Protein named Sonic the Hedgehog is linked to coronavirus
It is often said that life has a rather black and sometimes cruel sense of humor, and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic emergency, a curious coincidence has emerged that links the world of video games to the virus that has put in check to different countries in the world.
As you know, research into the type of coronavirus that has infected hundreds of thousands and killed thousands of people around the world is working hard and recently it was discovered that one of the symptoms that can allow a timely diagnosis of the infection is the loss of the sense of smell and affectations to the sense of taste. According to information shared by Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard University, this is due to activity that silences the Sonic hedgehog protein (SHH), which has to do, among other things, with the organization of the brain.
Interestingly, the name of this protein is attributed to researcher Cliff Tabin of Harvard University, who discovered it and named it after seeing a comic book that his daughter brought from the United Kingdom where the SEGA character was shown, which happened before that the first Sonic the Hedgehog game debuted in America for Genesis.
After the SEGA title was released and the blue hedgehog became a video game icon, the scientific community thought of changing the name to avoid confusion or any other situation, however, this proposal did not materialize and every Sonic Hedgehog He went on his way, one in video games and the other as an object of science study. Unfortunately, nobody thought that this coincidence would be mentioned again in 2020, much less because of the difficult situation that is taking place at the moment.