Click link to listen or search Rabbit Hole of Research where you find your other podcasts:
EP39: Johnny Storm and Spontaneous Combustion
We torch the handwavium behind Marvel’s hottest character—Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. Dr. David Pincus of the University of Chicago explores how biology might survive a “Flame On!”
Transcript:
joe: [00:00:00] Hey.
Welcome back to the Rabbit Hole of Research down here in the basement
nick: studio.
We are setting it a blaze
today. Joe
joe: a blaze today.
david: y’all.
nick: Did you
joe: know it’s coming. We are talking about the human torch. Johnny Storm.
nick: and
joe: our Fantastic four series.
nick: We’ve already talked about
geo: Woohoo ability.
joe: we’ve talked about the thing, and now we’re here talking about human spontaneous combustion
geo: fire.
joe: And here today, joining me, you got me, Joe. We’ve got
nick: Nick.
You got Nick,
joe: we’ve got Georgia.
geo: Hello. Hello.
joe: And we have a guest, a returning guest. I,
nick: I think this is our first, is this his first
Wait, has he been on before?
joe: first returning
geo: shut up.
nick: Yes. Yes. People might remember Dr. David
joe: We’ll let ’em introduce was up on, you might remember our episode on climate disaster
nick: and the permit turpentine
joe: farms.
That was
david: It was it was pretty good.
geo: [00:01:00] it was fun. It was a fun one. I think
joe: was
nick: was as fun as
joe: disaster can
nick: be.
joe: but
david: Always a barrel of
monkeys.
joe: Pincus, will
you wanna give
david: Yeah. I’m David Pincus, uh, assistant professor in molecular genetics at University of
Chicago. And Hopefully
any day now, any day now, I’ll be cashing them checks. Yeah, and I happen to be an expert on the heat shock response, which, , hopefully will come up at some point today.
nick: Wait, if I recall correctly on the last episode, you go, why am I on this episode again,
joe: yeah, yeah.
david: Well, this one was much clearer to me. Spontaneous combustion and I happen to study how cells cope with, , thermal stress. So it actually it’s not that even a simpleton like me could
make that, uh, too.
joe: surprised on this one. I was, I was
nick: like, I
joe: well, I will I
nick: drop the, the Anil. I get on you.
joe: Like, why am I here? Oh, that’s
nick: why.
Yeah.
david: Oh.
nick: we’ll put
a link to that episode
in
joe: the show notes. It
nick: Wasn’t fun
Nick Nick and I are always here and we don’t have, uh, our science degrees.
[00:02:00] never. I actually was gonna start. Piggybacking off Joe’s, you know, be like, yeah, I’m a scientist by association.
geo: we could get an Well, if they ever promote me, I’ll give you all honorary degrees as soon as they let
nick: I am all for it. I need an honorary degree or something.
joe: Honorary degree. All right.
david: or an honorarium,
nick: oh,
joe: that’s even better.
nick: take honorarium. Yep, definitely
better. Yeah.
Let’s jump into this. You guys know how I do it? I have a definition
Do you have a list today?
geo: I thought you had a description.
joe: I mean all the above, but we’re gonna go, a D words. Yeah. A
nick: , we, , covered
joe: Fantastic four Marvel’s first family 1961,
nick: Stanley Jack
joe: Kirby. And so this is Johnny Storm. He is Sue’s younger brother, , just so that he can generate flames, fly and surround himself with them.
And so I wanted to start with what is combustion,
nick: and that’s
joe: as the [00:03:00] moment when matter breaks. Its bonds when oxygen, heat, and fuel collide, rapid oxidation, molecular breakdown, and a violent release of stored energy. This energy erupts in a form of flames, it and light, but in storytelling, fires mourning chemistry.
It is a symbol of change, rebellion of passion and destruction. And no one in a superhero cannon embodies this better than Johnny Storm the human torch. He doesn’t wear a mask. He doesn’t hide. He explodes with a single shout flame on. He becomes pure fire, radiant, reckless, and often just barely in control.
But fire is never just fire. It is the heat of adolescence, the illusion of ego, and the threat of catastrophe. It’s Johnny’s gift and his curse, a transformation that makes him powerful, but also volatile
geo: very nice.
joe: Thank you.
david: In short,
he’s hot.
nick: I’m shocked. Yes.
geo: Wait, okay.
nick: I wanna say in all senses of the
word, say,
joe: will say, oh, go ahead.
geo: Which character does Pedro Mascal
nick: Pascal, Mr. Fantastic.
joe: We’ve
nick: Which [00:04:00] we haven’t gotten to yet.
Because I was gonna say,
this would be spoiler alert,
joe: Next
geo: because he, because
nick: he’s hot,
geo: so maybe
david: That is a great character. Uh, I’m not gonna lie.
Yeah. I will, say out of probably all the shows that we’ve done and all the, you know, hypotheticals that I, I think this character is probably, I.
joe: The most hand. WII Yeah. This is a tough one. I mean, come on.
geo: come on. So spontaneous combustion.
nick: people do this all the time. All the
time. Yeah. Yeah.
There
has been
mysteries. inquire?
I I have not
no. Did you hear about that story where the guy burned alive in his chair with nothing else around him on fire? Come on. It’s usually
geo: everything like the torso and everything, but the hands and the feet don’t move.
joe: he walk away?
nick: No, he died. Okay. Well that’s, that’s part of the spontaneous
complexion, let’s say
geo: a.
pile of ashes.
nick: Okay,
Let’s say he was a charred skeleton,
joe: combustion work. [00:05:00] He,
nick: Johnny keeps living, right? I mean, so
We
got
a explain,
so we got a bunch of hand wavy of stuff
going on here. So a we have, and it’s a rundown his powers that did a little bit, but he can spontaneously combust, set himself ablaze, alright?
joe: That’s, and then he lives he turns it off just as fast
geo: he is not burnt or anything. He’s not
joe: or
david: no, no scar
tissue. scarring. He can fly.
nick: the fire, by the fire, by fire
to fire, which, we, we’ll
get back.
It might
geo: like
nick: propels him. Propels
david: feel like once you can,
you
nick: Once you go, and then
he can project the fire
joe: out.
You Yeah, yeah.
geo: thrower.
joe: thrower. like a flame thrower.
Exactly.
nick: this all seems addict. Insane. yeah, so that’s,
um, and you know, so
joe: so
geo: the plausibility is pretty much 0%?
nick: I’m,
joe: I’m gonna go. Yes, we’re
nick: gonna try.
joe: That’s, that’s the
nick: goal.
joe: We will,
david: Let’s just condition it like what’s the probability even of at will Spontaneous combustion,
joe: No
david: right? Like, let’s set the bar
low. heard of of spontaneous [00:06:00] combustion, but I never thought it was at will.
I suppose
nick: I, I think
david: that’s true. So maybe he’s adding energy. Maybe that’s the thing. The will adds the energy so it’s not spontaneous.
nick: Oh,
geo: So
I mean, you have to think about it, then
nick: he
joe: would be creating a whole new, set of organs probably to be able, in neurological
david: Or
joe: to project heat out, you know, we think about , a firefly or , with luciferase,
david: Sure. so some specialized chemical reaction.
nick: you can think
joe: of a lot of different oxidizers
david: stuff you put in your pockets in the cold, where you mix it
together and then your hands are warm.
nick: Mm yes.
About hot hands.
So, and you have to Hot hands. because,
david: the hot hands in the dice game.
nick: and you have to.
Yeah. and you have to generate
joe: because of oxygen, right.
