Coronapod: What use are contact tracing apps? And new hopes for coronavirus drug remdesivir
Nature Podcast
podcast@nature.com
4.5 • 893 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2020
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Coronapod team pick through the latest news, plus we hear from the researchers making lemonade out of lockdown lemons.
In this episode:
01:10 Can contact-tracing apps help?
Governments around the world are banking on smartphone apps to help end the spread of the coronavirus. But how effective might these apps might be? What are the risks? And how should they fit into wider public health strategies?
Editorial: Show evidence that apps for COVID-19 contact-tracing are secure and effective
13:30 Antiviral remdesivir shows promise
Early results from a US trial of the antiviral drug remdesivir suggest it shortens recovery time for patients with COVID-19. We unpick the findings.
News: Hopes rise for coronavirus drug remdesivir
16:52 One good thing
Our hosts pick out things that have made them smile in the last week, including blooming trust in scientists, cooking experiments, and a neighbourhood coming together to clap for healthcare workers.
21:34 Unexpected opportunities
We hear from three researchers making the most of lockdown, studying tiny earthquakes, building balcony-based citizen science projects, or enlisting gamers to fight the coronavirus.
Fold-it, the protein-folding computer game
Vote for us in the 2020 Webby awards!
Nature Podcast: Callused feet, and protein-based archaeology
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to CoronaPod. |
| 0:03.3 | 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 |
| 0:25.2 | outbreak is going to change. Welcome to episode seven of CoronaPod. I'm Benjamin Thompson, |
| 0:34.5 | coming to you once more from the South London basement, and I'm joined again by Noah Baker and Amy Maxman. |
| 0:39.8 | Amy, how are you doing today? |
| 0:41.1 | Well, I can tell you what's happening in California right now. |
| 0:43.4 | We've had our social distancing measures extended till the end of May. |
| 0:48.5 | But I can tell you from being here, they're all kind of loosening up a little bit. |
| 0:52.4 | People are, you know, having distancing barbecues and hanging out and going on walks. |
| 0:58.4 | And although it's not officially opened up, I can feel that people who are really like, I'm in it, I'm going to stay under lockdown or are sort of giving themselves a little bit more, a longer leash than they had before. |
| 1:10.7 | People did stick to lockdowns. But for a time, and I think here even, you can see people |
| 1:14.6 | are starting to loosen up and the government's doubling down hard on it. We're almost there. |
| 1:19.4 | Don't waste all of what we've done so far. Please stay at home messaging. You know, it's just |
| 1:23.6 | constant everywhere. It's hard to keep up for this amount of time. Yeah, I mean, I guess, I mean, obviously the concern is about the second peak, right, if we start going out again |
| 1:30.4 | too soon. I mean, I'm yet to see any evidence of it, but I guess that's because people are still |
| 1:34.7 | keeping themselves to themselves as best they can. One question that's going to be asked a lot is |
| 1:39.2 | how to control that potential second wave that could or couldn't come. And one thing that's being |
| 1:44.7 | touted by a lot of people right now is the potential in contact tracing apps. So this way that we can |
... |
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