Big Picture Science for May. 11, Preventing Future Pandemics

Big Picture Science: Preventing Future Pandemics

We may not want to think about another pandemic, but, as epidemiologists say, it is once again a “when,” not “if,” scenario. For his latest book, journalist Jon Cohen, who has written extensively about infectious disease for the magazine Science, interviewed top epidemiologists around the world and followed virus hunters into damp and daunting bat caves to assess our pandemic preparedness readiness. Jon and Molly sit down before an audience in Los Angeles to talk about worrisome cuts to science funding and our ability (or inability) to be vigilant and respond quickly to emerging disease. There is good news: we know how to stop outbreaks. The question is, will we put our tools and vast knowledge to use?

Guest:

• Jon Cohen – senior correspondent with Science Magazine, author of “Planning Miracles: How to Prevent Future Pandemics”

Reading: The Trump Administration is Dismantling Efforts to Fight the Next Pandemic


Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/preventing-future-pandemics

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Are We Alone for 11/30/09 - Skeptic Check: Vaccines: Give 'Em Your Best Shot

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Vaccines: Give 'Em Your Best Shot

As the anti-vax campaign rages, parents are just saying “no” to vaccines. But now the incidence of childhood diseases such as whooping cough are on the rise.

A number of studies have refuted the link between vaccines, autism and other chronic conditions, yet the anti-vaccine movement continues. Find out why. Also, how the media have irresponsibility framed the debate.

Plus, we panic over plague, sweat about swine flu, but don’t think twice about jumping in a car and roaring down a crowded highway at 70 mph. Discover why most of our health worries are overblown.

Also, Brains on Vacation and Hollywood Reality Check separate the facts from the phony.

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Paul Offit – Pediatrician, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and author of Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
• Phil Plait – Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
• Steven Novella – Assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine and co-founder and editor of sciencebasedmedicine.org
• Philip Alcabes – Professor of urban public health at Hunter College, and author of Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.