If you want to sleep tonight, skip this episode of StarTalk All-Stars. Bill Nye, Chuck Nice and virus expert Laurie Garrett examine how we’re fighting Zika, Dengue, West Nile, HIV and other viruses – and why the battle may not be going our way.
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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
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He started off die, but also the whole document all starting to find the best minds and friends of the show coming back, wriggle out of the rubble brought me back. Looking back, relaxed and wants to go to bite is no longer a meal. The grass traces of stored for five crack scientist ensigns educators me they start off. Reading croutons, I'm villain, I hosting star, talk special edition. This is the all stall addition star dark and this
Not only am I here, and not only is shark nice year, our beloved man about the universe and the planet bill, but Doktor
Laurie, Europe Senior, fellow,
or of global health at the council for foreign relations,
all, those think tank lines. There, relations on formulae,
not works? A whole have not met in council
on foreign relations, and you want a Pulitzer prize chasing Ebola virus is around back in the nineties s the ninety mighty CS. Thank you.
See, and now we have zika
And everybody loves to hate the government until it's time to get the centres for
These control agreed some magic or a magical scientific answer to a infestation right. Oh yeah been doing briefings for congressional staffers about Zika, because, of course, it's coming to the United States is just not hot enough. Yet
where the mosquitoes and its steadily moving up through the caribbean moving north we're gonna, hear of more cases
extra and then we will almost undoubtedly see Zika cases in the United States.
For food, its among which we are home, our home yummy as areas and the problem that is unique to the United States that
not shared by most of our southern Amigos is we do not have national Mosquito Control
we don't! Even in most states have state mosquito control room. He had
true, this is DDT. Ass, well known we're, not laddies, ddt anymore. That's been banned for Brazil, resign data that was sprayed on you on exactly how we got rid of a malaria and a United States, which is not a limped, did massive sprang. Actually, the CDC was originally created, just control, malaria, but the problem
Is that now its local, and so in the United States? We face the nimby pro
not in my back yard and we face every consumer
as he theory imaginable. Oh,
we're coming in, and my children wall have pointed heads because of your
All my needs will be autistic because of you or whatever.
And it's going to be,
I've warned members of Congress. It's going to be very, very difficult for us to control our mosquitoes in the United States, for political,
since, in the worst case scenario, is if it gets involved in the presidential election campaign in some way, then we can all do
is that all good bye and assume we're all gonna get Zika eyes? Why do so? Well?
saturating boy just a little there, because the mosquitoes are not in every state? The further north you go, the lower the mosquito population is because they can only tolerate a certain temperature range they like it as the world goes warmer. As the world gets hotter, we are seeing more mosquitoes in areas where they had not previously existed with. All that said, this is
cosmic Query edition of all Start STAR talk s Doktor lorry Gary set up
charming scenario that I hope gives us all. A pause and Chuck doctor
I see you're gonna, give us read us the first query from the cosmos. Yes, yes, I am, and you know it's amazing. We have questions from all over the internet and you'd be surprised how many people are really concerned about, Zita. So,
let's go to read fixture on Facebook who wants to know with Zeke as primary vector as the mosquito, what is the doubly, which owes current
and time mosquito approach. Besides long sleeves bug, spray and open like hell, the mosquito just doesn't bite me or have Zika yet
the World Health Organization and did also doctor. For me, the civilian. What is the relationship
between the World Health Organization, our centres for Disease Control,
and controlling mosquito populations. Were you just ass? The ten thousand dollar question
this is a very expensive show and they might have that in cash. Let's take the facebook part of the question. First, look: we can't control,
every single possible way that virus can be transmitted when its human to human transmission, it's very, very difficult without all the human behavior
to deal with here in a way we're lucky, it's a vector borne disease, meaning there is
hey between the humans, a vector borne disease on somebody to pass between the later belong to sneeze,
we do. We are now discovering that there are at least fourteen confirmed cases of sexual transmission of Zika there,
or at least through your men as human to human or mosquito, to human human, to human
This meeting, that was, is this kissing or something more? This is intergroup commitment in seamen and
your word. Finding more and more viruses have somehow adapted to see the humans.
