Book Review: 'Air-borne' transforms scientific history into detective story
A history of aerobiology would normally be a book that would have little interest beyond the science community. But in 'Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breath," Carl Zimmer transforms the topic into something that reads like a combination of detective and horror stories.
Zimmer creates a highly relevant and gripping history of the study of the air that spans from Louis Pasteur holding a glass globe on a glacier to scientists racing to fight COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The book shows what a vital role the science of airborne life has played in the fight against COVID, influenza and other diseases. Zimmer also introduces readers to figures little known to the mass public who have played a role in the field's evolution.
They include William Firth Wells, a pioneer in aerobiology whose work was crucial in understanding how airborne diseases spread, especially during the pandemic.
Zimmer's book also shows how the work of Wells and other scientists was distorted into something that was used as the basis of biological weapons.
Using the outbreak among a Washington state choir, Zimmer chillingly describes how COVID-19 spread through the air and the frustrating rifts among health officials during the pandemic about addressing to the public that the virus was airborne.
As Zimmer puts it, the pandemic 'made the ocean of gases surrounding us visible.' His book is a key guide for understanding that ocean.
___
AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Satellite photos reveal damage to Iranian missile bases after Israeli strikes
Satellite images analyzed Saturday by The Associated Press revealed some of the damage sustained by Iran's ballistic missile arsenal in an Israeli attack on the country. Images from Planet Labs PBC taken Friday showed damage at two missile bases, one in Kermanshah and one in Tabriz, both in western Iran. At Kermanshah, where the base is up against a mountainside, burns could be seen across a wide area after the attack. In Tabriz, images showed damage at multiple sites on the base. Iran has not acknowledged the damage, though it reported on Israeli strikes in the area.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Satellite photos reveal damage to Iranian missile bases after Israeli strikes
Satellite images analyzed Saturday by The Associated Press revealed some of the damage sustained by Iran's ballistic missile arsenal in an Israeli attack on the country. Images from Planet Labs PBC taken Friday showed damage at two missile bases, one in Kermanshah and one in Tabriz, both in western Iran. At Kermanshah, where the base is up against a mountainside, burns could be seen across a wide area after the attack. In Tabriz, images showed damage at multiple sites on the base. Iran has not acknowledged the damage, though it reported on Israeli strikes in the area.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
BioNTech buys mRNA, courtroom rival CureVac in all-stock deal
This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter. COVID vaccine maker BioNTech is buying rival CureVac, announcing Thursday an all-stock deal weeks before the two companies were due to face off in a German court over potentially billions of dollars worth of royalties related to intellectual property on messenger RNA drugs. Per deal terms, each CureVac share will be exchanged for about $5.46 worth of BioNTech's U.S.-listed shares, valuing the company at $1.25 billion. Upon the deal's close, CureVac shareholders will own between 4% and 6% of BioNTech. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, BioNTech and CureVac were among the companies racing to develop the first coronavirus vaccines. BioNTech, however, partnered with Pfizer and won approval of the first COVID-19 shot, while CureVac's program never made it to market. The two companies have since been embroiled in patent litigation. CureVac was a leading candidate to develop the first COVID-19 vaccine, launching rumors, later denied, that the U.S. government might even buy the company or its research. But while BioNTech and fellow mRNA drugmaker Moderna succeeded in making vaccines that saved millions of lives and earned billions of dollars in revenue, CureVac fell short. Its initial project wasn't effective enough at preventing sickness, prompting it to scrap development. A year later, CureVac sued BioNTech, claiming it infringed four patents. CureVac has since changed course, selling off most rights to influenza and COVID-19 vaccines to partner GSK and focusing on cancer instead. But its legal spat with BioNTech has lingered. The European Patent Office had upheld two CureVac patents, and a trial in a Dusseldorf regional court was set on July 1 to determine if BioNTech had infringed on them. A separate trial in the U.S. was scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in Virginia. Some Wall Street analysts, as a result, speculated that BioNTech's primary purpose is buying CureVac is to sidestep the risk of a loss in court. A single-digit percentage royalty awarded to CureVac could've cost BioNTech as much as $3 billion, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat wrote in a note to clients. 'It seems to us that [BioNTech] assessed the cost of a cash settlement as substantially greater than the cost of buying [CureVac] outright,' Raffat wrote. The deal could also help BioNTech further its oncology ambitions. Like CureVac, BioNTech has made cancer research a top priority. It's invested in a variety of programs, from cell therapies to mRNA vaccines and a coveted type of bispecific antibody. Some are in advanced testing. CureVac's cancer vaccines are in earlier phases of development. A brain cancer shot has delivered early clinical data, while a lung cancer immunotherapy was cleared in April for human testing. The deal should help CureVac because of 'the early stage of the oncology pipeline and the need for a development partner to effectively compete in personalized cancer vaccines – which [BioNTech] is well positioned to execute,' wrote Leerink Partners analyst Mani Foroohar. Raffat, of Evercore ISI, however, wrote that the deal ascribes 'very little value' to CureVac's pipeline. Recommended Reading Recursion to acquire two Canadian drug discovery startups Sign in to access your portfolio
