Latest Showmethescience Podcast Episodes
Remaining resilient while the pandemic drags on
Show Me the Science - October 21, 2021 14:52 - 19 minutesEven as the numbers of COVID-19 cases around the country decline again, with cooler weather and people moving back indoors, we’re being warned about the possibility of another swing upward in cases. Such an increase would represent yet another wave of illness during this pandemic. And after all t...
Boosters? Vaccines for kids? Where do we stand heading toward winter?
Show Me the Science - September 30, 2021 14:02 - 21 minutesRecently, the federal government decided that vaccine booster shots will be made available for Americans 65 and older, those with compromised immune systems and others in high-risk jobs. In addition, Pfizer has submitted data asserting its vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5-12. The...
Shutdowns in COVID-19's early days helped St. Louis area avoid thousands of deaths
Show Me the Science - September 17, 2021 18:30 - 18 minutesIn March 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the St. Louis region, and health officials in St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis issued emergency orders to try to halt the virus’ spread. A new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis dete...
Vaccines and COVID-19 infection generate protective antibodies, even against Delta
Show Me the Science - August 30, 2021 21:17 - 19 minutesIt’s been a busy summer in the laboratory of Ali Ellebedy, PhD, an associate professor of pathology & immunology and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Studying samples from patients with COVID-19 infections and others who have been vaccinated aga...
Vaccines and COVID-19 infection generate protective antibodies, even against Delta
Show Me the Science - August 30, 2021 21:17 - 19 minutesIt’s been a busy summer in the laboratory of Ali Ellebedy, PhD, an associate professor of pathology & immunology and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Studying samples from patients with COVID-19 infections and others who have been vaccinated agai...
New threats from highly contagious delta variant
Show Me the Science - August 03, 2021 21:40 - 19 minutesAs patients infected with the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus fill hospitals in parts of Missouri, and the virus spreads new infections around the country, Washington University data scientists and infectious diseases specialists are urging people to mask up again, regardless of vaccination s...
Pregnant women, new moms and vaccines
Show Me the Science - July 20, 2021 20:40 - 20 minutesPregnant patients who get COVID-19 have much worse outcomes than women who don’t get infected. They are three times as likely to end up in intensive care, three times as likely to need a ventilator to help them breathe and twice as likely to die. Ebony Boyce Carter, MD, an assistant professor of ...
Vaccinating kids against COVID-19 likely to enhance school safety
Show Me the Science - June 23, 2021 18:30 - 20 minutesWhether and how children can return to classrooms has been hotly debated during the past year. Requiring teachers and students to wear masks, spreading out kids in classrooms and preventing students and staff from coming to school when sick has made most schools safe. With many teachers now vacci...
What to make of CDC's new masking guidelines
Show Me the Science - May 19, 2021 22:00 - 18 minutesAfter recently announcing that vaccinated people could safely take off their masks outdoors and gather in small groups with other vaccinated people indoors, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) next decided that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks indoors either. T...
Pandemic contributing to uptick of mental health problems in kids
Show Me the Science - May 12, 2021 20:37 - 20 minutesInfections with the virus that causes COVID-19 are not the only cause of pandemic-related hospitalizations. Although children tend to be at lower risk of COVID-19, the number of kids with mental health and behavioral problems has exploded during the pandemic, driving an increase in pediatric hosp...
A year later, scientists recall their efforts to jumpstart research into the mysterious new coronavirus
Show Me the Science - April 21, 2021 17:00 - 18 minutesEven before the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States, Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine, started setting the stage with Sean Whelan, PhD, the Marvin A. Brennecke Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology, for scientists at the u...
One year into the pandemic, vaccines are making life better, but it’s not over yet
Show Me the Science - March 24, 2021 18:28 - 18 minutesWhen we launched this podcast in March 2020, our first guest was a doctor who had spent years planning responses to epidemics, bioterrorism and other disasters. Last March, Steven J. Lawrence, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, told us what he thought might happ...
After a year of COVID-19, vaccines making life better but it’s not over
Show Me the Science - March 24, 2021 18:28 - 18 minutesWhen we launched this podcast in March 2020, our first guest was a doctor who had spent years planning responses to epidemics, bioterrorism and other disasters. Last March, Steven J. Lawrence, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, told us what he thought might happe...
Loss of smell, heart problems common symptoms for long-haulers
Show Me the Science - March 10, 2021 20:21 - 19 minutesIn the year since COVID-19 infections first appeared in the United States, a few things have become clear. One is that many who get sick don’t recover quickly. Even those who don’t have to be hospitalized can experience symptoms that linger. Called long-haulers, these individuals suffer from a va...
Avoiding burnout and tending to mental health as the pandemic runs into a second year
Show Me the Science - February 15, 2021 20:58 - 20 minutesIt’s been a year since the first COVID-19 cases started appearing in the United States, and during this span, many people have been living with the stress of trying to work from home while simultaneously trying to help their kids attend online school. Essential workers haven’t had the safety of h...
