This Week in Virology

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TWiV 444: Astro Kate, The Right Stuff Jun 04, 2017

Show notes

From ASM Microbe 2017 at New Orleans, Vincent and Rich meet up with astronaut Kate Rubins to talk about becoming an astronaut, space travel, and doing science in space.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Rich Condit

Guest: Kate Rubins

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Links for this episode

Live from the Space Station, NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins
Kate Rubins (NASA, Wikipedia)
Expedition 48-49 launches to the ISS
Expedition 48-49 Crew Docks to the Space Station
Expedition 48-49 Crew Welcomed to the Space Station
Expedition 48 Crew Hands Over the Space Station to Expedition 49
Photo by Chris Condayan

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees

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TWiV Special: Trial by Error, Continued May 31, 2017

Show notes

David Tuller returns to discuss the continuing saga of the UK's PACE trial for chronic fatigue syndrome, including the accusation that he is engaging in libelous blogging.

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guest: David Tuller

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Links for this episode

TWiV 397: Trial by Error
All articles by David Tuller at virology blog
Getting it wrong on chronic fatigue syndrome (NY Times)
Esther Crawley slide (Twitter)
David's fundraising page

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

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TWiV 443: On a leaf, no one can hear you scream May 28, 2017

Show notes

The TWiVsters reveal the puppet master: an RNA virus injected with wasp eggs that paralyzes the ladybug so that she protects the cocoon until the adult emerges.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Links for this episode

ASM grant writing online course
Who is the puppet master? (Proc Roy Soc B)
Why ladybird?
Ladybird ladybird
Dinocampus coccinellae
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 443

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - Science Showcase Video Contest Alan - Biochemical pathways on one chart Rich - 35th America's Cup Vincent - Viruses (pdf) and A whole new Jupiter

Listener Pick

Peter - Fake typhoid epidemic saves Polish city and Life gets complicated when disease overruns your town Ralph - Dilbert on climate change

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 442: The New York Tim May 21, 2017

Show notes

Freelance science journalist Tim Requarth joins the TWiVers to explain why scientists should stop thinking that explaining science will fix information illiteracy.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guest: Tim Requarth

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Links for this episode

Neuwrite
JMBE science communication issue
Smallpox vaccination day
The problem with facts (Fin Times)
Countering antivaccination attitudes (PNAS)
Effective messages in vaccine promotion (Pediatrics)
Science curiosity and political information processing (Political Psychol)
Teaching science using pseudoscience (D. Duncan)
Letters read on TWiV 442

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - Life Saver Lightning Alan - Model rocket engine burning in slow-mo Rich - scistarter Vincent - The quest to wipe out a virus and FCC Votes to Begin Dismantling Net Neutrality

Listener Pick

Robert - Zika presentation

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 441: Don't ChrY for me influenza May 14, 2017

Show notes

The Beacons of Viral Education (aka the TWiVoners) reveal a cost of being a male mouse - the Y chromosome regulates their susceptibility to influenza virus infection.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Links for this episode

ASM Grant Writing Online Course
Giant viruses not from fourth domain of life (Virology)
Nuclear envelope disruption during parvovirus infection (J Virol)
Nuclear deformation during SV40 infection (Nucleus)
Y chromosome regulates mouse susceptibility to influenza virus (PNAS)
Consomic strains (Mamm Genome)
Giants among viruses (TWiV 261)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 441

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - Social science research on "luck" in motherhood Alan - Foiling dinghy built by engineering students (video) Rich - Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) Vincent - Make measles great again in Michigan and Which tech giant would you drop?

Listener Pick

Steven - Difficult truths about a post-truth world

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 440: I hardly noumeavirus May 07, 2017

Show notes

No problem being nice to Dickson in this episode, because he's absent for a discussion of a new giant virus that replicates in the cytoplasm yet transiently accesses the nucleus to bootstrap infection.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Links for this episode

ASM Microbe
Noumeavirus cytoplasmic replication depends on transient nuclear access (Nat Commun)
Giants among viruses (TWiV 261)
Image credit
Letters read on TWiV 440

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - U-M Rubik's Cube story #1 video #2 video #3 video Alan - You're not going to believe this Rich - High School student builds robot to solve Rubrik's cube Vincent - NIH limits grant money and The abomination of a bill

Listener Pick

Ken - The Fab Lab with Crazy Aunt LindseyLaurel - Sally Hoskin's CREATE programMaureen - Simple Science Experiments You Can Do With Eggs Before Breakfast

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 439: The purloined envelope Apr 30, 2017

Show notes

Paul Bieniasz joins the TWiV team to talk about the co-option, millions of years ago, of an endogenous retrovirus envelope protein by hominid ancestors for host defense against viral infection.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

Guest: Paul Bieniasz

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Links for this episode

ASM Grant Writing Online Course
Bieniasz Laboratory
Julius S. Youngner, 96
Distinguished virology career of Julius S. Youngner (TWiV 373)
Reconstitution of a human ERV (PNAS)
Co-option of ERV envelope for host defense (eLife)
Letters read on TWiV 439

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - UM Science Communication TeachOut Alan - LLNL nuclear test videos Rich - The Great A.I. Awakening (Artificial neural network; DeepDream; DeepDream images) Dickson - Cassini imagesPaul - Howard Hughes Medical Institute Vincent - Google rewrites search rankings; Senator Whitehouse on politics of climate change

Listener Pick

Anthony - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Weather Monitor Kit

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 438: Drs. TWiV go to Washington Apr 23, 2017

Show notes

On the eve of the March for Science, the TWiV team gathers at ASM Headquarters in Washington, DC with guests Stefano and Susie to talk about the state of science communication.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Guests: Stefano Bertuzzi and Susan Sharp

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Links for this episode

Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education sci comm issue
ASM Cultures
Stefano Bertuzzi and the scientists' big picture (Washington Post)
March for Science
The March for Science (NY Times)
I have always marched for science (virology blog)
A scientist who studies marches on the March (Atlantic)
What exactly are people marching for (Atlantic)
Explaining science won't fix information illiteracy
Letters read on TWiV 438

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Weekly Science Picks

Alan - Steve Ballmer's government data project (NYTimes article) Rich - Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow Dickson - Shanghai vertical farming Vincent - Right-to-try sham and NASA media Stefano - Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not and The Path Between the Seas Susan - Rick and Morty

Listener Pick

Johnye - A capella CRISPR/Cas9

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 437: Kathy's new spindle virus Apr 16, 2017

Show notes

The TWiVsters reveal new giant viruses that argue against a fourth domain of life, and discovery of viruses in the oceanic basement.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, and Kathy Spindler

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Links for this episode

Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education sci comm issue
Mark Wainberg dies
Giant viruses with many translation system components (Science)
Viruses in the oceanic basement (mBio)
2-back test
Photo by Judy
Letters read on TWiV 437

Weekly Science Picks

Kathy - Cloud appreciation society Rich - High Rise Urban Farming Dickson - Planets orbiting a distant star Vincent - TWiEVO 18: Raiders of the lost orco

Listener Pick

Kevin - Cherry blossoms at Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

TWiV 436: Virology above Cayuga's waters Apr 09, 2017

Show notes

Host: Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Susan Daniel, Colin Parrish, and Gary Whittaker

At Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Vincent speaks with Susan, Colin, and Gary about the work of their laboratories on parvoviruses, influenza viruses, and coronaviruses that infect dogs, cats, horses and other mammals.

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Links for this episode

Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees.

Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv

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