Historic distrust of government institutions, a growing partisan disdain for peer-reviewed science, Russian bots, physical threats against public health officials, and an open spigot of online misinformation and disinformation raise the troubling specter that tens of millions of Americans will forgo COVID vaccination and forestall herd immunity in the United States. Learn how believers in science are uniting to fight back.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which take its name from the center and brightest star in Orion’s Belt, is working on an RNAi therapy to destroy the genome of the novel coronavirus — and with it, its ability to replicate and kill.

Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work to safely vaccinate the country. Whether the question is who to vaccine first, how to restore trust, or how to administer two doses of a vaccine stored at -70 degrees to a nation of 328 million people, she’s got the answers.

Covid threatens those whose immune systems can’t make enough neutralizing antibodies to fight off the viral invaders. But what if scientists could make super-potent antibodies in the lab and infuse them into newly infected patients? That’s exactly what the first FDA-authorized coronavirus antibody treatment has achieved. Its maker, Eli Lilly, has generated clinical evidence that their therapy can significantly reduce COVID hospitalization rates when taken early.

As the vaccine race enters the homestretch, Pfizer and Moderna both announced that their mRNA vaccines was 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 during Phase 3 clinical trials. Emergency use authorization could be just weeks away. The National Academy of Sciences released an influential report about who gets vaccinated first while companies scale up vaccine production. The Academy makes a compelling case that prioritizing those with risky healthy conditions and risky, essential jobs is the surest way to mitigate death, serious disease, rising case counts and growing socioeconomic crises in vulnerable communities across the country.

While Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has kindled a global dialogue about the ravages of climate change and the role of airline emissions, a Colorado biotech is putting forward a jaw-dropping alternative to flight shaming: actual jet fuel with no carbon footprint.

Hosted by Jim Greenwood.

Joe Biden’s election as 46th President of the United States is a chance to soothe our bitter body politic so we can unite to defeat an enemy that infects and kills without regard to partisan affiliation.

The 2020 election will be held both during and about a global pandemic. Democratic strategist Steve Elmendorf and Republican Rai Downs preview the stakes for the biotech industry and what the outcome will mean for America’s COVID response.

The first clinical study dedicated to preventing Alzheimer’s disease is now in its late stages. The participants are 300 members of the same Colombian family with a rare gene mutation that gives them a 100 percent chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Armed with this new data, could neuroscientists be closing in on an elusive breakthrough to defeat neurodegeneration?

As the pandemic lays bare the links between human and environmental health, neuroscience leader Biogen lays out the most aggressive fossil fuel elimination plan of any Fortune 500 company while doubling down on efforts to lead on clinical trial diversity and racial equity.