SCI NC | New Science Wonders | Season 3

[upbeat music] - Hi there.

I'm Frank Graff.

A new way to treat cancer with help from DNA, getting over a fear of snakes and finding new medicines in a creek bed.

It's all about the fungi.

All that coming up.

"Sci NC".

- [Announcer 1] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station by viewers like you.

- [Announcer 2] Additional funding for the "Sci NC" series is provided by GSK.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Hi again, and welcome to "Sci NC".

You know, scientists discover medicines in the strangest places.

The antibiotic, vancomycin was discovered in 1952 in jungle soil in Borneo.

Researchers in Louisiana recently found alligator blood can destroy some types of bacteria.

So, it's probably not surprising we found researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro looking in a creek for a new cancer treatment.

- There are fungi everywhere we look.

Eventually fungi will decompose this stick.

[stick snaps] As it breaks down.

There's fungi that'll decompose these pieces of grass and leaves.

This is called leaf litter.

There's fungi as we go up in these trees.

And a different community of fungi, as you sort of trickle your way down into the stream.

- [Graff] Most basic question of all.

Is it fungus, fungi, funghi?

- Yeah, so I always say fun, fungi.

I say fungi.

Singular is fungus.

- [Graff] However you say it, Dr. Nicholas Oberlies is passionate about fungi.

- There's effectively millions and millions of fungi in the world.

Somewhere between 2 million and 5 million, but it doesn't matter because only about 130,000 have been described, just given a scientific name.

So everywhere we look, we discover new fungi.

And the premise of our study is go find new fungi and then try to unharness the chemistry from them.

And then hopefully, that chemistry has got biological activity that we can spin into drug development.

[robotic arm whirring] We're really trying to basically discover compounds that will affect a biological system.

[machine beeping] - You could say, wow.

Right back here could be the next cancer treatment.

- Sure.

Absolutely.

- It's possible?

- It's possible.

Absolutely possible.

Yeah.

Or right in that stream.

- [Graff] That stream runs through the middle of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus.

- [Researcher 1] Just a few, get a, take the water and temperature and pH.

I'm gonna collect the wood.

- [Researcher 2] What's the temperature, Chris?

About 21 degrees?

- [Researcher 1] All right.

Write it down.

- [Graff] Not much is known about the fungi living in freshwater aquatic environments.

- I'm looking for wood that's been in the water for awhile.

And if you notice, I'm breaking them.

The pieces of wood that break easily are the indication that it's got soft rot.

That it's been in the water for awhile.

Okay?

And that's the kind of wood that I want because the aquatic fungi that I'm looking for, colonizes the wood in the water and starts breaking it, making enzymes.

That's a unique ecological group of fungi that you don't see so much in terrestrial habitats.

- Fungi have had this great track record of leading to drugs that have helped humanity.

Penicillin's the biggest example.

The statins, for heart conditions.

40% of us wouldn't be on the earth today if it wasn't for penicillin and the whole antibiotics revolution it created.

- [Graff] And so, Dr. Oberlies and his colleagues are mining fungi, searching for new medicines, with a focus on a new therapy for cancer.

- It's cool to work on nature in a whole, because like, it has so much hidden potential that's there.

That it's cool to find it.

- [Graff] Any fungi samples, including those collected in the stream, are brought back to the lab where the fungi are grown, isolated and purified for study.

- Fungi do beautiful, beautiful things.

They make beautiful enzymes, they make beautiful molecules, sometimes they make beautiful colors, sometimes they make really ugly colors.

- [Graff] Petri dishes labeled and filled with a rainbow of colorful fungi, and a wealth of possibilities for new medicines, fill almost every space, as well as several refrigerators.

- The most interesting and most exciting part of this work is that I'm doing something that no one ever did before.

- [Oberlies] We're studying the fungi to see what sort of protective molecules they're making.

These are called secondary metabolites.

They're not amino acids and sugars, the things that they need to survive every day.

They're secondary to that, meaning that they're probably for protection.

You know, people think of nature as this warm and chummy place.

