‘It’s way beyond just science’: untangling the hunt for Covid’s origins – podcast
Three years after much of the world was forced into Covid lockdowns, the precise origins of the virus are still hazy, and the hunt is bringing scientists into confrontation with political forces that many are not prepared for
One of the most compelling clues as to the origins of a once-in-a-century pandemic was uploaded without announcement - without being noticed for weeks - on a scientific database. And then, just as suddenly, it vanished from public view.
The genetic data, from swabs taken at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, in the weeks after Covid-19 first emerged, was available online for only a few weeks: just long enough for a Parisian scientist to stumble upon it while working from her couch on a Saturday afternoon earlier this month.
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