Susana writes:
Given the warm weather (to be kind) and rain, that we are having in most of the Northern hemisphere, the mosquitoes are in their best shape š
Taking advantage of the great public that you have in the “This week in Virology” blog.
I want to remind you that we made a book for children entitled “Paul and the mosquitoes” that could be helpful these days.
The book is on line, free of charge and it is in Spanish, English (reviewed by Vincent), French (translated by Carla Saleh), German and Romanian (both translated by Trudy Rey), and maybe you can suggest in one of your programs.
Here is the link to the Mexican Society of Virology where you can see all the books we have done:
https://www.smvirologia.org/libros-para-todos
and this is the link for Paul and the mosquitoes in English
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r4fIWAUT6W4UCo-MnupqZ8WxsdLcdouh/view
I think it is a good information to spread this summer.
Best regards
Susana
—
Dr. Susana LĆ³pez CharretĆ³n
Instituto de BiotecnologĆa
Universidad Nacional AutĆ³noma de Mexico
Cuernavaca
Suzanne writes:
Hi Vincent,
I’ve heard you comment recently on your numbers dropping, but I can’t quit listening. I started listening in May 2020, and I haven’t missed an episode since then because I’m completely hooked. I like everything about it — the weather updates at the start, learning the science, “eavesdropping” on your conversations about the science, and everyone’s picks at the end.
When I heard Alan comment (at the end of Episode 997) that TWiV recordings structure his week, I thought, “Listening to TWiV structures my week!” I look forward to your release of your conversations with Dr. Daniel Griffin (I listen as I do house chores over the weekend), as well as the release of the regular TWiV episodes (perfect for walking my dogs).
I will say that I greatly appreciate your recent push to do more explaining. I’d been feeling like I was understanding less in some of the recent conversations of non-SARS-CoV-2 topics, but the efforts by all of you to provide more explication has been a real boon!
Thanks for all that you do, Suzanne
Dave writes:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Episode 997 of TWiV captures so much of what I’ve been seeing regarding viral evolution & the current direction of this pandemic. Thanks again for the straight up sober analysis of good questions that have been asked – and what we are learning in the face of adverse conditions of a misplaced perception by some who may be well meaning and unfortunately many who malignantly are not. Whatever, I’m present to tend that barrier however I might find a way.
Thanks again & keep up the good work.
-Dave
-Dave
Katherine writes:
Hi..
Please share with Dr Conditā this episode specifically addresses how Dan uses Bach and creates his own music. I think he will like it given his last pick of the week on TWIV
Thank you-
KKingsley
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/switched-on-pop/id934552872?i=1000606232609
Justin writes:
Even though we Americans dislike coins, I have a feeling you’ll want one or many of these https://catalog.usmint.gov/american-innovation-1-coin-2019-rolls-and-bags-pennsylvania-MASTER_INNOVATIONP.html?cgid=american-innovation-1-coins#cm_mmc=infosite-_-coin%2520medal%2520page-_-2018%2520dollar-_-american%2520innovation%2520dollar%2520coins&start=1
—
Justin
āThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.ā -Isaac Asimov, āA Cult of Ignoranceā by Isaac Asimov, Newsweek, January 21, 1980, p. 19.
Rowin writes:
G’day from various parts of Australia,
Its sunny outside my hospital room but the only temperature I can tell you in my internal of 37.3Ā°C. I’m holed up in hospital waiting for a valve replacement due to a bacteria getting in and eating my aortic valve. At 34 this was a bit of a shock, but all of the various TWi shows have helped me to take a second, go to the primary literature, and read the current science to figure out my options.
Early in episode 1031: Death on the West Nile there was some discussion of the intersection of science and politics. There is a sense regularly expressed by people on the various shows that this is not political or politics shouldn’t be mixed with science. My opinion is this is ceding ground that should be held. Science does lead to conclusions about political matters. Science of every stripe tells us that Ivermectin is not an effective therapy for covid, that vaccines cause adults not autism, that the climate is entering crisis, and that choices we make politically do in fact have an effect on the world. If all scientists, all well educated and informed people, abstain from the political discussion then who is left to have it? Certainly not people who have spent years learning to put emotion to the side, to try to prove themselves wrong, to iterate their views to more closely match reality. Instead we get ideologues and grifters.
Scientists need to be political. The world is literally on fire and to be frank I would love to be able to worry about whether my replacement heart valve will wear out in the next 34 years but at this point it seems moot. If we don’t engage with politics there won’t be a healthcare system to fix my heart, fight the next pandemic, provide basic care for pregnant people, or even just fight off the scammers doing psychic surgery. Robust engagement of the scientific community is a necessary but not sufficient part of getting politics to actually solve some of these problems. Without your voices and the voices of other scientists there is no point in people like me thinking about retirement.
Love the shows, please keep talking and please be outraged.
Rowin
May writes:
RFK show rebuttal – reaching the 30% ?
