0:00

Hey tumble listeners. Before we get to this

0:02

week's episode, I want to let all of

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to be doing a special Zoom Call open

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on Patriot. Just go to patriot.com/tumble Podcast, or

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click the link in the episode description. Hi.

0:32

I'm Lindsay. And I marshall welcome

0:34

to Tumble the show where we explore

0:36

stories of science discovery. Today were

0:38

on the case with the

0:40

molecular detective. Does that mean a

0:42

molecule that's a detective? Like a bunch of

0:44

atoms bonded together wearing a little hat. and

0:47

the trench coats? I

0:50

love the image by it's

0:52

just the opposite. It's a

0:54

science detective who studies molecular

0:56

clues to solve big mysteries

0:58

inside our bodies. Okay,

1:02

So who is this molecular detective that were

1:04

about to meet them? Kind of imagining a

1:06

character at a mystery novel or like a

1:09

black and white detective film from the nineteen

1:11

forties. Lake and I found some hydrogen sulfide.

1:13

See, I'm going to make it talk. A

1:17

know exactly what you're talking about.

1:20

So let's set our own theme

1:22

to meet the detect. It's.

1:26

Late at night. We see the

1:28

outside of. The science lab

1:30

inside. There's a woman at her

1:32

computer. Now with towards

1:34

the door with the mysterious

1:37

silhouette. In shadows through the window.

1:40

The door opens. And I

1:42

step. Then I'm. Here

1:44

to interview her for our podcast.

1:50

Wait, are you actually in the rumor this? like

1:52

a zoom call or something? Technically it

1:55

was a google me. and

1:58

we didn't do the interview at but

2:00

you know I'm just trying to set a mood

2:02

here. Let's move on. Can

2:04

you just start by telling me your

2:06

name and title? Yes, my

2:08

name is Mona Minkara, and so I'm Dr.

2:11

Mona Minkara. I'd like to make it

2:13

clear from the beginning that I'm the one who

2:15

asks the questions. Mona

2:17

seems nice, but I start

2:19

quickly. I ask Mona what

2:22

makes her a molecular detective?

2:25

I basically call myself, we call our team,

2:27

we're a bunch of molecular detectives, we

2:29

use computers to try to

2:31

understand how do molecules interact,

2:34

how are they moving? She

2:36

doesn't sound nearly as hard-boiled as I was expecting

2:38

her to. She

2:41

sounds sort of gleeful and excited. Well,

2:45

Mona has a lot of things you might

2:47

not expect, as we're about to find out, but

2:50

she is a fan of mystery

2:52

novels. The reason why

2:54

I call us molecular detectives, it really

2:56

is like being a detective like Sherlock

2:58

Holmes was with mysteries, right? Sherlock

3:01

Holmes is one of the best made-up detectives

3:03

of all time. Exactly. So

3:06

Mona thinks of herself as a

3:08

real-life Sherlock, but for the lungs,

3:10

those big organs in our chest

3:12

that help us breathe. Let's

3:14

say there's some kind of disease in

3:16

the lungs, then you'd want to have

3:18

to figure out what is happening, and

3:20

you start asking the same type of

3:22

questions as if you're trying to solve

3:24

a mystery. Questions like, where were

3:26

you on the night of the 13th? Lung. Do

3:33

you have an alibi? Let's

3:36

just say it's the molecular version of that.

3:39

It's exactly similar type

3:41

of thinking, so that's why we're like

3:43

molecular detectives. We try to understand what

3:46

are these molecules doing? How are they

3:48

helping fighting disease? How can we help

3:50

them fight disease even more? So

3:53

she's trying to figure out who you can trust and who

3:55

you can't on this case. You

3:57

know my approach, trust no one as far as

3:59

you can... All

4:02

right, let's get to know Mona.

4:04

Then I continue my questioning. Why?

4:07

Does he do as much He does?

