Follow the Science with Faye Flam

Episode 48: Sick Building and the Pandemic https://open.spotify.com/episode/1G1DIYCdNMTwDqzlMQGoLn?si=2203bd3df65e4130 Most people aren’t going to wear a mask forever, even if viruses remain a persistent threat. What we now know is that respiratory viruses are transmitted mostly through the air, mostly indoors, and mostly in badly ventilated buildings. I talk with Harvard Professor Joseph Allen about a new normal that makes sense. It’s okay, he says, that vaccinated people are putting their masks back in the drawer. It’s not okay that so many of us live and work in “sick” buildings. There’s no downside to healthy buildings – they not only help keep people from getting covid, colds and flu, they can also help us feel more energetic and think more clearly. #health #healthcare #covid #COVID19 #building #buildingdesign #ventilation #publichealth #science #scienceandtechnology #medicalscience #medicalsciences

Episode 47: Mental Health and the Pandemic ttps://open.spotify.com/episode/2L7vvtn0u60Sh14klfbvYP?si=38466d2b6dfb4110 For the last 20 months society has focused primarily on a single aspect of health – avoiding SARS-CoV-2. But as the pandemic drags on, some people argue we need to bring back a big picture perspective. General practitioner Lucy McBride says her patients are showing up with all kinds of complaints about health problems beyond Covid-19, and she’s seeing an alarming number of mental health problems. We talk about what mental health means, why it’s an important aspect of overall health, what’s behind the surge in mental health problems, and how we can have a more balanced approach to health moving forward. #covid19 #mentalhealth #coronavirus #podcast #medicine #medicalscience #psychology

Episode 46: Evolution and Future of Covid-19 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4fKFF3f1DCPPR5PjCQGmWS?si=189f5790f4534778 One of the most unnerving things about this pandemic is that the virus keeps changing. And yet, viruses we’re familiar with don’t spawn vastly more dangerous variants every year. Even flu, while it changes enough to require a new shot, doesn’t usually turn the world upside down. Will SARS-CoV-2 reach some limit on the new variants it can produce? Biologist Jesse Bloom of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center had studied influenza evolution for years before turning his attention to how SARS-CoV-2 is evolving. We talk about where things might be going, and where the virus might have come from.

Streaming now! Episode 45: Havana Syndrome: A Disease of Body of Mind? https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NcaNTy8A262ANXcNSkTac?si=b215d5cf4dda4cd3 It started with a young undercover agent in Havana hearing a piercing noise, then realizing that his ears wouldn’t stop ringing and he’d lost some of his hearing. Soon he told colleagues who remembered hearing weird noises. Soon they, too, started to feel distressing symptoms – difficulty concentrating, headaches, insomnia, dizziness. Now more than 200 people in different foreign service posts around the world are reporting symptoms. Originally some experts thought it was some a sonic weapon, while others proposed a directed energy or microwave weapon. But others, such as neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, think it’s a problem that starts where the brain and mind intersect. #publichealth #experts #science #followthescience #havanasyndrome #havana #syndrome #diplomats #Health

Episode 44: The Experts Change Their Tune on Covid-19 In late October, experts in the US stopped talking about taking extreme precautions against Covid-19 and started talking about learning to live with the virus. Does this represent a change of heart or a change in the science? It’s been hard for experts to detangle their scientific opinions from their feelings and values. In this episode I’ll talk with Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He’s long advocated an approach called harm reduction, which was used in the AIDS crisis to help guide people toward having safer sex rather than asking them to give it up forever. He says many experts initially pushed a Covid-19 strategy akin to abstinence only, but it’s becoming more obvious by the day that this is unsustainable, and the virus isn’t going away. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cfWVwiMYXqM13OZDSMFGk?si=rAEOmmufSJCRUGf2Mh8DDw #covid19 #covid #experts #science #virology #virus #pandemic #vaccines #mandates #restrictions #research #publichealth #health #medicine

Episode 43: Antisocial Science There’s no there’s no doubt science has advanced humanity’s store of useful, reliable knowledge. Still, sometimes scientists, groups or whole fields get off track. Stanford professor John Ioannidis is famous for diagnosing why medical research had started producing too many unreliable results. Statistical errors, lack of cross checks, and cutting corners were leading to bad science and bad medicine. But when he applied his critical eye to pandemic science, instead of praise, he got attacks. Now, he’s diagnosed a new problem – a breakdown of civility and communal spirit. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7GHRZq9XLldKVrHnH673Ho?si=QNxDXTgvRaiSE_8FDH33iA #covid #covid19 #research #science #studies #scientificresearch #researchpapers #sociable #controversy

Episode 42: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Thinks Science Is True How do we know what’s true? What should we trust and what should we question? I’ll talk about the nature of science, truth and critical thinking with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. We’ll talk about why so many scientists doubt the UFOs are alien interlopers, but do take seriously the possibility of multiple universes. We’ll also talk about his new book, "A Brief Welcome to the Universe”. By coincidence, this episode 42, a number that in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was the answer to ultimate question of life, the universe and everything – at least according to a powerful computer programmed 7 ½ million years ago. Unfortunately, the people who programmed the computer didn’t understand the question. To Neil DeGrasse Tyson, sorting truth from fakery is all about asking good questions. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2IafzN3VjAsLl3oO6VPFhX?si=ewbScb-HQP2GvULgcWN0Ew #science #physics #astronomy #astrophysics #neildegrassetyson #aliens #thinking #believing #space

