EITM: The Cycads Aren't Alright 7/26/24

Featuring Elliot's "favorite person of the week"!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Is anybody familiar with the wild woods? Well, now, I don't know
how to pronounce this other word cy C A D psychads psyched psyched Diane,
Yes, okay, you're familiar withthat. No, oh, I'm
just guessing on the pronunciation. Itis c y C A D. Let's

(00:23):
say, let's say that's psyched.Okay, we get it here, we
go psyched, nailed it. I'lltell you what my vocabulary pronunciation is on
point today. Thank you. Youdo realize you're just copying what I said,
having said it incorrectly the first time. Okay, yeah, no,
no, no, no, what'sthis word here? Soon? Soon?

(00:45):
Just because we're both pronouncing it theright way, nobody's copying anybody. That's
how it's pronounced. Everybody should sayit that way. Or do you just
think the whole world copies you whenyou say soon? If you change that
s to a what is that word? We were getting nerdy? Yeah?

(01:07):
A wild woods psychic. They believethat this tree has been around since before
dinosaurs in New Jersey. No,who said New Jersey? I think you
said wild woods psychic? No,wild woods psychic. I think it's just

(01:30):
a woods has no, not atall not at all. No, God
nos South Africa. Oh okay,So anyway, they believe that this tree
has been around. Oh, it'sjust the woods. Psyched gotcha is a
rare and unusual member of a plantfamily that predates dinosaurs. They think that

(01:53):
this thing goes back tens of millionsof years. Anyway, there are I
believe, only ten of them thatremain, and they're all male, and
they all stem from one that wasdiscovered in eighteen ninety five, which at

(02:20):
that point was the only known one. The other nine are all like what
do they call it when like youclip off a piece and clones, thank
you. So the other nine arecloned from this one that was discovered in
eighteen ninety five. So this one, that dates back over one hundred years,
is the only known psyched in nature. Yes, that's it, just

(02:43):
one. Wow. And they andby the way, the thing is on
the extinction list like no one's business, right, So the other nine are
clones. Okay, they are trying. They're flying over some forest, right,
and they're flying over it using likedrone and infrared whatever and AI to

(03:05):
be able to see if they canspot a female so that that way they
can create at least another one.They want to find a female to be
able to then have They don't wantthe tree to die off. Right,
this tree has been around since beforedinosaurs. They wanted to sexually reproduce.

(03:28):
Thank you, where's her pistol?I don't have trees If trees have pistols.
Yeah, yeah, plants you getyour pollen. Honest, stamens.
That was male. I don't know. Change this s to a pig.
Hey, where's the tree poon?Anyway, so they want to find they
want to find a female, andthey're hoping to be able to find a

(03:51):
female so that they can they canwhat is it called when trees like when
plants multiply pollinate. Yeah, that'sgood that it'll pollinate and they can kind
of grow this type of tree.So they've trained this artificial intelligence to spot.
Yes, female psychic. They saidthat it is. The odds are

(04:14):
slim, but there's hope. Imean, they're flying over forests and this
ain't the tallest tree in the forest. What's their timeline? Say again,
what's the like the window that they'reworking on. Oh, I don't know
when they're putting the drone up,but they are flying this thing Researchers trained
the tool, a computer vision modelcalled Youolo V eightlov eight Thanks Mom,

(04:45):
to pick out woods psychics from othertrees in the canopy. So far,
they've had no luck finding a female, but they will continue refining the image
recognition model. It was inspired bythe story of e Woody, mirroring the

(05:06):
classic tale of Unrequited Love ah Toystory. Romanticism may sound, finding a
woods psychad in the wild will undoubtedlybe challenging. That's because only a single
specimen was ever found. In eighteenninety five, South African botanist John Medley

(05:27):
Wood came upon a solitary male woodpsychid in the forest, so it's named
after him. The plant was namedin his honor. There you go.
How about that they found one ineighteen ninety five In this kind of nerdy
but cool there's one tree left andthat we often see with animals rhinos come

(05:49):
to mind, right. I can'tthink of us ever discussing when it was
one type of plant, or onetree or one flower. No, and
to have it be from you know, those I knows aren't from eighteen ninety
five. This thing predates Tyrannosaurus rexWell. The line of them. Yes,
yes, well not this one.This one's eighteen ninety. Well it
was found in eighteen ninety. Bythe way, did you see the story

(06:11):
about Tarannosaurus rex yesterday that they wereactually bigger? I think it's exactly right.
Yeah, it's like seventy percent,like much bigger. That's almost twice
as big. That thing would ripyour ass apart. Yes, anyway,
even even that it's previously a goodsize. I thought that was cool.