There. There’s not enough oxygen in our atmosphere. It’s about 21% that you would be able to have spontaneous flame in this way. So you probably [00:07:00] would have to have some oxidant. We could think of a couple, maybe hydrogen peroxide, maybe a, a nitrous kind of compound, you know,
david: Or a heavy metal, maybe like arsenic
might work.
nick: I was thinking of
something that would kill us.
geo: are you
nick: Are you
joe: and that we
david: Yeah,
nick: because we, are you that he’d have to put that on his skin and then like, or
joe: it in some way?
nick: That’s, that,
the plausibility
of that he would have, he would have to develop some new kind of
gland .
, so it’s like a sweat glands,
Like a, like sweat
joe: Yes.
david: Except
with flames.
nick: Except that they would converse.
joe: Right, right. And they will converse
geo: They’d have
david: Would you imagine like there’s jets, like pores where the flames are coming out. , or
Like a grill,
nick: you
joe: kind of like
david: Like a propane
grill.
joe: Like a propane grill with
geo: a, but okay.
nick: A loose hose
geo: So
nick: David’s house,
in the comic, you’re testing the grill turns
into an
experiment.
david: Meat is the bal
geo: let’s not test that. Literally. Okay.
nick: Okay.
geo: [00:08:00] Now
in the comic book
He doesn’t have like pores or anything. Well, with your skin,
nick: I he doesn’t have like vis visible,
joe: cover that.
nick: I mean they just cover him in fire at all.
geo: at all?
joe: Not that I know of, no.
nick: You know, we have to,
You have ‘
david: cause what is, what is combusting, right? Like you need fuel, here.
joe: you need, you need heat and you need, you need an oxid
david: Yeah. And So the skin is presumably not the fuel
nick: But he can,, collect the heat energies
geo: from others.
nick: Yeah. So, uh, in an issue I’ve read, yeah, he, ended up heating up
david: Ah,
nick: lake.
To destroy a certain bacteria and then was able to go back in and absorb it
david: wow. Now that
nick: So he didn’t
david: that is the.
nick: all the, they took the fish out first.
joe: How’d they take the fish? Nevermind.
geo: Oh, okay. That, that
joe: yeah. Now we’re,
geo: that
nick: that all, so Reid was gathering them with his hands and then he was gathering invisible women, woman was, we
haven’t talked about Mr. [00:09:00] Fantastic yet. ‘
joe: cause that’s pretty
nick: fantastic. But
joe: let’s
nick: honestly, what he was making neck with his fingers, you know, just,
I can picture it.
geo: I can picture it.
nick: Just a couple things,
joe: just to set the baseline I think, David, you were headed this way a little bit,
nick: is that,
At,
joe: something around 41 c, 105 degrees Fahrenheit, you begin to get protein,
denaturation cellular lipid bilayer degradation. So the, the cellular bilayer, that’s what holds the stuff inside your cells. Inside of cells.
david: I mean even long before that, so that’s a, that’s even, you know, we’re at 37
degrees,
- Yeah.
joe: Right,
david: even when we have a fever, right? If we get a bad fever of above like 103, 104, the reason you’re going to the hospital there is ’cause you’re actually not able, your proteins are starting to denature
and as the proteins go, so goes the function of, of the cell and cognition and all that stuff we like
so.
nick: what happens
joe: to proteins at high heat, just imagine an egg, right?
I mean, that’s mostly protein that you’re frying up [00:10:00] and it coagulates into it like that.
nick: Is this like one of those drug TSAs, like Right.
david: This is your brain.
nick: you’re
geo: You’re,
david: is your brain on
heat.
geo: all I, all I
nick: a superhero?
geo: All I know is that , when I lived in Phoenix, sometimes you could fry an egg on the sidewalk.
joe: You
david: On the cement. Yeah. , on the asphalt, right?
Yeah.
geo: yeah. It’s hot.
joe: So there and
david: you know, tardigrade though, these, uh, there, there are certain extremophiles, how many times do tardigrade come up? Pretty much every episode.
joe: Not as many as you think, but it’s come up.
nick: Yeah.
david: things, , they actually evolved proteins that don’t even have a shape so that, , they can survive.
It’s really primarily for desiccation, but you can take these things up to 120 degrees. Hotter than anything else on the planet. And , they’re still kicking.
So, and
yeah.
so
it is evolutionarily possible
To recode [00:11:00] the proteome of certain cells to make them extremely thermo tolerant, heat resistant.
But a flame is really frigging hot, like Fahrenheit 4 51. Right. If it burns a book, it’s gonna burn
your skin.
joe: I, I think then, you know, with the glands that it may have a couple of functions. One may be to provide the oxidant for the
david: Ah,
the prop, the propellant.
Yeah.
joe: layer
of protective jelly or something
nick: Well, it’s also in his mouth too,
joe: you. It’s in his mouth.
nick: Yes,
geo: Have you
nick: So, uh, I
geo: anything?
nick: in one of the,
david: Of course,
geo: Come on, Nick.
nick: Well, in one of the cartoons, , he ended
up,
joe: you watching?
nick: That was watching all the Fantastic four ended up switching powers where he ended up getting invisibility and he, right.
Yeah, that was Yes,
joe: yes. That was the animated one. Right? Okay. Yep.
nick: So he, what? Heated up a slice of pizza and he took it outta the [00:12:00] microwave and he goes, oh, the pizza bit me. And I’m like, wait, what? You would have
to, and he’s like, oh, that’s ’cause it’s hot.
Yeah, This, this,
uh oh. ’cause
geo: oh,
joe: because
nick: protective,
whatever.
It’s protecting him from all heat it, it might be
that
his pain
joe: receptors are different,
geo: but you know, that
joe: be the
nick: other, ‘
joe: cause
david: ah.
nick: so you might have a
joe: whole neurological kind of change when you do this.
So, so you have to. Affect that also, that you might perceive pain very differently than you would a normal person.
geo: But do you remember the time that we were at the museum and then the stump people were there?
nick: The what?
geo: then they, the stunt people that
nick: oh,
stunned. I heard Stu.
joe: like
nick: like,
geo: stubby
david: stu
people,
joe: stu people were here,
nick: Georgia, please. You’re gonna get us canceled again.
geo: No, the stunt
nick: people,
geo: and they set themselves on fire. Like they put the stuff on , and then they set themselves on,
nick: they have
a lot of protective gear,
joe: like they’re not bare skin. So that’s why I
nick: think that,
geo: that guy in that show we [00:13:00] watch was bare
david: So you would have to regenerate this though, right? Because,
joe: right. Yes. I,
nick: I agree.
david: so there would,
joe: Yep. Some
david: there would be some refractory period, or at least some limit, right? On the.
geo: the,
nick: on
david: On the amount you could withstand if it were some type of protective layer,
nick: Yes.
Or you would,
joe: you would have some.
nick: Rapid
david: unless it’s other hand waving like atium or something like that.
joe: We we’re trying not to do
nick: we already in hand wa we’re trying
joe: take it
nick: away.
geo: Well, there was the, that guy that, oh, what’s his name? David. David Blaine.
joe: David Blaine,
geo: And we watched that show recently. And he sent himself on fire and dived into the remember, right?
joe: Yes.
geo: And there
nick: he he coated himself with like,
geo: some, but it
nick: was material jelly. That would
geo: skin, wasn’t it?
nick: it? Isn’t that like what you do with the spray? What’s that? Like axe body spray and people used to set it on fire.
Oh
yeah. Like
david: trying to get some in New Jersey?
joe: flame thrower.
