Going Viral

Podcast Episode Summary

The term “bird flu” is a misnomer, scientists say, because almost all human influenza originates in our feathered friends. How it lands in you and spreads is another matter …

Hear what it takes for a virus to go global, from a virus hunter who plans to stop epidemics in their tiny DNA tracks with an innovative global surveillance system.

Also, why your genome is littered with fossil viruses of the past … the two largest viruses discovered so far, Mimi and Mega, square off … and, what it takes for ideas to “go viral.”

Guests:

• Nathan Wolfe – Viral Ecologist, Director of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative
• Robert Gifford – Evolutionary virologist, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller University
• Vincent Racaniello – Virologist at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, host of the podcast, “This Week in Microbiology,” and author of the “Virology Blog”
• Bill Wasik – Senior Editor at Wired, author of And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture