DNA Explained: How Genetics Shape Who You Are (and Why It Matters)

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DNA isn’t magic—but it is one of the most powerful instruction systems in the universe.

In this deep-dive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole break down genetics, DNA, and inheritance in a way that actually makes sense—no lab coat required. From the tiny molecular code inside your cells to the ethical questions surrounding modern gene editing, this episode connects the science to real life.

🧬 What DNA actually is (and what it doesn’t do)
🧠 The difference between DNA, genes, RNA, and proteins
🧬 How traits are inherited—and why genetics isn’t destiny
🧪 How modern genetics is used in medicine, conservation, and forensics
✂️ What CRISPR can do—and why ethics matter more than ever

Along the way, we untangle common myths, explain why humans are more just as similar as we are complex and explore how environment, stress, and experience interact with your DNA.

🎧 Whether you’re a science nerd, a biology student, or someone who just wants to understand how their body works, this episode gives you the basic tools to think critically about genetics—and why it matters far beyond the classroom.

Transcript

Katy: We have a long episode today.

Laura: Hooray.

Katy: Yay. And this one is one of the ones where we're gonna do a deep dive into science, but not, not, we're not gonna bore you, I promise. But it's, we're talking about genetics and how they show traits that, and how they're passed down and why understanding our DNA helps us make sense of who we are and kind of helps the world be a little bit of a better place, at least for cool

Laura: Yeah. Yeah. We're going from the teeny tiny parts of you, but like going meta then with like, yes.

Katy: yes. Right, right. I don't have nature news.

Laura: I don't have a lot of details, but I'm, I'm excited to learn more about this black fungus that's like growing in Chernobyl. Have you

Katy: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I did hear about that.

Laura: Creepy,

Katy: Yeah. Well, I guess my only nature news that I have is what I was dealing with right before I jumped on this podcast for Laura.

Laura: the purple finch fiasco.

Katy: yeah, my purple. My purple Finch drama, and I'm gonna have to probably fight eBird Police [00:01:00] on this one. Purple Finch is typically aren't found in North

Laura: But she saw one, so now she's gotta, you know, hold the

Katy: and it's, yeah.

Laura: what it is.

Katy: Now I have to fight for it. So, 'cause I know, 'cause it's rare and, but everything, even, and that's what I telling Laura, I was like, I even put it into eBird. As a similar bird, which is a pine CICan, and even Ebirds like photo id thing was like, Hmm, that's not a pine CICan. I think it's something else.

And it said Purple finch. But then you go to insert a purple finch and it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Those are rare around here. We're gonna need a lot more detail if you're gonna put that in. So I haven't had a rare one that I've reported yet. I've had. Yeah, I've had some, I've had an uncommon one, which is the last time I got caught out by the eBird Police, but I haven't had to input a rare one.

So this should be

Laura: had rare, but usually it's somebody else's already seen it and I didn't

Katy: yes, yes, yes,

Laura: or I didn't have a picture. And so it was like,

Katy: Yeah, I'm not gonna fight that battle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, [00:02:00] yeah. I have videos and so I took screenshots of it and I got a call. It's, the audio's a little fuzzy. It's not, 'cause it was way off in the distance whenever, Merlin picked it up, the call anyway. And then I got video of it and it was hanging out.

Like I did see a lot of pine siskins that day. But their beaks are so slender compared to a finch. A finch has a honking beak like.

Laura: eating beak. Yeah.

Katy: yeah. And so it's super thick, so it's definitely dis yeah, it's a thick beak, so you can definitely tell. But yeah, it's just a weird bird, so we'll see.

So, , I, yeah, I'm ready to fight, on this one. I've run it past several other people and they've said, and they've even reached out to other people who have said, yeah, definitely Purple finch. So

Laura: bird nerds. That's

Katy: bird nerds, unite.

Laura: Yeah. People are thinking like. They're either eye rolling or they're into this.

Katy: Right. Listen, and I, and again, I've said it in one of my videos that I did the birding, I respect what the eBird, and [00:03:00] that's just jokingly calling them the eBird Police. There are other people that are fact checking, right? Because this is, citizen science essentially.

And so they're going through and making sure that. What people are recording and what they're saying. These certain things are what they are. And I, so I can respect that. But then when you have visual audio evidence and you or somebody else has nearby seen it recently, and maybe they didn't get a picture of it or something, but, when you have a bunch of evidence and then they kick it back to you as ma, that can't be it.

It's like, do you have eyeballs? I know it's on the common, but. Like look at the evidence before you here. So. So yes, I respect 'em, but at the same time, gosh, is it a pain in the butt when they, when they kick it back? Because sometimes, and, I've had people bounce it back that are really nice and just great, and they're like, Hey, I don't think this is quite it.

Can you check into? And so they're super nice, but then other people are like, Hmm, I don't think that, and they're just like so rude about it. And I'm like, gosh, don't be that way. Like we're all on the same [00:04:00] team here. People. So anyway, all right, you ready to talk about some DNA?