Even because Ebola we were having this problem trying to
finally end the bull epidemic in West Africa. Some of the sort of resurrected cases seen long after it looked like the epidemic was over, have involves several times.
Commission from an individual who survived, and then many months later passes the virus sexually to a female partner
so he has any by our she. He has any bodies to this involves nine, not on the same appears to be true, was eager and, of course, we know its transfer
from mother to child in utero, and this is not a hundred per cent proven, but it is assumed at this point that that is how these babies are being born with the machine,
then heads and were now seeing a whole chain of other issues showing up and people have been exposed to Zika
the Amber a paralysis which can be anywhere
I'm a very minor sort of change.
The walk and gate the you're able to execute to total body paralysis that can last for months assist
brightening stuff terrifying. It is all the more reason to engage in safe sex well in autumn. We indeed so so what can you do? Besides not get there by mosquitos will tonight get bid by mosquitos or personal protective measures
and then their society protective measures. The personal overlaps with society, because, if a lot of,
people refuse to go along with the program. There imperil
everybody in their neighbourhood by providing
but I've got rides man. I got right dude and the second amendment says I carry a gun. If you come on my property, I'm gonna shoot a mosquito. While we had Chris Christie as a candidate for president before he pulled out of the campaigns
in one of the debate said he would use quarantine to control Zika and I thought well, if you can figure out how to quarantine mosquitoes more
our two you. Obviously he was China, quarantining human beings, which is ludicrous. It has nothing to do with transmission. What has to happen
everybody every single person who lives in a state where these mosquitoes flourish in the summer time,
needs to look around your property and say what do I have sitting outside that could hold water and therefore be a breeding site for these mosquitoes? What makes eighties Egypt, I especially tough as they can breed in something the size of a thimble? So if you have,
any kind of trash airdrop somebody in the household through you know, coffee cup outside
automobile no carbon, abandon the milk hardened
you guys Israel innocent or is it possible, dark to create a vaccine for this? A lot of work is going into it right now, but let's keep in mind, it is a very close cousin in terms of how the immune system sees it sees the Zeke virus to Dang gay and chicken
NEA and we don't have our vaccines for those and when they one of the reasons there having such a hard time figuring out the mysteries about Zika is that it cross reacts. Banana body tests with Dangle cross react and she has everybody's. What does that mean countries which means that it means that, if I'm trying to do in annex I take a little of your blood and our doing antibody tests and see have you ever had Zika? I can't easily tell the difference between. Have you ever had done gay? Have you ever had chicken junior or have you ever had seeker? They cross REACT
the antibodies still all of em in North America, in the USA, Canada, Mexico. There can't be that many people who had dengue fever right there aren't. So if you had a positive view, been pretty far just statistically
for a while and right now, perhaps that is our advantage compared to what they're going through in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and in Central America, is that we don't have huge populations dealing with all three vice.
LE writ large? This is another science problem that is gonna, be effected by political issues. It already is great this great.
But shark was try another square in us move. Why? That's great everybody? I mean? That's, that's not great! That's that's! What I've being its irony,
I mean the people in Washington or so smart and so proactive when everything else, why would they dropped the balance, and I mean well with our eyes- are Randal as isomer wants to know this. He says high bill with
dig virus having been around for over sixty years. We only hear about it when it spreads to pandemic
portions, how many other viruses are out there that are just contained to a certain area that are waiting to spread under the right conditions? Also, what do you think will be the next Zeke a virus? Well, here's a rosy outlook
For you to paint Lari precise question is what I have focused on for the last three decades professionally and
we don't know and a number. We can't give you an exact count and say this is how many viruses lurk out there. One of the region
Is that they're all mutating all the time they adapted an incredible pace at whatever we throw at them, including climate change? He was they reproduce offers so fast. Many of the virus is a reproducing in the order of minutes or hours and, of course, the back
area producing on the order of days and zoom in Jerusalem, the order of year decades, and so it alive
them tremendous advantage to change and in a way you can look at any given ecology, whether it's right here, the top the surface of this seems to be some kind of felt here: bays areas there is a biome right,
on the surface. We don't see it, but there are a lot of organisms living here.
