Editing 2523: Endangered
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by a HEARTBLEED BUG - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | The | + | The {{w|endangered species}} list (also known as the {{w|IUCN Red List}}) is a system for categorizing species based on "level of extinction". |
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+ | [[Ponytail]], [[Cueball]], and [[Megan]] in this comic are scientists who are sarcastically worried about pathogen strains becoming extinct. People in general want harmful pathogens to go extinct.{{citation needed}} | ||
Randall was most likely inspired by [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00642-4 this article] about different {{w|influenza}} strains. Influenza causes the yearly flu, which infects 5–15% of the global population annually and causes 3-5 million severe cases worldwide. | Randall was most likely inspired by [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00642-4 this article] about different {{w|influenza}} strains. Influenza causes the yearly flu, which infects 5–15% of the global population annually and causes 3-5 million severe cases worldwide. | ||
− | The bitter irony here is that much recent scholarship has described [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/parasites-are-going-extinct-heres-why-thats-a-bad-thing-180964808/ links between parasite biodiversity and ecosystem-wide, indeed planet-wide, biodiversity]. In | + | The title text mentions {{w|polio}} and {{w|Dracunculiasis|Guinea worm disesase}} - diseases that are being eradicated due to worldwide efforts - the former, famously, through vaccination, and the latter through education and prevention techniques. A Google search [https://www.google.com/search?q="sarcastic+endangered"+list] seems to indicate that the "sarcastic endangered" list is not a real thing. |
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+ | The bitter irony here is that much recent scholarship has described [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/parasites-are-going-extinct-heres-why-thats-a-bad-thing-180964808/ links between parasite biodiversity and ecosystem-wide, indeed planet-wide, biodiversity]. In few, if preserving and expanding biodiversity are seen as good things, then preserving and expanding biodiversity of parasites is a good thing, the one not being possible without the other. Parasites and disease agents, arguably, are classes of predators, and their removal can help establish a superpredator, the actions of which can catastrophically drive down biodiversity. Humans, released from predation by a large percentage of formerly-effective microbial predators, through the introduction of penicillin and other antibiotics plus other elements of 'heroic medicine', sanitation, etc., have arguably [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/modern-humans-have-become-superpredators-180956348/ become such a superpredator], and one that is mediating a loss of global biodiversity that may become the largest single species-extinction event in the history of planet Earth. | ||
− | There also seems to be some evidence that infections with influenza viruses increase the chance of a heart attack. For instance regular flu | + | There also seems to be some evidence that infections with influenza viruses increase the chance of a heart attack. For instance regular flu shorts [https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/11/18/flu-shot-reduces-risk-of-death-for-people-with-heart-disease reduce the risk of heart attacks]. Thus the fact that we are "heartbroken" when B/Yamagata goes extinct could be sarcastic, since we might in fact suffer less from broken hearts. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
+ | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
:[Ponytail stands facing Cueball and Megan in front of a poster board.] | :[Ponytail stands facing Cueball and Megan in front of a poster board.] | ||
:[Ponytail is pointing a stick to the board reading "Current List" with bullet points beneath.] | :[Ponytail is pointing a stick to the board reading "Current List" with bullet points beneath.] | ||
:[The first bullet reads Influenza B/Yamagata.] | :[The first bullet reads Influenza B/Yamagata.] | ||
− | :[Four further | + | :[Four further bulletpoints follow, which are left indistinct.] |
− | :Ponytail: Influenza's genetic diversity has declined | + | :Ponytail: Influenza's genetic diversity has declined druing the pandemic, and the B/Yamagata lineage is at risk of extinction. |
:Ponytail: Which would be ''such'' a shame. | :Ponytail: Which would be ''such'' a shame. | ||
:Megan: Yeah, I'm sooooooo worried about it. | :Megan: Yeah, I'm sooooooo worried about it. | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | ||
[[Category:Biology]] | [[Category:Biology]] | ||
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