Laura: Yes, please.

Katy: All right, well, I'm gonna do the, over a very high level overview of what DNA is.

Laura then is gonna talk about inheritance and genetics and how it's passed down and everything. Then we're gonna bounce back to me. I'm gonna talk about DNA today and kind of the different things we're doing with it, and then Laura's gonna wrap it up with just why all of this is important.

Laura: Yeah, so listen to the end. If I out, if you can't figure out why you should be listening, listen to the end.

Katy: yes. Gotta wait till the end to find out if it's worth it to listen and pay attention. Okay, so before then we go into inheritance and what genetics means for us. We need to, like I said, start with the foundation of what DNA actually is. And again, not in the textbooks way. If you guys have listened to any of our other deep dive episodes, we try to keep this interesting that you can walk away with, anybody can walk away with me like, Hey, I have a little bit of a better understanding.

Laura: And [00:05:00] we plus, like we figure you all have a baseline biology knowledge at this point because most of our listeners are out of 10th grade. So

Katy: Yes, yes. But how many? Yeah, but how many of you, how long ago was

Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So like this should ring some bells.

Katy: yes. Hopefully, hopefully. So we're gonna give you just enough to look under the hood because DNA, it isn't like magic, but it is really cool information. And so, DNA, this one, hopefully you guys will remember, it's.

It stands for diox. I can't talk today. Deoxy. Deoxy. I did this the other day. I did this the other day too, and I don't even remember what I was saying that , I'm like, am I having a stroke right now? Because my brain, I couldn't say it. It's not like a stutter. It's just like my brain can't form the word dioxide, rabbit nucleic acid.

That's gonna be close enough. 'cause I just have to [00:06:00] steamroll through it all right? So seriously though, recently there've been some things where my brain can't function, right? And I'm is everything okay? Because

Laura: are like, I might need a scan.

Katy: But that sounds really intense.

But all it really means is DNA is the instruction system that tells living cells how to function, build, repair, keep things, everything, running

Laura: is the blueprint for your entire being like it's, yeah.

Katy: Every living thing on Earth uses DNA in some form. Plants, animals, bacteria, Yumi. Same basic, basic symptom. So DNA is stored inside of our cells, specifically the nucleus.

That's the control center of the cell. All right? It doesn't just float around freely, it's carefully packaged, organized, and protected because cells really care about not messing that stuff up. Like it, it knows. And there is some. Of course there's always a freaking exception 'cause it's [00:07:00] science and there's a small exception with mitochondria, DNA, but we're not gonna go down that road, but just know. That most of your DNA lives in the nucleus doing its job quietly and constantly. Now, before we dive any more into what it actually is, I just wanted to give a quick pause because this part really never gets talked about correctly about who found it because more and more information has come out over the years.

So wanna clarify who did what when? , DNA wasn't discovered by Watson and Crick, like a lot of people were told growing up. The first person to actually discover DNA was a Swiss scientist named Friedrich Miser in 1869, which is crazy because that's decades before we really knew what DNA even did.

So miser was studying white blood cells taken from used surgical bandages, which is disgusting. And he noticed a strange substance in the cell's nucleus that wasn't protein and it wasn't fat. He [00:08:00] called it nucleon because it came from the nucleus. So at the time, no one thought much of it. Proteins were considered way more important, and DNA was.

Basically ignored for decades. 'cause you don't know what it is. You don't know what you don't know at this point. And so it wasn't until the mid, early-ish, 19 hundreds that the scientists realized like, oh, hey, this isn't just some goo and this, nucleus. This is something important. And so then, and only then do Watson and Crick enter the story 1953 when they describe the double helix structure of DNA. Who used all the critical data from Rosalyn Franklin, whose work made that discovery even possible. So Miser actually discovered DNA rosalyn Franklin revealed the structure, but then Watson and Crick described more of the model. She was Rosalyn Franklin was like, this is how it looks.

But Watson Andrick were really the ones to do the [00:09:00] deep dive of this is. Specifically what it is. So very different contributions, very different roles, all important one leading into the other. But Watson, Andrick kind of always get the credit for everything, not completely true.

So what does it look like? Like I just said, you've heard about the double helix. That part is real. , If you've seen Jurassic Park, that's the

Laura: say that. Yeah, yeah.

Katy: Dino, DNA, it's the little guy, and he's a double helix.

Laura: little twisted ladder.

Katy: Yeah, but Twisted Ladder, that's all. That's really all it is. And the size of the ladder are structural backbones and the rungs of 'em are made of chemical bases.

And there are only four of those bases, the A TCG, the Adine, thiamine, cytosine wanting and they pair up in very specific ways. A always pairs with T. So Adine always goes with thine, the cytosine is always with the guanine, and that's. That's it. That's the pairing rule is huge because that's what allows [00:10:00] DNA to be copied accurately and cells duplicate DNA constantly and they do it with surprisingly very few mistakes for how often it's done.

