Brain Soda Podcast - Episode 21 - Metal Gear Cellod: The Proteinwalker

Episode Date: June 24, 2023

On this week's episode we'll be discussing the critically acclaimed video game series Metal Gear, and taking a tour of the cells that make up our bodies!

Brainsoda Kill them fans, it's the Brain Soda Podcast. I, as always, am your host Kyle, joined here with my co-host, Brad. How's it going? Today, we are going to be talking about cells, but first, in 1987, Konami, the video game company released Metal gear This game went on to become one of the biggest franchises and most beloved entries in all of gaming Known as the Metal Gear series First of all, I didn't know it was 1987. What what system was that on so it's actually kind of interesting This is released on something called the MSX2,

which is like a popular gaming computer. Okay. So all of it was a computer game at first? Interesting. Wow. If that's what's funny about it to begin with, and then the other thing is is that like, so Kojima, the guy who we're going to talk about is the big through line through this stuff.

The main director, creative figurehead. He's an economic student who's obsessed with film and he plays Super Mario and he's like, I'm going to devote my life to make a video game. Right. And then he goes to Konami and Konami like, you know, he builds up his own rep too. I don't want to make it sound like Konami just dumps up the newest lap. Like he kind of builds up. Well, then at that time, that's like, you know, like to say, I'm going to devote myself to playing video or making video games. You really could, I mean, you can still do that now, but like, it's a super burgeoning industry as the point that we're going to be.

Yes, but it's a little different than rice back then. So he, right, he begins his work at Konami. And instead of him working, like once he's build up some rep, instead of him being on the Famicom team, which would be the Nintendo for us, right? He's put on the MSX2 team, and they're like, we want a game like Commando,

and Commando's this Capcom, like top scrolling shooter, where you like, kind of running gun through the map and stuff like that And he's like working on I'm not trying to dunk on this thing But like he's he's sitting there trying to like form you like this game and he's like And then he goes like what if it's like a stealth game and like you like, you're not worried about running and gun through the map. You're like taking your time and avoiding conflict and things like that. Konami is like kind of leery about it,

but knew they had something on their hands, released it, and it was a huge success. Now, in the West, what we would have got is the Nintendo port. And like the Nintendo port, its western sequel to Metal Gear, which is called Snakes for Venge, are both like disavowed by Kojima and like, not Canada.

Has this type of game had been developed at all before? I mean, like, I mean, there's shooting games and all that, but stealth. I mean, there's so many games from that time that predate us. Yeah, that's true. Because for a long time, games were wild west. And you could just, right? You could develop, yeah, I was gonna say,

you could develop whatever game and get going on the tar, or whatever it may be, right? But poor, poor games that led to the crash of an industry. You know what I mean? Like the ET game, things like that. Like it was a bubble that burst essentially. Now this is after that. And we should actually probably cover that at some point. But so this thing isn't even usually getting released on a mainline console like you would see in America, which are established at this time in 87. You said it was a Nintendo port though.

They did get an Nintendo port and that's how it became like successful in America. The true secret. Oh, okay. The middle here though is... The middle here too, Solid Snake. And it's a Japan exclusive in 1990. Okay. Now that was unintended. What?

You're right. It's a PlayStation exclusive though, like later on. Later on, right? And then the only time Western audiences see that game regardless is when it's on the substance re-release of Metal Gear Solid 3. So it's just like you can't even buy it. Or I guess you can emulate it or anything like that. Yeah, I'm sure Yeah, there's definitely emulated and Fran fan translate the games and things like that. Okay, but the but the true Canon sequel is

Metal Gear 2 okay now Metal Gear 2 introduces things like Cinematics for its intro the codec, although their text-based entries, like a lot of older RPGs and games of the time, like those things were considered to be to a certain extent cinematic and like developed character and things like that. It's what gives solid snake is kind of cynical personality,

then we get into Metal Gear Solid. Yeah, well like, I mean, text back then, like you gotta think about it, like that. I mean, tech spec then, like you gotta think about it like that. I mean, that's how what games were back then because that's what they had. And it's almost like a book if you think about it. I mean, it is telling a story. So like a good tech school game, you know, would be, you know,

like a good one, I think a Chrono trigger. But that might have been a little later. I'm not sure exactly when that came out. I, that's a square soft game from like 95, I think. I could be wrong. So that might have been a little later. I'm not sure exactly when they came out. I did. That's a square soft game from like 95 I think. I could be wrong. So that I mean. Yeah, but it's very text-based. Right.

And in all of those RPGs like that work. And like very early proto computer games, I think you had like medieval sword and sorcery games where you would walk around and the game would lay out a narrative tale and then you would like hit a key to kind of choose your own adventure books. Like you hit a key to to say what you're going to do. Oh yeah. Right and then you go from there. Like that's very very early gaming. There are some notable things that he did on that system and other like defunct systems of the time. Like if you've ever heard of it,

a precursor to the PlayStation is something called the 3DO, and he released a game called Police Nots on that. Police Nots? The MSX. Yeah, it's actually a kind of interesting like almost more cinematic than game. Like it is a graphic mirror or whatever they call it. Yeah, and like there's things in that

and it's other game Snatcher that really like cloo into how much film inspires Kojima. The greed escape largely inspired Metal Gear, right? But the Metal Gear game that kind of results from that is some way different and things like that. But throughout all these games, you see a no-mage to cinema. And like in Snatcher,

it's, there's obvious elements of Blade Runner in that game. You know what I mean? And that's another MSX game that he does that's like, you know, critically pretty well received, you know, as far as fandom and things like that, I think it's just like a trivia fact for some people. You know what I mean? I don't know how many people really have ever played Snatcher. Yeah. Or police not even. Exactly. I mean, well, maybe one pack the day, but yeah, but Metal Gear Solid though, you know, they play a lot of. Exactly. I mean, well, maybe on the back of the day, but yeah, but Metal Gear Solid though, I know they play a lot of them. Exactly. Yeah. So like that, I mean, that's really his bread and butter, right? So with 1995, Kojima has kind of moved on from all the other projects he

had done. Many of them were exclusive to Japan. Yeah. But Metal Gear Solid is this game where you not only have this big 3D transition and moving the series up and like one criticism I feel like you could make definitely those first two games and even in part Metal Gear Solid although it is more of a sequel than even you could make an argument Metal Gear 2 is 2 Metal Gear because like they kind of retread the same plot in a lot of ways right two is two metal gear because like they kind of retread the same plot in a lot of ways, right? But in solid, you have this large grasp for concepts and you have this huge shift in the technical aspects. A revolutionary like 7,000 polygons is what's used to assemble solid snake in that PlayStation one. So well, okay polygons So give me like how many polygons you used in I don't know let's say oh

The most common versus like now Well I'm even know if Pac-Man has a polygon but a polygon really I don't I don't believe so no because it's all pixel It's eight-bit games. Oh polygon, but a polygon. Really? I don't believe so. No, because it's all pixel. It's eight bit game. Oh, also, I see you're saying. So this is like the first like 32 bit 62 or it goes past 16 bit, right? Like 64 I think is 64 bit is is the cartridge limit for Nintendo.

Famously square soft had moved over with Final Fantasy, although like, Kajima's games really weren't on Nintendo in the way that a lot of people I think, like retroactively view they are. The staying with a disc format base became the norm for a lot of publishers this time. Right, like we're gonna come out with these big high level concept games. You could say this is the advent really of AAA games too of like it's not just a team of five dudes

no more. You know what I mean? Like this is a huge project. At one point they literally built out the models for Shadow Moses where the events of Metal Gear Solid take place with Lego and took like a little mini camera to figure out how you're gonna go from that from third to first person view, like entering ducks and things like that. Just the level and tension detail and that, you know, that cycle for video games because it's one of those three year development cycles

like a lot of video games Have and had at that point as well from 95 released in 98 it is one of the largest selling games of its time It's one of the best video games for The PlayStation that's one of the things that I think makes this one to punch Kajima's about to give you with this game and then it's direct sequel mental gyrsalah 2 for the PlayStation 2 on both of those systems both of like the high level i'm i'm doing a video game and yeah it's like kind of technobabbly and definitely a work of fiction or whatever else like taking political intrigue in my stealth game,

taking concepts like AIs and... Advanced tech, I mean, honestly, right? Like there is an advanced stuff like that. And I mean, honestly, a large theme is genomes. Like genome soldiers, you find out that liquid and snake are clones of big boss and things like that. Okay, so you're talking about, see, okay, honestly, I only have played one of the Metal Gear Solid games.

I was waiting to tell you that I know they're one of your favorite games, but we don't need to go back in. There's no current new ones, are there? For PS4, but I will say, There's no current new ones are there for PS4, but I will say I do like think they're great like The story telling everything the one game I did play was the one of the PSP. I think you were playing portable ops Which while non-key if it wasn't that it might run piecewalker. I think it might be right in which It wasn't but are something I don't want to talk about what it might be, but so anyway. You have this big like genetic research, you know, manipulation and control of a soldier and nations and things like that as like big larger concepts for the series as a whole.

By the time you get to the end of two, and we're talking about how the patriots, this like illuminati-esque faction of powerful players in like a war economy, the concept of a war economy, like driving a video game, AIs and, you know, information's's tools being weapons on a battlefield and proxy wars and things like that. Being a mainline narrative of a video game in the very early 2000s is to me not only like one of the reasons why video games can truly be called an art in the way that it is, but like it is the most artistic endeavors of its time for art and video games, honestly. That sounds pretty predictive too. Yeah, to look at where the

world kind of is. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And like this is like what I got like a re-timer with the gene expression and stuff like this. I think the reason why it might have been so big in the 90s was because that was when like a lot of the genome mapping and all that was becoming popular You know, it's from PCR, which is like what I do my day job It's with PCR like that's when that was like invented. Okay, in the 90s and all that. Yeah stuff So like that's what like DNA will get to that it might it's really cool that like they kind of took that and like I mean, you know Almost fell of that into a mainline deep Cross of this game series absolutely. Yeah, and then they have AI and all that now which you know I mean AI is a visionary. I feel not only for the art of video games

a visionary I feel not only for the art of video games but like for the eye of what is really like going on in the larger picture on a geo economic scale. Like you know what I mean like you know, dude is a smart cat and like again he was an economic student who like found a passion of his and really drove forward with it or whatever else. But this, this is what makes Kojima household name and a rock star within like game development, which for the most part are behind the scenes kind of guys. So you know what I mean? Like there's not many people well known

within the industry to that extent, right? Yes, like I don't, I like, I know his name, and that's unusual. He's like, I don't follow Gabe Edebel for his kiddo. Yeah, even the ones that occasionally make some level of internet or real life, I mean, internet news is real life news, but I mean meme culture and things like that. Right, like, even beyond that,

could you even as somebody who was known probably before that time maybe even? Oh, sure. Yeah. I mean, probably over 2000s and all that. Yeah. Like, what have been first introduced to the name even? Yeah. Yeah. Probably like in magazines and all that for. Yeah. Yeah. I think yeah. Was it PS2 still the biggest selling PlayStation unit or has it been surpassed now? It is definitely one of the most selling consoles of all time. I believe short of possibly the Wii and at number two. Well, I'm talking about PlayStation only.

Yeah, certainly amongst Sony products. Absolutely. But like I think even if all time it's time, I'll go roll you even among Rob. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So like, so after this, I feel like you really have it. It doesn't start to falter a wave, but this is where like you start to see some

fluctuation. So there have been games that weren't necessarily Kojima brand. The port stinks revenge. There's a ghost battle game for the Game Boy color. That's a top overview, kind of like the old Metal Gear games, right? Then after you get to Metal Gear Solid 2, you have the Silicon Knights GameCube remake from Metal Gear Solid 1, The Twin Snakes, and like, while it is a good game, it critically like changes elements of Metal Gear Solid that doesn't make it work the same as what that original game did. But in that same year, you have the release of Snake Eater. The first time that we go back and we play as big boss through a game, the series really

starts to go narratively forward from this point in time. But I feel like that big shift is a definite noticeable change. And by the time you get to the PS3 era, with Metal Gear Solid 4, while that again, a great game and people beloved, when you go to like the heights of the series, that is Metal Gear Solid 3, and then like, I'm telling you right now, if you ever are interested to see this, it's funny to see, go on YouTube and search Metal Gear Solid for like video essay

or something like that, right? And like, you will find so many people with like an hour long dissertation about what Metal Gear Solid 4 fails at narratively in its game design and the narrative for the series as a whole and individually as a video game, right? Mind you, all of these games are crisp, clean, very low glitches. Exactly. High quality games that didn't need patches immediately after initial release or come with huge DLC packs that could double the price of your video game. Well, that's how all things were bad. Exactly.

Exactly. But that's my point is that like it's not like the criticisms of this video game are, it's a jinky build. No, man, these games are all smooth, fluid video games that perform really well for their native Platform. Yeah, four is one of those things where Narratively, I feel like a lot of people like have a weird time with four. It's not a bad game. It has a cool homage Towards the end boss battle and things like that But like there's just something about it that hits differently and not necessarily in the best way. We get to five and that is the kind of current one. There is

survive, but we'll discuss that in a moment. Five has this big kind of looping narrative to reveal that the person you play is a body double for Big Boss so that the events of Metal Gear 1 and 2 can happen. So, like, right, because like by the end of 3 you get a reason as to why Big Boss would exist. In 4, it's revealed that Big Boss never really died and he's at the end of that game. And then you're like, okay, well, how does any of that technically work? So he just faked his death like a super villain in one and two.