It’s just
nick: is like
some
homemade flame throwers. Yeah.
geo: Yeah.
joe: movie when
nick: they’re [00:14:00] like, they got, they’re reaching on the counter. and They got the lighter
joe: a, you know, a can of aerosol.
geo: Yeah, but see that’s the opposite of protecting you. That’s makes it
nick: supposed to protect it? That’s
geo: like glider fluid. That’s right.
joe: Don’t put lighter fluid on yourself.
nick: are you sure
that’s not,
let’s not try. But gets to
geo: not
nick: that do not play with fire, period.
Unless you really want to No,
joe: no, please
geo: no.
nick: out here in in the
david: no kids. No. No kids.
geo: But
joe: a a couple things touched on, I mean you touched on , the tardigrades, but there are also the Archie that live in thermo vents and so they also have specialized, uh, kind of
geo: think of them.
nick: of them.
david: Extremophiles.
nick: clue what that is.
And
I think that David’s point,
geo: And what are those? Can you tell us what those are
nick: with a definition, please?
david: Thermi Aquatics is the most famous one, right? So. The reason we’re able to sequence the human genome or do any of the things that we do in modern molecular biology, amplifying [00:15:00] genes,, all this diagnosis for genetic disorders. It all comes from the, this extremophile called thermos aquatics, which is an organism that lives in one of these heat vents.
And people realize that it had to be able to replicate its DNA at an extremely high temperature so it can grow it, almost boiling water and still divide. And so it has these proteins in it that have evolved to be rock solid, so they won’t even denature under, boiling conditions practically.
So The cloning of this genome, what I mean by cloning is once people figured out what the sequence of the, of what’s called the DNA polymerase, it’s the enzyme in the cells that copies. Double helix and makes , the copy for the daughter they cloned that gene, found the sequence of that, and then you can put it in a batch of another organism like e coli and then produce a bunch of it, a bucket load of this enzyme and [00:16:00] then, , you can descend it to all your friends all over the world.
And now they can take their DNA and put it in a really high temperature and put it through a series of temperatures to allow this copying mechanism to occur. And so really the genomic revolution depends on an extremophile that was able to evolve to withstand a high temperature. Now
joe: It’s
david: still we’re solving a problem that’s not, uh, exactly getting us
there, But,
uh, it is quite
awesome.
Right?
joe: it’s a, it’s what’s called a pro
nick: is
geo: that like a single cell?
joe: it’s a single cell,
david: single cell Yeah.
nick: They are
joe: where you carry out, its, that means an a procars. We have a nucleus that contains our DNA. We have organelles like the mitochondria that provides power for our cell. A TP energy. A pro cario doesn’t have those specialized structures. , they are probably the simplest life forms.
geo: I
nick: argue, we throw viruses
in there, but
but
geo: I think, I think that name, that, that’s like a superhero [00:17:00] name. Can you,
could be, can you say that again?
david: tack. Yeah.
geo: No. What was it, ex the, what are they
david: Extremo file
geo: doesn’t that sound like that should be something that’s, so
nick: something, There, there are many,
david: Extreme.
geo: there are
joe: there
nick: are superhero, no,
joe: and there are many extremophiles there. There’s organs.
geo: organisms, so
nick: of
us kicking out on ex extreme ex files.
geo: Not, not all of them can get really hot. Just some
david: yeah. So This
one’s a specific, a
thermo file. Yeah.
joe: at thermal
vents in the ocean.
geo: You know what, when you’re
nick: you, when you’re talking about thermo
geo: I’m picturing like some vent in like a house there inside. I dunno.
nick: And, and then like
david: Turn the air conditioner off.
geo: and then some scientist is just looking in their vent. Oh,
nick: thermo file in there.
joe: Yes, yes.
nick: Get it out these thermophiles that,
joe: Gotta go down there GitHub. So,
geo: sorry.
joe: No,
nick: no, that’s
joe: [00:18:00] I
david: it’s the thermophiles versus the germaphobe.
geo: pho,
nick: I mean he are,
joe: and that’s, uh, the thermo files. They’re just, um, these kind of geothermally heated kind of vents that are on the ocean, sea floor and where kind of tectonic plates would be.
So you’re releasing a lot of heat and gas there. So it’s pretty, pretty hot. It’s pretty
nick: extreme. Just extreme. That’s
geo: and
david: like only Mountain Dew down there.
nick: The fact
geo: there’s scientists, that that’s what they study. I mean, do they have to be in the ocean? Like I, I don’t know.
I’m just, it seems so
david: so the scientists that discovered this, right, never, you know, they got funding for this back in, I think the seventies or something, and this guy just went to go and dig cores and then catalog what was in there and, , put it away for later. And then somebody, and then these guys, , 30 years later when they started making these little pieces of DNA were like, , it would be cool the allegedly took LSD [00:19:00] and had this vision of
nick: This is my kind of science driving down,
joe: , in California. Like some
david: Highway one, right? Or, or, I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
geo: to
nick: he pulled over tripping. And
he saw it in the,
david: He saw,
geo: Oh my God. Saw
nick: the
david: Yeah.
This is, at least this is the apocryphal story, I think. I don’t know if it’s real, but
geo: I, I
david: so, so it, so it said.
joe: learned the same story and it’s been passed
david: Yeah, exactly.
nick: So it’s like, that’s like lore,
geo: it’s science scientist lore.
david: this guy won a Nobel Prize.
His name’s Kerry Moles.
Yeah,
geo: crazy. That’s interesting.
nick: So
you’re saying we should be doing more LSD, is that
david: Basically that’s the moral of the story.
nick: I
geo: No. You
joe: you remember, do you remember the magazine
geo: Bio Kids don’t do
david: Yeah, of course. I know Bio techniques.
nick: somewhere I have
joe: one
nick: the
joe: the early. Issues him talking about PCR polymerase chain
david: Oh yeah. This thing’s called the
polymerase PCR. Yeah.
joe: That, and that you can take just a few fragments of
DNA and
or [00:20:00] RNA the instructions for life
nick: and
joe: then you can replicate it and then you can make many more copies, in a tube in a matter of, , hours.
And so
david: You may remember , in COVID, the gold standard test was the PCR
test, You could have a antigen test or a PCR test anyway. All the same
stuff.
joe: there? Yep. And that’s where it comes from. Someone doing LSD on the drive home.
nick: and this is,
geo: And
nick: it
hit too
david: there’s a main line from LSD to
COVID is now what we’re
saying.
nick: now
we’re making it a line. If you do LSD,
joe: can flame on probably. So We’ll,
nick: what’s wrong?
joe: the
nick: So on it come
david: As long as that LSD is fire.
joe: right. Flavor. on. Don’t try at all.
david: Another thing we should not do.
geo: So thir, you said they, they discovered
joe: these
geo: extreme files.
joe: extremophiles,
david: Extreme.
geo: can’t even say it. Yeah,
they found that and then it was 30 years later when he is like,
david: Yeah,
yeah,
geo: moment.[00:21:00]
david: totally. , it was one scientist doing the sort of. Scavenging for the future, not knowing necessarily what they were gonna find, but cataloging it. Well, doing the naturalism and just, , getting a small grant and going out on a expedition thinking that there would be some type of interesting biology down in these very, extreme conditions.
And lo and behold,
geo: In these holes
nick: holes
david: down
joe: hot
geo: holes.
david: it’s hot.
joe: that, that just
geo: that just goes to show, so does that original scientist that was doing more basic research. Did he get involved in an, in any kind
david: You know, he never got the Nobel Prize as far as I
know. Um,
nick: because
david: but I do believe, yeah, he didn’t even get to do LSD
joe: Nothing.
david: you know, I don’t
know. I don’t know this
man’s life.
geo: he might
david: I don’t know that
this man’s life.
geo: document it. Okay. So
david: And I also don’t remember his name and I do remember Carrie
Mo’s name. [00:22:00] So,
anyway. Yep.
geo: this
nick: a question,
LSD
joe: story, that’s
geo: this is kind of going,
nick: Yeah. Young scientist
joe: that.
