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Ask A Biologist – Coronavirus Live Chat

Ask A Biologist – Coronavirus Live Chat

Dr. Carin Bondar

Thank you to everyone who joined me on Facebook Live last week, and everyone who asked questions! Most questions were, understandably, about Coronavirus.

For those of you who missed it, here’s a recap of what we discussed.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMIYBSY3lqY[/embedyt]

Viruses are something that we have to respect more. Period. When we look at how bacteria can easily evolve away from our antibiotics, we can predict how it’s going to evolve. We understand bacterial DNA. Viruses mutate so quickly and so unpredictably, and that’s what makes them scary. We just don’t know a ton about them. As much as we like to think we are the most successful, most intelligent beings on the planet, we do not have control of this.

I think we will experience more pandemics in our lifetime. I hope we are going to get a handle on the coronavirus, and I hope it’s a lesson to us. We are overpopulating our planet. In biology, we study animal overpopulation so frankly and yet have such a hard time discussing it about our own species. We are essentially an incubator for microorganisms.

Another biological truism I’ve been thinking about a lot is that, humans have such big brains that need to be stimulated and entertained constantly. We overcomplicate nearly every aspect of our lives, sometimes to unhealthy extremes. This outbreak is bringing a lot of people back to simplicity – reading, cleaning up our homes, planting gardens, spending time with family. I’m enjoying it. Let’s just enjoy all of the beauty that we have around us.

Because of the nature of human nature, I think we are going to make it through the coronavirus pandemic. We won’t all make it, and we won’t all make it through climate change. But we will get through it and there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Also, I definitely think we are going to see a baby boom coming. When you put humans inside and tell them to isolate, what else are you going to do? We’re animals, after all.