Texas continues its recovery from the winter storm that took down their power grid. And while millions of people were left without power, some still had the lights on and are now being hit with bills in the thousands of dollars. One man was hit with a bill at almost $17,000. For those that did not have fixed electricity prices, the cost of their power went up with demand. Ivan Penn, energy correspondent at the NY Times, joins us for why some Texas electric bills skyrocketed.
Next, it seems counterintuitive, but some Covid tests can’t pick up on certain variants in their results, and labs are using those very same tests to help flag if you might have the U.K. variant. If tests come back positive for Covid-19, but fail a specific section of the test, that could be an indicator that someone is infected with the U.K. strain. Brianna Abbott, health reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how some tests are being used to flag different Covid variants.
Finally, you’ve heard of lab-grown meat, now get ready for lab-grown wood that potentially could be grown into any shape. Scientists at MIT have a very early proof of concept that allowed them to grow plant tissue with cells, no seeds, soil, or sunlight needed. Keith Gillogly, contributing writer at Wired, joins us for more on this new tech.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Tuesday, February. I'm Oscar Ramirez in Los Angeles, and
this is the daily dive. Texas continues its recovery from
the winter storm that took down its power group, and
while millions of people were left without power, some still
have the lights on and are now being hit with
bills in the thousands of dollars. One man was hit
(00:22):
with a bill at almost seventeen thousand dollars. For those
that did not have fixed electricity prices, the cost of
their power went up with demand. Ivan Pen energy correspondent
at the New York Times joins us for why some
Texas electric bills skyrock. Next, it seems counterintuitive, but some
COVID tests can't pick up on certain variants in their results,
(00:43):
and labs are using those very same tests the flag
if you might have the UK variant. If tests come
back positive for COVID nineteen but fail a specific section
of the test, that could be an indicator that someone
is infected with the UK strain. Brianna Abbott, health reporter
at the Wall Street Journal joined us for how some
tests are being used to like different COVID bearings. Finally,
(01:04):
you've heard of lab grown meat. Now get ready for
lab grown wood that could be potentially grown into any shape.
Scientists at m I t at a very early concept
that allowed them to grow plant tissue with cells, no seeds, soil,
or sunlight needed. Keep globally. Contributing writer at Wired joined
us for more on this new tech, smooth without the noise.
(01:27):
Let's guy in. Some people are getting high bills, particularly
people on on the variable right plant. I'm saying to
those people right now, we're going to find a solution
to that problem. Joining us now is Ivan Pen, energy
correspondent at the New York Times. Thanks for joining us, Ivan,
(01:47):
it's a pleasure to be with you. Still tracking some
stories from the storm that battered Texas. It ruined the
power grid, It left millions without power. We're seeing stories
that some people were getting charged thousands of dollars for
their power. That might have stayed on and it might
not have been continuous power. It could have been flashes
(02:08):
here and there, but still people were getting charges thirty
times to fifty times more than they normally would. This
all has to do with the electricity plans that people
can get, and some people can get it at wholesale prices.
A variable rate and when demand increases, the prices increase,
and that's exactly what happened to some people. There was
one guy whose bill was over sixteen thousand dollars, almost
(02:31):
seventeen thousand dollars. So Ivan tell us a little bit
about what we're seeing there. Texas is a unique energy market,
unique not only in the United States but all of
North America. You have a combination of things that happened.
One the uniqueness has to do with the fact that
Texas operates an energy driven market that is essentially follows
(02:56):
basic economics. When demand goes up, price goes up. And
what the hope is is that you will get more
suppliers coming into the market because of those high prices
to be able to on their end capitalize. And then
on the side of the consumer, the idea is those
(03:16):
high prices will lead them to reduce their usage. And
some of the state officials are even saying that the
consumers didn't quite understand the complexity of the program that
they were in. Would have fixed amount uh monthly and
basically a typical case might would be a month or
(03:38):
fixed charge and then a component that is tied to
the wholesale market. Now, under normal circumstances that works out well,
but when the prices skyrocket the way they did during
this storm, then that's when you end up with customers
who have bills in the thousands. In the case of
(04:00):
Scott Willoughby, that sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty two
dollar bill. That is pretty insane. A lot of these
people that we're having this issue where customers of a
company called Gritty and they're based out of Houston. So
one of the interesting things that you know with this is,
you know, you can track how much you're getting charged
on your phone through an app and all that, but
(04:20):
this company also gets connected to either your debit card
or credit card or something, so the charges could be
either immediate or charged directly to the credit card. So
a lot of people were having problems with that too.
