Why do allergens cause an overreaction of the immune system when other foreign invaders (such as the flu) elicit a more measured response? | AskScience Blog

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Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Why do allergens cause an overreaction of the immune system when other foreign invaders (such as the flu) elicit a more measured response?

Why do allergens cause an overreaction of the immune system when other foreign invaders (such as the flu) elicit a more measured response?


Why do allergens cause an overreaction of the immune system when other foreign invaders (such as the flu) elicit a more measured response?

Posted: 12 May 2021 05:53 AM PDT

Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

Posted: 12 May 2021 07:00 AM PDT

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big or small for AAW. In this thread you can ask any science-related question! Things like: "What would happen if...", "How will the future...", "If all the rules for 'X' were different...", "Why does my...".

Asking Questions:

Please post your question as a top-level response to this, and our team of panellists will be here to answer and discuss your questions. The other topic areas will appear in future Ask Anything Wednesdays, so if you have other questions not covered by this weeks theme please either hold on to it until those topics come around, or go and post over in our sister subreddit /r/AskScienceDiscussion , where every day is Ask Anything Wednesday! Off-theme questions in this post will be removed to try and keep the thread a manageable size for both our readers and panellists.

Answering Questions:

Please only answer a posted question if you are an expert in the field. The full guidelines for posting responses in AskScience can be found here. In short, this is a moderated subreddit, and responses which do not meet our quality guidelines will be removed. Remember, peer reviewed sources are always appreciated, and anecdotes are absolutely not appropriate. In general if your answer begins with 'I think', or 'I've heard', then it's not suitable for /r/AskScience.

If you would like to become a member of the AskScience panel, please refer to the information provided here.

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here. Ask away!

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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Why do Galaxies look like a disk rather than a blurred smudge?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:45 PM PDT

I know that's not the best way to ask that question, but hear me out... I got to thinking about it from this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/na7jur/if_the_andromeda_galaxy_was_bright_enough_to_see/

My question is since andromeda is so wide, 220 million light years according to other posts. why is it not widely askew. Like The leading edge is about 2.5 million light years away which means it reaches our eyes and telescopes first by more than 217 million light years compared to the back edge. Which means that the front position is completely different then what is on the back edge by the time the light gets to us. This would be true to nearly any sipral galaxy dependent on its orientation to us.

Due to the vastly different time scales the light has to travel, how does it look so uniform rather than it being an oblong smudge?

submitted by /u/Diabolo_Advocato
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Why does BCG immunotherapy (using the TB vaccine to fight bladder cancer) work?

Posted: 12 May 2021 08:02 AM PDT

My best understanding (mostly based on this site) is that it simply activates the immune system in the bladder, and the immune system then attacks the cancer cells. But I think I must be missing something, because if that were the case we could target pretty much any form of cancer with any vaccine.

submitted by /u/SkiMonkey98
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Is the base of the Cambrian flat?

Posted: 12 May 2021 07:24 AM PDT

Is the bottom surface of the Cambrian geological layer flat?

Wikipedia seems to say the base is somewhat in flux but I don't know what that means.

submitted by /u/7truths
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Is there any reason to expect mRNA-based influenza vaccines?

Posted: 11 May 2021 03:02 PM PDT

What exactly is flight turbulence and how and why does it happen?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:48 PM PDT

Why does ocean-life have issues with microplastic particles, but not sand particles?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:56 AM PDT

If microplastic and sand particles are roughly the same size, why isn't there more issues with sand in sea creatures as there is with microplastic?

submitted by /u/xnarphigle
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Is there any trials being done for infants for the COVID-19 Vaccine? How do vaccine trials work for infants usually?

Posted: 11 May 2021 02:31 PM PDT

Moderna recommends a second dose at between 28-42 days after the first one. In many jurisdictions this appears to be impractical. What, if any, kinds of effects/drawbacks are there to a dose delayed to 8, 12, or even 16 weeks?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:48 PM PDT

Is there a Tuberculosis Pandemic?

