Going Viral

With coronavirus cases multiplying, COVID-19 test kits were scarce and hospitals were frantic. Two doctors, Dr. Amy Mathers (University of Virginia) and Dr. Melinda Poulter (University of Virginia) decided to make their own tests and shared thousands of them with medical centers across the nation. And: Like most users, Jeanine Guidry (Virginia Commonwealth University) clicked through Pinterest for gardening tips or decorating ideas. But she also found a surprising abundance of vaccine conspiracy theories. Guidry studied the social media platform’s role in the anti-vaccination movement. Now she’s teaching about the spread of COVID-19 misinformation online. Later in the show: Fifteen years ago, if you complained of a new meat allergy, the doctor might not have taken you seriously. Thanks in large part to the work of Thomas Platts-Mills (University of Virginia), we now know a sudden meat allergy is real and it’s caused by tick bites. And there may be a link between the allergy and heart disease. And: CRISPR gene-editing technology might inspire fears of bioengineering superhumans, but realistically it can do a lot more with non-human animals. Philosopher Jesse Kirkpatrick (George Mason University) is less worried about human gene editing and more interested in how CRISPR technology can be used to enhance—or harm—the environment around us.