Like, you just go off and, you know, I don’t know, you’ll just
nick: up all
geo: have an epiphany.
nick: You
joe: some napkins with some great equation written on
it. How’d that,
this here? Do we need to do this? Is this a rabbit hole of research science experiment? No.
david: uh, I some field work.
nick: yeah, that’s
joe: right.
But
geo: I, I have a question, so, yeah, go for it. Does, do people like scientists doing really, really basic research ever win Nobel prizes? Or is it usually something more advanced? Do you know what I mean?
joe: think
david: Well,
joe: Nobel Prize winners were doing basic research. I, I don’t I, I don’t think any, I can’t think of, I
nick: may, there may be somebody,
david: but
there’s always other basic researchers that should also get the Nobel Prize that are not included. ’cause they can only ever give it to three people. And any given thing, , involves, thousands.
right. [00:23:00]
Who knows,
nick: Okay. And who has their hands on it the most? Their labs.
Like they’re
joe: the labs they were in, they generated grad students, postdocs,
Technicians had worked with
geo: Right.
nick: Right. And so usually there’s a, there’s a web of kind of researchers who work and then those are the three that might win the prize.
joe: But then you had many collaborators, colleagues who, you know, they also participated in it. I think
nick: it’s like the Oscars,
it’s
joe: to Oscar with the, with the Nobel
geo: It’s like so many things, right? I think the big thing
joe: with the Nobel Prize is that it really shines a spotlight on particular areas of science and then amplifies that message.
And you gotta, to do that, you gotta highlight a couple people and go, oh, these are the people that really helped push this, , technology. So cryo
nick: EM
joe: 2017 at Nobel Prize was awarded and then everyone jumped in and had to build out their EM facility, you know, so it was this
whole kind of push and it really was because of the Nobel Prize.
And then people said, aha, this is really important. So. I think you
geo: get, it gives that validation, but. [00:24:00] I think that that’s why sometimes it’s much harder to, to convince people about basic research. Yes. You know what I mean? Like why are you
david: but there was
geo: time doing that?
david: There was a Nobel Prize for the temperature sensing receptors that, you know, speaking of heat and cold.
David Julius won the Nobel Prize a couple years ago for how, , how we detect vibrations that, , in our skin that actually, , tell us what temperature it is
geo: and
david: and how the capsaicin, the hot, , the ingredient in in chili peppers, it activates exactly the same receptors that actually detect heat, so you feel hot because it’s the , same signaling.
So I always thought that was quite cool.
Yeah.
joe: if Johnny can eat really hot peppers. Like what is the, because we talked about pain,
nick: I feel like he, could he just go
joe: and he just,
david: can you go ghost pepper?
nick: Well, I mean considering like
joe: Tennessee Reaper?
And, and just go
david: Chomp. Yeah. Ah,
joe: yeah. So I, I [00:25:00]
david: oh yeah. Good question.
nick: it. Like he’s like, no, this is fine. This is fine.
geo: He’s not gonna admit
nick: Yeah. You can’t say that.
Like he’s
joe: have to suck it up,
nick: he like, he’s a
joe: pizza. I’m just wondering, ’cause the pain receptors are what’s, what is the true nature of the pain?
Is it directly related to heat and it’s many versions of heat because one is, . Do you know, is the capsaicin heat receptors similar to other pain receptors or are there different pathway?
david: the, the trip family of, uh, so yeah, it’s a part of a giant family of, , what’s called ligand gated ion channels. So, they’re different things that respond to various things in the environment and allow neurons to turn on and off direct leave by sensing the environment. So, pain receptors have, some of them are in this class.
Yeah, I do believe that’s true. Yeah.
geo: Yeah.
joe: All right.
nick: So, yeah,
joe: so maybe we can get flames on, so , we
nick: flame on,
we can
joe: generate [00:26:00] some sort of oxidant, maybe hydrogen peroxide or something like that.
Our bodies already make that, so not a huge leap.
nick: Maybe to get there,
joe: you have some sort of glands so you can ooze
nick: it
out.
geo: And also the fat, the fat in your body would work as like a candle.
joe: The, the fat in your body
david: You think, that’s what’s actually being burned?
joe: But his internal organs stay intact.
geo: Doesn’t, I was
nick: say, he doesn’t melt from the inside. usually that’s
geo: that’s not a good thing.
joe: you don’t wanna, yeah. Yeah. But
no,
nick: uh, you’re right. Lipids,
joe: you know, and fats do burn. I mean, that’s, we, um, if
nick: calories would he have to have?
joe: well, we’re gonna get some calories potentially.
nick: But I was gonna touch
david: Yeah, that’s a
good
question.
joe: if you do any staining or any, , cleaning linseed oil, things like that, and you, if you read the can you’re supposed to take your rag , and lay ’em out to dry.
Because if you take it and you boil ball it up, , the lipids in there, in the oils will start to oxidize. And you have, then you have a fuel.
geo: a [00:27:00] spontaneous combust,
joe: fuel and it will spontaneous combust if you do that.
david: Oh no.
geo: I
nick: and in grad school we had a
joe: a professor of mine, he wanted to demonstrate this.
We were talking about these processes. So he took, a rag, dipped it in, linseed oil
nick: or
joe: tung
oil, one of the, one of the oils.
nick: And, uh, ball balled it up
joe: threw it in a beaker and left it on a table. Did the lectures, like hour long lecture, nothing happens. Really? Oh man, I was anti-climax.
We
nick: all leave Next day he
joe: in and the beaker, it’s like just ash.
I guess
sat it
in
nick: the hood,
joe: safely. That was the best place. Probably. He sat up on a bench or somewhere, put it in the
geo: hood, but still
nick: Still balled up and stuffed in there. he was disappointed. It didn’t flame
on.
And so at
joe: time during the night, his postdoc called him and was like, there’s a beaker in the hood on
nick: fire.
joe: Should I put it out?
is like, yes, put
it out. What you doing?
No, let it burn.
So
yeah, then he brings a beaker the
next day and he
tells a story and it was like, oh.
nick: And so, yeah, that, that’s a [00:28:00] safety warning out there for anyone
joe: using any, do not just ball a rags up and throw ’em in the, in the corner of your garage.
nick: But I love doing that.
They will fy here
joe: or
nick: throw it into the, dumpster and,
joe: and see what happens.
But
nick: yeah,
geo: that’s dumpster fine. Essentially
joe: you can,
there are
mechanisms love us biologicals
to spontaneously combust. I think the issue here is that it’s on command. And it’s fast. It’s
geo: not, and it doesn’t hurt him.
nick: time? Like right. And it doesn’t. That’s the third thing. But that’s, that’s probably the
geo: most important thing.
joe: That’s,
nick: I
think it’s fairly important if you’re gonna set yourself ablaze in, in some way. So that,
or I mean, for it to not hurt.
other
thing is maybe you have very fast skin regeneration. I mean, he is already himself on fire. So that’s some ability. He got these abilities ’cause he was bombarded with cosmic ray.
joe: Um, so it activated all sorts of genes and things like that. And, , we talked about
nick: this genetics,
joe: you know, your genome. And your phenotype. And I was just wanna say
nick: that
often
you don’t, you know, so he could have already [00:29:00] had
joe: advanced
skin
regeneration, let’s say.
david: S And so here’s the, here’s the thing. I was thinking about what kind of mutations that could help, right? So I know for a fact that you could increase the heat shock response and increase the ability of the proteins in the cell to stay folded with just a few mutations. But then, yeah, the regeneration too.
