On Episode #10, here are the main topics:

1. The 2020 Nobel prize in Chemistry was awarded for the discovery of a genetic engineering technique. With all its benefits, the technique has some seriously concerned about its ethical implications.

2. Studies suggest that coronavirus could lead to neurological illnesses

3. New research reveals why coronavirus that once lived harmlessly in bats and other wildlife – has become uncontrollable once it jumped the species barrier and entered humans.

References

Doudna, J. A., & Charpentier, E. (2014). The new frontier of genome engineering with CRISPR-Cas9. Science, 346(6213).

Frontera, J. A., Sabadia, S., Lalchan, R., Fang, T., Flusty, B., Millar-Vernetti, P., ... & Morgan, N. (2020). A Prospective Study of Neurologic Disorders in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in New York City. Neurology.

Alejandro Berrio, Valerie Gartner, Gregory A. Wray. Positive selection within the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 and other Coronaviruses independent of impact on protein function. PeerJ, 2020; 8: e10234 

On Episode#9, we discuss:

1. NASA launches a 23m titanium toilet headed to the International Space Station

2. The 2020 Nobel prize for Medicine awarded for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

3. What does the wastewater in Stockholm, Sweden tell about the uptick in coronavirus cases? 

2. Law, John Lok Man, et al. "A hepatitis C virus (HCV) vaccine comprising envelope glycoproteins gpE1/gpE2 derived from a single isolate elicits broad cross-genotype neutralizing antibodies in humans." PloS one 8.3 (2013): e59776. 

3. Lundkvist, Åke, Stefan Hanson, and Björn Olsen. "Pronounced difference in Covid-19 antibody prevalence indicates cluster transmission in Stockholm, Sweden." Infection ecology & epidemiology 10.1 (2020): 1806505.

On Episode#8, we talk about COVID vaccine updates, and Mega-Fires across the US

1. One candidate vaccine fore COVID-19 showed possible neurological sideeffects. What does this mean for the other vaccines in the pipeline currently in Phase 3?

2 New research explores the reason for the mega-wildfires that has moved across western United Sates.. and what it says about future extreme events moving further throughout the country over time.

References

Keech, C., Phase 1–2 Trial of a SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Spike Protein Nanoparticle Vaccine, NEJM, 2020 

Alizadeh, M., et al, A century of observations reveals increasing likelihood of continental-scale compound dry-hot extremes, Science Advances 2020

Jia, Shenyue, et al. "Patterns of population displacement during mega-fires in California detected using Facebook Disaster Maps." Environmental Research Letters (2020).

Burke, Marshall, et al. The Changing Risk and Burden of Wildfire in the US. No. w27423. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020.

ON Episode#7, here are the main headlines:

1. Got a bad ache? Did you take a Tylenol? New research finds While acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol is helping you deal with your headache, it may also be influencing your judgement, making you more willing to take risks.

2. In fitness research, a systematic review of dozens of different studies show that performing any form of aerobic exercise before engaging in a learning activity improves the learning ability and storage in memory.

3. What are the longterm effects of pandemics? A report finds that effects of pandemics in history have lasted for 4 decades

References:

1. Alexis Keaveney, Ellen Peters, Baldwin Way. Effects of acetaminophen on risk taking. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2020

2. Peter Blomstrand and Jan Engvall. "Effects of a Single Exercise Workout on Memory and Learning Functions in Young Adults—A Systematic ReviewE." Translational Sports Medicine (First published: August 08, 2020)

3. Jordà, Òscar, Sanjay R. Singh, and Alan M. Taylor. Longer-run economic consequences of pandemics. No. w26934. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020.

On episode #6, here are the main ideas:

1. Is a mask really necessary when just talking? Can the coronavirus be transmitted through normal speech? A new study uses lasers to look at how respiratory droplets are emitted during normal speech.

2. Scientists revisit the famous psychology experiment the marshmallow test, revealing new insights into self-control behavior and how it may have something to do with managing our reputation, and its relevance for the future.

References 

Stadnytskyi, Valentyn, et al. "The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117.22 (2020): 11875-11877.

Bax, Adriaan, et al. "SARS-CoV-2 transmission via speech-generated respiratory droplets." The Lancet Infectious Diseases (2020).

Wells, William F. "On air-borne infection: Study II Droplets and Droplet nuclei." American journal of Epidemiology 20.3 (1934): 611-618.

Anfinrud, Philip, et al. "Visualizing speech-generated oral fluid droplets with laser light scattering." New England Journal of Medicine (2020).