(06:32):
Though. Can I go to lineone? I am so nerded out by
this thing. I think it's awesome. Yolo the yellow V eight very e
eight. No, they got youknow what it is? Why is it
called Yolo? Well I can tellyou. Well, keep in mind it's
Yolo the eighty, the Yolo partyou only live once. They're trying to

(06:55):
find a way to keep this thingfrom dying. Actually, is that Yolo?
And the oh at the end ofYolo and then the V and the
eight is for Ovechkin. Hi Elliottthe morning, Hey man? Is this
me? Yeah? Hi? Who'sthis? Hey? This is Tom?
Tom. Let me before you getinto it. You're not gonna tell me

(07:16):
like, hey, I went andplanted a tree on the way to your
Mom's no, okay, no,no, no, no, not at
all. Nope. Uh yeah.Now, so I'm kind of a plant
nerd. I'm an environmental scientist.So the thing with these psychics are there's
more than just one in the world. There's only one wild ones. That's
why wild. It's a wood psychic. But they say wild in front of

(07:41):
it, right, because they're ableto reproduce them in basically labs. But
the ones that they reproduce where theycreate in a lab cannot reproduce naturally.
Once you hybridize it, it becomesbasically sterile. So they can keep producing
this tree, but those trees cannever they can't put them out like plant

(08:03):
them, and then they're going togrow into all the trees. I thought
they're trying to find goad. No, I was just saying I thought I
read that the ones that they producedare all males though, correct, right,
So they don't get exactly. Sothat's why they're basically sterile. They
have to find a female to beable to then cross pollinate and create more

(08:24):
trees that those then could form thefemale parts. So when you hybridize plants,
they all become out. Is theeasiest way to explain it, by
the way, by the do youAnd again we are learning so much stuff
today, so much stuff. No, seriously, so now but these so
these trees are like they're almost likepalm trees in Africa. Yeah, no,

(08:48):
you're right. They look they lookthey don't they look like giant palm
trees, sick palm trees. Yes, beautiful. Hey, so how many
times? How many times can theyhybridize? Oh? As, I think
as as long as the female ifthey find or they can hybridize it,

(09:09):
as many times as they want.As long as that male tree, right,
they have that male tree, theycan hybridize it. It's just like,
how many times could you clone something? As many times as you want,
as long as you still have thetissue, right, But you don't
want it to be forever a clonethe no, you want it to be

(09:31):
yeah no, no, you wantto be able to groom. You need
a female right, Y're literally flyingdrones all over Africa searching for one female
tree. Yeah. I mean thething has virtually been thought of as extinct
for like over one hundred years,but there's that one that they know of,

(09:54):
correct, in that kind of groundover one hundred years ago eighteen eighteen
ninety five. Isn't this kind ofcool? Yeah? I think it's really
cool. I'm super interested in it. But most people are probably like these
guys are, Hey, can yougo back and talk about poon, which
we never did. What drove himto environmental science? Sir? What drove

(10:16):
me? I studied biology in collegeand then just kind of stumbled into environmental
science. I do like consulting.Now on the side, what is the
Oh who do I I feel likeI know somebody whose kid is going to
school for environmental science. What's abig environmental science school? Well, Coastal

(10:39):
Carolina if you're doing like marine science. I mean I went to Tallisan University
a lot of Frostburg has a bigforestry department. Oh really, So it
depends on what you're going to specializein, if you're going to do marine
or forestry or like, I'm awetland person, so I spend most of
my time in like wetlands and streamsand stuff like that. Cool, all

(11:00):
right, dude, Hey, Iappreciate it. Thank you, my friend,
Thank you. That's awesome. Stanfordcomes up as well as Berkeley.
Trust me, my friends don't havekids going to Stanford. Or Berkeley.
I'm proud of you, though.I thought for sure we were going to
get some old wetlands story out ofNew York City from you. Oh yeah,
no, I'm well in the swampsof Jersey. No. No,
the venue, Oh that's where Ihave seen bands there though, yes.

(11:26):
Yeah. Line two, Hi Elliein the morning, Elliott, Yeah,
Hi? Who's this? Four?Hey? What's going on? Dude?
How are you? I'm good atman, I'm good. Hey. First
thing, we watched meriweather photos dotcom. Gotta put that plug out there

(11:48):
absolutely so now you can get souvenirphotos. Uh. And two, I
just want to let you know we'rejust flying yell B six at Merriweather,
so we I'll clearly we'll talk thissun. Get seven. Why don't you
talk to Seth by the way,I could, I could have asked him
last night. Why don't you getto Seth and get a get a yolo
V eight like they're using to tryto save the psychic Oh they're using him

(12:13):
V eight. Yeah, dude,I am way behind that. A all
right, all right, well Iwill work on that and will you all
right? Very good, thank you, thank you? Will Where am I
going? Line five I don't seethat tree. And the photos from Mountjoy
do you see anybody flashing in thecrowd where? I'm sorry? Where am

(12:39):
I going? Christen Line five?I love this story. I know it's
nerdy, but I love this story. Hi Elliott the morning. Hi Elliott.
Hi, my name's Gary. I'mactually a professor of plant biology at
the University of Maryland who texted youto call in. I'm listening to you.

