Thursday Throughput: Jovian Impact Edition

Michael Siegel

Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.

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22 Responses

  1. Philip H says:

    I look forward to ThTh5 becoming reality. three for one, built on mRNA technology, is a good thing.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Philip H says:

      Any/all vaccines using mRNA should be the thing. Why should we bother culturing viruses when we don’t have to?

      And the potential for cancer or AIDS?Report

      • JS in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

        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

  2. Oscar Gordon says:

    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

  3. Oscar Gordon says:

    ThTh1 – I am surprised Juno didn’t catch this. It’s still out there, isn’t it?Report

  4. Jaybird says:

    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

  5. Brandon Berg says:

    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

    • PD Shaw in reply to Brandon Berg says:

      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

  6. Slade the Leveller says:

    [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