Ethnobotany: How to Get Drugs from Plants

what do you do? I always just say I work for a website, and the when it starts in on stuff, I'm just like, yeah, I just I work for a website. Jo. It's just easy that way. Not only do you work for it, you are the website. Is what you should say. I have lobbied for Chuck how Chuck works dot com. But people would sign on to that. Man. Uh yeah, this would have been a much better way to start out the future of the Internet one huh. Probably. So instead of we're gonna go back way back, Chuck back

in time? Um? Is that Huey Lewis sort of He's playing Tomorrow Night or tonight where I think he's doing Chastain, He's doing like you know, the Memphis uh Stacks Music, Memphis Soul Show, what along with your favorite Huey Lewis classics? What I did not know this? How did you not tell me this? I didn't know? Would you be seriously want to go? I would totally go see Huey Lewis. Dude, have you ever heard Sports? Yeah? I had Sports when I was one of the greatest albums ever released. It

was one of the top albums of that year. From beginning to finished, that was a great album. Anyway, Yes, I would see Huey Lewis, and now I figured out how to get there in a few hours. I don't know if it's tonight, but I heard a promo for it today on the radio, so it's good, good, good to know. Um, well, Chuck, we're gonna go even further back than the height of Huey Lewis's career. We're gonna

go several thousand years before that. Okay, Now we'll go back to about the height of Hughey Lewis's career, maybe a little before it. When I was a young lad and I was watching TV. Remember those time life books that we talked about here there. So there was one set that, um it was like Mysteries of Mankind or Mysteries of History or something like that, and I remember clearly it said how could ancient civilizations perform brain surgery?

And patients survived? And there's this kind of like did almost caveman looking guy like with like a scar on his head and he looked at the camera like, yeah, I'm still alive, but it hurts, you know. I saw that and I went it just captured me. Right. Well, I came to find out that that was a real thing, and that, apart from a lot of the stuff you find in time life books, it was correct. There's such a thing as trep a nation and people actually did

survive it. Talk about this in the lobotomies. I think so because I know we had we had to of But trepid nation has been around as a surgical procedure. It's brain surgery in that the brain is affected by it. Sometimes they went in and poked around, but for the most part it was just cutting away a piece of the skull in the scalp to relieve pressure on the brain. Yeah, right, And they did the same thing in a much more sophisticated way these days, for like swelling of the brain. Right,

and some traditional societies still carry out trepid nation today. Yeah, but um, as I said, it was successful, some um Andian cultures showed evidence of like at success rate, which is pretty good as far as I know, right, not bad. But this is a really ancient procedure. This is um Neolithic, right, seven thousand and two thousand BC. That's a long time ago. Yeah,

that's like, uh four to nine thousand years ago. And if you think about that to nine thousand years ago, if they could successfully seventy percent of the time they could successfully open your skull up, well they that with a hundred percent successful Yeah, but you could remove your heart hundred percent success. Right. But um, so trepid nation

is this ancient form of surgery. And about the same time, probably people started figuring out that not only could they perform surgery, but if they wanted to, they could hang their shingle out and practice medicine if they knew what they were talking about with plants, right, that's right. So for a long time we suspect UH indigenous groups uh had some sort of idea understanding about what plants were,

what what plants could be used for. That's right. But then about there is this explosion, right, yes, this was after the ancient Egyptians and pharaohs poked around and the Sumerians with medicinal plants, um, China, Africa and India, that's what it really exploded. And they actually I started to list these things and put them down on paper or

whatever they were using at the time, to to papyrus. Well, in Egypt and ken I, if you want to be technical, there's a papyrus that's um dated to fifteen fifty three BC that lists seven different drugs, a lot of which are plant based, probably almost all. Yeah, I would say, so they weren't doing synthetic chemical spect they know. But about the same time, like you said, in Africa and India and China, like all these people started just jotting

down their understandings of plants. And it was extensive, right yeah, like rub this on your sore that and it will ease your pain and suffering exactly, you know, so we should write that down. A lot of trial and error, I imagine, isn't that shacks line from that icy hot

and rubbed this there and it'll ease your pain. Um. So, so these these this understanding, this knowledge was like added to and subtracted from, you know, over the course of centuries and in millennia, and then about like the nineteenth century, there is like a sharp divergence, right, yes, Josh, that is when uh, in the first edition of the American Pharmacopeia, early hundreds um drugs at the time we're s plant based flashboard nineteen sixty only five point three were plant based.

