this episode of scishow quiz show is
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and start playing the world's first
synthetic vaccine game ladies gentlemen
and Friends beyond the binary welcome to
what is without a doubt the most recent
scishow quiz show we've ever filmed I'm
your host Michael Aranda today we have
Joe Hanson from hot mess the coolest
climate show on YouTube about how
climate change affects us all you may
also know him from another project it's
ok to be smart welcome Joe hi it's I
think it's good to be here yeah
it may also know him from thinking he's
me or I'm him which has been a lot of my
life it might probably more of my life
in yours that's fine I don't normally
feel short I know but I feel short I
also feel okay Joe is facing off against
Hank Green who you may know from such
places as the internet and this YouTube
channel it's true our contestants will
be battling for some sweet prizes not
for themselves but for two patreon
patrons we've selected at random Oh Joe
you're competing on behalf of Sarah
Fritz Sarah I'm sorry Hank you are
playing for Mike Schaeffler hello Mike
each of you begin with 1,000 scishow
points answer a question correctly
you'll win some number of points if you
answer incorrectly you'll lose some
number of points you tend to lose less
than you win so it's kind of good to
troca that's the right trend yeah and
this button is involved in something
yeah you have to hit the button and
that's how you decide who's gonna answer
the question perfect and when do we
answer wouldn't can we buzz in as soon
as you know you don't have to wait for
all the ends buzz right before I ask a
question
Wow he's very confident so whoever
emerges from the last round with the
most points wins their patrons some
slick gear Stefan show our contestants
what they could go home with today
welcome to the prize zone the magical
corner of magical prizes it's a magical
magic ooh there's a fairy but only I can
see it
all right let's get down to business
shall we Sarah and Mike both of you are
taking home some autographed cards from
the final round today but the winner is
gonna receive the I won scishow quiz
show pin and a no expenses paid ten day
trip to Hawaii what do you think of that
person who looks suspiciously like me
well if it's a no expenses paid trip
then you're basically just telling
someone they should plan a trip to
Hawaii I guess which is a nice
suggestion but it's not really a prize
and last time I checked we were in the
prize zone all right if you need me
again I'll be over here
thanks I thought we had fun clone in the
building today not logic clone anyway
you're getting a lovely pin and a
suggestion to take a trip to Hawaii but
if you happen to be lucky enough to lose
today you're taking home the I lost
scishow quiz show pin
I guess I'll also suggest that you take
a trip to Hawaii maybe you guys could
both meet up on the beach and take a
selfie with a turtle send it to us now
that's magical that it is back to you
Thank You Stefan now this episode for no
reason in particular is about mimics
twins and doppelgangers oh wow this
thing's totally random first round mimic
tentacle cousins round number one
mimicry is not too uncommon in the
animal world
for example animals might mimic other
more poisonous animals to ward off
predators or they might resemble plant
matter and hopes that a predator will
pass them over this question though is
about a bird native to the Amazon
rainforest
it's young mimic something you might not
expect in order to discourage predators
from seeing the nestlings as a tasty
snack do they resemble a toxic
caterpillar wow I made a video about
this he's a biologist the answer is a
toxic caterpillar Oh
the answer is a toxic caterpillar
predation is the main reason that baby
birds who haven't left the nest yet
don't make it to adulthood and
unfortunately this bird called the
cinereous mourner has a relatively long
nesting cycle but it's found a way to
make do researchers began to suspect
something was up when they notice the
young scenario
mourners are strangely brightly-colored
compared to the adults adult birds are a
dull gray but their young are a bright
orange combine that with the young's
long bristly white tipped feathers and
scientists reasoned that this was likely
a form of mimicry maybe they were trying
to blend in and resemble a moss covered
fruit or maybe there was more going on
the answer started to become clear when
scientists realized that the bird shared
a habitat with certain toxic
caterpillars ones belonging to the
family Megillah pijt
these are the same furry orange
caterpillars known for their uncanny
resemblance to a certain public figures
infamous orange hue comb-over and
they're covered in nasty spines in a
2015 paper researchers reported that not
only does the baby mourner look like the
caterpillar but when disturbed the baby
actually Bob's and weaves like the
caterpillar does they considered this
convincing evidence of a bird mimicking
an insect to piggyback off its toxic
properties
is this a scishow quiz show first yeah
