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What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?
Take A Breath, Simple Speech, Slingshot Spiders, Drunk Sensors, Herpes Cure?, Eye Spots, COVID Update, Mystery Gas, Cosmic Rhythm, A Cartilage Fix, Morning Warmup, Baby Bat Babble, And Much More…
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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!
The following program has content pulled from the previous weeks release of scientific stories
The content itself was created by scientists
Researchers adept at revealing the secrets of the universe
The stories of planet earth
The mysteries of Life
And the systems by which life manages to survive on a planet
Spinning round a star
Spinning in a galaxy
Just one such galaxy out of billions hurtling through space.
While the significance of human achievements may be somewhat limited
in respect to the size of the universe,
The expanse of our knowledge need know no limits on
This week in science,
Coming up next…
Let’s start with some quick science news stories…
Take A Breath
When you breath, you probably think of breaths happening in your lungs. But, breathing really happens at the level of the oxygen-carrying heme-molecule. When heme holds oxygen it changes shape. New research has discovered that change in shape happens thanks to a cascade of electrons through the molecule.
Politicians use less words than they used to …
Fewer, more simple words in speeches
Holy sling-shotting spiders, Batman!
Nobody needs that…
Drunk Sensors
Researchers used accelerometers in smartphones to tell when people were drunk… had anofficial blood alcohol content of 0.08. They found side-to-side swaying was most highly correlated with alcohol intake, and hope to be able to design systems that could potentially work when a phone is in a pocket or purse.
Herpes cured!!!
Almost nearly anyway.
Eye Spots
A scientist painted eyes on cows’ rumps, and discovered that they were predated less often.
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Now for the weekly COVID-19 Update!
COVID Update
Cases in the US are on the decline overall, although several individual states are experiencing continued or increasing spread. Generally, the trend suggests there should be a reduction in deaths appearing in the data in the next few weeks, which would be welcome considering we’ve been averaging over 1000 death a day for a while now.
People Coping
Older people with depression and anxiety were found to be more resilient than expected during this pandemic.
Face Shields
They shield people from COVD-19 infection.
Comparisons
A JAMA article compared the 1918 flu pandemic to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and found that aside from modern medicine and health parctices that are probably saving lives today, the two events are comparable. In fact, the current pandemic might actually be worse in some respects. But, we’re not going to discuss this too deeply tonight, since we will be talking with one of the study’s authors, Dr. Jeremy Faust, next Wednesday.
Convalescent Plasma
One new pre-print suggests it works, but without a control group it’s hard to make a truly convincing argument. The FDA has postponed giving convalescent plasma emergency use authorization until the results of this study can be fully reviewed.
LET US KNOW WHAT QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS YOU HAVE ABOUT COVID-19, OR INFORM US ON ANY REGIONAL UPDATES, BY EMAILING KIRSTEN@THISWEEKINSCIENCE.COM.
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Mystery Gas?
Unexplained and unexpected gas is flowing out of the Milky Way.
Cosmic Rhythm
Two stellar objects that beat to the same rhythm pose a mystery for astrophysicists.
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Tell us a story Justin!
Stanford rolls out method to grow better joints
Kneed new cartilage? This just might help.
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It’s time for Blair’s Animal Corner!
Birds warm up backstage
Birds are so loud and repetitive early in the morning because they need to do their vocal exercises!
Bat baby talk
It’s not just for doting human parents!
This Week in Science Questions!
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