Posted: 11 May 2021 09:03 AM PDT

Hey everyone! I came across some disturbing figures. In 2019, an estimated 1.42 million people died of TB (TBFacts. Org). And now, approximately 1.8 billion people have TB (most are latent). Would TB be considered a pandemic?

submitted by /u/garachuuu
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Are there viruses that can infect both humans and bacteria?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:41 AM PDT

Is there any actual evidence that face gaiters are less effective than standard masks?

Posted: 11 May 2021 09:04 AM PDT

I've been taking the virus pretty seriously, or so I thought. I'm fully vaccinated at this point, but I still always wear the face gaiter when out in public. I have a misshaped nose and glasses and the face gaiter is more comfortable and does a better job at keeping my breath from fogging my glasses, so I prefer that over standard masks and have been using one since December.

Last week I traveled to Florida(for the first time since the pandemic), I wore the gaiter on the way there, but on the way back I was stopped by a flight attendant and asked to switch to another mask. I didn't have another one so they gave me one and I wore it without any questions or argument.

This made me think I was being irresponsible, so I did a search on google to see if gaitors were less effective. The only study I found that says they are less effective doesn't have a lot of support. Contrary the CDC says gaitors are just as effective as masks. The information I am finding is conflicting..

submitted by /u/TheRyeWall
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When you perceive different scents at once does it create a new stimulus (a new odor) or do you just smell a mixture and you are able to distingiush every single scent in said mixture?

Posted: 11 May 2021 01:17 AM PDT

I'm just thinking about how it works with perceiving colors. When the human eye receives for instance two different wavelengths. One in the blue and one in the yellow spectral range then the human brain "sees" a white color when the ratio of both wavelengths is perfect. This was used in old cold white LEDs. There was a blue emitting semiconductor chip placed under a yellow emitting phosphor. The phosphor then absorbs some of the blue light and the energy was converted into yellow light. The combination of blue and yellow thus generated white light and you are not able to tell if the white light was made out of blue and yellow or red and turquoise. For more information please check CIE 1931 color space - Wikipedia. Is this similar to smelling? When the olfactory nerves receive different scents at ones does the brain create a new stimulus?

submitted by /u/Hedgehogde
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If I use different amounts of water to boil in a kettle, should the power and efficiency of the kettle stay the same?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:41 AM PDT

Are there studies on using VR to prevent seasickness?

Posted: 11 May 2021 12:28 AM PDT

Does taking an immunosuppressant after you have been vaccinated for COVID-19 prevent the vaccine from working if you get infected?

Posted: 11 May 2021 08:16 AM PDT

I'm not sure what else to add to clarify further, so I hope this makes sense!

submitted by /u/polymyr
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Novel influenza in 1918?

Posted: 11 May 2021 05:09 AM PDT

Was the Influenza outbreak in 1918 a "novel" outbreak like COVID-19?

submitted by /u/tynibrian
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Are spike-protein vaccines more easily escaped than inactivated-virus vaccines?

Posted: 11 May 2021 11:47 AM PDT

From my layman's perspective, if we only vaccinate with the spike protein, all the virus has to do is mutate its spike epitopes. I imagine it would have to change a lot more to be widely escaped if we had antibodies for epitopes across the entire virus, or at least we wouldn't all be making the same antibodies such that the same mutation would escape everyone's immunity.

I ask because it seems that we're seeing antigenic drift in the spike protein in India. I wonder if we expect inactivated virus vaccines will develop more robust immunity against antigenic drift? Not sure if it's the same with antigenic shift, but would love to hear more!

submitted by /u/Iagospeare
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If, during the flu season (or fall/winter, in terms of the cold virus), we are warned to not spend too much time close to other people in enclosed spaces and told this is how you catch the viruses, then my question is how does that "first person" catch a virus in winter or during the flu season?

Posted: 11 May 2021 03:15 PM PDT

How do Blue Whales actually mate?

Posted: 10 May 2021 09:25 PM PDT

Cant find any real info on Google. Im just curious because they are so large and under water it must be an interesting process.

submitted by /u/AYO416
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