234. Matt Ridley on the Search for the Origin of COVID-19

234. Matt Ridley on the Search for the Origin of COVID-19

A new virus descended on the human species in 2019 wreaking unprecedented havoc. Finding out where it came from and how it first jumped into people is an urgent priority, but early expectations that this would prove an easy question to answer have been dashed. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the crucial mystery of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not only unresolved but has deepened.

In this conversation based on the uniquely insightful book, Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19, Matt Ridley reviews how he and his co-author Alina Chan have tried to get to the bottom of how a virus whose closest relations live in bats in subtropical southern China somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometers away in the city of Wuhan. They grapple with the baffling fact that the virus left none of the expected traces that such outbreaks usually create: no infected market animals or wildlife, no chains of early cases in travelers to the city, no smoldering epidemic in a rural area, no rapid adaptation of the virus to its new host — human beings.

To try to solve this pressing mystery, Ridley delves deep into the events of 2019 leading up to 2021, the details of what went on in animal markets and virology laboratories, the records and data hidden from sight within archived Chinese theses and websites, and the clues that can be coaxed from the very text of the virus's own genetic code.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(632)

How to Think Clearly About a World in Crisis: Iran, China, Russia, and the West's Economic Pessimism

How to Think Clearly About a World in Crisis: Iran, China, Russia, and the West's Economic Pessimism

Michael Shermer speaks with political scientist Marlene Laruelle about Russia's turbulent transformation during the 1990s and the rise of Vladimir Putin, why the Kremlin so badly misjudged Ukraine, Ch...

18 Juli 1h 4min

The Truth About Sex Differences (Steve Stewart-Williams)

The Truth About Sex Differences (Steve Stewart-Williams)

How do men and women differ? Where do the differences come from? And how do they shape modern life? Drawing on a century of research and a billion years of evolution, Steve Stewart-Williams explains w...

11 Juli 55min

America at 250: What Did the Founders Get Right?

America at 250: What Did the Founders Get Right?

Michael Shermer makes the case that the U.S. Founding Fathers were not only steeped in Enlightenment values on which the Declaration of Independence was based, but they were also scientists searching ...

6 Juli 17min

When History Goes on Trial: Demjanjuk, Eichmann, and Justice After Atrocity

When History Goes on Trial: Demjanjuk, Eichmann, and Justice After Atrocity

John Demjanjuk lived for decades as a retired autoworker in suburban Cleveland. Then investigators accused him of being "Ivan the Terrible," one of the most notorious guards at Treblinka. What followe...

27 Juni 1h 32min

Why I Joined the Government UAP Science Advisory Council

Why I Joined the Government UAP Science Advisory Council

Michael Shermer has been appointed to the newly formed UAP Science Advisory Council, formed at the request of the White House and in coordination with the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), ...

23 Juni 29min

Massimo Pigliucci on Doubt, Moral Courage, and Living Without Illusions

Massimo Pigliucci on Doubt, Moral Courage, and Living Without Illusions

What does it mean to live well when certainty is unavailable? Michael Shermer speaks with Massimo Pigliucci about moral character, ancient philosophy, and the difficult art of making decisions without...

20 Juni 1h 33min

Cathy Young: Why Free Societies Need Free Speech

Cathy Young: Why Free Societies Need Free Speech

Cathy Young returns to the show for a wide-ranging conversation about free speech, institutional trust, and the strange incentives shaping public debate today. What happens when universities, media ou...

16 Juni 1h 30min

The Zodiac Killer Wasn't Real

The Zodiac Killer Wasn't Real

The Zodiac Killer has been treated for decades as America's ultimate unsolved true crime mystery: one mysterious killer, taunting letters, cryptic ciphers, a strange costume, and a trail of victims ac...

13 Juni 1h 39min

Populärt inom Vetenskap

p3-dystopia
dumma-manniskor
allt-du-velat-veta
bildningspodden
svd-nyhetsartiklar
rss-vetenskapsradion-2
det-morka-psyket
kvalificerat-hemligt-poddradio
medicinvetarna
rss-ufobortom-rimligt-tvivel
rss-vetenskapsradion
rss-arkeologi-historia-podden-som-graver-i-vart-kulturlandskap
sexet
rss-spraket
vetenskapsradion
hacka-livet
rss-kriminologerna
rss-broccolipodden-en-podcast-som-inte-handlar-om-broccoli
rss-ronden
paranormalt-med-caroline-giertz