You guys, I got to interview and make a really smart and accomplished person answer physics riddles while I sat there smugly knowing all the answers.

Hi, I'm Dianna.

You're watching "Physics Girl"-- Silicon Valley Edition, and I'm joined by Anne Wojcicki, the CEO and co-founder of 23andMe.

Thank you so much-- All the way.

It's so fun.

- -for being with us.

I-- like, I'm going to play it cool for this video, but, like, you're one of my heroes.

Well, we love you.

Oh!

You know, my kids love you.

You are-- you have officially been declared to be cooler than Santa.

I don't think, like, my ego is ready for that.

Can you tell me what you do at 23andMe in 23 seconds or less?

Yes.

We enable people to get access to their genetic information and to learn about themselves.

That was much less than 23 seconds.

So I can keep going.

So we explore your health and your ancestry.

Yeah.

Through your DNA.

Like, I look at you and I can learn all these things about just looking at you, but it's the same thing.

Like, your DNA is your digital code.

Did you always like science?

Were you a science-y person?

I always liked exploring the world and always loved kind of understanding what was around.

That's what physicists do, too.

Like they-- they're curious people.

There's nothing more exciting to me than that moment where you get a result of an experiment.

Like, I love those days when I walk into the lab and I can get a result.

And, you know, in some ways, like, children are kind of like a result of an experiment.

Like, every day it's interesting to see what my children-- An experiment I am not ready to undertake yet.

But then you see what they do and, like-- and that's part of the beauty for me with genetics is that you're constantly learning about, like, what does the genome mean for you?

Do you think of your children as a genetic experiment?

Oh, we call them that.

We really own it.

Of course you do.

We were like, no, no, no.

Like, you're little genetic experiments.

That is fantastic.

59 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:54,969 Now it is time for the riddles.

OK, good, I can't wait.

Are you ready?

I can't wait.

Let's hear.

OK, the whole reason that I-- that I have you here is to torture you with-- Oh good, I can't wait!

So curious!

- -with the riddles.

Be gentle of me.

This is going to be fun for me.

Oh good.

And I'll give you the opportunity to ask me a riddle, just to make the playing field a little more fair.

OK, so the first one is a bit of a warn-up.

So it goes like this.

There's an adventurer somewhere on Earth-- oh, we need the globe.

Yeah.

So there's an adventurer, an explorer somewhere on the globe.

ANNE WOJCICKI: OK. DIANNA COWERN: This adventurer, she walks a mile south and then she walks a mile east-- ANNE WOJCICKI: A mile.

DIANNA COWERN: And then a mile north.

ANNE WOJCICKI: OK, a mile south, a mile east, and then a mile north.

DIANNA COWERN: And she ends up in the exact same place.

Where on Earth is she?

Pause here if you want to think about the answer before we go on.

So you've never heard this?

No.

Perfect.

OK, now I have to get serious.

OK, wait, wait.

So-- but she's-- but it's just directly south a mile?

Directly south a mile.

Going south along the longitude lines.

ANNE WOJCICKI: Oh, so she starts at-- so she's got to start down here and she is going to go south.

We can't-- this is the South Pole.

OK.

So she can't go south from there.

We'll add that rule to the riddle.

All right.

Um, OK, north.

DIANNA COWERN: OK. Go on.

ANNE WOJCICKI: So she's at the North Pole, she's walking south, and she goes east, and then she goes north.

DIANNA COWERN: Beautiful.

Oh!

I did it!

Yeah, it was amazing.

I feel so good!

That was beautiful.

Yeah.

So proud of myself That's the warm-up there.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but-- OK.

I had been feeling pretty good.

Good, good.

OK, so this is-- this is like a pretty common riddle, if you've heard these, but there is another answer.

Oh.

Yeah.

OK. What-- can you think of what-- Another one?

- -the right answer is?

Yeah, it's not the North Pole.

I no longer-- DIANNA COWERN (VOICEOVER): And cut.

Come back tomorrow for the answer.

I know you hate waiting.

You hate it almost as much as you hate being told what to do, so I would never do that.

I would merely suggest that you think about the answer and post your thoughts in the comments and like this video.

Buh!

Just come back tomorrow to get the answer to this riddle