Episode Details

Most people don’t know: the genome is a formatted database with read/write memory systems which can reorganize itself to produce new species.

Last week, we gave a thumbnail sketch of genetics as most people understand it. We distilled that common understanding into five basic statements, and showed how most people think new species arise from genetic mistakes and accidents. And we said we would be talking to Dr. James Shapiro, a world-leading geneticist with 60 years of experience, who co-leads a large group of world-leading scientists who collectively want the world to know that most people are misinformed on both points. The common understanding is not just outdated, but deceptively wrong!

Here’s what he told us about those five basic statements.

Fasten your seat belts!

(1) it’s all about DNA: who you and your children are is all completely determined by your DNA;

Your brain cells, muscle cells, blood cells … and all the other cells of your body … have exactly the same DNA. And yet they’re so very unique in many ways. What makes them different from each other — and you from anybody else — is determined largely by another molecule: RNA.

(2) DNA is a long molecule which gathers together many genes, like beads on a string, which code for the proteins that your body is made of;

Only a very small fraction of your genome (the total collection of all your genetic material) codes for proteins; perhaps just a few percent. Most of the rest of your DNA codes for RNA molecules which regulate the entire genetic machine. Any given “gene” (discrete chunk of information) has bits and pieces scattered all over your genome.

(3) cells do everything they can to protect those genes f