06 May, 2020 – Episode 772 – Celebrate the Science Teachers

What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?

COVID19 Update, SMART Research, Dolphin Voices, Salmon Magnets, Neighborhood Black Hole, Hydrogen Worlds, Wireless Power, Mushrooms For Jet-Lag, Murder Hornet Mayhem, Sleeping Memory, Koala Licks, And Much More…

Support us on Patreon!

Want to watch this on YouTube? You can do that here.

Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!

Science

It’s the one thing upon which the world is now relying to make civilization possible again.

While there have been significant advances in all areas of science over the past several decades….

While technology can cross continents and oceans to keep loved ones in contact

While new medicines can slow, prevent and even cure illnesses that once were swift and deadly

While we have discovered new planets, unraveled mysteries of human origin and learned so much about how our natural world functions…

While the fundamental way in which the physics of the universe is constructed continues to tell us stories through supercolliders, super novas and super cool space probes…

The one thing we could not do is remain vigilant to a threat that, while novel, is anything but new.

Our current predicament was not unimaginable, it was imagined, warned about, and not for nothing, because this has happened before.

We humans rely so much on science that we have gotten to a point where we simply take it for granted…

As if discovery were just a natural progression of time, bound to happen if we simply wait long enough.

As if there is a separate world where scientists are adulting full time, running worst case scenarios and attempting to anticipate threats to humanity with all the resources they need to complete the research required to avert tragedy.

And in a way, that’s true, except for the funded research…

If we take any lesson from this threat,