COVID SILVER LINING - Will the recent success of Covid mRNA vaccines translate to success for other viruses/diseases?!? e.g. HIV, HSV, Malaria, etc.

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• COVID SILVER LINING - Will the recent success of Covid mRNA vaccines translate to success for other viruses/diseases?!? e.g. HIV, HSV, Malaria, etc.
• Why does Covid-19 affect your taste and smell?
• Antibodies are very specific, but how do T cells 'know' if an antigen has been encountered before?
• Can smells be broken up into "primary scents"?
• Why are Covid prevention methods apparently very effective against Flu, but Coronavirus cases continue to climb so rapidly?
• Why is cocaine, which stresses the cardiovascular system 'bad', while exercise, which also stresses the cardiovascular system, 'good'?
• Why do spaceships get cold in space? What absorbs the heat energy?
• Why does the modern English language curiously lack diacritics compared to other languages that use the Latin alphabet?
• In movies with amputations where the person is awake, shouldn't the severed limb be twitching, like happens with severed animal bits? Do amputations under anesthesia stop that, or does the limb still twitch and nobody wants to talk about that?
• We have made paint that absorbs over 99% of the light spectrum. Do we have paint that reflects over 99% of the light spectrum? It is that just common white paint?
• At what point does a mutation in a virus or bacteria make it a new strain or virus rather than mutations of the same virus?
• How does stimulated Raman scattering work?
• Why is it perfectly normal to have bacteria growing in the gut, but really bad to have bacteria growing in the bladder?
• How can a a system have a wavefunction?
• Why do dialects in American English that drop R's from the end of words sound less educated?
• Do blind people dream in visual images?
• Is there a top speed that the human eye can perceive?

COVID SILVER LINING - Will the recent success of Covid mRNA vaccines translate to success for other viruses/diseases?!? e.g. HIV, HSV, Malaria, etc. Posted: 25 Nov 2020 05:59 PM PST I know all of the attention is on COVID right now (deservedly so), but can we expect success with similar mRNA vaccine technology for other viruses/diseases? e.g. HIV, HSV, Malaria, Etc Could be a major breakthrough for humanity and treating viral diseases. submitted by /u/senseiGURU [link] [comments]

Why does Covid-19 affect your taste and smell? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 02:53 PM PST submitted by /u/HotDogManRidesAgain [link] [comments]

Antibodies are very specific, but how do T cells 'know' if an antigen has been encountered before? Posted: 26 Nov 2020 05:09 AM PST Ive read that antibodies can also act as receptors for B-cells. But I imagine that they differ from the T cell receptors, because T cells dont undergo the remarkable recombination process that their cousins do. So, I imagine T cells just specific enough to recognize that something is foreign, and then pass on the task of specificity to B cells. But if T cells are not that specific, why do they not get overwhelmed by the same antigens over and over? submitted by /u/nickoskal024 [link] [comments]

Can smells be broken up into "primary scents"? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 04:37 PM PST I know this question is a little strange but here is what I mean. Could a concept like primary colors exist in regards to smell in such a way that combining a finite number of "primary scents" could produce every possible scent a human could perceive? I only thought of this recently when I saw a video of a product that lets you smell certain scents depending on what area you are in a video game. So my thought was if these "primary scents" exist then they would come in handy to create a system that could produce any given real-world scent by combining said scents. Apologies if this is not a good enough question for this sub or if it makes no sense at all but I've been curious if such a concept exists. submitted by /u/SilentMrDave [link] [comments]

Why are Covid prevention methods apparently very effective against Flu, but Coronavirus cases continue to climb so rapidly? Posted: 26 Nov 2020 12:24 AM PST Flu numbers are way down this year, and the CDC says its probably due to Covid safety measures. But why is it so effective against Flu, but not Covid? I've seen people online claim the numbers are being lumped together to artificially raise Covid numbers. What is another (less conspiratorial) explanation? submitted by /u/Samu31 [link] [comments]

Why is cocaine, which stresses the cardiovascular system 'bad', while exercise, which also stresses the cardiovascular system, 'good'? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 09:45 AM PST I just read that Diego Maradona died at age 60 from a heart attack. I also read that he struggled with cocaine addiction for decades, and that this may have contributed to his early demise. Scientifically, why is stressing your cardiovascular system with exercise considered healthy, but stressing your system with cocaine bad? submitted by /u/thermal7 [link] [comments]

