Episode 3: Viruses and Astrophysics
We were honored to have Dr Jack Austin join us for this episode. Dr Austin is a board-certified Infectious Disease physician that has been beating down various bugs for over thirty years. He continues to be a pillar in the medical community. No sooner did the simple drumbeat stop that we were already diving right into discussion about what viruses are. He explained that there is much controversy about viruses even being living entities. Some scientists argue against viruses being “alive,” since they can only replicate inside a host cell (check out this quick FORBES ARTICLE for a fun general read about what is considered alive). Our conversation further meandered and landed on the human response to viral infections and potential vaccines. We briefly discussed the specifics about COVID-19 and even touched on some conspiracy theories! He mentioned an article from Nature Medicine that discussed a virus similar to COVID-19 that had the potential for human emergence!
We, here at Apologies Now, really really like talking about viruses but Hetal accidentally took us off topic. He has too many thoughts for his own good and often subjects people to hearing these. On this blessed day he opened up conversation about seeing lights in the sky one clear night. He had decided they may have been Starlink satellites; this opened up conversation about Dr Austin applying to the NASA space program, his ongoing course work in astrophysics, and his grandson being named Sagan! We all parted ways with plans for future podcasting together. It was a good day except Hetal had a mustache hidden under his anti-COVID mask.
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