So what happens is you've introduced people that could figure out how to synthetically duplicate a lot of these plants. So are they still plant based? Does that even count? After a while? I think it's kind of like you know how people say, like this is made with um our our product not tested on animals. That's because it uses stuff that's that was tested on animals thirty years

ago and found safe, so no longer. Yes, So I think it's much the same way where once you synthesize something enough for you know, a synthetic alkaloid has this effect, you can use it in all these different ways with something else that makes sense. So that was a that represented a real separation from uh, the West and traditional cultures. Right.

This medicinal rift is what I just called it, So kind of like medicinal rifts um as our understanding of chemistry and the effects of drugs on the body groove. Then you know, we we just kind of diverged from traditional societies. But there came to be an awareness at some point in time that all of these rainforests that were destroying, in all of the uncontacted tribes that were running out, um have a wealth of information that wasn't

listed in these early pharmacopias. Right, Sure that there's a bunch of understanding of how to cure all sorts of diseases out there, and we kind of need it. So out of that has grown this whole field the sub discipline of anthropology called ethnobotany. Yeah, what was the Connery movie? They were searching for the cure for cancer in the jungle Rangoon beyond Rangoon. No, that was Rangoon man. No,

I can't remember the attack of theo. It was the lady from the Sopranos and Good Fellas and then Sean Connery and he they were in the jungle, I think searching for a cure for cancer or something. Good movie. But that's that's the point though, is that the cure for cancer maybe out there in some leaf that we just need to locate and synthesize. Right. The problem is is like the field of ethnobotany isn't training people to go out and eat leaves and write down their thoughts

on it. No, you got I guess they're interviewing people local tribesmen, indigenous folks and saying, hey, tell us what you know about medicine. Maybe we can learn something from that. And this is a very very long process. So like, uh, the and ethnobotanist is probably going to be somebody who was trained as a botanist and undergraduate school and then trained in um anthropology, linkinguistics, UM possibly chemistry in grad school.

Got to be a people person. You have to be able to chat it up with the possible head shrinkers UM and you go out in the field and you have to gain the trust of the people who have this information. It might not be common to the whole tribe UM. So you have to gain the trust of the person who knows what plant to use for what, and then get that information from them in a way

that's agreeable. There's a debate among ethnobotany that's pretty much resolved these days, but for a long time that end justified the means, like if you could cure athletes foot, you know, with this plant, and this guy doesn't want to give it to you, don't you have a moral obligation to basically take that information from him, steal it

as it were. Now there's a movement toward making sure that these people are like their trust isn't broken, that they're willing to share it, and if they're not willing to share it, you pay them, pay them money, pay pay them either way. Compensation is is kind of becoming a more of a thing among ethnobotanists rather than thank you, you've done something great here bringing the trucks. Yeah. Well, not only just what the plant is though, but obviously

they need specifics. They need to know what part of the plant because you know, I wrote that article a while back on how you can I think the universal edibility test. You know some parts of a plant, like eat the leaf and you can sustain on it. Eat

the root and you die in ten seconds. So what part of the plant, how much of it to use um, which would essentially be the prescription, right, And so the ethnobotanist finds the stuff out, takes it back to the synthetic chemist, who basically has to go over the you know, hopefully the ethnobotanist is like, it's the leaves, just focused on the leaves rather than you know, having to do this on the plant and the stems and the seeds or the flowers or whatever. But a crazy job. Imagine

how difficult that is. It is very difficult to synthesize something like that. Well, first they have to isolate it. They gotta find out because you know, the local shame isn't He's not gonna be like, well, it's this alkaloid in there that's um, you know, going to really get you off, um healing you exactly. Um, it's the it's the synthetic chemist who isolates the active ingredient and then figures out if they can put together a synthetic version

of it. Because one way to get medicine from plants is simple extraction, right, But that's not the most reliable now, because you can extract uh, let's say the essential oils from one one bit and it might be like really really potent, and another bit might not be so it's not like it's not consistent across the board, right, And if one bit makes it into one jar of that stuff and the other bit makes it into one, somebody who's in pain is not going to get any relief.

