Coronapod: Troubling news
Nature Podcast
podcast@nature.com
4.5 • 893 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2020
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Benjamin Thompson, Noah Baker, and Amy Maxmen discuss Trump withholding funds from the WHO, and how COVID-19 kills. We also hear about controlling misinformation while communicating risk.
In this episode:
01:15 Understanding bottlenecks
After listening to last week's episode of Coronapod, researchers in the USA were inspired to start collecting data about the challenges facing labs carrying out testing. After more than 4,000 responses to their online survey, we discuss their goals.
03:08 A hole in the WHO’s funding
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to withhold funding for the WHO, pending a review of the organization’s handling of the pandemic. We discuss the decision and ask what it means for the global response to COVID-19.
News: Nature's rolling coronavirus news blog
05:55 Responding to the immune system
We investigate the role of the immune system in the death of COVID-19 patients and what this could mean for treatments. Could some therapeutics actually be undermining the body’s ability to fight the virus?
News: How does COVID-19 kill? Uncertainty is hampering doctors’ ability to choose treatments
13:54 One good thing this week
Our hosts pick out things that have made them smile in the last 7 days, including seasonal memories from Sierra Leone, a trip to the supermarket, and the 99-year old war veteran who has raised millions for charity.
BBC News: Coronavirus: Capt Tom Moore's NHS fundraiser hits £17m
18:33 Communicating complex data
Clearly communicating risks and evidence is key for governments and other organisations if they are to best inform the public during the pandemic. But what is the best way to do it? We hear the methods that communications experts and behavioural scientists recommend to keep the public informed, and keep misinformation at bay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to CoronaPod. In this show, we're going to bring you nature's take on the latest COVID-19 developments. |
| 0:09.1 | And we'll be speaking to experts around the world about research during the pandemic. |
| 0:15.4 | I really don't know how this plays out. We also don't know a ton about this, you know, virus. |
| 0:20.0 | So there's so many open questions. I just have a really hard time making predictions We also don't know a ton about this, you know, virus. So there's so many open |
| 0:21.0 | questions. I just have a really hard time making predictions because I don't know how the outbreak's |
| 0:25.6 | going to change. Hi, I'm Benjamin Thompson. Welcome to episode five of CoronaPod. I'm still here |
| 0:36.4 | in my South London basement, and we've just heard that the lockdown |
| 0:38.9 | in the UK seems to be extended for another three weeks so I could be here for a while longer. |
| 0:44.5 | But thankfully on CoronaPod, I'm not on my own. I'm joined by Noah Baker and Amy Maxman. How are you |
| 0:49.3 | both doing? I quite enjoy this bit of a Thursday. I'm good. How are you? It's so fun talking to you guys. |
| 0:55.6 | Noah, how have you been getting on this? |
| 0:56.6 | So week five of the lockdown for us here, how is rural Kent? |
| 1:00.2 | Rural Kent is very much the same as rural Kent has ever been before. |
| 1:04.2 | Where I'm sitting, nothing's changing, but outside the world is moving at a pace. |
| 1:09.1 | And from inside this little bubble, I'm trying to |
| 1:11.2 | keep track of what's happening outside, which is changing quickly. I don't know if I can't even |
| 1:16.4 | remember if I even sent this to you last night, but I meant to. So basically, I got this email |
| 1:20.8 | from a couple of researchers that heard our podcast last week and decided to do this massive survey of what bottlenecks, |
| 1:30.7 | either labs that want to test or labs that are trying to test, are hitting. |
| 1:34.3 | And so far, they're at like 4,000 people right now. |
| 1:37.5 | That's really cool. |
| 1:38.6 | I love hearing that people are responding to the show. |
... |
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