Episode Details

Today we talk about how crystallizing human urine can help save seagrass, a new AI program that can detect early signs of heart disease, and how mosquitos can be used to vaccinate against malaria. 

Pee and Seagrass 

• “Human Pee Might Just Be the Key to Saving Seagrass” by Jesse Kathan
  • https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/human-pee-might-just-be-the-key-to-saving-seagrass-180980368/
• “Use of a wastewater recovery product (struvite) to enhance subtropical seagrass restoration” by C. MacDonnella, F. Bydalek, T.Z. Osborne, A. Beard, S.Barbour, D.Leonard, J. Makinia, and P.W. Ingletta.
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722028133

Heart Sound Maps 

• “Low-cost disease diagnosis by mapping heart sounds” by American Institute of Physics
  • https://phys.org/news/2022-08-low-cost-disease-diagnosis-heart.html
• “Low-Cost Disease Diagnosis By Mapping Heart Sounds” by Addrew Shawn
  • https://vervetimes.com/low-cost-disease-diagnosis-by-mapping-heart-sounds-sciencedaily/
• “Aortic Stenosis Overview”
  • https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-valve-problems-and-disease/heart-valve-problems-and-causes/problem-aortic-valve-stenosis
• “Epidemiology of Aortic Valve Stenosis (AS) and of Aortic Valve Incompetence (AI): Is the Prevalence of AS/AI Similar in Different Parts of the World?”
  • https://www.escardio.org/Journals/E-Journal-of-Cardiology-Practice/Volume-18/epidemiology-of-aortic-valve-stenosis-as-and-of-aortic-valve-incompetence-ai#:~:text=Aortic%20stenosis%20is%20the%20second,increasing%20prevalence%20with%20advancing%20age.

Modified Mosquitos 

• “A box of 200 mosquitoes did the vaccinating in this malaria trial. That's not a joke!” By Max Barnhart
  • https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/21/1112727841/a-box-of-200-mosquitoes-did-the-vaccinating-in-this-malaria-trial-thats-not-a-jo
• “Malaria: Frequently Asked Questions” by CDC
  • https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/faqs.html#:~:text=Symptoms%20and%20Diagnosis,-What%20are%20the&text=Symptoms%20of%20malaria%20include%20fever,loss%20of%20red%20blood%20cells.
• “Malaria” by World Health Organization
  • https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria
• “A genetically engineered Plasmodium falciparum parasite vaccine provides protection from controlled human malaria infection” by Murphy et al.
  • https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abn9709

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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/pee-and-seagrass-heart-sound-maps-modified-mosquitos