You would have to ga basically have a localized cancer stem cell population that just regenerates, but , never escapes the niche. You know what I mean? It’s kind of it. Those were the two, mutational ideas that I had. Yeah.
Anyway.
joe: that’s and I was saying that if you have,
know,
at, at some level, if you are never tested. Then you’re unaware that you have some new phenotypic ability,
geo: but then you happen to, so, so maybe, but then you happen to get,
nick: right.
He got this power
joe: then that was the thing that, right, it was kind of
like
the[00:30:00]
fusing to
Wolverine skeleton. It was because he had healing factor that allowed him to have Adam Addium fuse to a skeleton successfully. And so you had that, so if
nick: you didn’t know you had that power, you could
joe: just accidentally get tested on and then wake up with this power and you, you lived and no one else.
Because that, that was a question. And a couple episodes ago it was like, how come no one’s done tests to find a genetic, , pathway to recreate.
A human torch or a
geo: is that the question that we had asked?
david: mean, these
days we would use PCR.
And Oh, I thought you were gonna say LSD. No,
geo: that’s only if you’re Same, same, only if you’re a scientist.
joe: if
nick: If a you know, the, road trip, that’s right. If you’re on it, you’re not No,
you’re not.
joe: No. A PhD scientist. We’re gonna set some
nick: bad.
joe: here.
david: yeah, that Venn diagram is a circle.
nick: David. You got me right. We’re good, right? I I I can do this, right. No, I, for science,[00:31:00]
Georgia was asking,
because
joe: we had, , Jonathan Mayberry on and at towards the end of the episode, he had asked about how
nick: does
joe: Johnny stop from dehydrating?
geo: Oh, that, that was a, yeah. Thought that
joe: was a good question because you are. When you’re on fire you are, removing,
geo: the
david: this is where the tar grade proteins might come in. Right. You know, they’re also desiccation tolerant, so it’s gotta be some combination of, Antifreeze type proteins that you develop. I don’t know, it
seems,
joe: know, I had, I had another idea, I don’t know, if you might think this one, but I was thinking about face separation and biomolecular connaissance. I don’t conc
david: Ooh, yeah.
nick: Oh yeah. Oh yeah, me too.
Yeah.
joe: experience on that, but, uh,
david: Yeah. That’s, that, that, that’s a that’s another thing I do.
nick: Yeah. So, and just
to and
can you give
geo: us a little bit of a, so I was
nick: so I was just gonna say that
joe: that these condensates form when proteins and or RNA [00:32:00] undergo liquid, liquid phase separation, and so they reorganized themselves from this kind of liquid phase into a more dense membrane free droplet inside the cell.
Presumably giving it some heat protection or protection against other stresses, heat shock, oxidative nutrient, de deprivation, DNA
david: Absolutely. Yeah. All the,
nick: of.
joe: Yeah.
david: yeah, the,
if, if you can sort of
add,
that’s great. Yeah.
That’s fantastic. And
I, I,
nick: on
joe: so that’s why I,
geo: I just heard
joe: give a, a lecture
nick: on
this,
joe: so
nick: that’s why.
david: That was incredible. But yeah, it’s basically because the cells made of stuff and this stuff is all gooey.
joe: gooey
david: when you change, when you change the. Anything, the temperature, the goo mixes in different ways, right?
And will reorganize, it’s like a lava lamp in there, basically. And , as the lava lamp stays on longer, it gets hotter and you see the more mixing, right? So it’s the same type of idea that, , the [00:33:00] interior of the cell, it’s been a billion years that this thing’s been evolving. As the temperature goes up and down and up and down and over the seasons and over the latitudes, you just have a huge range.
And then the extre of files, right? We all have
In our genes the memory of all of this fluctuation. And so that has made us super tough. And so you can imagine somewhere out there, there’s some suite of genetic mutations that could confer an incredible amount. Tolerance. Now, it’s hard to imagine that being in a
joe: a
david: big ass person, like a human, like an animal, like I can see it in a cell, or, or a small
animal, I don’t know.
joe: effect, right?
So we
nick: could
geo: not a Johnny.
joe: so you could have these, uh, connaissance that lock. Like kind of vulnerable enzymes and proteins into some sort of protective
geo: you know, what bubble,
joe: that, um, it kind of
david: and [00:34:00] casing. Yeah.
joe: And then he’s just kind of,
nick: so almost a, that’s why I
joe: you would have to start at the layers of the skin and to protect everything in.
So you might not have to have this across every cell type in your body.
david: I see what you’re saying.
joe: limited to, uh, maybe even some specialized new It’s almost like a plasma TV screen. You know that’s a liquid crystal display.
david: actually. that’s, that’s
the right. metaphor.
nick: go. So what we’re saying is we’re moving out of the realm of handwaving. Right. Like, we’re gonna make
it
david: Yeah. You know,
this is, I’m, I’m, I’m coming a little bit round to the idea that this is a little
more,
nick: making
geo: this like
nick: And so you could have percent plausible
Yeah. I mean this goes
to like the
joe: episode. We
nick: ended there
joe: leading into this, because that was where I started and started thinking about that, is that you would, now, if you say well take all the other organs out and body, how do you protect everything inside just on the outside?
And that would be, so now you can have specialized glands with your oxidase or [00:35:00] peroxidase in there and some specialized organ generating the, the, that
there. And
you have
david: Little
reaction trap, the heat, so it
right. Yeah. I think
joe: you
nick: can even form that
joe: as condensates until it’s needed.
Right? So that’s that rapid on and off. So you could actually go turn on, ’cause peroxidase will form these nice crystalline structures inside of cells. And so you could turn on and then you ooze out and you then you
david: You know
what? You could, you could, if you had a little,
little mitochondria, ooze out, flame on.
geo: right?
david: If you recruit mitochondria over there Right. You could uncouple the mitochondria and generate localized heat.
joe: That’s right. Right.
geo: This
is what
david: Yeah. to
get the spark with the, the mitochondria uncouple or could be
nick: the spark.
Yes. That’s where
joe: I was. Yeah, you could do that.
geo: This is what happens when you get a couple scientists
nick: together.
david: the spark, man. This is,
this could, This could be This has legs.
joe: All
nick: right so
maybe we can
set ourselves on fire
joe: and not, [00:36:00] not die.
nick: So would it be safe to say that he doesn’t get sick then, or No?
joe: I think he’s still gonna get
nick: because I mean, if you’re raising the body temperature at the same
david: You’re
basically autoclaving yourself.
nick: yeah, you, you may. right. We
david: there could be some downsides to microbiome, right?
joe: so we just said that we were leaving all internal organs alone, so we were gonna try to maintain physiological temperature nor, uh, normal
nick: physiological
temperature.
But your body has to raise temp either way. No.
joe: Maybe just on the outside,
nick: which is still the inside.
joe: Hold on. What?
geo: No, but
nick: I mean, if you’re ha
david: I mean on LSD.
nick: a,
joe: you’re gonna have a, you, so
nick: you would have multi
Yeah.
but like, you
do get, you do get
fevers, right? So hold on. I’m saying that for the flame
on we’re going to,
joe: we’re gonna now have.
