Brain Soda Podcast - Episode 57 - Modeling the Glory of New Found Organisms

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

This week we're talking about one of the early pioneers in a new genre of rock, New Found Glory! We're also talking about a group of species integral to the study of science, model organisms!

Nature's first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold, her early leafs of flower, but only so for an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief, so dawn goes down today, nothing gold can stay. Robert Frost. Brain Soda. It's the Brain Soda Podcast. I as always am your host Kyle, joined by my co-host and cohort Brad. How's it going? Today we're gonna be talking about model organisms. But first, Brad. Yes Kyle. I want to talk to you about glory. Not, not the Civil War film with Matthew Brodick. Okay. Like going out, not that. Like Fame and Glory? Like going out in like the Coliseum? Is there like Faded Glory? Like a food-

Isn't that like a clothing brand? Or something like that? Like if you lost it, and then you're like, Oh f***, I can't, where's my Glory at? F***. Yeah. Cause today we're gonna be talking about Newfound Glory. Oh, okay.

So, I'll admit, we talked about this a little bit before, and I am NOT familiar with this band but I'm ready to be enlightened. well right and to be fair I don't I don't want you to feel intimidated or anything like that as a matter of fact I think it's probably for the better maybe for this segment that you don't. exactly. like Fist of the North Star going in blind is gonna be something I feel like that you know kind of giving you the core principle of what this subject is,

is gonna make or break how you feel about it and maybe if you'll pursue it. But for our listeners at home, the same thing goes. And regardless, we're gonna kind of give you a breakdown of that overall for this segment. Well, yeah, and I mean, and most of the stuff I talk about, you're not too familiar with.

I mean, depending on the subject. Absolutely not. So, yeah. Yeah, it's very much most of the stuff I talk about you're not too familiar with I mean Yeah, it's it's very much kind of one-sided Unfortunately, sorry for that, but it's always interesting. Yeah, go on. Sorry. Absolutely. No, and I appreciate that but We're gonna start our story today in late 1996 Originally called a new found glory. This band was founded in Coral Springs, Florida. It is EZ Core or Happy Hardcore. EZ Core. It is essentially pop punk, so Green Day, Blink 182, right? Those are most typical bands associated with breakdown.

So not solos, but sections of like heavy rhythmic punk or more specifically, hardcore punk sections of songs. Right. So, OK, I was not expecting you to go that way because you said easy core. And then you're like, and then they have breakdowns. So I was thinking they were going to gonna get like go the emo way or something like that you know right right not emotional breakdown they're like rockin but actually yeah but all right cool all right interesting give that a little bit of a disambiguation as well like easy core is kind of a tongue-in-cheek

name genre but like it's something that they threw up on a shirt at one point and like it kind of followed through with bands like All Time Low, The Story So Far, A Day to Remember, things like that right? In 1996, they are just a random collection of guys in Florida, working theme parks and Red Lobsters. Did they grow up in Florida? Yeah. So they're all Florida men? These are pretty cool, ethical dudes. And this band starts out as a five piece. Now, there's three original founding members

with Ian, the bass player, Jordan, the lead singer, and Steve, the rhythm guitarist we know of. And when did they start? How old were they? I really didn't look up their ages or anything like that. But this is like 96, right? We, when covering music, have made the annotation of, you know, this is post-. This is post Nevermind, the grunge era, Nirvana coming into the scene

of mainstream pop culture, right? But this, as in the story obviously, fits in that bubble as well. But there's another album genre, you know, year landmark event that is really important to this story. I'm gonna ask you know, year, landmark event that is really important to this story. I'm going to ask you now, Brad, do you know what any of those may be? I'm pop punk is obviously the genre, right? But the band, the album, the year, sublime, they would be affected by this.

But no, I don't know. Then, no, 1994 is Dookie by Green Day. Oh, OK. Yeah. 1994's Dookie by Green Day. Oh, okay. Yeah, is like really the launching pad. And I have it down here that like, I think they're more categorized as being skate punk. And I think it's fitting why, but bands like The Offspring, No Effects, Bad Religion, and a lot of other bands

that are already producing music. In some examples for over 10 years in the punk scene, Rancid, you know, these guys are producing some of their best stuff around this point in time, 94, 95, and they're getting mainstream radio play and exposure, Sublime as well, because of Dookie and you know Green Day in that not Nirvana mold but the same kind of landmark moment this album within this year by those artists. Yeah they were like a defining band for sure like Green Day

Right. Yeah exactly what you're saying. Right. Not. Yeah. Not one for one, but I feel relatively close. But this story is really pick up in the after birth of that because I feel like for a large part, a lot of that music is kind of not faded into obscurity, but a little bit out of favor. I believe by this point, you know, Green Day is probably coming out with like the Brain Stew album and stuff like that,

like getting a little edgier Brain Stew album and stuff like that, like getting a little edgier in their presentation and things like that. But you know, these guys are looking to harder, heavier music and they're going to go the opposite way. They're looking to make music like Green Day and a lot of their inspirations are Gorilla Biscuits and, you know, Madball and these like kind of edgy hardcore bands, right? Like I find it really cool that like one of the early eighties hardcore bands has a song called Attitude and it's about positive mental attitude. And this band, I feel like is a really definitive trait of being a

positive optimistic musical act but not being overly corny although there's a lot of like heartfelt emotional lyrics you know a lot of them about young love and stuff like that too they're not overly corny but they are kind of positive and optimistic and that's one of the big reasons why I've always enjoyed this band. They're our subject matter today, and I'm really excited to present it to you. With that, they recruit a guy named Taco Joe for their drummer, and a guy from a band named Shy Halood, which some of you may know to be the sand worms from Dune, Chad Gilbert.