4:09

Curiosity. Curiosity is what drives

4:12

me and the more people tell me

4:14

that I played all a doesn't matter

4:16

or I learned the more want to

4:18

learn it. She tells me

4:20

that heard curiosity about science started

4:23

with T V shows. Honestly ever

4:25

since I was a kid and

4:27

I watched Magic School Bus and

4:29

as bizarre Bill Nye the science

4:31

guy on and I understood that

4:33

there's so many things happening around

4:35

us in the universe and I

4:37

wanted to know how it's all

4:40

words that said Mona on the

4:42

path to becoming a scientists And

4:44

later she took a turn towards

4:46

an invisible. World. And

4:48

moon, when I grew older, I

4:50

learned these molecules that a teeny

4:53

tiny that nobody can really see

4:55

that. they really improved everything. from

4:57

how we can take your medicine,

4:59

that to how when you do

5:01

a volcano experiment with baking soda

5:03

and vinegar. Why Things. He

5:06

has really fascinating how molecules make up everything

5:08

that happens in the physical world. It's like

5:11

a huge number of atoms bonded together and

5:13

then you get first. Exactly.

5:16

And that appealed to Mona

5:18

for a special reason. Why?

5:21

I am are not allowed to learn more about what they

5:23

did. And. He says nobody

5:25

can really see them and I'm blind.

5:28

I felt like you know where on

5:30

equal footing. Mona. Lost

5:32

her vision gradually during childhood

5:34

and it made her question

5:36

what she was learning about

5:38

how science works. As

5:40

soon for a long time we are

5:43

taught. science is observable. Rates science is

5:45

when you observe something and we are

5:47

taught that you can really only observe

5:50

with your eyes. Remember.

5:52

Learning Lot: Nobody's really observing these

5:54

items with their eyes, so how

5:56

can you see that? You know?

5:59

That we have. The to visualize or make

6:01

images of atoms, but that's not quite

6:03

the same as actually seeing them. Exactly.

6:07

Since. The sizes nudges observable with

6:09

the on his. The. So many

6:11

different ways to. Deserves. Mona.

6:14

Says that being blind has

6:16

helped her notice things cited

6:18

scientists mess with other signs

6:21

of observations. And so that

6:23

it be sued touch that could be to

6:25

sound I feel like that gives me. An.

6:28

Advantage because everybody's thought to use

6:30

their eyes first, But when you

6:32

can't use your eyes than you

6:34

have to be more pleases and

6:36

clever. It's sad to observe what's

6:39

around you. Let's call

6:41

just like Sherlock Holmes who notice

6:43

things that others couldn't write. And

6:45

that might be one of the reasons

6:47

why Mona says Sherlock is one of

6:49

her biggest heroes. It's elementary

6:51

are gonna take a short break

6:53

and when we came back. He

6:57

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we're back. So now we know

8:15

why Mona's a molecular detective, and

8:19

we're about to find out how she

8:21

helps our body track down the criminals.

8:24

Alright, so what is the scene of the crime that

8:26

she's tracking down these criminals in? Well, remember

8:28

that Mona is like the Sherlock

8:30

of the lungs? That's

8:33

because the lungs are where lots

8:35

of different disease germs enter our

8:37

body and try to make us

8:39

sick. I guess lungs are just sort of

8:41

like the first place you look, right? The

8:43

open window where all the criminals are getting in

8:45

because we need it to stay open so we

8:48

can breathe. Exactly. So

8:50

Mona is trying to help our

8:52

body catch the crooks before we

8:54

even notice them. So

8:57

what I'm working on is actually

8:59

helping you boost your immune system

9:02

to fight diseases in general better.

9:04

So the immune system is our

9:06

body's natural defense against diseases, and

9:10

Mona's focused on its tiny

9:12

molecular soldiers. So

9:14

there are these really cool molecules called

9:17

surfactant proteins, and they're immunoproteins and they're

9:19

found in your lungs, but also in

9:21

your skin, in your tears, in your

9:23

saliva, in your

9:26

digestive system. So wait, I've

9:28

got surfactant proteins everywhere, like in my

9:30

mouth right now. Can I spit them

9:32

all out? No.

9:36

Our bodies have many different kinds

9:38

of proteins, which are long chains

9:40

of molecules that have special jobs

9:42

to do. So the

9:44

surfactant protein's job is to wring

9:47

the alarm when a disease comes

9:49

through. And

9:51

these molecules are designed to

9:53

identify any disease that comes.