Why do spaceships get cold in space? What absorbs the heat energy? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 03:48 PM PST I have a very limited understanding of the law of conservation of energy from my intro to physics class in a social science degree. My understanding is that for one thing to get cold, heat energy from that thing has to transfer to other matter. Or something like that. So in space, where there is no matter, where does the heat go from the space ship causing it to get cold? submitted by /u/Illustrious_Anxiety9 [link] [comments]

Why does the modern English language curiously lack diacritics compared to other languages that use the Latin alphabet? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 02:42 PM PST Why does it lack accent marks, umlauts, breves, etc. Or, are there other, lesser known languages with this alphabet that don't use diacritics? submitted by /u/ccricers [link] [comments]

In movies with amputations where the person is awake, shouldn't the severed limb be twitching, like happens with severed animal bits? Do amputations under anesthesia stop that, or does the limb still twitch and nobody wants to talk about that? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 03:55 PM PST We all know about chicken bodies running around after their heads get cut off and bitten limbs flailing after animal battles in the wild, but I've never heard of or seen human bits depicted doing that. I haven't heard of surgical amputations having that happen either, not even in those war movies set back before anesthesia. In movies they just have one chop and done, like it's a piece of clay. Surely human bits would twitch just as much as animal bits do? submitted by /u/autoantinatalist [link] [comments]

We have made paint that absorbs over 99% of the light spectrum. Do we have paint that reflects over 99% of the light spectrum? It is that just common white paint? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 04:17 PM PST submitted by /u/fretman124 [link] [comments]

At what point does a mutation in a virus or bacteria make it a new strain or virus rather than mutations of the same virus? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 05:32 PM PST At what point does a mutation in a virus or bacteria make it a new strain or virus rather than mutations of the same virus? I saw an article talking about how the mutations to Sars Covid 19 haven't made it more transmittable. What level of mutations would be needed for it become let's say Covid 20 or something else entirely? submitted by /u/rosstheboss47 [link] [comments]

How does stimulated Raman scattering work? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 03:36 PM PST Hi! I'm a neuroscientist, looking to image/analyze brain lipids using a collaborator's CARS set-up. Been reading about the method, but my biologist mind has issues understanding a couple of concepts: ​ While I roughly understand the concepts of differential frequency scatter as a function of partial excitation of an electron (and with it, I assume, the entire molecule?) to a virtual energy state, I don't understand how stimulated Raman scattering works? I understand that there is a cooperative effect from the pump laser bringing the molecule to its virtual state, but how does shining a Stokes frequency laser on the molecule bring it back down to its virtual state? Wouldn't it gain even more energy from the 2nd laser? Is the pump/excitation light always of a constant frequency? Or is it gradually adjusted in order to interact with more bonds in the sample? What is the importance of resonance in this? Why does the pump/stokes laser need to correspond to the existing frequency of the bond vibration in order to work? ​ Thanks friends! The inability to understand is driving me quite nuts. submitted by /u/doderlein [link] [comments]

Why is it perfectly normal to have bacteria growing in the gut, but really bad to have bacteria growing in the bladder? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 06:10 PM PST Why doesn't the human body like bacterial UTIs? Or stated another way, why don't we have commensal or symbiotic bacteria in our bladders? Is there something about the urinary system that needs to be sterile? submitted by /u/sgt_zarathustra [link] [comments]

How can a a system have a wavefunction? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 09:37 AM PST I had taken a low level quantum mechanics course and I understand such things as the wavefunction of an electron around a proton, particle in a potential well, etc. But all I have ever seen were wavefunctions describing a single particle. How could it be that a wavefunction describes many particles at the same time? There are these cosmologists who talk about the wavefunction (a single wavefunction) of the universe etc. How could it be that a function describes the behavior of many many particles? I can conceptualize a set of coupled wavefunctions for each particle, but just one function to rule them all? I don't understand it. For example the wave function of a argon atom. It must somehow include the motion of all the electrons (even if a solution in terms of simple functions does not exist, lets assume we have special functions that neatly solves any equation) and everything that goes on in the nucleus (I dont know how static the nucleus is). What would it be like to combine all the behaviors of everything in this atom in one wavefunction. submitted by /u/nhremna [link] [comments]

Why do dialects in American English that drop R's from the end of words sound less educated? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 10:10 AM PST Why are American dialects that drop the R considered to sound less educated? Boston Southie, coastal Maine,etc? submitted by /u/kuuzo [link] [comments]

Do blind people dream in visual images? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 05:15 AM PST submitted by /u/Pale-Guava1287 [link] [comments]

Is there a top speed that the human eye can perceive? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 04:50 PM PST I'm talking speed on a huge scale. Say a star or a planet blew up and the shrapnel from that was heading toward Earth at a high pace... would we be able to see our destruction coming? I ask because I remember learning in school that if the sun burnt out it would take "7minutes" to notice, as the last light particle would take that long to travel across space. submitted by /u/40till5 [link] [comments]

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AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Kimberley Miner, here on how deep-frozen arctic microbes are waking up. Ask me anything!