Avoiding burnout and tending to mental health as the pandemic runs into a second year
Show Me the Science - February 15, 2021 20:58 - 20 minutesIt’s been a year since the first COVID-19 cases started appearing in the United States, and during this span, many people have been living with the stress of trying to work from home while simultaneously trying to help their kids attend online school. Essential workers haven’t had the safety of ...
Improving health messaging in fight to slow COVID-19
Show Me the Science - January 27, 2021 23:03 - 19 minutesFor the past year, we’ve heard about the importance of wearing masks, avoiding crowds, maintaining physical distance and regularly washing our hands. All of us have been asked to take simple steps to protect ourselves and those around us. But nothing is simple when you have to do it every day for...
Vaccines have arrived but COVID-19 treatments progressing much more slowly
Show Me the Science - December 28, 2020 23:28 - 20 minutesCOVID-19 vaccine development has been rapid and successful. Two vaccines that report more than 90% efficacy against the virus already are in use, with approval of more vaccines expected in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the development of treatments for those infected with the virus has been slower...
COVID-19 vaccines around the corner
Show Me the Science - December 09, 2020 15:32 - 20 minutesDrug companies are reporting eye-popping success rates in clinical trials of their vaccines to prevent COVID-19. It’s possible the first people in the U.S. could begin getting shots before the end of the year. In this episode, we’ll hear about the amazing pace of vaccine development, as well as W...
Preparing for winter and the holidays under the shadow of COVID-19
Show Me the Science - November 16, 2020 15:48 - 21 minutesWinter is coming, and the pandemic is intensifying in most of the country, with numbers of COVID-19 cases setting records almost daily, cold weather approaching and people moving activities indoors. In addition, college students who have been away at school for the last few months will return hom...
Preventing COVID-19 among unhoused people
Show Me the Science - October 22, 2020 15:30 - 16 minutesTesting, social distancing, wearing masks and regular hand washing are among the tools recommended to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. But achieving such practices can be challenging for people who don’t have homes and often must eat and sleep in places with other pe...
The making of a fast, accurate saliva test for COVID-19
Show Me the Science - September 30, 2020 19:16 - 16 minutesSince the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials have talked about the need for better, faster and more frequent testing. Recently, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis developed a saliva test that can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus without inserting a nasop...
COVID-19, social media and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Show Me the Science - September 16, 2020 15:04 - 17 minutesThe pandemic is affecting everyone, but the stresses it causes are particularly rough for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Providing effective education to such children and getting services to those who need help in their homes is typically complex, but ...
Where does life in the U.S. stand six months into the pandemic?
Show Me the Science - August 25, 2020 14:38 - 18 minutesIt’s possible some people may have been infected earlier, but the first COVID-19 diagnoses in the U.S. occurred in late January. Since then, testing failures, partisan political debates, conspiracy theories and desperate searches for effective treatments have characterized the pandemic response i...
Can boosting the immune system, rather than suppressing it, work against COVID-19?
Show Me the Science - August 06, 2020 16:44 - 16 minutesNew research from scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that the immune systems of COVID-19 patients can’t do enough to protect them from the virus. A popular theory has it that patients’ immune systems get so revved up fighting the virus that, after severa...
Folding@home enlists computers to ID COVID-19 treatment targets
Show Me the Science - July 28, 2020 19:54 - 17 minutesThe crowdsourced supercomputing project Folding@home harnesses the combined processing power of millions of computers whose owners download software and run simulations to model how proteins move and fold. Now, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals, universities companies, even the Sp...
Wildlife surveillance may help identify the next pandemic
Show Me the Science - July 13, 2020 14:46 - 16 minutesThe virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to have originated in wild bats that live in caves around Wuhan, China. It also may have been passed to a second animal species before it began infecting people. Many devastating epidemics in recent years — including SARS, Ebola and HIV/AIDS — were caused...
Racism as a public health issue
Show Me the Science - June 25, 2020 17:54 - 19 minutesIn St. Louis, as in much of the United States, African Americans are more likely to test positive for COVID-19. They’re also more likely to be hospitalized, to end up in intensive care and to die of the infection. Further, protests that have erupted against police violence point to another stress...
How do we safely navigate re-openings while coronavirus risks remain?
Show Me the Science - June 12, 2020 19:56 - 18 minutesMost of the country is relaxing guidelines put in place to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. But many questions arise about how to re-open safely. In this episode, we discuss making everyday life safer with Hilary M. Babcock, MD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Dise...
Addressing rumors, conspiracy theories related to coronavirus
Show Me the Science - June 02, 2020 19:47 - 15 minutesIt seems almost every day brings a new finding about COVID-19, but still, relatively little is understood about the novel coronavirus, the disease it causes or how best to prevent and treat it. Scientific research takes time, but the lack of sound research hasn’t stopped some from filling in th...
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