Curious Coincidence

Curious Coincidence

This is a detective story that’s unsolved. Hosted by investigative reporter Antonio Regalado, Curious Coincidence dives into the mysterious origins of Covid-19 by examining the genome of the virus, the labs doing sensitive research on dangerous pathogens, and questions of whether a lab accident may have touched off a global pandemic.

Episodes

February 10, 2022 3 min

This is a detective story that’s unsolved. Hosted by investigative reporter Antonio Regalado, Curious Coincidence dives into the mysterious origins of Covid-19 by examining the genome of the virus, the labs doing sensitive research on dangerous pathogens, and questions of whether a lab accident may have touched off a global pandemic.

A five part investigation from MIT Technology Review.

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Why we need to find the truth, and the “curious coincidence” that set off a battle over covid-19’s origin.


We Meet:

Peter Ben Embarek, WHO program manager and covid-19 origins mission leader

Jesse Bloom, virologist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Alina Chan, postdoc, Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard

Natasha Loder, health policy editor with The Economist

 

Links:

On Finding Answers, by Natasha Loder on Substack

They called it a conspi...

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March 9, 2022 23 min

A group of self-appointed online investigators decide to investigate a Chinese lab. Their findings only deepen doubts.


We meet:

The Seeker, internet sleuth

Rowan Jacobsen, journalist

 

Links:

Meet the scientist at the center of the covid lab leak controversy, MIT Technology Review


Credits:

Curious Coincidence was produced as part of MIT Technology Review's Pandemic Technology Project, which is supported in part by a grant from The Rock...

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March 9, 2022 26 min

Lab accidents have caused disease outbreaks before, and accidents are more common - and kept more secret - than you think.


We Meet:

Alison Young, journalism professor, Missouri School of Journalism

Gigi Gronvall, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and associate professor Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

 

Links:

Biolabs in your backyard, USA Today

The Reemergent 1977 H1N1 Strain and the Gain-of-...

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March 23, 2022 34 min

Scientists zero in on a market in the city of Wuhan as the place the pandemic started. But information on China’s wild-animal trade is hard to uncover.

We Meet:

Michael Standaert, freelance journalist based in China

Alex Crits-Christoph, bioinformatician, Johns Hopkins University

Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser

Ho-fung Hung, political economist, Johns Hopkins University

 

Links:

No one can find the animal that ...

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April 6, 2022 35 min

Is some knowledge too dangerous to possess? Covid-19 has put cutting-edge research on pandemic germs under the spotlight. 


We Meet:

Rowan Jacobsen, journalist

Gigi Gronvall, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and associate professor

Kevin Esvelt, professor and head of Sculpting Evolution Group, MIT Media Lab

 

Links:

Senator Paul and Dr. Fauci Clash Over Research Funding of Wuhan Lab, C-SPAN

Inside the risky bat...

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