“Humanity is now in the midst of its fastest-ever period of change,” writes Ed Yong in the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Urbanization and globalization mean pathogens can spread and become drug-resistant more quickly than ever.

Yong joins executive editor Matt Thompson and fellow science writer Sarah Zhang to discuss what vulnerabilities exist a century after the 1918 pandemic, and how our sharpest risks might be societal and psychological.

Links

- “The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?” (Ed Yong, July/August 2018 Issue)

- “VIDEO: Is Trump Ready for a Global Outbreak?” (Ed Yong, Jun 14, 2018)

- “China Is Genetically Engineering Monkeys With Brain Disorders” (Sarah Zhang, June 8, 2018)

- “The Perfect Storm Behind This Year's Nasty Flu Season” (Sarah Zhang, January 13, 2018)

- “Trees That Have Lived for Millennia Are Suddenly Dying” (Ed Yong, Jun 11, 2018)

- @sarahzhang on Twitter; @-mention her if you’ve read Audrey Schulman’s A Theory of Bastards

- 160 Years of Atlantic Stories

- “How Bad Is the Flu?” (Justina Hill, March 1944 Issue)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic?