There's been encouraging news about the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine this week from a trial involving about 1,000 people. But how great is the challenge in scaling up from making a few thousand doses of the vaccine to manufacturing two billion by the end of this year? Sandy Douglas of Oxford's Jenner Institute explains how they plan to mass-produce the vaccine safely given the speed and magnitude of the scale up.
A new kind of treatment for Covid-19 may come from an unlikely source: llamas and alpacas, the South American relatives of the camel. Camelids produce unusually small and simple antibodies against viruses, including the coronavirus. This feature may make these molecules an effective Covid-19 therapy. Jane Chambers reports on research in Chile and the UK.
Also in the programme: what has made just a few mosquito species evolve a preference for biting humans, and the theory that 800 million years ago the Moon and the Earth were bombarded by a shower of asteroids which plunged the Earth into a global ice age - an event which changed the course of the evolution of life.
These days we're more acquainted with soap than ever before, as we lather up to help stop the spread of coronavirus. And for CrowdScience listener Sharon, this set off a steady stream of soapy questions: how does soap actually work? How was it discovered in the first place, long before anyone knew anything about germs? Are different things used for washing around the world, and are some soaps better than others?
We set up a CrowdScience home laboratory to explore the soap making process with advice from science-based beauty blogger Dr Michelle Wong, and find out what it is about soap's chemistry that gives it its germ-fighting superpowers. Soap has been around for at least 4000 years; we compare ancient soap making to modern methods, and hear about some of the soap alternatives used around the world, like the soap berries of India.
And as for the question of whether some soaps are better than others? We discover why antibacterial soaps aren't necessarily a good idea, and why putting a toy inside a bar of soap might be more important than tweaking its ingredients.
(Image: A team of experts at the University of Oxford are working to develop a vaccine that could prevent people from getting Covid-19. Credit: Press Association)
This week on Long Reads Sunday, our selection is “Whose Century?” by Adam Tooze in the London Review of Books.
Nominally a review of four recent scholarly works on the conflict between the U.S. and China, Tooze main argument is that the central problem with viewing this as a new Cold War is the idea that it is new.
Instead, we need to understand that, contra Fukuyama’s famous essay, history didn’t end with the fall of the Berlin Wall – at least not for the Chinese. What’s more, the narrative of having “won” the Cold War fails to take into account the West’s spectacular failures in Asia.
Only by reframing our understanding can we make sense of the most important geopolitical conflict of the coming century.
Beyond Crypto, OnlyFans Star Savannah Solo Talks About Money
Sex workers are starting their own businesses and working online, thanks to social media, according to this adult content creator.
In this audio interview, CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen and OnlyFans performer Savannah Solo talk about fintech and the sex industry. From distribution platforms to Twitter and bitcoin, she helps break down what sex workers really need from digital tools.
Savannah Solo started her OnlyFans account in January 2020 and within a few months became one of the top earners on the platform in her category.
She’s never used bitcoin before because she relies on platforms like OnlyFans and Cash App for regular banking services. She said some performers have been temporarily deplatformed or lost access to their funds, but she’s been lucky so far. She often works a 16-hour day during these first few months of building her business.
“The market got super, super saturated during quarantine...they [OnlyFans performers] were having trouble getting any subscribers at all,” Solo said. “In my first month, in January, I only made $80.”
There’s a common misconception that sex workers are now making much more money than before the coronavirus crisis. Both Solo and fellow sex worker Honey Li agreed the brief flurry of new customers settled down in the spring and that summer has been a particularly slow season.
“Nobody is saying they are making more because of the pandemic,” Li said. “There’s a lot more new models….as for the blue collar guys that tip you, a lot of them have lost their jobs.”
Li prefers the camming site Chaturbate, instead of OnlyFans. Chaturbate charges performers nearly half of their earnings to use the site, much higher than the 20% charge from OnlyFans. But Chaturbate offers a feature that Li prefers; customers can pay in cryptocurrency and performers can cash out in bitcoin. The site still acts as a middleman, but at least Li can choose her currency.
