22 January

These always look scary. But it’s possible we misunderstand that viruses are active agents. It’s not in their best interest to wipe us out, we’re their hosts. They need us to survive. Usually pandemics arise in extreme situations, like the trenches in WW1, or the filthy crowding of medieval cities. [edit: our obsession with travel may end up being one of those ‘extreme’ drivers though, because it dramatically reduces the difficulty the virus has of finding fresh hosts.]