Habitat fragmentation, ecosystem degradation, land conversion, deforestation, and wildlife trade have all contributed to the steady increase in disease spillover over the past several decades.
By Brigitte Hugh, Lillian Parr, and Dr. Dan Regan A recent study published in Nature found that 218 of the 375 infectious diseases that have impacted humanity have been exacerbated by climate hazards intensified by greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the study highlighted that there are over 1,000 pathways in which climatic hazards can lead…
By Bill Beaver and Yong-Bee Lim With good reason, the U.S. government is prioritizing pathogen early warning and taking biological threats seriously. In its National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, the Biden Administration announced plans to support the establishment of a National Center for Epidemic Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics to modernize global…
Data will be one of the central components of preventing future outbreaks from growing to pandemic proportions. This holds for natural disease outbreaks and for deliberate biological attacks. Our tools and methods for collecting, analyzing, and using data are incredible and improving rapidly. Such capabilities have been put to productive use against COVID-19 by some…
By Leah Emanuel In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Matthew Vollrath, a journalism Master’s student at Stanford, has created a podcast entitled “Life in the Coronaverse.” This five-part series explores the linkages between the coronavirus and climate change, how we respond to both, the partisan divides impacting action, and more. In the third episode,…