It's impressive how well they

Laura: Well, right. And that there's no brain.

Katy: Yes. Yeah. Yeah,

Laura: this is all autopilot.

Katy: Correct. Yeah. Because your brain is in your own head. That's all made up of this stuff too, but it, yeah, so it's not like creatures in there doing, yeah. It's all, like you said,

Laura: autopilot. Yeah.

Katy: Yeah. Which is nuts. Yep. So DNA versus genes, because this is a very important clarification, and this can get confusing quick, but then also kinda leads into what Laura talks about.

Okay, so think of it this way, DNA is the entire instruction manual. Genes are the specific instructions inside the manual. So not all DNA or genes. Genes are part of DNA that contain instructions for [00:11:00] making the proteins. And proteins are where basically the real action happens because proteins build structures, move molecules, send signals, and basically keep your cells from falling

Laura: Yeah, like the DNA's, the blueprint, but the protein is what is being built and what it all mean.

Katy: Yes. So yeah, DNA, it stores the information, the book of it. Genes are the specific step-by-step instructions. Proteins do the work. That's how it's laid out. And so then how does DNA get used? Again, very, very high level here. In its simplest form 'cause I'm trying to connect the dots to then what Laura's gonna talk about inheritance.

So you guys kind of always see how this is, so you have your DNA, then you have RNA and you have protein. DNA really doesn't do anything, you know it. It

Laura: the manual.

Katy: yeah, exactly. It doesn't swing the hammer to make anything or flip a switch. It, like Laura said, it's the manual. It stores the instructions on what to do.[00:12:00] 

Those instructions are then copied into RNA, which is basically like a working version of a recipe or a working version of the instructions and something the cell. Say again?

Laura: like a snippet of it.

Katy: Well, yes and no. It's like a more of a tangible, I guess, as you could say. So if like you're looking at like a book is your.

Your instruction manual. RNA is something that's a little bit more tangible.

Laura: or like you've ripped out a page of it to use.

Katy: . Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you use, yeah, if you ripped it out page, you use it. So RNA gets read by the cells, protein making machinery, and that's where the proteins then come in. So here's the key part. Proteins are the builders, workers, machines of the body. They build structures like muscle fiber, skin, hair, bone, act as enzymes that speed up chemical reactions, send signals between cells, turn genes on and off, help cells move, divide, and repair themselves.

All kinds of stuff. So when we [00:13:00] say DNA builds an organism, what that really just means is they, it, DNA provides the instructions, but proteins actually carry out the work.

Laura: the building. Yeah.

Katy: Yeah, the actual building of it. So different instructions lead to different proteins, right? So different proteins lead to different structures, behaviors, functions, and you don't need to memorize all of that.

If you just remember. DNA stores the information, RNA carries the message. And then proteins are the ones that actually make things happen, and that's how

Laura: made things happen and they're what is being built at the

Katy: yes. Yes. Yeah. At the same time. Which again, that's just craziness. So. Why small differences matter? Well, we're not gonna get completely into it yet, but Laura is gonna talk about that in a second because most human DNA is incredibly similar, over 99%. Same across all humans. But there are tiny differences. Like we said, [00:14:00] there are some times where there are hiccups in that duplication process because it's constantly duplicating constantly.

Anytime a cell dies, anything that it's constantly being remade, redone, constantly going through and constantly being read. And so there are some things that kind of hiccup. , But for the most part it does. It does what it needs to do all the time, consistently and constantly, even as you're sitting here,

Laura: Yeah. Crazy to

Katy: so, yeah.

Yeah. Laura, that's it. That's overall,

Laura: man. It we're covering like an entire college course in, in 45 minutes. That was a really good synopsis.

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: Huh? Look up some models. Okay. So now that we, the instruction manuals that Katy was talking about, the DNA, then this has to translate into something. So inheritance of genes and traits was my favorite part of genetics class 'cause Katy and I both had to take that for our major.

It's kind of cracking the code of why things are the way they [00:15:00] are a

Katy: This is the class that I also took with my now sister-in-law, and I never had time to eat lunch in between from one class to another. So she was a real pile and always brought me lunch. But my lunches, it started out really small, like a snack, and then it just, he kept bringing me like more and more food to what the point I would.

Laura: you said behind me.

Katy: Yeah, I did. I did. I sat right behind you.

That was one of my , core memories.

' Because, it started as she brought me some pierogis and then , it just kept expanding from there. So Laura's learning.

Laura: where I was told I'd have to stop raising my hand and let other people take a chance to answer a question.

Katy: To be fair, it was like a one O, it was like a one o'clock class. I'm back there eating. Everyone's tired. Yeah, half asleep 'cause it's genetics. And Laura.

Laura: trying to throw the guy a freaking bone because nobody else is raising their hand.