They're saying, well, you know, I just got charged directly.
I have to pay this. Is there any remedy? I
know lawmakers are working out detailed deals now to see
(04:40):
what they can do to help, but once they've been
charged with this, I mean, they're on the hook for this.
Right at least initially, The state may after its examination
and investigation, provides some relief to those consumers. But in
some of these cases, like Mr Willoughby, I mean his
entire savings has gone. In another case, a woman, she's
(05:03):
down to a couple of hundred dollars in in her
bank account. You know. Some of it is that we,
especially these days of course, set our our regular monthly
payments on auto pays. So when something like this happens,
you get hit, and in this case hit really hard.
What did Gritty have to say for their part, because
(05:23):
my understanding is they also sent out like an email
right before you know, everything happened, telling people switch providers
now just in case, you know, a lot of people didn't.
Still what has been their response. They were also frustrated
with the state, So there's been a lot of finger
pointing going back and forth. And in the case of Gritty,
Gritty issued a statement and what they were criticizing the
(05:47):
state about was the fact that there was a lift
of the cap on the amount of the wholesale prices.
The Again, the idea is that you're going to uh
it's sort of with the industry as the response. So uh,
when those riders are high again, the consumers will reduce
(06:07):
their usage. That's sort of the expectation. If you decide
to stay in continue using power, then your bill goes high,
or those suppliers come in the state to sort of
hasten that economic driven element lifted the cap from prices
were twelve hundred dollars on the utility scale per megawatt hour,
(06:32):
and by scale that cap was lifted to nine thousand
dollars or just about nine thousand dollars per megawatt hour.
So you see how much of a vast difference there
was where prices were to where they ended up. And
Gritty's complaint was, why would you do this and market
(06:53):
crazy even though you know some of these retailers would benefit,
but they also could go bank rocks if people aren't
able to pay and these retailers are stuck. This is
what happened in California in two thousand, two thousand one.
We saw in the years afterwards retailers just going bankrupt.
(07:16):
Ivan Penn, energy correspondent at the New York Times, thank
you very much for joining us. It's my pleasure. Now.
In the UK variant, there's actually a section of the
genetic code in the spike protein area, which is something
(07:38):
that folks may have heard of it's one of the
proteins that hangs on the surface of the virus that
port of vigena code. Some of the tests can no
longer pick that. Joining us, sound was Brianna Abbott, health
reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Thanks for joining us, Brianna,
thanks for having me. We're seeing that there's a handful
of COVID tests that in one way can help flag
(07:59):
these new variants that we're seeing out there. In another
way they can't. So there's this handful of tests it
can't really detect a certain part of the UK variant.
But in these tests where we see that this one
little component might be missing, they're actually able to tell
that it is this variant that is indeed the one
that has infected the person. So Branna tell us a
little bit about what we're seeing with these tests and
(08:21):
how some of them are able to flag this UK variant.
So it's a little counterintuitive. Um. So, basically the way
that works is, as far as we know right now,
the vast majority of COVID tests still work just fine
on the variant. So if you're infected with the virus
that that happens to be a variant, like the test
will still come up as a positive, but um for
(08:42):
just a handful of the test. One section of the
test isn't working for the UK variants. So a lot
of these tests actually have multiple different parts. In one instance,
this one test that we're talking about from Thermo Fish
or Scientific actually has three different parts where it searches
for three different chunks of the virus. Is genetic material.
Now in the UK variant, there's actually a section of
(09:05):
the genetic code in the spike protein area, which is
something that folks may have heard of. It's one of
the proteins that hangs on the surface of the virus,
that part of the genetic code. Some of the tests
can no longer pick that up. But the thing about
that is it's actually more of a benefit than a
detriment in some situations, because if you're looking at these
test results and you see that one section of the
(09:26):
test isn't working, but the two other sections still work,
you can say that looks funny and that might actually
be one of the variants that we're looking for. Now.
