Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Science Friday covers three COVID-era science stories: convalescent plasma and antibody testing as tools to treat and understand coronavirus, the vulnerability and response of Michigan tribal governments during the pandemic, and new Mercury research revealing unexpected volatiles, ice, and chaotic terrain. The episode then highlights citizen science projects people can do from home, especially Crowd the Tap for lead in drinking water.
Main Topics: Convalescent plasma as an experimental COVID-19 treatment: Sarah Zhang explains the old medical idea of using blood plasma from recovered patients to transfer antibodies to the sick, how donations are being gathered, and why donor screening is difficult early in a pandemic. Antibody testing and what it can reveal: The segment explains that antibody blood tests can identify plasma donors, estimate asymptomatic infection levels, and potentially indicate who may safely return to work because of immunity. Immunity duration and the risk of renewed outbreaks: The discussion notes that immunity length after infection is still unknown, while imported cases and travel-related reintroductions may trigger second waves even in places that previously controlled outbreaks. Michigan tribes’ COVID-19 response and testing gaps: A report on tribal governments in Michigan shows how sovereign tribes closed casinos, shifted to skeletal remote operations, protected elders, and struggled to secure tests and PPE through state/federal channels. Mercury’s unexpected water and volatile chemistry: Deborah DeMong discusses how Mercury, despite extreme temperatures, hosts ice in permanently shadowed polar craters and may contain sulfur-rich volatiles beneath chaotic terrain linked to subsurface loss. Citizen science from home, especially Crowd the Tap: Karen Cooper outlines citizen science as public participation in research and describes projects accessible during isolation, including an effort to map lead plumbing and estimate water risk in homes.
Key Arguments: Convalescent plasma is promising because survivors already have antibodies that may neutralize SARS-CoV-2, making it a potentially faster therapeutic than creating a new drug from scratch. Antibody tests matter not just for diagnosis but for public health: they can identify donors, reveal undercounted asymptomatic infections, and help determine who may have immunity. Immunity after COVID-19 infection is not yet known; researchers can only infer from related coronaviruses that it may last months, but direct evidence is limited by the virus’s short time in humans. Even places that suppressed outbreaks can face renewed spread from travelers, so sustained testing, tracing, and isolation will remain necessary until vaccines or treatments are available. Michigan tribes are acting proactively but face bureaucratic barriers to testing and PPE, despite being sovereign governments with health systems and essential services to maintain. Mercury is not the inert, dry rock once assumed; MESSENGER data suggest a complex volatile system, including ice in shadowed craters and subsurface materials that may drive chaotic terrain. Citizen science lets nonexperts contribute real data and analysis, and modern projects use training, consensus, and large-scale participation to ensure data quality. Crowd the Tap addresses a practical infrastructure problem—lead in drinking water—by crowdsourcing home plumbing data and water testing to build predictive risk models.
Data Points: Recovered donors: over 1,000 - Mount Sinai Hospital reportedly received more than a thousand people willing to donate plasma after issuing a call. Sulfur content on Mercury: high volatile content including sulfur, sodium, magnesium - MESSENGER elemental chemistry surprised scientists by finding volatile-rich surface chemistry on a very hot planet. Mercury surface temperature: up to 800 degrees - Used to emphasize the planet’s extreme day-side heat. Mercury orbital spin: 2-to-3 resonance - Described as Mercury rotating while orbiting the Sun, not always presenting the same face. Lead pipes ban: 1986 - Crowd the Tap focuses on older infrastructure because lead pipes were banned in 1986 but still exist in many systems. Crowd the Tap target homes: 1,000 homes - The project aims to build a statistical model of lead risk using data from a thousand homes. Citizen science database: over 3,000 projects and events - SciStarter’s searchable database was described as containing more than 3,000 citizen science opportunities. Tide stations historical example: 650 stations - Karen Cooper cited an 1830s tide-measurement effort involving 650 stations on both sides of the Atlantic. Testing kits for one tribe: 2 kits for 44,000 citizens - The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians initially had only two test kits for its citizen population.
Pivotal Quotes: "The idea is that it's pretty hard to make a drug or a vaccine from scratch but we have all these people walking around whose immune systems have figured out how to make antibodies." — Sarah Zhang: Explaining why convalescent plasma may be useful during a fast-moving pandemic. "These are places that really got coronavirus under control early on. And now we're having travelers, in many cases, people returning home to these countries." — Sarah Zhang: Describing why Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea are seeing renewed cases. "You wouldn't last. You wouldn't last standing there." — Deborah DeMong: Answering what it would feel like to stand on Mercury in its extreme conditions.
Implications: The episode underscores that pandemic response depends on both biomedical tools and public-health logistics, while also showing how remote participation in science can fill critical data gaps. Future progress hinges on testing, tracing, and mission-driven research.