And they the way people their delicious and they end they range from the big ones. You know, parasites
all the way down to the really tiny ones phase which urges little packets of dna right. That attack, virus attack, viruses and bacteria ituri, and so here's what's happening it's a giant,
ending library. You know all over here is dna and bacteria fight if they feel attacked. If I had antibiotics to splash Lord cereals as were more funding available, but the if bacteria expire
science and assault some sort of antiseptic I put on the surface. They scour actively their environment for any faith that my
have some dna that they can use to counter.
Model, for us now
we scour the rain forest and our Tommy's and everything else. Looking for something that will fight this, given only mostly destroy us
So by that I mean it's not great, so we answer the question:
we what's so now, which is actually viruses that caused the call they're gonna beat secures the great
a thousand. We ve never heard a great guy up the Columbia University, the medical school name in Lipkin, who has proposed a project to actually go
scour the planet, for missing viruses and to identify them. Is this
Underwood Craig Venter was doing with the sale, but he was doing total microbial notches viruses and he was just the surrogate gas see, but
now, the and age our national Institutes of Health is looking at of funding
together within herself what they would call the earth microbiology project to actively go out and scour all kinds of different ecological.
Headings looking to identify all the bacteria viruses and phased in a given community setting now that
poses another problem them ass. She worked on in a new book. I'm writing niches. When is a life form a pathogen, and when is it
innocent bystander Orange war or or something happily helping. You symbiotic commences something that actually is digesting your food for you were protecting. You
doing combat with other microbes right, but then suddenly they will switch and they'll be upheld,
the and we don't know why. We are completely understand how this happens. It turns out almost
the human being has anthrax in your gut is so huge surprise. We only discovered this. The last couple of years will
Why is anthrax in your good, harmless, but anthrax in the air were on sir,
we all learned in two thousand and one with the mailings two members of Congress in the media. Why
Is that a lethal event? We don't really
your stand, but in any a logical setting a plant and animal the
ocean, the air there's this mix of microbes, which-
under certain circumstances are at least neutral, if not beneficial and in other circumstances are dangerous and we don't really understand it, but you're working on or work. If we did this before we go to the next
hurry. If we did this earth microbrewery on project, where would the money come from? How would that be funded? That's actually in process. Right now, you probably know the National Science Foundation has a process where groups the scientists can come forward and basically say we think this kind of a mega project needs to be done if we has to involve lots of different labs in lots of different scientists and a much bigger by
then a typical grant proposal on a few years ago, group came forward to the age and said we need a human Micro Biome project, and that was done and it
unfolded unbelievable surprises me on drugs right hand,
it's like finding that there are all sorts of ways it were actively changing our money
Ro Biome that involve things like high
Mr Nice, I just
of your arm, another
rub my arm, and maybe I just transfer some of your microbiology to me. Well good for you,
good for me I'll youtube. You almost said that via the badge this,
careful
Joe right charge. Here we have another queer from twitter. This is made as the veto and which, in his ass late ass a veto
wasn't. No, this research suggests the placenta began with a viral genome
using vaccines. Are we only stunting the advancement of our species wow? What a crazy!
Western. That's why I read it was just a doctor.
You're and I'm sure you'll, give us in your foreigners, but that's just taken to nouns into slam, sounds
conspiratorial. As I say this all the time, our conspiracy theories, everybody is their lazy.
If they're only work just six five dozen people right,
There are new control. You are we going to do is find those sixty geyser gals, and then we just
imprisoned them or or get all their knowledge and then we'd be set.
Nor can I, before I answer this question in
Dan Brown. You know who wrote Asia
demons and yes or you're the one about the conspiracy about the Pope or the Jesus says, descended
she's right she's there that when anyway super best seller what his has most recent book? The premise is that,
There is an evil biologist at the
Also, I went off of your life or in relation who kidnaps the head of W H, show and locks her into the basement. Council or relations and and then
he's out some grand scheme involving trying to genetically change all of humanity- and I thought
oh, my god, that is the ultimate conspiracy theory, and now it's actually about me, except of course in the book, because they don't believe
Women do anything the bad guy had to be turned into a man
before you do that this star talk the all star addition with Doktor Lorry Garret senior fellow for a global health at the council on foreign relations, joint,
once again viable our beloved chuck.
So I am your house built my and we'll be back writer.
