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So the hero's journey
is all about transformation, isn't it?

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We're transforming
throughout the entire journey,

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whether it's departure,
initiation or return.

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You know, it's interesting, in initiation,
which is what I'm talking about,

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Joseph Campbell made it very clear:

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It's war out there!

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It's hell.

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And you need to be armed
with everything you can possibly find

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to be able to get through it,
day by day, minute by minute,

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nanosecond by nanosecond.

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Now, the transformation you've heard about
could be mental, psychological, spiritual.

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But I'm going to teach you,

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I'm going to guide you through
a brand new kind of transformation

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based upon a science that's so exciting

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that's it's blown the minds
of people like myself,

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a physician and a scientist,
and all my colleagues.

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And now I'm going to blow your mind.

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Are you ready?

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(Audience) Yeah!

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Have you ever heard of epigenetics?

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Raise your hand.

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Okay, very good. Excellent.

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Have you had your kale today?

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Soon, soon, you'll understand
why this is such -

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well -

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an epigenetic transformation.

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A tale of kale.

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(Laughter)

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Ready?

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Okay.

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Well,

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made it very simple.

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First, we start with this:

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I was taught, and I'm going
to teach you my journey too,

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share it with you,

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that you are what you eat.

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Have you heard this?

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Of course! You are what you eat.

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So, you know, out there,
sometimes it works;

40
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well, sometimes it doesn't.

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(Laughter)

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I try, and I really do.

43
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So, I try to live
a very healthy lifestyle.

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There's my armpit picture.

45
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I am a triathlete;

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I like to get out there and, you know,
get outdoors at any excuse I can,

47
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no matter what it looks like when I do it.

48
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But I do it. I have fun. I show up.

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The same thing goes with the food.

50
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Lots of colors - check! check! check!

51
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They tell me what to do - I do it!

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That's exactly what I love to do, right?

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Did you do that too?

54
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Of course you did.

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Everything was going well,

56
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until something
rather interesting happened.

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Well, you see, the holy grail, all along,
was DNA was your destiny,

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and that, quite frankly,
genes controlled you.

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So, you are what you are, you know?

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Whatever you got when you were born,
you're stuck with!

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And that's it!

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A little proclivity toward obesity,
toward diabetes, heart disease,

63
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ruh roh, you're in trouble.

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Right?

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What could you do about it?

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Well, you kind of just keep remembering,

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"Well, I am what I eat.
I try to do the best I can."

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But as scientists, we never knew
where any of this was going.

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We had some observational studies,
and back and forth.

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What was really happening
in that black box?

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And then all hell broke out in 2007.

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That's how recent it was.

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The birth of epigenetics.

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Let me tell you how it happens.

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I'll bet you think that all great science
happens with strategy,

76
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and we sit down with blueprints
and figure this out right off the bat.

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Nah. We're just screwing around in the lab

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just trying to figure out
fun things to do.

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And then one day,
something wild and crazy happens.

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Dr. Randy Jirtle at Duke University

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one day was playing around
with some very special mice -

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they're called Agouti mice.

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Now, Agouti mice have
the Agouti gene, appropriately so.

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Now, this gene basically condemns them

85
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to a life of being obese, floppy, yellow -

86
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very important because
that's connected with this gene -

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color of the fur,

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and they die early
of all the usual suspects:

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heart diesease, diabetes and cancer.

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Kind of a - not a good life.

91
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Right?

92
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So one day, he was saying, "You know,
I know where this gene's located.

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And I also know that there are these
funny little things called methyl donors -

94
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CH3, a little side chain -

95
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that we could, you know,
sometimes play with here,

96
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that might just do something
with this gene ...

97
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I don't know.

98
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Well, what's the worst that can happen?"

99
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So how do we give
these little happy campers,

100
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these Agouti mice, methyl donors?

101
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You guessed it: It's the green stuff.

102
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Mom was right.

103
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So, he fed them all the greens he could
in the form of folate and B vitamins,

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a little greens, he kind of
ground them all up,

105
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and said, "Here."

106
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And he fed the mothers
who were going to become pregnant.

107
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And then he sat around, and he thought,
"Well, I wonder what's going to happen."

