There’s a working theory for the origins of Covid-19. It goes like this: Somewhere in an open-air market in Wuhan, China, a new coronavirus, growing inside an animal, first made the jump to a human. But what happens when diseases spread in the other direction?
Sonia Shah, a science journalist, explores the dangers of “spillback,” or “reverse zoonosis”: when ... Show More
Nov 24
The Autism Diagnosis Problem
<p>Once primarily limited to severely disabled people, autism began to be viewed as a spectrum that included children and adults far less impaired. Along the way, the disorder also became an identity, embraced by college graduates and even by some of the world’s most successful p ... Show More
32m 40s
Nov 23
Sunday Special: Wicked, Good?
<p>“Wicked” was one of the biggest movies of 2024. It was culturally ubiquitous, a box office smash and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. Now, a year later, “Wicked: For Good” arrives in theaters to finish the tale of the complicated friendship between Glinda the Good Witch and ... Show More
51m 44s
Apr 2024
What to know about the new bird flu outbreak
<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">For the first time, a virulent strain of bird flu has been detected in U.S. dairy cows. Fragments of the virus have also been found in commercial milk. Today, health reporter Lena Sun shares the latest on the ou ... Show More
27m 31s
Jun 2023
Pandemics Cause Misery and Death, But They Also Created Agriculture and Put Humans on Top of the Food Chain
Three years into a global pandemic, the fact that infectious disease is capable of reshaping humanity is obvious. But seen in the context of sixty thousand years of human and scientific history, COVID-19 is simply the latest in a series of world-changing pathogens. In fact, the r ... Show More
49m 56s
Jun 2020
China's Wet Market Workover
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our relationship with wildlife. The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, is zoonotic, which means it originated in an animal. Experts believe the virus emerged in bats then jumped to an intermediary host, possibly pangolins ... Show More
26m 52s