Episode 26: No, COVID-19 Is Not an I Am Legend Situation | Zombie Viruses with Here's Johnny Podcast

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(This image came up when I searched “zombie,” and even though it has nothing to do with anything we discuss in the episode, it was too funny not to include.)

Welcome to the apocalypse, my friends.

Wait, that sounds really bad with everyone currently in self isolation from COVID-19. We at That’s Not How Science Works don’t actually think we’re in the middle of a real apocalypse. The current pandemic will eventually pass, so hang in there! Wash your hands! Self isolate! Don’t touch your face! But in this episode we’re joined by Larry and Justin from the Here’s Johnny podcast to discuss zombies and viruses. You know, the classic fictional apocalypse.

This is a little bit of a different episode because we aren’t discussing a specific piece of media in this episode. Instead, Larry and Justin are here to provide some context on zombies since, you know, Nicole and Caitlin are babies when it comes to horror. Then, we discuss the science of viruses and vaccines in three zombie movies in particular: I Am Legend, World War Z, and 28 Days Later. And we also end up talking a bit about coronaviruses and COVID-19 because it was a bit inevitable.

Since we know that you’re all self isolating, we’ve also compiled a few mostly unedited outtakes from the episode that you can find below.

If you want to hear more about zombies, these are the episodes from Here’s Johnny that Larry and Justin recommend you check out in particular:

• Romero vs "Rage" Zombies: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/heresjohnny/id/10010978

• Night of the Living Dead (1968) Review: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/heresjohnny/id/8673374

• 28 Days Later (2002) Review: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/heresjohnny/id/9835862

Articles

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, and Coronaviruses

• Why the Coronavirus Has Been So Successful

• Article about the SARS-CoV-2 mutation rates, which are actually lower than the flu: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/25/820998549/the-coronavirus-is-mutating-but-that-may-not-be-a-problem-for-humans

• Newish articles that discuss some newer controversies about COVID-19 infection data out of China:

  • https://www.ft.com/content/4aa35288-3979-44f7-b204-b881f473fca0

  • https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-03-27/stacks-of-urns-in-wuhan-prompt-new-questions-of-virus-s-toll

• In contrast, there's been pretty good sharing of information about the virus itself from Chinese scientists: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317175442.htm

• This article also cites a bunch of Chinese research papers on SARS-COV-2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074995

• Zoonotic diseases basics:  https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html

• Johns Hopkins class on basic Epidemiology and SARS-COV-2: https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid19-epidemiology

• For more about Spillover events, there is a book! https://www.npr.org/2012/10/19/163245528/when-infections-spillover

• Recommended public health follow: Atul Gawande (@Atul_Gawande)

CRISPR and Controversies

• CRISPR babies: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/untold-story-circle-trust-behind-world-s-first-gene-edited-babies

• The scientist behind the genetic splicing sentenced to 3 years in prison last fall: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00001-y

The Immune System

• A TED-Ed video on the immune system that’s a quick but informative summary

• Crash Course on the immune system:

  • Part 1

  • Part 2

  • Part 3

• Khan Academy on the immune system

• A few more articles:

  • How Does the Immune System Work?

  • How the Immune System Works

Vaccines

• Understanding How Vaccines Work from the CDC

• Why Don’t We Have Vaccines against Everything?

• How Viruses Stay One Step ahead of Our Efforts to Kill Them

Meningitis

• What Do You Want to Know about Meningitis?

• Meningitis article from the CDC

Ebola

• Guidelines for burying Ebola patients:

  • From the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/clinicians/evd/handling-human-remains.html

  • From the WHO: https://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/ebola/safe-burial-protocol/en/

Non-Human Primate Research Restrictions

• Some information about IRBs or IACUC and non-human primate research:

  • https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/institutional-review-boards-frequently-asked-questions

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3814393/

Psychology under Disasters

• Banding together after disasters leads to better outcomes: https://m.phys.org/news/2018-10-friends-key-natural-disaster-recovery.html

• Are humans programmed to be altruistic https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/lets-reconnect/201804/are-we-biologically-wired-help-others-during-crisis

• Stress leads to community behavior: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-stress-of-disaster-brings-people-together

Intersection between Zombies and Science

• Just for fun, the CDC Preparedness big about Zombie apocalypse: https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse

• An interesting non-science article about how Zombie movies reflect changing attitudes towards science: https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/what-our-zombie-movies-tell-us-about-our-attitudes-toward-science.html

Science Corner

• Caitlin’s recommended podcast: This Podcast Will Kill You

• Nicole’s rabbit hole on optical illusions:

  • This Ancient Optical Illusion is a 14,000-Year-Old Puzzle

  • Guardian article on ambiguous figure illusions

  • Wikipedia article with monocular rivalry illusion

• Larry’s article on RNA from the SARS coronavirus

• Justin’s article on how video games can improve vision