And then Kojimo literally is like, no, I look all this stuff happens. And he still laughs doing all his stuff. And like, yeah, it's kind of convoluted but for the most part fans really didn't have a terrible terrible time playing those games or living with that narrative and I think to put a nice little bow on those like five games you know what I mean like because peace walker and portable ops were the PlayStation portable games now that I'm looking at head to to record the lapse because like piecewalker and then it come out so 2010

So and I didn't have PSP at 2010 So and portable ops is one of those games where like it's probably a scale-down engine for like MGS3 or MGS2. I think that's what it was. There's a lot of the PSP games where I like that. Yeah. Okay, well, Snake, I guess, I guess, was Snake in all of these all the way from back to Metal Gear, like going up through was... Okay, so Snake is the protagonist or playable character for Metal Gear. Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2, and then with 3, you start to play his big boss the antagonist in oh and you play as snake in four as well in middle-earth sound four but in three five ground zero you play as big boss or big boss's body double. All right that's I was gonna confuse with

big boss dude like to see who's villain, but you play him right like because again I haven't played these games except for the laps and like honestly, you know, it was like a single game And you believe they're so like he's just codenamed his snake and I believe there's that's part of the reason That most games that makes it confusing, but yes, yeah, well not only but like it's supposed to be I believe like a mentor thing and things like that Like there was a narrative reason why it's always portrayed by David Hader and a continuity level like snake is a is a per not a person. It's a title to an extent Yeah, absolutely, right, okay, interesting. You have a split between Kojima and Konami by the time that MSG5 is getting released and they literally like cut him like a cancer out of the company

and then to this day Konami is released, Metal Gear Survive for the PS4 which has very mixed results critically but they just unveiled Sony did that they're gonna come out with Medigurus Solid Delta, a remake of Snake Eater, and a collection of the original Medigurus Solid Series. So it's kind of interesting to see what Konami's gonna do in the future. Yeah, I mean, well, there's a new agenda, you know, PS5. So I think it'll be making like a big, you would think they would make a big title,

but now with him gone, is that done then? Or are they gonna kind of continue with like, much of other companies doing people stuff? I've always wondered since the events of five, if we were gonna get a remake of one and two, as like a, like a Kojima game, right? Like that's kind of, once I knew that, that's kind of once I knew that the events of MSG5 or the events of MSG5, like,

oh, so I wonder if we're gonna get one too narratively now or something like that, or like if he's gonna bounce beyond the future of even that. And like by the end there, like in 2013, they came out with Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, which is like just a platinum game Slasher with Riden as your protagonist and like could you ma has an involvement in that game? Absolutely. I'm not saying he doesn't but like It's not a Metal Gear game. It is a Metal Gear game, but it's but it's not you know what I mean like

So I feel like at this point, with things like surviving things like that, like you have a number of people who did work with Kajima, still at Konami, and you're gonna have a number of people who like want to capitalize, but also want to further this franchise. And I, I don't know, man, I definitely think with Delta, you're gonna see a launching pad for something maybe. Like that's remake Snake Eater in this engine for this system, whatever. And then you're gonna start to see

like we're going here with this now. You know what I mean? Like now, MSG six. So I think it'll be interesting to see what Konami has to bring in the future for sure. Definitely, yeah. I mean, I need to check out some of the other games, you know, the older ones for sure, because I'm sure much more free now. Yeah, I was going to say, I think you can get like the master collection. I don't know about PlayStation. Now what offers they have on those games. But yeah, I definitely would check them out. Man, they're great. Definitely. Oh, Metal Gear Solid. It had a lot to do with jeans and stuff like that, right? And like hopefully they kind of explained it a little bit in

like the stories because I mean it is very detailed. Like did they explain like how jeans work at all? That and do you understand if they did not? So Naomi Hunter, the the doctor who kind of lays out a lot of that stuff in middle gear, solid one, the reference points I would have and stuff like that. Like, may have laid out parts of a cell to a certain extent, but for the most part, I think it's just genetic testing and a generic science fiction set. Like, so they didn't like go into detail at all about like what they're doing at all,

