Nature Podcasts – Pandemic Games, Vaccines and More!

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Hello – and Happy Holidays to all!

Today I wanted to share a Podcast that I think is particularly relevant to the times, and which discusses a game I have found myself lost in for several years. The game is Plague Inc: The Cure, and the podcast can be accessed here: Could you prevent a pandemic? A very 2020 video game (nature.com)

If you’d prefer to skip directly to the game itself, which is highly addictive, here is the link: https://www.ndemiccreations.com/en/news/184-plague-inc-the-cure-is-out-now-for-ios-and-android

Mosquitos – Gotta Hate ‘Em

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I spend a lot of time outside, and have recently been getting eaten alive by the mosquitos down by the creek behind my house, so I was happy to see that people are bravely out there on the front lines, learning how best to kill my flying nemesis. Enjoy – from the Bill Gates www.gatesnotes.com post on August 17, 2020.

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Mosquito-City?WT.mc_id=20200822100000_MosquitoWeek2020_BG-LI_&WT.tsrc=BGLI

Photo of Anopheles funestus, the malaria vector, via Ray Wilson’s Bird and Wildlife Photography.

A COVID-19 Treatment That Actually Helps

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As reported in Nature News on June 16th 2020, the widely available steroid dexamethasone cut deaths for critically ill COVID-19 patients by one third, and was validated in a randomized clinical trial.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01824-5?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=7fb7c54efa-briefing-dy-20200616&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-7fb7c54efa-42488287

You can also read the press release from the University of Oxford, which is where the study took place, here:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-06-16-low-cost-dexamethasone-reduces-death-one-third-hospitalised-patients-severe

White Academia: Do Better – By Jasmin Roberts

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Fantastic Article written by Jasmin Roberts, Communications Lecturer at The Ohio State University. Highly recommended if you are an academic, or work with folks in that field – and a timely piece given the state of racial inequality in our world.

https://medium.com/the-faculty/white-academia-do-better-fa96cede1fc5

CRISPR

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CRISPR

We are initiating a new feature to introduce new and innovative ideas, and have decided to kick off the week with a link to an exciting set of articles which discuss the CRISPR technology, found in the Feb 16, 2018 issue of the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Biology Journal (Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages 283-490)

ACS Chemical Biology of CRISPR

This contains several free introductory articles and links to full peer reviewed and review articles (which require a subscription) categorizing this promising, but challenging technology.  Enjoy!