Amir writes:
Hi folks,
I think I remember these cellular nanotubes discussed on an episode of twiv about a month ago, maybe in the context of HIV-1 infection? Really cool scanning electron microscope images of them here in ebola cultures. Green are ebola proteins.
[? Chris
Scientists discover new method Ebola virus uses to infect cells
S writes:
Vincent and the giant virus
Might the giant v’s be based on
a peach theme?
To our great edutainers on MicrobeTV.
Thank you ALL.
S.
Jeffrey writes:
Dear TWiV genii:
Let me detour by offering a shout out to Dr. Despomier for his 2015 book on parasites. Vertical gardens may be crucial to a sustainable future, but parasites are both creepy and wondrous. Converting a muscle cell to a nurse cell without the genetic tools viruses use is amazing.
as you have described the poliomyelitis virus across many episodes two things have come to puzzle me:
1) if you consider a virus as a chemical system solving the problem of how to make more virus going forwards, the three polio types presumably are three distinct fitness solutions with “unfit” regions around their fitness optima, basically they are sufficiently distinct to the immune system that generating a response to all three after infection with just one is unlikely. OPV is presumably a less fit variant of any given wild type. Is it selection pressure from eradication campaigns that prevents revertant strains from continuing to revert back to the (presumably optimal) wild type?
2) there was some discussion recently about giving OPV after IPV but it was unclear whether that was a public health cost control idea, OPV somehow confers better gut immunity, or the brief period of sterilizing immunity after OPV is useful to an eradication campaign. Can you elucidate?
thanks
sincerely
—
Jeffrey R Hiris
Brown University
“Mice lie, primates exaggerate, and ferrets are not human.”
“Wir müssen wissen – wir sollen wissen.”
Bill writes:
Dear Twiv-ers,
I know that you pride yourselves on being listener-supported. That’s why I’ve been so surprised to hear a single ad before each recent episode of TWIV. I’m not sure how long it’s been happening, but I think at least a month.
The ads have been very much subject-appropriate. For instance, this week it was from ASM for Arturo Casadevall’s new book. Nevertheless, I found it jarring being attached to TWIV.
Are you aware of this? Have you given permission, or is it getting added downstream somewhere? I notice it’s not in the video on your website.
I listen to podcasts on the PocketCasts app on Android. Perhaps they’re responsible.
In any case, ads aside, I love TWIV and look forward to the new episodes each week. We need more good science communication done by scientists, so bravo!
–Bill
Anthony writes:
Hi TWIV hosts,
I am preparing to teach a Microbiology lab next semester and was thinking about viruses and the differences between lytic and lysogenic viruses and how they produce different types of plaque assays. My original thought was that lysogenic viruses do not form plaques whatsoever, but a quick Google search states they can form produce turbid or bulls-eyed plaques. Is this true? are plaque assays often run with lysogenic viruses?
This may seem like a naive question, but it just goes to show science is more nuanced than just “lytic viruses form plaques, and lysogenic viruses do not”.
Thanks for all your help and the service you bring to the scientific community.
Best,
Anthony
Debby writes:
Hello to all of you:
Wow—episode #1065 was jam-packed with veterinary information and I was loving it!
FIP, feline coronavirus, CWD…you guys had it all. And interestingly I had just diagnosed a cat with FIP about a week prior. Shortly before that, I’d listened to the episode with information regarding molnupiravir for the cats in Cyprus. I really, really wish we could get it licensed for use here in the US.
I don’t have anything else to write—I’m not a specialist in anything, just a veterinarian keen on virology. Thank you for your continued balanced approach to all things science. You were (and still are) an invaluable resource during the early months of the pandemic. I took all the tidbits I learned and immediately sent them to my family members. I’m also a physical therapist (human) and worked in a hospital during the worst of it. I tried to tell my colleagues what I was learning from you—sometimes it fell on deaf ears.
Looking forward to many more episodes with cats and dogs and elk and whatever other species you can include.
Thank you!
Debby Burnett, DVM, PT, CVA
Gunnison, Colorado
Michael writes:
CDC looking at waste water …. Maybe give CDC some credit?
Bob writes:
Just in case you see a small blip in downloads of some of your 2020 episodes, I recorded a podcast about pandemic science fiction with Seth Heasley of the Hugos There podcast (the Hugo award is sort of the oscars of science fiction, and Seth’s podcast was nominated for one last year)
In it we talk about pandemic fiction and how it might change after COVID. I mention a recurring trope where the first hints of the soon to be disastrous disease are mentioned (usually buried deep in the newspaper) I cited as a real-life example in COVID your first discussion of covid in early January 2020, and Seth liked it enough to include links to them in the show notes.
I hope I did not make any technical mistakes (but am sure I did somewhere) (Below lists Salmon’s book was the one non-fiction book we covered)
Thanks for all you do, I continue to listen
Bob
Gregory writes:
Dear TWiV,
For the listener pick of the week, I nominate a wide ranging 1 hour 37 minute interview with Nobel Laureate and former US Secretary of Energy, Professor Steven Chu of Stanford University (link below). With good humor, he discusses his formative years, his approach to science, the experiments and papers for which he was awarded the Nobel, the history of science, his work as Secretary of Energy, work on climate change and the interplay between science and politics. The title of the video suggests that the focus is on climate change prediction, but I think that is misleading, More of the discussion is about science involved with changing energy sources needed to reduce climate change. But they also discuss the approaches of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and others in making progress in science. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned from it. I thought TWiVers might also appreciate it.
Climate Change: A Revised Prediction – Steven Chu | Endgame #162 (Luminaries) – YouTube
best regards,
Gregory McIsaac
Champaign, IL USA
John writes:
Hi folks, stop me if you’ve already done this one but there is a Youtube channel called Technology Connections which is witty and informative covering things around the household, history of stereos going back to the beginnings with Bell and photograph, whole home electrification and potential savings on energy with existing technology that can reduce emission today (you’ll hear about heat pumps a lot if this channel hooks you).
Here is one of the videos that got 5 million views on dishwasher detergent if you want to try one out, you can just search his most popular videos on the channel to find it too.
—
John