The Natural History of Viruses | Pranay Lal
Channel: Science Gallery Bengaluru
Date: 2021-12-16

Saturday, 11 December 
Pranay Lal 
Natural History Writer 

Microbes are the dark matter of the living world. To view them through the narrow lens of disease and devastation, would be doing an enormous disservice to them. A subsection of microbes, viruses are the largest primary energy producers on Earth, and regulate the bulk of Earth’s carbon-oxygen cycle. Viruses are a part of us—billions of diverse microbes and viruses live within our gut, inside our lungs, and skin. Though we have discovered 5600 species of viruses, many more exist; we cannot outnumber or outmatch them. 

This talk by Pranay Lal delved into the expansive history of viruses in order to reconfigure our relationship with them. Though the COVID-19 pandemic caused us to live in fear of viruses, this talk argued that we have to find a way to make peace with them, and move towards a renewed understanding of their role in ecology and society. 

Visit CONTAGION here: https://nowtransmitting.com/