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Science Friday

Your Cheese’s Microbiome, COVID Reinfection Questions, Future Of Meat. Nov 27, 2020, Part 1

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science, Life Sciences, Wnyc, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.46.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2020

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can You Get COVID-19 More Than Once? SciFri producer Elah Feder’s friend tested positive for antibodies a few months ago—but last month, she developed COVID-19 symptoms again. So far, only a handful of cases of COVID reinfection have been confirmed, but we don’t yet know the true rates. Cases could be missed if the first or second infection is asymptomatic, and sometimes, what looks like a case of reinfection is something else entirely. Over the past few months, we’ve seen both concerns that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 fade quickly and reassurances that immunity probably endures. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at Yale, along with Alessandro Sette and Shane Crotty of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, explain what we know about the immune system’s ability to remember this virus, and what cases of reinfection could mean for the efficacy of vaccines. What Is The Future of Meat? More and more people are trying meat alternatives, and for good reason: The meat industry is a major contributor to climate change. Almost 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock, with cattle making up about two-thirds of that. Others avoid meat because of ethical problems with slaughtering animals. Altogether, plant-based meats are having a major moment, making their way onto the shelves of major grocery stores, and the menus of fast food chains. It’s now possible to eat a burger that tastes, looks, and feels like beef—while being entirely made of plants. Some scientists are devoting their careers to creating a future where more meat comes from plants, or even cells grown in a lab. Joining Ira to mull over the future of meat is Pat Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods, and Isha Datar, executive director of New Harvest, a non-profit that promotes the research and development of cell-based animal products.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Later in the hour, we'll talk about the microbes that make

0:05.5

your smelly cheese and will chew over the future of meat. But first, if you've recovered from COVID-19

0:12.6

or tested positive for antibodies, you might be wondering, can I get infected again? You might have

0:19.8

seen reports in the news saying antibodies wane within a few months.

0:23.9

You might have also heard about cases of reinfection and then skepticism about those claims.

0:29.5

So what's the deal? Can you get COVID-19 twice? And if immunity does wane over time,

0:37.0

how long would a vaccine protect us?

0:39.9

Here to tell us more, Science Friday producer Ella Fedder.

0:43.0

Ella, welcome back.

0:44.1

Thanks for having me.

0:45.1

So you started working on the story after your friend got COVID-19?

0:49.2

Yeah.

0:49.6

So back in May, my good friend got tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

0:55.5

If you remember, New York had just started offering these antibody tests for free.

0:59.7

And so a lot of people were getting them.

1:01.5

I tested negative.

1:03.0

But my good friend, whose name I'm omitting for privacy, she tested positive.

1:07.9

Which was surprising because I hadn't had any symptoms that I knew of. Like, I was

1:13.8

thankfully very healthy. She'd actually been training for a half marathon all throughout that spring,

1:19.7

just in great health. So she wasn't expecting this result. And just to be sure, she actually got a

1:26.2

second test at another facility. And again,

1:29.1

she was positive for antibodies. At the same time, she tested negative for the virus, and then

...

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