Several specialized layer new layers of skin, one a jelly layer
nick: to kind of
joe: insulate us, the jelly
david: Yes. Yes. Yes,
joe: gonna have then the,
you’re gonna have the [00:37:00] oozing layer that, that generates. And then you’re gonna have
nick: may, maybe, actually no,
joe: that back. You wanna have the, the jelly layer.
nick: and then
you would
joe: have some sort of other skin layer that might be a little more thermal resistant, can have this kind of, the kind sits on and off. And
nick: then I
joe: you would have your ooze layer
nick: and you would have
joe: kind of on top there. And now you would have, you
would have the ooze come through
but also in his mouth as well, is what we
david: You had, you had.
nick: You just said
only thing about
joe: the mouth was that the pain receptors were different. You didn’t say fire shoots out the mouth. No.
nick: No,
but
joe: means that his pain we said also that this pain receptors might also be modified so that he doesn’t really feel the pain.
nick: His temperature would go up. So it if it’s all around your mouth, you’re still having that pain receptors in there.
You’re not getting burnt every time you talk.
joe: Yeah. I mean, yes.
nick: And he talks all the time. I think the
joe: issue you’ve brought up and andour than the mouth is the eyeballs. I don’t,
david: Oh,
joe: know, I, I have, I
nick: don’t, he has some gooey [00:38:00] balls.
geo: he has go eyes.
david: Just always like gga.
nick: he probably has really dry eyes,
right? Yes.
joe: yes. See you.
geo: so
nick: They’re not gooey. I didn’t, I didn’t. Or
joe: Or, or you have some sort of like a membrane that forms already eyes
david: yeah.
joe: So there you go. Okay.
david: A heat re a heat shield.
nick: And you
might have
joe: membranes in your nose and your, your mouth. You might have specialized, like, you know,
david: Lids.
joe: Lids, yes.
nick: Cats.
joe: breathe, uh, uh, alternate breathing apparatus. So that
david: Yep. Yep. ABAs.
nick: yes,
geo: this sounds so plausible. Breathing’s
nick: gonna
joe: be difficult also. So, I mean, I wonder if he can hold his breath for a long time. How long can he flame on? Like, it’s like indefinitely, right? Yeah.
david: he can also fly, right?
So,
nick: is,
joe: flying is its own thing.
nick: What? He’s projecting it
david: but you could propel, yeah, you can propel
right?
geo: like Iron Man. Yeah.
nick: so I think,
joe: I think that before we go to flying, we should talk about projecting the flame, because that’s what you need to do. You [00:39:00] gotta do that before you can fly
geo: like a flame
david: I see.
nick: which he can project. An identical version of himself.
joe: Oh man, come
nick: He can’t,
geo: No, I’m done. That’s, I’m gonna
nick: throw
that
joe: in hand away.
nick: He calls ’em fmo, rip that magazine out,
joe: that comic up.
nick: He would bring it out.
Yes.
So I mean, yeah.
joe: you would have to, the projection system here is, is what you need. And, and there are organisms that project, you know, like the bomber day or beetle.
I think they
david: Oh yeah.
joe: Uh, some,
nick: exo, an
exothermic. I forgot
geo: about the bomb.
nick: I mean, how did you forget that? An
exothermic, uh,
david: Baba Doba Dome
geo: I
joe: it’s like a hundred degrees. I think it’s like a little,
nick: it gives
joe: its enemies a little surprise. It’s like you’re messing with me and
david: and the ladies.
nick: and the,
joe: so
nick: you would need, you would need this, a projectable flame,
joe: maybe gland.
I, I just like, we’re going with glands. Like you, you would have to have some built in, almost
like Spider-Man his web gland,
nick: are you [00:40:00] talking about? Spider-Man uses web fluid, not all of them.
Mm. That was in
joe: MCU. They had the
nick: no, it wasn’t in the MCU. He did it.
He
joe: well, that comes out
nick: of you. Oh, that
joe: That there? Yep.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
nick: I mean, I, I don’t count him as in the MCU, but he’s in the MCU now, you know?
Once again, everyone was confused by him.
geo: what are some other, what are some other like fictional outta
nick: wait, it comes out of you just there,
joe: That
geo: that set themselves on fire?
I writer.
nick: Yep. I was gonna say, say, I think a Nicholas Cage, right?
Cage. There it is. Element, yeah.
geo: Nick Cage, cage
joe: Element also goes on fire
nick: element. You have,
geo: Cole? Yes.
nick: you have the, you don’t know who Element does
geo: No.
nick: No. Look on your face when you said that. Oh yeah. Element Stephen
joe: King’s fire starter. Oh, drew
nick: Barry
joe: Moore in the early eighties.
nick: that’s
geo: been a really long time since I saw that, and I really enjoy that
joe: she, her
nick: thing she didn’t
claim one, but
joe: projected the fire
geo: the, everything would be on f
joe: Well,
nick: that’s once you
joe: a little fire, then the[00:41:00]
geo: becomes a big fire.
joe: fire though,
geo: But it seemed like it just all of a sudden became really
joe: got that.
We didn’t start
geo: Yeah, we, we know, we know.
joe: Okay. Um, moving
nick: on.
stopped. That’s
geo: have, I
nick: have a list. I
joe: I have a
nick: a list of,
joe: of pre early fire controlling fictional characters pre Johnny Storm, 1961.
david: Ah, nice.
joe: so I was gonna go through a few of these. Uh, the Flame first appeared in Wonder World Comics number three
nick: wasn’t who 1939 inspired Johnny.
I mean, I think
joe: these kind of inspired, uh, that was 1939. You
nick: had the Human Torch,
joe: Jim Hammond, that’s the one right there. That was Marvel Comics number 1,
geo: 39. Woo.
nick: Mm-hmm. And
he was a synthetic
joe: Android who ignites into flames, flies, and protects fire. So he was an
nick: Android.
geo: I was gonna
nick: Android I
david: that
makes sense. Yeah.
Engineered. Yeah.
joe: You had, uh,
david: get, get around all the, all the biocompatibility.
joe: you had Prince Flame from Fiction House, planet [00:42:00] Comics
geo: Prince Flame. I
nick: thought he
david: at first I thought you were talking about Prince.
joe: Yes.
nick: Purple rain.
And
So Purple Rain and purple fire. Yeah.
He had full body flame control
joe: and he had fire projection. It was more a sci-fi. And we were talking about so many sci-fi in the golden age of comics like these sci-fi based, uh, comics.
We had fireman and dynamic comics, number 3, 19 41. And he gains fire powers from exposure to a volcano. He can flame on and off at Will, and he shoots flame and resists heat. Um, so very similar to Johnny Storm,
Man,
1941, punch Comics number one. He also shoots fire, super heat body abilities, wears a costume to contain or direct a flames.
geo: Like, um, the guy in the stand that started all the filming. Oh, right.
joe: Yes.
nick: What was his,
geo: he? Oh,
joe: that guy’s name.
Yeah,
nick: Gasoline.
geo: man.
No. Um,
joe: Gas man. No
nick: gas man. I
geo: I don’t know.
nick: know. It’ll probably, I don’t wanna be anywhere [00:43:00] near someone named that.
That’s a scam up.
geo: I know you read that so many
times.
joe: I
geo: Trashcan man.
Ooh, trash Can man.
joe: Trashy. Oh, trashy trash can man.
david: All right.
joe: Turkey tide.
nick: Okay. Yeah, and then there were, there were a number of,
joe: could imagine of kind of mythological folks who, who
david: Prometheus, right?
nick: Prometheus.
joe: You know, you had, uh, cer, , and Norris mythology was, uh, you know, the Ragnar Rock
You know, the giant who wields a flaming sword and engulfs the world of in Ragnar Rock.
So. Yeah, you had, um, you know, fre and uh, Islamic mythology.
david: Where do dragons come in?
nick: Dragons.
joe: yeah. Right. I think, you know, also they would, they breathe fire, so they have this ability. So they, that’s, and
so that got
me thinking, that’s why I went external with, with Johnny and trying to
david: Mm-hmm.
joe: a way to hand w them, because now you don’t have to explain [00:44:00] internal structures because you’re, uh, I think to David’s point, you have a lot more organs and systems that would be much more responsive and heat
damaging
effects that would, may take a long time to recover.
