Ask a Chemist: How does handwashing kill coronavirus?
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A common recommendation from experts to help

Ask a Chemist: How does handwashing kill coronavirus?
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A common recommendation from experts to help protect against coronavirus is to wash your hands often, but why? It turns out that each time you do it is an effective two-pronged attack.

As Kate the Chemist explains, the virus has a weak outer membrane. By using the proper handwashing technique, you're actually breaking through that membrane and ripping the virus apart.

Soap is an important part of the equation because of its two sides: the hydrophobic side (which grabs onto the virus), and the hydrophilic side (which grabs onto the water). Washing your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds allows the virus to be rinsed away.
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DR. KATE BIBERDORF:

Dr. Kate Biberdorf is a scientist, a science entertainer, and a professor at the University of Texas. Through her theatrical and hands-on approach to teaching, Dr. Biberdorf is breaking down the image of the stereotypical scientist, while reaching students who might otherwise be intimidated by science. Check her latest book Kate the Chemist: The Big Book of Experiments at https://amzn.to/3bQX6Yh
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Between the Ukrainian crisis and the resulting fossil fuel shortages and price surges in Europe, compounded by the intensification of climate change terrifyingly visible all around us, the U.S.

Between the Ukrainian crisis and the resulting fossil fuel shortages and price surges in Europe, compounded by the intensification of climate change terrifyingly visible all around us, the U.S. seems stuck in an impossible conundrum: More domestically produced oil and gas is needed in the short term, but the science couldn’t be clearer that production needs to rapidly wind down in order to avoid catastrophe. Drillers claim that over time new technology will allow them to decarbonize hydrocarbons, but there’s absolutely no reason or evidence to believe them. Fossil fuel companies have long sought to confuse and mislead the public and have intensely lobbied against any meaningful climate action. They need to be stopped, but business-as-usual climate policy offers few good options.

As one of the nation’s greatest investigative journalists and experts on climate politics, Kate Aronoff explores how policymakers’ toolbox will have to be expanded so that we can carry out a managed, orderly decline and ultimate end of the fossil fuel era, while giving us all a stake in our energy future.

Visit http://www.bioneers.org to watch more talks and discussions from the 2022 conference.