These testing questions, these are the PCR tests. They're not
like the rapid response tests or anything like that. Right, Yes,
let's correct, these testing question from this specific lab right now,
(09:48):
what are they doing to either change the tests or
they just kind of going through with the ones that
they have and just kind of flagging the ones that
don't mark all three sections. The company, um would a
sort of this big diagnostics company is working on a
software update that will go along with the tests that
will sort of more easily flag when something like this
(10:09):
occurs so laboratories can see it and then send it
off for a sequencing. And they're also sort of working
on a new test that is able to specifically identify
some of the key variants that we're looking for. And
sort of just to be clear about sort of what
these tests are doing is they're slightly separate from the
genomic sequencing, which sort of analyzes the genome of the
virus that can tell her of helps figure out the
(10:30):
variant that it is. In factually, these experts say that
we're going to need a lot more of surveillance and
genomic sequencing in general to keep track of these variants,
and that the flupan sort of these tests is helpful
to a certain extent, but it definitely can't get the
job done by itself, and we sort of need wider
screening as on a whole, and there's no cause for
concern for many people. As you mentioned, if you have coronavirus,
(10:53):
the tests are still going to pick that up. This
has to do with kind of the variant and the
way the tests work in targeting the spike protein. That's
the thing in the case right with this, So of
all the tests that are authorized looking at the virus
genetic material, about those don't target the spike proteins. So
the majority of tests are are going to be good
(11:13):
enough to go through and get accurate results at least.
So a lot of these tests that are authorized right now,
there is a risk that you know, the virus commutate
and some of the tests become less sensitive. Like just
like with vaccines and therapeutics, that's something that's on the table.
But because up on the table, we've known that the
entire time, just because you know, virus is mutate and
spread and so a lot of these tests look for
(11:36):
multiple sections of the virus sort of as a way
to combat the potential for mutation. So like a lot
of the robustness is sort of built right into the
way that these tests are designed. But you're absolutely correct,
a lot of the mutations for variants, not just with
the UK variant, but with the one from South Africa
as well. A lot of the mutations have happened on
the spike protein, and a lot of the diagnostic tests,
(11:58):
both the molecular ones and the rapid antigen ones don't
actually look for the spike protein. They look for other
sections of the genome or a different protein, So a
lot of them aren't going to be affected by the
mutations that we're seeing so far. And going back to
what you were saying about surveillance and sequencing of the
of the genomes and all, the Biden administration has said
(12:20):
that the CDC is going to invest about two million
dollars to scale up this stuff. Any other things that
the administration is looking forward to doing on this front.
The CDC sort of first tried to launch a national
surveillance system for this viral sequencing sort of back in
November when we sort of realized that these variants of
concerned we're cropping up in the US, we're pretty far
(12:42):
behind sequencing compared to somewhere like the UK, which identified
it's variant sort of because if it's robust sequence things,
we don't actually know sort of all of the variants
that might be circulating in the US right now, just
because we really haven't been looking for them. So that's
something that public health experts are really sort of keen
to gear up on. The Biden administration sort of is
(13:02):
on board, like we said, with the money from the
CDC to do this, So it's definitely something that health
officials are pushing for as we start to continuously see
this virus muta and change sort of as it continues
to spread. Brianna Abbott, health reporter at the Wall Street Journal,
Thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for
having me in this research. The researchers took Zenia cells,
(13:34):
a type of plant, and they cultured then the culture
they're going to broth, put them in a gel, they
printed then and then they're able to basically grow. For
this research. A would like material joining us now is
Keith Globally contributing writer at Wired. Thanks for joining us. Keith,
Thank you for having me. What need you talk about
some interesting science stuff right now? You know, we've heard
(13:57):
a lot about lab grown meat in the news especially lately,
but there's another thing coming on board, possibly lab grown wood,
lab grown plant, materials. And there's a group of m
I T researchers who kind of came up with this process,
this new process, and you know, there's all sorts of
future implications possibly if things can be scaled up with this,
(14:17):
I mean, you can grow furniture to exact specifications and
sizes and shapes. There's a lot of cool stuff that
can be done with this. So Keith tell us what
we know about this new process right here of lab
grown plant materials lab grown plant material I think it's
a really a pretty new idea. But the idea is
is that you can take cells basically um In this research,
(14:41):
the researchers took Zenia cells, a type of plant, and
they cultured then the culture they're going to broth, put
them in a gel, they printed then and then they're
able to basically grow for this research a wood like material.
