Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic?

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2018

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“Humanity is now in the midst of its fastest-ever period of change,” writes Ed Yong in the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Urbanization and globalization mean pathogens can spread and become drug-resistant more quickly than ever. Yong joins executive editor Matt Thompson and fellow science writer Sarah Zhang to discuss what vulnerabilities exist a century after the 1918 pandemic, and how our sharpest risks might be societal and psychological. Links - “The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?” (Ed Yong, July/August 2018 Issue) - “VIDEO: Is Trump Ready for a Global Outbreak?” (Ed Yong, Jun 14, 2018) - “China Is Genetically Engineering Monkeys With Brain Disorders” (Sarah Zhang, June 8, 2018) - “The Perfect Storm Behind This Year's Nasty Flu Season” (Sarah Zhang, January 13, 2018) - “Trees That Have Lived for Millennia Are Suddenly Dying” (Ed Yong, Jun 11, 2018) - @sarahzhang on Twitter; @-mention her if you’ve read Audrey Schulman’s A Theory of Bastards - 160 Years of Atlantic Stories - “How Bad Is the Flu?” (Justina Hill, March 1944 Issue) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	At the crossroads of artistic insight and intellectual curiosity we find the edge of reason
0:07.0	dive into the heart of artistic inspiration rooted in Enlightenment thinking and discover how contemporary creators are holding a mirror up to society to reflect who we are, where we've been, and where we're headed.
0:20.0	Join me, Jeff Chang, at the Edge of Reason, a new limited podcast from Atlantic
0:25.6	Rethink, the branded content studio at the Atlantic, and Howzer and Worth.
0:29.4	100 years ago a flu virus devastated the world, killing off as much as 5% of
0:35.9	humankind. There have been a number of medical advances in the intervening years, but
0:40.7	the viruses have advanced as well. Would the world effectively unite against another
0:45.5	global pandemic? Or would it rip us apart? This is Radio Atlantic. Here with me in the studio are
1:10.8	two Atlantic staff writers, both science writers, Sarah Zang.
1:15.0	Hello Sarah.
1:16.3	Hello, Sarah.
1:17.3	And Ed Young.
1:18.3	Hello, Ed.
1:19.3	You last heard Ed Soner's tones, perhaps, reading E.M. Forster as the machine stops.
1:25.1	As your rent a Brit.
1:26.1	Yes, so great.
1:30.1	Quick programming note.
1:31.6	Jeff and Alex are both off Galavanting this week but they will
1:35.8	be back soon. So, and Sarah we have talked about a lot of different threats on
1:41.8	Radio Atlantic, threats to liberal democracy, nuclear threats, concerns
1:45.8	about terrorism and technology, and more. However, there's one giant global threat that always
1:52.3	seems to get underweighted next to the tremendous risk that it poses us, pandemics.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Atlantic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Atlantic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.