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• AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Kimberley Miner, here on how deep-frozen arctic microbes are waking up. Ask me anything!
• According to studies alcohol shrinks the brain but alcohol does not in fact kill brain cells. So how does the brain shrink from alcohol?
• Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology
• Is the current spike in Covid-19 infections globally increasing the likelihood of mutation and vaccine being rendered less effective?
• Who discovered the isotope hydrogen-4?
• If you were able to get a vile of AZD1222 would you be able to make your own at home?
• What would happen to an mRNA vaccine stored too hot?
• Why do antibodies of some viruses (eg, retroviruses) fail to produce sterilizing immunity?
• How does the anesthesiologist know how much medicine is needed?
• Do vaccine responses tell us anything about immune system health?
• When you rub something onto your skin and it disappears, what exactly happened? are we watching our skin cells absorb it "no questions asked" right before our eyes? [[Biology]]
• When a brain tumor is removed, do the surgeons put something in its place to fill the empty space? Or does it just leave a hollow spot in your skull? Does your brain fill the space in over time? Do you have to be worried about your brain sloshing around more?
• Why is it so rare to find a complete dinosaur skeleton? How would the bones move to a different location so the skeleton is not complete?
• How many black people have been in the Covid vaccine trials?
• Physiologically, how does alcohol overconsumption kill a person?
• Is it possible for a tectonic plate to crack into two?
• Before antibiotics were discovered how did the mainstream medical community deal with and treat infections and etc.?

AskScience AMA Series: I am Dr. Kimberley Miner, here on how deep-frozen arctic microbes are waking up. Ask me anything! Posted: 25 Nov 2020 04:00 AM PST In the last 10 years, the poles have been warming four times faster than the rest of the globe. This has led to permafrost thawing, which has big implications since permafrost currently covers 24% of the earth's landmass. Many of these permafrost layers contain ancient microbes that haven't seen warm air in hundreds or even thousands of years. This leads scientists to wonder what microbes will "wake up"? And what will happen when they do? I'm Dr. Kimberley Miner and I study how the changing climate impacts the most extreme environments in the world. My research explores the risks of climate change from more fires to hurricanes to flooding. But I also research microbes, which is an important area of climate change risk we rarely discuss. I co-authored this recent piece in Scientific American called, "Deep Frozen Microbes are Waking Up." Ask me anything about deep-frozen microbes that are thawing, other climate risks, or about what it's like to travel to the most extreme parts of the earth for science! I'll be here to answer questions starting at 12 noon ET. Username: u/Playful-Raccoon1285 submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

According to studies alcohol shrinks the brain but alcohol does not in fact kill brain cells. So how does the brain shrink from alcohol? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 03:28 AM PST submitted by /u/Larysander [link] [comments]

Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology Posted: 25 Nov 2020 07:00 AM PST 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 [link] [comments]

Is the current spike in Covid-19 infections globally increasing the likelihood of mutation and vaccine being rendered less effective? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 01:53 AM PST It would seem, with the amount of cases, the proliferation of mutations of the virus would be very large. If that is the case, what are the odds that those mutations would change the virus enough to lower the efficacy of the proposed vaccinations? submitted by /u/Dczerpak1 [link] [comments]

Who discovered the isotope hydrogen-4? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 09:48 PM PST I just want to know who discovered it. submitted by /u/My_cat_is_epic [link] [comments]

If you were able to get a vile of AZD1222 would you be able to make your own at home? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 03:36 AM PST submitted by /u/Oztravels [link] [comments]

What would happen to an mRNA vaccine stored too hot? Posted: 25 Nov 2020 02:37 AM PST As I understand it, all mRNA vaccine (including candidates against covid-19) need to be stored at low temperatures, due to the innate instability of mRNA molecules. What would happen if someone were injected with an mRNA vaccine that has been stored at an incorrect or too high temperature? Would it simply not work, or could there be adverse effects? Would the mRNA sequence break and be useless, or could mutations occur, and cause the ribosomes to create unpredictable proteins? submitted by /u/kermight [link] [comments]

