You’re wearing a mask on a walk, minding your own business, and then AHHHHHH, somebody pops up behind you, on a bicycle without a mask! No! This is Emily Sarah Sumner with the Loh Down on Science: Special Pandemic Edition. When you think of a mask, what do you think of? Before COVID, masks were not very commonly worn in the US. In western countries, many associated masks with robbers, masquerade balls, and surgeons. In Eastern countries are different. For example, in South Korea and China, masks...
May 27, 2020•Season 1Ep. 36
The world waits for a coronavirus vaccine. But this isn’t the first time it’s taken a little longer than ideal. For nearly forty years, scientists have searched for a vaccine for HIV, the virus behind the AIDS epidemic. Although they’re still searching, drugs, treatment and technology have made an HIV diagnosis a little better. The good news is that coronavirus shares more in common with other viruses than a devious trickster like HIV... and it all comes down to copying skills. Written and repor...
May 24, 2020•Season 1Ep. 35
Global pandemic have skyrocketed downloads of video conferencing apps. Soon after, many found themselves zoomed out. It turns out that some of the most important communication is in nonverbal. How do we recapture the details lost to pixelated video? References The video apps we're downloading amid the coronavirus pandemic, World Economic Forum Dimberg, Ulf, Monika Thunberg, and Kurt Elmehed. "Unconscious facial reactions to emotional facial expressions." Psychological science 11.1 (2000): 86-89....
May 17, 2020•Season 1Ep. 33
With so many options, it can be difficult to know which cleaning products are best - even when there isn’t a pandemic going on. Fortunately, there are many options that are effective against killing viruses. The main difference is in how you use them to clean a surface. And no, you cannot use them inside the body. For more information, you can access an article by C&EN here , or this helpful graphic and description by Compound Chem here . Written and reported by Kellen Kartub, Ph.D. with pro...
May 17, 2020•Season 1Ep. 30
Trying to destroy coronavirus? The World Health Organization says get to scrubbing! Twenty seconds at the sink should do it. But what if you don’t have soap… or clean water? As cities have developed, water sources and waste streams develop with them. Even Paris began as a cesspool of typhoid and other diseases. For areas still developing, this poses a real challenge in times of extra handwashing. What can we learn from history, and how can that help our future? Written and reported by Brenna Big...
May 17, 2020•Season 1Ep. 32
Pandemic: quite a BUZZ word these days. We stay home, wear masks, and wash hands like crazy. But what would bees do? Hint: dance party! For over a century, bees have faced their own pandemic, V. destructor mites. Western honey bees are not as well-equipped to deal with them as their Eastern counterparts. Eastern honey bees throw mite-cleaning shindigs and even turn to more desperate measures, but Western honey bees might need a little help from their human friends. Written and reported by Brenna...
May 17, 2020•Season 1Ep. 32
Stuck in a house packed with snacks and limited ways to exercise? Tempted to turn to Ben and Jerry for sweet, sweet solace? Experts say this is normal...but not healthy! During times of stress or grief, even insects turn to sugary sweets to feel more calm. To curb our cravings, experts suggest improving our mental health. Exercise, paint, or express yourself! The great painter Pablo Picasso turned to art during tough times… should we do the same? Written and recorded by Brenna Biggs. References:...
May 17, 2020•Season 1Ep. 27
As weird as their name sounds, antibodies are actually quite friendly! They help our bodies fight off infection. And their presence indicates if we have had a disease and if we are immune. That’s why researchers in the Weiss and Penner labs are hard at work developing a test to count the amount of antibodies in our blood! For more information on the Weiss and Penner labs, you can read about their detector here and their research here ! Based off an interview with Kristin Gabriel , written and re...
May 11, 2020•Season 1Ep. 25
Quarantine is taking no-shave November to a whole new level. But can beards be hotspots for the coronavirus? Before you grab your clippers, let’s grow through history! Written and reported by Emily Sarah Sumner, PhD References https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/3/30/21195447/beard-pandemic-coronavirus-masks-1918-spanish-flu-tuberculosis Barbeito, Manuel S., Charles T. Mathews, and Larry A. Taylor. "Microbiological laboratory hazard of bearded men." Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 15, no. 4 (1967): 899...
May 11, 2020•Season 1Ep. 28
The traffic in Los Angeles is doomed to live in infamy. Is there any benefit? With the outbreak of coronavirus, it’s become clear (again) that some cities have bigger outbreaks. Generally, bigger cities equal bigger outbreaks. The twist? Cities with the most efficient public transportation systems are the worst off! The good news is we may be able to use this information to target hitchhiking viruses. Written and reported by Sumner L. Norman, Ph.D. References Dalziel, Benjamin D., Babak Pourbohl...
May 10, 2020•Season 1Ep. 27
Mistranslation? Awkward. Surprisingly, it was a classic mistranslation after the Franco-Prussion War that prompted the acceptance of biosafety. Now, we keep dangerous pathogens locked up tight! And their identities might surprise you… Depending on the biosafety level, lab techs might wear special ventilation suits or even decontaminate their clothes. But these extreme measures are only used against the world’s most dangerous viruses and bacteria. Shockingly, protocols for the infamous new corona...
May 10, 2020•Season 1Ep. 26
Cat got your quarantine? As people are stuck in the coronavirus induced self-quarantine, many pet owners have started noticing a shift in their pet’s behavior. Why are they being weird? They don’t need to worry about paying the bills! Well, we may be the culprits of their peculiarities. Research has found that anxious, aggressive, and fearful cats reflect the personality traits of neurotic owners. Dogs are also more responsive to their owners that are stressed than those that are calm. As we lea...
May 10, 2020•Season 1Ep. 24
Humans have made remarkable progress in eliminating diseases. Diseases that were once very common are no longer common today. For example, fecal-oral route diseases once plagued nearly every society in history. These diseases only go away when people practice good hygiene. But the necessary technologies need to be available, and practices need to be taught. A shift in how society thinks is necessary. In this episode we talk about historian Dr. Alex Bay who studies the history of public health in...
May 05, 2020•Season 1Ep. 23
Modern childhood in America is different. Children spend most of their time in structured activities: School, sports, and mountains of homework. No time for biking around the neighborhood. Until now. School is out. What will children do with all of that time? Bounce a ball? Take a walk around the block? Are there any benefits for children that spend time in these unstructured activities? Written and reported by Emily Sarah Sumner, PhD REFERENCES Barker, Jane E., Andrei D. Semenov, Laura Michaels...
May 04, 2020•Season 1Ep. 22
Recovered from the new coronavirus? Congratulations! It’s safe for you to go out again! Or is it? This is Stella Moon with the Loh Down on Science: Special Pandemic Edition. In mid-April, South Korea reported some surprising results. Within a month of recovery, around two percent of those infected tested positive for the virus for the second time! These disappointed survivors had to return to quarantine. And their families were monitored for fourteen days. Then. . . another SURPRISE! None of the...
May 04, 2020•Season 1Ep. 19
Alcohol just refers to a type of molecule. And though it means an array of different cocktails for us, in large enough amounts it spells death to viruses like the coronavirus. Learn some of the chemistry behind why alcohol kills viruses and remember to check that hand sanitizers are at least 60% alcohol! For more details, please reference the CDC . The following links here and here offer a deeper insight into the chemistry of hand sanitizers. And finally, Parade is keeping a running list of loca...
May 03, 2020•Season 1Ep. 21
Mosquitoes… they do more than ruin a nice day by the river. These winged brutes cause dozens of diseases from West Nile virus to malaria. During WWII, President Roosevelt had enough. He formed a special task force to rid the nation of this infectious threat… the CDC. Armed with insecticide sprayers, they sprayed hundreds of military bases—and later, millions of households!—throughout the southeastern United States. The CDC has expanded (and of course, iterated through many name changes) to study...
May 03, 2020•Season 1Ep. 20
“Immunity Passports” are being touted as one way to reopen the economy. These passports would be administered to people who test positive for having had the coronavirus. Scientists worldwide have developed dozens of these tests, hoping to distribute them throughout the world. However, even highly accurate tests will run into a problem. References SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) by the numbers. Large-Scale Antibody Test Suggests As Many As 80,000 Santa Clara County Residents Have Already Had COVID-19 Antib...
Apr 26, 2020•Season 1Ep. 18
When not in a pandemic, Professor Rachel Martin studies the interesting enzymes in carnivorous plants. When she realized that coronavirus relies on the same type of enzyme, she got to thinking about how she could use her expertise to help the world. Fast forward a few weeks, and this project has expanded to a campus-wide collaboration including professors Carter Butts , Doug Tobias , Andy Borovik , Vy Dong , Liz Jarvo , James Nowick , and Jenn Prescher . The team hopes to design a drug that will...
Apr 26, 2020•Season 1Ep. 17
Smallpox… the word sounds harmless enough, but this “speckled monster” was the scourge of Western Europe throughout the 1700s. Why did it disappear? The credit belongs to a fiery 18th-century feminist. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu rebelled against everything—her father, societal norms, and smallpox. After catching—and recovering from—the disease, she vowed to protect her children from living the same horror. But she had to face intercontinental travel, a pus-based economy, and a stubborn kingdom to...