Ma, Fengling, et al. "Delay of Gratification as Reputation Management." Psychological Science (2020): 0956797620939940.

Mischel, Walter, Ebbe B. Ebbesen, and Antonette Raskoff Zeiss. "Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification." Journal of personality and social psychology 21.2 (1972): 204.

On this episode #5, we discuss recent research news that affects our lives and future. On this episode, here are the main headlines: 

1. Feeling angry lately? New research suggests that a good night of sleep may be just what you need.

2. Have you been intermittent fasting? cutting calories have been linked to many health benefits including longer lifespan. But why? A new study shows how calorie intake may affect your core body temperature.

3. Finally, if you are working on self-improvement goals, is competition against others always the better strategy over cooperation with others? New study using fitness trackers sheds some light on this age-old question… compete or cooperate? 

Journal References

1.     Krizan, Z., Miller, A., & Hisler, G. (2020, April). Does losing sleep unleash anger? Sleep (Vol. 43, pp. A105-A105)

2.      Carlos Guijas, J. Rafael Montenegro-Burke, Rigo Cintron-Colon, Xavier Domingo-Almenara, Manuel Sanchez-Alavez, Carlos A. Aguirre, Kokila Shankar, Erica L.-W. Majumder, Elizabeth Billings, Bruno Conti, Gary Siuzdak. Metabolic adaptation to calorie restriction. Science Signaling, 2020; 13 (648): eabb2490 DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.abb2490

3.     Wolf, T., Jahn, S., Hammerschmidt, M., & Weiger, W. H. (2020). Competition versus cooperation: How technology-facilitated social interdependence initiates the self-improvement chain. International Journal of Research in Marketing.

On the episode, we discuss these topics:

1. Robots are being trained to perform contact-free measurements of patients’ vital signs.
2. Can your cell-phone be re-charged using your body heat?
3. How does a baseball player know when to swing and when not to? We discuss the neuroscience behind split-second decision-making.
4. A biotech company develops an ingestible device that fixes itself in the stomach.
5. Finally, what is quantum internet and can it make internet hacking a thing of the past?

 References

Robot takes contact-free measurements of patients’ vital signs
https://news.mit.edu/2020/spot-robot-vital-signs-0831

Burmistrov, I., Gorshkov, N., Kovyneva, N., Kolesnikov, E., Khaidarov, B., Gopalu, K., ... & Gorokhovsky, A. (2020). High seebeck coefficient thermo-electrochemical cell using nickel hollow microspheres electrodes. Renewable Energy.

 Ming Ma, Gregory L. Futia, Fabio M. Simoes de Souza, Baris N. Ozbay, Isabel Llano, Emily A. Gibson, Diego Restrepo. Molecular layer interneurons in the cerebellum encode for valence in associative learning. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18034-2

Abramson, A., Dellal, D., Kong, Y. L., Zhou, J., Gao, Y., Collins, J., ... & Frederiksen, M. R. (2020). Ingestible transiently anchoring electronics for microstimulation and conductive signaling. Science Advances, 6(35), eaaz0127.

Joshi, S. K., Aktas, D., Wengerowsky, S., Loncaric, F., Neumann, S. P., Liu, B., ... & Stipcevic, M. (2020, May). A trusted-node-free eight-user metropolitan quantum communication network. Science Advances (2020) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0959

On today's episode, we discuss:
1. The Pentagon and Google Artificial Intelligence are teaming up to test on military veterans.

2. Hundreds of astronomers are worried that traffic in space will change our view of the nightsky forever.

3. Can your hand grip strength tell if you are at the risk of a disease?

4. Psychologists reveal which teenagers are more likely to be cyberbullies.

5. CDC announces that states should be ready to distribute vaccines by Nov 1. We discuss the state of COVID vaccines in the drug pipeline currently in Phase 3.

References

1. https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cancer-research-benefit-cutting-edge-ai-pentagon-seeks-help-google-1682836

2. Walker, C. et al, Impact of satellite constellations on optical astronomy and recommendations towards mitigation, August 2020

https://aas.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/SATCON1-Report.pdf

3. Setor K. Kunutsor, Ari Voutilainen, Jari A. Laukkanen. Handgrip strength improves prediction of type 2 diabetes: A prospective cohort study. Annals of Medicine, 2020

4. Laura Grunin, Gary Yu, Sally S. Cohen. The Relationship Between Youth Cyberbullying Behaviors and Their Perceptions of Parental Emotional Support. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, 2020

5. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

6. van Doremalen, N., Lambe, T., Spencer, A. et al. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine prevents SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in rhesus macaques. Nature (2020).