Issue 5 | Oct 2020 | Half-Yearly | Bangalore RNI No. KARENG/2018/76650 Rediscovering School Science ISSN: 2582-1636 Page 25 What do we know about COVID-19? A publication from Azim Premji University Editorial Committee Chitra Ravi, Editor Radha Gopalan, Editor Ramgopal (RamG) Vallath, Editor Azim Premji University Editorial office, Azim Premji University Azim Premji University PES College of Engineering Campus PES College of Engineering Campus PES College of Engineering Campus Electronics City, Bangalore Electronics City, Bangalore Electronics City, Bangalore Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Amol Anandrao Kate Saurav Shome Vijeta Raghuram Azim Premji Foundation Azim Premji Foundation IndiaBioscience, National Centre for #134 Doddakannelli #134 Doddakannelli Biological Sciences, Bangalore Sarjapur Road, Bangalore Sarjapur Road, Bangalore Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Yasmin Jayathirtha Anand Narayanan Shiv Pandey Azim Premji University Indian Institute of Space Science Azim Premji Foundation PES College of Engineering Campus & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram #134 Doddakannelli Electronics City, Bangalore Email: [email protected] Sarjapur Road, Bangalore Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Hridaykant Dewan Azim Premji University Sushil Joshi PES College of Engineering Campus Editorial office, Azim Premji University Electronics City, Bangalore PES College of Engineering Campus Email: [email protected] Electronics City, Bangalore Email: [email protected] Murthy OVSN Azim Premji University Venkata Naga Vinay Suram PES College of Engineering Campus Azim Premji Foundation Electronics City, Bangalore #134 Doddakannelli Email: [email protected] Sarjapur Road, Bangalore Email: [email protected] Editorial Office The Editors – i wonder..., Azim Premji University, PES College of Engineering Campus, Electronics City, Bangalore 560100 Phone: 080-66144900 | Fax: 080-66144900 | Email: [email protected] | Website: www.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in A soft copy of this issue can be downloaded from http://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/resources-iwonder.aspx About Us i wonder... is a science magazine for school teachers. Our aim is to feature writings that engage teachers (as well as parents, researchers and other interested adults) in a gentle, and hopefully reflective, dialogue about the many dimensions of teaching and lifelong learning of science in class and outside it. We welcome articles that share critical perspectives on science and science education, provide a broader and deeper understanding of foundational concepts (the hows, whys and what nexts), and engage with examples of practice that encourage the learning of science in more experiential and meaningful ways. i wonder... is also a great read for students and science enthusiasts. REDISCOVERING SCHOOL SCIENCE Image Credits Editorial Front cover: Ultrastructural morphology of Coronaviruses. Credits: Alissa Eckert, MSMI & Dan Welcome to this special issue on the Pandemic. Our aim in this issue is to Higgins, MAMS, on Centers for Disease Control and engage with the many ways in which the pandemic challenges our cognitive Prevention (CDC). URL: https://phil.cdc.gov/Details. bias for certainty. A tendency, as the journalist Marcio Moreira Alves describes aspx?pid=23311. License: Public Domain. it, to "suffer from an absence of doubt". Not just in our ability to access the Back cover: Children in Bangladesh rice field. Credits: physical, social, and psychological necessities for survival. But, also, in our IRRI Photos. URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ tendency to seek the certainty of knowledge, of knowing, and of the many ricephotos/8177704814. License: CC-BY-NC-SA. symbols, like words, that we use to capture and share this knowing. This is reflected in our quest and love for answers. The more definitive an answer, the Advisors more certain its wording, the more powerful its hold on us. The neurologist Manoj P. Robert Burton suggests that this “...profound ‘feeling of knowing’ may act as a Rajaram Nityananda reward system that provides the positive feedback necessary for us to learn S Giridhar and to continue wanting to learn...”