

Laura: it's good development learning.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: Ron, how impressive was her writing the other day?

Ron: Yeah, real good.

Laura: She's two and she can write the word Tom.

Ron: Yeah, she's a smart cookie.

Laura: She is a bloody smart cookie. She's Not a Borders biscuit. She's a free off brand Kit Kat.

Ron: She's two Kit Kats.

Laura: She's two surprising KitKats. Um. Oh, God, I feel nervous. It's been so long since we did a lesson. Like, we haven't recorded a lesson since. What? Hang on. Well, when did they start going out? Oh, I don't know. I've hidden those lines on the.

Ron: I came to stay with you for a week, which is when we started the exams and we'd done like a bunch of revision apps and stuff before that. Yeah, I don't. I don't think we. We've recorded a lesson since I lived on Greville Road, which would have been like July.

Laura: The last episode that was a lesson went out on the 12th of August.

Ron: Is that a significant date?

Laura: No, but that's fucking teaser.

Ron: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura: So we did probably record at the beginning of August.

Ron: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think last one we recorded was, um, when I was living in Greville Road.

Laura: Yeah. Because then we did Frothy for Bean as an end of term.

Ron: That was main feed.

Laura: Yeah. Then we did.

Ron: My friend, sports correspondent Max, who I was living with at the time, he overheard us recording Frothy for Bean and he said he'd never been more relieved in his life because, um, like two days before that or whatever, he had walked past my room and I had the door open and I was just staring really intensely at an episode of Mr. Bean, not laughing at all. And he thought I was really losing.

Laura: Whoa. Yeah. Then we did group revision and then the exams began 2nd of September, so they went on for a full third of a year. Four months.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: Crikey crumbles.

Ron: It is Crikey crumbles. But didn't it feel four months? Didn't it feel six?

Laura: It's felt like nine years. It's felt like so long. And usually Tom and I talk about this a lot. I have a very. I think it's a superpower in a way. You know, some people are like, life speeds up as you get older. I don't have that all. Years 15 feel like a decade to me. Like anything that happened last January, I'm like, oh, uh, that feels 9,000 years ago. University might as well have been a film I watched once for how little I remember it, because of how long ago it feels. So.

Ron: No, I know exactly what you mean. Although I do feel as I get older, sometimes the days are quick. The years are still long, but the days are quick. Like, yesterday really got away from me. And suddenly it's like 4:00 and I'm like, ah, the light's going.

Laura: Did you just play plates all day?

Ron: No. What did I do yesterday?

Laura: You guys didn't even play night plates last night. I wanted to jump in the discord if you were.

Ron: Yeah, I mean, I messaged. Nobody wanted to play with me.

Laura: Stupid Meg.

Ron: This does not feel like professional podcasting

Yeah, I was thinking, you know, we're getting her back on for Two Crimes and a Lie too. Yeah, we. We should also, because the next, uh, Patreon episode we want to record is, um, Scotland. A geography episode on Scotland. We should get her in for that.

Ron: Why not? The people love Meg.

Laura: Yeah, she's great. Anyway, this does not feel like professional podcasting. A level lessons.

Ron: No. You know, nice warm start, um, to it. Um. God, it's hard to remember how you do this.

Laura: Yeah. I'm gonna open the notebook. Opening the notebook. I'm not gonna use that page. I'm gonna leave that page clean so that whatever happens today, I don't have to think about it every time I open the book.

Ron: So here's. Here's the thing, dear listener. Um, we were starting A level today. Um, you'd have heard us throw around the term as level, um, for a little while because, uh, how it. Well, at least how it worked when I was at college. Um, you did your as levels and then you did your A levels.

Laura: Sorry, Ron, carry on.

Ron: Not professional.

Laura: Um, my pen doesn't know that it's got to be professional.

Ron: Um, upon reading the syllabus and doing, um, some research, which, yeah, maybe I should have done before we announced anything, but I still did it before the episode, so that's still more professional than we've been in the past. Um, they're designed for co teaching now, so if you are doing an A level, not just an as level, you'll learn both at the same time, effectively. So that's what we're gonna do rather than splitting them out. Um, and then I guess just to say to our, ah, non

00:10:00

Ron: UK listeners, A levels are, uh, uh, what you do at college, which is kind of the two years before you go to university.

So we're starting on biology again. Four months break wasn't enough

So we're starting on biology again. Laura.

Laura: Yes. Biology Season 2, Episode 1, 140 and Old Money. I've already written it in my notebook, Ron.

Ron: And we're starting off very nice. Um, we're starting off in a very similar place to where we started biology last time. Electrons in true sort of style as how I think most of season two is going to go. No Electrons is chemistry, you fuck. Um, we're doing kind of the same thing, but smaller. Uh.

Laura: Ooh.

Ron: The syllabus starts like Ant Man. The syllabus starts with a very grand sentence of all life on earth shares a common chemistry.

Laura: All life on earth. She has a common chemistry.

Ron: Hm.

Laura: Well then don't get mad at me for bringing electrons into it when the fucking syllabus is rapping chemistry in early doors.

Ron: Well, we're going to be talking about biochemistry, which is actually what I studied at university, which is fun. Um, uh. How many different molecules, Laura? 3.1. Biological molecules.

Laura: 3.1. Why are we starting at 3.1?

Ron: Mhm.

Laura: This has got very Dr. Provine book energy.

Ron: 3.1.

Laura: Why are we starting at 3.1?

Ron: That was insane. Because two is specification at a glance and number one is introduction. Why choose AQA for AS and A level biology. Do you want to do episodes on these?

Laura: I don't know, Ron, but I'm just saying you gave me an awful lot of shit when I started Provine and a weird chapter, so I feel like I should.

