The New York Times, May 5, 2021

Link

In early 2020, dozens of scientific teams scrambled to make a vaccine for Covid-19. Some chose tried-and-true techniques, such as making vaccines from killed viruses. But a handful of companies bet on a riskier method, one that had never produced a licensed vaccine: deploying a genetic molecule called RNA.

The bet paid off. The first two vaccines to emerge successfully out of clinical trials, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and by Moderna, were both made of RNA. They both turned out to have efficacy rates about as good as a vaccine could get.

In the months that followed, those two RNA vaccines have provided protection to tens of millions of people in some 90 countries. But many parts of the world, including those with climbing death tolls, have had little access to them, in part because they require being kept in a deep freeze.

Now a third RNA vaccine may help meet that global need. A small German company called CureVac is on the cusp of announcing the results of its late-stage clinical trial. As early as next week, the world may learn whether its vaccine is safe and effective.

Continue reading “This New Covid Vaccine Could Bring Hope to the Unvaccinated World”

Lots to relay in this issue of Friday’s Elk, including news on two books. So let’s dig in!

I’ve written a new edition of A Planet of Viruses, which has just come out. It has the same micro-format of the original edition a decade ago: twelve essays on twelve of my favorite viruses. But I’ve updated it throughout with new scientific research. Most significantly, I’ve written a chapter on Covid-19, drawing on my reporting for The New York Times over the past year.

The book also has a new look, courtesy of an old friend. When I turned ten, my family moved to the rural fringe of western New Jersey, where I didn’t know a soul. Someone told my parents that a kid like me who was always writing stories and drawing comic strips should meet another ten-year old there named Ian Schoenherr, who drew pictures of Willy Wonka and such. We’ve been friends ever since. Ian has gone on to illustrate a long string of books, while I’ve been writing others. This is the first time he has illustrated a book of mine, and I couldn’t be more pleased. You can order the third edition here.

Life’s Edge: Podcasts and More

This weekend, the New York Times Book Review put Life’s Edge on the cover, with a review from Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene. It’s a career first for me, so I’m inexpressibly grateful.

The Washington Post reviewed Life’s Edge as wellwriting, “The pleasures of Life’s Edge derive from its willingness to sit with the ambiguities it introduces, instead of pretending to conclusively transform the senseless into the sensible.” 

I also had an hour-long conversation with Meghna Chakrabarti, host of National Public Radio’s On Point. Listen here. Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Reviewhosted me on her podcast as well.

You can order the book here.

Not Missing My Shot

After writing for months about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it’s weirdly elating to get their messenger RNA pumped in my shoulder. Looking forward to full immunization in mid-May. 

That’s all for now. Stay safe!

You can find information and ordering links for my fourteen books here. You can also follow me on TwitterFacebookGoodreads, and LinkedIn. If someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe to it here.

Best wishes, Carl

Originally published April 3, 2021. Copyright 2021 Carl Zimmer.

This is a quick note to draw your attention to a piece I’ve just published that I’m very proud to share. Tomorrow’s Sunday Review in the New York Times features a long essay I adapted from my new book Life’s Edge. It’s called “The Secret Life of a Coronavirus.”

In my essay, I touch on a couple of the big questions in my book: what does it take to be alive, and what are we to make of the things that don’t quite meet our requirements? Our current pandemic is the work of one such hard case. Continue reading “Friday’s Elk, February 27, 2021”