No secret for you,
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I mean I'm just thinking, I mean just saying.
This is starting. The experiment taken me: welcome, back, walk back on your rose bill now, you're on store talk, but not to start the star talk all star addition and are all stars of course include. I bore the church
and were joined this week by Doktor Lorry Gareth, who is a senior fellow for global health at the council on foreign relations,
the: U S is oldest think tank. Now, while you're thinking about, I guess not about tanks,
come on, there's think about tankers. We went to break
a guy somebody asked cosmic query: inquired. Are we
by using vaccines, stunting the advancement of our species, because vex because percentages may have come from virus yeah. What
No actually is that a baby, an infant, a even pre toddler.
Ah, I was. Why did that for a while, you know it's funny. We ve all kind of dinner. We at that stage in life they have to jobs and everything else is done for them. One job is too low.
Look at everything and start trying to figure out what is data word million data, aching and data, and the second is to touch lit:
eat just air.
Anything in their environment. You watch a baby end of what does it do with a toy? It sticks it in its mouth, maybe in its
here it roles at around it. It touches and licks the floor. What
sad about. Why will we have the high salary everybody think concentrate for just a moment? You can remember what a kitchen floor tastes like said that I don't have to concentrate on that was this morning
Oh that's nice, nice, whose down these kids in arose. I gotta do year olds, but there's a reason for that, and we see the same of course in all the primates and there's a reason for it: we're
coding, our immune system, no art
in systems job at that point is to figure out what is foreign, what
dangerous, and what is me because the worst
you could have is for your own immune systems, tart attacking you, because it doesn't know foreign and its confused and think.
You know you are that IRAN system we're thinking. I know well, I'm without so that, for example, you get asthma,
as your immune system is overreacting against all sorts of things that it ought not to be reacting against, and sometimes even
colluding elements of your own body. So would you say to mothers?
here in the very clean environments of the United States and Canada. Let your kids play the dirt absolutely, and I would furthermore say
you know all in a virus vaccine is an infinitesimal version of that daily experience of
you're, being everything in your own environment, the amount of what are called antigens. So you know what you fight touch this table top right here and then put it to my mouth, which adjusted, which I just did on that tabletop is a lot of stuff, including proteins
and all those proteins are potentially antigens, which my immune system and antibodies see? Ok and that's how you programme your system? Well, you know the amount of anti
an exposure. A baby has in its environment is
years of magnitude more than once in a given vaccine,
What about this work? So what you just said to him is: it is exactly the opposite of what he is postulating, it's exactly the opposite. The vaccine doesn't help us stunt us it actually,
proposals, because it's this tiny little thing that it's it's our version of baby, putting things in its mouth
All the truth testify I mean look if you're, if you're a pair
and you have us say, twelve month old child, you have two options in terms.
Of one particular nasty microbe called polio. You can either say you know what kind of decided
The odds my child in its environment, as it ages, is very unlikely to be exposed to
virus. So I'm not gonna vaccinate or you can say you know this. Is it absolutely minuscule exposure, but it will program that
else immune system and for the rest of their life as they are
apple the world and drink waters all over the world and are exposed to soils all over the world, any one of which could potentially contain polio. My child will grow up.
I remember the polio vaccine was introduced in the nineteen. Fifty said right, wasn't: nineteen sixty subsidies
and I thought I was the sixty- I went to our countries
but with a guy I would point out
I can tell you dont, want polio snap. Your best interest
he was a tough guy and he it put man leaned over the major opponents of polio vaccine used. Today. Are the number one group
Now she kills people very well educated, no for polio, the number one
this actually murdered more polio vaccine natures. Then there have been children who got polio in the last three four years: the Taliban, while others group one
poor thing to recommend that normally so progressive
everybody. You know with your listing your listing. The star talk yourself selected, you're interested in science, but I say time: science is the best idea humans have had so far and if you'd like to process, the science will come up with something that throws that
and that will actually have been right result of the process of science or this anti science sentiment. We have now in the technologically develop United States, so try
and here it is an election year and for facing climate change in climate change- is going to allow the advancement of all these
I grubs may remember. Even in our last presidential election, we had a candidate who said aloud
live television that she oppose, the use
of human papillomavirus vaccine on the grounds that she was sure that girls got mentally retarded as a result of getting the hpv vexed.