Why do antibodies of some viruses (eg, retroviruses) fail to produce sterilizing immunity? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 03:44 PM PST I was reading this paper about immune responses to SARS-CoV-2: https://www.jimmunol.org/content/jimmunol/early/2020/09/03/jimmunol.2000839.full.pdf ...when it occurred to me: why do humans continue to shed some viruses (eg, HIV) years after an immune response is detectable? What are the specific mechanisms which account for this difference? submitted by /u/jMyles [link] [comments]

How does the anesthesiologist know how much medicine is needed? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 02:00 PM PST I always wondered how the doctors know how much anesthesia is enough for the time span of a surgery. Do they calculate it or do they just give some and have a medicine to wake up the patient? submitted by /u/thatnonbinarygoblin [link] [comments]

Do vaccine responses tell us anything about immune system health? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 11:58 AM PST I was looking for literature but couldn't find anything readily available. Are side effects for something like a flu vaccine more frequent in people that are immunocompromised or say, the elderly population? Alternatively, if a person received a flu vaccine and didn't experience an increase in RHR, BBT, respiratory rate or otherwise, can it be an indicator of the vaccine efficacy or immune health? submitted by /u/almosttan [link] [comments]

When you rub something onto your skin and it disappears, what exactly happened? are we watching our skin cells absorb it "no questions asked" right before our eyes? [[Biology]] Posted: 23 Nov 2020 10:18 PM PST Not sure to flag physics as well? Maybe medical? A more fulfilling answer would probably be more interdisciplinary submitted by /u/Nosebono [link] [comments]

When a brain tumor is removed, do the surgeons put something in its place to fill the empty space? Or does it just leave a hollow spot in your skull? Does your brain fill the space in over time? Do you have to be worried about your brain sloshing around more? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 04:59 PM PST submitted by /u/teqqqie [link] [comments]

Why is it so rare to find a complete dinosaur skeleton? How would the bones move to a different location so the skeleton is not complete? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 09:48 PM PST submitted by /u/alwaysmyfault [link] [comments]

How many black people have been in the Covid vaccine trials? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 05:56 PM PST Is there a way to know this? Considering how often black people are ignored or dismissed when it comes to healthcare, and with black people also likely to be put first in line to accept the vaccine due to overindexing as essential workers, I think this is an important distinction to understand. submitted by /u/theschneckenbeckons [link] [comments]

Physiologically, how does alcohol overconsumption kill a person? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 09:50 PM PST What is it about alcohol that is actually lethal, and how does it kill you? Most search results describe things like vomiting, but that seems to be a symptom and not what is killing you. submitted by /u/ETurns [link] [comments]

Is it possible for a tectonic plate to crack into two? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 04:26 PM PST I got bored and was looking at plate tectonic map on Google. I noticed the tip of africa was sandwiched between plates. I wondered if a situation was to occured that caused that piece to snap off submitted by /u/Kosherlove [link] [comments]

Before antibiotics were discovered how did the mainstream medical community deal with and treat infections and etc.? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 09:27 PM PST submitted by /u/Ame_414 [link] [comments]

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Why does a vaccine have to be injected through a needle?

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• Why does a vaccine have to be injected through a needle?
• Which cells do the protein synthesis from the mRNA of vaccines?
• What doesn't light pass through opaque medium but from Transparent medium? What makes Opaque material "Opaque"?
• What does "catching a cold" mean biologically?
• What is the math behind the numbers of cases needed to declare efficacy of the recent vaccines?
• Question about mRNA vaccines: what stops production of the new proteins?
• Do we know how much energy exists as fossil fuels on Earth?
• Are the Himalayas getting higher or shorter?
• Do waves of virus infections depend on their contagious strains or are they influenced by human behaviour?
• Is COVID-19 contagious for less than 10 days but the CDC is telling us 10 days just to be safe?
• How are CPU clock speeds determined?
• Does anyone know if there is a correlation between alcohol consumption and Covid-19 cases?

Why does a vaccine have to be injected through a needle? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 05:16 AM PST If a virus, like Sars-Cov-2 can enter the body through orifices, why can't preventive medicine like vaccine? Wouldn't it be a whole lot nicer and easier to orchestrate if everyone could just get a nose spray "vaccine"? I'm sure if it were possible the brilliant minds of several scientists would've thought of it, so I know I'm not proposing something groundbreaking here, but I'm wondering why it is not possible. submitted by /u/DePedro49 [link] [comments]

Which cells do the protein synthesis from the mRNA of vaccines? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 06:16 PM PST One thing that I'm a bit fuzzy on are the specifics of mRNA vaccine protein synthesis because all explanations I've read of the process simply refer to a really generic ambiguous "host cell" that does the protein synthesis after it absorbes the mRNA from the vaccine. mRNA (packaged in things like liposomes) is injected into the host. These liposomes bind with host cells, the mRNA enters, and the host cell ribosomes synthesize proteins based off of the vaccine mRNA and presents these proteins on the outside of their walls. Do all kinds of cells uptake the vaccine mRNA and synthesize this protein? ie. the vaccine mRNA will be taken up by an assortment of epithelial cells, lymphocytes, myocytes, etc. and each of these will synthesize proteins based on the mRNA. The body's immune system then identifies these surface proteins as foreign and proceeds to build up a memory of the antigen but also kills the otherwise various healthy (but antigen-presenting) cells in the process? submitted by /u/rabidsoggymoose [link] [comments]

What doesn't light pass through opaque medium but from Transparent medium? What makes Opaque material "Opaque"? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 07:11 PM PST submitted by /u/Harshgamer3113 [link] [comments]

What does "catching a cold" mean biologically? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 02:49 AM PST Is it only due to temperature difference? What are the physiological reactions taking place? Is it due to an infection? If yes, which organisms and what the temperature has to do with it? submitted by /u/Gabiboulga [link] [comments]

What is the math behind the numbers of cases needed to declare efficacy of the recent vaccines? Posted: 24 Nov 2020 08:13 AM PST Pfizer and BioNTech had 43,500 people in their test. They were able to release preliminary results once 94 of them had contracted COVID-19. They reached their final approval stage once 164 people had contracted the disease. Similarly, Moderna had 30,000+ people, and released a preliminary report once 95 of them had contracted the disease. I haven't been able to confirm the number of cases needed before final approval, but I assume it is about 180. (EDIT: it's 151.) Using the Pfizer-BioNTech example: why were 94 cases the minimum number needed before any conclusions could be made about efficacy? if 94 were enough for preliminary conclusions, what extra confidence does 164 cases give us, and why? qualitatively, how is such a small number of cases (only 164) enough to make larger conclusions? submitted by /u/REEEESES2 [link] [comments]

Question about mRNA vaccines: what stops production of the new proteins? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 11:59 PM PST So I get that the mRNA bonds with host cells, the host cells then begin producing the protein encoded by the mRNA, and the immune system learns to fight that protein. What stops the process? Will the host cells make the new protein forever? Can the mRNA replicate inside a host cell? submitted by /u/djc1000 [link] [comments]

Do we know how much energy exists as fossil fuels on Earth? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 07:10 PM PST I realize that knowing where the energy exists is a problem, but do we know how much is actually left irrespective of location? Do we have a floor or a ceiling for the amount that could be left? Or is this an unanswerable question? submitted by /u/_meshy [link] [comments]

Are the Himalayas getting higher or shorter? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 12:49 PM PST Which one is dominant - the erosion or elevation due to plate convergence? What about other mountain ranges? If any have a stronger effect, how long does it take for the need to overwrite the current records to arise? submitted by /u/El_Basho [link] [comments]

Do waves of virus infections depend on their contagious strains or are they influenced by human behaviour? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 05:26 PM PST Cases rise, people become afraid, maintain precautions thereby cases drop. Cases reduce, people become careless and drop precautions thereby leading to a spike. submitted by /u/abhictc [link] [comments]

Is COVID-19 contagious for less than 10 days but the CDC is telling us 10 days just to be safe? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 04:30 PM PST There's no way it's just instantly not contagious after the 10 day period. I've been thinking about it for the past few days. submitted by /u/Alex_Yogi [link] [comments]

How are CPU clock speeds determined? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 07:50 AM PST Of the hundreds of instructions a CPU can perform, I assume they all don't take exactly the same amount of time to execute. Is the CPU clock calibrated to some "slowest" instruction? submitted by /u/arizona_greentea [link] [comments]

Does anyone know if there is a correlation between alcohol consumption and Covid-19 cases? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 08:49 AM PST I've seen a blog stating 93% of all cases are non-drinkers. I don't believe it is true but couldn't find a reliable source too. submitted by /u/bhanimeli [link] [comments]

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AskScience AMA Series: AskScience AMA Series: We are users and friends of the Arecibo Observatory, ask us anything!

