Page 16 - 2021 English Magazine - Final
P. 16
Could you pass me the case of corona?
Rapid-fire facts:
While we’re on the topic of corona, have you ever wondered why SARS-
CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) and other respiratory viruses are
called coronaviruses? (Corona does not mean respiratory disease or any- 1. You’re taller in the morning.
thing related to the respiratory system). In fact, the word corona was de- 2. You produce enough saliva to fill 2 bathtubs a year.
rived from coronam, which is Latin for “crown”. But where’s the “crown” 3. 12% of people dream in black and white. Humans used to
in coronaviruses? It refers to the crown-shaped spikes (called spike pro- dream more in black and white before the invention of colour
teins) on the surface of the viral membrane. Hence the name, coronavirus. tvs (about 15%).
4. Your fingernails grow faster than your toenails.
Fun fact: these crown-like spike proteins are the structures that al- 5. Laid end to end, the blood vessels in your body could circle
low the coronavirus to interact with and invade host cells the equator 4 times.
6. As you breathe, most of the air is going in and out of one
nostril. Every few hours, the workload shifts to the other nostril.
Author’s note: please keep you and your loved ones safe by 7. Your thumbs have their own pulse.
(at least) wearing a mask in public. 8. No one really knows what fingerprints are for, but they
might help wick water away from our hands, prevent blisters,
or improve touch.
9. Blood accounts for 8% of your total body mass.
Covid-19 is just a serious case of cold, right? 10.The highest blood flow is to the kidneys.
Most people probably think of Covid-19 as a respiratory illness. After all,
Covid-19 symptoms are rather similar to those of other respiratory diseas-
es (fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing). However, evi-
dence is starting to suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus also causes
heart complications (irregular beating, excess inflammation) and neuro-
logical damage (hallucinations, seizures, headaches) in Covid-19 patients. Return to monkey
There have also been reports of kidney damage (severe enough to re-
quire dialysis) and blood clots in the vein between the heart and lungs. Did you know? We humans have roughly the same number of hairs on
our bodies as a chimpanzee. Crazy right? But if that’s the case, why don’t
Author’s note: if I were you, I wouldn’t want to rely on we all look like monkeys? It turns out that most of our body hair is simply
a dialysis machine for the rest of my life, so please do too fine to be seen. Though it is not yet known why we lost our protective
your part in flattening the curve and keep yourself fur, some have suggested that it may have been to help early humans
safe #kitajagakita
sweat more, or to make life harder for parasites such as lice or ticks.
16 17