or like, they were serving the genes in this, you know, this strand of DNA about lyre something like that or yeah, I mean, they definitely, they definitely lay out a certain amount of like genetic researching plots and theories in that. All right. So like, we'll start in the nucleus, I guess, because that's kind of, you know, that's the center of everything. You know, that's really, that's where gene expression happens actually is the nucleus,

right? We're going to talk today about you, you carry out excels specifically, but I mean, which are cells that are, you know, have a plasma membrane and a nucleus, essentially, like all like mammals, plants, fungi, insects, you know, all that type of thing, you know, animals, plants, fungi. And animal cells differ vastly though. Some what? We'll get into that a little bit later, we're not going to go too much into the differences, but like not much actually, like they don't differ too much. Okay. There's specialized cells, sure, but like in generalities, like animal

and plant cells are pretty similar compared to let's say bacterial cells, you know, right. Yeah. I just mean like there's no cell wall, like the organizational structure of that, right? Yeah, okay. Yes, true. Yeah, that's the big difference. Is that cell wall versus plasma membrane? And also chloroplasts, you know,

your chloroplasts, you know, and plants. But so anyways, to bring it, you know, to the nucleus, to the center of all things, right? It's the home to the DNA, right? That's that it kind of access the control center of the cell. Okay, so it regulates gene expression and a direct cellular activity. So like it regulates like how your body functions. The brain of the cell almost literally. Yep, that's the next line I had wrote. It's kind of like the brain of the cell Yeah, we need a little bit more production over here Slow this down there exactly. Yep. What like so all the DNA is kind of packed into like

Little packets essentially and it's done by like different foldings and Binding of these things because all the DNAs packed into the nucleus of the cell. And when it needs to be expressed, it's unfolded. And through that, it's transcribed into something that's called RNA, which we've talked about RNA a little bit. I think in the past episode five, I think we talked about RNA a good bit actually. Right, yep, yep.

It's essentially like, you can kind of think of it as like single stranded DNA. It's not the same. There's a difference. There's one amino acid. It's like peptides and proteins. Exactly. Yes, it's all peptides and amino acids. It differs by one of the amino acids from DNA.

That's like really the only difference in it other than it's single stranded versus DNA being double stranded, right? So DNA is like the helix, right? Yeah. Well RNA, you know, it's just it's missing half of half of the latter essentially the one side of the better. So so there's this thing an enzyme called RNA polymerase and what that does is that like unzips the DNA, essentially, right? It, you know, cleaves the center of it, cleaves those bonds between the amino acids. And through that, while it's that's happening, there is other amino acids brought nucleotides, is what we're talking about, what they're referred to in DNA RNA. Other nucleotides are brought onto that strand that creates a new RNA, that creates RNA from that, right? It copies it and then zips it back up. When you said it kind of packets it, it does kind of actually remind me of computing and stuff like that. You would have a folder that you then compress and open up. Kind of, essentially, yeah, because it's like, you have a packet and get unfolds it and then reads it.

And then reads a specific spot, a specific code on, which is a three nucleotide sequence. So those are how things are read. And so there's a beginning one and there's an end one. And that's how I can tell, oh, this is where I'm gonna stop, this is where I'm gonna start, right? Okay, right, right. So after that, once I can tell, oh, this is where I'm going to stop. This is where I'm going to start, right? OK, right.

So after that, once you make that, this is called mRNA. That's messenger RNA. This is the RNA that's going to go and be transported into what is called the endoclasmic reticulum. We're going to call it the ER, because I don't want to say endo as particularly. So what these things is there's two different ERs. There's the Ruff ER and there's the Smooth ER. The Ruff ER is where proteins are modified and changed and packaged right from the R&A, whereas the Smooth ER is more like lipids and things like that are made.

And we'll get into that a little bit later. The Ruffie R, it's like a network of a bunch of like the sacks and tubules, right? And the Ruff and the Smoothie are connected. And they kind of do, they will shift like back and forth depending on like what the cell needs, but like they have different functions though, right? But it's kind of like they're fluid though. Like you're back and forth, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Because they can like specialize too, right?

So like, you know, like certain cells need to make more, you know, lipids and stuff. So like, you have some more smooth ER. And, you know, certain cells are making more protein. So it'll have like, it'll have the rough ER. Right. Exactly. What, there's these things called the ribosomes that attach to the rough year.

