Keeping coronavirus from spreading in schools, why leaves fall when they do, and a book on how nature deals with crisis

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News, News Commentary, Science

4.3 • 842 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2020

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many schools closed in the spring, during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Many opened in the fall. Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about what was learned in spring about how coronavirus spreads in schools that might help keep children safe as cases surge once again. Also this week: What makes leaves fall off deciduous trees when they do—is it the short, cold nights? Or is the timing of so-called “leaf senescence” linked to when spring happens? Sarah talked to Constantin Zohner, a lead scientist at the Institute of Integrative Biology at ETH Zurich, about his tree leaf timing study. Sarah also spoke with commentary author Christy Rollinson, a forest ecologist at the Morton Arboretum, about how important these trees and the timing of their leaf drop is for climate change. In the books segment, host Kiki Sanford talks with Ruth DeFries about her book, What Would Nature Do? A Guide for Our Uncertain Times. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast Download a transcript (PDF). [Image: Joe Cheng/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:07.8	Icon Mount Sinai is the academic arm of the eight hospital Mount Sinai health system in New York City.
0:13.9	It's consistently among the top recipients of NIH funding.
0:18.0	Researchers at Icon Mount Sinai have made breakthrough discoveries in many fields vital to
0:23.0	advancing the health of patients, including cancer, COVID and long COVID, cardiology, neuroscience, and
0:30.4	artificial intelligence. The Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. We find a way. Welcome to the science podcast for November 27th,
0:45.5	2020. I'm Sarah Crespi. Each week, we feature the most interesting news and research published
0:50.9	in science and the sister journals. First up, I talked with staff writer Jennifer
0:55.0	Cousin-Frankle about what we now know about keeping schools safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Also this
1:01.6	week, we learn why in temperate forests autumn leaves fall when they do. Is it the changing temperature,
1:07.9	the short days, or have the trees just captured all the carbon
1:11.1	they're going to for the year? In our book segment, Kiki Sanford talks with author of Ruth
1:15.8	DeVries about her book, What Would Nature Do, a Guide for Our Uncertain Times?
1:24.5	We last checked in on schools in COVID-19, on the podcast anyway, in July. At that point, we had some information about spread. This was based on schools that stayed open throughout spring and those that didn't. Now, in the fall term, and a second wave, what do we know? Staff writer Jennifer Cousin-Frankel and contributing correspondent Gretchen Vogel have an update in this week's issue.
1:46.7	Hi, Jennifer.
1:47.5	Hi, thanks for having me.
1:48.8	Sure. It's really great to see this article come out. I feel like we have not a lot of information about schools and a lot of people making a lot of different decisions.
1:58.6	Is now a good time to do this follow-up story?
2:03.1	Now was a good time. And one reason for that is that many more schools have opened than opened in the spring. And we have
2:08.3	schools now open in areas with high transmission, which is different. It offered us an opportunity
2:14.3	to really learn about what's happening in those schools, how are they
2:17.7	coping, and what are researchers trying to learn from them?
	...

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