Ron: Alright, okay, roll it back. Forget the biological molecules thing. Your pe, here's the thing about aqa, Laura. It's relevant in the classroom and the real world. Over a thousand teachers in developing these specifications to ensure that the subject content is relevant to real world experiences and interesting to teach and learn.

Laura: Great, thank you. I'm glad we covered that.

Ron: This is 1.1. We've got a long way to go. We've also presented it in a straightforward way. Do you want to do this?

Laura: No, I don't, Ron. I just was interested in what was happening. Sorry for showing an interest. It will end here.

Ron: Oh no. Four months break wasn't enough. Anywho.

What type of atoms form covalent bonds between each other

So Laura, biological molecules, how many can you name?

Laura: Um, a molecule is two different types of atom joined together. Could be the same type of atom.

Ron: Yes. By a specific type of bond.

Laura: A covalent bond.

Ron: Yes. Okay. Yeah, we should have started lower down the tree. What type of atoms form covalent bonds between each other?

Laura: A, um. Metal and a non metal. No, no. Two non metals.

Ron: Two non metals.

Laura: I'm just going to write this down. Just I'm m just going to put it.

Ron: This is two hugely important non metals.

Laura: Make a covalent bond. This is good for page one of a notebook. You know, mega covalent. It's funny, we were talking about deja vu before we started recording and you must get it so much during these records.

Ron: Um, yeah.

Laura: Two non metals make a covalent bond. This is a molecule.

Ron: Yes.

Laura: Okay. How so now back to your original question.

Ron: Wait, wait, wait. Let's, let's hang on. Let's, um, let's mellow there a bit while we're setting the stage.

Carbon can form four covalent bonds, meaning it's flexible

Um, what is the most important atom for life on Earth?

Laura: Carbon.

Ron: Carbon? Yeah. Why is that the case? Because.

Laura: Because of its four bonds, it's very flexible.

Ron: Carbon can form four. Write this down as well.

Laura: Carbon.

Ron: Carbon can form four covalent bonds, meaning that the. It can form complex molecules, varied molecules and large ones. Because you can essentially have.

Laura: Oh my God. Ron, did you hear the episode of Complete Guide the other day where Buckminster Fullerene came up?

Ron: No.

Laura: Tim said the words Buckminster Fuller and I was like my two worlds colliding.

Ron: Did, um, you message him?

Laura: No, I more have a messaging system with Tom. Um, carbon conform. So varied, complex.

Ron: Tom, the host of Complete Guide not and large.

Laura: Much like Tom. He's not complex.

Ron: And because it does four, so you have things like oxygen, which can do two. So you could have like an endless chain of oxygens in theory, if you wanted to. But because oxygen can only form two bonds, you then couldn't really have anything coming off that chain, um, because they would just connect to the one before and the one after. So carbon allows us to have, um, the, the complex biochemistry that we've got. Um, it's also very abundant, which helps. And it's. It's more stable than, um, you know, the larger molecules that are in the same group, like silicon, which can also form four bonds.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: All right, Laura, now how many different biochemical molecules can you name?

Laura: Carbon dioxide?

Ron: No.

Laura: Carbon oxide?

Ron: No.

Laura: Can you hear the wind?

Ron: Mm, mhm.

Laura: It's a wind episode. Not human wind either, because we're professional podcasters now.

Ron: Idiot wind. Blowing every time you open your mouth.

Laura: Um, that's a great.

Ron: You're an idiot, babe. It's a wonder that you don't forget to breathe. What a song.

Laura: Yeah, that's one of my favourite Dylan songs, actually.

Ron: Great album.

Laura: I think I'd like that played at my funeral. Please.

Ron: I can make that happen. Oh my God. People are gonna fight it, but I'll make it happen.

Laura: Ron, we're writing our wills next week. Um, do you want anything of mine?

Ron: Can I have your magic decks?

Laura: Yes.

Ron: Can, um, can I have the carpet from your bedroom?

Laura: It probably won't fit, but Would you like to move in and sleep in a bed with Tom and Mackie?

Ron: No. Um, trying to think. What do you want?

Laura: My knives?

Ron: Ooh, you know Tom's not gonna use it. I'LL take the most of the kitchen.

Laura: Okay. Yeah. I was gonna give my KitchenAid to Meg.

Ron: Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah. Knives, please.

Laura: You already have a Magimix, so Meg can have my Magimix.

Ron: Yeah, knives, please. And then I'll take the shelves from the cupboards.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: Do you want my little.

Ron: Maybe the fridgey Susan? Yeah, the fridgy Susan.

Laura: You wait till you come and stay in February and see my new kitchen drawers, too. Oh, Ron, you're gonna love them.

Ron: Can't wait.

Could you give me an example of a biological molecule? Um,

Laura: Okay, um, could you give me an example of a biological molecule? Um, it's just for 17 minutes in. Yeah.

Ron: Okay. Uh, how is information passed from one cell to another nerve cell? Uh, no, like between generations.

Laura: Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA. Just do a little smile, though. That says, well done, Laura.

Ron: Well done.

Laura: DNA. That's an organic molecule.

Ron: Yeah.

Laura: Oh, okay. Make a list. Organic molecules. What about cytoplasm?

Ron: Cytoplasm is full of organic molecules, although it's not a specific organic. Organic molecule itself.

Laura: Chloroplast. Chlorophyll. Chlorophyll.

Ron: Chlorophyll. Chlorophyll, Absolutely. That's not. That's an organic molecule. Uh, organic. Don't say organic. Say, uh, biological.

Laura: Okay. Oh, first crossing out in the notebook.

Ron: Because organic could just refer to the study of organic chemistry, which is kind of the study of just carbon.

Laura: Carbon chemistry.