108
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You see, we scientists
have no personal life,

109
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so we sit around looking at cages,
waiting for mice to be born.

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This is what we do on Friday nights.

111
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Right?

112
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So he's sitting there like this
with the whole team,

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going, "Okay, let's just
pop one of those little babes out

114
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and see what it looks like."

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Son of a gun.

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The birth of epigenetics.

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Only eating greens, that mother
produced a baby that was lean, brown

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and lived forever.

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(Laughter)

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How cool is that?

121
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(Laughter)

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Eating your greens.

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Well, needless to say, this was published,

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and this absolutely ripped apart
the entire scientific world.

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What?!

126
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This is heresy!

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DNA is not destiny?

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No.

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As it turns out, everything you do
with your whole life

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is now your destiny.

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Everything from eating
to thoughts that you may have

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to every single lifestyle habit

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is messing with one thing in particular.

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And what that is, is

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your very gene expression.

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This is a picture from my laboratory
at the National Institutes of Health.

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These are fat cells - "Know thy enemy."

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So -

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(Laughter)

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This is important -
it's like a therapy thing.

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Just keep staring at it,
and maybe it will just go away after -

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But there it is.

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And you can see
all the way into the nucleus.

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Right?

145
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And one of the things we found out was,

146
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wow, I can affect everything
from my fat cell distribution

147
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to how many I have.

148
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I could reverse it.

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So if I got born with something
that was a little funky,

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I can dampen that down.

151
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Did you know that if you were born

152
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with the most lethal form
of the obesity gene, the FTO gene,

153
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that by doing something
as simple as taking a walk every day,

154
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over the course of six months,
you dampen it by 40 percent.

155
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Add that - add a little kale to it -

156
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(Laughter)

157
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and then what happens?

158
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Wow, you're way over 50 percent.

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We're loving it. This is good!
We didn't know this!

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Every single thing.

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That means, for instance, addiction.

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Let's look at that for a moment.

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Cigarettes. Like to smoke?

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This is your last day.

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(Laughter)

166
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Because what happens is
over the course of two to three years,

167
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we have counted over 50,000
different genetic mutations

168
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that come out of this,

169
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variations on your gene expression,

170
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because you smoked.

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Your body's saying, "What?
What are you doing?!

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Think about this!"

173
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Well, who's saying that, actually?

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Let's go down to the gene level.

175
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When you go to the actual
gene level, what do you see?

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You see the gene sitting there.
Nothing's going on with the gene.

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The gene's just sitting there
with lots of potential.

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Little histones hang around,
they're little proteins,

179
00:08:04,151 --> 00:08:06,288
and they basically monitor
what's going on.

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They play with the volume
on this whole thing.

181
00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,115
And they basically, "What are you doing?!
You're eating a what?!

182
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That's a Ho-Ho!

183
00:08:13,497 --> 00:08:16,588
That's not food.
That's a science fair project!

184
00:08:16,588 --> 00:08:17,771
(Laughter)

185
00:08:17,771 --> 00:08:20,007
I can't believe you just
put that in your mouth!

186
00:08:20,007 --> 00:08:21,687
Okay, fine! Suffer!"

187
00:08:21,687 --> 00:08:24,255
And then, all of the sudden,

188
00:08:24,535 --> 00:08:26,820
the speech to the rest
of the body from that gene

189
00:08:26,820 --> 00:08:29,135
is "Erode immune function."

190
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Here come some allergens.
It's just a mess.

191
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(Gasp)

192
00:08:34,489 --> 00:08:36,236
"She ate an apple! Yay!"

193
00:08:36,236 --> 00:08:38,517
And the histones
are all having little orgasms.

194
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And they're all happy and everything.

195
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And then they, "Whoa! ..."

196
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And then you augment immune function.

197
00:08:45,708 --> 00:08:46,927
You rock and roll.

198
00:08:46,927 --> 00:08:49,857
You fill your body with phytonutrients.

199
00:08:49,857 --> 00:08:51,140
Isn't that the way to go?

200
00:08:51,140 --> 00:08:53,309
What if you were born
with the addictive gene?

201
00:08:53,309 --> 00:08:55,856
You can dampen it; you can quiet it

202
00:08:55,856 --> 00:08:58,547
by every mouthful that you take,

203
00:08:58,547 --> 00:09:02,817
every step that you take
with physical movement, for instance.