The other person is going to die because they're gonna get like eighty times that feel really really good depending on what happens. Um So syn synthesis is the artificial synthesis is the um preferred means of of figuring out how to make a reasonable fact simile of this what's in the plant. You're trying to mimic the compounds. And I'm like, if you make it and it's the same thing, it has the same molecular structure as what's found in the plant, but you made it in the lab, it's

still the same thing. Right. It's like a test tube baby, Like you're the baby is still a real human. This is still a real compound. I guess on a molecular level, sure, But yeah, I don't know. That's a good question. I thought that somebody much smarter than us probably is like, oh, boys, I'll send you an email. I'll let you know. I'm looking forward to that one. I have to say, um, and cheapness is the other reasons. Yes, Well, it's cheaper

to synthesize something once you figure it out. I'm sure it's a very long, expensive process, but once you figure it out, you're like, has put a couple of hydrogens in with that helium and want to stand back? Yeah, and and better for the environment to like, if something has to stay plant based, you're gonna need a lot of that plant That's true, you know what I'm saying. So we have a lot of success stories in UM synthesizing drugs from plants. Right. Quinine a part of one

of my favorite drinks, Gin and tonic. You know it. Quinine is pretty across the board, a pretty awesome thing, I guess. Yeah, that's why tonic water is called tonic water because it has quinine in it and it's a tonic for malaria. Yeah, it's very small amount, but I guess it gives it that signature taste. And don't go with the diet. It's awful. There's a diet tonic it's not very good. You know, I taste that is super better.

Remember we when we did the how taste works article, I figured out that I am a super taster of bitterness, like I can barely tolerate tonic water. It's so bitter. Really yeah, interesting campari, don't even get me started. But sometimes I torture myself and just have some anyway, And tonic I've never mixed with explode. So quinine is used to treat malaria based on the chinchona bark. Then you got, let's say, another example, dioxin. I'm sorry, dioxin treating heart conditions.

And that comes from the lovely fox glove. The lovely, lovely fox glove that you grow in your garden. We do grow it in my garden. Although my fox glove is dead right now. It's kind of depressing. Yes, it is very dead. Oh no, I'm in depressing. Yeah, of course I look at dead plants. Why are you not watering it frequiently? No, I don't know what the deal

was with the fox glove. It might not have transplanted it soon enough, or it might not do well in a hundred and tin heat index heat um sort of shady. Emily is the gardener. I'm just the gardener's assistant. The heavy lifter. Another great example that you listed. This is your article, right, yeah, okay, is morphine. Yeah, the alkaloid from poppy plan It was synthesized into diacetal morphine and sold commercially by Bear for twelve years as heroin. Yeah,

that's where heroin came from, called heroin. I'm just gonna go to the drug store and get some heroin. That's awesome. Yeah. And what's what's crazy is the heroine that's created today. You can make a case is um synthesize every time a batch is made because it's it's derived from the opium poppy. But then you screw with it a little bit to make something different, slightly different. So um. But yes, Bear invented heroin. Wow, it's amazing. Um. And then Bear

also invented aspirin, which is derived from willow bark. That's right. And are you gonna say, uh, a set of salic acid? Nice one, that's aspirin. But what what's the natural compound? Um? Salison? Yes, salison um. And that was that was everybody's known about willow bark for at least some Syppocrates who wrote about it um. And he was a Greek and he lived in probably like the third century BC, fourth century BC. I always I wish we used zero more in this culture.