Now Chad Gilbert will go on to be their lead guitarist and kind of primary musical composer overall and the backing vocalist for the band. This rounds them out. So he's like, uh, do they still tour and stuff? Yeah, they do. I, well, I, I think a lot less, and we'll get into that when we get into the pandemic era of this band at the very, very end of this.

But yes, to answer your question straightforward, yes. Absolutely. But this, I think is what makes Newfound Glory like sonically what it is, right? Like when we get to a couple years from now and you look at their peers it is the second wave of pop punk and it also is you know kind of low-key a sleeper hardcore punk band right like they are very much on the lighter side of that but when we get into their later

works and some of the ways that this phrenetic energy Spills out, you know in your ear it really fits So this iteration of the band goes out and records the EP. It's all about the girls, right and It's very much kind of tin can recording right these guys were working again Like we said like service jobs to be able to fund this recording. Okay, so this is, they're not even big yet, you're talking about. No, absolutely not.

Okay, okay. Shy Hulu had a small following in the hard course. And Chad, when he entered that band was like 14 years old. So to answer your question about age, they're all like in high school or after graduating and stuff like that. So from there, they've been touring around the Florida area and stuff like that and playing around with these different shows and garnering a little bit of an audience. And that leads them into signing with independent punk label, Eulogy Records, and they swapped out a drummer and Cyrus.

They record Nothing Gold Can Stay, you know, a play on the Robert Frost poem, which we read at the beginning in the cold open, and this is kind of what makes this band. This will get them signed to Drive Thru, who has ties to MCA, and gets them their first major label deal. But like, for a lot of people, this is the album.

This is the Landmark album. And it's funny too because like when you look again at like their kind of eclectic inspirations within the punk scene and stuff like that, like the Get Up Kids, the band actually was named originally A New Found Glory based on a newfound interest in Massachusetts The get up kids song and you know Yeah I think it lends credence to like how diverse this band is who it's gonna end up affecting and who would it kind of Please to overall because in a short period of time Brad these guys get on MCA, right?

So they're on a major label. But this is 99 that this record comes out. And Ana is their big kind of hit lead single for that release of Hit or Miss. This will get rerecorded and re-released with the self-titled debut through MCA. And like you can tell they put so much stock into it. They get Corey Feldman for the indie video and The reason why I bought this record and fell in love with it was hit or miss But in the music video for it the one that I saw the one that aired on MTV That guest star was Shia LaBeouf. Oh really as like their tour manager or whatever

Yeah, well like that means like tour manager or whatever. Yeah. Back when he was like Even Stevens. Way back. Way back. Yeah. I don't even know if I had even really seen Even Stevens. Yeah. I had to have, right?

And it's a cool funny little video, but by this time when you look at their peers, who I'm going to list right now, they're some of the biggest rock bands going, especially in that field, but just of the day, right? Bands like Blink-182, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, right? Like these guys are hitting MTV and TRL at the time when you were getting Korn and Britney Spears and Eminem or DMX or and Britney Spears and Eminem or DMX or Nsync in any given episode. Like for all the faults that MTV had within that time period,

like it really was an amazing time to be a fan of popular music, right? Like I feel. Yeah, they really did push music at that time. Like it doesn't even, I don't even know if there's any music at all on the channel anymore. Yeah, right. It's pretty much all reality television at this point, like it doesn't even, I don't even know if there's any music at all on the channel anymore. Yeah, right, it's pretty much all reality television

at this point, right? Yeah. But so I feel like when you look at that list of immediate competition in your peers, right, like that's a tall order, like there's a point in time in which Blink-182 kind of ruled the world musically almost, like same with Simple Plan, although forgettable snapshots

and time to some people, especially if that's not your real house of music, which for a lot of people, it's absolutely not going to be, right? But for a lot of kids out there, it was. For a lot of young Christian men, women, it was. For a lot of just teenage skateboard kids, it was. So when you say young Christian men,

are they like a Christian band? They are not, but at this point, there's bands like MXPX, there's Tooth and Nail Records. I mean, there is a Christian punk-like contingent. It can kind of fit, if you go to a hardcore show and you play a Newfound Glory song, I don't think you're gonna get a lot of. Even the name sounds almost Christian. And it very much does.

And I understand that. Right. But to kind of move along from that though, right? Like I feel like it's really cool to see a band with some like legit punk cred and a positive message, right? Like it is a cool thing to see. And I feel like it's nice to know that. That is, yeah.

You could go to the skate rink and play it. You could meet up with some kids after Sunday mass and play it. You could meet up with some kids at a hardcore show and play it. You know what I mean? I mean, well, cause you don't, like you don't see positive music really much in any,

through any genre of music. I mean, you do, but like a lot of it's like about heartbreak or, you know, rough time. I mean, they fit that as well. Sure. Well, I mean, that's kind of music. You want to generate emotions, right? But like, I do like uplifting music too.

And all stories rely on struggle to be compelling. Exactly, sure, sure. But like, I mean, you know, I do, I get down on some like, you know, lift me up music too, man. I do like that type of ****. I do. Right. And mind you, I think one of the things that really helps with that is the gang vocals.

A direct inspiration of hardcore is when you have all five members of the band, you know, kind of chorus chanting. Okay. Like Queen? Well, they just kind of sing. I'm talking about their gang vocals and them all doing that together. What you're talking about with Queen is more like harmonizing. Yes.

Okay. And it's not that. While that is appealing and it is more like melodic, this is not that. There is a melody there, but it is five dudes in the band all singing along together. And like, again, you know, when you're in a hardcore band, they call it gang vocals for a reason, right? Like, you know.