correct question answer that all the
question being alien sad answered asked
later named the bird if you want what's
on your it's a serious mourner man I'm
in trouble thank you for tuning into
this show everybody congratulations
Jerell we'll see you next time you
didn't realize I don't I'm not a part of
this is gonna get worse turn honestly I
did not think I was gonna go well for me
ever so question to resembling toxic
species is a really common strategy but
we can go deeper the mimic octopus is
one of the most talented imitators of
the natural world and has been observed
pretending to be a sea snake a lionfish
a flatfish and tons of other animals but
even this master of disguise can be
beaten at its own game
because researchers have caught an
organism that uses this mimic for
camouflage
oh okay was this interloper a coral
another octopus a fish or a jellyfish I
have no idea just guess one two go ahead
it's almost as if Joe understands the
odds of the situation where you sure you
want to touch it first
[Applause]
okay why not a jellyfish sounds I like
jellyfish incorrect I'm afraid that I
have a higher chance of getting the
answer right I'll say another octopus
also the answer is C a fish discovered
in 1998 off the coast of Indonesia the
mimic octopus is known to be one of the
most sophisticated mimics in the natural
world many creatures have evolved to
look like something else but the mimic
octopus can imitate a variety of other
organisms
it's an expert in what scientists call
dynamic mimicry however you don't always
have to be a master of disguise
sometimes you just have to be in the
right place at the right time in 2011
researchers spotted a black marble jaw
fish swimming alongside a mimic octopus
it stuck with the octopus for at least
fifteen minutes or so and - the octopus
didn't seem to notice for mine black
marble jaw fish are dark in color with
lighter bands which makes them look a
little like the octopus there are also
weak swimmers normally they hide in
burrows to avoid predators but this one
seemed to have found a way to use the
mimic octopus as a taxi service it swam
along blending in and was safer as long
as the scientist observing it was able
to watch you know nothing to see here
just another tentacle researchers think
the octopuses ability to imitate
poisonous creatures like lionfish was
enough to keep predators away from both
the octopus and the jaw fish they also
don't think this happens often since the
range of the jaw fish doesn't overlap
much with that of the mimic octopus this
was a case of opportunism rather than a
fish evolved to mimic mimic octopuses
but it's impressive that it was able to
play the mimics game so well okay that
is the end of round one uh-huh time for
the next round this round is about twins
when researchers need to control for the
effects of genetic variation in humans
they often turn to twin studies since
identical twins have the same DNA one of
the highest profile twin studies ever
conducted was NASA's twin study which
just wrapped up
someone at the space agency realized
that twin brothers being accepted into
the astronaut corps represented a
scientific goldmine the study focused on
Scott and Mark Kelly Scott spent a year
in space while his brother Mark remained
here on earth as a control the two were
monitored for basically every biological
characteristic scientists could manage
but the question is which of the
following did they not report as part of
the study genetic changes changes in
brain structure immune system changes or
changes in eye structure was the second
be the second one I can't remember what
it was either but it was definitely that
one that is correct the answer is B
changes in the brain structure
presumably they would have loved to
monitor this but there's no fMRI machine
on the space station this study might
not have looked at brain structure but
it did look at basically everything else
for example it checked out astronauts
telomeres these are caps on the ends of
chromosomes that have to be maintained
by cells and they get shorter as we age
in the twin study though Scott's
telomeres actually grew slightly longer
during his flight they returned to
normal once he was back on the ground
and it's still not clear why this
happened but it's definitely odd
researchers also observed epigenetic
changes in both Scott and mark
epigenetic markers are genetic patterns
that don't affect the four-letter code
of DNA but can change how the cell reads
and uses that information the changes in
epigenetic markers were a bit different
in the latter part of Scott's flight
than they were in mark over the same
period of time
though once again they returned to
normal later on still this information
might help researchers pinpoint which
genes are most responsive to being in
space moving past genetics one of the
most notable differences researchers
observed between the two brothers was in
their immune systems Scott showed signs
of inflammation a sort of immunological
response to stress while in flight and
it even persisted six months later and
finally though researchers didn't look
