What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?

Neandertal Gene, Perky Ears, Coconut Killer, Carbon Source, Dog Years, Date Whoever, Mitochondrial Editing, Interview re: CRISPR + COVID w/ Dr. Enrique Lin Shiao, COVID Update, Missing Monster, Hummingbird Counters?, Caecilian Fangs, ALAN!, And Much More…

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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!

Don’t gather round people, wherever you roam

And admit that the virus around you has grown

Accept that for now you’ll be celebrating alone

If your time is worth saving

Then you better start masking or just chill out at home

For the cases they are a spreadin’…

Prophetic lyrics from Bob Dylan,

a man so far ahead of his time

that even he may not have understood all the words to his songs…

And while misquotes from folk singers

Can be just as reliable a source of information on the epidemic

as the white house coronavirus task force

There is real information being looked at by scientists

Scientists attempting to save the world from a fate worse than death…

What’s a fate worse than death you ask?

Being too sick to tune into another episode of

This Week in Science,

Coming Up Next…

Let’s start with some quick science news stories…

Neandertal Gene

Do Neandertal genes predict COVID-19 disease severity? No, but a recent pre-print in the BioArchiv describes a genome association study finding that a stretch of DNA in people who tend to have more severe outcomes probably came from Neandertals. What does the gene do? How is it involved in the viral process? No one knows yet. But, hey! If you want to limit the spread of the disease, social distance, wash your hands, and wear a mask!