Katy: to be fair, he was a the notoriously tough professor, and then we were all, everybody in there was either zoo, bio, pre-med, kids, biology, and so this was like one of those classes where we all [00:16:00] came together. But it was cool. But it was

Laura: was hard. It was a hard class. So Katy went over what DNA basics, including what genes are, and like she said, these are the things that make us, us . All those little ladders, all the double helixes, they're squiggled up and bundled up together into little units called chromosomes, which I'm sure you've all heard of before.

All living things have chromosomes containing their DNA, but how many and what shapes they are can be very different depending on the organism. Like we don't all have the same amount and they certainly don't even look the same. So some organisms have one set. Some have pairs, which is what we do, and some even have three copies.

, Inheritance is when the chromosomes containing all the genes are passed down from parent to offspring. So, quick note, , that inheritance of genes usually depends on if we're talking about sexual or asexual reproduction. So I wanted to hit on that real quick. Because inheritance happens with both, but it happens very differently depending on how [00:17:00] these.

Things are getting mixed up or if they even do get mixed up. So again, this is passing chromosomes from parent to offspring. So first asexual reproduction. It's the simplest version in

Katy: It would be so much easier for humans if we could do this too.

Laura: yeah, this is, uh, this is the, I don't need no man scenario.

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: this as there is no second organism mixing in their genes.

So it's just apparent organism creating clones of themselves. Creating nothing but clones is a risky gambit though, because that means that in theory, there is no variety among those organisms, making them incredibly vulnerable to issues like disease, environmental impacts, things like that. If it's all the same, then that's it.

Katy: One's messed up,

Laura: once we lose one of our bananas, bananas are done. 'cause all bananas are clones at this

Katy: Yes.

Laura: Totally different tangent. Thankfully nature mixes things up a bit with natural mutations that occur within the DNA, even if it's a clone. So even if it's a clone, still n might not be [00:18:00] exactly the same because mutations can occur.

So that's when the DNA is being read and that RNA or the RNA is being read. Something happens a mutation means that basically a hiccup like Katy had said, a hiccup is a mutation, could be bad, could be good. It's just something different. So sure that sponge is supposed to have the exact same genes as its mom, but the process of splitting coding and creating the DNA is a tricky process and lots of stuff can go wrong.

So little mistakes can happen, create slight variations, making the little clone not an exact replica. And sponges are asexual producer, so that's why I said a sponge. , Alright. Now more complicated sexual reproduction. And I'm not about to explain the birds and the bees to you all, but I am going to explain how inheritance works when you add another organism to the mix.

Katy: We've talked about sex in several other episodes, so if you just

Laura: Go refer to that, although we've never talked about the actual deed, but

Katy: yeah, we've talked about some really funny, no [00:19:00] pun intended, but we've beat around the bush quite a bit, so.

Laura: My,

Katy: I mean.

Laura: I like that euphemism. Alright, so, sexual reproduction is a process that combines the genetic material of two parents. Each parent adds something to the newly created organism. So this creates the most variety of traits compared to asexual organisms and can expedite a, expedite adaptation. So it makes 'em happen faster, survival, and ultimately evolution.

So when we're only scratching the surface today, so I'm gonna talk about this mostly in terms of humans from here on out, because again, like nature gets crazy. Yeah.

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: So when a male and a female reproduce with humans. They each send out one set of chromosomes that combine when an egg is fertilized. Okay?

So we have pairs, meaning we get two of most genes. The exception to this is the pair of sex chromosomes. And so if you are female, you [00:20:00] have two of each gene still. And again guys, this is crazy surface level because there are exceptions to this. , If you are female, typically, I should say you have two of each gene.

Still because you have an XX chromosome. If you are a male, typically you have one set of a certain gene on the X and one set on the Y. Why does any of this matter? Because having two of each gene is a huge help because if one is defective, it might not cause that big of an issue because it can still be coded on the other chromosome.

It's basically your ba you've got backups, which is so cool. Your body's like, Hmm, this one's junk. Let's use the other one.

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: so mistakes don't happen. They could happen a lot more if we didn't have doubles.

, So adding to this double gene situation is that even though you have a pair of these genes, they may actually be different versions.

So yes, you could code for them, but they still might be coded a little different. . Easy way to, to talk about this is blood type. So you have a specific gene group. It's group two. The thing about genes is [00:21:00] sometimes it's like , a group of these, a group of things to present a trait. We'll

Katy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Laura: have a specific gene group that codes for a protein on your blood cells on chromosome number nine on one set of this chromosome. Your gene might code for a as. That is what your mom had in hers. 'cause remember you're getting one from mom and one from dad.

Katy: Yep.

Laura: So let's say your mom gave you an A on chromosome nine.

On your other chromosome nine, your dad might have given you a B, and so you are actually going to have a b blood type.

Katy: Whip out the pundit squares

Laura: yeah. Yeah. So like you can, sometimes the genes are exactly the same on each chromosome. Sometimes they're slightly different. These gene variations are called alleles.