9:56

When it identifies it, it attaches onto it like

9:58

a little flag, those immune systems,

10:00

come kill this thing. So if

10:03

we have all these little proteins telling our immune

10:05

system to attack the disease, why do

10:07

we still get sick? Well, they

10:09

don't always catch their target, and that's

10:11

where Mona comes in. And

10:13

so what I'm working on is

10:15

try to help these immune proteins,

10:17

these molecules, to be better at

10:19

identifying the disease. Okay,

10:22

so she's like the Sherlock Holmes to

10:24

the immunoproteins' Scotland Yard. They're trying their

10:26

best, but there's a lot that they're

10:28

missing. That's why Mona's on

10:30

the case. She's looking for clues

10:32

and making deductions with the help

10:35

of technology. This is about

10:37

the power of what computers can help you.

10:39

Like, if you can make your computer help

10:41

predict certain things, then that's going to help

10:44

you have to do less guessing in

10:46

the real world. To make

10:48

these predictions, Mona programs

10:50

models into her computer,

10:52

reconstructing molecules atom by

10:54

atom. Some of

10:57

the molecules I study are actually kind of

10:59

huge in the sense of they're not huge

11:01

for us as human beings, but they're huge

11:03

in the sense there's so many atoms in the world.

11:06

Yeah, so it's sort of like trying to build a sand castle

11:08

one grain of sand at a time. Exactly.

11:11

It's a lot of grains of sand. They're

11:14

very complicated, and the twist

11:16

is that these atoms move by a

11:18

completely different set of rules. You know,

11:21

there are certain rules. You throw up

11:23

a ball, it comes back down because

11:25

of gravity. But even though we are

11:28

made up of all these atoms, the

11:30

atoms are not following the same rule,

11:32

which is kind of mind-blowing. Wait,

11:35

so this is like if Sherlock Holmes was

11:37

to say maybe the thief came in by

11:40

walking on the ceiling. Exactly.

11:43

Luckily, scientists have been working

11:45

on figuring out these new

11:47

rules of how molecules move

11:49

for a long time now. Well,

11:52

that's great. So we're not starting over completely.

11:54

We know which thieves can walk on the

11:56

ceiling and which can't. So

11:58

Mona takes the lead. The rules and

12:01

these molecules encodes them into

12:03

the program and her computer

12:05

playing out how they act

12:07

in the lungs. So. There's

12:09

one module that I say

12:11

that actually had a hundred

12:14

and fifty thousand. I needed

12:16

to know how are they

12:18

on movie, where they are

12:20

doing and so I created

12:22

a mathematical tools that allowed

12:24

me to understand how they

12:26

moved. The wait for

12:28

she needs to understand how a hundred

12:31

and fifty thousand different microscopic parts are

12:33

moving. That's that's really a lot. It

12:36

is that like her heroes,

12:38

Sherlock Holmes, Mona used. Her

12:40

sending and unique viewpoint on the

12:42

problem. To solve the mystery of

12:45

the molecule. So normally other

12:47

scientists what they'll do is. Create

12:49

a little move mates that this

12:51

and see on the computer but

12:53

I couldn't see them. I had

12:55

to create mathematical equations. That helped me

12:57

plot the movements and when I did that,

12:59

I was able to pick up patterns. That.

13:02

Nobody else, some. Literally.

13:05

Is a myth. Well. So because

13:07

so many other scientists were looking at the

13:10

molecule the same way, they were missing patterns

13:12

that became obvious when Mona looked at it

13:14

differently. Yes and it made it

13:16

easier for Moneda, understand how the

13:18

modules were working in the lungs

13:20

and how to stop them. And

13:22

for Mona, that's a big when

13:24

it. When it's like I figured

13:27

out what is module doing and

13:29

is like. That

13:31

he says he doesn't use. Oh,

13:33

it's so cool. Silly she said before,

13:35

having a different way to observe things

13:38

is actually an advantage. Absolutely

13:40

being assigned as as a blind

13:42

person has taught me. The.

13:44

Sizes bigger than all of us. That.

13:47

You don't have to see to

13:49

do. Series is all about. Solving

13:52

the mystery. And. There's so

13:54

many mysteries to solve. That. The

13:56

world is so vast and the so much out

13:58

there that we do. Now. I'm

14:01

really saddened to figure out, even if it's a

14:03

little, that. Has. So

14:06

when I leave Moon his

14:08

office, she turns back to

14:10

her computer, returning to wrangle

14:12

with the mysteries. Of

14:15

the molecular did. You

14:23

can also be a size six for

14:26

questioning. And now

14:28

think about investing in the case for.