In an we have announcement from independent scientific teams all over the United States, a sixty four percent reduction in cervical
carcinoma in young from a vaccine cancer from a vaccine on vaccines. It's not magic people at science, shark, readers and other queer.
Let's take a query from one of our patriots patrons, of course data. They support is financially, and so, therefore, we
we would like to give them a little question as right. So you want influence. You want influence. People ok, give us some money are a little bit loaded
I am, this is from kill yachts. Syllabus, ok, kill your soldiers. This from patron wants to know this,
she's scientists from Minnesota. As she says, do you support proposals to introduce
G M, o male mosquitoes that could breathe genetic defects that kill
four sterilize large populations of human biting mosquitos
She says GMO Shimmy, genetically modified, Non Gm
just an ugly modifying the Miss our were not pleasant. Crops were ratifying the the
skewed or males right so that, even though they have sex with a girl mosquitoes, they don't
so legally or illegally, baby mosquitos, and therefore that this overlaps with a previous question that I forgot to completely answer. Why
the suggested ways of controlling mosquitoes in the face of Zika, dangle chicken, gonna, yellow fever and other diseases carried by these mosquito populations
The World Health organization is very actively with our centres for Disease Control, trying to come up with a real answers that are proven in the field to work and that involve
some of the latest technologies. We have available that really go to the cutting edge. Why do we have
but at the cutting edge, which includes genetically modified mosquitoes, includes mosquitoes infected with back to recall Wall back here, which also sterilize is the mail. It, including you, go to Moscow
to get infected with her back to the wall back here in the larva? Do just know, they're just sit right. They are like us soon.
Makes on whatever lotteries and, as you rightly stagnant water, you put. The does need to be staggeringly. That's the problem with this particular mosquito eighties. A chip tie it actually likes freshwater. Oh my god, munificent rapids drinking water is shrinking, were oh, that's. The problem see the reason we have this explosion and how it's late
climate change. Is it really started in northern Brazil
in an area that is undergoing an ill Nino, driven drought, and so people think wait mosquitoes. They
in water. Why would that be connected to a drought? Was because people are storing drinking water
and washing water, especially
the favelas, the poor communities where they may not have.
Running want running water into their hirsute municipal system with chlorine and all these other fabulous or they are storing.
Additional water over and above what they have in the home for washing purposes for gardening purposes and so on
unless they are really sealed tight. These become breathing sites mosquito. So yes, what tools will work first list
What doesn't work because in ninety ninety nine we had the bizarre experience. That aim is a disease virus native to the Nile Delta. All aware,
to the source of the Nile, insisting on the other side of the world in a completely different ecology. That virus, which is called West Nile virus, emerged in the concrete jungle of Queens New York.
Got on a plane and we're not sure how it got here which who brought it and so on. But what happened? What have been brought by a lot of people that aeroplanes it over the years
could have been in cargo
under the introductions, actually are the cargo point. Is it ended up that, despite very vigorous mosquito control efforts carried out by New York City and state health officials
and freak a lot of people out, because the government was spread and spraying and asking people to remove breeding.
It's from near yards and so on and so forth. Flash forward
two years, and we not only now have worse now, virus endemic in almost all fifty states returning every single spring and summer, but it has now reached the point where its endemic and carried by sixty different species of northern
can mosquitos and has been the key reason that we ve seen in obliteration of songbirds and Kroes all across North America
It is the number one infectious disease cause of death for racing horses because they they bite on horses as well as human.
So there we were executing what we think is state of the art, United States, mosquito control and not only failed. It failed miserably. We now have a permanent new feature in our in disease background in the United States. So could we have done for the United States have stopped these mosquitoes? It doesn't sound one
We did we had tremendous ignorance at that time. We did. We didn't imagine that it would readily get taken up by
many indigenous species of North America mosquito here's something from Africa. How could that happen?
and I think they really underestimated a lot of the lifecycle. Aren't you they apply to actual field science by other than your last. The book now lorry another lesson to learn. That is right now in Hawaii there, in the grip of a dingy at the Democrats and its carried by the
two mosquitoes that were worried about eighty elbow pictures and a 80s Egypt eye the health officials and mosquito abatement.