It's not exactly would, but it's a woodlke material. Still
pretty firm. The idea of being you know, if this
could be scaled up one day, hey we could use
(15:02):
this material like would And the idea of being there
is that if we can do that, we don't have
to go and we don't have to cut down trees,
so we can preserve a lot of arable land, and basically,
let's in the environmental footprint of processes like that for them.
Right now, this is a proof of concept. I mean,
this is how things started. You think about as I
mentioned the lab grown meat thing, you know at one point,
(15:24):
this is how that kind of started, where hey, we
can do this type of thing. Now it's about making
it more efficient, scaling it up. Let's talk about those
benefits though first, before we get into some of the
other stuff. This doesn't require soil or sunlight. As we said,
it can grow in a lab in a matter of months.
But that's way better than planting trees and forests it
(15:44):
could take years to mature and things like that, So
let's talk about some of these benefits. That's absolutely correct.
The process would not require soil or sunlight, as you mentioned,
and it really wouldn't require arable land to do this,
so you could do this really in any climate because
this would be done indoors. Right. Um. The other thing too,
is you wouldn't pesticides for a process like this. It's
(16:05):
pretty passive. You put the cells into this gel and
you let them grow over a couple of months. And
you know, in this case develop into a wood like material.
So yeah, once again the water required would be limited.
You could reduce runoff water because you can use just
the exact amount of water needed. So overall, there's a
lot of environmental benefits to doing a process like this,
(16:26):
the researchers believe. And a little more on the science. Now,
these plants cells really can turn into a lot of
different types of cells. That's how they kind of adjusting.
So they'll put these on on kind of these little
cell scaffoldings so that it can start growing and then
they have to start tweaking things pH balance other stuff,
and then it starts turning into the desired plant material,
(16:47):
the wood in this case that we're talking about. That's
exactly correct. The researchers what they did was they took
these VideA cells and they basically looked at the variables,
the factors that they can sort of tweak or tune.
So they looked at it justing pH value. They applied
some hormones oxen cite of kin in. Those are hormones
that kind of spur plant development, and the idea was
(17:08):
to get the cells to grow into wood like tissue,
into all ask their cell types, which is essentially would
and so by tweaking the cells this way or that way.
You know, the researchers monitored that process and then when
they looked at it at the end they had something
that that was would like. So that that's exactly it.
They have to really monitor the cell types and tweak
those processes, you know, as you as you described there,
(17:28):
and then as you mentioned, they put it into this gel,
and that gel can be bioprinted into various shapes and
forms and and whatnot. So that's kind of the exciting stuff.
Let's let's talk a little bit about kind of the
future implications of this. You know, one of the things
that we heard a lot about is this could be
opened the potential for lab grown furniture. You know, you
can create whatever structure that you want from this, and
(17:50):
it could be in this kind of wood or plant
like structure. And then beyond that, even they said that
we can make responsive materials kind of these organics that
can respond to their surroundings. That's exactly correct. I mean
to be clear, you know, as as we talked about
it is still early stage work. This was really proof
of concept. The material that the researchers created there are
(18:10):
very thin sort of rectangular shapes primarily and really just
just to show proof of proof of concept, only a
few centimeters long. But using these same techniques, you know,
using these same concepts, it could be feasible to basically
bioprint to three D print essentially something like an entire
chair or an entire table. Um. The idea, of course,
by doing that would be you would reduce a lot
(18:32):
of downstream processes, a lot of fabrication steps and things
like that. So therefore, once again you'd ultimately end up
with likely and more environmentally friendly process And as far
as yeah, the advanced materials, I think that's something that's
a little bit more far out into the future. But
the idea of being there, you know, the researchers are
working with living plant cells. Um. You know, in this
case the cells do eventually become a would like material,
(18:54):
you know, for this research, they do dry and die up.