Multiple people singing to me has always been like really cool. Like, it's always been like very amazing. It always appeals to my ear. It gives you that like pirate ship feeling, doesn't it? Like camaraderie and like a very uplift. And that is one of the things I'm saying is that like when Queen does it, it's so they all kind of pitch

and sound together and give you that orchestral kind of effect, right? Like that's not the intent here. The intent is like, we're all intent here the intent is like we're all behind what he's saying we're all in this together you know what I mean like and that is a beautiful message in and of itself even if it is okay so he's like say something then they're like yeah yeah or something like that well they're all saying it with them right exactly but when you're talking about

the lyrical content then in the exchange that they're putting that out there it man Yeah, it does hit in that love kiss the people going and like it does though But honestly, it's with that mind that I feel like we need to look at them, right? And although they never really reached the level of financial success and record sales or maybe exposure even though they were featured on MTV and TRL and things like that pretty regularly right these guys go on to inspire bands like fallout boy a day to remember all time low the story so far and many many others I feel like that's why we're covering them maybe you weren't the

biggest fan Brad but Blink-182 like I said for a moment in time was one of the biggest bands. It's actually around this time. Oh yeah I was I was a Blink-182 fan for sure but like I mean right I'm not to the extent where I was like I'm gonna go out I'm gonna buy their CD try to see them in concert and all that you know like I just just, yeah. Or I'm going to listen to three other adjacent bands. Oh, it's like similar in New Found Glory, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte. Like you're not probably in it. And even I didn't do that. I owned out of those five bands.

I owned three of these albums. I own two Blink when he to homes the first sum 41. The first Newfound Glory album. Right? So like I did that. But to be fair, I feel like if we're talking about a body of work, there's a reason why we're going to talk about these guys. And you know, that first big record, that first big indie record leading into it, there's a fun gap there where they came out with this vinyl called From the Screen, Two Year Stereo. It came out on drive-thru.

It was an EP full of covers that appeared on movie soundtracks. Really? Okay. And it's a staple now kind of of their career because they're gonna have different releases for it in 2007 and the latest one in 2019. And I just love them. I really do.

And if you don't ever really want to check out this band wholesale for what it does musically, those I feel like are fair suggestions for anybody not terribly open to this genre of music, right? But with that, that second album for a major label artist can often result in disaster, right? They call it the sophomore song. Yeah, I was actually going to ask about that earlier. Like, I mean, because yeah, it is so true, man. And you're like, what you've talked about in other artists. Yeah, like you have an entire lifetime to write your first album, and then you have six months to write its sequel, right? Like there's a reason why bands kind of falter artists in general

I don't want to just make it about rock bands But there's a reason why many falter here and with sticks and stones this 2002 effort for them They're gonna see their biggest success chart wise because the album before they get to 15 on billboards heat seekers chart, right? And with my friends over you, I feel like, you know, hit or miss was a snapshot for them. My friends over you, it's a snapshot of this is our most successful album today. I think some could argue their best album overall. Their second one? Yes, Sticks and Stones. Technically it's a third full-length, but whatever. We're talking second major label release, right? I think some people could argue that's their best album or whatever else.

But My Friends Over You on that recording process was written at the very last moment, like the 11th hour. And it goes on to be maybe their most defining song right the music video the way that this song incorporates little elements of hardcore and a largely pop punk you know kind of breakup anthem that I really do still love but with that because of the comparisons that they're getting at this point because mind you like this pop punk wave is really kind of permeating through so much of pop culture and you can see it in things like punk

the way that celebrities and teenagers of the day are dressing and things like that that like they're touring with blink 182 they're on the warp. They're out on the Honda Civic Tour with Good Charlotte and Simple Plan, right? But this comparison to all these bands actually really starts to aggravate the band a little bit to a certain extent because of the roots that they have in hardcore and things like that, right? Yeah. This leads to the 2004 album Catalyst in which its opening track intro is an under minute long song and is an anthemic kind of like statement about the mission statement of the band and how they kind of separate themselves and view themselves as artists, right? And literally some of the first lyrics are it's more than a t-shirt. It's more than a tattoo, right? And literally some of the first lyrics are, it's more than a t-shirt, it's more than a tattoo, right?

And this is maybe some of the heaviest that you've ever heard Jordan sing, or maybe we'll ever hear him sing overall, right? And- Is it like the kind of the kamikaze? Eminem's kamikaze to there? I will say Catalyst has a bit more of an edge and a bite to it, especially considering the releases previous to it as well, right?

But it also has moments that are kind of introspective and things like that within it. Songs like Truth of My Youth and things like that, right? I think Catalyst is a really cool album and it still did really well for them. Then we move on to Coming Home. And around this point, they've kind of made the move to more adult contemporary stuff, right? This is about 2006.

