Laurie Garrett on Ebola

Laurie Garrett appeared on the BBC World Service to discuss what it means when the World Health Organization calls for "drastic action" to stem the spread of Ebola in West Africa, and why this epidemic is unique.

Brian Bergeron
The Rise in Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

The development of vaccines has changed modern history by preventing diseases that once killed millions of people. But there have recently been outbreaks of childhood maladies thought to have been eliminated. Most Americans don't remember measles, because the disease was declared eradicated in the year 2000. But, from New York to California, recent outbreaks are reminders of the potentially deadly disease, due to a drop in the vaccination of vulnerable children. Laurie Garrett appears on a panel with Seth Mnookin to discuss this topic, in this episode of KCRW's To The Point with Warren Olney.

Listen to the full interview here

Brian Bergeron
Contagion Discussion

The ease and availability of global travel brings the threat of widespread contagion ever closer to reality.

Contagion Discussion
Saturday Extra
Guest User
Contagion discussion

The ease and availability of global travel brings the threat of widespread contagion ever closer to reality. From time to time one of those diseases takes hold – bird flu, SARS and more recently, MERS, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. In a conversation with Dr. Norman Swan, host of Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Health Report, and Gareth Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, Laurie Garrett answers the question, "How much of a threat do such epidemics actually pose and how prepared are we for a plague?"

Full audio available here.

Brian Bergeron
Laurie Garrett – “Biology’s Brave New World”

Laurie Garrett talks with Tavis Smiley on the Tavis Smiley Radio Show about her Foreign Affairs essay of the same title, which says the practice of synthetic biology holds great promise for humankind—it could lead to anything from cleaner water to a cure for cancer. But unchecked, it could also lead to Armageddon.

The episode recording is no longer available on WNYC.

Brian Bergeron
Biosecurity for the Age of Redesigned Life

In this panel discussion on NPR's Science Friday , Laurie Garrett discusses the foreign policy implications of recent advances in synthetic biology. With the conversation focused on the iGEM competition, she praises the organization's emphasis on bioethics, but adds that one cannot assume those ethics will be translated to adult-run labs around the world.

Full audio available on Science Friday.

Brian Bergeron
Cosmic Queries: Viruses, Outbreaks and Pandemics

Infectious disease expert Laurie Garrett is back to answer your questions about viruses. First, she describes two current outbreaks: H7N9 influenza, which killed 25% of the people in China who got it, and MERS-CoV, or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, a genetic relative of SARS. With pilgrimages like the Haj in October, MERS is a serious pandemic concern to the worldwide health community. Next, Laurie explains how viruses like Ebola and HIV jump from bats and primates to humans through “zoonosis” and why they’re so lethal when they do. She tells Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice how we’re developing human engineered microorganisms in the lab, including nanobot viruses, and a competition where high school students invent new life forms. All this, plus a fungus that turns ants into zombies, pathogens that spread via rain, the dangers of the anti-vaccine movement and, unfortunately, so much more.

Listen to the full interview here

Brian Bergeron
Concerns as new organisms are developed in labs and kitchens

Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the US Council on Foreign Relations explains the conundrum of dual-use research of concern (DURC), in which the same experiments that allow scientists to understand pandemics can also create dangerous pathogens. Combined with advances in synthetic biology and increasingly affordable technologies such as 3D printing, there is the possibility for a true biology revolution.

Concerns as new organisms are developed in labs and kitchens
The Science Show
Guest User
Zombie Apocalypse (Part 2)

In this podcast from the Star Talk Radio Show, zombies take a back seat to real life viral threats, thanks to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Laurie Garrett. She describes how governments and viruses don't mix, from the ongoing Russian biological warfare apparatus to terrorists targeting polio aid workers in response to CIA activities to the SARS outbreak and its fatal cover up by the Chinese government.

Listen to the full podcast here

Brian Bergeron
China Bird Flu

Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations talks with VOA's Sarah Williams about the possibility that the recent deaths of pigs, ducks and swans in China may be related to a new strain of bird flu, H7N9.

Watch the video here

Brian Bergeron
A crowded world: pandemics

This month the world reaches 7 billion people and as the world becomes more and more crowded and urbanised, we worry more about the whole intricate structure that is civilisation falling over.

The movie Contagion, which has just opened in Australia, plays on deep-seated fears about our crowded, interconnected world. How long would our society cope with the onslaught of a killer viral flu, it asks. But how likely is a lethal pandemic, and is it a matter of if, or when?

A crowded world: pandemics
ABC Radio National
Guest User
Drug safety crisis

Patients and consumers around the world are being warned about the ongoing efficacy and safety of many drugs and vaccines in common use.

Drug safety crisis
Saturday Extra
Guest User
Bird Flu Threat

Scientists in Europe and the US have created a highly transmissible form of the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health on the Council on Foreign Relations, talks about the implications of this research.

Bird flu threat
Health Report
Guest User
Bird Flu Threat

Scientists in Europe and the US have created a highly transmissible form of the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health on the Council on Foreign Relations, talks about the implications of this research.

Listen to the episode HERE.

Guest User
Swine flu update

Laurie Garrett traces the origin and the path of the H1N1 pandemic and talks about the science that identified the virus.

Swine Flu Update
ABC Radio National
Guest User