Our, our skin is very flexible and pliable and so, you know, a little more resistant to damage
nick: Was that a hint at the next episode?
david: Ooh.
joe: you mean the episode before this?
geo: Yeah. Flexible.
nick: Oh, oh, flexible. I don’t know where you’re going with it. Come on.
geo: yeah. It’s so confusing. Skin
nick: Flexibility.
joe: gotta have flexibility.
Um,
geo: I think Joe, you could be the solo stove man.
joe: A solo stove. I don’t wanna be the solo stove,
david: that’s another source of heat. that’s what you are in my phone now. Solo stove. Am
joe: I a solo stove man?
nick: Solo stove man.
joe: So, yeah.
Thinking about projection. Let’s go back ’cause I don’t know if we’ve solved that problem.
I guess we had the gland and you could [00:45:00] shoot out the gland.
geo: Is that like the goo
nick: Is that like the go? The No, the oohs,
geo: The goo in the lava lamp.
joe: Sure. Yeah, yeah. yeah. David’s point. Yeah. it. You
david: You know?
nick: wait, what
joe: a controlling,
nick: Why would that be? What
joe: a controlling gland to
nick: actually focus the fire
out? That
only
david: exactly you need to play. You need a way to focus.
Once you can focus, I feel like release is a little easier.
joe: Yes. ’cause
nick: a ‘
david: cause that’s,
nick: release
joe: stuff, like we talked about the bomb,
david: yeah. Like you dissipation. So once you have a, a channeling, uh, yeah. Anyway you, you generate the heat and then you localize it, and then you
And that can be done. I think that’s downhill.
joe: Yeah. once That’s downhill. the initial flames over your body squirting out
david: Once you have the
scaffolding,
joe: The
david: yeah, you can.
nick: squirting out.
your, oh, stop saying that. Goo.
I know There’s so many, there’s so many
david: just like another appendage.
geo: there’s so
nick: many [00:46:00]
geo: icky words. I think the, the only other thing,
joe: and so Johnny’s
kind of biology would be interesting ’cause we, we made all these modifications of skin and
david: Yeah. Right.
So how do you control it? Yeah.
joe: and things like that to, to actually have that.
nick: And if he loses
joe: his pain receptors, that already suggests that there’s been some neurological reworking
david: Some different type of feedback.
Yeah,
joe: that would happen. The turn on, turn off.
nick: I don’t, the
joe: thing I, I haven’t. Is quenching the fire? Is that as simple as stopping
nick: the
joe: release? I’m not gonna say ooze anymore. The release of
david: Right. Do or do you need an active shutdown?
I think you could I think release is as bad.
a, a closing of the channels. A closing of
the channels. That’s better.
joe: better. The of the channels.[00:47:00]
He’s finished.
Yes. But yeah, I mean that’s, yeah. And, and that, that fuel source, that, that could be lipid. That
geo: we figure out the dehydration thing?
joe: Well, we we talked
the protective jelly layer. Oh, gel layer. Okay. In there we talked about the conduits that might help with dehydration.
So as you have these stress events, you could be protecting or instead of having a proteins that, that’s, uh, d de nature, which means they just unfold. So proteins have a, usually a complex folding structure, and that’s what allows ’em to work and do specific work. You de nature, you’re just stretching that back out and then it can’t work any longer.
geo: And then is that when people die,
joe: People will die if there are proteins in nature. Yes. Okay. That’s, that’s generally what it happens.
david: People
Die.
joe: think
about the
frying egg. or a You heard it here first. Your
proteins Do not proteins We’re all gonna die,
geo: Defold
nick: You can’t be [00:48:00] folding yourself. And
they fold and, and usually they, they fold back in the same order so that you might go, what happens?
joe: You take the temperature down, so they actually denature then they start to kind of bundle up like spaghetti into clump and yeah, there’s problems. So,
david: then you get a LS or something.
joe: yeah, you get something bad. Let’s, um, don’t do that. People,
nick: um,
joe: yeah. So
nick: I
geo: that’s,
maybe we should list all the things you shouldn’t do.
nick: I just have a
david: set yourself on fire. There’s been a lot of don’ts
here. can end on some dos. Yeah.
joe: So,
Nick, what do you got? You said you had some hard hitting research coming in.
nick: Did I, I thought we were already go going over that, or, or, or, well, I
think he brought
geo: a lot in as far as like some of fans
joe: and. Extremophiles.
nick: have nothing on that stuff. No. He
dropped
geo: whole mouth thing. He
nick: He brought out, of like the, the setting of
geo: water on fire and then taking the heat.
nick: right.
And so the, the water on [00:49:00] fire,
joe: the set, you know. How big was this lake? A
nick: pond? It was like a small
joe: pond. Like some, a backyard pond.
nick: I mean, I don’t know what a backyard pond is. What is a backyard pond.
Joe, you don’t have a pond in your backyard
pond that would fit in
david: Was it? Yay big.
joe: Was he like
nick: a little, a
little pot of water? I mean, I can You know, end to the other. I this a fantastic, scooped out the few koy goldfish and,
joe: and on
david: we talk in Arizona golf course or New England golf course.
nick: I, I, I don’t know where either of those are, so I’m gonna go New England. I feel like they don’t have a lot of water there.
david: Oh yeah, I should have said something. Swampy
joe: Arizona doesn’t have a lot of water either. Come
by not a lot water, you would go Arizona,
nick: I don’t know, man.
It’s dry heat.
joe: Yeah, it’s, it’s dry
nick: I’m not from Arizona guys. Um, George is over here trying to fry eggs on sidewalks in Arizona. The
thing with, with
geo: Hey
joe: did he have, um, is his outfit specially [00:50:00] designed? Yeah. Does that give him some also protection? Potentially?
nick: It keeps unstable being nude. It’s every time he lights up is
in a nude. It, Sony doesn’t have the fashion It comes out
Buck
naked. No. It saves him from being Oh yeah. It’s so that he’s just like flame on and he comes
off. It’s so he doesn’t have a fashion Like, um, I
david: Hi.
nick: the first, first, until
the
fabric was made, he, he would just
stroll out flame. Pretty much. Yeah.
joe: just, you’re like, whoa, that guy is buck naked
nick: fly. Yep.
joe: on fire. Yeah.
Okay.
Okay. Um,
david: when you got it, flaunt it.
nick: what about his hair?
Hair.
That’s right. His hair doesn’t burn off. His
hair not burn off, which I think it would, that would be a nice fuel source. Yeah. I think that’s a
david: Oh yeah.
joe: the come, he should be shaved, he should have a shaved head.
nick: I mean, he was, has a mustache now
joe: have the
geo: the hair flaming,
joe: but then it, it burns off.
nick: But then we already established, that doesn’t happen to him. His eyebrows, he hold
the whole and body, Unless it’s made of a substance that helps to dissipate heat.
joe: but then how [00:51:00] biological substance. Yeah.
david: Like some, some keratin derivative.
joe: or something. Yeah. Or some other protein structure. Is this hair fluffy and light, or is it coarse and brittle?
nick: I.
david: Does it conduct
nick: You know,
joe: No. Yeah.
nick: this is on the pages of a comic. I have
no, once again, thank He’s an expert on that. You know, I, I, I don’t know.
joe: a comic, he might have fluffed his hair, like, you know, like a model, like, you know, we, a video. You
david: like flock of seagulls?
nick: That’s right.
joe: yes.
nick: Like Bobby, he throws his hair back. I don’t know man. He’s got a mustache. Yeah. Yeah.
joe: Yeah.
geo: That
nick: problem. Yeah. Hair.
joe: I think, I think he should be hairless. Like, we’re gonna do this. Right. He should be hairless, no
david: Full alopecia.
nick: That’s right.
