Some Viruses Do You Good
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2021
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about how blind and low-vision gamers have an edge when it comes to certain games, with Cornell University Professor Andrew Campana. Then, learn how some viruses actually protect their hosts; and the shocking solution to the Monty Hall Problem, an infamous brain teaser that may leave you questioning your math skills.
Additional resources from Andrew Campana:
- Andrew Campana's faculty page: https://asianstudies.cornell.edu/andrew-campana
- Andrew Campana, Cornell University – Taking the Video out of Video Games, Cornell Academic Minute: https://academicminute.org/2020/12/andrew-campana-cornell-university-taking-the-video-out-of-video-games/
- A Blind Legend: http://www.ablindlegend.com/
Believe it or not, some viruses protect their hosts and even have therapeutic uses by Cameron Duke
- Cassella, C. (2021). Scientists Find a Virus That’s Evolved to Protect Its Host - Depending on The Weather. ScienceAlert. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-a-virus-that-harms-or-protects-plants-depending-on-the-weather
- González, R., Butković, A., Escaray, F. J., Martínez-Latorre, J., Melero, Í., Pérez-Parets, E., Gómez-Cadenas, A., Carrasco, P., & Elena, S. F. (2021). Plant virus evolution under strong drought conditions results in a transition from parasitism to mutualism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(6), e2020990118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020990118
- Mathew, C. (2019, August 7). Viruses aren’t all nasty – some can actually protect our health. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/viruses-arent-all-nasty-some-can-actually-protect-our-health-117678
The Monty Hall Problem Is the Probability Puzzle That Enraged 10,000 Readers originally aired December 4, 2018 https://omny.fm/shows/curiosity-daily/see-if-you-re-a-covert-narcissist-michelson-morley
- Monty Hall Problem - Numberphile [Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lb-6rxZxx0
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from |
| 0:04.6 | Curiosity.com. I'm Cody Goff. And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you learn about how |
| 0:08.8 | blind and low vision players have an edge when it comes to certain games with Cornell University |
| 0:13.6 | professor Andrew Campana. You'll also learn about how some viruses actually |
| 0:17.8 | protect their hosts and the maddening puzzle known as the Monte Hall problem. |
| 0:22.3 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:25.0 | Yesterday, Andrew Campana told us about how blind developers are creating audio games for blind and low vision players. |
| 0:32.0 | Today, he's going to tell us how those blind and low vision players. Today he's going to tell us how those |
| 0:34.2 | blind and low vision players actually have an advantage when it comes to games |
| 0:38.0 | like these. Not to mention plenty of other tasks. Andrew Campana is an assistant professor of modern and |
| 0:44.0 | contemporary Japanese literature in the Department of Asian Studies at |
| 0:47.6 | Cornell University and he's been researching how communities of blind and |
| 0:51.4 | low vision players stay in the game. |
| 0:53.4 | Check out our conversation. |
| 0:55.4 | Has there been any kind of research into sighted players' ability to play these games |
| 1:01.2 | versus players with vision impairment? |
| 1:03.4 | Yeah, absolutely. |
| 1:04.6 | A lot of your listeners will have heard of the phenomenon of neuroplasticity where |
| 1:08.6 | different parts of the brain can basically be reprogrammed to do different things. |
| 1:12.6 | And for a lot of blind players in particular, |
| 1:15.8 | their brains have been reprogrammed to sort of experience sound |
| 1:19.0 | and touch in ways that are quite different from sighted people. |
... |
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