It's so screwy, I know, but I love it. Anytime you're trying to place a time like this, you always kind of give this look up like you're trying to remember hanging out with that person, like forth saying no, I think that was third remember correctly, Yeah, so yeah it was. I mean it was an anti inflammatory and

a fever reducer way back then. Still is, And that's one of the cool things when you people that poop poo Eastern medicine and things, it's like a lot of this stuff we use today is just a synthesized version of rubbing bark on your face and a lot, a lot, a lot more than you'd think. El Dopa, which is

used to treat Parkinson's, derived from a plant. Um there's a whole awesome list if you if you search um uh plants synthesized drugs or drugs synthesized plants and a search engine, I think the first result is going to be this list from like the year two thousands of modern drugs that were from plants. Yes, and possibly my all time favorite, valium was derived from Valerian root, which I found out and just started taking a lot of Valerian root. Now you can make a t from it,

and it's does it chill you up? Really? Yeah? It will knock you out too, if really concentrated. But it stinks that I haven't and I want to see o A right now. I am not in any way, shape or form recommending anyone try anything that I ever say that I do. Ever, even that's like, that's in a supplement store, right it is. But you know what, that's funny you're saying that because I was listening to why

why doesn't the f d A regulate herbs? And we had this conversation that it's like, because it's in a natural food store, we just think that it's like, oh, it's fine, it's harmless. But you could totally odeon any number of things in a natural food store. It's because the FDA doesn't regulate it that it appears harmless even though it is. Yeah. Um, this brings up a point, Josh, that I think have always believed that the there is no disease that wherein the cure is not somewhere on

the planet Earth. Oh is that you believe that? I've always thought that? And this you know this is true? Look at all, Like every plant that is eventually synthesized into medicine. I think the answers are all out there. It's just a matter of God's great scavenger hunt. Yeah. Maybe, so I like that idea. Okay, I've been hitting you with the home dingers lately, haven't I you? So you can kind of see Aspirin has been around for a while, Heroine has been around for a while, Tonic has been

around for a while. Um, we're still making stuff from plants, but we've also figured out another way to use plants for medicine. And let's to use like UH enzymes from the plants as catalysts and UH chemical reactions cells as little petrie dishes almost. Yeah, Basically, if you want to carry out a um A chemical reaction in a safe environment injected into a plant cell, it's a great little

house for it. And they're little factories. They make all sorts of stuff we need in chemical reactions to synthesize drugs, so they help in all sorts of ways. So up with plants, yes, but not just plants chuck, Not just plants that we might like to just chew on once in a while. Like Valerian right, but also poisons. For for just as long as um medicinal plants have been

used as drugs, we've also used poisons as well. Yeah, that papyrus, uh you were talking about from lux Or, Egypt that listed all the drugs and plant based drugs, it also listed a lot of poisons and a lots of a lot of antidotes to those poisons. Yeah, because I mean, once we figured out there's such thing as poison, we started looking for ways to cure them, right, And that kind of follows your your logic that, um, there's you know, there's an antidote to every poison, yeah, right,

for every malady. I believe that, And not because of any like deep research, but just because of things like this, and because I think the earth is structured that way. Balance, right. But even before that um homeostasis, Yes, even before that papyrus though about years before there is a cham i Egyptian pharaoh named Many's and he was the first person documented to conduct research into poisons because they kill people with poison for years. Socrates was famously killed in BC.

That's the fourth century. I wonder how they first discovered that some poisons could actually heal you. I don't know, maybe by killing someone. Maybe right before they die they were like, geez, my back feels great all of a sudden, right, and they're like, oh, then they die. Yeah, I don't know, just an idea. Um. We have had a lot of hair brain ideas of what can cure you, like, um, whiskey to cure a snake bite, right, if you're in

the Old West, pour some whiskey on it. Right. So in the nine twenties some Brazilian um researchers put that to the test and found that not only is it patently untrue, but it actually makes things worse. Yeah, it speeds up the blood flow. Yeah, the alcohol does, so the delivery of the venom is just much quicker. Yeah. I think the whiskey remedy I would choose is here, drink a lot of this because you've been bitten by a snake and you're gonna die, right, so you might

as well just numb the pain. And no one, no one ever had a patient where it actually worked. They just heard of a patient where it worked. That's right, right, Um. But the same Brazilian doctors came up with a way too curious snake bite, didn't they. Yeah, and this is amazing to me too. Everyone knows about anti vennon, which

most people call anti venom. It is but although I think I've seen venom is acceptable now because so many people use it or something, well, some of our linguists friends and more progressive ones are like, just let language to go where it's going exactly, um decimate for instance. Uh, what they found out was they can use poison to fight poison. So by injecting a snake's venom into something of large that can take it, like a horse, they

would build up an immune system. I bet there's some trial in air there too, but I can't you just see where they're like they inject the horses some venom and go around to its face and punch in there. So they would inject it into the horse, punch them in the face, and then the horse would eventually, you know, build up an immunity and produce antibodies called anti venom, and then they would extract that from the horse the hemoglobe in front of the blood. Now we got an

anti evnom that we can use on humans. And so those the anti event and those anybody's when somebody is bit by a snake, when use the ant evnin that's derived from that snake snake's venom. Uh those anybody's go into too, the human find the anybody's find the venom and cling to it so that you can't do anything. It's like off me, no, I'll never let you go. And I want to know how that first started to That's who was the first person who thought maybe this

poison that kills us can heal us. These Brazilian doctors were the first ones. And so let's inject into a horse and to see it's just amazing because think about it, I mean it's so massive, No that that makes sense, but just the initial idea, the spark of curiosity, which we always talk about, it's pretty amazing, gorgeous. Yeah yeah, so, um, chuck, if you this is no one knows this yet. This is the big secret. But this podcast, this episode is

based on two articles. And did you find the common thread between the two articles, Um, Sean Connery Willie Nilly Willy Nilly in both articles you say that a lot though, that's I can see that. But did you know willy Nilly's hyphenated? Yeah, I thought it was capitalized like a name. Just the Willie part is capitalized willy nilly. So these Brazilian doctors figured that out right, they were not the first to figure out that, hey, this thing that kills

me could also in a certain way. At the very least, this is very um uh. This part using poisons right to cure other problems is very logical. It's saying, this poison does this, and this malady does the opposite. So if you apply this poison to this malady, it should bring you back to homeostasis hopefully, which is what we're all searching for. And one of the first guys to to follow this reasoning to the very dangerous conclusion of here take this deadly nightshade um was a Scottish researcher

named Thomas Frasier. Are you gonna try this word? Uh? Setal colin stays inhibitor. Wow, thank you you practice that one. That was the first time I said it out loud, although I mouthed it a few times. Well, he's atropine as that thing that you just said that's found in deadly nightshade belladonna very potent hallucinogen um, very dangerous poison as well. And this atropine, which is an active ingredient and contains an alkaloid that this UM, Thomas Fraser figured out,

combats the UM the effects of antrax. Yeah, so antrax and saran gas similarly, they're both nerve toxins and the way that they kill you this is horrible. I know, it's unbelievable. So, like you have this thing called a setal colin stairs and uh, it's a normal it's a normal enzyme in your body. That UM basically tells your neurons to fire, your nerves fire because it says, hey,

go fire UM, and it breaks down naturally. What saren and antrax do is they prevent it from being broken out and it just hangs out in your synapses and tells your nerves to keep firing and firing and firing, and your body just overloads on electrical charges and you die very painfully, very painfully because you feel everything because all the nerves in your body are firing way more

than they should be. UM. So what what Scottish physician Thomas Fraser figured out is that atropine is an acetal colline stays inhibitor, so it goes in and basically binds the receptors where the acetal colling stays would normally bind. It's that itself and hence atropine. This poison can prevent the effects of antrax and saren and that's still used today. Ironically from the Deadly nightshade plant. The whole concept of using poisonous medicine is just dripping with irony. It is

it is Josh. Another thing they're doing these days at the University of Buffalo is they are using um chilan tarantula rose tarantula to combat heart attack death. So cell walls have these little channels that open when the cell stretches, and they basically helped to contract and release. Your heart muscles are probably just contract well. They they channel the ions through. These are ion channels. The ions give it the electrical signal, so it's part of the pumping, right.

