This episode is presented by eBay.

Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time, don't they? Absolutely, mate. And you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. there's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else.

Then when you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most

importantly, free. It's free, Rob. When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals

on things you love. You can't help but say when it's eBay. It excludes vehicles and business

sellers.

Welcome to Science Talk, the weekly podcast of Scientific American, posted on April 17, 2009.

I'm Steve Merski. This week on the podcast, we'll hear three speakers from a recent conference on human health and the environment, the environment both outside

you and inside you, and we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news.

Back on April 3rd, I was at the American Museum of Natural History here in New York City

for a conference called Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between Health and the Environment,

which was put on by the Museum's Center for

Biodiversity and Conservation. I'm going to play for you parts of three talks from just one of the

sessions dealing with pathogens. We'll hear the session moderator, Georgia Mato, introduce

Penn State's Peter Hudson, who talks about disease transmission,

then a short clip from Oxford's Oliver Pibis on how studying pathogens can save lives in unexpected ways.

And then NYU's Martin Blazer on the case of the disappearing stomach flora.

Here's George Amato.

I'm sorry. the disappearing stomach flora. Here's George Amato. I would say in the field of human health, for the last five or six years, the dominant news

stories have been about emerging diseases, whether it was SARS or avian influenza or novel diseases like NEPA virus or other ones.

It seems every couple of years where the public, of course, is just aware of this.

It seems like a new and unusual phenomena.

...