Today, Explained - The Island of Explained: Vaccines

Episode Date: July 17, 2020

We return to the magical Island of Explained with a microbiologist and a talking moth to find out what it will take to produce a coronavirus vaccine. Go to vox.com/todayexplainedlearning to find a germ-y experiment that will teach you more about the scientific method. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk and authorized gaming partner of the NBA.

BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. It's Today Explained. I'm Sean Romsferm. And on recent episodes of the show, I've promised you that we're going to do more stuff for kids this summer. I promised an entire summer camp. And today's the day we're piling into that bus and heading off to summer camp. And we're going to

do it three more times every other Friday after today. And we have a summer camp counselor. He's not driving the bus, but he's like that guy in the front seat with the clipboard and like the safari hat. It's Noah Massenfeld. Noah, what you been up to? Hello, Sean. We have reached out to kids all over the world and we got a bunch of questions. And I wanted to answer one in particular, which is from a girl named Micah, who just finished up fifth grade in Oakland, California. When will we have a vaccine? Strong question. And you actually reported a piece on the show

answering this question, but I'm sure there's a ton more to say since then, yeah? Oh yeah, there's a lot more to go into, and especially we wanted to go into it for kids. And there's one great way to do that. And it is... We have to go back, Kate. Back where?

My name's Sean. To the island. Oh, the island of Explained. The island of Explained. So let me just call up Micah here and see if he wants to come with. Hello? Hey, Micah, it's Noam from Today Explained. We got your question about a vaccine and I think we could find the answer on the island of Explained. You want to come? Yeah, let's do it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's wait a minute. Today! Explain! What?

Today! Oh. Explain! Okay. Today! I get it. Explain! Today!

Today! Explain! Explain! Today! Today! I get it. Explain! Today! Today! Explain! Explain! Today! Today! Explain! It's nice to be back here on the island of Explained.

Micah, you ready to check this place out? Yeah, I'm really excited to be here. Nice shirt, by the way. Is it special for our science trip today? Well, it's a NASA shirt, and I'm wearing it because I really like science, and I like learning about NASA and rocket ships, and I think they're really cool.

Okay, so you're definitely prepped for our science adventure today, and to answer your question about vaccines, we're going to try to see how cells, viruses, and antibodies work inside the body. That sounds crazy. It's not that crazy.

We just need to go to LARGE. What's LARGE? Oh, yeah, sorry. L-A-R-G-E. The Laboratory for Advanced Research by Getting Enormous. It's a lab that makes things really big so we can study them. And I bet they'll make a coronavirus huge for us. I think we should do it. I think it sounds like a cool idea. Great. So let's head over this way, past these rocks over

here. And oh, see, right up that hill, that big square building, that's large. It's very, very large. That's for sure. And getting larger, the closer we get. Looks kind of basic. It is pretty basic, but trust me, on the inside, it's really cool. Okay. So I guess we should just knock on the door. Can you knock? Yeah. Hello? Maria Elena, my favorite scientist. Hi.

Oh my God, Noam, so nice to see you. What's going on? Maria Elena, this is Micah. She just finished up fifth grade and she's from Oakland, California. Oh, hi, Micah. How are you doing today? I'm doing good. What about you? I am doing very good. Micah, this is Maria Elena Botazzi. She heads up a vaccine research lab in Houston. Maria Elena, what are you doing on the island of Explained? Oh, no, you know, I'm actually a visiting fellow here at large.

Oh, perfect. We're actually here because we need something Explained. Yeah. When will we have a vaccine? Ah, okay. So to understand why it takes so long to make a vaccine, you have to really understand how the virus works in the body. Okay. And today we're going to answer these three questions. How a coronavirus attacks your body, how your body fights back, and how actually we scientists can give you a vaccine to help your body fight back. Where should we start? Okay, so let's start here. First, your body is made of lots of cells that are basically little factories that make all sorts of things that the body needs. And they're usually all locked up tight, so nothing messes them up, right? And I

guess the virus is trying to break into our body's cells to get into our little factories? Absolutely. How does the virus get into the cell? Why don't we go ahead and bigify the virus for you? Okay. Whoa, that's a huge virus. Well, there's orange spikes and a purple rim, and it looks like a sun. So those spikes are like a key that unlocks the cells in your body. In comes the virus. It's like a little soldier on a secret mission. It's just by itself. But once the virus can pick the locks on the cells,

it can use all the machinery inside to make copies of the virus itself. Then those copies unlock other cells and make more copies. And eventually cells start getting destroyed and that's why you start to get sick. Because as the copies of the virus are made, the cells burst. How do we stop the virus? Well, your body is not just going to let the viruses come in and do whatever they want, right? You know, it's going to try to fight back. And to do that, it starts by making lots and lots and lots of little weapons.