But if these things get too wide, there will be too many positive ions, and that is basically what could potentially lead to a heart attack because it throws off the rhythm, and your heart attack is is just um a rhythmic heartbeat. So this tarantula of enom binds to these channels and blocks it from passing through and potentially saves people from heart attacks. Tarantula in them. Yeah, and scorpions. Yeah, I told you that I knew someone who was undergoing

that therapy. We talked about that in the most with the most venomous creature on what we did. Yeah, And I tried to find research on him today to see if he is still fighting his fight with cancer, and I could not find out. But there's a guy I could ask and I got a lot of hope. This guy's a big inspiration for me. Well, it's good. Let everybody know. I will unless it's bad news and then

I will just not speak of it. But what we were talking about is scorpion venom UH is being used to treat in his case, brain brain cancer, the Israeli yellow scorpion, and it has a protein that binds itself to UH cancer cells found in glioma's and that is brain cancer actually, and it it basically keeps it from replicating itself, keeps he cells from spreading. Well it does.

And they also figured out that you can attach a UM basically a radioactive iodine to this venom, the protein found in the venom, and so the venom goes and seeks out the glioma and it brings with it along for the ride this radioactive iodine and as we all know, cancer cells don't like radiation, so it basically seeks in destroys. It's like a vehicle for it. It is. Is this the iron oxide nanoparticles? I don't know? All right, here's

the deal. This is what I got. Chlorotoxin is the chemical that affects the protein, and the protein is what helps spread the cancer. This is new. I think they have a new study where they got chemically bonded iron oxide nanoparticles. They put that with the lab made version of the chlorotoxin and they created these nanoprobes. Each nanoprobe can carry twenty chlorotoxin molecules. Did they paint like that's basically what it is. So it's tumor cell uptakes a

single nanoparticle. It's absorbing a lot of this chlorotoxin it once. So basically they did this on on mice and they found that with the nanoparticles that there are the nanoprobes that they're using, um it fights the tumor by percent compared to of just the venom. So I guess they've given it a little super car. They can hold a lot of this stuff in the trunk. That is really cool. Yeah, good. Up with mice, hunt, up with mice, up with scorpion venom,

down with cancer? Right, Well, you got anything else? I do not. I don't either, Chuck. I think let's turn out better than I thought. Oh yeah, I had this turned out exactly how I hoped it would. Really yeah, I thought it was gonna be great and it was. That was very nice. Uh. If you want to check out these two articles, you can type in poison medicine and plant medicine into the search bar how stuff works

dot Com. That will bring both of them up, along with a bunch of other cool stuff in our wonderful search page. Um. And since I said search bar, you know that means it's time for what they spook question and an answer session. We do this from time to time, Josh, we throw it on Facebook. He ask us anything. We'll zip through as many of these as we can the next couple of episodes. I like how people do ask us anything and then we ignore it a lot of it. Save these, by the way, because we may not be

done with these. I printed them out for us. Go ahead, you take the first one. Ah. This one's from Cyrus Brojas at the time when it pronounced his name. Uh, do you guys really have cubes right next to each other at the office? Not only do we have cubes right next to each other? Now, Chuck, you moved and we're like, we don't share a wall anymore, but there's nothing but open space between us. Yeah, I'm behind you and you are behind me. We're like five ft from

one another. So I you did not like it first? It was not so I disliked it. It It was just weird, man, It's so weird. Um. So now I spend my days is kind of staring at Chuck while he researches and things. Yeah. Uh. This from Emily Tran, What has been your most interesting or memorable dream to date? Um? I, Emily, have celebrity dreams all the time where I am really good buddies with Larry David or Jack Black, whoever my heroes are, and they're really realistic and always wake up and and

very disappointed. Huh that that's not the case. You have? You had some friendships with some of your heroes these days? Think, Yeah, but not Larry David yet. Maybe one day, maybe one day. Um, you got a memorable dream? Yeah, I do. I don't remember the dream but um, I'm gonna bring you me in here on this one. She tells me that for three nights in a row, I would sit up and point like at the ceiling, be like, what's that kid doing up there? And she'd be like, what are you