“My customer base is mostly American, so there are instances where bitcoin is more useful for me, especially when I’m traveling,” said Li, who is based in Europe.
Bitcoin tippers
Li said some Chaturbate performers, like her, take a fraction of their earnings in bitcoin if they make extra that month. This is regardless of whether the customer paid in bitcoin, since the payment is to the platform anyway.
In addition to cashing out from the performance platform in bitcoin, Li also uses personal wallets to accept money directly from fans. Over the past year four clients tipped her in bitcoin. Yet that minority can have a large impact.
“Customers that give money directly tend to be regulars, really big fans...5% of my customers make up 90% of my income,” Li said. “There’s not a lot of people that accept bitcoin from clients directly, but I do know some findommes [financial dominatrix] who do. For a birthday gift, for example, I’ll be like cool here’s my wallet.”
Solo said she also earns the majority of her income from a few big tippers, although she hasn’t been offered bitcoin yet. She’s still trying to manage some of the technical basics of running her own business.
“The platforms do extremely little work to help you out,” Solo said. “There is no [tech] support.”
Tech support
There are a variety of tech-savvy sex workers creating their own bitcoin-friendly platforms and teaching each other how to use various technologies.
For example, an escort booking consultant named Jo, who has been helping sex workers garner and screen clients for two years, said a few women paid her in 2019 to help them use bitcoin. The bitcoin advertising campaign lasted for a few months, on a website that only accepts bitcoin. This is generally uncommon. Jo said it was a hassle.
“I think a lot of girls in this industry want to protect their identity. However, it [bitcoin] is not the most user-friendly thing,” Jo said about the returns for time spent using bitcoin. “It was pretty dead for a while [bookings]. Business has come back, but it’s slower than usual.”
Solo also noticed the imbalance of supply and demand this summer across the sex industry. She said she usually turns to other performers for tech support and doesn’t know of other consulting options for sex workers. Performers like her generally rely on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, OnlyFans and Chaturbate to advertise their brands. Converting casual tippers into direct customers is the hardest part of the business. Until they do, performers like Solo struggle to deal with refund issues like chargebacks.
“That’s a huge issue,” Solo said about chargebacks. “People send sex workers money...then the person can call their bank, have it back-charged, and all of the money comes out of the sex worker’s account.”
“That’s such a nightmare and it happens all the time,” she added. “People get free service out of that and it’s super gross.”
In the aftermath of the horrors of WWI, many people in Europe wanted to find a better future going forward. A future of peace and prosperity, where energy, food, and jobs would be available for everyone.
One man from Germany named Herman Sörgel had a VERY ambitious idea. An idea which would literally change the map of the planet Earth, and was the biggest proposed engineering project ever put forward.
Episode ninety-one of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “The Twist” by Chubby Checker, and how the biggest hit single ever had its roots in hard R&B. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Viens Danser le Twist” by Johnny Hallyday, a cover of a Chubby Checker record that became the first number one for France’s biggest rock star.
Also, people have asked me to start selling podcast merchandise, so you can now buy T-shirts from https://500-songs.teemill.com/. That store will be updated semi-regularly.
COVID-19 Update; News Items: Human Curiosity, Twitter Bans QAnon, Uncuttable material, Bunny Ebola; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Shellenberger Letter; Science or Fiction
Interview with Chris Matheson. He is one of the creators of the Bill & Ted franchise. He has also worked on several other movies. His 2015 book is "The Story of God: A Biblical Comedy about Love (and Hate). We discuss the new movie "Bill & Ted Face the Music" and his new book "The Buddha's Story".
Investing Skeptically: International funds - Correction.
This podcast series tells the story of the Crusades from the Byzantine angle. It's based on the book "The Byzantine World War" by Nick Holmes. In this episode, after the long and traumatic siege of Antioch, the First Crusaders are faced with a major division when Bohemond says he won't leave Antioch and march on Jerusalem. Then news arrives that the powerful Fatimid Caliphate is intent on holding Jerusalem against them. The First Crusade enters its most desperate phase.
Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.
