In this 58th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we discuss the state of the world through an evolutionary lens. In this episode, we discuss the COVID-19 vaccines, and what questions you would want to answer in order to understand them: Are they safe? Are they effective? If you survive COVID-19, what are the long-term health effects? We discuss what an mRNA vaccine is and does, and how the immune system functions (and fails to function). We also talk about what makes flies sexy. The answer may surprise you: big long wings, and a diet of tomatoes.

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Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music.

Q&A Link: https://youtu.be/AXM7qmMStUU

Mentioned in this episode:

Do the benefits (of the vaccine) outweigh any risks? Those in charge in Great Britain say yes: https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1334084332500226049

Pardi, N., Hogan, M.J., Porter, F.W. and Weissman, D., 2018. mRNA vaccines—a new era in vaccinology. Nature reviews Drug discovery, 17(4), p.261.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5906799/

Reichmuth, A.M., Oberli, M.A., Jaklenec, A., Langer, R. and Blankschtein, D., 2016. mRNA vaccine delivery using lipid nanoparticles. Therapeutic delivery, 7(5), pp.319-334.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5439223/

Sahin, U., Karikó, K. and Türeci, Ö., 2014. mRNA-based therapeutics—developing a new class of drugs. Nature reviews Drug discovery, 13(10), pp.759-780.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25233993/

Trajković, J., Pavković-Lučić, S., Miličić, D. and Savić, T., Different diets can affect attractiveness of Drosophila melanogaster males via changes in wing morphology. Animal Behaviour, 171, pp.51-62.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347220303274