Another little buzzword. So we get a variety of genes for both of our parents that mix it together to create us as unique individuals. The possibilities of this recombination are mindbogglingly huge. Though we can sometimes make predictions about traits, which is my favorite part of [00:22:00] genetics, like I said, kind of like cracking the code of what to expect.

There are a few traits that show up because of just one gene. This simplifies things and can allow us to track these traits through generations. This is actually how the entire principles of inheritance was discovered by Gregor Mendel back in 1866. So you were

Katy: peas

Laura: right, and you were talking about free.

Who was it when? When was the guy who discovered DNA?

Katy: free. Jake Miser, 1869 I think it was.

Laura: So this guy didn't even know that DNA existed. It wouldn't even be discovered, and then they didn't even know what it meant for a while. So in 1866, they didn't know DNA even existed.

Katy: Nope.

Laura: knew that something though caused us to inherent traits, and he could track those in his infamous pea plants.

Katy: Yep. All of the Ps.

Laura: it. He saw that his pea plants had predictable hereditary characteristics that could be seen, which he called phenotypes, which is

Katy: Wasn't he like a monk or

Laura: He was, he was totally a monk. Just had way too much time on his hands. I'm glad.

Katy: to be fair, [00:23:00] yeah.

Laura: So what can be, what could be seen was determined by the gene.

Which is a genotype. A phenotype is how it looks

Katy: So , yeah, because he wasn't exploring where Miser, he was microscopically looking at this stuff. Mendel was

Laura: is just looking at how it shows up, because they didn't actually know that there was anything inside.

Katy: Yeah, he was , very intentional about breeding his pee plants and the outcomes of , would it be a wrinkly

Laura: Yeah. Like

Katy: like a firm

Laura: together, right? Yeah. Will it be wrinkly? Will it be yellow? Will it be.

Katy: Yeah. And so this is where when I made, I just made the joke a couple minutes ago about saying punt squares. 'cause if you guys remember, it's whenever you make the box and then you try to do like, how, what are your likelihoods, your percentage likelihoods for the different traits.

And so he was looking at it, yes, from an external, okay, if I breed these two pea plants, what am I gonna get? Am I gonna get a dark green pea? Or is it gonna be more of a yellow pea? And so he was, he did all kinds of stuff to show , Hey guys, there's something going

Laura: Yeah. And because of that, [00:24:00] just with his pea plants, he came up with. The principles of inheritance. So here's what he came up with. One, the theory of her of heredity. He knew we somehow get two factors for each gene. So he knew that we were getting two, one from each parent. And then he also came up with the principle of segregation, which means during reproduction traits are separated into reproductive cells.

So me, whom, what makes me is being separated when I'm reproducing. Which makes sense 'cause I'm giving one. And the ma And then lastly, the principle of independent assortment, which is different traits are inherited independently and we know now that they're on different chromosomes and that's why.

But he just

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: like, it, it wasn't, it wasn't always together.

Katy: But just imagine guys like he figured this stuff out from pea plants.

Laura: Yeah, nothing with microscopes. There are exceptions to all of these because nature is just like that. And we know a lot more than we did in 1866. So take what he came up with. Yes, [00:25:00] it's a foundation, but there are exceptions

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: real quick, an example of these traits, things that can be coded for with one gene.

So that's how he came up with them. Pea plants are simple, okay? Most of us, what makes us, we cannot predict because it's multiple genes expressing themselves.

Katy: Yes. And then you have recessive and dominant genes and ,

Laura: but the one of them is rolling your tongue. That is a one gene

Katy: this one. Yeah.

Laura: is so crazy to think about. So like if, if, and it's dominant, which means if any of your ancestors can roll their tongue, that means they're passing that one down and everybody can roll their tongue.

Which is so cool. Sex linked genes, which means the genes that are on those X's and Y's are also easier to track because like I said, there's just one of each, at least in a male. So colorblind is more common with males because that is on their chromosomes. It gets, , we've got two Xs. So mistakes don't happen as much.

We don't end up being colorblind, but if you've only got one of each as a male, problems happen. How our traits [00:26:00] appear though, is typically not black and white because traits are influenced by multiple genes.

Katy: Yes, yes.

Laura: life is not that simple. So lots of potential outcomes, depending on combinations and mutations.

Example of this, eyes and eye color. That's at least two major genes and several minor genes. You cannot really reliably predict eye color. , You can try, but not really like there. I mean, it's, it's more

Katy: there's yeah, there's still like the likelihood if you're both your parents have brown eyes, the chances are you're gonna have brown eyes, however.

Laura: like divorce your spouse because they come out with a different colored eye,

Katy: Yeah. 'cause that's has, yep. That means nothing. Yep.

Laura: , And alleles, remember that I said, which was the variation between those

Katy: Mm-hmm.

Laura: They can also be dominant and recessive, which Katy talked about a seconds ago. Meaning that dominant genes can overpower recessive ones and it isn't coated and doesn't show up.

