TWiV 72: Bucket of bolts

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

This week the TWiV team explains CRISPR/Cas, the immune system of bacteria and archaea, how novel viruses are discovered by deep sequencing of small RNAs, and the relationship between dry weather and outbreaks of West Nile virus infection.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #72 (62 MB .mp3, 85 minutes)

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Weekly Science Picks

Dickson Scientist as Chef by Dickson Despommier (pdf)
Alan Networked Organisms and Habitats (NOAH) iPhone app
Rich Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Vincent The Dish

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TWiV 71: Please Mr. Postman

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, and Rich answer listener questions about maternal infection and fetal injury, viral gene therapy, eyeglasses and influenza, filtering prions from blood, eradication of rinderpest, Tamiflu resistance of H1N1 influenza, bacteriophages and the human microbiome, H1N1 vaccine recalls, human tumor viruses, RNA interference, and junk DNA.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #71 (63 MB .mp3, 88 minutes)

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Dickson and Alan NSF/AAAS Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge
Rich Foundation by Issac Asimov
Vincent Natural Obsessions by Natalie Angier

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TWiV 70: Hacking aphid behavior

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Alan Dove

Vincent, Dickson, and Alan consider a broad spectrum antiviral against enveloped viruses, how a plant virus induces chemical signals in the host to maximize its spread, a new way to preserve viral vaccines at tropical temperatures, and the continuing story of XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #70 (56 MB .mp3, 77 minutes)

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Dickson Chemical Ecology – edited by Thomas Eisner and Jerrold Meinwald
Alan Scripps Center for Mass Spectrometry
Vincent Folding@home (thanks Jesper!)

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TWiV 69: They’re all safecrackers

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich review recent outbreaks of mumps in the UK, US, and Israel, protection of mice against 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus by 1918-like and classical swine H1N1 vaccines, and a virus-like particle vaccine for chikungunya virus.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #69 (59 MB .mp3, 82 minutes)

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Rich John Moran Florida Nature Photography
Alan Periodic Table of Videos
Vincent The Protein Databank Educational Resources

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TWiV 68: Ode to a plaque

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich are enthralled by movies of vaccinia virus plaque formation, then consider how repulsion of superinfection virions leads to rapid virus spread, and a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc. Use the promotion code VINCENT to receive $50 off a Drobo or $100 off a Drobo S.

Win a free Drobo S! Contest rules here.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #68 (58 MB .mp3, 80 minutes)

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Rich Foundations of Virology – PowerPoint by Frederick A. Murphy (bio/interview pdf)
Alan Spoonful of Medicine – Nature Medicine blog
Vincent The Feynman Lectures (thanks Ilya!)

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TWiV 67: Wasting deer and the Hulk rabbit

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Marc Pelletier

Vincent, Alan, and Marc talk about chronic wasting disease of deer caused by prions, blocking the semen-derived enhancer of HIV infection with surfen, and making green transgenic rabbits using a lentiviral vector.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #67 (64 MB .mp3, 88 minutes)

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Marc Association of Science-Technology Centers Passport Program
Alan Zooniverse
Vincent Grand Rounds at the Mailman School of Public Health

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TWiV 66: Reverse transcription

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Vincent and Dickson continue virology 101 with a discussion of information flow from RNA to DNA, a process known as reverse transcription, which occurs in cells infected with retroviruses, hepatitis B virus, cauliflower mosaic virus, foamy viruses, and even in uninfected cells.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.



Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #66 (50 MB .mp3, 68 minutes)

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 Vincent Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS

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TWiV 65: Matt’s bats

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Matthew Frieman

Vincent, Alan, and Matt discuss a project to study the RNA virome of Northeastern American bats, failure to detect XMRV in UK chronic fatigue syndrome patients, and DNA of bornavirus, an RNA virus, in mammalian genomes.

This episode is sponsored by Data Robotics Inc.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #65 (58 MB .mp3, 80 minutes)

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Matt 100 Incredible lectures from the world’s top scientists
Alan The Amateur Scientist CD
Vincent The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

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TWiV 64: Ten virology stories of 2009

3D_InfluenzaHosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich discuss ten compelling virology stories of 2009.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #64 (68 MB .mp3, 94 minutes)

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Ten virology stories of 2009:

 

  1. Pandemic influenza: Swine-origin H1N1 virus (TWiV 36)
  2. XMRV, prostate cancer, and chronic fatigue syndrome (TWiV 50, 55
  3. AIDS vaccine ‘success’ (TWiV 51)
  4. Colony collapse disorder (TWiV 46, 49)
  5. AIDS-like disease in wild chimps (TWiV 45)
  6. Diverse viral community in Antarctic lake (TWiV 58)
  7. Polyomavirus seroepidemiology in humans (TWiV 26)
  8. Poxvirus threatens UK red squirrels (TWiV 63)
  9. Polio spreads from Nigeria (TWiV 29)
  10. How mosquitoes survive Dengue virus infection (TWiV 21)

Picture book on viruses for kids (Thanks Soraia!)

Weekly Science Picks
Rich Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman, Ralph Leighton, Edward Hutchings, and Albert R. Hibbs
Alan Spaceweather.com
Vincent The Art and Politics of Science by Harold Varmus

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TWiV 63: Melting pot virus

marseillevirus_genomeHosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Alan, and Rich talk about US government contract for freeze-dried smallpox vaccine, red squirrels in the UK threatened by poxvirus, and Marseillevirus, another DNA virus from amoebae built for comfort and speed.

Click the arrow above to play, or right-click to download TWiV #63 (64 MB .mp3, 89 minutes)

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Rich Infectious Awearables
Alan Darwine
Vincent Microbial Art

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