And that is why it's rough because it has these ribosomes attached to it, which the smooth does it. These ribosomes are what actually synthesize the proteins from the mRNA that I was talking about earlier, that messenger RNA. And so how that happens, there's actually there's two subunits of this ribosome. And the small subunit attaches to the mRNA and it brings it over to the outside part of the rough ER. And then the large unit attaches to that. And like, and it smushes that mRNA in between it. And through that, it like zips, you

know, again, reads it just like, you reads it just like it does in the nucleus. And from that protein is made. So these nucleotides read it and then it says, okay, I need to make it this amino acid. And then after another nucleotide, it says I need to make it this amino acid from it. And it builds this huge polypeptide chain. And from that, that is like, how we function. To make a very, I'm trying to explain this complicated thing,

but this is like, this is how life works. Like that, we just made a functioning thing that makes, that does something. That protein does something, you know? Like whether build something or move something or you know, eat something or whatever, like that's. So now, as a quick question, if we were to be on a cellular,

like just from here and you describe this, I'm kind of feeling like I'm looking down on like a production floor from a glass room, right? So if we were to be watching this happen, what timeframe would it take for all of these events that you just described to take so fast? Like so, so, like a millisecond. Yeah, like this is happening. Like thousands of times. Yeah. Yeah. And it's all because of catalysts. Like there's a bunch of different catalysts. And like that's, um, that's why you need your

micronutrients and stuff like that. Each protein is a different one. Yeah, there's certain, that's why you need the small and the large subunit of the ribosum to come together, because that catalyzes the reaction to be able to go through very quickly and things like that. Because it will happen kind of naturally going back to episode five. It will happen naturally, just very slowly. Things like this, I'm by chance, this will combine with this and that will combine with that and I'll pull this way in that way and eventually you'll do, but that happened

over billions of years or a billion years. We're talking about now, it's efficient now through evolution. It's efficient. This stuff just happens in the blink of an eye, thousands of times you know. Again, it's folding and all that. Like the folding of the protein, there's actually an application you get on your computer to like help understand protein folding and it's just like a puzzle game. Like you don't even need to understand. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So the smoothie is like I said though, it makes like it makes lipids. So like phospholipids and cholesterol, right, which those are like main essential

components to the membranes, you know, the outside layer of cells. So like we're getting this little later, but the phospholipid membrane is kind of like in, it's an amazing thing how it works because just just how like keeps things out and lets things in. It's amazing. But the smoothie are also participates in the metabolism of the fatty acids and the synthesis of different hormones, steroid hormones, cortisol, estrogen and testosterone. Yeah. So those specialized cells, they probably have a lot more smoothie than roughy are. We were talking about earlier. So are they like kind of comparative to white blood cells in the fact that like they can

assemble, I guess, hormones that like can... Yeah, they are what make those type of things, you know, like that's, I don't know, like I'm not that, I don't know about enough about that, but you know, honestly white blood cells probably have like so much as they are a cell so like they're probably much as smoothie are like that's probably what honestly makes white blood cells like that. Yeah, because they do they detoxify things so like the drugs toxins and other like harmful substances and stuff like that like that's you know, so like the liver probably has a bunch of, or smoothie, or as well, their cells, liver cells. And like so they like modify the compounds. And that makes it,

like water soluble, which allows us to pee it out. Like that's how we get rid of blood toxins and our bodies by peeing it out. And it also stores calcium, which is like what a bunch of other things do, actually, going to put the all-star calcium and that's like I mean it's important for cellular function but like it's just one of my research I kept seeing like it stores calcium it stores calcium like man that calcium it's just like yeah right you're like okay yeah yeah yeah yeah, like the the Golgly apparatus. We'll talk about next, which is I think my favorite one just because of the name Okay, it's the Golgi apparatus. Yes Yeah, not like gold. No G or GOL G.I Apparatus. Yeah Golgi. Yep. That also stores calcium, but it does other things

that also stores Calcium, but it does other things too. But it packages proteins. So like, again, the proteins are made and kind of modified a little bit in the rough ER, and then they're moved on to the Golgi apparatus, which, you know, you need to packages of them to like go off to their final destination, like outside of the cell or inside of the cell, or, you know, it modifies them a little bit, but mostly it packages the proteins essentially. It's the packaging section of it, you know? Right, yeah. Again, to be comparable to a file or something like that,

that would be like the zipping or compressing of it, right? Yeah, yeah, kind of exactly like that, yep. Yeah, so like, the Golgiapperex is kind of like cool looking. It's like a bunch of like flattened sacks called sister-nai. They're like, I think of like just like a disc, think of Mentos.

Yes. That's what I was trying to think of. Some type of food. It's like, it reminds me of like a folded filter, like paper filter. Yes. So like, yeah, it's like a bunch of sacks, like, but they're all connected, right?