Ron: Carbon chemistry, yeah. Which does include all of these molecules that we're talking about here, but also just includes, uh, hydrocarbons and alcohols and ketones and things like that.

Laura: Okay. Um.

Ron: What are the main effectors of things in cells?

Laura: Enzymes.

Ron: The doers. Yeah. What are do. Uh, what are enzymes?

Laura: They're proteins.

Ron: Proteins. There's one.

Laura: A, uh, protein is a molecule.

Ron: Yes.

Laura: Okay. Uh, like amylase.

Ron: Amylase. A, uh, fine protein. How can we tell from amylase's name that it's a protein?

Laura: Because of the A's on the ends.

Ron: Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

All life on Earth shares a common chemistry. This provides indirect evidence for evolution

Laura: Um, so you mentioned chlorophyll coming back to me now.

Ron: You mentioned chlorophyll.

Laura: Yes.

Ron: What is the product of chlorophyll?

Laura: Starch.

00:20:00

Laura: Glucose.

Ron: Glucose, absolutely. And starch. Both biological molecules. What type of molecule Are they.

Laura: Complex?

Ron: No, you wouldn't eat them on the Atkins diet.

Laura: Carbohydrates.

Ron: They're both carbohydrates. Exactly. And then the last one that, um, it wants us to guess on here, can you remember what the membrane. A cell membrane is made out of?

Laura: Made out of. I always just Pictured it like a. Like vellum, you know?

Ron: What's a vellum?

Laura: Um, it's like. It's like it was pre paper, I think, vellum. It was basically really thinly scraped animal skin that you could write on.

Ron: It's not like that at all.

Laura: No. Now I'm picturing, you know, bag of bones, dog that we looked after over Christmas. You know, how you could see through her legs?

Ron: It's not like that at all. Um, do you remember the words Fluid Mosaic?

Laura: I think we might have named an episode that.

Ron: No, I think you said it was an indie band name or something.

Laura: Okay. One for the book of Moron. Musical. Um, Fluid Mosaic. No, I can't remember what that refers to.

Ron: Okay, um, then, uh, so starch is one way for, um. Starch is how a lot of plants will store energy. You know, they'll build a big tuber in their roots, and then they'll put a lot of starch in it to store up all their energy. How might an animal.

Laura: A potato is a plant. Basement.

Ron: Yeah. Plant cellar. Yeah. How might animals, uh, store energy?

Laura: Fat.

Ron: What's the sciency word for fat?

Laura: Obese.

Ron: Lipid.

Laura: Lipid. Lipid. Liposuction.

Ron: C. Exactly.

Laura: Uh, okay, Fat is called lipid.

Ron: It says lipid in here.

Laura: Lipid.

Ron: So all life on Earth shares a common chemistry. This provides indirect evidence for evolution. Um, so I'm going to send you something on the WhatsApp web.

Laura: Are you trying to indoctrinate me wrong? Because I've told you before, I'm not sure how I feel about evolution as a theory.

Ron: Um, uh, no, it's part of the syllabus, so you just kind of have to.

Laura: Well, my parents will be writing a strongly worded letter of complaint. This impinges on my religion.

This is a tree of how biological molecules evolved from luca

I'm getting sent something. It's the first figure of a level. Figure, a figure, a level.

Ron: Figure, a level. We've got an episode title, people.

Laura: Ooh, Right. Okay, here's what I'm looking at here, guys. Um, and. And I'm going to really try to put this on the Instagram where we're looking at a sort of tree. At the bottom, it says luca, L, U, C, A. And then coming off that branch on the left in a purple colour. Uh, we've got lots of bacteria. We've got Aquifex, Thermatoga, bacterioids, Planktomyces. And I know what you're thinking, Laura. Is this the cast list for a Greek tragedy? It's not. It's something to do with science. Um, in the middle, in red, we've got archaea. They sort of come off the other branch that goes right. But they come off the branch early on. We're looking at Methanobacterium thermococcacella. Uh, then if you carry on that branch, it turns brown. And then we're looking at the Eukaryota. We're looking at Diplomonads, microsporidia, flagellates, Plants, fungi, animals, slime mould.

Ron: So what do you think this is, Laura?

Laura: This is a tree of how biological molecules evolved from luca, the first one.

Ron: No biological molecules, just life.

Laura: Oh, yeah. LUCA was the first human.

Ron: You see how it says animals and fungi and plants.

Laura: Yes.

Ron: Not molecules, are they?

Laura: Well, they're made of molecules.

Ron: They are made of molecules, but no. So this is, this is, um, this.

Laura: Is a. I've got a can of Dr. Pepper.

Ron: This is a depiction of what. Of what's called a phylogenetic tree or phylogeny, uh, or just the tree of life. LUCA stands for the last universal common ancestor.

Laura: Oh, yeah.

Ron: Um, all of the things feels like.

Laura: A Pixar film waiting to happen.

Ron: It wouldn't be super interesting because they.

Laura: Already have a film called luca. It's

00:25:00

Laura: really good.

Ron: So that's why it's reminding you of a Pixar film.

Laura: Maybe. But no. Don't you think the last universal common ancestor and his name's luca, and it's about this guy, like, seeing what he created.

Ron: Yeah, I guess if they wanted to do like one about sort of bacteria esque things.

Laura: Well, why wouldn't they, though? Because Pixar have got really depressed lately and been thinking about the meaning of life, like Inside out and Soul, all that kind of inverted, like, let's really examine ourselves. Elemental was basically a really cute, like, um, immigration story. You don't watch these films, Ron.

Ron: But I have seen Soul and Inside out, though.

Laura: Yeah. Oh, well done. Soul I didn't love, but Inside Out. Fantastic.

