Sorry for the COVID-related break in episodes everyone! In our return, we complete our series on influenza by discussing past epidemics and pandemics to understand how influenza has repeatedly led to large scale medical events. Then we will finish by discussing the current and future state of influenza vaccines!

References:

• https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp058281
• https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08157
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16208372/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5578040/
• https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-influenza-vaccination
• wilson-universalflu.html">https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2020/20200623-wilson-universalflu.html
• flu-season-2022-2023.htm">https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2022-2023.htm
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7159335/
• https://www.nature.com/articles/nrmicro.2017.118
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0042682278901538
• https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/flushot.htm
• https://www.science.org/content/article/innovative-universal-flu-vaccine-shows-promises-it-first-clinical-test
• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaz5143
• https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/using-mrna-technology-universal-flu-vaccine

You've had the flu. You've had a cold. Maybe you've even had allergies! But how can you tell them apart? And if you even figure out that you do have influenza, are there any treatments you can take that can help?

References:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/gastroenteritis-in-adults-a-to-z

https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/182/4/294/113092

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irv.12515

in-season-estimates.htm">https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2014/10/cold-flu-or-allergy

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000221

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7150a4.htm

https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/lucira-health-files-bankruptcy-it-receives-eua-home-covid-19-flu-test

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-first-over-counter-home-test-detect-both-influenza-and-covid-19-viruses

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39683-4

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3108042/

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/treatment/antiviralresistance.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5404498/

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/1/183

https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(21)00260-X/fulltext

Last episode we discussed the current H5N1 flu that is hitting birds pretty hard. But is bird flu different from swine flu? Is there just a 'human flu', or do we only catch influenza from other animals? Let's get into the evolutionary history of the flu and primary hosts!

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7328453/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8611/

https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/JVI.01080-14

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7268205/

https://www.woah.org/en/disease/avian-influenza/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3784916/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2018.00131/full

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1176225

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32967956/

Today's episode is the first in a four-part series on influenza! This time we are covering just enough background information to discuss the recent H5N1 pandemic in birds, which was responsible for the egg shortage and has been killing a lot of wild birds.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3074182/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5198887/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6520700/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2021.727847/full

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2801499

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/wpro---documents/emergency/surveillance/avian-influenza/ai_20230331.pdf

human-infections.htm">https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/reported-human-infections.htmanimals.htm">https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h5n1-animals.htm

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/avian-influenza/2022-hpai

7917.ES.2023.28.9.2300134?crawler=true">https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.9.2300134?crawler=true

https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/spectrum.02867-22

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/efsa-ecdc-eurl-ongoing-avian-influenza-outbreaks-birds-low-risk-public

7917.ES.2023.28.3.2300001">https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2300001

https://perspectivesinmedicine.cshlp.org/content/11/2/a038679.short

https://journals.plos.org/Plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1011135

Sure, plants can sometimes smell good and they do cool stuff like make carbs for us to eat and oxygen for us to breathe. But they sort of look like they're just passively sitting there, right? Just chilling. If only we could hear just a slightly broader range of frequencies, we would hear a whole new world of plants -- one where they are complaining about being thirsty! Find out about the screaming clicks of dying plants, this week on Petri Dish!

References:

• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00890-9
• 3.pdf">https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(23)00262-3.pdf
• https://agrivita.ub.ac.id/index.php/agrivita/article/view/2613
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.13331
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6899487/

Hi everyone! This week's episode is about recent work trying to figure out a way to make a baby mouse that has two genetic dads. We also dive into why mammals don't seem to have virgin births!References:

• https://www.nature.com/articles/cr201115
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17034046/
• https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02402
• https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11435
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00717-7
• https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.abe0237
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3027-9

Today's episode is our second and final episode on Black Holes! We cover some exotic black hole concepts, like whether they are a source of dark energy, what a white hole is, and whether black holes are fuzzy or not!

References:

• https://www.science.org/content/article/dark-energy-supermassive-black-holes-physicists-spar-over-radical-idea
• https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy
• https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acac2e
• https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acb704
• https://physicsworld.com/a/new-theory-links-supermassive-black-holes-and-dark-energy/
• https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/409/3/1022/1097516
• https://esahubble.org/wordbank/quasar/https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/white-holes-exist/
• holes.html">https://www.space.com/white-holes.html
• https://astronomy.com/news/2022/02/fuzzballs-might-be-the-answer-to-a-decades-old-paradox-about-black-holes
• https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/s110

Here in our first episode on our 2-parter on Black Holes, we explain what a black hole is in theory and what it probably actually is in practice. We dive into why it is still hard for us to really know what the true nature of black holes are and we discuss the different kinds of black holes.References:

• https://forums.space.com/threads/how-to-calculate-a-black-hole%E2%80%99s-event-horizon.27467/
• https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/49957/do-schwarzschild-black-holes-exist-in-reality
• https://www.reedbeta.com/blog/emc2-is-only-half-the-story/
• https://medium.com/predict/the-black-hole-made-of-light-5494e972abab
• https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/educators/lifecycles/LC_main3.html
• https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab2646
• https://www.wired.com/story/where-do-supermassive-black-holes-come-from/

In February, a train was partially derailed while carrying a number of chemicals. The subsequent attempt at containment resulted in the release of many thousands of gallons of these chemicals. What were those chemicals? What are the risks involved in their release?

References:

• train-derailment.html">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ohio-train-derailment.html
• https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20230214.aspx
• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0002889718506429
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412007001390
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389421030533
• https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es1013664#https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/3/617
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935105001921
• https://news.wosu.org/2023-03-01/could-dioxins-be-in-the-soil-after-the-east-palestine-train-derailment-experts-weigh-in

On this week's episode, we complete our series on desalination by discussing the near future technologies that are coming to either improve or attempt to supplant the current front runners that we discussed last week. We will also discuss the downsides of desalination and work that is being done to try to minimize or circumvent them!

References:

• https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/five-things-know-about-desalination
• https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/department-energy-invests-5-million-desalination-technology-deliver-freshwater
• https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-water-scarcity-increases-desalination-plants-are-on-the-rise
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04467-3
• https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/23659/chapter/14#66
• https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2022200118
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871271109002049
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032117307086
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-018-0020-z
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135421003523
• https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/523124/
• https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/8/8/901
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444639615000092
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001191642100254X
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-022-00158-1