So with the more mature tone, they also kind of incorporate some scents. Now you obviously had a lot of people kind of chanting from the back of the room that they were sellouts. And I will admit out of anything in their discography, although I find this to be a solid album, there's like two to three songs on this thing at max that I can really vouch for, right? Hold my hand and really it's not your fault. It is more of a regular alternative rock album and there's nothing wrong with that. Especially when you just did an album and you went harder and more towards

your roots to say we're different than a lot of these other bands right and and by this point Blink is not gonna end up being a band releasing regular music anymore. I think Simple Plan kind of falls off around this point and Good Charlotte co-ops the next big wave of alternative rock that comes around which will be emo. But we're gonna get into that in a moment. But that kind of shift also isn't really a typical for a band like Newfound Glory because with a lot of like the initial punks and stuff like that like with age with time you know these kind of like erratic anthems mellowed out and kind of tapered into

more structured songwriting right like just naturally yeah I mean they're getting older you know like when you get older, your music, your lyrics change like because you draw stuff from your life and stuff, you know, even with just being more thoughtful about it, right? Like when you're 17, 18, you just want to do punk songs and be like all your punk. And now you've been making music for four years or whatever it is. Like you're going to want to do something a little bit different than the same thing you've done for three albums. You know, nine times out of ten. Yeah, I mean you kind of have to. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So by this time, music had really actually quite significantly shifted, right? You gotta

think. This is only about a five-year span, but from 99 to 2006. Oh yeah. Right. So much change. Especially just in that one genre, right? And almost directly, it could be argued because of Newfound Glory. As an example, when Pete Wentz, the bassist and like main songwriting force. Once he came? Uh, I don't know when he came. Well, Chicago land areas once he came I don't know when see the whole Chicago land areas once he came from sorry I just had to get that anyway when he came up to his producer to kind of you know

Start the process of them recording one of the albums that broke them for major labels And he was asked what sound they were going for he was handed first two newfound glory Really? Okay. Yeah, like is it though? I mean, okay I guess fallout early fallout like cuz like now they're just like fallout boy in circa 2006 is one of the big three of emo yet is evil. I guess within that time I mean not only were they originally getting outsold by their peers, but now they've kind of definitely been outsold by bands like

My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy come 2006, right? And this is really the end of their major label stints. They had been switched over to Geffen for a two album deal and by this point Geffen releases a greatest hits record for them They come out with their second from the screen to your stereo album And honestly, it really does kind of feel like they're fading into obscurity So when 2009 comes around and not without a fight is the name of their album It kind of seems like an apt title They had signed to epitaph records Although this is a cool success for them Gilbert kind of goes on to say that in regards to the

Reactions that coming home got he kind of kept himself in a punk song pigeonhole, right? Like not really wanting to kind of spread out too, too far with his writing. And in 2011, Radio Surgery comes out and again, another kind of critical success, a return to form in a lot of people's eyes because it's a bit more of a happy, energetic, fast-paced, newfound glory record. But it's 2011. And although they're having success and continuing to grow and keep their fan base they've garnered right before 2014 we have one of the kind of worst things I think that could happen to a band that's been around for this long because it by this point they've making music for 10 years

they had gone out on tour and celebrate the 10th anniversary of their self-titled major label debut and rhythm guitarist founding member, the guy who was inspired to name the band originally. But accusations came out about Steve and having inappropriate contact with a minor. Oh, okay. Yeah, me too. Right. And let's just be honest about it, you know. Well, I mean, yeah, me too. Right. And let's just be honest about it. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's obviously bad. It's not me too, as much as like women saying, yeah, me too. That happened to me, too. Right. Yeah.

I mean, it's just easier to like, I mean, I don't know. I hate the word canceled because like the me too. I mean, it's a I guess a PG way of saying that you're a piece of to me. Yeah. Or more that things were uncovered about you. And I think the thing is, is that like, look, because these accusations are always so personal, right? Even if they're not like with a deep, intimate, significant other past relationship,

they're with someone who you've had a very private, intimate relationship with or at least accused to. And to be honest, like these things come out about big celebrities and because there are always people who will want to defend and love celebrities, they will attach themselves to their defense and like to be fair there will always be people who are willing to make baseless claims against them as well. Sure and like exactly I mean and not to defend celebrities and what they do at all But like not at all their lives are completely different from a normal person's life You know people like throw themselves at them all the time, but like that's not to excuse behavior Yeah, they're not that's not to excuse their behavior at all. But like that's not to excuse behavior. No, not at all. Yeah, that's not to excuse their behavior at all,

but like it's just, yeah. I don't know, I didn't look it up. The only thing I know is that he was convicted in 21. Okay. Okay. So it took a long time to get any one thing to stick to him. Sure. But I will say this, like it could have happened countless times for all that we know. What we do know is that once the word was out, Newfound glory,

its remaining members didn't just distance themselves. They kind of just continued on without good. Even kind of remarking in the song, the worst person in which they say, can't believe you were hooking up with girls in Boston right like a real shot kind of called there and that's in 2014 and resurrection I feel if 2009 is a apt title and not without a fight resurrection may as well been the band's new name right because like this is one of the better albums I feel like they've ever came out with in this new era for them because They found a new found glory

I would definitely believe that is apt as well, right? But yeah, I mean definitely because Hopeless sees them like, you know on a new label reinvigorated even being a four piece and the hits kind of keep coming with that because after that they do makes me sick in 2017 and this one is a little bit more experimental because they kind of bring some synths in again and they mess around with like some island feels right some steel drums and things like that and it's a really cool kind of fun record nice in 2019, we get the release of From the Screen to Your Stereo 3 and Forever and Ever, Times Infinity in 2021. And okay. And you know, it's got some good songs on it. I found it to be enjoyable when I listened to it. And I think many people

would as well. But unfortunately, Chad was found unresponsive in bed, rushed into emergency surgery. They found cancer on his back and in his lungs. And it's been reported, at least, that, you know, he's been cleared and then they found it again. And he's been through intensive chemotherapy. And at last report, you know, he's optimistic has great spirits again that kind of PMA and I'm pulling for Chad, you know, we talked about how they inspired a day to remember and I think you can see that in you know from 2008 to 2015 he had this really cool string of production credits with brands like Terror and H2O.

