Monday, September 9, 2013

BWONG! - Viruses with Kevin Bonham

Another podcast! Kevin Bonham joins us once more to talk about viruses.

Thanks for listening, and as a final plea: If you like the podcast (or at least tolerate it) head over to iTunes and give us a review and five stars. If you don't like the podcast, or have suggestions for improvement or future episode ideas, send an e-mail to chad (at) thecollapsedwavefunction.com.

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Show Notes

2:40 - Kevin explains the (not so) easy question of "What is a virus?"

8:46 - What virus would you not wish on your worst enemy? Kevin talks about rabies and hemorrhagic viruses like ebola.

18:06 - Sputnik, a virus that infects viruses. Bad inception joke. BWONG!

21:40 - Sam begins a long string of questions, all leading to a bad pun.

22:20 - Chad makes a bad analogy to chemistry. Kevin, not a chemist, corrects him on the chemistry. Embarrassment ensues.  

25:01 - Is a virus alive? What's the point of defining it as living or non-living?

29:36 - Transposable elements. Boxes that shut themselves (video ).

30:19 - Prions, the zombie makers.

31:25 - The fortnightly scientist: Charles Janeway.