Belinda Smith
speaker
2,605 appearances
27 recordings
4 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 2d ago
Belinda Smith’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 27 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 6.
Appearances
You know, it's quite amazing that such a large chunk of our genome is viral.
So before we get into how all that viral DNA got into our genome, how do we know that those stretches of DNA came from viruses?
I mean, that does make perfect sense that these stretches of DNA would mutate.
There would be variants within that, like the DNA that is the other 92% of the human genome too.
Okay, so when did all this happen?
Was it when we were single cells swimming around, you know, a warm oceanic broth?
Or does it happen later in human history?
And the process itself of a virus getting its DNA into the genome then allows it to propagate throughout generations.
How does that happen?
Because it's passed down to the next generation and it's intrinsic within their genome as well.
Exactly.
Okay, so what do some of these stretches of viral DNA mean for us humans living and breathing today?
And what about some of the more positive effects of these viral DNA stretches?
Any other mammal really wouldn't exist if a virus, however many years ago, hadn't stuck a little bit of its genome into maybe the egg or sperm cell of some primitive pre-mammal animal.
So is there the possibility that viruses are adding more DNA to our genomes as we speak?
Do we know what these koala viral hanger-on-ers are doing to the koalas?
Desiree Cox from the University of Wollongong.
And koalas, who knew?
Thanks, Bill.
This is the Science Show on Radio National, where we try to explore the wealth of research outside big capital cities.
Showing 2361–2380 of 2,605 · page 119 of 131
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