But every little spot of turf, fungi have to fight for that little piece of turf.

And so potentially, they're making metabolites, little molecules, that will fight off other things in nature.

And our job is to then try to capture those molecules, figure out what they are, and then figure out, can they be used in a medicinal purpose.

- There's a fungus among us!

I'm standing in the midst of our library of 53,000 isolates of fungi.

- [Graff] It's cared for by scientists at MYCO Synthetics.

It's a biotechnology company in Research Triangle Park that is working with the Oberlies lab.

- [Darveaux] We use the fungi directly to produce extracts, meaning produce the chemicals that the fungi produce.

And we give those chemicals to our customers.

- [Graff] Fungi are not animals or plants.

They are a unique kingdom, all their own, and it includes yeasts, molds and mushrooms.

No two fungi are alike.

- [Pearce] This is a fungus that we're culturing for the cancer project.

Dr. Oberlies' group was able to find something in here that was active against cancer cells.

So what we're doing now, is we're growing on a larger scale so that they can isolate sufficient material to actually test it.

- Nature puts molecules together in ways that nobody could predict.

Nature has selected for this over millennia.

If we discover something that becomes an anti-cancer drug, is the fungus really making it because it's affecting cancer cells?

Probably not.

It's doing something for the fungus to allow it to survive in its environment.

That's what we're trying to unlock.

[upbeat music] - It's not because of a new medicine, but there is good news in the fight against cancer.

A new treatment method at UNC Medical Center involving a patient's DNA is showing promising results.

- [Dr. Khagi] Tumors don't respect anatomy, they don't respect geography.

They just grow and destroy it.

[monitor beeping] - [Malcolm] And I was walking down the hall.

I just passed out on 'em.

In the house, on my way to the front door.

[monitor beeping] - [Dr. Khagi] The brain essentially dictates who we are, what we do, how we function, what we're capable of doing and how we perceive the world around us.

[monitor beeping] - She said, I said, she said, what you gonna talk about on the way to the hospital.

'Cause I'm sweating.

It like somebody pour water on top of me.

That's how bad I was sweatin'.

And my vision started getting blurry.

[monitor beeping] - [Dr. Khagi] It's pretty easy to tell that there's something wrong here on this MRI.

There's areas of what we say, necrosis, or areas of cell death, because this tumor is just growing so fast.

It actually, in the process, is a lot of cells are dying because it just can't supply enough blood to keep these cells alive.

So this is very much a characteristic MRI for somebody with a glioblastoma.

- [Graff] Were you scared, or?

- He'll tell you.

I never freaked out.

I say, what we need to do.

When he told me, you have brain cancer, I say, what you need me to do?

He'll tell you.

I said, what we do next?

- [Graff] Malcolm Nickelson's survived multiple deployments during 10 years as an Army gunner.

He learned computer programming when he returned home.

Then came the brain tumor.

- [Dr. Khagi] Yeah.

So the traditional treatment, if patients are able to tolerate it, and that's, can sometimes be a big if, is undergoing a great surgery and removal of as much of the disease that can be visualized within the MRI and sort of, when they get into the patient.

After that, really, you know, the patient moves in the direction of chemotherapy and radiation.

- [Malcolm] So my first treatment was six weeks of chemotherapy and taking a pill, was 100 mg.

I did that.

- [Graff] Brain cancers are complex and aggressive.

There are few treatment options.

About one third of those diagnosed are alive five years after the tumor is found.

- [Dr. Khagi] He had a surgery.

And like I said, did well for a period of time.

However, recurred while he was on therapy.

And what we see here is that this is his recurrence.

This is where it kind of started growing again.

It's obviously not as big and nasty looking as his initial presentation, but it is still very much larger than what it was previously when his disease was better controlled.

So at this point, at this juncture in time, we decided to pursue the targeted therapy approach.

Because at that point, I actually did have his genetic information up front, in front of me.

So we can make that decision.

- He called me, said, I want to put you on a new treatment, trial treatment.

And I said, I'm down with that.

You know.

He said, I just got to tell you.

I said, yeah, let's go.

And we started the first treatment.

