Dr. Paul Turke

And what they did was they changed up the diet that the fruit flies had evolved to eat. They had been eating for thousands of generations. They had been eating apple rot. And then they brought them from that area, which I think was on the East Coast, to Michael Rose's lab in UC Irvine. And they didn't have rotten apples, I guess, so they fed them bananas doused in high fructose corn syrup.

And what they did was they changed up the diet that the fruit flies had evolved to eat. They had been eating for thousands of generations. They had been eating apple rot. And then they brought them from that area, which I think was on the East Coast, to Michael Rose's lab in UC Irvine. And they didn't have rotten apples, I guess, so they fed them bananas doused in high fructose corn syrup.

And what they found was that after about 40 generations, Flies had adapted to that new diet to accommodate it really well while they were young. But even after 100 generations, they hadn't adapted to accommodate that new diet when they were old. Right. The most parsimonious explanation for that is that, number one, selection is most powerful early in life.

And what they found was that after about 40 generations, Flies had adapted to that new diet to accommodate it really well while they were young. But even after 100 generations, they hadn't adapted to accommodate that new diet when they were old. Right. The most parsimonious explanation for that is that, number one, selection is most powerful early in life.

And what they found was that after about 40 generations, Flies had adapted to that new diet to accommodate it really well while they were young. But even after 100 generations, they hadn't adapted to accommodate that new diet when they were old. Right. The most parsimonious explanation for that is that, number one, selection is most powerful early in life.

And number two, most genes have their effects confined to certain ages. So that if a mutation comes along that allows a young fly to better digest a banana or Or if a mutation comes along that allows an old fly to better digest the banana, potent selection would accumulate for the young fly. Weak selection would not accumulate for the old fly.

And number two, most genes have their effects confined to certain ages. So that if a mutation comes along that allows a young fly to better digest a banana or Or if a mutation comes along that allows an old fly to better digest the banana, potent selection would accumulate for the young fly. Weak selection would not accumulate for the old fly.

And number two, most genes have their effects confined to certain ages. So that if a mutation comes along that allows a young fly to better digest a banana or Or if a mutation comes along that allows an old fly to better digest the banana, potent selection would accumulate for the young fly. Weak selection would not accumulate for the old fly.

Is this why kids tolerate modern diets better than grandparents do? Exactly. Exactly. That's right. So beyond a certain age, you know, maybe 50 or so, maybe earlier, you should lay off the Pancakes and donuts like that. I mean, nobody should be eating too much of that stuff, but you can certainly, kids can do it. They can tolerate it much.

Is this why kids tolerate modern diets better than grandparents do? Exactly. Exactly. That's right. So beyond a certain age, you know, maybe 50 or so, maybe earlier, you should lay off the Pancakes and donuts like that. I mean, nobody should be eating too much of that stuff, but you can certainly, kids can do it. They can tolerate it much.

Is this why kids tolerate modern diets better than grandparents do? Exactly. Exactly. That's right. So beyond a certain age, you know, maybe 50 or so, maybe earlier, you should lay off the Pancakes and donuts like that. I mean, nobody should be eating too much of that stuff, but you can certainly, kids can do it. They can tolerate it much.

They can tolerate a grain heavy diet much better than say somebody my age. That's so interesting. It's because of that.

They can tolerate a grain heavy diet much better than say somebody my age. That's so interesting. It's because of that.

They can tolerate a grain heavy diet much better than say somebody my age. That's so interesting. It's because of that.

Yeah. You can apply that also, that line of reasoning to infectious disease. And I did that in an article shortly after the pandemic got going. Crowd diseases, you know, came on board once we started settling down and living in crowds, moving indoors and so on. Things like, you know,

Yeah. You can apply that also, that line of reasoning to infectious disease. And I did that in an article shortly after the pandemic got going. Crowd diseases, you know, came on board once we started settling down and living in crowds, moving indoors and so on. Things like, you know,

Yeah. You can apply that also, that line of reasoning to infectious disease. And I did that in an article shortly after the pandemic got going. Crowd diseases, you know, came on board once we started settling down and living in crowds, moving indoors and so on. Things like, you know,

as long as those diseases had certain commonalities, like they relied on crowding and, you know, maybe aerosol breathing in aerosolized virus, that kind of thing, young immune system should evolve more quickly to be able to adapt to those crowd diseases than, uh, old immune systems, uh, would. And, um,

as long as those diseases had certain commonalities, like they relied on crowding and, you know, maybe aerosol breathing in aerosolized virus, that kind of thing, young immune system should evolve more quickly to be able to adapt to those crowd diseases than, uh, old immune systems, uh, would. And, um,

as long as those diseases had certain commonalities, like they relied on crowding and, you know, maybe aerosol breathing in aerosolized virus, that kind of thing, young immune system should evolve more quickly to be able to adapt to those crowd diseases than, uh, old immune systems, uh, would. And, um,