Officials on the big island in Hawaii have worked very aggressively to try and control this mosquito, but they ve had almost three hundred
This is now of people getting dang have good dengue fever. What do you do you die or did you lie low now, and this is another thing that complicates trying to figure out what squirrel Zika dang is a really strange disease before world war? Two
it was almost unheard of that people died of dingy. It was mostly in its extreme form here. We
I'll break bone fever. Benjamin rush who signed the american declaration will depend
and was one of the early colonial
physicians in North Amerika, who knew no labelled it break bone fever and it swept through Philadelphia
yet so break now, but it feels like their breaking. Oh just unbelievable pain, that's a lie: wimpy nasty, but
was rarely lethal. What happened?
we were too was that it turns out there's four different strains of danger in the world at least, and their heavily concentrated in Asia.
And when we started having true movements in the Asia Pacific.
And we were moving troops in the philippine Island and then there and Guam and then they're in Hawaii and then so and so forth. Human started to be exposed repeatedly to different strains of Dango and it turns out if you get exposed to strain one, it's nasty feel lousy, but
die strange to you feel even lousy here, but you probably still don't I strain three. You go
viral hemorrhagic fever is sort of like dangle version of Ebola And- and it is high mortality in the neighbourhood of fifty
sent and we don't really have much. We can do for you just as we don't have much. We can do it for you with employers, revive they have any bodies run. They do
but I we harvesting the Annie bodies of the people who survive these cause, there's a lot of people who survive a ball at this time. Because of you know the World Health Organization moving in and why
don't we take, we do people, we do and we have, and the problem is that giving plasma two people saying you know what this guy here survived, so room, take his blood and transfer it to that person or whatever you so far. These efforts have failed, they have not worked, but
There is very, very aggressive, work on trying to figure out what's the nature of that antibody response, and can we induce it with a vaccine back to vaccines? Folks,
You know that really is our ultimate solution: the vaccine. Every of these diseases and is sound
because all these problems you have presented come from us moving around the planet. So the real answer is data hell home. How please I'll tell you something
Ok here here, taught us a lot of other eighties, Egypt, I okay. This is illusory, though that is the
in carrier of all of these key viruses we ve been talking about. You know where they came from originally
and how I got to the American, those Zipcar, ok, so eight originally came from Africa and it got to
North American, South America, visa slave trade, of course,
got blameless. Life and love
writers- hey you guys! This is this is start special, all star addition. We have our beloved
Chuck nice here, man about the earth and
Doktor, Laura Yard senior fellow of the Global Health Council, on something like that.
On foreign relations, global health, greatly relations, the oldest Think Tank United States
I've been here. I am your host, don't I'm will be back slang.
This is starting.
Oh, I welcome back from your home. We all star taught special all star addition. Overcharge nice and also do
Laurie Garrett senior fellow for global health, the council
on foreign relations, the oldest think tank in the United States is, and we're talking about germs. Parasites
and I d say from evolutionary standpoint, germs and parasites or the bad guys? It's not lions and tigers and bears that's nothing
Storms embarrassing guys to you, can't exist without them. Inside of you out, numbering yourselves tend one. While that sounds like a germ love song, I can't exist without you.
You outnumber me ten to one little journey.
A hundred one. If you count the viruses, but certainly that's all four hundred to one
so how many cells we have on the order of a trillion yeah, so its many trillions wow. That's that's amazed. Resume amazing.
What you know what we cosmic, where you have acquiring. We have another query from our cosmos, and this is
just in less and less new instigate, wants to know. What is that
ass, he virus we can expect to show up. That would be like a doomsday virus. So is there anything on the books right now?
that could possible. They are. What would that has the
since it is zombie too little useless out. This is the zombie
Russian- and I always get the zombie question us is theirs- is there's something
I will turn everybody entered, and so the answer is well.
