Loh Down on Science: Special Pandemic Edition
65 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★ - 1 ratingThe Loh Down on Science: Special Pandemic Edition explores the science and history of pandemics (appropriate for middle school and up). Each week, fascinating new three-minute modules are reported by science writers from the Loh Down on Science "Hive." Subjects include: global crises' unexpected "silver linings" (i.e. technological innovations), what Isaac Newton did during HIS 1600's college quarantine, the science of soap, COVID-19's surprising impacts on climate change, and Folding@home, a cool new project seeking to model a coronavirus cure with the help of our home computers (it worked for Ebola!).
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Episodes
Uncertainly Certain
April 26, 2020 04:00 - 1.72 MBScientists 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 uncer...
Pandemic Dreams
April 25, 2020 17:46 - 6.87 MBHave 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-...
Breath of Fresh Air
April 24, 2020 01:35 - 6.88 MBThe 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, ...
What's in a Name?
April 21, 2020 19:35 - 6.88 MBWhat’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 agai...
Fur-onavirus
April 21, 2020 18:04 - 5.77 MBThe 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 i...
Mighty Metals
April 21, 2020 17:54 - 6.88 MBCopper’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
Panicked Purchases
April 21, 2020 17:35 - 6.88 MBDuring 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 ...
Protecting the Herd
April 21, 2020 17:20 - 2 minutes - 6.87 MBViruses 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 ...
Mask
April 21, 2020 16:05 - 2 minutes - 6.85 MBMasks: 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: Kannada...
Gaming for a Cause
April 21, 2020 15:27 - 6.87 MBGamers 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: ...
Newton-flix
April 21, 2020 15:25 - 2 minutes - 6.86 MBIt's 2020 and students worldwide have been dismissed from their dormitories and classrooms. Zoom classes aside, many are wondering if there is any hope in salvaging this critical time in their lives. Many may be surprised to find, they're not the first students sent home on account of a pandemic! In 1665, the bubonic plague was ravaging much of England. As a result, one “Isaac Newton” was forced off the Cambridge University campus and returned home to shelter in place. In his newfound solitu...
Engineered for Destruction
April 21, 2020 15:23 - 2 minutes - 6.85 MBPlague, influenza, coronavirus... pandemics throughout history reveal successful viruses built for destruction. Mystery often surrounds the origins of these baddies. How did they come to be? Are dangerous viruses usually created in a lab, or is nature the real mad scientist? Learn how scientists can tell whether newsworthy nasties (like viruses and bacteria) are natural, or D-I-Y'd by humans! Hint: tracking the genetic family tree of the most infamous examples reveals the answer.Written and ...
Soapy Surfactants
April 21, 2020 15:22 - 2 minutes - 6.87 MBWashing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds is cited as the best practice to protect ourselves from coronavirus. As impossible as it seems, something as mundane as soap really is out best defense again the new coronavirus. In fact, soap has a long history of keeping us safe. The answer lies in soap's unique chemical makeup, which is perfectly equipped for destroying viruses!Written and reported by Kellen Kartub, Ph.D.
The Silver Lining
April 21, 2020 13:00 - 2 minutes - 6.87 MB"The Roaring 20s" (aka: the 1920's) was a time of unprecedented American innovation and prosperity. An explosion of Model T's on the road; cool new inventions from television to sunglasses and, yes, sliced bread. But in fact, America had just emerged from not just World War 1 but its own pandemic, the Spanish Flu. Wars, terrible as they are, galvanize societies to jumpstart technologies. WW2 bought us radar, GPS tracking, even microwaved popcorn. A pandemic such as coronavirus is like a war...
Welcome!
April 21, 2020 08:01 - 2 minutes - 6.1 MBThe Loh Down on Science is your daily humorous yet informative daily radio "minute" on current scientific research (available on Southern California Public Radio--KPCC 89.3 FM Los Angeles, NPR and PRX). It's hosted by Caltech physics grad Sandra Tsing Loh, whose commentaries and stories have been heard on NPR's Morning Edition, This American Life, and Marketplace. This new (launching April, 2020) Loh Down on Science: Special Pandemic Edition includes three-minute family-friendly modules fo...