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• AskScience AMA Series: AskScience AMA Series: We are users and friends of the Arecibo Observatory, ask us anything!
• Why does the immune system not kill the cells that are producing COVID spike proteins in an mRNA vaccine?
• are there any mushrooms/fungi that live underwater?
• Why is there a snow above Mt. Everest if it's already above clouds itself?
• How similar are vaccines for the same disease that are created and developed in isolation by multiple companies?
• Why do some viruses cause blisters?
• How is mRNA mass-produced?
• Why would a half dose followed by a full dose of a vaccine be more effective than 2 full doses of the vaccine?
• We now have potentially 4 COVID-19 vaccines with 90% effectiveness. Does that mean rollout can be 4x faster?
• How large is the organization needed to distribute billions of doses of vaccine in short term?
• If countries are able to store vaccines at very low temperature then could we produce far more vaccines?
• How are we able to locate and measure planets hundreds of light years away yet unable to see the hypothesized planet beyond Pluto?
• Why is the incubation period of a virus so limited?
• Why don’t vaccines carry over genetically?
• Are the viruses that cause small pox and chicken pox similar enough that the vaccine that works for small pox would also work for chicken pox?
• Is an mRNA vaccine for HIV more likely to work than a traditional vaccine?
• What is the difference between successful trials of a vaccine and determining the efficacy of one?
• What does emergency FDA approval mean?
• Does taking vitaminC, to boost your immune system, help in fighting coronavirus?
• Why is it that metals + nonmetals result in transfer of valence electrons (ionic) while nonmetals + nonmetals result in sharing of valence electrons (covalent)?
• Why are asymptomatic people with COVID-19 equally as capable as symptomatic people at transmitting the disease?
• What are those numbers related to amino acids ?

AskScience AMA Series: AskScience AMA Series: We are users and friends of the Arecibo Observatory, ask us anything! Posted: 23 Nov 2020 04:00 AM PST We are all saddened by the unfortunate news that the Arecibo Observatory's 305-m telescope will be decommissioned due to safety concerns following a second support cable failure. The telescope has been part of a world-class research facility in radio astronomy, planetary science, and atmospheric science. Among it's many contributions to science, the telescope was used in the discovery of the first binary pulsar system, ice on Mercury, the first exoplanets, and the first repeating Fast Radio Burst. It has been used to track hundreds of Near-Earth Asteroids with its planetary radar system, surveyed Galactic and extragalactic Hydrogen, discover new pulsars (at different frequencies, too), and open up the low-frequency gravitational wave window to the Universe. A number of users of the telescope who study a wide number of topics decided to come together to answer your questions today about the Observatory and the science it has pioneered, and share our stories of the telescope and Observatory. We encourage other friends of Arecibo to share feel free to share their stories as well. Megan is a pulsar astronomer who works on pulsar searching and timing toward the goal of detecting gravitational waves. Much of her pulsar research has been done using Arecibo thanks to its world-class sensitivity. She was a summer student at Arecibo, and has fond memories of that summer, subsequent visits to the observatory, working with the telescope operators and staff, and teaching others how to use the telescope. Michael J has been working with Arecibo for over 8 years. As part of the ALFALFA team (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (Arecibo L-band Feed Array)) he has worked on performing a census of the hydrogen gas in galaxies, and how the gas content of galaxies varies with their surrounding environment. Cool (100s to 1000s of Kelvin) hydrogen gas spontaneously emits a very faint radio signal with a wavelength of about 21 cm (or equivalently 1420 MHz). Extremely sensitive radio telescopes such as Arecibo are capable of detecting this signal from galaxies up to several hundreds of millions of lightyears away. Michael L is a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and is also a pulsar astronomer working towards the detection of gravitational waves. The observations of those pulsars also allow us to understand the turbulent electrons in the interstellar medium, and the telescope's capabilities have contributed significantly towards those goals. He first visited Arecibo as part of their single-dish summer school in 2009, and has been observing with the telescope himself since 2013. Luke has also been a part of the ALFALFA team, in particular trying to understand "almost dark" galaxies that have lots of hydrogen but almost no stars. He has used Arecibo's sensitivity in addition to the high-resolution imaging of the Very Large Array and Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope to learn more about the strange properties of these galaxies. Sean is a scientist in Arecibo Observatory's solar system radar group. He specializes in using radar data to find the shapes and other physical properties of near-Earth asteroids. Sean has been working with Arecibo radar observations since 2012, and he likes to say that part of his job description is defending the planet. Nick has researched both Galactic and extragalactic atomic hydrogen and molecular gas with radio telescopes around the world, trying to understand the formation of structures in and around galaxies, He was part of the GALFA-HI (Galactic Arecibo L-band Feed Array HI) team, which has mapped neutral hydrogen in and around the Galaxy. Flaviane is a scientist in the planetary radar science group at the Arecibo Observatory working with radar observations of near-Earth objects and asteroid deflection techniques to support planetary defense. Her first contact with Arecibo data was during her PhD back in 2013, using radar shape models to study orbital maneuvers around asteroids. All opinions are our own - we do not speak for the Observatory, the National Science Foundation, NASA, the University of Central Florida, etc. We will be answering questions at various times throughout the day, ask us anything! Username: /u/AreciboFriends submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

