TWiV 1305: Lab leak idea called on the carpet

This Week in Virology

Vincent Racaniello

Virology, Science & Medicine, Pathogen, Infection, Virus, Racaniello, Twiv, Vincent, Microbe, Medicine, Infectious, Microbiology

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2026

⏱️ 108 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TWiV introduces sunshine virus of carpet pythons and its effect snakes after experimental infection, and development of a new tool to distinguish between naturally ocurring outbreaks and those that arise from lab accidents. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, Rich Condit, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Support science education at MicrobeTV Positions in Rosenfeld Lab (email) IgNobel Prize ceremony moved to Europe (Science) Prasad is out of the FDA (again) (npr) Sunshine virus in carpet pythons (J Virol) Selection preceding epidemics and pandemics (Cell) Letter read on TWiV 1305 Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Weekly Picks Brianne – Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text Rich – Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman Alan – High-resolution 3D imaging of the USS Monitor by NOAA’s new µSAS system Vincent – The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli Listener Pick Douglas – Grandparents for vaccines Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This Week in Virology, the podcast about viruses, the kind that make you sick.
0:10.5	From MicrobTV, this is Twiv.
0:14.0	This week in Virology, episode 1305, oh, March 13th, 2026.
0:27.3	I'm Vincent Rackenello, and you're listening to the podcast, all about viruses.
0:31.9	I paused because 1305 was my office in the hammer building at Columbia for many years, right, Alan, wasn't
0:38.7	that right?
0:40.1	Joining me today from Western Massachusetts, Alan Dove.
0:44.3	Good to be here.
0:45.7	And out here in Western Mass, it is, well, it's spring, which is alternating days of
0:50.1	summer and winter and somebody flipped the switch back to winter.
0:53.6	So it's blustery, 41 degrees
0:55.8	Fahrenheit 5C and overcast. A couple of days ago, it was over 70 Fahrenheit and beautiful. And
1:02.7	yeah, this is what we get. Six degrees C and cloudy here in Chelsea. Also joining us from Madison,
1:08.6	New Jersey, Brienne Barker. Hi, great to be here.
1:12.6	We also are, of course, flipped back to winter.
1:15.6	It's 44 Fahrenheit 7 Celsius, but that's okay because we had a bunch of lovely 70-degree days that made up my spring break.
1:24.6	And now it's time to go back to work, so it's okay if it goes back to winter.
1:28.6	From Austin, Texas, Rich Condit.
1:31.2	Hi, everybody.
1:32.8	It's gorgeous here.
1:34.2	76 degrees.
1:36.8	Clear blue skies.
	...

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