Okay? The only way that a [00:27:00] recessive one does show up is if you get a recessive one from each parent. . And then no dominant are present at all. They can actually also be co-dominant and act differently based on multiple factors. , And this can allow a gene to hide and you have no idea if you have it, since it isn't expressed in a way that we can see.

So good old punt squares can help us visually track certain things, but it is not foolproof.

Katy: And then that's not even environmental factors too that we're finding out is like how, how much that affects.

Laura: Mutations and things like

Katy: mutations. Yeah. And e and everything because again, the more we're finding out about, for instance, like chronic stress and what that does on your body,

Laura: And your DNA,

Katy: yes.

That's an outside pressure and it really alters you. And so what does that then do? It affects your kids in passing on their DNA down the road. And so it's not just my stress, but they're looking at now of what did my parents go through? Like how stressed were they? How did that alter Then they get passed down to me, so, yeah, so it's, it's, it's crazy [00:28:00] nowadays what we know about it.

Laura: Yeah, so I mean all this to say living things passed down genes to offspring and due to either mutations, recombination, or both, we can resemble our parents but are also always evolving and changing. So we're gonna look a little bit like 'em, but we're not gonna be close.

Katy: Yeah. Cool. Cool. Well then I'm gonna go right into kind of what we're doing with genetics today , and the different ways we're utilizing it, the way different ways we study it. 'cause thankfully we don't have to just rely on pea plants anymore. S So that's always good. All righty.

For most of human history, like we've been talking about, DNA was invisible. You figure this is 2025. It's only, it's been less than a hundred

Laura: Yeah. That's nuts to think.

Katy: Yeah, less than a hundred years that have we actually known, but oh my gosh. I just realized too. Do you imagine? Okay. Calling all science nerds, if our, if we're still around for 2053 or whatever it is, whatever year we [00:29:00] determine the a hundred year mark, we better go all out with some sweet DNA merch.

Anyway, that's gotta be a year to celebrate 'cause that's pretty cool. But anyway, yeah, less than a hundred years out of our whole existence have we actually known what DNA is and then when we knew it existed, we had no idea what the heck to do with it. And that's definitely has, definitely changed.

Modern genetics is really about tools, all about tools, how to read, how to compare, and sometimes how to edit. DNA and almost all of these tools, like I said, are incredibly new because even whenever it was discovered, there was a long time, we didn't know what to even do with it. We didn't have the right tools and technology to really do anything,

Laura: Yeah.

Katy: So when scientists talk about quote unquote reading DNA, what they're referring to is the sequencing, figuring out the exact order of a t, C and G along the DNA strand. And I'm sure you guys have heard of the human genome project. So the human genome contains about 3 billion base pairs, and for a long time that felt [00:30:00] impossibly large and it is still very large.

Until the HU Human Genome Project, which was completed in 2003, so not very long ago. And it was led by scientists like Francis Collins and Craig Venter. It took over a decade and billions of dollars to sequence the first human genome. And I remember when that was a huge announcement like we have Finally,

Laura: You know what makes a human a human? Yeah.

Katy: Yep. But today we can do it faster, cheaper, and with far, far, far more precision. So sequencing doesn't tell us what DNA means. It tells us what it says. So interpretation then comes much, much

Laura: Yeah. You'd have to do so much comparison between

Katy: Mm-hmm.

Laura: and, yeah.

Katy: So once DNA can be read, scientists can compare sequences. This allows researchers then to spot similarities and differences.

Identify genes and gene regions understand how certain genes function. [00:31:00] And one important thing to keep in mind is variation is very normal. It's literally how adaptations happen, , how we evolve, and most genetic differences between people. Really, truly don't do anything. Dramatic. They're just part of being human.

Laura: Sometimes mistakes that happen don't do anything to your body.

Katy: Right. Yeah. And so it ends up being, genetics truly is less about finding quote unquote perfect DNA, and more about understanding patterns. So one of the biggest, I would say, modern uses of genetics is of course in medicine. And we're not trying to. Predict the future in medicine as far as like where humans are going and things, but more so to, and make informed decisions.

'cause genetics testing today can help identify risk for certain diseases, understand how someone might respond to certain medications, which is called Pharma Pharmacogenetic Genomics. Yeah, pharmacogenetics. I don't [00:32:00] know. I'd never heard of that before.

Laura: neither.

Katy: It can also diagnose rare genetic conditions.

Now this doesn't mean genetics give certainty. It deals with probabilities, not guarantees.

Laura: I'm gonna talk a little bit about this, about why it all matters too.

Katy: Okay? Okay. Yeah, that's all I really say about it. So DNA can tell doctors what might happen, not what will happen. And then genetics outside of medicine, it's not just about humans, right? Because we use genetics for anything that's living. So in conservation biology, we study genetics to maintain genetic diversity of endangered species.

We use it in agriculture to supposed to be improve crop resilience and disease resistance. And now that's gotten a little out of hand nowadays. But, we also use it in microbiology to track disease outbreaks and antibiotic resistance. So we can kind of predict what's coming up, like when things are just becoming antibiotic resistant and how things are getting stronger and stronger.

We also use a [00:33:00] lot of genetics and forensics to identify individuals relationships and at crime scenes, whatever. So in all these cases, genetics is truly a tool for understanding biological information. So editing, DNA, I'm sure you guys have heard the term, crispr, C-R-I-S-P-R, and CRISPR was originally discovered as part of bacterial immune system, which is bacteria use it to recognize and cut up viral DNA, essentially.

Laura: that they cut up their own stuff. Yeah,

Katy: And so, scientist, Jennifer Dunna and Emi Carpenter. Hopefully I said that right. Help turn that natural system into a precise genetic editing tool. Winning them the Nobel Peace Prize in chemistry in 2020.

Laura: amazing. Terrifying or terrifying. Could be terrifying, but also so freaking cool.

Katy: Yeah. So cool. And so at its core, again, it's a natural pattern, a natural [00:34:00] ability. That, that they just mimicked to, then we can help control it. So it cuts DNA at very specific locations and it can also remove, replace, or insert sequences. So it's powerful and still being carefully studied and a highly regulated.

Laura: because can, I mean, can you imagine the ramification.

Katy: Yep.

Laura: the limit. We could insert anything we wanted to human beings. Do I wanna glow like a jellyfish? Yes, I do. Do I wanna have, you know what I mean? Like, like it could be things that are silly, but also like things that are crazy

Katy: Yes.

Laura: consent.

You know, do we make baby, like there's so much

Katy: Yep, yep. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just gonna say, I was like, this is where the ethics part comes in, because this is, ethics is huge, and that's why it's so harshly regulated. Because as much as, okay, we've talked about so many different times, right? We would not be where we are in science if the crazy and the [00:35:00] mad scientists did what they did before us to really learn. However,

Laura: If we can limit the mad

Katy: we, there's a lot

Laura: will be, yeah.

Katy: yeah, there's a lot of, yeah, there's a lot of oversight now so we can't quite slice and dice people. If they had something like this. Back in the early 18 hundreds, late 18, , they would literally be making all sorts of things.

Like, let's give this person, let's, let's make them glow. Let's have them do this. . We talked about, yeah, it was one of the early, I think it was the first. Mad scientist episode. We did way back in season one, and that's what we were talking about, how we studied a lot of the nervous systems, was because somebody put a electrocute, like a butt plug, electrified butt plug up, you know, to make a corpse stance and it's so, so, yeah.

So stuff like crispr, because it could be really good, but we can also do some really bad things with it. We have to make sure that it's a highly, highly regulated.

Laura: Oh yeah, I was just, , this just reminded because the CRISPR thing, we have, it's been so in the news lately because it, we're constantly finding new stuff to do with this. [00:36:00] 'cause I, I remember, there taking steps towards. Curing Lou Gehrig's disease and thing like, there's like diseases that they think they can eliminate,

Katy: Yep. Yep. Which, which again,

Laura: of like after the fact that you're born.

Yeah. Yeah. Just cut it out. Make me whole.

Katy: Yep. Which would be, yeah. Which is incredible strides. Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Katy: So what genetics can't do though, and this is important because genetics does not identify a single trait, like Laura said, for complex traits. So it isn't as easy as like Laura said, like we've identified, certain diseases where they're caused and where they're coming from.

But it's not as simple as, and it's not as cut and dry as literally cut and dry it. Like it's not that

Laura: yeah. What if you accidentally cut too much?

Katy: Yep. We can't,

Laura: the ram of

Katy: like I said, this.

Laura: out and you might never be born

Katy: Right. No. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Other things, like I said earlier, you can't override environment, developmental, or experiences that people have, like I said [00:37:00] the effect of stress and trauma and things like that, that have on your system and that has it on your DNA and your body.

That has ramifications. And so we can't control that, , either, because it, it is, it is what it is. So DNA again, can provide information, but biology as a whole kind of decides how that information ends up getting used. So now that we've covered what DNA is, how it gets used and how modern genetics allow science to do it more than is gonna wrap it up with how this information and why this is so important for us.

Laura: Yeah. So why does any of this genetic stuff matter? You should have been listening and we've been talking about it the whole time, but real quick, , besides just being fascinating, understanding genetics helps us understand ourselves. That's kinda what we were saying at the beginning. Once we understand certain things, we can understand maybe why we are the way we are.

So knowledge about inheritance can have some serious ramifications. It's cool to know what you got from your mom and dad, but sometimes it can literally be a matter of life and death. For example, [00:38:00] does one of your parents have a hereditary disease or has one popped up in your recent ancestry?

If so, is this disease caused by a recessive or predominantly. Knowing this information can help you prepare for your own potential health issues. And take precautions can also make help you make informed decisions about having children or not. Knowledge of our specific DNA can also uncover potential health issues and maybe the only way of knowing these things if someone's adopted like

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: that.