Ron: Well, we all know why you didn't like Soul. Um, so this is, uh, this is called the Tree of Life. This shows the differentiation points of different species. And, um, why I've sent this to you and included this in the lesson is because, uh, it wants us to understand why the different molecules that we're talking about is indirect evidence for evolution. Because what's fascinating about all of this, what's happening.

Laura: I was adding Tree of Life to the socials column on the, uh, spreadsheet.

Ron: Okay.

Laura: To remind myself, to show it to the listeners, one of us simply has to start promoting this podcast. Or it's utterly pointless. We could just stick the file in the discord at this point and, um, not bother uploading it.

Ron: Yeah, what's. What's interesting about all of these different things on here is that, ah, the different biological molecules that we've been talking about, they work all the same in all of these animals. Like, DNA functions exactly the same in every single one of these things. Luca, um, was an unbelievably long time ago.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Do you want to hazard a guess?

Laura: 60 billion years.

Ron: Well, that's older than the universe.

Laura: Okay, rein that back in a little bit then. Uh, 8 billion. How old's the universe?

Ron: 14 billion years.

Laura: Yeah. Okay. Um, 8 billion.

Ron: No, about 4 billion years ago.

Laura: Well, then I don't think we can say it was unbelievably long ago, because I believed you'd said 60 billion.

Can we do an in depth detention on dinosaurs? Yeah, I love dinosaurs

Ron: Well, Meg, uh, wants to know if.

Laura: You want to play plates.

Ron: I'll text her back when we're done.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: Fucking professional podcast I am.

Laura: I'm not playing plates, am I?

Ron: No, but you're checking your WhatsApp.

Laura: Uh, no, my watch buzzed and it comes up on my screen.

Ron: Right, we'll sort that out when we're recording.

Laura: But then I. I only opened WhatsApp to get your figure.

Ron: This is lesson one, Laura.

Laura: Uh, well, then put it in the chat on the Google Meet instead of in the WhatsApp then.

Ron: All right, I'll do that next time.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: No, so Luca was about 4 billion years ago.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: To give you an idea of the scale of that, obviously the dinosaurs died 70 million years ago.

Laura: Whoa. Okay.

Ron: Um.

Laura: Can we do an in depth detention on dinosaurs?

Ron: Yeah, I love dinosaurs.

Laura: But would you lead it?

Ron: I'd. It would be. I'd know so much more about it than you.

Laura: Exactly. So it's pointless me doing research.

Ron: We can. Well, it wouldn't be a detentron. It would just be a Dinos episode.

Laura: Yeah. Okay.

Ron: Yes.

Laura: Permission to put that on the spreadsheet?

Ron: Yes.

How did life start? What prompts something to try to be alive

All right, we'll pause, edit, break.

Laura: Maybe we should do it for your birthday this year.

Ron: It's a long way away.

Laura: Yeah, but, you know, we've got lots of episodes planned. I'm gonna put it in your birthday.

Ron: No.

Laura: Oh, okay.

Ron: No. Cuz you asked for this. I don't want to spunk my birthday.

Laura: I'll put it in extra credit, then.

Ron: Do it for your birthday.

Laura: Okay, but that's just as long away.

Ron: Yeah, but then it was your idea. I might want. I might want you to watch something tedious.

Laura: Yeah, I want you to watch more Real Housewives. Oh, my God. Somebody at a gig last night asked me what the last thing I watched that wasn't Real Housewives was. I was like, shut up and go away.

Ron: The 2012 Olympic closing ceremony, pretty much. Anyhow. Yeah, so the dinosaurs died 70 million years ago. Like humans have only been humans for about 200,000 years years. Like our last, last common

00:30:00

Ron: ancestor of all like monkeys and apes and stuff was about, I think like 7 million years ago. Like if you take like, uh, yeah, the thing that progenitored gorillas, um, Neanderthals, us, uh, but then also, um, tiny little monkeys and stuff, um, gibbons and stuff all going around the jungle. That was seven million years ago.

Laura: Wow.

Ron: LUCA was four point. Yeah, about four billion years ago.

Laura: And what would that have been then? Just like a single celled organism?

Ron: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100. Yeah. Um, probably we would look at it and see a bacteria.

Laura: Yeah. Okay.

Ron: Um.

Laura: It's such a shame that bacteria is like. Well, they get quite a negative rap from us, don't they? But they're cool. They're not bad guys.

Ron: They're the bad back then. Yeah, they are quite cool. And also like, if you. The thing about LUCA as well is like, that was 4 billion years ago. The, the difference between no life and essentially a bacteria cell is crazy. There must have been so much evolution before that point as well. Um, another.

Laura: So that's. That breaks my brain. A tiny weeny, itty bitty bit there. How is something evolving if it's not alive?

Ron: As in how did life start?

Laura: Bit of life. Do you know what I mean? Well, because even a bacteria, like you're saying, is crazy complex. That's like the first iPhone. Um, but what's the, what's the very first thing that stops? I don't even know what there is. Dust becoming a wiggling bit of dust.

Ron: What you can.

Laura: What prompts something to try to be alive or to suddenly be alive. Oh my God. I think I believe in God.

Ron: Uh, yeah, we don't know, um, exactly how it started. What you'd. What you'd need is enough energy this to happen. Um, you'd need high concentrations of the molecules that you need for it and then essentially to kickstart it. You just need something, um, you need a sort of polymerizing molecule that is self replicating and has kind of the propensity to change in these replications. Um, so almost kind of like, you know, we've talked about proteins and enzymes and how they have functions. Yeah, you'd need like a really simple version of that, that is replicating itself, basically.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: And as soon as you had one of those and it starts replicating itself, then all of those guys start replicating themselves. Then, um, as they're replicating themselves, there are slight permutations every time that they replicate themselves. Or because we're talking on the scale of molecules, every 1 in 10 billion, 1 of them slightly different, and maybe that one's more efficient. And then that one takes over, it starts, um, uh, replicating itself faster than the other ones. Then maybe they get bigger and, um, they get a bit of a sort of a, ah, lipid coating around them that's then protecting them from the environment. And then these ones are more stable, so then they're lasting longer. Um, and it just builds up like that.