at the brother's brains directly they
did monitor what physiological
characteristics they could including
their cardiovascular systems body weight
and even the structure of their eyes
specifically they saw some
Wehling and scott's retinas as well as
other changes and noted that the twins
have some genetic risk for ophthalmic
issues they also performed various
cognitive tests that demonstrated that
astronauts definitely hang on to their
smarts while in space no major changes
there which is good those guys need
their brains I never have an MRI member
that I knew that one to taste you start
getting too cocky yeah got in under the
wire there as you feel out of my league
but I'll see how it goes
speaking of twin studies by some
accounts King Gustav the third of Sweden
ordered the very first twin study during
his reign in the latter part of the 18th
century of course he did it not for the
love of scientific inquiry but because
he had a vendetta against a popular
beverage at the time what was it alcohol
hot chocolate tea or coffee I think it
was coffee yeah I gotta stop hesitating
should have had more coffee you think it
was gonna hit I thought it was coffee ha
ha ha ha I'm very not confident
sometimes this being one of them I'm
getting up in your business hold me back
the answer is d the guy really had it
out for coffee coffee was a relatively
new craze in Europe in the 18th century
and doctors were arguing about whether
it was good or bad for people some
things never change the Swedish
government even attempted to ban coffee
a handful of times which went about as
well as you might expect still one of
the drinks biggest enemies was King
Gustav in an effort to prove that coffee
was horrible and dangerous and would
shorten your life he offered to commute
the sentences of two twin brothers on
death row if they would help him prove
his point he had one drink three pots of
coffee every day for the rest of his
life and the other three pots of tea
doctors were assigned to monitor the
brothers but no one really knows how
this experiment ended Gustav was
assassinated in 1792 and both doctors
died before their subjects supposedly
though the tea drinker died at an age of
83 and the coffee drinker outlived them
all
the story might not be entirely true and
not all accounts say that the
participants were even twins still we do
know that Sweden eventually gave up on
banning coffee and is now one of its
most enthusiastic fans eventually
however researchers developed more
rigorous methods for studying twins and
by around 1922 twin studies were an
accepted method for studying human
genetics very weird so we've got one
more question before we get to the last
round our next question is most people
think that human twins come in two
varieties mmm you have identical or
monozygotic twins which develop from a
single fertilized egg that splits into
two embryos and fraternal or dizygotic
twins which develop from two separate
egg and sperm pairs but there's actually
another option I know you do I do a
little it's very weird in 2019
researchers reported only the second
pair of these documented by medical
science is it identical cousins born two
pairs of identical twin parents
[Laughter]
unrelated twins born from the same
parents but sharing no genetic material
what semi identical twins born from one
egg and two sperm cells or non
simultaneous twins having identical
material but born at different times
wait I'm gonna go with one this isn't
what I thought it was one egg cell being
fertilized by two different sperms so
semi identical twins that is correct I
didn't think that that could happen the
answer is C semi identical twins in 2019
researchers reported in the New England
Journal of Medicine that they documented
a pair of says quiz zygotic or semi
identical twins doctors first suspected
something unusual when sonograms of the
two fetuses looked well not identical
even though the pregnancy appeared to be
a case of identical twins specifically
one initial
we appeared to be male and one female
however genetic tests indicated that
both actually had a mix of xx and XY
cells throughout their bodies and while
both inherited a single set of genes
from their mother tests also confirmed
they got two different sets from their
father you'd expect identical twins to
share 100% of their DNA and fraternal
twins to share an average of 50% but
these two children have 100% of their
mother's DNA in common and 78% of their
fathers the researchers think this
happens when two sperm cells fertilize a
single egg cell normally this wouldn't
work out but they think the cell managed
to pull off a three-way division by
duplicating the maternal genome some of
the daughter cells had DNA from the egg
and one sperm cell some from the egg and
the other sperm cell and some from both
sperm that last group would have died
because cells need at least one x
chromosome and the duplication of the
maternal genome would explain why the
twins had some cells that had two x's
basically a lot of shuffling happened to
give the cells viable sets of DNA the
