AskScience AMA Series: COVID Variants and Vaccines - We are a physician scientist and emergency physician, ask us anything!

AskScience AMA Series: COVID Variants and Vaccines - We are a physician scientist and emergency physician, ask us anything!
Could a geo-stationary satellite hypothetically have a rope hanging down from it all the way to about a couple feet from the ground and appear to suspend in mid-air?
Modified vs Messenger RNA?
Does the asthenosphere actually exist?
Does Ultrasound actually kills Covid-19?
Does Remdesivir cause bone marrow suppression?
Does frequency of ejaculation affect sperm production in humans?
How old does something have to be to fossilize?
How does the queen bee become the queen?
Isopods (Crustaceans) and pill millipides (Miriapoda) look almost exactly the same, yet one is considered a crustacean by the taxonomists and the other a miriapod. How can taxonomists classify species like this that look exaclty the same in completely different categories?

Posted: 13 May 2021 04:00 AM PDT

We will be answering your questions related to the latest information about COVID variants and vaccines starting 11a ET (15 UT). We want to bring clarity to the available science and data based on what is currently known.

Gregory A. Poland, M.D., FIDSA, MACP, FRCP (London) is a physician-scientist and the founding and current director of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group - a state-of-the-art research group and laboratory that seeks to understand genetic drivers of viral vaccine response and application of systems biology approaches to the generation of immunity, as well as the development of novel vaccines against emerging pathogens important to public health. The Poland lab developed the field of viral vaccine immunogenetics, the immune response network theory, and the field of vaccinomics and adversomics. Dr. Poland holds the academic rank of professor of medicine and infectious diseases and molecular pharmacology and experimental therapeutics. He is the Distinguished Investigator of the Mayo Clinic, and is the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Vaccine.
Elizabeth P. Clayborne, MD, MA Bioethics is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine with an academic focus on ethics, health policy, end of life care, health disparities, and innovation/entrepreneurship. She developed a novel epistaxis device, bleedfreeze.com, as a resident and in 2015 was awarded the NSF I-Corps grant which helped to launch her company Emergency Medical Innovation, LLC. She is the former Chair of the MedChi Committee on Ethics and Judicial Affairs, serves on the Ethics Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians and is an active member of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association. Please follow her on Twitter and Instagram @DrElizPC
Medscape is the leading online global destination for physicians and healthcare professionals worldwide, offering the latest medical news, expert perspectives, and relevant professional education and CME. Twitter @Medscape @MedscapeCME

Poland and Clayborne sit on the steering committee for Medscape Education's Neutralizing the Pandemic Clinical Advances center, a clinician resource offering expert commentaries, CME opportunities, and new insights that aim to improve health outcomes for all patients. https://www.medscape.org/sites/advances/neutralizing-antibodies

Username: /u/Medscape

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Could a geo-stationary satellite hypothetically have a rope hanging down from it all the way to about a couple feet from the ground and appear to suspend in mid-air?

Posted: 12 May 2021 10:13 AM PDT

Wind aside, and assuming the satellite's altitude adjusts to counteract the weight of the extremely long rope to maintain geo-stationary orbit, could this actually happen?

submitted by /u/Marzoval
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Modified vs Messenger RNA?

Posted: 12 May 2021 10:09 PM PDT

Not sure if linking an article is allowed or if this is the right subreddit for this but this is the article in question- https://phys.org/news/2020-01-rna-effect-dna.html?_escaped_fragment_=&deviceType=desktop#:~:text=If%20genes%20that%20are%20important,in%20both%20mice%20and%20humans.

I'm just really confused by this article. It makes almost no sense to me and I thought I understood the science of protein creation relatively okay. If RNA is modified then it wouldn't enter the nucleus right? I thought RNA was a one-direction thing, once it's made it leaves the nucleus never to return.

submitted by /u/throwawaybye2020
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Does the asthenosphere actually exist?

Posted: 12 May 2021 11:31 AM PDT

I have been recently told (by high-school teachers, for what it's worth) that apparently geologists don't think the asthenosphere is a thing anymore. Having been through uni over 10 years ago, I could very well be out of date, but honestly, it came as a shock to me.

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Does Ultrasound actually kills Covid-19?

Posted: 12 May 2021 01:30 PM PDT

https://news.mit.edu/2021/ultrasound-coronaviruses-damage-0316

Almost two months ago there was a research that says that ultrasound waves could actually damages Covid-19, but OC this was a computed simulation, Is there any further research? Does anyone know if this treatment has been aplied on any Covid-19 patient?

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Does Remdesivir cause bone marrow suppression?

Posted: 12 May 2021 11:21 AM PDT

According to Wikipedia, Remdesivir is a prodrug of GS-441524 which is a nucleoside analog.

I know that nucleotides are the building blocks of both DNA and RNA, meaning nucleotide analogues that prevent the creating of viral RNA can also prevent the creation of normal cell DNA, meaning they can cause problems in dividing cells. This is also reflected in the nucleotide analogue article of Wikipedia:

They are not specific to viral DNA and also affect mitochondrial DNA. Because of this, they have side effects such as bone marrow suppression.

So does Remdesivir cause bone marrow suppression?

If not please explain why.

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Does frequency of ejaculation affect sperm production in humans?

Posted: 11 May 2021 02:21 PM PDT

For example, if someone ejaculates very rarely, will their body ramp down sperm production? Or conversely, if they ejaculate very frequently, will it increase?

I'm interested specifically in the rate of production, not the sperm count in the ejaculate.

Sorry this is probably an odd question.

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How old does something have to be to fossilize?

Posted: 11 May 2021 01:30 PM PDT

Are the fossilized cow or horse bones being found in America yet? Are there half-fossilized bones that are found?

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How does the queen bee become the queen?

Posted: 11 May 2021 01:21 PM PDT

Is it some kind of birthright? Genetic? Do they just choose the biggest bee? Is there a raffle?

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Isopods (Crustaceans) and pill millipides (Miriapoda) look almost exactly the same, yet one is considered a crustacean by the taxonomists and the other a miriapod. How can taxonomists classify species like this that look exaclty the same in completely different categories?