(13:00):
Actually, are you really? Yeah, I'm working from home this morning.
I listen to you every morning.I'm listening. I've been a listener
since your first day. Oh dude, thank you. And you're a professor.
Seriously, put the put the radioon in schools, I'm sorry,
not at school anymore, working athome. No, I understand, I
understand. Anyway, Yes, professor, What can I do for you?
Well, I'm talking. I'm callingabout the psychic story. So all psychids,

(13:24):
Uh, there's other species besides theone you're talking about, and all
of them are what they are calleddioecius species. That means they have male
and female plants, just like humans, male and females. So there's other
plants that do this. For example, cannabis for most of your listeners would
know, is also a dieese speciesthat has male and female plants, right,
So it has nothing to do withhybridization. It's it's it's a genetically

(13:48):
base trait, just like it isin humans now, So but not but
the way. Okay, So acouple of things. Let's clear up a
couple of things. So not everynot every type of tree or plant requires
a male and a female, right, Well, if they're going to produce
a be pollinated to produce a seed, they're going to There are some plants

(14:13):
that can self pollinate, but buttypically they're cross pollinated and that the seed
that's produced from that has the generouscomponents of both the male and the female.
Okay, And some plants, someplants that will have what are called
perfect flowers. Of course, psychicsdon't actually have flowers because they're actually related

(14:37):
to gymnosperms, and so they're nota true flowering plant. Okay, but
they're going to produce. All plantseither have either male flowers or female flowers,
or they can have male and femaleflowers on the same plant. Or
for androsperms, which is what mostpeople think of when they think plants,

(15:01):
Uh, those are going to haveperfect flowers where they have both male and
female structures on the same flower.Right. Hey, but again, psychics
don't have flowers because psychics are genderspurns. Gender spurns don't have flowers.
They're not a true flowering plant.So now like for the for the high
hybridized whatever that word was, theokay, so the the I understand what

(15:24):
they what the forester guy was saying, the environmental science guy was saying,
where you could do that, butit just kind of renders them sterile.
You'll never be able to make anew one. Well, if it's if
they only have male plants, you'renever going to be able to hybridize or
correct. You might be able toclone. It's either either by taking cuttings

(15:45):
of it or there are ways youcan clone trees in a lab. For
example, my lab, I haveliterally hundreds, if not thousands of clone
plants for the species I work within my lab that we we propagate by
cloning. What do you work withI work with? I actually work with
the species called Poplus, which ispoplars, which is like cottonwoods and aspens.

(16:11):
Yes, and Nate, by theway, are also a diosis species
that have male plants and female plants. That's cool. That's cool. Good
for you. Hey, so doyou think the odds are do you think
the Hold on one second, Tyler'sjust pulled something up. Is that the
professor I'm talking to? Oh dude, I got I'm looking at a picture
of you hugging a tree. That'sme. Is that a little too on

(16:37):
the nose? That's one of thebiggest poplars I've ever found, and that's
actually located in Paonia, Colorado?Are you serious? I'm serious? Wow?
Hey, what is the So doyou think do you think the odds
of them being able to find awild female? Do you think they have
any chance? Like, it's kindof sad to think that you're literally down

(16:57):
to just one tree. Yeah,I agree, its are probably pretty slim.
I mean, if if there's onlya few of those left in the
wild, yeah, it's probably veryslim chance they're going to find those us.
Most psychics have have gone extinct.There's there's a number of different species

(17:17):
still around the world, but mostof them have gone extinct because it is
such an old species. I mean, over time, almost all species eventually
go extinct, but the psychics,it's it's probably a rare probability that they're
going to actually find a female.Hey, last three things for you,
then, thanks for the Friday putup species. Well they do. If

(17:41):
they didn't, we'd have dinosaurs aroundright, Yeah, down to the sixth
extinction. That's Philip Morris's cigarettes iswhat did that number one big assteroid in
the Yucatan? Okay, okay,flat earther. Let me ask you this.
Can I hold on to your numberin case I ever need you for

(18:03):
later on? You certainly may.Yeah, that's awesome. Number two?
Have you played EA sports college footballyet? It's awesome. I don't have
time to play video games. That'swhy he's gonna call you for football tickets.
And last thing, Professor, ifyou had to guess, has Diane

(18:25):
handled more gymnas sperm or ango sperm? I think Diane is an expert at
Wood Science. Thank you, you'rethe best, all right, Professor,
Hey, I appreciate it, Thankyou, sir, Thank you, my
friend. That's my favorite person ofthe week.