But the idea of being got by working with living
land cells, we could maybe harness plant cells properties. You know,
if a plant gets damaged, they can heal itself, different
properties like that, So if we can incorporate those properties
into materials, into advanced devices. Someday that could be something
that's really pretty powerful, I think Keith globally, contributing writer
(19:18):
at Wired, thank you very much for joining us. Thank
you so much. That's it for today. Join us on
social media at Daily Dive pot on both Twitter and Instagram.
Leave us some comment, give us a rating and tell
us the stories that you're Intuesday. Follow us on our
(19:39):
heart radio, or subscribe whatever you get your podcast. This
episode of the Daily Divers produce by Data Right and
engineered by Tony Sargantina. I'm Astarmieres and this was your
Daily Dive
It's Tuesday, February. I'm Oscar Ramirez in Los Angeles, and
this is the daily dive. Texas continues its recovery from
the winter storm that took down its power group, and
while millions of people were left without power, some still
have the lights on and are now being hit with
bills in the thousands of dollars. One man was hit
(00:22):
with a bill at almost seventeen thousand dollars. For those
that did not have fixed electricity prices, the cost of
their power went up with demand. Ivan Pen energy correspondent
at the New York Times joins us for why some
Texas electric bills skyrock. Next, it seems counterintuitive, but some
COVID tests can't pick up on certain variants in their results,
(00:43):
and labs are using those very same tests the flag
if you might have the UK variant. If tests come
back positive for COVID nineteen but fail a specific section
of the test, that could be an indicator that someone
is infected with the UK strain. Brianna Abbott, health reporter
at the Wall Street Journal joined us for how some
tests are being used to like different COVID bearings. Finally,
(01:04):
you've heard of lab grown meat. Now get ready for
lab grown wood that could be potentially grown into any shape.
Scientists at m I t at a very early concept
that allowed them to grow plant tissue with cells, no seeds, soil,
or sunlight needed. Keep globally. Contributing writer at Wired joined
us for more on this new tech, smooth without the noise.
(01:27):
Let's guy in. Some people are getting high bills, particularly
people on on the variable right plant. I'm saying to
those people right now, we're going to find a solution
to that problem. Joining us now is Ivan Pen, energy
correspondent at the New York Times. Thanks for joining us, Ivan,
(01:47):
it's a pleasure to be with you. Still tracking some
stories from the storm that battered Texas. It ruined the
power grid, It left millions without power. We're seeing stories
that some people were getting charged thousands of dollars for
their power. That might have stayed on and it might
not have been continuous power. It could have been flashes
(02:08):
here and there, but still people were getting charges thirty
times to fifty times more than they normally would. This
all has to do with the electricity plans that people
can get, and some people can get it at wholesale prices.
A variable rate and when demand increases, the prices increase,
and that's exactly what happened to some people. There was
one guy whose bill was over sixteen thousand dollars, almost
(02:31):
seventeen thousand dollars. So Ivan tell us a little bit
about what we're seeing there. Texas is a unique energy market,
unique not only in the United States but all of
North America. You have a combination of things that happened.
One the uniqueness has to do with the fact that
Texas operates an energy driven market that is essentially follows
(02:56):
basic economics. When demand goes up, price goes up. And
what the hope is is that you will get more
suppliers coming into the market because of those high prices
to be able to on their end capitalize. And then
on the side of the consumer, the idea is those
(03:16):
high prices will lead them to reduce their usage. And
some of the state officials are even saying that the
consumers didn't quite understand the complexity of the program that
they were in. Would have fixed amount uh monthly and
basically a typical case might would be a month or
(03:38):
fixed charge and then a component that is tied to
the wholesale market. Now, under normal circumstances that works out well,
but when the prices skyrocket the way they did during
this storm, then that's when you end up with customers
who have bills in the thousands. In the case of
(04:00):
Scott Willoughby, that sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty two
dollar bill. That is pretty insane. A lot of these
people that we're having this issue where customers of a
company called Gritty and they're based out of Houston. So
one of the interesting things that you know with this is,
you know, you can track how much you're getting charged
on your phone through an app and all that, but
(04:20):
this company also gets connected to either your debit card
or credit card or something, so the charges could be
either immediate or charged directly to the credit card. So
a lot of people were having problems with that too.
They're saying, well, you know, I just got charged directly.
I have to pay this. Is there any remedy? I
know lawmakers are working out detailed deals now to see
(04:40):
what they can do to help, but once they've been
charged with this, I mean, they're on the hook for this.
