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What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?
The Top 11 Science Stories of 2020, And Much More…
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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!
2020…
As we end the year, the planet has lost 1.8 million humans to a virus
Over 82 million have been infected
And we are at the peak of transmissions and deaths
Just as a new variant threatens a more contagious acceleration of infection
2020…
So contagious was this year, that even as it leaves,
it is passing along the virus to the following year
Because we failed to mitigate our behavior with any concerted effort
2020…
The year that showed how poorly wishful thinking,
political posturing and good old fashion
“Ignore it and maybe it will go away?”…
strategies fare when dealing with actual threats…
And so, when the future looks back upon this present year…
The real threat will be less about a virus acting out its nature
But the failure of humans to take reality seriously.
2020…
Was also the year that challenged science to save us from ourselves
Around the world, researchers went to work
searching for treatments,
developing and testing vaccines
And the efforts have succeeded!
It is extremely important to note, and I can not stress this enough…
That I need a disclaimer within this disclaimer
These solutions are not new, not fast nor are they easy to arrive at!
The vaccines are based on technology that has been developed over decades of dedication
by scientists who encountered failure, suffered setbacks, lack of funding
and yet persisted in their work, and pursued the scientific method where it led them.
And while they persevered and have prevailed in creating a vaccine that is capable of saving 160 million or more lives over the next few years…
(roughly the number that would die if we left it to good old fashioned herd immunity.)
They prevailed because they dedicated their lives to the pursuit of science.
So before we say so long, goodbye, and good riddance to 2020
We pause for a moment
to look back at some of the knowledge
that dedicated scientists have brought to light in 2020 on
This Week in Science
Top 11 year in the rear-view,
Coming up next…
Let’s count them down…
NUMBER 11
Bioluminescence!
After squirrels took us by surprise in 2019 by fluorescing pink, 2020 had a crazy slew of glowing animals! Amphibians, tardigrades, scorpions, and believe it or not, platypuses!
NUMBER 10
Asteroid Sampling!
Between the Bennu boop and Hayabusa2 returning samples to Earth, this was a great year for peeking at our solar system.
NUMBER 9
Astrophysics!
We observed the most distant galaxy in the universe and identified the long-standing mystery source of fast radio bursts.
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NUMBER 8
Animal Cognition!
There were many stories of animal smarts this year: wasps, bees, songbirds, hummingbirds, crows, and more!
NUMBER 7
Metallo-Organic-Frameworks!
These amazing molecular materials are hinting at a bright future.
NUMBER 6
Aging!
The research was all about hitting the refresh butting on aging in mice this year with nuclear reprogramming, epigenetic resets, undoing stress, and even reversing Alzheimer’s disease.
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NUMBER 5
Gut/Brain Connection!
Many stories showed a direct link between our guts and brains this year. From poop effects, to gut microbe metabolites, effects on vitamin metabolism, and even the immune system, our guts are an important part of a well-functioning brain.
NUMBER 4
Physics – Superconductivity!
Research into superconductivity made a huge advance this year with room-temperature superconduction. Expect more in the years to come.
NUMBER 3
AI – Alpha Fold!
Proteins will never look the same to us again thanks to the AI advance that is Alpha-fold.
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NUMBER 2
COVID Vaccine & Research Effort!
Who can deny the immense impact that concerted research efforts have had on the advancement of our understanding of the SARS-CoV2 virus and COVID-19 in such a short amount of time.
NUMBER 1
MeTooSTEM and Black In STEM are poised to change the institutions of science. If these movements continue in the years to come, we will see all of science benefit.
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Now for the honorable mentions and stories that were just plain weird.
Pandas covered in poop, disemboweled toads, beetles in the butts of frogs, deep sea alligator corpses, people with magnetoreception, randomly skewed fish genitalia, painting eye spots on the rumps of cows, spinning sperm, and toilet scans of your backside. Thank you, science, for the fond memories.
This Week in Science Questions!
Do you have questions that you want us to answer? Send us your questions! We will do our best to have answers!
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Were you looking for other year-in-review shows? Check out last year’s reviewthis episode of TWIS from 2010 or this one from 2016!
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