Discussion for Stem Cell Biology: Episode is up! (Patreon)

Hello hello!

It's a big episode so it was a late night, but the wonderful Dr. Samantha Yammine aka Science Sam is this week's Ologist. She explains what a stem cell is, how they were discovered, what they can do, how they do it, and all the questions scientists still have. 

There are so many studies linked on my website in case you're curious. Also here's an excerpt from an aside that got cut last minute, because it was just too much of me talking. 

Ps: Another scientist championing the possibility of stem cells in the brain? Dr. Fred "Rusty" Gage, a descendant of Phineas Gage, the rail worker whose brain was penetrated by a 43-inch iron bar that exited his skull and clattered to the ground 80 feet away, in 1848. He survived, shockingly, but his personality changed considerably: his social inhibitions vanished and he went a little ...off the rails. We talk more about him in the Ophthalmology episode. But his descendant Dr. Fred "Rusty" Gage became a neuroscientist because what else do you do when your great-grandpa is one of the most studied cases in the history of brains? Also some people doubt that Dr. Gage is the direct great grandson because Phineas was not known to have any kids, but Phineas also, post-accident, developed very surly, sometimes violent moods and was described as a heavy drinker. So who’s to say? He lived for 12 years after the accident, and his skull and the tamping iron that blew through it are in the Harvard University School of Medicine Museum collections should your brain want to get a gander. But yes, if I were a Gage, my family history certainly would be a motivating factor. I would also wear a helmet. Everywhere.

Anyone listen yet? Were you already following Science Sam, or did this ep turn you into a fan? 

All ears,

Von Podcast, Alie