Apr 26, 2020•Season 1Ep. 16
Scientists in the media often have uncertainties around talking about experimental uncertainties. Why? Because they worry about trust! Error and uncertainty has a specific meaning in science. It gives us hard numbers on how much we can trust a measurement. But, the unfamiliar may believe it means mistakes and incompetence. In order to avoid any loss in public trust in science itself, scientists may not always talk about it. Are these fears grounded in reality? An important new study on uncertain...
Apr 26, 2020•Season 1Ep. 15
Have you been having weird dreams lately? If so, you’re not alone. Stressful, memorable, and intense dreams are on the rise! The stress of the pandemic might be to blame. This isn’t the first time a stressful event has changed the way that we dream. Written and reported by Emily Sarah Sumner, Ph.D. References: Weinstein, Netta, Rachel Campbell, and Maarten Vansteenkiste. "Linking psychological need experiences to daily and recurring dreams." Motivation and emotion 42, no. 1 (2018): 50-63. Hartma...
Apr 25, 2020•Season 1Ep. 14
The coronavirus pandemic has forced many people to work remotely. For human beings this time has been rather stressful, but what’s it like from Mother Earth’s perspective? With reduced human activity, skies have cleared up and pollution has gone down. Things seem to be going smoothly for the planet! But will this last? Well, we have seen something similar during the 2007 Great Recession of the United States. Carbon emissions plummeted because people weren’t consuming as much goods. However, when...
Apr 24, 2020•Season 1Ep. 13
What’s in a name? For humans, our identity. Same for viruses. Throughout history, viruses have cycled through names that have tried to identify them. Although labelling them by their location or origin seems like a good idea, hindsight has revealed negative side effects of this decision. Recently, the World Health Organization has recommended not including places, animals, and people when choosing a new virus name. This has led to clunkers like “SARS-Cov-2,” but will hopefully safeguard against ...
Apr 21, 2020•Season 1Ep. 10
The coronavirus pandemic was caused by a virus that originated in other animals. If this virus can jump species, what’s to stop it from attacking our pets? Science from previous coronavirus outbreaks like SARS suggest that cats are susceptible! Now, a full grown tiger at the Bronx zoo has gotten sick with the new coronavirus. Luckily, science is on the case. Coronavirus can infect cats but doesn’t seem to affect dogs. Luckily, cats don’t show symptoms and there’s no evidence for widespread infec...
Apr 21, 2020•Season 1Ep. 11
Copper’s self-disinfecting properties are well known and well studied. Bacteria, viruses, doesn’t matter - they won’t survive long on a copper surface. In fact, research suggests that coating commonly touched surfaces with copper is an excellent method to prevent the spread of disease! Written and reported by Kellen Kartub, Ph.D. References: https://jcm.asm.org/content/50/7/2217 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xgqkyw/copper-destroys-viruses-and-bacteria-why-isnt-it-everywhere...
Apr 21, 2020•Season 1Ep. 9
During times of uncertainty, reasonable decision-making flies right out the window. Consumers worldwide hoard items -- enough to last years! Even our ancestors had similar survival tactics. Survivors of England’s bubonic plague in the 1600s may not have built 2-ply fortresses. But, they did stockpile what they could find (hello, beer!). But WHY? Psychologists believe it has something to do with our evolution. We’ve survived millenia by cooperating as a group. Our social skills have gotten us thi...
Apr 21, 2020•Season 1Ep. 12
Viruses are insidious agents that invade human tissue, injecting their genetic instructions into our cells. Their goal? To make more viruses! Luckily, our body launches a full scale counter-attack. The foot-soldiers in this micro-war are antibodies. Our immune system creates new antibodies designed to bind to the shell of the virus, neutralizing it. When the battle comes to an end, we keep the antibodies around, and are thus immune to the virus. Science provides a pacifist's solution in the form...
Apr 21, 2020•3 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Masks: Spiderman, Jim Carrey, and the Phantom of the Opera all donned one. Our beloved face masks began as humble handkerchiefs as early as the 1600s. These evolved into surgical masks and -- eventually -- the heavily sought-after N-95 respirator!Masks are not just for villains and superheroes. We have long depended on them for protection. How did improving technoloy create the masks we know today? How can they protect against disease?Written and reported by Brenna Biggs.References: Kannadan, A....
Apr 21, 2020•3 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Gamers unite! You can join forces with some of the best minds in research as they try to find a cure to the new coronavirus. Folding@home lets researchers borrow the processing power of your computer, allowing them to run simulations to figure out the structure of proteins within coronavirus. Their goal? A “cryptic binding site” that will hopefully be the key to shutthing this virus down.For more information, click here . Folding@home can be downloaded here . And follow the team on Twitter: @fol...
Apr 21, 2020•Season 1Ep. 6
