For almost a decade, scientists chased the source of a deadly new virus through China’s tallest mountains and most isolated caverns. They finally found it in the bats of Shitou Cave. The virus in question was a coronavirus that caused an...

One year to eighteen months might seem like a while to wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, but there's a good reason finding and approving a candidate takes a whole lot of time.

Viruses are wildly successful organisms. There are about 100 million times as many virus particles on Earth as there are stars in the observable universe. Even so, viruses can and do go extinct. So, what is the possibility of the virus...

Two new versions of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the UK and South African variants, were announced in December. They've spread quickly in their countries of origin, and have begun popping up around the world. Join us to find out...

Some countries are planning to wait up to 12 weeks to administer second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Will this slow the virus?

In the 16th century, physician Andreas Vesalius described how a suffocating animal could be kept alive by inserting a tube into its trachea and blowing air to inflate its lungs. Today, Vesalius’s treatise is recognized as the first...

On April 3rd, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started recommending that people wear a mask over their face when they go out in public. Except, for many of us, this isn’t the message we’ve gotten for the last couple of...

What does it mean when a virus is airborne? It turns out it's more than just what comes out when you sneeze

On average, adults catch more than 150 colds throughout their lives. Even with similar symptoms, the cause could be different each time. Common colds are caused by at least 8 different families of virus, each of which can have its own...

Researchers believe you can get reinfected with COVID-19, but we're not quite sure if that's a bad thing yet.

The abrupt shift to online learning due to COVID-19 rocked the US education system, unearthing many of the inequities at its foundation. Educator Nora Flanagan says we can reframe this moment as an opportunity to fix what's long been...

Some people who get sick with COVID-19 don't feel any symptoms of the disease, but what does an asymptomatic COVID-19 infection look like?

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are an effective way to kill a myriad of potentially harmful microbes. But is there a risk of germs becoming resistant to this ubiquitous liquid?

What if we treated the risk of pandemics the same way we treat the risk of fires? In this eye-opening talk, infectious disease epidemiologist Jennifer B. Nuzzo unpacks how the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 sparked a cultural shift in how...

When catastrophe strikes, art prevails -- and has done so for centuries. In this fascinating talk, writer and director Cara Greene Epstein places the closing of theaters during the coronavirus pandemic in a historical context, exploring...

Wearing a mask is a cheap and easy way to help stop the spread of airborne infections like COVID-19. It’s also a sign that you want to help protect other people and have them protect you… that we’re all in this together. Here’s some...

Today, we all do our best to protect ourselves from coronaviruses. But a lot of what people are doing doesn’t really help, and it could take away supplies from those who actually need them. Hank explains what does help, and how it...

In the 20th century, most vaccines took over a decade to research, test, and produce. But the vaccines for COVID-19 were cleared for emergency use in less than 11 months. The secret behind this speed is a medical technology that's been...

Building a pandemic-free future won't be easy, but Bill Gates believes that we have the tools and strategies to make it possible -- now we just have to fund them. In this forward-looking talk, he proposes a multi-specialty Global...

Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall says that humanity's survival depends on conservation of the natural world. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, she tells the story of her formative days working with chimpanzees, how she...

Stay informed. Stay cautious, but not scared. Listen to scientists and public health officials and follow their guidance. By protecting yourself, you’re protecting the most vulnerable among us. Together we can flatten the curve on...

With the ambitious goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, the European Union has committed to creating a greener world for future generations. In this bold talk, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European...

Your hands, up close, are anything but smooth. With peaks and valleys, folds and rifts, there are plenty of hiding places for a virus to stick. If you then touch your face, the virus can infect you. But there are two extraordinarily...

A primer on exponential and logistic growth, with epidemics as a central example