204
00:09:02,822 --> 00:09:06,112
And also, please, whatever you do,
don't forget the brain.

205
00:09:06,112 --> 00:09:07,587
Every thought you have.

206
00:09:07,587 --> 00:09:09,341
Right now, every single one of you,

207
00:09:09,341 --> 00:09:12,467
I'm here as a physician
to save your lives.

208
00:09:12,805 --> 00:09:14,002
Don't you just love that?

209
00:09:14,002 --> 00:09:15,196
I love saying that.

210
00:09:15,196 --> 00:09:17,131
Makes me feel so - well, anyway.

211
00:09:17,487 --> 00:09:18,595
I digress.

212
00:09:18,595 --> 00:09:22,295
So what I'd like you to do right now
is I want to save your life a little bit.

213
00:09:22,295 --> 00:09:24,431
I want you to turn
to the person next to you,

214
00:09:24,431 --> 00:09:28,142
and I want you to say, "You are so cool!"
and give them a high five, right now.

215
00:09:28,142 --> 00:09:29,137
(Audience responds)

216
00:09:29,137 --> 00:09:30,386
Alright!

217
00:09:30,673 --> 00:09:32,217
Okay, we're done.

218
00:09:32,217 --> 00:09:37,577
Now, in those few seconds,
while you were high-fiving somebody -

219
00:09:38,288 --> 00:09:39,890
get your hands off her! -

220
00:09:39,890 --> 00:09:41,426
(Laughter)

221
00:09:42,588 --> 00:09:45,298
what you were doing
was actually changing gene expression.

222
00:09:45,298 --> 00:09:48,683
Because you see you laughing right now?
I'm helping save your life. Why?

223
00:09:48,683 --> 00:09:51,310
Research shows that you have a choice:

224
00:09:51,310 --> 00:09:53,367
You can either laugh or be in despair.

225
00:09:53,367 --> 00:09:55,346
You cannot do both at the same time,

226
00:09:55,346 --> 00:09:57,295
because the brain doesn't work that way.

227
00:09:57,295 --> 00:09:59,878
So I'm keeping you over here
instead of over there.

228
00:09:59,878 --> 00:10:01,698
Are you enjoying yourselves?

229
00:10:01,698 --> 00:10:03,423
Wonderful. I'm thrilled.

230
00:10:03,423 --> 00:10:04,426
Okay.

231
00:10:04,426 --> 00:10:05,436
(Laughter)

232
00:10:05,436 --> 00:10:08,797
Now, just want to drill it home again.

233
00:10:08,797 --> 00:10:10,614
DNA is not destiny.

234
00:10:10,614 --> 00:10:11,793
This is brand new!

235
00:10:11,793 --> 00:10:14,077
This is so exciting and so empowering!

236
00:10:14,077 --> 00:10:15,918
It's kind of scary too, isn't it?

237
00:10:15,918 --> 00:10:19,541
Because when you think about it,
every single thought, every mouthful,

238
00:10:19,541 --> 00:10:23,836
every single movement that you take
changes gene expression.

239
00:10:23,836 --> 00:10:25,300
Remember those histones -

240
00:10:25,300 --> 00:10:27,205
they're scoping you right now -

241
00:10:27,695 --> 00:10:29,060
alters your destiny

242
00:10:29,060 --> 00:10:31,581
and transforms the mind-body.

243
00:10:31,581 --> 00:10:33,163
What's not to love?

244
00:10:33,163 --> 00:10:37,154
So, instead of "You are what you eat,"

245
00:10:37,154 --> 00:10:39,394
you are what your parents ate?

246
00:10:39,394 --> 00:10:41,919
Well, that's what this research showed.

247
00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:43,420
So, hmm, wait a minute now,

248
00:10:43,420 --> 00:10:46,570
in my journey, I had
to think about this for a second.

249
00:10:46,570 --> 00:10:48,508
No comment about the hair.

250
00:10:48,508 --> 00:10:49,510
(Laughter)

251
00:10:49,510 --> 00:10:50,950
I was helpless.

252
00:10:50,950 --> 00:10:52,250
(Laughter)

253
00:10:52,250 --> 00:10:55,310
Now, there's my mom and my dad.