Why does the immune system not kill the cells that are producing COVID spike proteins in an mRNA vaccine? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 07:24 AM PST My understanding of mRNA vaccines is basically that there's a piece of mRNA encased in a bit of fat as a delivery mechanism. This mRNA finds its way into human cells. The mRNA is read by the ribosomes, spike proteins are made, some of those spike proteins are sent up to the surface of the producing cells, the immune system reacts to those spike proteins and then is primed to kill anything presenting those proteins in the future. In non-replicating mRNA vaccines, the mRNA eventually degrades and stops being used by cells after a couple of days to make spike proteins. My question is about how the immune system reacts with the cells presenting spike proteins themselves - wouldn't the immune system, once sensitized to the spike protein, then seek to kill the cells being used as spike factories? If that is the case, is that a problem? Would the immune system ever get sensitized to other characteristics of the producing cells and result in possible autoimmune issues? submitted by /u/grumble11 [link] [comments]

are there any mushrooms/fungi that live underwater? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 07:42 AM PST submitted by /u/b1tchcraft [link] [comments]

Why is there a snow above Mt. Everest if it's already above clouds itself? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 03:21 AM PST Inspired by a r/dankmemes post, of all places. submitted by /u/Gareth-chan-daisuki [link] [comments]

How similar are vaccines for the same disease that are created and developed in isolation by multiple companies? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 08:09 AM PST With Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer all moving forward with their COVID vaccines I began to wonder how similar the vaccines are when, presumably, they were developed in isolation by the different companies. Is it like three students working a problem and coming up with the same answer or are there a million ways to skin this cat? submitted by /u/GreyMillz [link] [comments]

Why do some viruses cause blisters? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 06:07 AM PST I recently had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD). And I was wondering why viruses like HFMD and that of Chickenpox cause blisters. What exactly is happening in the body during the viral infection that causes the blisters? submitted by /u/EarlZaps [link] [comments]

How is mRNA mass-produced? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 07:24 AM PST I understand that this used to be a more manual process where nucleotides were spliced together manually, but now they are "printed" by a machine of some type. Maybe more specifically, what are the inputs into this machine, that results in mrna? Like, ink goes into a desktop printer. Metal or plastic into a 3d printer... Additionally, what is the mechanism that insures perfect replication of the sequence? Thank you submitted by /u/AstrosDidNothinWrong [link] [comments]

Why would a half dose followed by a full dose of a vaccine be more effective than 2 full doses of the vaccine? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 05:26 AM PST Reference article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/vaccine-covid-19-astrazeneca-1.5812268 The trial looked at two different dosing regimens. A half dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose at least one month apart was 90 per cent effective. A second regimen using two full doses one month apart was 62 per cent effective. The combined results showed an average efficacy rate of 70 per cent. submitted by /u/soaringostrich [link] [comments]

We now have potentially 4 COVID-19 vaccines with 90% effectiveness. Does that mean rollout can be 4x faster? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 01:17 AM PST Sorry if this is a silly question. In the endless media blitz about vaccine news I've found it difficult to piece out if more vaccine variants affects availability (both near and long-term). submitted by /u/pandanomic [link] [comments]

