DiscoverScience on Player FMGoing Viral - Curious Cases
Going Viral - Curious Cases

Going Viral - Curious Cases

Update: 2025-11-07
Share

Description

Cold and flu season is well and truly upon us, and whilst most of us are busy bemoaning the pesky viruses behind our sniffles and chesty coughs – one of our listeners has other ideas. Elizabeth wants to know whether we’re too hard on these oft-maligned microbes? We’ve all heard that some bacteria can be good for us, but what about viruses? Could they have a softer side too?
Hannah and Dara explore the virome, from prehistoric placental proteins to ultra-precise disease fighting phages to find out if Viruses truly are the villains of the microscopic world or whether they just need a better PR team.

Contributors
Jonathan Ball - Professor of Molecular Virology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Martha Clokie - Professor of Microbiology at the University of Leicester.
Marylin Roosinck - Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at Penn State University US.

Producer: Emily Bird
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
A BBC Studios Production

Comments 
In Channel
loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

Going Viral - Curious Cases

Going Viral - Curious Cases