These terms can describe what is happening as a disease spreads

If a pandemic ripped across the world, how bad would it really get?

Ask any expert in infectious diseases and they’ll tell you that when it comes to pandemics, it’s not a question of if we’ll have another one. It’s a question of when.

We’re answering questions about the virus with infectious disease doctor Krutika Kuppalli, who studies global pandemics. And chemistry professor Palli Thordarson, from the University of New South Wales on the science of why washing your hands with plain old soap and water is so effective against germs.

David Wallace-Wells tells us why climate change and pandemics are related, and he’ll examine humanity’s ability to solve existential crises.

This isn’t the first pandemic humanity has faced. From the black death to Spanish flu, from AIDS to Ebola; we’ve been here before.

NPR science reporter Rebecca Hersher and NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer explain why — and what really makes our air dirty.

In protests around the country, law enforcement agencies have used tear gas to disperse crowds. But is it safe?

NPR Science Desk correspondent Jon Hamilton tells us about how these machines work, and how, for patients who do survive, recovery can be a long road.

Following the previous lesson in which students learned how pathogens adapt to overcome the immune system, the focus herein is viral replication and specifically, how influenza and HIV adapt.

Students learn the different ways that influenza virus can mutate and what impact that has on how rapidly and widely the virus spreads.

Students research different infectious diseases to determine the ways they spread and who is most at risk.