I had like, little spots, because I was only the one that did that.

He said, that ain't nothing.

Your cancer's really going.

He said, we'll really check again.

Then the second check, it was like, nothing there, gone.

- Open up your hands.

Give me a good squeeze.

Good, good, good, good, good.

Give me a good push.

Push, push, push.

Pull me toward you.

Good.

Arms up like this for me.

Good.

Keep them up.

When we extract tumor tissue, no matter where it comes from, that tumor tissue is a collection of cancer cells.

These cancer cells have within them, essentially, the program that they're running in their DNA that makes them behave the way they do.

My finger.

Back to your nose.

The other hand.

- [Graff] By sequencing the DNA, doctors identified the genetic mutations driving the brain tumor.

And it turns out, those mutations respond to a drug traditionally used to fight lung cancer.

- [Dr. Khagi] The data that I get back after these tumors are profiled, basically, it can be a list of alterations in their DNA.

Things that are very well known are gonna be easily discovered.

However, there are always things that we don't know about.

And that applies very readily to genomic profiling.

We may have diseases that are being driven by things that we just have yet to discover.

But, for the most part, we do know some of the main drivers and, in my patient's case, there were, there was a list of what I think were drivers of his disease.

- [Graff] So I'm assuming that you might have used this drug before.

- Yes.

- [Graff] Okay.

So when you sequenced and you saw what the, you know, the evidence was, did you think, well, that would fit this.

- Yes.

Turn your head that way for me Now the other way.

- [Graff] It's an experimental treatment.

But by knowing the genetic mutations, doctors can develop a customized treatment plan that targets the specific cancer.

- [Dr. Khagi] So radiation and chemotherapy works directly on the DNA.

It actually interferes and breaks the DNA and prevents these cells from dividing and the process kills the cells.

However, you know, once radiation stops, because the brain can only take so much radiation, we are limited by our nature to really be able to tolerate a certain dose of radiation.

And then the chemotherapy.

When that continues to be used, the disease can actually become resistant to it.

- [Graff] It provides additional treatment options to patients whose cancer is not responding to standard therapies.

- There are some patients that derive tremendous benefit from targeted therapies.

And I feel that are, unfortunately, aren't being explored as much as they should be.

And when you are talking about a brain tumor or a brain cancer with a limited survival, it's important to consider the quality of life of these patients as they're trying to live as long as possible.

That quantity of life.

So I think targeted therapies have a truly, a role in managing this disease.

- Believe in yourself.

Believe in your doctor.

And you're in good hands.

If you got that.

You end up like me.

And if you believe in God, that's what I do.

I don't never look back on the negative.

Always look ahead.

What do you need me to do?

[upbeat music] - [Announcer] Want to take a deeper dive on current science topics?

Check out our weekly science blog.

[upbeat music] - We started this program in creeks, looking for fungi.

Well, now let's go to the woods and look for snakes.

I know you might be cringing a bit, but snakes are vital to keeping the ecosystem in balance.

Students at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media introduce us to a retired ranger at Merchants Millpond State Park, which has 21 species of snakes.

And he's working to teach visitors, snakes aren't that bad.

- [Reporter] Eight miles south of the Virginia border, bald cypress trees, ancient oaks and Spanish moss surround a 200 year old pond created from a mill that once operated here.

Merchants Millpond State Park supports a wide range of plant and animal life within its 3,250 acres.

Visitors can spot tall pines, tiny duckweed, as well as many mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Among the park's more reclusive residents are 21 species of snake.

Some of which, like the cottonmouth and copperhead, are venomous.

Venom is a toxic substance some snakes use to hunt their prey.

But here in the United States, lethal snake bites are rare.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates they cause five deaths a year, on average.

- I understand that there is a natural reason to be leery of something that you're not sure of.

- [Reporter] Retired park ranger, Floyd Williams worked at Merchants Millpond for 28 years.

He and his wife, Signa Williams, also a retired ranger, have spent decades exploring the park and documenting snakes around the millpond.

- [Frank] This area has got so many different habitats because it's, we have higher ground, we have the swamp, we have the millpond.