Ron Gren says life pre LUCA might have functioned in vastly different ways

Laura: So pre life, what is there? Rock, water and rock, water and rock.

Ron: There's no soil?

Laura: No, there's no, there's no soil because soil is dust. There might be dust matter. Uh, so we're talking rock, dust, water.

Ron: There'd have been an atmosphere, but not as we know it. Yeah. And the thing about life pre LUCA is that there might have been things that looked like bacteria, but that functioned in vastly different ways that we can't really conceive right now. Because the point that I'm making here is that we've had 4 billion years of evolutionary development with our sort of operating system in everything.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Um, so it's almost like if, um, uh, you know, Apple just won the tech wars and then everyone had to use iPhones and Macs and stuff. And then in a thousand years someone went, did you know, actually before 2025 they were like Windows and stuff like that. And you couldn't really conceive what it was like to use that. It might be like, um, there could have been loads of different types of ways of doing things beforehand, but 4 billion years ago, the systems that we have won,

00:35:00

Ron: um, and yeah, everything is like that. And like to. Again, to give you like an idea of how long this is in biological terms, the last common ancestor between humans and mushrooms was only 1.5 billion years ago. So we're talking two, two and two thirds as long as that before. Like this, this one between bacteria and humans. This is so, so, so long, even on a biological scale. And they. Everything is so similar to the point. Do you remember when we were learning about DNA, um, do you remember the concept of a codon? How three letters in the DNA code translates to one amino acid in a protein? Yeah, that's called a codon. That's kind of. Yeah.

Laura: That was the London Live show, wasn't it?

Ron: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura: We did have a live show at the London Podcast Festival.

Ron: Yeah, I think we did cover it in the syllabus later on. Um, but, yeah, yeah, those, um, are the same in bacteria as humans.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: That's how consistent all of this shit is. Um, which is how we know that there was something that was the ancestor of both of us. Because even if two creatures came up with DNA as the same system, why would they possibly use the same translation code?

Laura: So here's the thing, Ron. So the way we define life then literally does just mean life as we know it. Like as in we define life by uses our system?

Ron: No, because if you think about. Again, in our first biology lesson of GCSE, think about Mrs. Gren, that doesn't talk about any of this stuff.

Laura: Right? Okay.

Ron: This is just life on Earth.

Laura: But then is there not an argument then that there could be life existing that we don't recognise as life because it uses an old system?

Ron: Um, possibly. And. But I think. Because we. I think. I think on an astrological scale, um, I think you. Astrology. No, astronomy. When you're talking about, like. I think you're right when it comes to people when they're looking for life on other planets.

Laura: Right?

Ron: And because they're often looking for things that are similar to Earth, um, and, you know, they're looking for loads of carbon and water and stuff like that. Um, there's nothing really. Like, things could operate crazy differently, um, in another place. Um, on Earth, Uh, I don't think we have that issue because we're not going around looking for DNA. We're looking for things moving and growing. And we'd see that. And then if we found something that was alive and didn't have any of this stuff, that would be insane.

Laura: Yeah. Okay.

Monomers and polymers are hugely important for life and biology

Ron: 3.1.1. Monomers and polymers.

Laura: Monominal.

Ron: So monomers and polymers are hugely important for life and biology, um, for kind of that reason that I was talking about when we were hypothesising about how life might have began. Um, because they allow the creation of larger structures that vary. Um, it allows. It allows us to, um. It allows us to build the biological molecules for specific jobs rather than having to just have loads of massive ones around, all from the same building blocks. It's the difference between, um. Like, biology could have worked in a way where it's more like everyone has to buy loads of action figures. But how it actually works is more like we've got big tubs Of Lego.

Laura: Yeah. Okay, that makes sense.

Ron: Um, so monomers and polymers. Laurette, DNA. Monomer or polymer?

Laura: Polymer.

Ron: And what's its monomer?

Laura: Protein.

Ron: No, think about the extended name that you gave me.

Laura: Acid.

Ron: With the word in front of it.

Laura: Nucleic acid.

Ron: Absolutely. So you've got DNA, which is the polymer. The monomer is nucleic acid. Can you remember the four bases?

Laura: G, T, A and C?

Ron: Absolutely. Can you remember what those stand for?

Laura: No, but come on, I got the letters.

Ron: Yeah, it was really good. Um, so we've got adenine, uh, guanine.

Laura: Oh, yeah.

00:40:00

Laura: Bat poop.

Ron: Yeah. Cytosine.

Laura: Yes.

Ron: Thymine and adenosine.

Laura: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ron: Adenosine. Also coming up as our friend ATP. Adenosine triphosphate. Oh, yeah, Same molecule, but, um, slightly different. Again, us reusing a common building part that we've got.

Laura: Yeah.

Can you remember what the building blocks of proteins are called

Ron: Um, what about proteins, Laura? Polymer or monomer?

Laura: Monomer. No, polymer.

Ron: They're a polymer.

Laura: Polymer. Wrong.

Ron: Can you remember what the monomers, the building blocks of proteins are called? You hear about them in, like, supplements and stuff as well. Also an acid.

Laura: Hyaluronic acid.

Ron: No. Isn't that what you put on your face?

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: No, it's amino acids.

Laura: Amino acids, yeah.