254
00:10:55,949 --> 00:10:58,725
The good news is they ate well.

255
00:10:58,725 --> 00:11:01,689
So I'm looking pretty good
in the neighborhood, right?

256
00:11:01,689 --> 00:11:04,729
What if they didn't?
What if they were, like, trash eaters?

257
00:11:04,729 --> 00:11:07,670
I mean, you know, welcome to America.

258
00:11:07,670 --> 00:11:09,668
So here's the deal:

259
00:11:09,668 --> 00:11:11,697
What if they were eating not so well?

260
00:11:11,697 --> 00:11:13,688
A lot of science fair projects.

261
00:11:14,067 --> 00:11:15,288
Hmmm.

262
00:11:15,494 --> 00:11:17,519
Am I still okay? Yeah. You know why?

263
00:11:17,519 --> 00:11:19,708
Epigenetics works that way too.

264
00:11:19,708 --> 00:11:20,929
Here's the way it works.

265
00:11:20,929 --> 00:11:22,399
Remember this.

266
00:11:22,399 --> 00:11:28,458
Genetics may load the gun,
but epigenetics pulls the trigger.

267
00:11:29,479 --> 00:11:31,398
Ahhh. I see you're all going, Whew!

268
00:11:31,398 --> 00:11:34,748
Wow, you can put the Prozac away;
you're feeling better.

269
00:11:34,748 --> 00:11:36,206
It's good. It's good.

270
00:11:36,206 --> 00:11:38,699
So, I Iucked out.
My parents were pretty cool.

271
00:11:38,699 --> 00:11:39,699
Alright?

272
00:11:39,699 --> 00:11:40,697
I'm looking good.

273
00:11:40,697 --> 00:11:43,367
And then all of the sudden,
just when I was sitting back,

274
00:11:43,367 --> 00:11:47,008
thinking, "Yeah,
this is feeling real good,"

275
00:11:47,008 --> 00:11:48,567
new research showed up:

276
00:11:48,567 --> 00:11:50,836
You are what your grandparents ate?!

277
00:11:50,836 --> 00:11:51,966
Are you kidding me?!

278
00:11:51,966 --> 00:11:54,217
That's two generations.

279
00:11:54,217 --> 00:11:56,918
Look, this is a hero's journey already.

280
00:11:56,918 --> 00:12:00,065
I'm working as hard as I can;
I'm trying to do this right.

281
00:12:00,065 --> 00:12:03,489
What?! Two generations?!
You're killing me here.

282
00:12:03,489 --> 00:12:05,666
So I started thinking
about this for a second.

283
00:12:05,666 --> 00:12:07,637
I know the grandparents
on my mom's side.

284
00:12:07,637 --> 00:12:09,403
They're okay; they're exonerated.

285
00:12:09,403 --> 00:12:13,267
Ate okay. Musicians. Joyful.
Really nice people. Whatever.

286
00:12:13,267 --> 00:12:14,708
Didn't know my dad's side,

287
00:12:14,708 --> 00:12:16,473
because they died early.

288
00:12:16,813 --> 00:12:20,067
And I was wondering, Wow,
who are these people and what goes on?

289
00:12:20,067 --> 00:12:22,666
So this is Grandpa Raymond.

290
00:12:22,666 --> 00:12:24,018
Right?

291
00:12:24,018 --> 00:12:28,033
And this is my grandmother
on that side, my father's side.

292
00:12:28,033 --> 00:12:30,527
And that is Grandma Mollnar.

293
00:12:31,046 --> 00:12:33,749
Hmmm. Elizabeth Mollnar.

294
00:12:33,749 --> 00:12:35,949
What were you cooking? How did you eat?

295
00:12:35,949 --> 00:12:37,817
I started getting a little paranoid.

296
00:12:37,817 --> 00:12:42,558
Why? Because the new science,
on top of the Agouti mice,

297
00:12:42,558 --> 00:12:45,268
there was something
incredible that came down

298
00:12:45,268 --> 00:12:47,208
that you need to understand.

299
00:12:47,829 --> 00:12:51,218
You know, we look at nature
and nurture intertwined.

