Learn how COVID tests work; how math can help you with major life decisions; and how some dogs have natural talent. How COVID PCR tests work by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Lydia) Tiner, S. (2020, March 27). The Science Behind the Test for the COVID-19 VirusDiscovery’s Edge. Https://Discoverysedge.mayo.edu/. https://discoverysedge.mayo.edu/2020/03/27/the-science-behind-the-test-for-the-covid-19-virus/ Amoeba Sisters. (2020). PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5jmdh9AnS4 PCR: Thirty-five years and counting. (2018, May 10). PCR: Thirty-five years and counting. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/features/2018/05/pcr-thirty-five-years-and-counting Ask A Scientist Staff. (2020, October 23). Why qPCR is the gold standard for COVID-19 testing. Ask a Scientist; Thermo Fisher Scientific. https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/ask-a-scientist/why-qpcr-is-the-gold-standard-for-covid-19-testing/ Additional resources from David Sumpter: Pick up "The Ten Equations that Rule the World and How You Can Use Them Too" https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250246967 Faculty page: https://katalog.uu.se/profile/?id=N7-525 Twitter: https://twitter.com/soccermatics?lang=en Dogs have talent, yes they do by Steffie Drucker Not only humans got talent, dogs got it too! (2021, July 7). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/553737 Fugazza, C., Dror, S., Sommese, A., Temesi, A., & Miklósi, Á. (2021). Word learning dogs (Canis familiaris) provide an animal model for studying exceptional performance. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93581-2 Genius Dog Challenge. (2021). Exceptional DOGS & what they can TEACH us [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF6ZpjdH2Sc Follow Christina Hunger, Speech Pathologist, on Instagram @Hunger4Words https://www.instagram.com/hunger4words/?hl=en Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn how COVID tests work; how math can help you with major life decisions; and how some dogs have natural talent.
How COVID PCR tests work by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Lydia)
Additional resources from David Sumpter:
Dogs have talent, yes they do by Steffie Drucker
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-covid-tests-work-making-decisions-with-math-dog-talent
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, we’ll answer a listener question about how COVID PCR tests work. You’ll also learn about how math can help you with career and relationship decisions, with help from author David Sumpter; and how some dogs have natural talent.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
We got a message from Lydia in the city of Marshfield, who writes,”I work in a hospital lab and do covid tests all day. I'd really like you to explain to listeners about PCR and how it's used for covid tests.” Great suggestion, Lydia!
It turns out that PCR is downright futuristic, and we’re really fortunate to have this amazing biotechnology at our disposal during a global pandemic.
PCR stands for polymerase [puh-LIMM-er-ace] chain reaction, and it’s one of two types of tests we have for active COVID screening. It’s also the most accurate test we have. But it’s not new: Scientists have been using PCR to detect different kinds of DNA since 1983.
PCR basically works by making copies of the DNA you’re looking for so that if it’s there, you can detect it. But there’s a problem: viruses don’t have. They have RNA, which is a single strand to DNA’s double strand. Never fear! PCR tests for COVID just convert that RNA into DNA.
Here’s how it works. After you get your COVID swab at the clinic, it’s sent to a lab where it’s processed so that all you have left is the RNA. That RNA is mixed with a few other ingredients: enzymes designed to translate RNA into DNA and to put DNA together, a strand of DNA called a primer that tells the enzyme where to start building, some building materials in the form of nucleotides, and strands of DNA called probes that glow when they detect DNA that matches their own.
First, that translating enzyme reads the viral RNA and creates a matching strand of DNA to pair it with, then destroys the RNA and pairs the new DNA strand with a second strand. The result is a double-strand of DNA with the same genetic information as the original RNA.
But we’re not done! Then, those two strands are separated using heat. Remember that primer that tells the enzyme where to start building? It latches onto the correct spot on each strand, and the building enzyme gets to work creating a second strand on each original strand. Boom: one strand of DNA turns into two. Then it does it again, and again, and again until you have a boatload of identical DNA. This whole time, glowing probes are sticking to the pieces of DNA that match the viral RNA.
If there was viral RNA in your swab, PCR will amplify it so it can be detected — and you’ll get a positive result. If there wasn’t any viral RNA in your swab, then no copies will be made and nothing will be detected. And you’ll get a negative result.
Thanks for your question, Lydia! If you have a question, send it in to curiosity at discovery dot com or leave a voicemail at 312-596-5208.
Yesterday, David Sumpter told us how we can use math to get more out of our apps — and keep our apps from getting more out of us. Today, we're getting a little more personal by learning the equations that can help us decide to quit a job or end a relationship. David Sumpter is a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and the author of multiple books, including his latest: The Ten Equations that Rule the World and How You Can Use Them Too. David says the equation you need for a big life decision is a little different than the one for deciding what to watch on TV.
[CLIP 2:33]
Not everything comes down to a mathematical equation — but more things do than you'd think. Again, that was David Sumpter is a professor of applied mathematics and author of The Ten Equations that Rule the World and How You Can Use Them Too. You can find a link to pick it up in the show notes.
Everyone thinks their child is special, but there are always a few that are truly gifted, like Mozart or Simone Biles. And dog parents, we now know this applies to your fur babies too: Scientists discovered that some dogs have natural talent.
Hungarian researchers put 34 dogs through an intensive three-month training program aimed at teaching them to identify at least two toys by name alone. Every day, the owners played with their dogs while repeatedly stating the name of the toy. The human-canine pairs also worked on this skill with a dog trainer once a week. Then every month, the dogs demonstrated their word-based fetching skills by retrieving the correct toy from a separate room when prompted by their owner.
The research team’s initial hypothesis basically came down to the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” They predicted that puppies would pick up toy names faster since their brains were more malleable. But that’s not what happened. The majority of dogs, no matter their age, didn’t show any learning.
There was one dog that stood out from the pack: A border collie named Oliva [oh-LEE-vah]. She entered the study without any toy names under her belt, and by the end of two months, she had learned a whopping 21 new toy names. (She sadly died before the study was completed).
Researchers also put out a call for gifted dogs on social media and found six that could demonstrate a knowledge of toy names. Each of these dogs also happened to be border collies and entered the study with more than a dozen toy names in their vocabulary. The owners said their dogs naturally learned more toy names through unstructured play. Throughout the study’s three-month testing period, the gifted dogs learned between 11 and 37 new toy names.
So was their breed the key to their success? Scientists say no. Though border collies have a reputation as the brainiacs of the dog world, there were 18 other border collies in the study that learned nothing at all.
Researchers likened the word-learning dogs to musicians with perfect pitch: An extremely small group of individuals are just born with that potential, and no amount of practice or training would put the rest of us on their level.
So even if your dog doesn’t possess this special skill, it can still put a smile on your face. And that’s a talent all its own.
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll hear next week on Curiosity Daily. What’s the story, Ashley
ASHLEY: Next week, you’ll learn about why buying one new thing makes you want to buy more new things;
Why electric cars may be the future, but they’re also the distant past;
The surprising amount of work that goes into preparing dinosaur fossils for museums;
A brainless organism that can do things we usually associate with thinking;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
[ad lib optional]
ASHLEY: The writer for today’s last story was Steffie Drucker.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer, who was also a writer and audio editor on today’s episode.
ASHLEY: Our producer and lead audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: Have a great weekend! [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Then, join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!