Ron: In humans there are 20 different amino M acids. They all have the same.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Were you about to say that alkaline?

Laura: I was. Then I caught myself writing the word acid down and stopped.

Ron: Um, amino acids all have kind of the same base or sort of backbone almost. Um, and then they have what's called an R group, which is where the variation comes in. And those R groups have certain properties that then, in the chain of the protein, then give the protein its structure and its function. Some of the R groups might be hydrophobic. So then they're going to repel water and want to live inside a lipid membrane or other ones might be ionised. And then that means that the enzyme can form bonds with things on the R group.

Laura: Okay, I just want to put on the record there that you characterised a thing then.

Ron: That it wants to. Yes, that's fine. Characterising. Okay. Anthropomorphizing. Not. Okay.

Laura: I think you're sailing very close to the wind.

Ron: Yeah. But also I'm trying to talk to you in ways that you. Um. Okay. Carbohydrates, Laura, can be monomers and polymers. We've already talked about this. Can you name a polymer carbohydrate and a monomer carbohydrate?

Laura: Well, I would guess then glucose, monomer, starch, polymer.

Ron: Absolutely right. Yeah. Um, so There are different carbohydrate polymers. There are also different carbohydrate monomers. So lactose is just a different sugar? Um, very. It's just a variation on glucose. And you have galactose and things like this. Um, and then, um, yeah, I think cellulose is a carbohydrate polymer as well. Um, things like this. Um, lipids don't, um. Lipids are slightly different. Um, uh. Oh, that's worth pointing out, actually. Um, so you have amino acids and nucleotides or nucleic acids for DNA and proteins. Monosaccharides, um, is what, um, you can call a single sugar, like a glucose or a polysaccharide would be the word for something like starch.

Laura: Okay. It's funny, saccharine has, like, become a common parlance word from this, like, sciency.

Ron: Chat, you know, it's because it all comes from Greek. Yeah, lots, um, of these, like, like you said there, when we talk about lipids. Liposuction. Yeah, it's all about, like, the Greek root words with the. These things.

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Um, and then the last thing that we need to know, um, we'll go into this a bit more in the next biology, I think, on monomers and polymers and whatnot. Um, but, um, there's two types of reactions that you have to know what they mean just kind of on instantly upon hearing it. Condensation and hydrolysis reactions. So a condensation reaction joins two molecules together with the formation of a covalent bond. And then what will happen is they will expel a water molecule. Um, and then a hydrolysis reaction is the breaking of them. Hydrolysis. It then needs a water molecule to move in. But, um, that's where we'll start the next episode. And we'll go through exactly why, um, the water molecules involved, why they're called that and whatnot, and why that's useful.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: We'Re back.

Laura: Oh, I loved it, Ron. Yeah. Good lesson, good lesson. All right. Thanks, Ron.

Ron: See you for the quiz.

We've got two questions that are just jibbidi bop

Laura: Oh, first quiz.

Ron: First quiz available.

Laura: I'm not gonna open the notebook, Ron. I'm gonna start with memories.

Ron: Good, good, good, good memories. So what we're going to do is we've got two questions that are just kind of jibbidi bop. Give me the answers from the episode that we've just done. And then we're going to do one that's gonna get you to apply your brain to.

Laura: No, let's not do that one.

Ron: No, we're gonna do that one. It's gonna be fun. Um, okay, right, so first question, first question of A level, Laura.

Name four categories of biological molecules for A level quiz

Um, first question of A level. Name four categories of biological molecules. Now you just, you just admitted that you've edited this episode. So you've done the lesson, you've listened back through the lesson.

Laura: When you say categories though.

Ron: Mhm.

Laura: What does that mean?

Ron: What are you fiddling with a piece of paper? Stop doing that.

Laura: What do you mean by categories, Ron?

Ron: Well, you're not going to get marked down for saying the wrong thing. So we can throw out. You can throw out some ideas and then I can say yes or no to them. And then once you get one right, you'll see the sort of thing I'm looking for. There are only four, so I can't really give you an example.

Laura: Okay. Protein.

Ron: Ding, ding, ding.

Laura: Nucleic acid.

Ron: Yes. Great. Two marks. Ding, ding.

Laura: Glucose.

Ron: Now what type of molecule is that?

Laura: A monomer.

Ron: Yep. Not what we're looking for here.

Laura: Carbohydrate.

Ron: That's the one. Three. Correct. Ding, ding, ding.

Laura: Uh, what else did we talk about? I remember talking about like amylase, glucose and starch. We talked about membranes.

Ron: Pull that thread.

Laura: Yeah. And we talked about mesophyll, chlorophyll. I think we talked about chlorophyll. Chlorophyll.

Ron: Chlorophyll is a molecule, but it's not one of the categories that we're looking for. Think about membranes more.

Laura: Yeah. Remember talking about membranes? Why did we talk about membranes?

Ron: Because we talked about what are membranes made of?

Laura: I, uh, don't know. I didn't know in the lesson either.

Ron: No, you didn't. And then in the lesson I said starch is a type of storage lipids. It is lipids. Yeah.

Laura: Yes.

Ron: Okay. We're gonna be kind at A level, so you're getting the full mark for that. I'm not even gonna be shitty about it.

Laura: Don't even want to write help by it.

Ron: No, I was tempted. I was thinking maybe I'll give you a half of that. But why? Who cares? Have a mark.

Laura: Yeah. Thanks, Ron.

Ron: No worries. That's four out of four for question number one, Laura.

Protein is the polymer. Enzymes are the monomer

Okay, question number two. I'm gonna give you the polymer. Huh? You're gonna give me the monomer.

Laura: Okay.

Ron: Number one. DNA.

Laura: Protein.

