I study the physiology of animals
and what I do is try to figure out
what makes a dolphin a dolphin,
a seal a seal,
a bird a bird, and a lion a lion.
Imagine what it takes for this dolphin to
hold its breath like this,
and imagine the brains of these animals.
We've been doing a study comparing
the
brains of terrestrial mammals and marine
mammals.
There are all kinds of globins that are
neuroprotectants in the brains of marine
mammals.
No so for human animals.
The question is how do you turn
on the brain to make those globins?
Because if humans could do it,
you could protect yourself against stroke
against Alzheimer's. I mean, imagine that!
And so I think the brains of these marine mammals hold
that secret, and I think the secret is in their genome. And the host of animals that are out
And the host of animals that are out there...
the possibilities are endless.
We have seals that will fast on the beach for months and months and months.
Why is it that they can do that without going into some glucose deficit?
Humans can't do that.
But then imagine being able to solve
problems
due to insulin--you know--to diabetes.
All of those things, I think, are
possible
if we understood just the basic genomic structure
of these animals versus ourselves.
