“The point being,” he said, “that the more opportunity viruses have to jump hosts, the more opportunity they have to mutate when they encounter new immune systems.” Their mutations are random but frequent, combining nucleotides in myriad new ways. “And, sooner or later, one of these viruses has the right combination to adapt to its new host.” This point about opportunity is a crucial idea, more subtle than it might seem. I had heard it from a few other disease scientists. It’s crucial because it captures the randomness of the whole situation, without which we might romanticize the phenomena of
...more
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
cc: all the people going on this year about covid-19 being nature’s revenge on us