talking about? Look? And there'd be nothing there, of course, and she'd be like, what do you mean? And I thing, let's go back this week. I have no recollection of it. Whatsoever your house might be haunted, dudes, I have no idea what that dream was or anything like that. So, but there's kids like in our ceiling. It's scored three nights in the run, Tom Blake, there's a bustle in my head, drow. What should I do? I think everyone

knows the answer. Don't be alarmed? Yeah, technically that's the first step, though, That's like, first, don't be alarmed, then something right? So what comes after that? I don't know. We not to ask Jimmy Page or maybe Robert Playing wrote that. I say, go back inside, go into your house and beware the child on the ceiling. What country would you like to live in other than the States.

I've always wanted to live in Spain. I think Spain would be really neat to live in, although their government is in so much turmoil and they have like a whole separatist region. Um, if everybody could just mellow out in Spain, I I I would drop out. You never hear from me again. I'd be on some island or something. Would you do island living? I could do island living as well, if they had electricity and all that stuff, like it has to be a rich guy's island. A

rich guy's island. Yeah. Um, let me see what is your favorite thing? This is Jason Carpenter. What is your favorite thing a listener has ever sent you in the mail? Beer ranks pretty high there. Um, beat Jerky, little little bit sweets. I always like seeing that package, right, the honeycombs one. Did you have those? Yeah? That's because my all time favorite little bit sweets? Candy coffee. You've gotten coffee getting coffee? Yeah? The beat Jerky was really high

up there. It's like buds, smoked meats or something. Since from a listener ound in California. Oh that lady that printed her photographs on the paper that she made. That that was pretty neat. Yeah, we get lots of cool stuff. It's I don't want to hurt people's fee mugs were pretty awesome. I have still use that unicorn tears. I like the Joe Garden's book. Yeah, that was nice. We

get a bunch of cool stuff. It's tots are really separated out because we've gotten some cool postcards even all right, And I want to say my last one, Um, the last one I rose from Janetsey Patrick. I realized I forgot to ask her to tell her that. Tell her? Yeah, how about one more each? Uh? Classic debate Power to be Invisible or Fly? Um? I would fly. I don't think i'd want to know what most people have to

say about me when I'm not around. Yeah, I would fly too, because that means I wouldn't have to fly commercially anymore, which is something I hate passionately. And that one, by the way, was um, Shanna McCann, thanks for that. I'm gonna finish up with Melissa Rosenthal. When you were children, what were your favorite books? Um? I am going to

say generally anything by shel Silverstein. When I was young, young, into my little tween years, I got really into bloom County the comic, got all those books, and then my favorite book, though the first book I ever read, really read, was when I was like eight or nine. I read The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper and it was released in nineteen eight. Award winning children's book about these mice that

live in Macy's in New York. Sounds cool. Santa Claus is kidnapped and they have to figure it out and track of the case. Why is everybody always kidnapedything? I don't know, but I have no idea why this hasn't been like a Disney movie. It was excellent. I read it every year for like seven to twelve nice and it was really good. What's yours? Uh? Probably my favorite little kid's book was Huper Humperdinck not Him, which is uh in that Dr Seuss camp but not a Doctor

Seusee book, you know what I'm talking about. Um. I read a lot of Richard Scary and Barren Stain Bears, and then as I got a little older, I reade Ramona Quimby books for years. Those never read those. We both did Encyclopedia Brown too. Yeah, it's cool. I'll always remember he knew that that one kid was fake crying, and that he was the culprit because the kid put fake tears like on the outside of his eyes, but you always try from the inside. Yeah, what a dumb kid.

Everyone knows that, but a lot of the kids see grapple with were pretty stupid. Yeah that's true. I'd like to read this today and see fucking figure him out. Oh, Betty, just be like, I can't read this, you think. Yeah. Well, if you have questions for us, you can always post them on Facebook, Facebook, dot com, slash stuff you Should Know. UM. You can also tweet to us at s y s K podcast and UM. You can reach us regular snail

email at stuff podcast. At how stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on the house. Stuff works dot com home page. Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camry. It's ready, are you