But he produces Homesick, What Separates Me From You, and Common Courtesy. I would argue the greatest era in a day to remember kind of consecutively, right? I think you could definitely argue he directly inspired that music, directly, you know, worked on those works in general and like it's such a good band. I definitely suggest it for all of you guys out there. Yeah, I know, like definitely I need to check them out because like I don't listen to too much 90s music besides like maybe Eminem if that and like I need to explore more like early 2000s even that too you know like it's like that time period really is right right very influential to what what music is now yeah especially punk

and stuff like that I do like my wife really gets into a lot of punk stuff and some of the stuff you know I'll tap my foot too and stuff, you know. It's usually not my thing. But I definitely, I think it's one of those kinds of unsung bands that like, especially for somebody like you who like sits on the fence and like, there's a couple of rock songs I like, there's a couple of rock bands I like, this might be one of those bands for you. Maybe it's not, maybe it's not. And that's totally fine, obviously, right?

I don't have a gun. Yeah and like you said, like I mean like they are really influential to so many other bands and like it's a good example of a punk band kind of like a model, you know, a model band, kind of like model organisms, which we're going to get into here. And so when I say model organism, what do you think of? So I kind of hate saying missing link and I know that's a big tis tis poo poo for you, right? And and rightfully so but it does kind of make me think of like lowest common denominator, right? Like base organisms model organisms I guess in my mind are base organisms right things? Things that are at its core level, what other things are modeling themselves off of

as they evolve? A little bit, yeah, kind of in a way, yeah, sure. I mean, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's more to define it. I would say it's a non-human species that have been studied extensively and lead to a better understanding of a biological process, particularly those related to humans, right? So yes, it is like what a base, like a lot of what a base like bacteria is, or what a base,

you know, plant is, or something like this. But really, like what makes them special is that they're super good for studying, for like doing research on and things like that, you know, they usually grow really quick, or, you know know they have a very easily identifiable genes or organs or things like that. And like because of that, you know, if you were to take biology in college, like you just see these organisms over and over and over and over again because of like, oh yeah, this shows this, this shows that, you know. And I just I had to show them because soon we're gonna go over evolution right and I wanted to do a few other subjects before evolution to kind of give a basis you know on it like we've talked about like the

short hand right yeah exactly a lot of the things dealing with evolution and kind of some of these things are used to study that process, right? So yeah, I have about 10 of them. Actually, I think 11 total, but it ranges from everything between, you know, a single celled bacteria all the way up to complex amphibians and reptiles and things like that. So let's get into it. We'll kind of go from like the most basic ones to the most advanced, I guess, in a way. You know, I guess they're not like exactly the most basic to the most advanced, I guess, in a way. I guess they're not like exactly the most basic to the most advanced, but.

Roughly, right? Yeah, yeah. We're gonna start with the bacteria that probably if people know what a bacteria is, you know what this is. And I'm gonna let you guess what that is, Kyle. What do you think it is? Oh, E. coli.

Yep, there you go. E. coli, or I always get this word messed up, escuritia coli. That's what the E stands for. Okay. That's why everybody calls it E. coli. It's one of the most studied organisms in the world. It's a gram negative rod shaped bacteria and it's commonly found in the gut of many animals including us, right? So, it's commonly researched because it can show like dirtiness of areas and actually in my job I look for that a lot, you know

because if you have E. Coli in somewhere that means there's some kind of usually in somewhere poop is coming in contact with that or Something that's coming in contact with poop is coming in contact with that down the line in some way, you know Right. There's some sort of transference for fecal. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Which can lead to other things, more dangerous things, because E. coli is not really that dangerous, right? Like I said, it's in our gut. But because of its rapid growth though, and thus its life cycle, it's commonly studied to learn mostly about evolution and genetics, right? And a lot of other things, like it's been used to like genetically alter it too.

But through its life cycles and everything, you can literally see evolution take place within like days or weeks, right? It's insane to think that- Is that because like the life cycle that it has? Exactly. Or it's just, okay. Yeah, like it grows so quickly.

Like it can double within, I think, a couple hours, right? And by double, I mean that one turns into two, that two turns into four, that four turns into eight. But it's also used, like I said, in biotechnology, where they've altered it to be able to break down things like oil and plastic. So you hear about these sometimes in the news, where like, oh, you know, this bacteria's been developed

to break down the oil slicks or oil spills out in the oceans and stuff like that. Super E. coli for oil. That's crazy. Yeah, it kind of is. Yeah, it is. I mean, but for real though, for whatever conspiracy theorists wanted to say

about Wuhan and things like that, there is a reason why we look at and investigate different diseases, bacterias and things like that. It's not always necessary to weaponize or whatever may have you, right? Exactly. Like with E. coli, in that exact example,

like it's not just the bacteria, right? It's something that you have an applicational use for. Yes, what else is there? Exactly, yeah. You can use this bacteria to study other things, right? So there's this tool called recombinant DNA where they kind of like change the DNA structure of an organism and they do that within the cells of E. coli or the cell and by doing that they can express certain traits. By expressing those

traits we can study things like common diseases or illnesses or different crop diseases or even fighting things like climate change. So this E. coli is so important. It really is. I mean, just naturally, it's so important to us and our guts, but also it's so important to us and study. That's why it's the model organism for bacteria. It's ubiquitous in its study. If you were to search E. coli on Google Scholar, you'd get like 2 billion

results or something, I'm sure. Right, right. Because there's so many use it. Another one which is used not just in studying, but it's also commonly used throughout industries, is something called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. And that is also known commonly as baker's yeast. Okay, I was gonna say, it sounds super familiar, but I cannot tell you what that is. So obviously it's used for baking, right? It's used to make bread and stuff,