Anytime you have great numbers of different plants, you're gonna have great numbers of different critters that eat the plants.

And it just goes stair-stepping on there.

- [Reporter] Williams spends a lot of time working with snakes.

He says, snakes play a key role in the food web.

They hunt frogs, insects and mice.

In turn, they're eaten by birds of prey and other snakes, including Eastern kingsnakes, like Floyd's pet, Slick, But the biggest threat?

- People.

Not only people seeing 'em, being frightened and automatically wanting to kill 'em, but vehicles running over snakes on the road.

- [Reporter] As one of the park stewards, Ranger Jeffrey Turner educates the public about the history of Merchants Millpond and its inhabitants, including its snakes.

- If I can get a kid to understand that snakes are not dangerous to 'em, that they are beneficial to their environment.

Then that child will eventually grow up and have an understanding that no, snakes are not bad things.

- [Reporter] In fact, snakes do a lot of good, like eating rodents that may carry bacterial infections, including Lyme disease.

And snakes move in ways that make them especially good predators.

- [Ranger Turner] And because they don't have any legs, they can go in and outta little places, under logs and roots and holes the other predators can't get to.

Places where mice like to hide.

- [Reporter] Some snakes, like the black rat snake, even climb trees and rafters in search of bird eggs.

- And a snake would take, it's almost like it's slithering on the ground, but go up the side of a tree and go back and forth, back and forth, grabbing that bark with its scales, with its muscles, and force its way up the tree.

- [Reporter] Some snakes turn to the water to hunt prey, like this frog.

From a canoe you can sometimes find snakes warming themselves on a log or tree root, close to the water's edge.

But snakes usually prefer to hide from people.

That's why we had to travel to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to find some of the species that live in the millpond.

Like the cottonmouth, copperhead, and the quick moving, scarlet kingsnake, Jeff Beane has studied reptiles his entire career.

He says, people learn to fear snakes from a young age, a habit he's trying to change.

- I think people like to be afraid.

I think that's why horror movies do so well.

We've eliminated all, most of the things that are gonna kill us.

So the smaller things that can cause harm are things that people focus their fear on.

- [Reporter] He says if visitors happen across a snake in the park, they should do.

- Nothing.

Whatever you were planning to do, look at it, take pictures of it, appreciate it.

Just leave it alone.

- [Reporter] Like Jeff Beane, Floyd and Signa Williams say people misunderstand snakes.

Floyd and his 27 year old reptile, Slick, still lead presentations to teach people about snakes.

And Signa says educating kids early on is crucial.

- Well, there are a lot of kids in this county that over the years, their first experience with a snake, other than somebody chopping its head off with a hoe, was Floyd holding it and showing it to 'em and letting 'em touch it.

And giving 'em actual facts about the snake.

Instead of, you know, some of the myths that they grow up with.

So I think he's done a really good job over the years in being a snake ambassador.

- [Reporter] The Williams are helping people understand that snakes at Merchants Millpond, left to their own devices, will help maintain the park's natural balance.

- This place gets in your soul.

It's an area that, you can come here and no matter how bad a day you've had out in the real world, once you get in a boat or get on the trail, it's just soothing.

The sights, the smells, the different animals that are here.

You know, I might see a bear.

I might see a snake.

Just that opportunity to be out here is I think, what I find the most special.

[upbeat music] - [Announcer] Hey, parents, teachers and homeschoolers, looking for lesson plans?

You'll find free interactive ones about all types of science covered by Sci NC online.

[upbeat music] - Slow motion, high-speed photography revolutionized our study of birds and flight.

And Scientist Adrian Smith at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences shows us the same technology is helping us understand how insects take to the air.

- [Smith] I've been studying insects for over a decade now.

And if there's one thing I think I have all figured out, it's that there's nothing quite as special as slow motion footage of a weevil taking flight.

Just watch this acorn or nut weevil go.

It's incredible.

The best part about being a biologist is it's part of my job to try to see and describe nature in a way no one has before.

Working with insects, it turns out that's not particularly hard to do.