mass of cells continue to develop first
as a single embryo then split into not
quite identical twins with a mismatched
complement of those cell lines the
researchers were only able to find one
other example of semi identical twins in
the medical literature and didn't dare
to guess exactly how rare this kind of
fertilization might be but the twins now
a few years old seemed to be doing just
fine okay so you've got 1100 points
still Hank you're up at 1500 we're going
into our final round that means that
it's time for you guys to place your
bets on the answer to this next question
you can wager any or all of your points
yeah on this one you have which I can
only tell you at this point that this
question is about doppelgangers rate you
know what when all the line all in 1,100
ohm I don't have to tell me there's a
thing to row down on a crap part of my
game theory I'm actually gonna do it
okay Prentiss never happened
while you guys place your bets we're
gonna go to commercial break if you're
enjoying playing along with our quiz
show there's another nerdy informative
science game you should know about it's
called battle for cattle and it teaches
you about the roles of pathogens
antibiotics and vaccines the game is
based around the fact that countless
cows pigs and chickens are given
antibiotics every year that's great
because it allows farmers to control
disease outbreak but it also comes with
downsides
since excessive antibiotic use can also
lead to antibiotic resistance also some
infections like from the nasty bacteria
mycoplasma cannot be treated with
conventional antibiotics at all in the
game you have to face these challenges
along with others you're given a farm
full of poor sick cows and you have to
figure out how to save as many as
possible by first administering
antibiotics but later designing a
synthetic biology vaccine it's fun and I
learned a bit about the actual process
of making a vaccine which was pretty
cool if you want to learn more you can
check out the game for yourself it's
available for free online at battle for
cattle calm or you can download it from
the Apple App Store or the Google Play
Store
Moo welcome back definitely end it into
zeros whatever you just throw it down
might be zero all the zeros I have to
work with you guys ready mm-hmm
here we go probably last question
popular legend has it that everyone has
a doppelganger that somewhere out there
is someone who looks exactly like you
maybe even right here in this room
anyway forensic science kind of relies
on the opposite idea that by using
scientific methodology we can identify
beyond any doubt one unique person out
of the billions on this planet mm-hmm in
2015 Australian researchers set out to
calculate the chances that any given
face has an exact match how likely is it
one in one eye you definitely have a
doppelganger on the planet somewhere yes
somewhere one in a hundred one in a
million or one in a trillion it doesn't
matter that doesn't it's not for me my
friend
oh you don't know how much I'm wagering
I know how much I'm wagering I think I
know this oh wow I think I might have
this research yeah I think so reveal
your answer said si and I wagered far -
mine is si I show our winner the answer
is d the odds of you having a
doppelganger are less than one in 1
trillion in this study the researchers
used a database of three thousand nine
hundred eighty two faces and measured
eight distinct facial characteristics
like the distance between their pupils
and the length of their ears within
their data set of about 4,000 people
they only needed to compare five or six
of those characteristics to identify any
one of them without duplicates once all
eight traits were taken into account
they calculated that the probability of
any two faces matching one another was
less than one in a trillion and while
there are a lot of people on this planet
there aren't that many in fact they
found that even using only four of their
traits the odds of a match were still in
the ballpark of about one in ten million
this study did rely on extremely
specific measurements though if you and
your doppelganger matched in every way
but your pupils were 61 millimeters
apart and theirs were 62 it wouldn't
have counted as a match that's because
they were trying to find ways to tell
people apart with as little doubt as
possible so if you're willing to relax
your definition of a matching face a
little bit you still might find you have
a doppelganger out there somewhere Wow
well I wouldn't have done better for me
if I had if I'd wagered more than a fart
noise it's just I'll get your fart noise
is it here
I feel richer than I ever first imagined
that's good that was a good one well
congratulations Joe thank you
come my fart noises on there right now
Sarah that was for you including the
Fargo super sorry Mike that's gonna do
it for us today if you want to see more
of Johansson head over to youtube.com
slash hot mess PBS or it's okay to be
smart if you want to see more of Hank
well you're already in the right place
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boo boo
[Music]