but it's also used to make wine and to make beer. So like all, like anything fermenting pretty much with yeast is the Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It's just like, it's different variations of it, right? They've bred it just like they've bred different lines of E. coli and stuff to do certain things naturally. Like, I mean, over the years, you know, before we even knew about like culturing stuff and like what the yeast was, we did that. But it was originally isolated from the skin of grapes and it sits along E. coli as one of the most extensively researched organisms because it's using so much stuff. It's just, it's studied like crazy. But unlike E. coli, yeast is eukaryotic and if you remember about the cells,

the eukaryotic means that it has the nucleus and everything unlike E. coli where everything's just kind of floating around in there. Right. Okay. Which does put it closer to us in like I guess the chain of life but it's still it's in the kingdom fungi so. Right because it's got a cell structure. Yeah it's a fungus technically so like it's different from us but it is closer to us the bacteria is. And however different it is, it still shares a bunch of proteins that are important to our cellular function. And through that, they've discovered a bunch of different similar molecules and they call them homologs in yeast. And through that research, you know, we better understand like our proteins. It's like, it's crazy how they can like, you know, look at this, like this yeast, oh yeah, we have that same thing in our bodies.

Right, right, yeah. Oh, we have X, Y, and Z, yeah. Yeah, so like some of these proteins, like controlled cell signaling, cell cycling, and enzymes used to process the proteins were discovered in Saccharomyces. So like a lot, like basic things about cell, like development and the way they work

were found in yeast. And it's pretty crazy right and I mean at this point now it's just a small element to what may be a part of a typical meal you know what I mean? Oh yeah you almost eat it every day. A staple I mean this is a staple to the typical meal I guess I should say really. Yeah if you eat bread you're eating that, almost guaranteed. Right. Or drinking any alcohol or anything like that, pretty much anything. Yeah, and that's kind of where I started to realize it too.

I'm like, yeah, not only is it just bread necessarily, but like breads, wines, beers. So much stuff. It's crazy. Like yeast blows my mind. Every time I make bread, I'm like, I just, it blows my mind watching this yeast grow. Yeast grow? I'm like, I just, it blows my mind watching this yeast grow. Yeast grow? Another one that blows my mind is called Claminomonas Reinhardtii. I think is how you pronounce that. Whoa.

I said it many times. And what this is though, is green algae. So this- Ah, no s***. Okay. Yep. This is super important to the study of photosynthesis, right? Like, this algae, while it's not a plant, it does photosynthesize. It's actually a protist. Okay.

An algae is not a plant, but it photosynthesizes. It's crazy. And like, when we talked about the life cycle of the Earth, if you don't recall, algae is what created oxygen. If it wasn't for algae, we would not have oxygen on the earth. Yeah. And like it changed the whole entire world. Like it led to a mass extinction. And I just like sushi. You know what I mean? Yeah. Thank you so much. Yes, the algae you're talking about is algae. But it's not the same. It is not the same, right? Yes. But no, you're right though. I do

love sushi too though. It's delicious. So this is widespread throughout soil and water. This is like, this is more of the algae you see like stagnant pods and stuff like that, right? Think of that type of algae. Mucky. Exactly. And it's a single celled algae, but it actually has two little flagella or like tails almost on it and it can propel itself through the water with those little flagella. So they're like little tadpole looking things huh? Like under a microscope? Kind of, not really. Well just because you say that, oh two tails though never mind. Yeah they're like oval green, green shaped oval like cells with like two

little tiny strings coming out of the back of them, right? But these things they can grow both photo autotrophically meaning, you know, like photosynthesis, right photo light Right auto by themselves trophic meaning they that's what they know But also fago trophically meaning fago meaning eating the soda Yeah, the third one. No pH rock and rye. Yeah, or fago trophically. No. And again, yeah, the soda. Well, no, pH. Rock and rye. Yeah, or fago, trophically, I guess. No, rock and rye, right?

They just guzzle. They're big ICP fans. They're big, they're big juggalos. Yeah, they definitely are. But with it, like this algae, it's obviously easy to culture, right? Cause it just grows like crap. Well, you don't want it to grow on,

like you have algae grow on things. So it's very easy to culture and it's very easy to manipulate genetically. So it's used a lot to, like I said, to study photosynthesis. It's also a good organism to show how cells can move with the flagella and how they respond to light too. And also cell recognition too. So like cells, when you're in a microscopic level, there's like a bunch of chemicals being released or, you know, signals and different things going on. It's like the microscopic level is so much different from the macroscopic. Like movements and forces that happen on our level aren't even felt a lot, you know, on that small of a level.

Right. Yeah. Because they're kind of like cordoned off all doing so many different things that like you wouldn't feel the leg move. It's just doing all the processes to have it happen. Right. Exactly. Or think about like, like the earth, right?

The earth is spinning around the sun and spinning in a circle, but you don't feel that at all. Right. Think of it as in that way. That's a more apt. Exactly. Yeah. Like for them, like it's a whole new world, you know, it's also used to

create biofuels and to be studied to make biopharmaceuticals too. So like this is like actually pretty important, man. The next jet. Yeah. So the next one, which, you know, like so far, right. The three things that I've talked about, you know, like so far, right, the three things I've talked about, you know what these things are, right? These are things you've heard of.

Yeah, yeah, roughly. Well, not roughly, but yeah. This one you might not have heard of. You've probably heard of the name in a different reference, but it is called Hydra vulgaris, or commonly known as Hydras. And this is a small Hydrazoan in the phylum, Nidaria. And these things, when I was in invertebrate zoology, was one of the coolest things. Man, they're just the weirdest organisms. Have you heard of these at all?