Ron: Nope.

Laura: Amino acid?

Ron: No.

Laura: Nucleic acid?

Ron: Yes. Or nucleotides. You are getting half a mark for that. Uh, because question number two. Proteins is the polymer.

Laura: Enzymes is the monomer.

Ron: Enzymes are a type of protein. Oh. Uh, amylase is an enzyme. A bigger protein is not going to be made up of lots of amylases.

Laura: Oh, uh.

Ron: Just think about it for a second. Don't just say things. First one of the season.

Laura: Yay. We're back, baby. Protein is.

Ron: Make sure you put in lots of. After that, please.

Laura: Protein is the polymer.

Ron: So.

Laura: So tissue.

Ron: Why. Why have you just said tissue?

Laura: I don't know. I don't know what a protein is made of. I want to look in my book so much.

Ron: No, look in your brain.

Laura: There's nothing in here.

Ron: Look in your tiny, smooth brain.

Laura: Just worry about my dog's teeth.

Ron: Um, should

00:50:00

Ron: we move on?

Laura: Yeah.

Ron: Amino acids.

Laura: God damn it.

Ron: You said that for the other one.

Laura: Yeah, yeah.

Ron: All right, Laura. And then final polymer, starch, glucose. Bam is correct.

Laura: Bam, bam. Back of the net.

Ron: One and a half out of three for that final question.

Okay, Laura, for the last one, I'm sending you a list of living creatures

Okay, Laura, for the last one, I'm going to send you a list of creatures, okay? Living things. You need to order them in. Most closely related to humans. To least closely related to humans.

Laura: I love it.

Ron: So that's coming over on WhatsApp. Feel free to.

Laura: Comment on the WhatsApp web.

Ron: Write them down.

Laura: I want a pencil to do this. Oh, I got a pencil sharpener. Can't find one. Okay. All right, then. No pencil for me. WhatsApp Web. Okay, got sea turtle, pine tree, Ikea, salmonella, chimp, shiitake, centipede, horse and tuna. Right. I'm gonna put a human at the bottom of my page. Oh, pen. Just work, you animal. I'll use a different one. Okay, I'm gonna put human down here. And Luca. Ah, she's learned a thing at the top. Last universal common ancestor.

Ron: Because it was already anthropomorphized, they just gave it a small boy's name. And you learned it. If amino acids were called jimmies, you'd remember it so quickly.

Laura: Yeah, we should have called them jimmies.

Ron: Uh, Jamino.

Laura: Oh, I've got this new thing called stage manager on my computer, and it's so annoying. I want it to be good and it's not. Right. There's my list. Okay, so instantly, I'm gonna put chimp closest to human. Surely. Surely, Ron. Then I've only got one other mammal in that list. Yes. So I'm gonna put horse behind chimp. Surely the mammals all went off one way. Okay. Up at the top, near the luca, I reckon I'm gonna put salmonella, because bacteria in it, I think, closest to luca. Okay, then I remember you saying something about mushrooms and humans only splitting off, like, 1.7 billion years ago. Surely we weren't mushrooms when the first trees were around, were we? I don't really understand how this works. I don't think we were mushrooms. We were the same thing as mushrooms. That could be true, though, because trees existed when dinosaurs did. We did not did mushrooms. Let's say no and put the pine tree in after Salmonella. Okay. I don't know what an archaea is, but it's sounds old, doesn't it? So, uh, I'm gonna put that between salmonella and Luca, because I don't know what it is. Let's put that there. Okay, now then, uh, I'm gonna put shiitake after the pine tree. Um, right. Then I'm left with centipede, tuna, and a sea turtle. Um, tuna feels really old.

Ron: So just to clarify the top of your list, you've got archaea, salmonella, pine tree, shiitake.

Laura: Yeah, now I'm putting tuna in and then a sea turtle and then a centipede next to the horse turns into a chimp, turns into a human. Bam. Um.

Ron: It was all going so well until, until, um.

00:55:00

Ron: So hang on, let me, let me just count up how many you got right there. So you got four out of nine in the right place. Yeah. Because, I mean, you got Archaea and Salmonella in, in the wrong order. That's fine. Archaea aren't something that, um, most people have heard of. And to be honest, um, it's almost a slight tricko by the historical science community because when they were discovered, they labelled them Archaea because there was a, um, an assumption for some reason that they were an ancient form of thing. But then it turns out we're actually more closely related to them than we are bacteria like Salmonella. So Salmonella first, then archaea. You got those two the wrong way around. That's absolutely fine. That's kind of what I was expecting then. Absolutely right. Pine tree, then. Absolutely right. Shiitake. We are more closely related to mushrooms then we are plants. That does not mean that plants were as developed as they are now. When mushrooms and animals diverged. It does not mean that there were trees. When mushrooms and animals diverged. That's really important. Just the different clades split.

Is centipede more closely related than turtles and tunas to humans

Laura: Okay.

Ron: Then the really baffling decision that you've made there. Is centipede more closely related than turtles and tunas to humans?

Laura: Well, why not?

Ron: Because it doesn't have internal organs. A skeleton.

Laura: Oh.

Ron: Uh, do you see how.

Laura: But fish don't have bones.

Ron: Some of them do.

Laura: But they're not bones made of bone like ours, are they?

Ron: Some of them are.

Laura: Are they?

Ron: Yeah. So sea turtles are reptiles, which, um, would have split from the same thing as. Last common ancestor with mammals would have been closer than the last common ancestor with fish and then invertebrates. And what we are, vertebrates would have split a long time before that.

Laura: Right. So it would have gone shiitake, centipede.

Ron: Sea turtle, tuna, tuna, sea turtle, horse chimp.

Laura: Yeah. Okay.

