Ep.2: John Snow & His Game of Fomes

Yondercast: The Gaming Life

May 30 2020 • 31 mins

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Title Explanation (because all the best jokes require explanation):

  • Jon Snow is a main character in the HBO show Game of Thrones
  • John Snow is the “father of epidemiology” who studied disease spread, and is the scientist we’re discussing this week.
  • A fomite (/ˈfoʊmaɪt/) or fomes (/ˈfoʊmiːz/) is any inanimate object that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses or fungi), can transfer disease to a new host.

Episode Agenda w/Time Stamps:

  • 00:21 - Banter: Video Games: Animal Crossing & the turnip stalk market, Jackbox party games, Subnautica Below Zero
  • 09:33 - Academic Deep Dive: How John Snow, the “Father of Epidemiology”, discovered how a cholera epidemic was spreading but no one believed him.
    • Other brilliant minds that no one believed: Avogadro, Mendeleev, Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick), Freddy Mercury (from Queen)
  • 26:46 - Final Inquiry: Do bacteria and viruses get viruses?
    • Tangent on tardigrades (water bears).

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