How large is the organization needed to distribute billions of doses of vaccine in short term? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 06:23 AM PST If we can give one dose of vaccine per second, it will take ~10 years to vaccinate 330 million people (the size of US population). One billion people is 32 years. One vaccine per second, 24/7. I live in the US and do not know how many healthcare workers will be be needed to vaccinate approximately 250 million (no epidemiological need to vaccinate everybody with 90+% of efficacy) if each vaccine takes, my guess, 5 minutes and we can do it only 12 hours per day (8 to 8). How can we gather so many people to provide the vaccine to 200+ million in as few months as we can? Do we have that capability? submitted by /u/lushito_FC [link] [comments]

If countries are able to store vaccines at very low temperature then could we produce far more vaccines? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 04:03 AM PST The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are supposed to be stored at minus 80 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively. This could be a huge logistical issue for the developed world, but it's basically impractical for the developing world. If every country could easily store vaccines at very low temperatures then could we develop a lot more vaccines for many diseases? Do we often develop a lot of vaccines but are then deemed unviable due to temperature storage issue? Thank you submitted by /u/Carbonated-h20 [link] [comments]

How are we able to locate and measure planets hundreds of light years away yet unable to see the hypothesized planet beyond Pluto? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 12:38 PM PST Based on gravitational pull some scientists have proposed a possible 10th planet that lies beyond Pluto which should have a sizable mass. Given this technique has been used successfully in the past to discover Neptune before we had been able to see it, that would suggest it is somewhat plausible there is something additional in our solar system. Given this information, how is that we can detail, measure, and name planets in other solar systems, when we can't even see the end of our own? Any help would be greatly appreciated! submitted by /u/DirtyHandshake [link] [comments]

Why is the incubation period of a virus so limited? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 05:50 AM PST It seems to me that an extended (asymptomatic) incubation period of around 1+ months could help a virus spread through a community very effectively without being detected. Yet, the common cold which is considered one of the most successful viruses, has an incubation period of around one week. If this virus has had millenia to adapt and mutate, why hasn't nature favoured viruses with very long asymptomatic incubation periods? Is it simply that the longer the virus remains in incubation in our body, the more chance there is of our immune system destroying it before it can be spread? submitted by /u/MrHighQ [link] [comments]

Why don’t vaccines carry over genetically? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 05:09 AM PST Just curious with everything going on why vaccines don't essentially pass down to our children genetically if we've been immunised. Is it purely because we didn't genetically start with that or purely down to the synthetic (well atleast not made naturally by the body) nature of the vaccinations? submitted by /u/Mr-Carabao [link] [comments]

Are the viruses that cause small pox and chicken pox similar enough that the vaccine that works for small pox would also work for chicken pox? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 03:50 AM PST Can't find anything about this on the web submitted by /u/JAKEknx [link] [comments]

Is an mRNA vaccine for HIV more likely to work than a traditional vaccine? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 01:42 PM PST I realize that HIV vaccines have been in work for decades now. Pfizer and Moderna appear to have the first viable mRNA vaccines available for any disease with their COVID-19 vaccines. Can this approach work for HIV as well? Why or why not? submitted by /u/drtywater [link] [comments]

What is the difference between successful trials of a vaccine and determining the efficacy of one? Posted: 23 Nov 2020 03:26 AM PST submitted by /u/Slowbhai [link] [comments]

What does emergency FDA approval mean? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 04:46 PM PST How does emergency FDA approval of something like a COVID vaccine differ from the regular approval process? submitted by /u/Type2Pilot [link] [comments]

Does taking vitaminC, to boost your immune system, help in fighting coronavirus? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 06:56 AM PST submitted by /u/karol1605 [link] [comments]

Why is it that metals + nonmetals result in transfer of valence electrons (ionic) while nonmetals + nonmetals result in sharing of valence electrons (covalent)? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 07:31 AM PST submitted by /u/NotVector [link] [comments]

Why are asymptomatic people with COVID-19 equally as capable as symptomatic people at transmitting the disease? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 03:17 PM PST submitted by /u/Prudent-Sea-9133 [link] [comments]

What are those numbers related to amino acids ? Posted: 22 Nov 2020 02:25 PM PST hello guys im trying to learn some stuff about rhinoviruses C, a paper states that the C subgroup has this specificity: "Met67/Ser68 cleavage site at the VP4/VP2 junction", so what are the numbers 67 and 68? thanks submitted by /u/jedai47 [link] [comments]

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