Ron: Do you get why.

Laura: So listen up though, Ron. Yeah, sure. I only got four out of nine, but really, I only got archaea and centipede in the wrong place.

Ron: Yep.

Laura: So kind of I got seven out of nine.

Ron: It's one way to look at it.

Laura: Certainly, because, yes, they're not in the correct positions, but they are in the correct order. Other than those two, I'll give you. Because I did get. Do you know what I mean?

Ron: I see your point.

Laura: So I'm not trying to claim the points. I'm not worried about the points here, but I'm saying that apart from ha and centipede, I did logic the others. All right.

Ron: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura: Because take those out. I got salmonella, pine tree, shiitake, tuna, sea turtle, horse, chimpanzee.

Ron: Sure, yeah, yeah. And I think I, uh, do like. I do think four out of nine is harsh there. Um, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you six out of nine and I'm going to say centipede, salmonella, and archaea are all wrong. The other ones are correct.

Laura: Well, I think you need to decide if you're marking on them being in the right position or the right order. Well, because I got two out of order, but five out of position.

Ron: No, because salmonella's out of order as well.

Laura: No. Okay, yeah, sure. Yeah. All right.

Ron: Yeah, we're compromising on six.

Laura: Okay. I'm fine with that. So are you proud of me even knowing which one the mammals were?

Ron: Yeah. And you didn't even dumb about it for very long at all. 11.5 out of 16.

Laura: Oh, I'm gonna make a note on the page what I got in the quiz.

Ron: I mean, that's kind of the point of the new spreadsheet I told you about, but sure.

Laura: Yeah. Well, one of us will forget at some point to do it, and then the other one will be a backup.

Ron: That's very fair. Well done. Um, Laura, first lesson back, and I think it was jovial and good.

Laura: Yeah. And I learned.

Ron: You did learn.

Laura: Okay, bye.

Ron: Bye.

Laura: Um, and with that, they were flying. Flying across the skies of a level.

Off to a great Start off to. One of the best starts anybody's ever been off to

Ron: Off to a

01:00:00

Ron: great Start off to.

Laura: One of the best starts anybody's ever been off to. Like, imagine your Usain Bolt breaking the hundred metre record. Bam. That's the sort of start we had. Bam.

Ron: Kabaloomas woopoo. Boing.

Laura: Do you know, I don't think we've had a start as good as this since Buoyancy Ron.

Ron: Buoyancy want me. Why do you bring it up?

Laura: Cause I love it.

Ron: You know, I'm not gonna react well.

Laura: Yeah. But I like it when you rub your eyeballs so hard it looks like they're gonna fall out of your head.

How do the listeners feel about a summer break, huh?

Um, so how does everybody feel about a summer break, huh? Huh?

Ron: I personally love it as an idea.

Laura: We know you do. It was your idea and I think you've mentioned it thrice since having the idea. But how do the listeners feel? Let us know. Chat, chat, chat away. Do you wanna. You can tell us on socials. Uh, Discord, where do you want to tell us? Tell us how you feel. Why are you rubbing the underside of your chin?

Ron: Look at this cleft in my beard. Yeah, crap beard.

Laura: It'll get better.

Ron: I thought that 10 years ago, and.

Laura: It'S definitely got better than 10 years ago. I have a photo of you, like five or six years ago on my windowsill, and you've got much more handsome.

Ron: That's definitely true. But I don't know how much of that is. The beard's better at growing or I'm better at trimming it because I used to leave it a lot longer and that was bad.

Laura: How do you know what any of it is?

Ron: What is life? Are you who you feel like inside or are you sort of what you do?

Laura: Somebody, uh, on Instagram this morning told me I looked like a young Demi Moore. So I am, um, that forever now I have abandoned all other concepts of myself and I'm just living a life where one person in the world thinks I look like a young Demi Moore. It's a great day to be Laura. Uh, it's a rare day with self esteem. Stop looking up pictures of Demi Moore to try and disagree with this one person on planet Earth that has ever seen a resemblance and told me.

Ron: I know. I'm looking up other Demis trying to see who they're thinking of. It's not Demi Lovato either.

Laura: Uh, Demi Fat Milk.

Ron: Oh, I see. I've been. I've been joked upon. That's actually just milk.

Laura: Yeah. Oh, did you just. Wow. You are not with it today. Okay.

Ron: You never know these days that could have that. Are you telling me that to me. Fat milk. M. It doesn't sound like a drag queen.

Laura: Um, yeah, sure. Maybe that should be your drag queen for when you finally give up on this horrendous beard.

We've got a special Patreon register, uh, today

Um, Ron, listen, we've got a special Patreon register, uh, today. Somebody that evolved from being a five star reviewer to a patron. So I wanted to best kind of person. If you can't afford to join Patreon, which we totally understand by the way, could you leave us a five star review instead? Thinking about it logically, that way we can sucker in new listeners, they will have money, and then this whole thing can function where the people without money don't have to, the people with money do, and we never have to flog you mattresses or therapy. Ah, uh, deal. So if you can't afford it, absolutely fine. Leave us a bangin.

Ron: A huge thank you to Iklamor Batat. Thank you for joining up. Iklamour is now the official Lex education probate officer in charge of making sure possessions go where they are meant to when Laura eventually dies of confusion or Ron spontaneously combusts in a moment of sheer fury at Laura's inability to retain information. As of now, lab rat wills are defunct and only last wills and testaments officially sanctioned by Akela Moore. Count.

Laura: Thank you, thank you. Thank you very, very much. Um, there we go, Ron.

Ron: Bam.

Laura: We're running again. We're running next week, chemistry.

Ron: And for the first time in a while, class dismiss.

Laura: Sa.

01:04:59