The Dose: Oyster Farms and the Anthropocene
Exercising after COVID, riveting lives in neuroscience, oyster farms and the Anthropocene
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👶 Treatment for young children. The FDA had recently expanded the approval of using remdesivir (Veklury) to treat COVID-19 to include patients as young as 28 days and weighing at least 3.5kg (~7lbs). This makes remdesivir the first COVID-19 treatment option approved for children below 12. To be eligible, children must either be hospitalized, or not hospitalized with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and have a high risk for severe illness. Given that we are still waiting for vaccines to become available for children under 5, having an available treatment option for young children should they fall sick may provide some relief to parents. Read more
😷 Maximize mask protection. There has been a removal of mask mandates from most public transportation and public spaces in numerous parts of the US. If you have underlying health conditions or young children, you might be concerned about how to effectively protect yourself and your loved ones even with one-way masking. First, wear respirators such as N95s, KN95s, KF94s because they provide the highest level of protection. Second, make sure your mask fits snugly around your nose, mouth and chin. Third, if you choose to wear surgical masks, make sure to use the ‘knot-and-tuck’ method to make it as fitting as possible. Read more
🚲 Exercising after COVID-19. When can we start working out again? As with the case for many other infectious diseases, returning back to your exercise routine depends on the severity of your illness. If you had an asymptomatic infection, you are recommended to wait three days after your positive test before exercising. If you had mild or moderate illness without symptoms affecting your heart or lungs, you can exercise after your symptoms resolve. However, if you had symptoms affecting your heart or lungs, such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or fainting, you are recommended to stay away from rigorous exercise until your symptoms resolve and you have received a cardiac test. Our infographic below provides a comprehensive guide. Read more
🧠 Check out The Science Life for a riveting, down-to-earth glimpse into the exciting lives of neuroscientists, research technicians, graduate students and more. We enjoyed this spell-binding illustrated series that explores the lived experiences of people working in brain research. Experience the defining moments of tragedy and triumph that mark the life of a scientist through the lives of 16 individuals. Explore each individual series here.
Meet Shivani Bigler, a middle child, stand-up comic and graduate student in the Sigelbaum Lab on how her experience led her to study a particularly neglected brain region potentially important in memory-making.
Here’s Erica Rodriguez, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Salzman Lab, whose back injury and chronic pain inspired her to study how social bonds influence our emotional experiences and neural circuitry.
Finally, meet Kerel Francis, a lab manager & research assistant in the Bendesky Lab on how coping with PTSD eventually led to his career in neuroscience.
🌱 High-energy ballistic missiles. The Oxalis species have evolved a particularly interesting way of optimizing its seed dispersal technique. The moment the outer covering of a seed is disturbed, cracks form and it snaps, transforming its stored energy to eject the seed it protects at an optimal dispersal angle. That is not all. Once the first seed is launched, this outer covering touches the next seed- thus triggering the launch of a chain of seed missiles - one after the other in a fantastic display of dispersal.
🌎 Banning single-use plastic straws might be great for the environment. But unlike its metal, bamboo or paper alternatives, plastic straws are also flexible, cost-effective, and safe for disabled people. Breathless by Kay Sohini illuminates with great sensitivity the problem of placing the responsibility of being eco-friendly on individuals instead of the industries responsible for the majority of all emissions. This comic series is much needed in our continuous confrontation of the complicated relationships between environmental justice, ethical consumption and socioeconomic inequality. We thoroughly enjoyed this thought-provoking and pristine piece of art.
Discover the Anthropocene from the air. The Oyster Farm Series is a collection of oyster farming landscapes on the northwestern French Atlantic coast. Alongside a distinguished portfolio of aerial photography, Tom Hegen aims to command attention on the Anthropocene from a perspective often foreign to us- from high above. A documentation of the traces we leave on the earth’s surface, this is but one of his mesmerizing collections depicting the unique bonds between human development and the earth’s natural tidal environment. Read more
Tell the time using Earth Clock. Earth Clock is a digital clock which scours the globe for satellite photos of geographic and architectural features that resemble numbers, completely synchronised with your local time. Feel free to drag and zoom in on any of the views- giving you the freedom to explore new geographies and architectural installations from around the globe. Here’s what we got:
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