Recent comments in /f/askscience

Gisschace t1_j7ht4cf wrote

Reply to comment by SocialWinker in (Virology) Has SARS-CoV-2 outcompeted all the other coronaviruses which have been called the ‘common cold’? by jsgui

This is a shitty site but explains it, dogs have a mutation in their ACE2 which means they have a natural resistance to it, which cats don’t. So they can catch it but the virus replicates poorly and so it doesn’t really spread to us or other dogs.

https://www.aaha.org/publications/newstat/articles/2020-08/the-reason-cats-get-covid-and-dogs-dont/

22

zekromNLR t1_j7hqalm wrote

Reply to comment by ECatPlay in Understanding that deuterium and tritium are simply isotopes of hydrogen, is there an equivalent periodic table that shows all known elements and their isotopes? by [deleted]

> When chlorine is present in a chemical being sampled for instance, since 76% of the time the chlorine atom will be 35Cl and 24% of the time it will be 37Cl, this will show up as very characteristic pairs of peaks in a 3:1 ratio, 2 mass units apart in all chlorine containing fragments in the Mass Spectrum.

Though that would only be for fragments containing a single chlorine atom each, right? Something with two or three chlorine atoms in one fragment should show a much more complex pattern, since each chlorine atom can either be 35Cl or 37Cl.

2

SocialWinker t1_j7hori9 wrote

Reply to comment by PainfulJoke in (Virology) Has SARS-CoV-2 outcompeted all the other coronaviruses which have been called the ‘common cold’? by jsgui

The CDC site says it has been transmitted to household pets. >Pets worldwide, including cats and dogs, have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19.

Sounds like it's a realistic concern. Not that there's a ton of information on there.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/covid-19/pets.html

16

PainfulJoke t1_j7hobw2 wrote

Reply to comment by SocialWinker in (Virology) Has SARS-CoV-2 outcompeted all the other coronaviruses which have been called the ‘common cold’? by jsgui

I also heard that same advice being mentioned to avoid animals being uninfected carriers of the disease (as in on their fur, saliva, etc).

I'd be interested to learn if it's currently known to be transmittable to common housepets or if that advice was out of an abundance of caution.

7

zerpa t1_j7hnytj wrote

Reply to comment by mfukar in Why are green and red laser pointers so cheap and available, but yellow ones not so much? by SurprisedPotato

I don't understand your point. The brain can't tell the difference between yellow wavelength and the mix of red+green that give the same excitation of red/green photoreceptors.

I get that it's not a coherent light/laser anymore, but it should still be possible to create a yellow pointer, if you can join the two beams and align them precisely.

1