TL;DW:
Due to various molecular configurations (aka polymorphs), currently known medicines when contaminated with a catalyst seed molecule/particle can become irreversibly unreproducible via chained-contaminations.
- the contamination can cause the existing configurations to become more stable in a negative fashion where the medicine/compounds no longer work they way we expect them to.
This system of contamination and reproduction acts in similar fashion to viral infections.
Current Solutions:
- better clean room procedures for all steps of medicine manufacturing.
- pour more money into medicine polymorph research.
I absolutely hate Veritasium since they were bought out by private equity. What in the ever living fuck does the title/thumbnail have to do with the subject of this video?
It is tin pest, an autocatalytic transformation of tin, and it is absolutely in the video and related to the topic (see Lvxferres comment). Just to calm down everyone who wants to get angry about clickbait before having watched the video.
Private equity still generally sucks tho.
maybe if you actually watch the video you will find out?
I think that's gallium corroding aluminum, but I haven't watched the video
Yes, it's gallium corroding aluminum or something like it, but the video is about pharmaceuticals.
It's just a visual analogy. Once aluminum is infiltrated by the gallium it can't be reverted, only removed/replaced.
Not only visual, it's the exact same thing: polymorphism. It's therefore an extremely relevant and fitting thumbnail, and chuckleslord is a fool for assuming otherwise without giving the video a shot.