22 thoughts on “Thursday Throughput: Jovian Impact Edition

      1. I wonder if they can do something about herpes. Everyone and their dog has cold sores, and they suck. Clearly a vaccine won’t cure you if you have it, but perhaps a well primed immune system might deal better with breakouts.

        And eventually strangle that damn thing (both strains) to death in the population.Report

  1. ThTh6 – I figure it would be for the guys who want to be a fussy pendant, but also enjoy trolling the other fussy pendants.Report

  2. ThTh2: As awesome as it would be to bring Wooly Mammoths back, we’re not going to be able to bring back their culture. We’ll just have a bunch of Wooly Mammoths that don’t know how to be Wooly Mammoths.

    Suitable for zoos, I guess.Report

      1. Everybody daydreams about the Fred Flintstone rack of ribs, but, honestly, the choice is between “not as good as beef”, “not as good as chicken”, or “not as good as venison”.Report

            1. Hmmm… a quick google hunt says Elephant, and presumably mammoth, ain’t good eatin.

              “Elephant meat is dense and fibrous, making it hard to chew. As a result, it tastes mildly of pork but has a more robust flavor than beef or lamb because its muscles get less exercise. The taste is often compared to venison. To make the taste more palatable, it is usually served with a sauce or marinade.”Report

  3. ThTh3: Something that’s never really been clear to me is whether a third booster dose, several months after the first, is expected to produce a significantly stronger and more durable antibody response. In general, is each dose stronger than the last, and is that why the polio vaccine needs five doses? Or is it just because the early doses are given when the child’s immune system isn’t sufficiently mature?Report

    1. I believe the polio vaccine needs [four] doses because the first three doses are given to infants. I don’t think it’s necessarily because of an insufficiency of the child’s immune system. The infant has gifted immunity from the mother, and this immunity is not strong enough or durable enough to provide long term protection from disease. (Note: People still get infected with polio, they just don’t know it) The gifted immunity limits the effectiveness of each dose. I gathered this mostly from an interview with a researcher looking at vaccinating pregnant mothers as a more effective way to vaccinate infants.Report

      1. Meant to add: the benefit of the boost is contested primarily on grounds that the mRNA vaccines are very effective and haven’t significantly waned. People who were vaccinated early still have been shown to have over 80% effectiveness against infection and over 90% effectiveness against severe disease. So a third dose might boost these numbers for some period of time, but would the gain even be measurable? Does the dial go to11?

        https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02046-8/fulltextReport

  4. [ThTh1] When I first saw the video, it seemed strange there was no tail. When I looked at it today, I saw it. It makes you realize just how immense Jupiter is that a fiery tail that long is barely visible.Report

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