I mean, you already set it up because you know that like, the hydra you might hydrate. Yeah. Of of myth of comic book lore of of DND of magic. Yeah, there's just so many different things that have incorporated the Hydra that it's almost impossible. I have not heard of it. And I think it's like going it it just looks like a crazy like worm coral like a prawn kind of spider thing yeah yeah and like you're right though and I think they have that name because all the literature reference you know all the literature right because of that yeah right does it predate it well yeah I mean like it's been around for it so it's very ancient

species but the discovery 1758 Yeah, exactly. Okay, so, you know, it's kind of big right there kind of like a cross between a jellyfish this black and white picture I guess yeah, we feel like it's a microscope I mean they do they can be like when they're first like developing they're pretty small but like they get you know They're like a cross with a jellyfish and a worm kind of 10 millimeters. Exactly 10 millimeters Yeah, they're pretty small, but you know, they're like a cross with a jellyfish and a worm kind of 10 millimeters exactly 10 millimeters Yeah, they're pretty small, but you know, they're they're still they're not with the naked eye only under a microscope Yeah But these things are crazy because the way that their stem cells are programmed they're constantly being renewed, right?

And this makes them essentially immortal shut the fuck up Like their stem cells are renewing their body all over. Die! Yes, so every 20 days they are like completely replaced on average, you know, like every 20 days their cells are completely replaced with brand new cells and you can cut pieces of the Hydra off and it will regrow into two new organisms, right? Or you can even take one of these things, put it in a blender, Mince, right. You know, turn that blender on, blend this thing up into a slush and it

will regrow like that's how sturdy I guess these things are so like how much human growth hormone can we put into it and human DNA all the HDH all of it oh man I'm up for it no No, I don't know. That's what they're studying for, right? Like essentially, I mean, obviously that's what they're studying for. It's like immortality, right? I'm ready.

But the next one though is the key to genetics. And I spent many a day in a lab knocking these things out and looking at them under a dissecting scope. Okay. And that is Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the common fruit fly. Okay. When I think of model organisms, I think of these things. And they're really annoying, right? You know, you usually probably think of them flying around your old fruit. Yeah, I was going to say,

I would not consider these a model of anything besides nuisance. Exactly. But they're so cool, man, because if you actually study them, look at them, it's crazy how you can study genetics with them. First of all, they share about 75% of the genes that we have. Okay. So there's 75% alike.

Okay. Which is pretty crazy, if you think about it. These little tiny flies are 75% the same as we are. You know what though? I always get the compliment from you that I'm not a dumb-dumb when it comes to the science, right? Yeah. And I will say that when you said 75% of the genes,

I did not bat an eyelash, and I'm gonna give myself a golf clap for that because like, right. You're like, of course, of course the 75% of the genes Why wouldn't it be? Yeah, they see they move they the number wasn't a factual thing for me But I just know that like to be a carbon-based life form Upon the earth means that you got at least like 50 right like come on, baby Exactly, and when we get into evolution man like i will be able to tell all of

you without a shadow of a doubt why evolution is true and why it's the basis of biology through this episode like i said fruit flies though are perfect for genetic studies because they breed really fast and it's easy to change their genetics because of that. Like you can isolate out, you know, a specific population of females and a specific population of males and put them together and then knock them out with either ether, CO2, or even if you can like put them in the freezer for a little bit. Or there's this stuff called, I think, fly knock or something like that, or fly sleep, fly nap or something. I don't remember.

Wait, did you ever like low key throttle it really low and just start getting them up first? They can like get all drowsy and stuff when they first wake up. It's kind of like, yeah. Seriously, what you do, you get these little like test tubes, right? And they have like, you usually put a potato,

like they like potatoes. If you ever want to get fruit flies, you can do this at home too. Anyways, you grab some potatoes, you get them on their potato, and then in this tube, you kind of tap the tube on the table real quick, which is knock them all down, stop them from flying, put them all down onto the bottom, and then you can, at that point, you can open it quickly and maybe put whatever you have to, to to to knock them out or whatever that's you know, We would put this ether I think we used and then that would knock them out and then after that for like 10 20 minutes

You know, you'd have like time they'd still be alive, but they'd be asleep. You know, you anesthetize them, right? Right. Yes. And then from that, you know You put you take them out and you put them all under a microscope or a dissecting scope and you look at them and They have all these different eye colors and body colors and the body shape or not so much the shape right a little different differences in shapes, you know in the wing shape and things like that and Those are all controlled by specific genes, you know, especially with the eyes, right? This is things with like vision and things like that, you know, really? Okay Okay, like they have different color eyes and stuff like that, you know? Really? Okay, okay.

Like they have different color eyes and stuff like that. Like you can have like a red eye or a yellow eye. Oh, okay, I see what you're saying. Yeah. And like, I mean, but also like, you know, you can be blind or whatever, or like, yeah. I mean, I use those like in my lab, my genetics lab when I took just basic genetics,

every lab I think was with fruit flies. We did like every week we did something with fruit flies. Now, that was our labs there. So, that's how important they are as a model organism, I guess. Yeah. So, the next one, though, is Xeynorhabtitis elegans, or C. elegans, you usually hear it, just like E. coli.