Take flight, for instance, it's something most insects do, but very few people have actually studied in detail because you need a specialized high-speed camera to see it.

When I have a spare moment in the lab, one of my favorite things to do is to film take-off sequences of flying insects in slow motion.

In the first episode of this season of "Sci NC", I showed you some of that flight footage.

And since then, I've been filming a lot more because I just don't get tired of seeing insects in this way.

So here are flight sequences across five insect orders from weevils to assassin bugs.

So first, let's go back to that weevil and watch when the wings come out.

When they unfold from underneath the hardened elytra, they more than double in length.

They're powerful enough to pick the beetle off the ground when it starts flapping.

There's no jump involved in getting off the ground.

The beetles just hold their legs up out of the way and let their wings do the work.

This is a smaller, broadnosed weevil and its hind wings use the same folding pattern, straightening out to expand way beyond the length of the body.

Getting off the ground looks similar too.

Hold the legs out and let the wings generate the lift.

Now this is a katydid.

Unlike the weevils, these insects really use their jumps when they begin to fly.

This one times the first downbeat of the wing to end right when its feet leave the ground.

When it lifts its front wing, you can see how the hind wings are stored, folded up like an accordion.

This particular katydid gets its common name from this body part here.

It's known as a hook-faced conehead katydid.

This is a species of bush katydid that has comically long hind legs.

Like, head to tail, this insect is only 20 mm long, but the hind legs measure in at 39.4 mm.

They use their wings more like a sail when they take off.

Wing flapping happened, but it was off screen, only once they were already well into the air after jumping.

This katydid, with very leaf-like four wings, is a lesser angle-winged.

The interesting part about this footage is that you can see the tip of one of its hind wings is damaged.

But despite the missing bit and a few tears in the rest of it, it seems to have no problem using the wings and flying normally.

This next little creature, and the ones that follows, are bark lice.

You can find them hanging on the trunks of trees, sometimes in bigger groups, where they scavenge on lichens and whatever else they can find.

Despite being known as lice, they're harmless to the plants they live on.

But what surprised me is how talented they are at flying.

I love how right before they take off, they raise their wings and crouch down, then combine a jump with a wing flap to get into the air.

Of all the flying insects I filmed, I never would have guessed that bark lice would be among the most coordinated.

This last shot of a bark louse starts out out of focus, but when it comes in, it's amazing to see it in a near hover, flexing it's yellow and black stripe abdomen up and down with every wing beat.

Okay.

Now this is a fly.

You can tell by the club-like structures beating up and down behind the front wings.

Those are called halteres and are hind wings that have been modified into gyroscope-like sensory structures.

This is something called the march fly and its flight is way different from that of a stereotypical fly.

When I think of a fly in flight, I think of something like this.

An insect with extremely fast wing beats and something that's a sleek, compact flying machine.

March flies are definitely not that.

Their wing beats are relatively slow and their legs are everywhere.

They just kind of tip and wobble when they lift off the ground.

They're the type of bug you can just reach out for and pluck out of the air when it flies by.

Despite being awkward fliers, I think they're nice looking insects, though.

If they look at all familiar, you might know the taxonomic cousin, the lovebug, which is a different genus of march fly.

I saved the coolest looking insect for last.

A spined crowned assassin bug.

Named after the intimidating set of spikes on the top of its head.

These things fly in a way that totally suits an insect that makes a living impaling and liquefying the guts of other insects.

The front legs are thickened and spiked and used to grab and hold onto prey.

In flight, they're held out in front of the body like the bug is flying to pounce on the next victim.

They seem just methodical compared to the rest of the insects in this video.

There's no jumping, no wobbling, just up and off.

I hope these flight sequences and all the rest of the insect segments I've shared with you this season are reminders of how incredible the diversity of life is all around us.

I know making them helped me see bugs in a different way, and I hope it did the same for you.

Thanks for watching.

- And that's it for "Sci NC" for now.

I'm Frank Graff.

Thanks for watching.

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- [Announcer] Additional funding for the "Sci NC" series is provided by GSK.

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