20 episodes

When public health is threatened on a mass scale, we have a long history of working together to take on the challenge. As the host of Wondery’s American Innovations, Steven Johnson has told the stories of some of the most crucial breakthroughs in health, medicine, and technology. He’s also the author of one of the seminal books on epidemics, “The Ghost Map.”
On this new weekly series, Steven will speak with experts from the worlds of health and technology about how the current moment compares with past pandemics, and what the coming months might look like. What will it take to develop a COVID-19 vaccine? How will our educational system change? How can crowdsourcing help us battle the spread of the coronavirus? We’ve vanquished more dangerous threats before. Let’s roll up our sleeves and tackle this one together.

Fighting Coronavirus, from American Innovations Wondery

    • Society & Culture
    • 5.0 • 1 Rating

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

When public health is threatened on a mass scale, we have a long history of working together to take on the challenge. As the host of Wondery’s American Innovations, Steven Johnson has told the stories of some of the most crucial breakthroughs in health, medicine, and technology. He’s also the author of one of the seminal books on epidemics, “The Ghost Map.”
On this new weekly series, Steven will speak with experts from the worlds of health and technology about how the current moment compares with past pandemics, and what the coming months might look like. What will it take to develop a COVID-19 vaccine? How will our educational system change? How can crowdsourcing help us battle the spread of the coronavirus? We’ve vanquished more dangerous threats before. Let’s roll up our sleeves and tackle this one together.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Larry Brilliant on Why We Need a Global Covid Response

    Larry Brilliant on Why We Need a Global Covid Response

    There are few people who have thought more about pandemics than epidemiologist Larry Brilliant. He worked with the World Health Organization to eradicate smallpox. He’s fought polio and blindness in India. And, in his 2006 TED Prize talk, he warned the audience that a pandemic was coming “within your children or your grandchildren's lifetime.”

    He was right. What he couldn’t predict, though, was how mismanaged our response would be – and how quickly we’d set aside the lessons we learned defeating smallpox. As Larry tells Steven, “We have to work together… and we're not doing it so far.”

    Watch Larry’s Ted Prize acceptance speech: https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_brilliant_my_wish_help_me_stop_pandemics?language=en

    Support us by supporting our sponsors!

    Great Courses Plus - Get unlimited access to the entire at thegreatcoursesplus.com/fightingcv.

    UV Clean - You can enjoy 15% off plus free shipping on your order of two or more when you visit getuvclean.com and use promo code FIGHTING CV.

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 23 min
    Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Vaccines (But Were Afraid to Ask)

    Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Vaccines (But Were Afraid to Ask)

    The coronavirus has put our lives on pause, but it’s kicked the science behind vaccines into hyperdrive. Science writer Carl Zimmer walks Steven through some of the radical new approaches to making vaccines – and gives his best-case/worst-case scenarios for when a vaccine will be ready. Also: we get answers, kind of, about what’s up with Russia. And Steven drops a Taylor Swift reference. 

    Read Carl’s latest on the vaccine race in the New York Times:

    https://www.nytimes.com/by/carl-zimmer

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 22 min
    Back to School

    Back to School

    Back-to-school season is here, but students across the country aren’t going anywhere. Anya Kamenetz, NPR’s education correspondent, returns to the show to shed light on the greatest educational crisis of our time. How can we safely reopen schools? And what can we learn from countries that have tried – and failed?

    Listen to Anya’s stories for NPR at https://www.npr.org/people/302894536/anya-kamenetz.

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 18 min
    How We Can Still Win

    How We Can Still Win

    When National Geographic science editor Nsikan Akpan began researching his latest article on the coronavirus, he asked every scientist he talked to the same question: Has the U.S. already lost? Every scientist said no – but we need a better game plan.

     

    On this week’s episode, Nsikan tells Steven what we’ve been getting wrong – and what the new game plan should look like.

     

    You can find Nsikan Akpan’s articles, including “Here’s How To Stop The Coronavirus From Winning,” at natgeo.com/coronavirus.

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 24 min
    Inside the NBA Bubble

    Inside the NBA Bubble

    Back in March, the NBA pressed pause on its 2019-20 season. Now, the league wants to pick up where it left off – but with Covid-19 rates on the rise, it’s not going to be easy.

    This week, Kavitha Davidson, host of The Lead, walks us through the NBA’s plan to move 16 teams into a “bubble” at the Disney World Resort. What rules will players have to follow? And will the risks to players’ health be worth it?

    Check out The Lead, Wondery’s daily sports podcast, at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lead/id1478448344

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 24 min
    Forest Fires, Memes, & Covid-19

    Forest Fires, Memes, & Covid-19

    Forest fires. Ant colonies. Internet memes.

    On the surface, they have nothing in common. But, according to network scientist Samuel Scarpino, they’re all complex systems that spread. Sam’s job is to crack the rules underlying their spread, and then apply them to epidemics such as Covid-19. 

    Read more about Sam’s work in Steven’s New York Times Magazine article, “How Data Became One of the Most Powerful Tools to Fight an Epidemic”: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/magazine/covid-data.html

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 24 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
1 Rating

1 Rating

Top Podcasts In Society & Culture

What Now? with Trevor Noah
Spotify Studios
Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel
Esther Perel Global Media
Modern Wisdom
Chris Williamson
Stuff You Should Know
iHeartPodcasts
Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts
The Black Effect and iHeartPodcasts
The Issue with Dan Corder
Dan Corder

You Might Also Like

American Innovations
Wondery
Inside Star Wars
Wondery
WeCrashed
Wondery
Legal Wars
Wondery
Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
Wondery
Business Wars Daily
Wondery

More by Wondery

British Scandal
Wondery
This Is Actually Happening
Wondery
Dr. Death
Wondery
American Scandal
Wondery
Business Wars
Wondery
The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories
Grip Tape