300
00:12:51,619 --> 00:12:56,007
A number of studies
showed something really mind-blowing

301
00:12:56,007 --> 00:12:57,998
that I want to share with you.

302
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:03,205
And that is, the Swedes
were the lead-off on this.

303
00:13:03,525 --> 00:13:08,253
The Swedes love to count
demographics and numbers.

304
00:13:08,253 --> 00:13:13,957
Indeed, they collected some of the most
incredible data I've ever seen.

305
00:13:13,957 --> 00:13:16,078
And this is in the mid-1880s.

306
00:13:16,078 --> 00:13:18,927
There's a wonderful
little place called Överkalix.

307
00:13:18,927 --> 00:13:21,969
And in this place -
it's fairly remote in Sweden -

308
00:13:21,969 --> 00:13:23,679
they either had feast or famine.

309
00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:27,520
And after looking at multiple generations,
guess what they found.

310
00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:31,398
That if you were the child
and the grandchild

311
00:13:31,398 --> 00:13:35,349
of someone who had been in famine,
you actually live longer.

312
00:13:36,008 --> 00:13:39,567
Because what happens is your genes
kick in with survival, don't they?

313
00:13:39,567 --> 00:13:42,878
All of the sudden, you just sort of
amp it up with the survival thing.

314
00:13:42,889 --> 00:13:43,919
That's the good news.

315
00:13:43,919 --> 00:13:47,767
The funky news is you also end up
having other issues like depression.

316
00:13:48,258 --> 00:13:49,258
Right?

317
00:13:49,258 --> 00:13:50,957
Well, what about if it was feast?

318
00:13:50,957 --> 00:13:53,829
You're sitting around there going,
yeah, give me that remote.

319
00:13:53,829 --> 00:13:55,667
And just letting in rip.

320
00:13:55,667 --> 00:13:56,839
What happens with those?

321
00:13:56,839 --> 00:13:59,646
You actually die earlier, all cause.

322
00:14:00,429 --> 00:14:01,989
Hmmm, that's interesting.

323
00:14:01,989 --> 00:14:05,857
What about the horrific issue
of World War II

324
00:14:05,857 --> 00:14:08,712
with the Dutch Hongerwinter.

325
00:14:08,712 --> 00:14:10,648
And what they did during that time was

326
00:14:10,648 --> 00:14:15,396
there were little towns in the Netherlands
that were cut off, that were blockaded

327
00:14:15,396 --> 00:14:17,127
during that terrible war.

328
00:14:17,127 --> 00:14:21,020
And those people
were eating 580 calories a day.

329
00:14:21,020 --> 00:14:23,308
22,000 people died.

330
00:14:23,998 --> 00:14:27,037
What happened to their children
and their grandchildren?

331
00:14:27,037 --> 00:14:30,408
They were all very
and significantly underweight

332
00:14:30,408 --> 00:14:32,439
for at least two generations,

333
00:14:33,168 --> 00:14:35,696
in addition to the psychological prodrom.

334
00:14:35,696 --> 00:14:38,139
The industrial revolution.
Hmm, what's up with that?

335
00:14:38,139 --> 00:14:39,886
A lot of plastics.

336
00:14:40,176 --> 00:14:41,837
A lot of science fair projects.

337
00:14:41,837 --> 00:14:43,297
What do you think that's done?

338
00:14:43,297 --> 00:14:49,978
Hmmm. Could that have laid the groundwork
for a lot of the issues we see today?

339
00:14:50,227 --> 00:14:51,589
Question mark.

340
00:14:51,867 --> 00:14:54,272
The epigeneticists are hard at work.

341
00:14:54,272 --> 00:14:55,320
And then finally,

342
00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,487
the British Avon study of the mid-1990s.

343
00:14:57,487 --> 00:14:58,994
Guess what they found.

344
00:14:58,994 --> 00:15:02,136
And this was very important information.

345
00:15:02,436 --> 00:15:04,147
When you had the feast or famine,

346
00:15:04,147 --> 00:15:10,188
or when you had, in this case, smoking
among men, they looked at specifically.

347
00:15:10,188 --> 00:15:14,271
And if the smoking started
between the ages of 9 and 12,

348
00:15:14,271 --> 00:15:19,578
during the time when your epigenome
was most vulnerable, guess what happened.

