Editing 2523: Endangered
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by a HEARTBLEED BUG - Title text not explained, specifically why the mentioned virus type could be such an issue for the team. Is it embarrassing? Or where they just all very ill. 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. | ||
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 disease}} - diseases that are being {{w|Eradication of infectious diseases|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 shots [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 suffer less from broken hearts. | + | There also seems to be some evidence that infections with influenza viruses increase the chance of a heart attack. For instance regular flu shots [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== | ||
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:[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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