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What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?
COVID Update, Sea Cucumber Hormones, Pink Means Business, Butterfly Armor, Bird Brains!, Parasite For Water, Artificial Sleep, Cancer-Fighting Fungi, Mate Choice, We Are The World, Great White Diet, And Much More…
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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!
It was a good one, but Justin didn’t put it in the show notes…
This Week in Science
Coming up next…
This week #SHUTDOWNSTEM and #SHUTDOWNACADEMIA made headlines as scientists around the globe took a day to educate themselves and plan how to address institutional racism in science.
Educate yourselves, and listen to conversations between Black female scientists at Vanguard STEM.
And, again, please, visit Campaign Zero and 8 Can’t Wait to learn more about ways to reduce deaths due to police violence.
Let’s start with a COVID-19 Update!
COVID Update
Nationally, numbers of infections are beginning to plateau rather than drop, while several states are beginning to experience increases in case numbers.
WHO Confusion
The WHO walked back comments made about ttansmission by asyptomatic individuals being “very rare” this week, saying that they had not meant to imply that “asymptomatic transmission globally was uncommon, and highlighting for all the importance of of clear science communication.
Wear A Mask
“My mask protects you, your mask protects me!”
Lockdowns Saved Lives
A UC Berkeley team evaluated the effects of policies implemented in six countries to stem the tide of COVID-19 infections, and found that implementations saved lots of lives.
Genes For Severity
A GWAS study found that individuals with type A blood and specific mutations on chromosome 3 are more likely to experience severe respiratory failure than other people. Specifically, type O blood appears to have a protective effect.
LET US KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS YOU HAVE, OR INFORM US ON ANY REGIONAL UPDATES, BY EMAILING KIRSTEN@THISWEEKINSCIENCE.COM.
Now for the rest of the SCIENCE NEWS!
Where hormones come from…
It’s not a stork.
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Is it time for Blair’s Animal Corner???
Pink means business
Pinker flamingos are more agressive. Are they just compensating for their hue, or is there something else afoot?
Butterfly armor
Turns out a butterfly’s wings might actually be one of the strongest materials nature can offer.
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What science news does the second half of the show hold???
Bird Brains!
Big crow brains and longer childhoods might give crows their extra smarts.
Clean water through parasitic fungi
A fungus that kills blue-green algae might save some inland waters.
Artificial Sleep
LANL researchers found that spiking neural networks trained to learn like developing human brains need sleep too!
Mouse Memories
Adult-born neurons in mice need REM sleep to be a part of memory formation.
Cancer-fighting Fungus
A synthetic cancer treatment get produced by fungi!
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Time for the last quick news…
Mate Choice
The egg is in charge of mating!
We Are The World
University affiliated 20-somethings are similar all around the world according to a new study arguing that we have more in common globally than different.
Great White Diet
White sharks might not be the deep sea predators we thought they were.
I'm the host of this little science show. 
