MPR News Host, Tom Crann, presents the Brains On!’s podcast episode about Down syndrome on All Things Considered. Molly Bloom, host of Brain’s On!, interviews 10-year-old Fiona Harris and 12-year-old Ezra Harris from St. Paul on the topic. They are also joined by Brains on! Producer Marc Sanchez who explains the science behind Down syndrome.
ANNOUNCER: Now, Brains On, our science podcast for kids and curious adults. You may have heard of Down syndrome, but what is it exactly? Well, Brains On is answering this question on this latest episode. So how does having an extra chromosome cause Down syndrome? Host Molly Bloom has two co-hosts helping her find the answer, 10-year-old Fiona Harris and 12-year-old Ezra Harris from Saint Paul.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you guys are siblings.
FIONA HARRIS: Yes, we're siblings.
EZRA HARRIS: We are.
FIONA HARRIS: This is my brother.
MOLLY BLOOM: Do you always get along?
EZRA HARRIS: No.
FIONA HARRIS: Yeah.
EZRA HARRIS: No.
FIONA HARRIS: Yeah. Yeah.
EZRA HARRIS: No.
FIONA HARRIS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah!
MOLLY BLOOM: So Fiona says you always get along.
EZRA HARRIS: That's not true. Ezra begs to differ.
FIONA HARRIS: He's a weird brother.
MOLLY BLOOM: So you both like to do sports.
FIONA HARRIS: Yeah.
EZRA HARRIS: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: So what is your favorite sport, Ezra?
EZRA HARRIS: Baseball.
MOLLY BLOOM: What is your favorite sport, Fiona?
FIONA HARRIS: Swimming, biking, running, and horses.
MOLLY BLOOM: And horses. And Fiona, this is a question for you. Is Ezra good brother?
FIONA HARRIS: Yeah. My brother love play baseball, so cool and handsome, and just like me.
MOLLY BLOOM: Awesome. And, Ezra, do you think Fiona is a good sister?
EZRA HARRIS: Yeah. She's really creative and fun.
FIONA HARRIS: People with Down syndrome are all unique.
EZRA HARRIS: But sometimes they have similar traits due to their extra chromosome.
MOLLY BLOOM: For instance, they may have similar shaped eyes or they might have a larger space between their first or second toes. It's also common for people with Down Syndrome, or DS, to have heart issues and challenges with memory and learning. This can sometimes slow their development.
EZRA HARRIS: But having Down syndrome doesn't define who a person is.
FIONA HARRIS: I'm still Fiona. I love running, swimming, biking, and riding horses.
EZRA HARRIS: She just happens to have Down syndrome, just like I happen to have brown hair.
MOLLY BLOOM: Down syndrome is named after John Langdon Down, a British doctor who first described the condition way back in 1866. It wasn't until almost 100 years later in the late 1950s that scientists figured out it was caused by an extra chromosome.
EZRA HARRIS: That word's come up a lot so far, chromosome.
FIONA HARRIS: What is chromosome?
MOLLY BLOOM: Here to fill us in is producer Marc Sanchez.
MARC SANCHEZ: Let's take out our handy dandy zoom ray here and zoom right in.
SOUND EFFECT: Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.
MARC SANCHEZ: Way in.
SOUND EFFECT: Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.
MARC SANCHEZ: --to our cells. Cells are those little units that make up our bodies. And our bodies are made up of a practically unimaginable number of them, many, many trillions of cells. In fact, there are more cells in just your body than there are people on Earth. There are a lot of cells. Now let's take one of those cells and zoom in again.
SOUND EFFECT: Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.
MARC SANCHEZ: In the middle of that cell is a nucleus. Now zoom in again.
SOUND EFFECT: Zoom zoom.
MARC SANCHEZ: Inside that nucleus are chromosomes, 46 to be exact. 23 from the mother and a matching 23 from the father. Now, let's zoom in one more time--
SOUND EFFECT: Zoom.
MARC SANCHEZ: --on a single chromosome. Each chromosome is made up of one DNA molecule--
MACHINE VOICE: DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid.
MARC SANCHEZ: --and a bunch of proteins called histones. Now, DNA is the blueprint for everything in your body. It tells the cells in your body what to become and what to do. DNA molecules themselves are really cool looking. Each DNA molecule is shaped like a long, skinny double helix. Picture a ladder that twists from one end to the other. So instead of going straight up, it kind of spirals from top to bottom.
DNA strands are so long and skinny they wouldn't fit inside the cell without being part of a chromosome. In a chromosome, these DNA molecules wrap around the proteins like a thread wraps around a spool. It's a neat space-saving trick.
ANNOUNCER: Brains On producer Marc Sanchez talking chromosomes. We also heard from 10-year-old Fiona Harris and 12-year-old Ezra Harris, siblings from Saint Paul. To learn more about chromosomes and Down syndrome--
Views and opinions expressed in the content do not represent the opinions of APMG. APMG is not responsible for objectionable content and language represented on the site. Please use the "Contact Us" button if you'd like to report a piece of content. Thank you.
Transcriptions provided are machine generated, and while APMG makes the best effort for accuracy, mistakes will happen. Please excuse these errors and use the "Contact Us" button if you'd like to report an error. Thank you.