And these little weapons are called antibodies. So this is the second thing I want to show you. Why don't we actually bigify? So these little antibodies that look like little v's or little y's stick onto the coronavirus and they can cover up the spikes. Oh yeah, I can see it happening now right over there. There's the big spiky coronavirus blob and antibodies are swimming over. Why do you think they're trying to cover up the spikes? So then it won't get in our cells and destroy our cells?

Yeah, so the antibodies, what they want to do is cover up the spikes so they can't work like a key. The spikes can't fit in the doors of the cells so the coronaviruses cannot get in. But it doesn't seem to be working. The antibodies are kind of slipping off the spikes. What's going on? It seems as if the antibodies aren't the right shape so they can't cover the spikes. These antibodies are a bust, I guess.

Maria Elena, do we need different ones? Yes, we actually have to get antibodies that are the right shape. Because the problem is, for every different virus that comes in, your body has to make a new army of antibodies. And that's really hard. Your body needs a lot of time to figure out how to make them just right. And I guess if you get sick, you definitely don't want to have to wait a long time to make antibodies. What if our bodies could practice making them before we get sick, so it's ready to defend against the coronavirus?

Absolutely. This is the third thing that I want to show you is what I do all day. I help make something called a vaccine, which is basically a fake practice virus. It looks just like the virus, but it can't hurt you so that the body gets a chance to practice fitting something on the spikes. And so here, let me actually show you how it's done. Let's bigify. Now let's look just, you know, the new vaccine. It looks just like the virus. Exactly. It's just got the same spikes. It sort of looks like a coronavirus, but because it's fake,

it actually won't be able to break into your cells and hurt you. So your body gets some time to practice and makes antibodies that would fit perfectly on the spike. That way, when the real coronavirus shows up, the body can immediately make the right kind of antibodies super quickly. And then the real virus cannot get inside your cell. Boo! Okay, Micah, we just learned a whole bunch of stuff about antibodies. You think you can help me recap to make sure we got it all? Yeah. The antibodies are covering up the spikes so it won't be able to use its spikes to get into our cells.

But we have to have the right shape. And how do scientists like Maria Elena help the body practice making the right kind of antibodies? By making a fake virus. And that fake virus is called? A vaccine. Exactly. But Maria Elena, it can't be easy to make something that looks just like the coronavirus.

What happens if things don't fit just right? Well, if something doesn't exactly fit, we have to go back to the drawing board and try it again. And that's why it takes so long to make vaccines. Hey, what's this? Maria Elena, are you talking about science without me? Oh, hey, it's the Experimoth. I'm so sorry, Experimoth. I just got excited about this and I forgot about you.

Experimoth, we were just talking about vaccines and the coronavirus. Do you know anything about experimenting with vaccines? I know so much about experiments. I mean, I am the experiment. I was actually coming here to talk to Maria Elena about an experiment I'm planning to do. But she looks very busy.

So maybe the two of you would want to come help? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Then if you could come this way, I'm going to take you to my home. It's called the Knock on Woods.

Ooh. Okay, why don't you walk and fly ahead and I'll meet you there after the break. Support for Today Explained comes from Ramp. Ramp is the corporate card and spend management software designed to help you save time and put money back in your pocket. Ramp says they give finance teams unprecedented control and insight into company spend. With Ramp, you're able to issue cards to every employee with limits and restrictions and automate expense reporting so you can stop wasting time at the end of every month. And now you can get $250 when you join Ramp. You can go to ramp.com slash explained, r-a-m-p.com slash explained, cards issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC, terms and conditions apply. Today, today explained.