So he, to glue him on every time
And I think all of his orpheus
should have
joe: membrane guards.
Like he should
david: Yes.
joe: Yeah. I [00:52:00] think nose, eyes, ears, mouth.
nick: Wait, so what is a membrane guard now? Like, is is it supposed to be like a flap?
geo: it.
joe: Yes,
nick: exactly.
This is
disgusting. He
geo: about it.
nick: Yeah, but he didn’t really go over it. He
just, it was like a lid.
Spanked their
flap. Also, man, you
geo: a lid
joe: You know, you have everything there.
nick: So you’re, you’re, you’re just pretty much putting corks in everything,
joe: the holes,
nick: corks in every hole.
joe: They’re
nick: not, you got a hole, we’re gonna cork it.
Flaps,
david: plug you.
joe: they’re membrane All right. And that’s, I mean, that’s in nature that are a lot of animals that have There are, Kind of, uh, protection.
geo: Well, is that what our, is that what our islands are?
joe: ways yes, but there are, I think all, I mean is it alligators? I’m trying to think of so many aquatic animals that are amphibious
david: With, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
joe: when they actually go into water, they have another membrane that will cover their
david: like STO in plants, right? STO are a great
nick: Stomata for
joe: gas exchange.
And so they allow gas [00:53:00] exchange between the environment. So maybe Johnny has some Sada and
david: Yeah.
joe: he can have
nick: some gas exchange
Johnny
geo: Ada.
in The gas exchange hanging with . Oh my,
david: Oh,
nick: look out Look out
geo: that gas exchange.
joe: Torchy.
david: well that explains the heat.
joe: He’s rigging a heat. But yeah.
nick: But that,
joe: I think that would be the way.
Now if flying is I don’t know. I got nothing for that.
david: I got nothing for flying.
I mean, unless we got gas exchange propulsion.
joe: It’s
nick: shooting it down. ’cause you guys have glands now
shooting down.
david: just like a whoopy cushion,
geo: Yeah.
nick: But you, gotta, he’s shooting out the flame it’s a, you also
have to generate enough
joe: for lift. you, you just can’t shoot like a little, like
nick: to set you on
joe: fire. I just need to shoot a little flame at you and you’ll
nick: go. But he doesn’t just web it out. It’s[00:54:00]
joe: yeah. He shoots it out like his
nick: hands.
Yeah. Which is what
geo: have. It’s like
nick: gland in his
geo: Ironman. That’s how he takes off.
david: hand glands,
joe: he,
nick: but, but he’s, he’s
joe: some propulsion, right? So you’re generating force to push, to give you lift. And he has, he has boots. He has like the propulsions on his boots and so he lifts
nick: off. He’s got the propulsions on his feet too.
joe: That’s
david: he, he stands
on his grand gland
hands.
joe: Johnny.
nick: Yeah. Oh, he has
joe: glands in his feet.
nick: I mean, I’d assume so.
joe: He has feet glands. We didn’t talk about that. I
I guess
if he has skin, he could shoot,
he could have glands all over the place. You’re right.
nick: He is a gland.
joe: we gave him a new layer of skin
geo: gland, man.
joe: That’s
nick: why his skin looks so good. Stop. Maybe
that’s
joe: his skin looks so good. He looks so
david: Oh yeah.
Glow up,
nick: But now he’s just gonna be hairless. He’s just
joe: just hairless
nick: Beautiful skin.
Skin though.
joe: skin though
geo: Hair.
david: but but yeah,
joe: What kind [00:55:00] of jelly do you apply to your
david: because it’s on fire.
nick: And so, yeah. So then I had
joe: you, you asked about I think you asked about the caloric intake.
Yeah.
david: Oh yeah.
joe: if we go with this whole process where you are you know, I mean, all sorts of stuff. You know, this new skin, skin regeneration. , this jelly, whatever it’s made out of, , maybe something like aloe vera kind of product in there. That’s, that’s very insulating.
nick: Yeah. I mean
joe: I’m, you’re probably just base metabolism.
You’re, you’re 10, 20,000. Um, I think if you’re an
nick: even ex skirting all the goose going,
joe: I think if you’re, you’re, I think that’s just chilling. I think it’s the most like wolverine level that, that this might be 50, 50,000, I mean, the cellular regeneration, the,
david: Yeah. Yep,
joe: You might need increased hemoglobin for oxygen, you know, we talked about.
So you don’t suffocate as you’re flaming on and depleting oxygen.
nick: I
joe: do think that you would, yeah, I think you would burn some significant calories
nick: in this burn
[00:56:00] process, no pun intended.
joe: yes. But yeah. So I’m, I’m on a high end 50 a hundred K per minutes of flaming on like, I think
david: brushing eggs all day.
joe: you’re just gonna be
nick: chewing through calories. Big Max Golo. Oh my.
joe: Just line ’em up.
nick: But
joe: they’re fantastic for, they’re pretty wealthy. Yeah,
nick: yeah.
joe: Yeah. So,
nick: I mean, they can afford
it.
joe: need to go to trial. I mean, that’s why they were doing unsanctioned
nick: space exploration
joe: led to this all, you know,
nick: this whole catastrophe.
because scientists are just normally wealthy.
david: we’re just great. in it. That’s right. Just hanging out We’re taking
with extremo foils.
joe: at the extreme of files. We’re going,
We’re gonna
go some un unsanctioned space Odyssey,
I’m Oh, yeah. Let’s go. Yeah,
let’s do it. I’m in. some, superpowers.
just need my
get little
nick: get little degree. Yeah,
david: [00:57:00] Just your honorarium and a vial of LSD.
geo: I’m in. That’s it.
nick: That’s
david: Let’s go
nick: that how we’re gonna get to space? Bunch of
LSD.
david: field research.
joe: get
somewhere.
nick: My car will turn into a spacecraft.
Here I go again.
joe: Yeah. So
nick: cool.
joe: think we did it. I think we pulled Johnny A.
geo: I don’t know what we did, but
nick: I mean, I, I I think we’ve completely made him
joe: Stillman
geo: Ani and
joe: Yes.
nick: Alright.
david: All right.
nick: Yeah,
david: Well, thanks. Thanks you all. It was a treat to be on here as always. I, I hope to get a green jacket on my third appearance,
so uh,
joe: there you go. Yeah, yeah. You got something
nick: you’re, you’re gonna be on for
david: I’ll get something.
nick: Season three.
geo: gonna get an honorary degree.
joe: We’re gonna get you
david: Oh yeah. Awesome.
nick: a nice suit, some
joe: Yeah, some oozing glance. That’s, uh, that’s it.
david: May we all have oozing glands.
nick: Oh no.[00:58:00]
david: Alright.
joe: on that note, you have, uh, you have me, Joe.
nick: Yeah. Nick.
joe: You got Nick. Got Nick. We’ve got Georgia and David and Oh, we got David still there. He already said bye when he said bye again.
david: Yeah, but I’m still here,
so yeah.
joe: We
nick: didn’t cut you
off. Bye.
You,
joe: We
nick: don’t
do that
today, guys. We let it,
joe: we let it ride out. And did we?
nick: I think we set some holes of flame
joe: We
geo: We
david: All right.
nick: Some hot holes. Holes.
david: will actually leave now.
nick: we’ll see you
david: Thanks Everyone.
nick: Bye-Bye Love.
joe: y’all.
