Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, and Rich reveal how experiments with a malaria parasite lead to the introduction of a mammalian retrovirus into birds.

Links for this episode:

• Scientists cast doubt on MERS origin (NY Times)
• Animal reservoirs of SARS coronavirus (Virus Res)
• Jo Handelsman in the White House
• Origins of REV (PLoS Biology)
• Inadvertent transfer (virology blog)
• Mongoose, pheasant, pox, retrovirus (PLoS Biol)
• Evolutionary history of REVs
• Amazing story (Ed Yong)
• My wife's P. lophurae paper (Mol Bio Parasitol)
• William Trager's SNV paper (Exp Biol Med)
• EBV detection tests (Clin Diag Lab Immunol)
• Letters read on TWiV 248

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson - Google SkyRich - Vanishing of the Bees (see also Bee Apocalypse Now)Vincent - Not Exactly Rocket Science

Listener Pick of the Week

Saira - Reproducibility Initiative

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to [email protected]