Right at least initially, The state may after its examination
and investigation, provides some relief to those consumers. But in
some of these cases, like Mr Willoughby, I mean his
entire savings has gone. In another case, a woman, she's
(05:03):
down to a couple of hundred dollars in in her
bank account. You know. Some of it is that we,
especially these days of course, set our our regular monthly
payments on auto pays. So when something like this happens,
you get hit, and in this case hit really hard.
What did Gritty have to say for their part, because
(05:23):
my understanding is they also sent out like an email
right before you know, everything happened, telling people switch providers
now just in case, you know, a lot of people didn't.
Still what has been their response. They were also frustrated
with the state, So there's been a lot of finger
pointing going back and forth. And in the case of Gritty,
Gritty issued a statement and what they were criticizing the
(05:47):
state about was the fact that there was a lift
of the cap on the amount of the wholesale prices.
The Again, the idea is that you're going to uh
it's sort of with the industry as the response. So uh,
when those riders are high again, the consumers will reduce
(06:07):
their usage. That's sort of the expectation. If you decide
to stay in continue using power, then your bill goes high,
or those suppliers come in the state to sort of
hasten that economic driven element lifted the cap from prices
were twelve hundred dollars on the utility scale per megawatt hour,
(06:32):
and by scale that cap was lifted to nine thousand
dollars or just about nine thousand dollars per megawatt hour.
So you see how much of a vast difference there
was where prices were to where they ended up. And
Gritty's complaint was, why would you do this and market
(06:53):
crazy even though you know some of these retailers would benefit,
but they also could go bank rocks if people aren't
able to pay and these retailers are stuck. This is
what happened in California in two thousand, two thousand one.
We saw in the years afterwards retailers just going bankrupt.
(07:16):
Ivan Penn, energy correspondent at the New York Times, thank
you very much for joining us. It's my pleasure. Now.
In the UK variant, there's actually a section of the
genetic code in the spike protein area, which is something
(07:38):
that folks may have heard of it's one of the
proteins that hangs on the surface of the virus that
port of vigena code. Some of the tests can no
longer pick that. Joining us, sound was Brianna Abbott, health
reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Thanks for joining us, Brianna,
thanks for having me. We're seeing that there's a handful
of COVID tests that in one way can help flag
(07:59):
these new variants that we're seeing out there. In another
way they can't. So there's this handful of tests it
can't really detect a certain part of the UK variant.
But in these tests where we see that this one
little component might be missing, they're actually able to tell
that it is this variant that is indeed the one
that has infected the person. So Branna tell us a
little bit about what we're seeing with these tests and
(08:21):
how some of them are able to flag this UK variant.
So it's a little counterintuitive. Um. So, basically the way
that works is, as far as we know right now,
the vast majority of COVID tests still work just fine
on the variant. So if you're infected with the virus
that that happens to be a variant, like the test
will still come up as a positive, but um for
(08:42):
just a handful of the test. One section of the
test isn't working for the UK variants. So a lot
of these tests actually have multiple different parts. In one instance,
this one test that we're talking about from Thermo Fish
or Scientific actually has three different parts where it searches
for three different chunks of the virus. Is genetic material.
Now in the UK variant, there's actually a section of
(09:05):
the genetic code in the spike protein area, which is
something that folks may have heard of. It's one of
the proteins that hangs on the surface of the virus,
that part of the genetic code. Some of the tests
can no longer pick that up. But the thing about
that is it's actually more of a benefit than a
detriment in some situations, because if you're looking at these
test results and you see that one section of the
(09:26):
test isn't working, but the two other sections still work,
you can say that looks funny and that might actually
be one of the variants that we're looking for. Now.