Episode 41: Where Medicine Doesn't Follow the Science Medicine is based partly on science, partly on tradition, partly on assumptions and partly on profits. My guest in this episode, physician Gilbert Welch, says many screening healthy people for cancer, for example, is very profitable, but there’s surprisingly little evidence that it helps people live longer. His most recent book is called Less Medicine, More Health. We’ll talk about which tests and treatments are least likely to help us, why some cancers are better left alone, and how financial interests can push doctors away from the most scientifically backed procedures and tests. Listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NnpcdKRGNqmzNBC0BxmAG?si=SL03dv1CSWKsK4RyNhIkyA #medical #medicine #medicaltesting #testing #theranos #doctors #doctor #healthcare #health

Episode 40: Theranos: Medicine's Unhealthy Infatuation with Technology The blood testing company Theranos was the darling of the medical establishment for years before a journalist helped expose the fact that its technology didn’t work. Now the CEO Elizabeth Holmes has gone from being the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire to being on trial for fraud. But the fact that the company got so big on so little evidence points to a bigger problem with American medicine. In this episode I’ll be talking to pathology professors Daniel Holmes of the University of British Columbia, and Eleftherios Diamandis, of the University of Toronto. We talk about what the dramatic rise and fall of Theranos, about what testing technology can’t do to improve our health, and why the medical establishment focuses so much effort on screening the healthy, while remaining ill-prepared for a true crisis. Listen to it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2RDjDijPyFdeAzaiKqoVzs?si=aWvmprZxSGmFBeq_TJm1jQ #technology #medical #medicaltesting #theranos #medicine #science #elizabethholmes #biology #biotesting

Episode 39: Are Vaccines Helping or Hurting? The prevalence of Covid-19 even in highly vaccinated countries such as Israel has led to a scary rumor that vaccines are actually making the disease worse. That has happened before with other vaccines - sometimes antibodies can actually turn traitor and help the virus through something called antibody dependent enhancement. Medicinal chemist Derek Lowe has been getting lots of questions about this from concerned readers of his Science Magazine pharmaceutical blog In The Pipeline. In this episode he explains how antibody dependent enhancement works, where it’s happened before, and why it’s almost certainly not happening with our Covid-19 vaccines. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Uq8Oa11h3uOVgoiD33gg9?si=7b6e7786d8e34838 #covid #covid19 #vaccines #vaccine #boosters #science #medicine #breakthrough #virology #health #biology #pandemic

Episode 38: The Science of Mask Mandates for Kids Should mask mandates for kids go all the way down to age 2? Should kids have to keep masks on at recess? Should kids wear cloth masks despite little evidence of protection? Is universal masking in schools the new normal? Emotions are running high and relevant scientific studies are in short supply. I’ll be talking with two doctors, Dr. Elissa Schechter-Perkins and Dr. Vinay Prasad (), to explore what science can tell us, not just about whether kids should wear masks to school but which kids, under which circumstances, and for how long? Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2HeGXRR4e4UI9heFnBwFHb?si=vtdBsve9RMSEcY_AoVM6Kw #mask #masking #maskmandates #masks #school #schools #children #kids #covid19 #covid #pandemic #science #biology #virology #health #medicine

Episode 37: Beyond Covid-19 – Other Looming Threats If we weren’t all obsessed with the pandemic, there would be scare stories about a life-threatening fungus that’s infecting people in Texas and Washington DC. It can’t be cured with drugs that would normally be used for fungal infections. Even as we battle a virus, fungi and bacteria are evolving resistance to known drugs, and as clinical laboratory science professor Rodney Rohde says, Covid-19 may be making this other threat worse. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/20a8dN9AB3Ps4gH9iXrchb?si=9jF8UWnlSea2BRL2qy3tOw #covid19 #covid #pandemic #biology #fungus #medicine #health #science #doctors #hospitals

Episode 36: Breakthrough Cases, Boosters, and Confusion There’s still a strong consensus that getting vaccinated is better than not – but a surprising lack of information on which vaccines work best, how long protection lasts, and why cases are skyrocketing in some places with high vaccination rates, including Israel, where more than 60% of the population is fully vaccinated with the Pfizer shot. Here in the United States, tens of thousands are being hospitalized in a fourth wave, and many are vaccinated. Harvard epidemiologist Bill Hanage will talk to me about breakthrough cases, what’s driving this unexpected fourth wave, and what’s likely to happen next. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/13iopDgz4bfDMsVXMncUlR?si=5hs2kbdgQ2u-HKUvipetfA #pandemic #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #vaccines #vaccine #breakthroughcases #breakthrough #boosters #boostershot #jab #health #medicine #science #biology

Episode 35: Why is the Pandemic So Hard to Predict? We take precautions, get vaccinated, and yet cases surge again and again. And then the waves decline unexpectedly, defying predictions. There’s no good explanation for why cases are going up in some places and not others. And there’s not nearly enough information on which venues or activities are the most dangerous. By contrast, weather forecasters look downright clairvoyant. Today’s guest, Sam Scarpino, is an expert on complex systems. He’s just started a new position as managing director of the pandemic surveillance program with the Rockefeller Institute. We talk about what’s predictable, what isn’t, and what he and his colleagues hope to learn to help give people more concrete forecasts and more information about our risks. Listen to it now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ZSCzb5zUw6SQitZq6guLa?si=n0ILD7P2SPGrOmxZIfhx4g #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #medicine #vaccine #science #health

Episode 34: Official and Unofficial Misinformation on Vaccines Vaccines aren’t perfect. Physician Art Krieg knows that all too well since his fully vaccinated 90-year-old father recently died from Covid-19. But he makes a good case that getting vaccinated still helps protect the community by lowering your odds of getting infected and vastly lowering your odds of being hospitalized. Dr. Krieg also tackles the question of whether people who have had Covid-19 should get the shots, whether some people are medically exempt, and how the delta variant changes the equation. Listen now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1lhTz5m3v82NeQx55pbEku?si=LpeWhn05R6WDRs6eohbObQ #covid #coronavirus #covid19 #health #science #vaccines #misinformation #biology #medicine