In that case, if you don't know your ancestry, you have to get your DNA read and find out that way, and it's literally the only way to know it.

Katy: Mm-hmm.

Laura: Can understand our ancestry through DNA and it helps some people reunite with family that they might not otherwise have found separated siblings adoption, feeling our connection to ancestors and distant relatives and paternity tests. That's a, that is our identity in many cases. But all knowledge is a double-edged sword as it always is. So some people might not want to know about potential [00:39:00] problems as this will cause a high amount of stress for something that may never happen.

Katy: Yeah.

Laura: For example, personally, the first time I got pregnant, , I was in my early thirties and the risks weren't as high and I was like, I don't wanna know.

I'm not doing it because regardless I'm having this baby and it will only cause me stress this time around because the risk factors were higher. And I asked the doctor, I was like, will knowing help them be more prepared for

Katy: yeah.

Laura: She was like, yes. I was like, okay, then let's do it. But just

Katy: Or like for my family, like we have a lot of breast cancer and pancreatic cancer in my family, like my dad passed at 50 years old from pancreatic cancer, which is really freaking young for pancreatic cancer. And so I had talked to like my brother and sister and I was thinking about getting the test.

'cause there are some tests you can do that look at your genetics and you can see if you're more likely. To be, to inherit that gene. My sister didn't wanna know it all my brother said to tell his wife and then she can decide whether she needs to tell him or not. I ended up not going through with it only because it was like [00:40:00] $1,800 'cause the insurance didn't cover all of it.

But also because that's, whenever talking to a genesis, I found out that the type of pancreatic cancer my dad has is not the genetic kind. It's pretty much environmental. And , so then I was like, oh, okay. . If I get. Breast cancer cut off the taws and that's it. But for me, , I would rather know where my sister's like, nope, don't wanna know.

My older brother's kind of on in the fence in the middle where he's like, I only wanna know if it's gonna be bad. And so tell his wife who's a physician assistant and then she'll determine when and if she should tell him kind of thing.

Laura: Right. And DNA tests can split families apart if it turns out you aren't blood related. Sometimes people wanna know, sometimes people don't wanna know. Sometimes,

Katy: because especially back in the day, with our parents, parents kind of generation, man ancestry.com, that unraveled some step-siblings galore like so.

Laura: And sometimes our highly sensitive information is compromised, and now tons of companies of who knows, who has information on our DNA, which has [00:41:00] happened, they've accidentally been hijacked or sell it.

Katy: just re they just recently had a hearing on all of that because 23 and me, I think was selling it, and even , the CEO could not answer the questions of them being like, okay, people agreed to you having their information. You can't sell your company.

Because then you're giving the informa and nobody consented to their information being given to somebody else. So

Laura: your DNA, it's like I can't imagine anything more private,

Katy: yeah. Right.

Laura: It's my genetic material. Genetic information is extremely powerful and has the potential for incredible good and incredible evil as we were just talking about. And again, that all comes down to ethics and what, your own ethical code beliefs in and things.

But we can save lives, potentially eliminate diseases, solve crimes, and so much more. But we can also use genetics for discrimination, which we have in the past, potentially create designer babies. Which is terrifying and rely too heavily on genetic information when making decisions [00:42:00] about certain things because Katy said, sometimes it's just this could happen, not it will happen.

So some people's lives can be destroyed from just the potential.

Katy: Yeah, a could.

Laura: So we just have to remember the knowledge. Is knowledge about , this is like a blanket for our entire podcast, right? Knowledge is just knowledge and we just have to make sure we advocate it for its use in a just and ethical way.

Yep.

Katy: Yep.

Laura: That's how I wanted to end it. Just remind, be ethical.

Katy: Yeah, and again, it's really cool stuff. And,

Laura: So cool.

Katy: and there's so much, like Laura was saying, like there's so much that comes up in the news recently. , There's just always stuff happening. I mean, this,

Laura: like though, recently we have made some crazy strides though. I keep seeing things in the news that is guess what? We think we're gonna cure this. Guess what? We've done something with this. And I'm like, wow. Like we're really hitting our stride with that kind of stuff.

Katy: Yeah. Thank, thankfully, thank, thankfully we are, and, yeah. And so we're making some really good progress in giving answers to people. , 

Laura: Yeah, just definitely critically. Think about it all too, like, 'cause that's what it really is too. It's amazing stuff. [00:43:00] But think about, think about it. Don't just read it at face value. Not for whether it's even true or not, what does this mean and where is this

Katy: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, exactly. All right guys. Well that is our DNA episode. Hopefully, I don't, I don't think that was too in the weeds. I have this angelic glow behind me that hopefully doesn't. That doesn't destroy in editing. right. Anyway. All right guys, so, go check us out on Patreon and support us there if you can.

It would help us to keep this podcast moving forward and until next week, we'll talk to you guys. Follow some social media and

Laura: Later.