Zoonotic Diseases

David Quammen, author of 2012’s book Spillover that predicted in uncanny detail the 2019 Covid pandemic, joins Cool Science Radio today. Quammen’s opening paragraph written in 2012 told us what scientists believed could be coming, and 7 years later, it came. Since its emergence in 2019, 6 million human lives have been lost around the world.These past 2 years David has been hard at work interviewing 94 virologists and infectious-disease experts about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, its origins, evolution, and journey through the human population.

On today's Cool Science Radio, John and Lynn's guests include: (01:18) David Quammen, author of 2012’s book Spillover that predicted in detail the 2019 Covid pandemic. These past 2 years David has been hard at work interviewing 94 virologists and infectious-disease experts about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, its origins, evolution, and journey through the human population. Then, (29:18) Nicole Yunger Halpern who has written Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday's Tomorrow. Halpern re-envisions the steam engine and the laws of thermodynamics from the 1880s Industrial Revolution through the lens of today's quantum information revolution.