349
00:15:19,578 --> 00:15:24,378
Their sons became overweight and obese
and so did their grandchildren.

350
00:15:26,227 --> 00:15:27,988
There's a crossover.

351
00:15:28,218 --> 00:15:29,268
Wow.

352
00:15:29,268 --> 00:15:32,487
Suddenly, I was thinking,
grandparents, grandparents. Huh.

353
00:15:32,487 --> 00:15:34,088
I have to know more about this.

354
00:15:34,088 --> 00:15:36,108
I really want to understand more about me.

355
00:15:36,108 --> 00:15:38,990
What happened to that side of the family?

356
00:15:38,990 --> 00:15:40,770
Because that was a big question mark.

357
00:15:40,770 --> 00:15:41,973
So I scoped it out.

358
00:15:41,973 --> 00:15:43,419
Guess what.

359
00:15:44,809 --> 00:15:47,048
I'm the direct descendant of gypsies!

360
00:15:47,048 --> 00:15:48,338
It's a trip!

361
00:15:48,338 --> 00:15:51,778
We have all kinds of Hungarians
and gypsies and wild and crazy people

362
00:15:51,778 --> 00:15:53,078
on that side of the family.

363
00:15:53,078 --> 00:15:54,287
And that's what they ate.

364
00:15:54,287 --> 00:15:56,198
What is that yellow stuff, anyway?

365
00:15:56,198 --> 00:16:00,075
I wanted to understand
what kind of life they lived.

366
00:16:00,075 --> 00:16:03,320
Well, as it turns out, it was a joyful,
wild and crazy life too.

367
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:04,572
Just different food.

368
00:16:04,572 --> 00:16:06,399
I was kind of interested in that food.

369
00:16:06,399 --> 00:16:07,405
Kind of paranoid.

370
00:16:07,405 --> 00:16:09,564
Where were the greens
that I learned to love -

371
00:16:09,564 --> 00:16:10,966
those little methyl donors?

372
00:16:10,966 --> 00:16:13,327
Well, here's a recipe I found

373
00:16:13,327 --> 00:16:16,127
for one of the soups
that my grandmother made.

374
00:16:16,127 --> 00:16:18,656
You see where it says kale, right?

375
00:16:18,656 --> 00:16:19,798
(Laughter)

376
00:16:19,798 --> 00:16:21,457
I'm obsessed!

377
00:16:21,457 --> 00:16:22,577
You noticed that.

378
00:16:22,577 --> 00:16:24,918
Well, as it turns out,
for crying out loud,

379
00:16:24,918 --> 00:16:26,687
you methylate not just with kale -

380
00:16:26,687 --> 00:16:28,417
that's nothing more than a metaphor

381
00:16:28,417 --> 00:16:31,415
for all the great things
you're going to be doing for your body,

382
00:16:31,415 --> 00:16:33,909
epigenetically, with
the great thoughts that you had,

383
00:16:33,909 --> 00:16:35,817
with movement that you have,

384
00:16:35,817 --> 00:16:36,987
everything.

385
00:16:36,987 --> 00:16:39,447
And with what you eat,
and that's all good stuff.

386
00:16:39,447 --> 00:16:41,161
But I was still paranoid.

387
00:16:41,161 --> 00:16:44,478
I was thinking, hmm, I wonder
what my genes look like.

388
00:16:44,478 --> 00:16:46,218
And I don't mean Calvin Klein.

389
00:16:46,218 --> 00:16:52,587
So, I went ahead and got a BodySync
data analysis, a DNA analysis.

390
00:16:52,587 --> 00:16:53,939
Guess what I got.

391
00:16:53,939 --> 00:16:57,468
A little swab just like
that CSI Miami thing on TV.

392
00:16:57,468 --> 00:16:59,207
I went for the swab, sent it off,

393
00:16:59,207 --> 00:17:01,347
and I sat around thinking, oh no.

394
00:17:01,347 --> 00:17:03,457
And I looked at the whole host of genes.

395
00:17:03,457 --> 00:17:06,197
I wanted to make sure
I was methylating optimally.

396
00:17:06,197 --> 00:17:07,598
And so would you.

