Bird flu has been in the headlines for ages, with scientists warning that we could be headed for a pandemic. But we’ve been hearing about this H5N1 virus for so long that it’s kind of starting to feel like the boy who cried wolf. So — what’s really going on with H5N1 bird flu? How scary is it, and how likely is it that we’re going to end up in a bird flu pandemic? We talk to virologists Dr. Seema Lakdawala and Dr. Richard Webby.

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsBirdFlu

(00:00) Tons of people are freaked out about H5N1 bird flu

(03:38) Why H5N1 bird flu is scary

(05:01) Birds are falling out of the sky dead

(07:32) Things get weird when bird flu gets into mammals

(18:34) What happens when humans start getting this bird flu

(23:26) Is bird flu mutating?

(29:11) Should I worry about bird flu?

(30:50) Do we have anything to fight bird flu?

(32:14) We have had some silent cases of bird flu already

This episode was produced by Blythe Terrell, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Michelle Dang, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell with help from Wendy Zukerman. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord and Sam Bair. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, So Wylie, and Bobby Lord. Thanks so much to all the researchers we spoke to for this episode, including Dr. Louise Moncla, Dr. Ted Elsasser, Dr. John Korslund, Victoria Rosado and Lindsey Adams. Thanks to Jeff DelViscio.

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#230: Adapt and Overcome More than Seems Possible