I’ve been blogging a lot recently about dangerous viruses, like the flu and norovirus. But, truth be told, a lot of viruses we harbor don’t make us sick. They may even make us healthy. You’d think they’d be worth getting to know. But they’re mostly a mystery to us.

The collection of viruses that are dwelling inside you right now is known collectively as the virome. You might think these viruses were the sort that infect your cells. Some indeed are. There’s a good chance you harbor papillomaviruses in some of your skin cells, for example. And chances are they won’t cause you any harm. Rather than blasting apart your cells, papillomaviruses merely accelerate the rate at which your cells divide. Since you slough off your skin cells, you’re rid of the viruses soon enough anyway. No harm, no foul. The only trouble these viruses can cause is when they end up accelerating your cells until they spin out of control. They can cause cervical cancer and warts when this happens.

Continue reading “Your Inner Lions: Get to Know Your Virome” →

It’s been a rough flu season this winter in the United States and Europe, but it could be worse. A lot worse. The flu viruses that are making us sick go by names like H1N1 and H3N2, referring to the kinds of proteins that stud their surface. There’s another sort of flu lurking in other parts of the world, like Egypt, India, and Cambodia, known as H5N1. Since 2003, 615 people have come down with H5N1, and, as of Feburary 1, 364 of them had died. In January alone, 5 people in Cambodia were diagnosed with H5N1. Four of them died.

There’s a lot of debate about precisely how bad H5N1 is. It’s possible that a lot of people are getting sick with H5N1 without making it onto the official records. They’re crawling off to bed for a week, recuperating, and then getting on with their lives. So the 59 percent death rate you get from the official numbers (what’s known as the case-fatality rate) may be a serious overestimate. Still, even if the true rate was only half as high, H5N1 would not be a virus you’d want to cross paths with. The most famous flu outbreak of all, the so-called Spanish flu of 1918, is estimated to have killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide. But it infected billions, with a death rate of roughly 2 percent. If H5N1 could somehow take off and become a global pandemic, it would become an unparalleled catastrophe even if its official 59 percent case-fatality rate was chopped down by a factor of ten.

Continue reading “The Future Evolution of Bird Flu” →

Just a quick note to let you know about a couple new radio/podcast programs I’m on at the moment.

1. Radiolab. The merry band of Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich, and company have put out a new episode all about speed. They got in touch with me after reading a column I wrote about the speed of thought, and I took them on a journey through our not-exactly-light-speed nervous system. They also explore other aspects of speed, such as the agonizingly slow drip of pitch and the superfast world of high-speed stock trading. I’ve embedded the show here.

2. Point of Inquiry: At Science Online this weekend, I sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Indre Viskontas. We talked about whether viruses are alive, how to do a better job of fighting the flu, and much more. Check it out.

Originally published February 6, 2013. Copyright 2013 Carl Zimmer.

Never underestimate a mole.

It’s easy to have low expectations for these creatures. My own experience with moles is limited to the sight of their carcasses at my doorstep, laid there by our triumphant and generous cat. Stretched out on the cold bluestone, they look like little more than eyeless pouches of fur.

Continue reading “Stereo Mole Noses” →