A major new feature of the fourth edition of Principles of Virology is the inclusion of 26 video interviews with leading scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of virology. These in-depth interviews provide the background and thinking that went into the discoveries or observations connected to the concepts being taught in this text. …
Stuart Firestein, Columbia University neuroscientist and author of the book Ignorance, returns to TWiV for a chat about his latest work, Failure. This book is all about how experiments that don’t work, or provide the wrong conclusions, are essential for the progress of science. You can find TWiV #385 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below. [powerpress …
Dr. Susan Nasif is a virologist and part of the team at Cimaza Comics that produces science-themed comics. In their latest creation, Zanzare, we are plunged head-first into the global mystery of Zika virus. We meet the mosquitoes (in Italian: zanzare) implicated in its spread; but the insects plead their innocence, saying it’s all a misunderstanding. They …
Not long after the appearance of an outbreak of viral disease, first scientists, and then newswriters, blame it all on mutation of the virus. It happened during the Ebolavirus outbreak in West Africa, and now it’s happening with Zika virus. The latest example is by parasitologist Peter Hotez, who writes in the New York Times: There …
Mass die-offs of tilapia by a novel orthomyxo-like virus, Ian Lipkin’s editorial on the movie Vaxxed, and new vaccines to prevent dengue virus infections, including a human challenge model, are topics of episode #384 of the science show This Week in Virology. With guests Ian Lipkin and Nischay Mishra from the Center for Infection and Immunity. You …
Six months after Zika virus became a household word, we now know the three-dimensional structure of the virus particle. And it looks like very much like other flaviviruses, such as West Nile and dengue viruses. In the old days, solving a virus structure was a big deal. A virus is, after all, a very large assembly …