These testing questions, these are the PCR tests. They're not
like the rapid response tests or anything like that. Right, Yes,
let's correct, these testing question from this specific lab right now,
(09:48):
what are they doing to either change the tests or
they just kind of going through with the ones that
they have and just kind of flagging the ones that
don't mark all three sections. The company, um would a
sort of this big diagnostics company is working on a
software update that will go along with the tests that
will sort of more easily flag when something like this
(10:09):
occurs so laboratories can see it and then send it
off for a sequencing. And they're also sort of working
on a new test that is able to specifically identify
some of the key variants that we're looking for. And
sort of just to be clear about sort of what
these tests are doing is they're slightly separate from the
genomic sequencing, which sort of analyzes the genome of the
virus that can tell her of helps figure out the
(10:30):
variant that it is. In factually, these experts say that
we're going to need a lot more of surveillance and
genomic sequencing in general to keep track of these variants,
and that the flupan sort of these tests is helpful
to a certain extent, but it definitely can't get the
job done by itself, and we sort of need wider
screening as on a whole, and there's no cause for
concern for many people. As you mentioned, if you have coronavirus,
(10:53):
the tests are still going to pick that up. This
has to do with kind of the variant and the
way the tests work in targeting the spike protein. That's
the thing in the case right with this, So of
all the tests that are authorized looking at the virus
genetic material, about those don't target the spike proteins. So
the majority of tests are are going to be good
(11:13):
enough to go through and get accurate results at least.
So a lot of these tests that are authorized right now,
there is a risk that you know, the virus commutate
and some of the tests become less sensitive. Like just
like with vaccines and therapeutics, that's something that's on the table.
But because up on the table, we've known that the
entire time, just because you know, virus is mutate and
spread and so a lot of these tests look for
(11:36):
multiple sections of the virus sort of as a way
to combat the potential for mutation. So like a lot
of the robustness is sort of built right into the
way that these tests are designed. But you're absolutely correct,
a lot of the mutations for variants, not just with
the UK variant, but with the one from South Africa
as well. A lot of the mutations have happened on
the spike protein, and a lot of the diagnostic tests,
(11:58):
both the molecular ones and the rapid antigen ones don't
actually look for the spike protein. They look for other
sections of the genome or a different protein, So a
lot of them aren't going to be affected by the
mutations that we're seeing so far. And going back to
what you were saying about surveillance and sequencing of the
of the genomes and all, the Biden administration has said
(12:20):
that the CDC is going to invest about two million
dollars to scale up this stuff. Any other things that
the administration is looking forward to doing on this front.
The CDC sort of first tried to launch a national
surveillance system for this viral sequencing sort of back in
November when we sort of realized that these variants of
concerned we're cropping up in the US, we're pretty far
(12:42):
behind sequencing compared to somewhere like the UK, which identified
it's variant sort of because if it's robust sequence things,
we don't actually know sort of all of the variants
that might be circulating in the US right now, just
because we really haven't been looking for them. So that's
something that public health experts are really sort of keen
to gear up on. The Biden administration sort of is
(13:02):
on board, like we said, with the money from the
CDC to do this, So it's definitely something that health
officials are pushing for as we start to continuously see
this virus muta and change sort of as it continues
to spread. Brianna Abbott, health reporter at the Wall Street Journal,
Thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for
having me in this research. The researchers took Zenia cells,
(13:34):
a type of plant, and they cultured then the culture
they're going to broth, put them in a gel, they
printed then and then they're able to basically grow. For
this research. A would like material joining us now is
Keith Globally contributing writer at Wired. Thanks for joining us. Keith,
Thank you for having me. What need you talk about
some interesting science stuff right now? You know, we've heard
(13:57):
a lot about lab grown meat in the news especially lately,
but there's another thing coming on board, possibly lab grown wood,
lab grown plant, materials. And there's a group of m
I T researchers who kind of came up with this process,
this new process, and you know, there's all sorts of
future implications possibly if things can be scaled up with this,
(14:17):
I mean, you can grow furniture to exact specifications and
sizes and shapes. There's a lot of cool stuff that
can be done with this. So Keith tell us what
we know about this new process right here of lab
grown plant materials lab grown plant material I think it's
a really a pretty new idea. But the idea is
is that you can take cells basically um In this research,
(14:41):
the researchers took Zenia cells, a type of plant, and
they cultured then the culture they're going to broth, put
them in a gel, they printed then and then they're
able to basically grow for this research a wood like material.
It's not exactly would, but it's a woodlke material. Still
pretty firm. The idea of being you know, if this
could be scaled up one day, hey we could use
(15:02):
this material like would And the idea of being there
is that if we can do that, we don't have
to go and we don't have to cut down trees,
so we can preserve a lot of arable land, and basically,
let's in the environmental footprint of processes like that for them.