Okay, we're back on the island of Explained, and Micah, you and I are here in the Knock-on Woods with the Experimoth. What do you make of it? What do you think? Well, it's really colorful. I see a lot of wood. Some people think that the Knock-on Woods is all about superstition. But these Knock-on Woods, they're completely the opposite. So these are special trees that respond to each other. Can you just knock on this tree over here for a second?

Okay. That tree knocks, and then that causes the tree next to it to knock, and that causes the tree next to that to knock, and that causes the tree next to that to knock, and it goes on and on and on and on and on. Oh, so if you do something over here, it has an effect that spreads out across the woods. Precisely, and that is what the knock-on woods are all about. We try to figure out how one thing causes another thing. Now, I brought you here because you want to know about developing a vaccine.

And to do that, scientists like Maria Elena run experiments to figure out how one thing is having an effect on another thing. Like if a vaccine is working to attack a virus. Exactly. I thought we could design an experiment together, but one that doesn't involve people. It involves some bushes. My prize, berry mint bushes, full of amazing berry mint berries. Wow, you have hundreds of bushes, and those berries are wild. They kind of look like peppermints, but apples at the same time for some weird reason.

Micah, I love these berries so much, I'm basically obsessed with them. But I'm also really worried because look at this. Look at these leaves. Oh my God. It looks like someone ate some of the leaves. And I don't know what those red dots are, but oh my gosh. Those are red fairy beetles. And they keep coming through and munching up all my plants.

Look at this poor leaf. It's got more holes than Swiss cheese. Oh no. But there's hope. The other day, this traveling snailsman left me a fancy voice message. Wait, let me find it. I'll play it for you. Slime, slime, snailsman slime. All you need is snailsman slime.

Ten seconds with my snailsman slime and your berryments will be just fine. Slime. So if we listen to this snailsman, all we need to do is use the slime on my Berryment bushes for ten seconds, and the beetles should just go away. It sounds like a potential solution, yeah? Yeah. But before we get too excited, here in the Knock-On Woods, we like to experiment and see if a solution actually works before we go totally bananas

with it. I was thinking that maybe you could help me design an experiment, like a Berryman experiment, to see if the slime actually works or not. Yeah? Yeah. So what should we do to test and see if the slime will keep the beetles away from my bushes? Maybe we can take the slime and put it on a leaf? That is a superb idea, but this is where you have to get kind of careful when you're designing experiments. It's actually part of the reason they take so long. Because you have to make sure that it's the slime that makes the beetles go away.

And not, I don't know, like a change in the weather. Or maybe the bugs get full and decide to go home. So, maybe we can get bushes and put slime on one of them. And then put no slime on the other. Why would you do that? We would see what's the effect and if it's really the slime or if it's just something else. Perfection. To make a good experiment, we need to make sure that the only difference between our bushes is the slime. So we need to watch a bush that doesn't get the slime just as carefully.

In science, we call this a control. It's basically so you can say, hmm, what would have happened if I hadn't done this experiment at all? And then compare. Now, I think we're almost ready. Micah, is there anything else we should test here?

I think you should test more than one plant. Just don't do all of your plants so then they won't all just die or something. You have hundreds of plants, right? Yeah. So if you put them on all of your plants, then all of them may or may not die. But if you just put it on ten, put slime on some, and don't put slime on some, we would see the reaction. Amazing stuff! So, we are going

to put slime on ten plants to see if it makes the beetles go away. But, we are not going to put slime on the rest of my plants, so we can see what happens if we do nothing at all. Right? Sure.

Alright. Okay. Alright. And also okay. Micah, are you ready to help me put this slime on some bushes? Yeah. Yeah. It feels really slimy and it's also really sticky at the same time, like maple syrup.

It's so disgusting. Yes! I mean, oh no! So, can you help me count down? Because the snail said it was going to work in 10 seconds, so we'll see. Okay. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay, this is the moment of truth. Like, let's look at the plants that we did put slime on. Wow, it looks beautiful. Doesn't have any bugs on it or holes. This is really promising, but let's make sure that it was the slime that made the bugs go away. So let's look at our control group over here. Remember, these are the bushes that didn't get the slime. It looks the same disgusting leaf with bugs on it.

