Last week, I traveled to Italy to give a talk about viruses at the Genoa Science Festival. I ate a lot of focaccia and a lot of pesto, as one should in the city where both those fine dishes were invented. And I was also interviewed on Italian radio and television. The journalists asked me about my book A Planet of Viruses, which was translated into Italian last year. But the conversations inevitably turned to American politics.
I had no idea at the time who would win the presidential election. But I expected that the choice would have a huge impact on American science and medicine. During his campaign, Donald Trump promised that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—a man who lacks any medical or scientific training and who has promulgated false claims about medicine—would have free rein over America’s health. Trump himself also has a long track record of dismissing climate change, either as a hoax or an insignificant distraction.
I suppose some people might brush all this off as campaign talk. But we have four years of a previous Trump administration to examine as a prelude. Here’s a talk that I gave seven years ago about Trump and science, and how journalists should respond. At the time, he was installing climate deniers in his administration and shutting down public web pages about climate change.
As many political experts have observed, Trump’s second term as president will likely lack the guardrails that constrained him in his first. So I won’t be surprised if science gets hit even harder this time around. And if Trump leaves office in 2029 with infectious diseases on the rise and the climate spinning even further out of control, that could become his most enduring legacy.
Early Endorsements
Trump’s leadership—or lack thereof—in the Covid pandemic figures in my new book, AIR-BORNE, coming out in February.
I’m happy to be able to share some kind words from a few of my favorite writers:
From David Quammen, author of Breathless: “Carl Zimmer has a knack for seeing the small things but thinking big. AIR-BORNE is full of fascinations at both levels. From the first page, you know you’re in the hands of a master.”
And from Robert Sapolsky, author of Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will: “A fish doesn’t know it’s wet. And we rarely recognize that we are bathed in air, air carrying multitudes of microbes. AIR-BORNE chronicles the history of this insight. With Zimmer’s usual superb writing, it is filled with fascinating science, visionary scientists who were often completely wrong, and poignant moments reflecting the vast human suffering caused by such microbes. And throughout is dread that makes AIR-BORNE a page-turner – the knowledge that the air eventually carried SARS-CoV-2 and may yet bring something worse. AIR-BORNE is deeply important and unsettling.”
And finally (only alphabetically!), here’s Ed Yong: “Another brilliant work from one of the very best science writers, AIR-BORNE will leave you agog at the incredible world that floats unseen around us, and outraged at the forces that stopped us from appreciating that world until, for many people, it was too late. It is a book about how much there is still left to know, and how frustrating it can be to turn knowledge into wisdom.”
I’m also delighted report that you can now pre-order autographed copies from RJ Julia, a great independent bookseller here in Connecticut.
Talks
Just a reminder that I’ll be continuing to give talks in the weeks to come:
November 14: 92nd St. Y, New York. Dr. Donald Johanson in Conversation with Carl Zimmer: Discovering Lucy. Details here.
November 15: CUNY Graduate Center, New York. An interview with Katalin Karikó, winner of the Nobel prize for mRNA vaccines. Live and live-streamed. Details here.
November 21: Florida Atlantic University: Is AI Learning Biology? Details here.
In my next email, I hope to share some details about the launch of AIR-BORNE in February. For now, stay safe.
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