397
00:17:07,598 --> 00:17:10,706
So, I looked at one particular gene,

398
00:17:10,706 --> 00:17:13,316
especially - I really wanted
to hone in on this one.

399
00:17:13,316 --> 00:17:16,667
Because this was a gene
that was really, really, really important

400
00:17:16,667 --> 00:17:21,448
to be able to help take methyl donors
from folate, like from kale,

401
00:17:21,448 --> 00:17:25,118
and to be able to do DNA repair.

402
00:17:25,118 --> 00:17:27,287
With all the crazy things
I do all day long,

403
00:17:27,287 --> 00:17:28,657
and you do all day long,

404
00:17:28,657 --> 00:17:30,997
I wanted to repair my DNA optimally.

405
00:17:30,997 --> 00:17:33,619
So, I looked at this one gene:

406
00:17:33,884 --> 00:17:39,489
methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase.

407
00:17:39,489 --> 00:17:40,756
That's the name of it.

408
00:17:40,756 --> 00:17:43,336
Well, I'd never seen it in gene-speak.

409
00:17:43,636 --> 00:17:45,057
Well, there it is.

410
00:17:45,057 --> 00:17:47,038
(Laughter)

411
00:17:47,371 --> 00:17:48,367
Okay.

412
00:17:48,367 --> 00:17:49,902
I knew you'd get it immediately.

413
00:17:49,902 --> 00:17:50,919
(Laughter)

414
00:17:50,919 --> 00:17:52,789
I looked at it and I fell off my chair.

415
00:17:52,789 --> 00:17:54,598
I said, I can't put that on a slide.

416
00:17:54,598 --> 00:17:55,818
(Laughter)

417
00:17:55,818 --> 00:17:57,947
It's the mother (ahem) gene.

418
00:17:57,947 --> 00:17:58,946
(Laughter)

419
00:17:58,946 --> 00:18:02,581
And in the case of Grandmother Mollnar,
it's a - put a G there -

420
00:18:02,581 --> 00:18:04,909
it's a grandmother (ahem) gene.

421
00:18:04,909 --> 00:18:07,498
So there it was.
It's an easy one to remember.

422
00:18:07,498 --> 00:18:10,827
Lo and behold, my gene was normal.

423
00:18:10,827 --> 00:18:12,638
There it is. I'm methylating like crazy.

424
00:18:12,638 --> 00:18:14,587
I'm loving every single moment of this.

425
00:18:14,587 --> 00:18:17,428
And I methylate
with everything: mind, body ...

426
00:18:18,028 --> 00:18:19,998
mind, mouth and muscle.

427
00:18:19,998 --> 00:18:21,818
All three of them.

428
00:18:21,818 --> 00:18:24,619
So, I was feeling very, very good.

429
00:18:24,815 --> 00:18:28,437
So, I'm going to gift you
with something special.

430
00:18:28,688 --> 00:18:31,798
I promised you
that on this hero's journey,

431
00:18:31,798 --> 00:18:34,107
you would be armed with something new.

432
00:18:34,107 --> 00:18:35,868
Not just what you already know about:

433
00:18:35,868 --> 00:18:38,918
get in there with perseverance
and will power and determination -

434
00:18:38,918 --> 00:18:40,216
of course that's important.

435
00:18:40,216 --> 00:18:44,237
But I want to give you epigene-speak.

436
00:18:44,237 --> 00:18:45,967
So, you know,

437
00:18:47,287 --> 00:18:48,977
getting your veggies.

438
00:18:48,977 --> 00:18:50,977
Well, yeah, you already know all that.

439
00:18:50,977 --> 00:18:53,387
But now when you
walk into a grocery store,

440
00:18:53,387 --> 00:18:55,848
I want you to be highly enlightened.

441
00:18:55,848 --> 00:18:58,390
I want you to walk up
to the produce section and say,

442
00:18:58,390 --> 00:19:00,708
"I need to score some methyl donors."

443
00:19:00,708 --> 00:19:02,356
(Laughter)

444
00:19:02,356 --> 00:19:05,957
I want to be able to find
any way I possibly can

445
00:19:05,957 --> 00:19:09,767
to be able to "do" my methyl donors.