And that is what you would probably know as roundworm. Oh, okay. Yeah. Even though, like, yeah, this is a parasite. It's a very important parasite. It's about one meter long and it's used to study the development of cells and their movement of the cells, right? It only consists of 959 cells. So like very little, you know, if you think about it. Yeah, not even a thousand cells. And it has a life cycle of three days. So you can, again, read it really quickly. And like, you can tell since there's only a thousand cells, it's pretty easy

to keep track of a thousand cells. I mean, yes, a thousand, but compared to the billions of, or even trillions of cells, you're running a human body. A thousand is much. Yeah. So like, it's also transparent too. So you can like see it develop. You can watch it form. You can watch it's also transparent too. So you can like see it develop, you can watch it form,

you can watch it migrate and all that. And you can see the mechanics of the cell too. Just from this little tiny roundworm, it's insane to think like it is a parasite, but it's also very important, you know? And it was actually the first multicellular organism to have its entire genome sequence because it's, you know, such a basis. Cause it's a thousand or a hundred thousand, but still that's pretty cool. Yeah. Also it's connectome, which is like the neuronal wiring of it, you know, like the neurons of it. The brain.

Right. So all the things that I've talked about so far, which with the most, I guess the rest, except for one will be animals, but these have all been not plant things. You know, we haven't even talked about a plant yet, right? No. And one that is actually a model organism that I didn't list, but is tomatoes. But the one that is like a good fast growing plant, like again, you want some of this, does generations quickly, right? Is Nervidbedopsis thaliana, also known as thale cress. And you probably know what this plant is. You've seen cresses for sure.

They're just like weeds. If you look up pictures of it, you'll be like, oh yeah, I've seen things like this. Yeah. Thale Cress itself though, is only found in Eurasia and Africa. So you know, our Europe listeners and hopefully soon African listeners, we have yet to have some African downloads. You would be more familiar with it. But creces in general are like a very common plant that you see, you know,

throughout the world. Yeah. It's more like a clover, like a clover looking plant. Right. Yeah. Is that more of what you think? Like a, like a tiny, tiny daisy or something like that. Yeah.

It's like a very, you know, dainty looking plant. Cause these are like small, they're small plants. Like it plants like it's a one I see does look kind of familiar yeah what I see it I guess like it is like it's I don't know I won't even say it's like a clover because like it's like a thistle yes exactly because like Cress is such a big type of plant you know like that that category there's different types but this one specifically right right yes but it's very small and it actually belongs to the mustard family so like the mustard family okay um the mustard family also contains broccoli kale kohlrabi cauliflower cabbage and there's another one that's all from the same mustard. I joke. No, not our joke. But yeah, yeah.

No mustard like is crazy. We took like a bunch of like a one plant made all of those just from selecting. So but this this plant, though, it grows very fast and it's small, like I said. And it allowed scientists to be able to see like different genetic studies for plants through this, though. This is the plant they use to like study a lot of like genetic things with plants. Like they'll use it to like alter its genes

and stuff like that with different, you know, GMOs and stuff all that. All the GMOs that people are afraid of, yeah. Right. The last two, well actually are two groups that I kind of grouped together because like they are like kind of the model organisms for I guess amphibians and fish I would say and that one is the Donio Rivero I think is how it's

Rereo maybe Donio Rivero which is zebrafish you can get at your your local pet store and Xenopus Lavis which is the African Clawed Frog and these two are both used to study like freshwater ecosystems. And they're really useful in studying the development and toxicology and like neuroscience of those, you know, of fish and amphibians. They grow quickly, right? Especially the zebrafish is very good to see because like the roundworm is transparent, especially when he's young. And so you can see like his organs and everything develop. And that's kind of cool. I mean, even if you have like zebrafish at home, you know, you can see its organs.

If you look at it like closely, you can see its stomach and its lungs and everything. It's pretty cool. Or not lungs. Sorry. It's gills. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Sorry. But the last one though is one that I kind of want to do a whole like episode on. So I didn't really want to cover it much. And that is guinea pigs, mice and rats or cavia parcelis musculus or retus nervegicus. These three are obviously, you know, they're the lab rat or the guinea pig. Right. Yeah, exactly. Like they're long used for lab trials.

And like I said, I want to cover them their own episode because like they really, they deserve their own episode. Like they definitely do. Yeah. For their sacrifice. Yeah. Like seriously, they're used for so much stuff, man. And I almost worked at, I'm not going to say the company, I would have been doing dissection

and stuff. And I'm so glad. Yeah, fuck that. I get it. Yeah. So like all those organisms, like they're super important for scientific study. And I just wanted to give it like a basis, kind of like how you wanted to give with New Found Glory, a basis of punk and what's going to come in future episodes.

I wanted to give a basis of what's gonna come in future episodes, not just with evolution, but a few other things though, right? You know, like I said, with the mice and everything. Model organisms are so important and I dealt with them so much during my schooling and everything that I thought that it'd be a good subject for you to know about and our audience to know about,

for sure. I know, and I appreciate it. And like you said, for the sacrifice to like, to be able to kind of get the, the skinny on the Guinea, I guess, you know what I mean though? Like I, and I know that you had it on the list for a while and I'll be honest, like at first I didn't even think about the lab use. I was kind of like, all right, yeah, that's interesting. And when you started listing off the genius, I was like, oh yeah,

it's related to capybara, right? Like it's a descendant of it, right? So like, I definitely am kind of interested in getting a whole. Yeah. We'll talk about capybaras on their own too. Yeah, they're awesome. Do it. Yeah.

That's a, that's the model organisms. Um, and I hope this was a model podcast episode for you guys. So yeah, Kyle, take us on out. And with that, you can find us on our social medias, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and on Patreon where you can get uncensored episodes. Holy s***! Give us a rate and review on your podcast platform of choice. It helps us find new listeners and it helps the show overall and in general. For

Brad, I'm Kyle and we will see you again here soon. See ya. Do you think like the organisms ever like, you know, they like set them up as like models, you know, like they dress them up and walk down and like a run down and stuff. That's it. Yep. Little rab rats doing blue steel.

Brain soda.