So like that, like it goes through different, I think each little section, if I remember correctly, would, you know, has different proteins going on. Like it doesn't like move throughout it. It's like, you know, separate sections do, you know, each one are, yeah, exactly. Yeah, but it also like, it does make lipids too. So like it makes the possible

Lippins of things like that and these things Yeah, oh, they're all like all these things are extremely important. Obviously. Yeah. Sorry. I shouldn't say like that And you gotta remember like these are in every single cell so like we didn't even like discuss what like the like cells Like when you get down to the cellular level, right? And I keep like, referring to like the specialized cells. And this and that, right? So like in your body, every cell has everything that I'm talking about. You know, like all these things are in every single cell, minus like, I think there's certain things

that have like more nuclei or less nuclei. But well, you know, that's a super special, like, you know, sex gametes and gametes and all that. Spurmin X. So like when you get time to a cellular level, like you know, your skin or your blood or your muscles, like they have different sizes of these different organelles, but they are all still in, you know,

they're in every single cell in your body. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Because they are essential functions to be cell itself. And that's like why they're called organelles too, right? Is because like imagine a person not having their heart or whatever, like it's going to need them, but these, if they were to be people,

like don't need to use lungs, so it's specific with smaller. And they're hard as bigger or whatever it may be. Like, yeah, they are special. Yeah. Like, I think, you know, actually, you're on to something. It might almost be like what we've been referring to. Like, the news is like the brain and stuff like that. Like, I think organelles, maybe, you know, initially, scientists,

I didn't look this up. It could be that, yeah, they were like organelles, you know, they're like the organs of the cell. These are different organs of the cells. Um, it makes it, yeah. I've always believed that's why they were called that. Yeah. One that I've left out though, is mitochondria, which is like the biggest one, right? Like the one everybody knew here's about other than the nucleus, the mitochondria. And that's the powerhouse of the cell. It's where, it's where energy's made, right? And that's why it's called the powerhouse of the self. It's where energy's made, right?

And that's why it's called the powerhouse of the self. That's like how energy is made through a process called cellular respiration. And that's through a thing called the crem cycle. And that is how through ATP, we get like pretty much all of the energy that, like how the self's function, how we function, you know, is through this adenosine triphosphate. At the end of the day, is through this adenosine triphosphate.

At the end of the day, it's all adenosine triphosphate. Like, that's what makes us go. Right. Yes. And so is that pushed out of the cell? Let's push out of the mitochondria. The cell uses it. The cell itself. Because you gotta remember, like, your body is off cells. I guess there's liquids and stuff like that. But like, your body, you know, each cell does its own thing. You know, it's just the the conglomeration of those cells makes your organ or your, you know, your tissue and all this. Like that's I guess, but I was trying to get that a minute to go. All these specialised cells together makes that organ, right? But yeah, so the mitochondria, it has a distinct double wall membrane, right? So there's two membranes and that,

and again, going back to episode five, this is evidence that it was actually like, sucked up from another cell and like captured in a symbiotic relationship was formed through that, where the mitochondrial... Yeah, I remember discussing the mitochondrial. Yes, exactly, yeah. So that is the mitochondria would give it energy

and then the cell would give it nutrients and they would you know change from that and then it eventually just became part of the cell. And that's why it has you know the double membrane, it has a bacterial type membrane and then it has a eukaryotic type membrane outside of it. And there's also different DNA called mitochondrial DNA inside of the mitochondria. That's completely separate from all the DNA, you know, in the nucleus and the rest of the cell. It's its own thing. And you can trace your like a maternal line with that. That's how you can like look back through mitochondrial DNA, through mothers because it's carried on through the A. So the ATV, like I was saying, is created out there through the crebs cycle, which are

also the citric acid cycle. It's also called, which I just remember in school was terrible to try to remember. I remember each step of it and everything. I'm not going into that, but like it was, it's a very complicated thing that makes energy. It takes sugars and other things and turns into energy. That's how life works essentially. Right. That's how we get energy out of the mitochondria. So So it's essentially another processing machine that is able to like enable functions within the the the tail itself. That's why it's the power. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Yeah, it's kind of it's almost a self-sufficient cell to power the cell. Yeah, it's like the battery You know or the it's the powerhouse of the The power where you get power from

Yeah, yeah, it is crazy and like chloroplasts are kind of like are this in the same way of plant cells Like again, probably was absorbed by some, you know, ancient bacteria or something of the nature, a portal bacteria or whatever. And that was able to convert energy from the sun into energy for the plant, right? I'm focusing more on ourselves, but it's just kind of crazy. Like chloroplasts are kind of the same way, right? Right. A couple of few other smaller things before we get to the membrane.