Right now, this is a proof of concept. I mean,
this is how things started. You think about as I
mentioned the lab grown meat thing, you know at one point,
(15:24):
this is how that kind of started, where hey, we
can do this type of thing. Now it's about making
it more efficient, scaling it up. Let's talk about those
benefits though first, before we get into some of the
other stuff. This doesn't require soil or sunlight. As we said,
it can grow in a lab in a matter of months.
But that's way better than planting trees and forests it
(15:44):
could take years to mature and things like that, So
let's talk about some of these benefits. That's absolutely correct.
The process would not require soil or sunlight, as you mentioned,
and it really wouldn't require arable land to do this,
so you could do this really in any climate because
this would be done indoors. Right. Um. The other thing too,
is you wouldn't pesticides for a process like this. It's
(16:05):
pretty passive. You put the cells into this gel and
you let them grow over a couple of months. And
you know, in this case develop into a wood like material.
So yeah, once again the water required would be limited.
You could reduce runoff water because you can use just
the exact amount of water needed. So overall, there's a
lot of environmental benefits to doing a process like this,
(16:26):
the researchers believe. And a little more on the science. Now,
these plants cells really can turn into a lot of
different types of cells. That's how they kind of adjusting.
So they'll put these on on kind of these little
cell scaffoldings so that it can start growing and then
they have to start tweaking things pH balance other stuff,
and then it starts turning into the desired plant material,
(16:47):
the wood in this case that we're talking about. That's
exactly correct. The researchers what they did was they took
these VideA cells and they basically looked at the variables,
the factors that they can sort of tweak or tune.
So they looked at it justing pH value. They applied
some hormones oxen cite of kin in. Those are hormones
that kind of spur plant development, and the idea was
(17:08):
to get the cells to grow into wood like tissue,
into all ask their cell types, which is essentially would
and so by tweaking the cells this way or that way.
You know, the researchers monitored that process and then when
they looked at it at the end they had something
that that was would like. So that that's exactly it.
They have to really monitor the cell types and tweak
those processes, you know, as you as you described there,
(17:28):
and then as you mentioned, they put it into this gel,
and that gel can be bioprinted into various shapes and
forms and and whatnot. So that's kind of the exciting stuff.
Let's let's talk a little bit about kind of the
future implications of this. You know, one of the things
that we heard a lot about is this could be
opened the potential for lab grown furniture. You know, you
can create whatever structure that you want from this, and
(17:50):
it could be in this kind of wood or plant
like structure. And then beyond that, even they said that
we can make responsive materials kind of these organics that
can respond to their surroundings. That's exactly correct. I mean
to be clear, you know, as as we talked about
it is still early stage work. This was really proof
of concept. The material that the researchers created there are
(18:10):
very thin sort of rectangular shapes primarily and really just
just to show proof of proof of concept, only a
few centimeters long. But using these same techniques, you know,
using these same concepts, it could be feasible to basically
bioprint to three D print essentially something like an entire
chair or an entire table. Um. The idea, of course,
by doing that would be you would reduce a lot
(18:32):
of downstream processes, a lot of fabrication steps and things
like that. So therefore, once again you'd ultimately end up
with likely and more environmentally friendly process And as far
as yeah, the advanced materials, I think that's something that's
a little bit more far out into the future. But
the idea of being there, you know, the researchers are
working with living plant cells. Um. You know, in this
case the cells do eventually become a would like material,
(18:54):
you know, for this research, they do dry and die up.
But the idea of being got by working with living
land cells, we could maybe harness plant cells properties. You know,
if a plant gets damaged, they can heal itself, different
properties like that, So if we can incorporate those properties
into materials, into advanced devices. Someday that could be something
that's really pretty powerful, I think Keith globally, contributing writer
(19:18):
at Wired, thank you very much for joining us. Thank
you so much. That's it for today. Join us on
social media at Daily Dive pot on both Twitter and Instagram.
Leave us some comment, give us a rating and tell
us the stories that you're Intuesday. Follow us on our
(19:39):
heart radio, or subscribe whatever you get your podcast. This
episode of the Daily Divers produce by Data Right and
engineered by Tony Sargantina. I'm Astarmieres and this was your
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