14:30

Example: You can question people who

14:32

might have the answers that the

14:34

parents or teachers or you could

14:36

find books on the topic is

14:39

a library or search the internet

14:41

may be is had. Imagine how

14:43

you do your own experiment. For

14:45

your ideas and do a story where you

14:48

play the role that detective include the facts

14:50

you find out or your designs for experiments.

14:52

You might even create a villain his

14:54

trying to keep you from finding the

14:57

answer. Be creative and send us your

14:59

story at tumble Podcast as you know

15:01

that com would love to read. I.

15:05

Think Simone I'm in Cora

15:08

Professor of Bio Engineering and

15:10

Northeastern University where she runs

15:12

the Combine lab and like

15:14

many great detective Mona's also

15:16

guy and other cool identities

15:18

sees the blind travelers. You

15:21

can join her travels around

15:23

the world on her you

15:25

tube channel planes, trains and

15:27

keen. You can watch these

15:29

videos and get other resources about Mona

15:31

in her research and accessibility. work available

15:34

on the blog on our website Science

15:36

Podcast for kids.com. And you

15:38

can hear more from Mona

15:40

herself on the bonus interview

15:42

episode on our Petri on

15:45

Absolutely on.com/tumble podcast. This

15:47

material is based upon work supported

15:49

by the National Science Foundation under

15:51

Grant Number Two One Four Eight

15:53

Seven One One Engage in blind,

15:55

visually impaired, and cited students in

15:57

Stem with storytelling through projects special.

16:00

Thanks to the team who helped us with this

16:02

episode, Dr. Peter Walters and

16:04

Dr. Kerris Apollo and the rest

16:06

of the team at Independent Science.

16:08

Also thanks to Dr. Kelly Reidinger,

16:10

Dr. Martin Storkstieg and Dr. Victoria

16:12

Sellers at Oregon State University's STEM

16:15

Research Center and Dr. Timothy

16:17

Spuck at AUI. Sarah Roberson-Lence

16:19

edited this show and designed the

16:21

episode art. Peter Walters is our

16:23

editorial consultant for the series. Elliot

16:26

Hajaj is our production assistant

16:29

and Gary Calhoun-Jeans engineered and

16:31

makes this episode. I'm

16:34

Lindsay Patterson and I wrote this episode.

16:36

And I'm Marshall Eschimia and I made all the

16:38

music and sound design for this episode. Tumble

16:41

is a production of Tumble Media. Thanks

16:43

for listening and stay tuned for more

16:45

stories of science discovery. All

16:51

right, everybody, here we are at the end of

16:53

the episode and everyone knows what that means. It's

16:55

time for the Patreon people. We

16:57

got a bunch of birthday shout outs

16:59

to give. So here we go. First

17:01

to Ethan, we're so proud of you

17:03

for being a wonderful human with love

17:05

from mom, dad, and Cody and a

17:07

belated happy birthday on February 15th. Theodore,

17:11

keep asking questions and seeking answers and

17:13

happy birthday on February 16th. John,

17:16

another happy birthday happening on February

17:18

16th. Keep being

17:20

curious and ready for new adventures.

17:22

Mom, dad, sister, and your whole

17:24

family love you beyond, beyond. Rivers,

17:27

stay curious and happy birthday on February

17:29

18th. And a shout

17:31

out to a fierce little she wolf birdie on her

17:33

birthday on February 20th. Mom and

17:35

dad love you. Happy February

17:38

23rd birthday to Claire, everyone's favorite

17:40

future shark scientist with love from

17:42

mom, dad, and Alden. Another

17:45

happy February 23rd birthday to

17:47

June. Mom and dad love your curiosity

17:49

and your questions. Stay creative,

17:52

strong, and independent. To

17:54

Christopher and Grace, happy birthday on February 25th.

17:57

Mom and dad are proud of both of you and know you

17:59

will. accomplish your dreams. Therese,

18:02

happy birthday little dude on February 27th.

18:05

And a thanks to all of you

18:07

and to everyone who supports Tumble on

18:09

Patreon. If you want to get a

18:11

birthday shoutout of your own like these

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fine folks, or have a Zoom call

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with me and Lindsey, just support us

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on Patreon at the $5 level or

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higher by going to patreon.com/tumblepodcast. Once

18:22

again, that's patreon.com/tumblepodcast.