Dear TWiV,
If 30% are “not liking”, perhaps they have not been reached.
What about taking some of their comments and writing specific responses?
“This could not be true because….” “That source was discredited because….” Kind of like a fact-check resource. I listen to you. Makes sense. They rebut. I still don’t know where the flaw is in many of the RFK points. Would love see to see an RFK rebuttal page….or would that be the equivalent of a debate-on-paper? I usually don’t remember the TWiV points when I am listening to the RFK point.
Would like to know the statistics source for “90% of COVID deaths among the unvaccinated.”
I told that to a friend. She shared what her open-minded dr said: That he was terrified for having taking the vaccine. Has seen (in hospital) many vaccinated pts who had multiple recurrences of COVID, before finally dying of complications from COVID. My friend is open-minded too – but we feel such a dearth of helpful information on the grassroots level.
Thank you,
–
May Dooley, MA MS in Science Education
Environmental Consultant since 1994
EnviroHealth Consulting, Inc.
Jeannie writes:
Hello,
āRetiredā rural and remote RN living in Canadaās high arctic here (the quotes relate to the absurdity of thinking Iām retired as long as I still have my license as I am regularly doing casual contracts at all the health centres of the indigenous communities of the Beaufort Delta.)
At any rate, your discussion of whether or not plants are alive fits nicely with an idea that has been kicking around in my head ever since I became aware of the concept of self-generating complex molecules around deep sea vents which is hypothesized to be the precursor to life.
The idea is this: maybe the idea that there is a difference between these early complex molecules and molecules that are considered distinctly āaliveā is incorrect. Maybe the sensation we all have that there is an essence about living things that make us conscious, aware, even possessed of a unique and eternal spiritual essence (in at least or human form of ālifeā, ?others?) is a function of chemical and electrical impulses in our brains and the best explanation our brains have yet come up to give meaning to these impulses is that we are alive and somehow different from things that arenāt alive.
It occurs to me that all the things that living things do that make us call them alive are entirely possible for a complex molecule that isnāt āaliveā and that in fact we are
simply complex molecules with varying degrees of complexity but nothing is moreāaliveā than the next thing. That we evolved neurobiology that allows us to believe we are alive is a happy but not necessarily essential accident.
I hope this doesnāt seem too dark, in my neurodivergent brain it just makes sense as a possibility and doesnāt really frighten me, as my ability to believe Iām alive is not going anywhere and is just as powerful even if itās simply an illusion of chemistry and electricity.
Happy to be shown how my theory doesnāt hold up
Yours
Jeannie Mills
āThe Knitting Croneā
Erica writes:
Hello Vincent et al,
I came for the Covid science – I stayed for the awesome. Though I’ve no medical background, I enjoy the show so much that I once had aspirations of going back and listening to all the TWiVs. Though it quickly became obvious this is a task well beyond my time constraints, I still queue up an old episode when I have the chance of it. And because of this, I am in position to offer an alternative point of attribution on a quote that has come up a couple of times lately. I chickened out of saying anything when it happened before, but I would be a terrible TWiV Family Member if I let it go a second time.
In Episode 1026 “Debunking JFK Jr” Kathy mentioned a quote from one Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson – “You can’t use reason to convince anyone out of an argument that they didn’t use reason to get into.”
As it happens, on TWiV 14 from January 5, 2009 !! in relation to HIV Deniers and ‘malignant skeptics’ in general, Alan said: “…you’re not going to be able to reason themselves out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.”
Now that I see the quotes side by side it’s even more remarkable how strikingly similar they are. Of course I don’t know that Alan was the first person to say this – maybe they both picked it up from some other source for which I don’t have a reference – but he does have a full decade on Neil, and I just think it would be so great to hear you all attribute this concept to one of your own. Yeah maybe more people in general know Neil’s name, but for my part (and I imagine yours too), I would take Dr. Dove over Dr. Tyson any day of the week. š
In any case: you are all amazing, and thank you so, so much.
Erica
Beth writes:
Cāmon. I was listening to TWIV #1031 while preparing my dinner of chicken & roasted cabbage. As I was sitting down to eat, you began talking about the virus on cabbage! Oh no! Imagine my relief hearing itās harmless.
Beth
Alexandria, VA
Fernando writes:
Hi Vincent,
In the last few pods, you riffed on manipulative anti-science argumentation and on cognitive “bugs,” most recently on your pick of “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” I’d like to complement those comments with two book picks that in my view offer much more nuanced evolutionary views of these questions, focused on our evolution as social animals and on language as a technology for persuasion and maintenance of social standing. In my opinion they supplant “Thinking, Fast and Slow” while paying proper attention to the data that the book is based on. Here they are:
“The Enigma of Reason” by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber
“Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists” by Nick Enfield
The subtitle of “Language vs. Reality” is especially apropos to the debating question…
Thanks again to the whole TWiV crew for teaching us and making us think through entertaining argumentation!
— F