Yes, we already have it, but it's moving in slow motion. Its HIV in the absence of interior,
four viral therapy. Hiv is a hundred per cent lethal event, the great percentage of people that are somehow capable for reasons. We don't fully understand to survive and be long term,
Carrying the virus in their bodies without becoming deathly ill is infinitesimal in terms of the large
as you know, several like to worry about something, human immunodeficiency virus is at its proven, its already
happened. It's already out of seventy five million people. Now the thing is
a million that since nineteen seventy nine, but here's the thing it's in slow motion. It takes ten years to reach the stage of post infection on average before you develop what is called AIDS so not not to ever from revise. You know each ivy.
But it sounds to me like, as the smartest virus ever was, if I'm going to the design of via sign a virus, if, if I'm a virus,
I'll get the living you for ten years as you're my host before you die, I'm living rainfall.
For ten years I'll, give you better, because the way it gets away with it is that HIV is with color retrovirus. It makes a reverse copy of itself and sticks it in your dna and that's
we can't get rid of it because to build an immune response against it. You'd have to attack your own Jean throughout the region.
Ro virus viral therapies, work. Well, they try to interrupt various aspects of the life cycle inside of a cell of the virus, and there you take a kind of comedy
some of them and they kind of hit the virus at each of my life cycles, these drugs? But now here's the thing actually turns out, as we finish the human genome project, which was completed in the year two thousand and two
as an one sequencing, the entire human genome and then, since then, analyzed you know millions of people's genomes
Where appreciating that a heck of a lot of what we in are, you know, species arrogance think is unique to us right, I'm a human. These are my genes right turn out to be originally viruses. So actually we have been absorbing viral dna into our dna. As long as we have existed as primate
probably are ancestral primates and their ancestral primates and their ancestral primates were sucking up viral dna
into our genome, and some of it turns out to be very important and some turns out to do nasty things like cause cancer gone. So it just depends.
So with you is, I know in nature the proverbial dice Roy
sorry, I know any last year there was a pay paper published, showing the genes go from one place to another carried by viruses, and so genetically modified plants or crops is not that give.
From what nature does and you're saying. This whole thing has been going on for millennia work. Well, how do you think it all started in the microbial soup? You know the first little
its of genetic material formed and were surrounded by some kind of something that was protein goop to protect them. This an egg.
It has made, and here we are the most elaborate protein goop on the planet,
That said, thank you so much for coming doktor lorry you're at the senior fellow for global health at the council.
On foreign relations and you
around the world. Tell us about all these germs.
Parasites that are out there that with whom we have to deal night just want to say a special. Thank you bill for the work you do to try and make the people of the world understand how idiotic it is to be anti science into absorb bogus theories and notions
our planet works. You are you do a great service that we are now working on is true value,
This is very say something nice about me. Please, you're, very nice
opposed both descriptive we and by surname chalk. You know what time it is
As a matter of fact, I do bill it's time for that day in science. That's right! It's not this day in science is that day in science and that day and science was roughly September the year. Thirteen forty
seven, it does that ring a bell to you. Yes, it does. It was while I wasn't there, but TAT was when the black played the first signs of the black Wegg showed up in Europe. This is to be the bubonic plague. The first sign
is were present around the fall of one thousand three hundred and forty seven and in the spa,
Just three years chuck the black death killed one third of all, the people in Europe. Imagine one third of the people. You know just dying disappearing
If I pick the right people that are you a good thing, if only we could do a black there stands out, is the most dramatic and lifestyle changing event during this century and a lot of other stuff went on. But that was a big deal. It is a big deal. So let me ask you: what do you think culturally mean? You know your personal as as assigned
pretty much encompasses at all. What today have we taken from the black plague or the black death? What today have how does it resonate today or people ask me
they say now. What is the most significant invention of all time? Yes and people there who have the summer camp expectation about a smartphone or internal combustion engine or fuel inject? No, it's a sewer, the sewer!
Yes, if you once you have hygiene once you have a way to get rid of your waste, then you have a chance.
Reducing the number of rats running around in a number of fleas,
feeding on the rats and infecting you with something like two bonnac work. That's my brimming bear in mind that my opinion, but, as is so often the case, my opinions correct
this is where civil engineering goes so far back and people talk about the success of the ancient Romans. They had
clean water for an enormous number of their people right for a while
their populace and you gotta have its very fashionable right now,
check. If I may wander off before, we get back to something that substantive with respect to this particular STAR talk episode. Yes, it's is very fashionable out for people who are wealthy to say their libertarian, true
right, it's. It seems like us, a fad, but everything's fine
you say: well, you should have your own sewer system. You should have your own clean water supply every every person.
