Exploring the Hidden Life in the Air around Us with Carl Zimmer

Scientists now agree that COVID spreads via airborne transmission.
But during the early days of the disease, public health officials
suggested that it mainly did so via close contact. The subsequent
back-and-forth over how COVID spread brought science journalist
Carl Zimmer into the world of aerobiology. In his new book
Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, Zimmer
examines the unseen life in the air around us. He joins host Rachel
Feltman to look back at the history of the field, from ancient
Greek “miasmas” to Louis Pasteur’s unorthodox experiments to
biological warfare.  You can preorder Zimmer’s new book And
stay up-to-date on his work at his website E-mail us at
sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or
ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every
day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in
Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by
Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg, Naeem
Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel
Feltman. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy with fact-checking by
Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by
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