They look really, really hungry. So if the bugs are still coming to the leaves without slime, but they're gone from the leaves that do have slime on them, that means the slime is a solution. Yeah. Holy cow, gee whiz! I am so happy that everything is solved. I am going to put slime on everything.

I am going to put slime on my socks. I am going to put slime on my face. Wait, Experimoth, hold on. Look at the bushes now. Sorry, what was that, Noam? Oh my gosh, what happened? It looks like the slime on my face. Wait, Experimoth, hold on. Look at the bushes now. Sorry, what was that, Nolan? Oh my gosh, what happened? It looks like the slime got rid of the bugs, but then it made the leaves all gross. They're yellow.

Oh my god, they're just so disgusting. I'm honestly very grateful to you, Micah. What if I put this on all of my plants? Oh, they would have been dead. Well, I'm sad to be losing ten bushes, definitely. But this is another important lesson

when you're testing cures. Sometimes, they have side effects that take a little while to show up. And you always need to be sure that your experiments are safe. Uh-huh. I bet Maria Elena could actually tell you a lot more about all this.

And this is right about the time that we generally have an afternoon stroll. I wonder if... Hello, Experimoth! It's time for our little science stroll. Where are you? Maria Elena! Just the scientist I was hoping to see! We were just doing this experiment because my bushes had bugs, and then a snail gave me some slime that was supposed to drive them away in ten seconds.

And it all reminded me of your work with vaccines. Except you're trying to keep viruses away and not bugs. Well, yes, but you know, it's a lot harder than that. First, we need to find a big group of people to test on, which means that we have to find lots of people willing to be in an experiment. Then we need to make sure that the vaccine actually works. And that takes much, much longer than 10 seconds to see, right? And just like you did, we also use a control.

We give some of them a shot with the fake virus in it. We give other people a shot without the fake virus. And then we watch them to compare to see what happens. But then third, because we're going to be giving this vaccine to people and healthy people, we have to make extra sure that they won't develop any bad side effects over time. So we need to wait for a long, very long time. How long do you think we have to wait? Well, we probably have to wait for at least one more year before we know for sure that we have a vaccine that can work fast and that it actually is safe for everybody. So, Micah, if your friends wanted to understand why it takes so long to get a vaccine, what

would you tell them? Because they have to do a lot of things before getting a vaccine, like they have to find the right antibodies and they have to make a fake virus and then they might make the vaccine wrong so they might have to do it again because they don't want anyone getting sick. That makes a lot of sense to me. I'm like, I'm really sorry that I can't give you a vaccine, but I would like to give you some berry mints to take with you back home. I hear they're good with eggs, so maybe you can make eggs-periment? Thank you. All right, Micah, it's about time to leave,

but I'll be back in two weeks with some more Island of Explained adventures. And don't worry, it won't all be coronavirus questions. We've got loads of fun stuff in the works. Okay, bye! Bye! All right, Island, I'll see you in two weeks. Today Explained summer camp counselor Noam Hassenfeld. Noam produced this episode with Bird Pinkerton,

a.k.a. The Experimoth. They had help from Jillian Weinberger, Efim Shapiro, Efim's son Harvey, and Vox's editorial director of podcasts, Liz Kelly Nelson. Mil gracias to Dr. Maria Elena Botazzi for making time for a trip to the island. You can spend more time on the island of explained with a set of activities we put together for you to do with your, with your grownups and with your kids.

You go to box.com slash today, explain the learning for an episode discussion guide and instructions for a germy experiment that will teach you more about how scientists develop vaccines warning. It does involve some gross stuff. Again, the site is vox.com slash todayexplainedlearning. We had a lot of help with that stuff. Thanks to Amanda Northrup, Rachel Giannini,

Salim, Hugh Penny, Lauren Katz, Marika Baldamberg, Brandon Santos, Ode White, and Rachel Israel. We've got three more Today Explained Summer Camp episodes coming your way. Keep an ear out for those every other Friday this summer, starting with this one. The rest of the Today Explained team is Bridget McCarthy, Halima Shah, Muj Zaydi, and Amin Al-Sadi. Cecilia Lay checks the facts. Breakmaster Cylinder brings the bops. The show is a part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.