Wealthy enough to filter their own water and isn't it
What if your neighbour is infected with something? And here she is exhaling, and here she has rats
they have fleas and you get infected. It's. U dont want that. This is where you
have to have a community working together for the public good,
public works and whether they call that public works, and so Sir, is the classic asked. Example of that. What's everybody chaperone Fire Department, but board of your neighbors roof is on fire in the embers are blowing onto yours, and so on so dizzy
Control writ larger is a classic example of using public works for the public good suppressing. So amidst these horrible mosquito
a populations that doctor Garrett Stark and about and can
growing so that everybody whose whose young gets vaccinated again,
every but every disease that we have vaccines for and spending public resources to develop.
Vaccines. These are all in the public for the public good. These are public works, and so this thing
people want government to be too disappeared. A beast
get rid of government interpreted governments. Bad right sought all bad so as not all bad, because
here is a pretty dag on good energy and you want to government run sore and you want the people who run it to take pride in their work and you want them.
Be compensated in such a way that they do
job and you want to have civil engineers come out of civil engineering school and you want people the workers there
to make a good wage and maintain the sewers properly, and this is what
cities livable and clean and reduces the number of flags, nice was always hold. It ever thought sewers,
as my opinion now allow we're at it. You know
we're living at an exciting time, not just because we could
I have some new infections areas, but also we could discover
life on another world, and I say this would change the course history. This is my opinion: ok, the black flag.
Want to one out of every three people died, yes, assist astonishing right, but that
we still think ring around the rosy which is a rhyme that dates from the fourteenth century. Less correctness ass though it had a huge
donors, both literally and culturally. By we, I mean we're. So many of us are still alive. Are those genes
the people lived through a passer genes on, but if we were to,
search shortly thereafter. In centuries terms, people realize the earth was round and went around the sun right. People in Europe rise run around the sun,
change, the world it allowed international commerce which will lead to
all these amazing discoveries in science and commerce.
Never
issues around the world's oceans. All this is made possible by planetary exploration,
We will discover life in another world. Everybody would think differently about what it means to be a living thing on this planet. Everybody would feel differently
being alive in the cosmos, so speaking, profound shock speaking hounds speaking of life, one another planet, and if we were discovered life on another planet and let's just say we were able to encounter that life on another planet. Now the black plague.
When people first the globe, they exchanged some nasty stuff ass? More than a third of Europe died s, though now we need some people from another planet. Flues gonna kill whom alone captain speculation, but I'll give you this
It if we go to Mars, if we, if we go to Mars, we will contaminate it if humans walk around of Mars as diligent as we try to be we're going to contaminate it, but the surface of Mars is exposed
violet light all Martian day all the time and it's crazy called?
is extraordinarily dry. Yes,
There is a little water around, but it is super dry there. So as well
reasonable to me that our spacecraft, which have been on the surface of Mars for years, are effectively sterile and so weak
good in good, conscious conscience draw,
one of them up to one of these weeping walls, these craters that have liquid water flowing
apparently the martian summer, and we could with the instruments that are on, let's say, for example, bill shootin from right. Curiosity: road,
or the twenty twenty rover, which many the same instruments launching in what?
here chart. Do you think?
going to Mars: yes, twenty twenty
over. What do you think I'm gonna go? I don't know twenty seventy its course wanted twenty, and so we could make instruments that will drive up to one of these features.
We can leave it on the surface of Mars for a couple years, just to feel better about sterilization drive up to one of these features and perhaps make a discovery that would change the world and with the discovery would be very much. You can do the discovery of all these micro biomes, all the
ecosystems that are alive and our God and all the genes that we have their apparently result of interaction with viruses here on this planet is all of a piece. It science shock basic research,
to change the world for the betterment of all humankind, and at that point change the solar system. We need to change the world a threat,
Thank you all for watching a stars. Hockey all star edition, we will be back again next week. I've been your host bill, Nye. What's
like Della, lay I'll drop. The organs
We should! Listen! The star talk, commercial, free, joint star talk on pay
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Transcript generated on 2020-01-24.