. Vinod Abraham In contrast, the history of science, and perhaps all human endeavour, indicates Publications Coordinator that our understanding of ourselves and the world we inhabit is more likely to Shantha K be rooted in groundlessness. What we ‘know’ is a function of what questions we ask, what tools we use to query the world, what interpretations we are Publications Associate capable of, as individuals and as a species, at this point in time. All of these are Shahanaz Begum changing in this moment in multiple ways — imperceptibly shaping possibilities that we don't know of yet, and can't imagine exist. As the physician Lewis Illustrations Thomas writes: “Science is founded on uncertainty. Each time we learn Vidya Kamalesh something new and surprising, the astonishment comes with the realization that we were wrong before.” Magazine Design Zinc & Broccoli Seen from this lens, the aim of teaching and learning science may be to [email protected] encourage the ability to more thoughtfully question all finality, all certainty. And, in this questioning, find windows to individual and collective inquiry. Printers Perhaps many of the questions that we ask today have been asked before, or SCPL Bangalore – 560062 seem irrelevant or unanswerable at the moment. But it is in engaging with [email protected] these questions that we build the skill to recognise and ask better questions. As the biochemist and cell biologist Ronald D Vale puts it, “You can't expect to Acknowledgements wake up one morning and run a marathon without training. Similarly, asking Special thanks are due to Sneha Kumari, Azim good questions is a skill that requires practice, training, and mentoring. If a Premji University, Bangalore, for her invaluable child (or adult) is placed in an environment that does not encourage active contribution; Prof. Sandhya Koushika from questioning, then that skill will not become an active habit of mind.” IndSciCov for facilitating the use of their mythbusters; as well as Dr. J. V. Peter from Christian This issue began with questions from science teachers from the Azim Premji Medical College, Vellore, and Satyajit Mayor & Foundation. We hope that in responding to these questions, each author Smita Jain from IndiaBioscience, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, for their support provokes you to ask deeper questions. Questions that help explore complex in bringing out this issue. ideas, recognise assumptions, separate what we know from what we don’t, and follow out logical consequences of thought. More importantly, we hope that License this issue offers the opportunity to stay a bit longer with All articles in this magazine are licensed under questions that allow our curious selves to observe a Creative Commons-Attribution-Non Commercial with less fear and more wonder. 4.0 International License Which questions do you choose to stay with longest? Share them with us at [email protected]. Please note: All views and opinions expressed in this issue are that of the authors. Azim Premji University or Azim Premji Foundation bear no Chitra Ravi responsibility for the same. Editor CONTENTS THE BASICS BOOKLET: COMMON MYTHS ABOUT MICROBES BY SOMDATTA KARAK POSTER: CHAIN OF INFECTION 4 A PRIMER TO INFECTIOUS BY VIJETA RAGHURAM DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY SNIPPET: MENTAL HEALTH OF PEOPLE IN ISOLATION KRISHNAPRIYA TAMMA BY ISRC VIRUSES: THE SMALLEST 9 INFECTIVE BIOLOGICAL ENTITIES : BHOLESHWAR DUBE SNIPPET FASTING, YOGA & SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION BY ISRC SARS-CoV-2 & THE INCREDIBLE POSTER: SUNO BAT KI BAAT BY INDIAALLIANCE 14 TALE OF THE DYING MONKEYS SNIPPET: CATS, DOGS, HOUSEFLIES & SARS-CoV-2 THEJASWI SHIVANAND BY ISRC THE INFECTION WHAT DO WE KNOW 20 ABOUT SARS-CoV-2? SNIPPET: WILL STEAM INHALATION OR NASAL RINSES SHAHID JAMEEL CURE A SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION? BY ISRC SNIPPETS: ARE PEOPLE FROM NORTHEAST INDIA SPREADING THE SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION? • ARE PEOPLE WHAT DO WE KNOW LIVING AT HIGH ALTITUDES & IN NORTHEAST INDIA 25 ABOUT COVID-19? PROTECTED FROM SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION DUE TO HIGHER UV EXPOSURE? SATYAJIT RATH BY ISRC SNIPPETS: GOING OUT AND RETURNING HOME • CAN THE 31 COVID-19: SYMPTOMS & SPREAD SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION SPREAD THROUGH THE USE OF N. D. HARI DASS, SHANTALA HARI DASS, AIR CONDITIONING? KAMAL LODAYA & R. V. VANDANA BY ISRC OUR RESPONSE SNIPPETS: RESOURCES ON COVID-19 IMMUNE RESPONSE BY VIJETA RAGHURAM 37 TO COVID-19 • 9 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO MANAGE YOUR COVID-19 SYMPTOMS AT HOME SATYAJIT RATH BY CDC SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION: SNIPPETS: KALONJI, HOT TEA, GARLIC & COVID-19 43 PROTECTION & PREVENTION • WILL SPRAYING BLEACH ON SOMEONE WHO MIGHT BE ASHA MARY ABRAHAM INFECTED DESTROY SARS-CoV-2? BY ISRC 49 TESTING FOR COVID-19 SNIPPETS: CAN CLAPPING HANDS KILL SARS-CoV-2? YASMIN JAYATHIRTHA • CAN AIR-PURIFIERS PROTECT YOU FROM SARS-CoV-2? BY ISRC TREATMENT FOR A PANDEMIC: SNIPPETS: COVID-19 mRNA VACCINE • THE SARS-CoV-2 56 AN ONGOING SEARCH VIRUS STAYS INFECTIOUS... • MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK SRIKANTH. K. S BY ISRC SNIPPET: HOW EFFECTIVE ARE PHYSICAL DISTANCING, 65 MITIGATION OF THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC WEARING MASKS, & USING EYE PROTECTION IN CURBING T JACOB JOHN SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION? BY ANUSHA KRISHNAN SNIPPETS: