Degrees of Change: Changing Behavior. July 10, 2020, Part 1
Science Friday
Science Friday and WNYC Studios
4.4 • 6.3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 July 2020
⏱️ 46 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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| 0:00.0 | This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Later this hour, we'll be talking about moving towards action to deal with the changing climate. |
| 0:08.8 | First, a large group of scientists came out this week and said that COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air. |
| 0:16.1 | So what does this mean for those of us trying to stay safe? Joining us today to talk about the story and other news of this week is Sikon Akpan, |
| 0:25.2 | science editor at National Geographic in Washington. |
| 0:28.9 | Welcome to Science Friday. |
| 0:30.3 | Thank you for having me. |
| 0:31.6 | Nice to have you. |
| 0:32.5 | Let's start with this disturbing and sort of confusing news this week, right, that COVID-19 might be airborne. |
| 0:39.8 | So, yeah, it's amazing what a pandemic and a story in the New York Times can do. On Independence Day, |
| 0:45.3 | Apurva Mandevali broke the news that a letter had been signed by these 239 scientists, and they're |
| 0:51.8 | making a compelling argument that airborne transmission for COVID-19 |
| 0:56.2 | is happening. |
| 0:57.2 | I mean, I think the thing that is really interesting about this letter is that infectious |
| 1:02.1 | disease researchers have been arguing about airborne spread for decades, right? |
| 1:06.7 | So when people sneeze or cough, they release a spray of respiratory droplets that come in these |
| 1:12.5 | different sizes. |
| 1:13.5 | We have the larger droplets that everyone's talking about. |
| 1:16.9 | They kind of fall immediately, sort of like raindrops. |
| 1:20.4 | And so that's why experts were always telling us to beware surfaces whenever somebody sneezes |
| 1:24.8 | around them. |
| 1:26.3 | Airborne transmission refers specifically to smaller droplets |
| 1:30.0 | or aerosols. Those are typically under, you know, five to 10 microns. What we know about aerosols |
... |
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