As a science student , I found reading your NYT article ‘ How to read a coronavirus study , or any science paper ’ very useful . In it , you stated that scepticism is an important thing to have when reading scientific papers . What other advice would you offer students that are just starting to read scientific papers ? Well , to follow up on what you said about scepticism , it ’ s important to realise what scepticism is and is not . Scepticism is not denying things because they don ’ t make sense to you . It may be that someone has a very complicated idea and you haven ’ t come to understand it yet . What scepticism really means is that you have to remember that there is a possibility that the new finding you ’ re reading about might turn out to be wrong , even if it seems plausible . That happens a lot in science . Scientists must have a sceptical view of new research ; it doesn ’ t mean that scientists are sceptical that the world is round – there ’ s a difference . In the past , you have talked about science denial and currently we are seeing the dangerous effects of science denial during the COVID-19 pandemic . Do you think people will be more or less trusting of scientists after the pandemic is over ?
I think a lot of that will depend on what people ’ s experiences with science is like . Will they feel that science was there to help them , or will they feel that science was part of a system that was not fair to them ? That will depend on what scientists do with the science . For example , with vaccines , it ’ s very important that they are tested and shown to be safe before used on a large scale . People should understand why they should be comfortable with getting vaccinated . That ’ s a very big public health challenge and it takes governments to use careful communication . I can ’ t predict the future .
On the topic of COVID-19 , in your book ‘ Planet of Viruses ’, you cover the zoonotic origins of diseases such as HIV , which passed from monkeys and apes to humans . With a bat having been discovered as the origin of COVID-19 , humanity ’ s relationship with nature has been under a lot of scrutiny . In your eyes , what is the best way to prevent the contraction of zoonotic diseases ?
I think it ’ s going to be a large challenge because the population is growing and demanding more resources from wild places . We ’ re going to have to find ways