So I just want to talk about that for a bit too. There's lysosomes, which lysosomes are kind of like, they contain enzymes that break down and recycle. Okay, right. A lot of things. They're like the white blood cells of the cell. They're little bubbles essentially in the cell. They just float around and like,

grab up bad stuff. And there's also paroxysomes that break down fatty acids and stuff like that. Oh, okay. And they can break down on other things like hydrogen peroxide. So kind of like, you know, these two types of things like carry things around.

They're almost like little worker drones roaming throughout the cell then. A little bit, yeah, they kind of are. Yeah. I mean, yeah, they're just floating around. Repair this, break that down. Yeah. Yeah, like yeah yeah yeah cuz like I mean all this stuff's kind of like packed in really like tight you know like if you look at it there's not like a lot of space there is a little bit of space depending on the cell you know but there is I guess I can't say that

because there is like there's things that move around one of the things are these things called kinesens and look up a video of them. They, it's spelled K-I-N-E-S-I-N and they look, it literally looks like something that's like walking along a rope, like carrying something. And that's like what's transporting these proteins from the googly apparatus to wherever, you know, like that's what's trans, or when that always, but you know, one of the things okay. And they just walk. It's crazy. Like, there's literally something that walks along. Yeah, they looked like little like walking candy corn or shark teeth or something like that.

It was weird. Yeah. It's really cool. But that's how stuff gets around in the cell. Not always, but you know, one of the ways it gets around. But the last thing I want to talk about was the plasma membrane. It has a phospholipid bilayer. And a phospholipid is a thing that has a fatty end

and then a water loving end, right? So as you know, oil and water don't mix, okay? Right. So because of that, having like a fat loving end and the water loving end, it's able to form a layer around the cell using two phospholipids with the fat loving ends together and the water loving ends facing out, that creates the memory. You're kind of following me how that would work.

Think of it as a ball with two strings coming out of it. That's really like, I mean, that's how they're always expressing textbooks. But the fatty ends the ball, and the two strings are the water love against. So think of the two balls, like, you know, in the middle with the strings coming out of the top and the bottom, like two strings, you know, going into the cell, two strings going out of the cell. And that, that right there is what creates a membrane. You know, there's, there's things that happen naturally like that. But like, a membrane is so important. That's what contains things, right? So you need that to be able to like be a cell, right? It's, it's incredibly important. And like, the phospholipid just makes that. It's really cool. Yeah, it's essentially just like a,

not only a barrier, but it feels like a structural thing. You know what I mean? Yeah, and stuff outside too. I mean, yeah. Yeah. And then like, yeah. Especially with all the moving, shipping. And then things attach to that.

You know, like there's like different like, you know, like it gets gates essentially. Yeah, I've never been to that. That thing is a barrier. And the end of the cell, you know, like, I guess gates essentially. Yeah, I've never been to that thing in the area. In the south. You know, it's really cool. I mean, like, once you see that, you kind of see like, the south is like, it's almost like a house. You know, like, you know, like, let's things in that. There's windows, there's doors, there's things like that. Yeah. It's really cool, like, to just, like, think about all the like that. Yeah, it's really cool to just think about all the different ways.

Like this is happening all of your body right now. All these organelles are just like doing things in your body. Yeah, trillions of trillions of times over. Not just your arm. Just a little sliver of your skin somewhere that's having trillions of times over. And then multiply that across the elements

to your body. Yeah. It is always wild to get down on that. Minkro scale and think about everything going on for you to be able to listen to one of your favorite podcasts like us here at the brain soda podcast. Definitely. Alright, man. Well, I got to play another one of these

Metal Gear Solid games. At least, you know, one of the first two, you know, the Solid one, the 4 or 2, I think. 4 or 3. 3. 3. 3 is not a bad idea. 3 is a really good one too and like, honestly, if you remember portable apps, I would play it because that is almost a direct sequel, although it's, again, it's not canon anymore Give them a shot man because they're all worthwhile. They really are right. I'll check them out for sure You want to leave us out?

Absolutely and with that we'd love to thank you for joining us here at Brains soda podcast for Brad I'm Kyle and we would love for you to join us here every week. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, find us on YouTube. Join us on patreon.com slash brain soda podcasts for early access to all of our episodes each week at the five dollar tier. And we will see you again here soon. So yeah. Blamety, blam. That was my, that was my soft thing. That was good.

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