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Chapter one
Anxiety


Pandemics Are the Dark Side of Global Mobility
How the 2009 swine flu raced around the world.

How COVID-19 Picks on the Weakened
The wrath of the coronavirus.
Chapter two
Testing

Why False Claims About COVID-19 Refuse to Die
Tracking the information zombie apocalypse.

How a Nuclear Submarine Officer Learned to Live in Tight Quarters
You get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Can a Battery of New COVID Tests Stem the US Debacle?
Medical testing has been a Pearl Harbor. But the war could be won.

Summer Won’t Save Us from COVID-19
Why SARS-CoV-2 will threaten us for months to come.

The Pandemic Can’t Lock Down Nature
The wilderness offers not just escape but reassurance.

Friendship Is a Lifesaver
Science is showing us the best remedy for aging is friends.
Chapter three
Ecology

The Ecological Vision That Will Save Us
To avoid the next pandemic, we need a reckoning with our place in nature.

Superintelligent, Amoral, and Out of Control
AI is no longer playing games. Are we prepared?

The Economic Damage Is Barely Conceivable
In America, people who lose jobs don’t necessarily get them back.
Chapter four
Community

Guided by Plant Voices
Plants talk to this ecologist. They tell her how to do better science.

How COVID-19 Will Pass from Pandemic to Prosaic
Past outbreaks show the way to relief, even without a vaccine.

We Aren’t Selfish After All
In turbulent times, people go from “me” thinking to “we” thinking.
Chapter five
Inventive

Don’t Fear the Robot
I invented Roomba and assure you, robots won’t take over the world.

What’s Missing in Pandemic Models
Philosophy is needed to put the science of COVID-19 in perspective.

How Science Trumps Denial
Scientists putting their career and health on the line can take heart from Galileo.
Chapter six
Connect

Why COVID-19 Flare-Ups Will Keep Happening
Like earthquakes and forest fires, outbreaks have a “heavy tail” of large events.

The Carouser and the Great Astronomer
It’s a fine line between oblivion and immortality.

A Window on Africa’s Resilience
Amid one disaster after another, Mozambique rebuilds.

The Hidden Life of Viruses
The COVID-19 crisis has made the dark energy of evolution visible.
Related Facts So Romantic
“Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” —Jules Verne
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