446
00:19:09,767 --> 00:19:11,928
And you keep saying to yourself,
"Everything I do"

447
00:19:11,928 --> 00:19:14,444
from the moment you leave here,

448
00:19:14,984 --> 00:19:16,706
what kind of thoughts are you having?

449
00:19:16,706 --> 00:19:18,518
Positive thoughts?

450
00:19:18,518 --> 00:19:20,297
Loving thoughts?

451
00:19:21,074 --> 00:19:23,466
You're changing your very epigenome.

452
00:19:23,466 --> 00:19:25,907
Positive thoughts. Loving thoughts.

453
00:19:25,907 --> 00:19:27,624
What are you putting in your mouth?

454
00:19:27,624 --> 00:19:29,677
Think about it. Be mindful.

455
00:19:29,677 --> 00:19:33,416
What about that physical
movement of yours?

456
00:19:33,416 --> 00:19:35,158
Do you actually assume the vertical?

457
00:19:35,158 --> 00:19:38,143
I know it's radical,
but do you assume the vertical?

458
00:19:38,143 --> 00:19:39,628
And move!

459
00:19:40,039 --> 00:19:42,491
And rejoice that you can do that.

460
00:19:42,491 --> 00:19:43,827
Ooh, I love that.

461
00:19:43,827 --> 00:19:46,488
The same time, what are you hooked on?

462
00:19:46,488 --> 00:19:48,648
What are your genes hooked on?

463
00:19:48,648 --> 00:19:49,649
Right?

464
00:19:49,649 --> 00:19:53,499
Are you into kicking the fix? Come on!
Who needs this nasty thing.

465
00:19:53,499 --> 00:19:58,248
These tall things you spend
$12.50 for at the barista.

466
00:19:58,248 --> 00:19:59,429
Ew!

467
00:19:59,429 --> 00:20:00,426
Alright?

468
00:20:00,426 --> 00:20:02,238
Sugary, fatty, salty, hyperpalatable.

469
00:20:02,238 --> 00:20:04,728
It's just kicking in
with that food addiction, right?

470
00:20:04,728 --> 00:20:06,869
No. Instead, come on ...

471
00:20:06,869 --> 00:20:08,148
Do kale.

472
00:20:08,148 --> 00:20:09,700
(Laughter)

473
00:20:10,829 --> 00:20:13,188
So, DNA is not destiny!

474
00:20:13,188 --> 00:20:15,440
It's not destiny at all!

475
00:20:15,630 --> 00:20:16,779
You are!

476
00:20:16,779 --> 00:20:19,358
You write the very script of your life!

477
00:20:19,358 --> 00:20:21,139
Mind, mouth and muscle.

478
00:20:21,139 --> 00:20:22,338
You're the ones doing it!

479
00:20:22,338 --> 00:20:24,679
Just sitting here right now.

480
00:20:24,886 --> 00:20:26,489
You're writing away.

481
00:20:26,489 --> 00:20:30,778
Your histones are busily
monitoring everything in your life.

482
00:20:30,778 --> 00:20:32,219
You love that.

483
00:20:32,219 --> 00:20:34,038
At the same time, you treat yourself.

484
00:20:34,038 --> 00:20:36,358
I always have a cupcake
in at least one slide.

485
00:20:36,358 --> 00:20:38,217
There's always a little treat in there.

486
00:20:38,217 --> 00:20:39,875
And you're also eating

487
00:20:39,875 --> 00:20:43,212
and rejoicing with, ahh, whole foods!

488
00:20:43,212 --> 00:20:44,288
Love it! Love it!

489
00:20:44,288 --> 00:20:45,886
How about that physical activity?

490
00:20:45,886 --> 00:20:47,121
We love that too.

491
00:20:47,121 --> 00:20:49,689
How about mind-body activity?

492
00:20:49,689 --> 00:20:51,098
How about those greens?

493
00:20:51,098 --> 00:20:52,647
Ahh ...

494
00:20:53,342 --> 00:20:55,946
my histones harken.

495
00:20:55,946 --> 00:20:59,448
It's time to methylate.

496
00:20:59,448 --> 00:21:00,449
(Laughter)

497
00:21:00,449 --> 00:21:04,588
I wish you all a very green
hero's journey.

498
00:21:04,588 --> 00:21:06,377
(Applause)