Learn about the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic; the surprising impact time zones can have on sports performance; and the failed COVID-19 vaccines you may not have heard about.
Learn about the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic; the science of the "home team advantage" and the surprising impact time zones can have on sports performance; and the failed COVID-19 vaccines you may not have heard about.
This is the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic by Kelsey Donk
Sports performance on the road depends on your body's alignment with the time zone by Kelsey Donk
Why are there no failed COVID-19 vaccines? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Pranav)
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-safest-way-to-ride-in-a-car-during-the-pandemic
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, you’ll learn about the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic; and the surprising impact time zones can have on sports performance. We’ll also answer a listener question about failed COVID-19 vaccines.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
In a pandemic, it’s always safest to spend your time with the people in your immediate household. But if you do end up in a car with someone you don’t live with — like in a taxi or rideshare — researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have some tips. They recently found the safest way to ride in a car with someone during a pandemic.
When you first get into a car with someone outside your household, your instinct will probably be to roll down your window. Ventilation, right? Lots of fresh, circulating air can keep your exposure to the virus low, after all. But this new study suggests that opening the window right next to you might not be your best option.
Even in a car with just two people, the coronavirus transmission risk is high because tiny, aerosolized virus particles can stay in the air for a long time. If you don’t open the windows to let in fresh air, those particles can build up and pose an infection risk. So it’s important to find out how to reduce that risk as much as you can.
When the researchers simulated the experience of a driver and a passenger in the car, their first discovery wasn’t a big surprise: the best bet is to ride with all the windows down, with the backseat passenger and driver sitting kitty-corner from each other.
But their next discovery wasn’t so obvious. If both occupants only roll their respective windows down, the air circulates in a way that sends potentially infectious air directly from the driver to the passenger. It’s better than having all the windows up, but it’s not ideal.
The best scenario is for driver and passenger to roll down the window on the opposite side from them. That way, air flows in through the rear window, makes a sharp turn as it gets to the passenger, and keeps going out the front window. That creates a sort of barrier that can help protect both occupants from infection.
It’s important to note that this only applies to a car with two occupants — the team didn’t look at scenarios with more people than that.
So if you end up in a shared vehicle, roll all the windows down. If you can’t do that, roll down the window opposite where you’re sitting, and ask the driver to do the same. And make sure everyone in the car wears a mask. That will be your best bet for staying safe.
Sports fans everywhere will tell you that the home team always has an advantage in games. But why? Is it the cheering home team fans? An unfair boost from local referees? Scientists recently discovered one explanation, and they have the pandemic to thank for their discovery. It turns out that one big part of the home-team advantage comes down to time zones.
How did the pandemic help scientists figure this out? Well, it’s what led the NBA to hunker down in a “bubble,” or isolation zone, for their mid-pandemic season. The top 22 teams spent the last two months of the season living and playing in total isolation at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. That meant no home team, no away team, just a bunch of players in the same place for months. A couple of researchers realized that this was the perfect opportunity to test how travel and time zones affect team performance.
For this study, the researchers compared the performance of basketball teams before the coronavirus pandemic, when they were allowed to travel, with their performance in the bubble. And it turns out that teams do, in fact, appear to play better when they don’t have to travel. In the bubble, everyone played better. The researchers found that all teams scored more, and there wasn’t the one team shooting worse than the other.
The researchers also found some even more interesting differences in their analysis — and it came down to pretty granular details. Shooting, for instance, appeared to be affected by travel across time zones. Rebounding was hurt by any travel in general. The researchers think they know why.
When you cross a time zone, the mismatch between your new time zone and the time zone you’re used to has an effect on your brain’s internal clock, which sets the timing of all sorts of systems in your body. With something as precise as shooting a basketball through a small net, even a small disruption can have a big impact.
Whether you’re a basketball player or a businessperson, this study suggests that even the smallest misalignments between your body and a new time zone can impact accuracy and performance. To best adapt, the researchers suggest getting to your new location as far in advance as possible and resting up before game time.
We got a listener question from Pranav, who asks, “I am a bit of a pessimist. But why are we seeing all the vaccines being successful? Why aren't there any failed vaccine development?” This is such an important question, Pranav. I’m glad you asked it!
While all the celebration lately has been about a handful of successful COVID-19 vaccines, the truth is that these are just the superstars that have risen to the top of a very, very long list of vaccine candidates. These weren’t only the best vaccines developed so far, they were also the first to the finish line. And just like in any marathon, long after the winners finish, there are plenty of others still making their way to the end and plenty more that had to drop out early. Last fall, clinical trials for the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson and the one made by AstraZeneca both had to be paused because a few participants got sick. After a thorough investigation, they resumed those trials, and as of January 29th the AstraZeneca vaccine has been authorized by the EU and the Johnson & Johnson one just successfully completed its phase 3 trial. Eli Lilly had to put trials of its antibody treatment on hold around the same time, but it eventually completed those trials and earned an emergency use authorization from the FDA. In December, Australia became the first to abandon clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccine. That’s because it produced false positive test results for HIV in some volunteers. But I want to stress that these were false positives: these participants had no actual HIV in their systems in follow-up tests. And just recently, Merck abandoned two vaccine trials because neither provoked a strong enough immune response.
Those are just the famous ones. We’re nowhere near done. On the day I’m recording this, researchers are currently testing [67] vaccines in clinical trials on humans. [20] of those have reached the final stages. And that’s not even counting the [89] or more vaccines that haven’t reached clinical trials yet. Not all of them will, and that’s something to celebrate. Every mistake, pause, re-do, and cancellation in our effort to find a treatment that can end this global pandemic is a good thing. It means that science is working correctly, and that the vaccines that do cross the finish line have been thoroughly tested to ensure that they’re safe and effective. Thanks for your question, Pranav! If you have a question, send it in to podcast at curiosity dot com or leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208.
Leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208!
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll hear next week on Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Next week, you’ll learn about how plants can pass off “memories” to their offspring;
A personality trait that could be the key to lasting romance;
How fever helps you get better;
That time scientists made ants walk on stilts;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk and Ashley Hamer, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Have a great weekend, and join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!