Episode 70: Bird flu

Episode 70: Bird flu

Author: Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie April 15, 2025 Duration: 55:25
Science Fictions
ScienceTechnology

Don’t forget THE STUDIES SHOW LIVE—on 9 May in London! You can buy tickets at this link, or by going to bit.ly/tss_live.

What’s going to be the next pandemic? For a long time you might’ve seen news stories about the current threat of H5N1 bird flu, but you probably haven’t paid much attention.

In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart try and work out how worried we should be. Are COVID-scarred people freaking out over nothing? Or are we at the start of something much scarier?

The Studies Show is brought you by Works in Progress magazine, a beautifully-produced magazine about science and technological progress. In the current issue you can read articles about new fertility technologies, land value tax, and the one we mentioned in the show, about prehistoric psychopaths. Find it all at worksinprogress.co.

Show notes

* The UK’s “Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy”

* “Of course the UK had a herd immunity strategy”

* Tom’s article on “the men who failed Britain”

* The CDC on types of influenza virus

* 2025 Harvard Medical School article on H5N1 bird flu

* Article on the wild animal deaths caused by bird flu in the current outbreak

* And the same for domestic animals

* Egg prices! 1, 2

* 2011 paper on haemagglutinin in avian flu viruses and its infectiousness to humans

* Pigs as the “mixing vessel” for flu viruses

* And the potential for cows to be the same

* The controversial 2012 Science paper that modified a blue flu virus to be more infectious

* The WHO’s seeming low level of concern about the bird flu outbreak

* Pasteurised milk and its effects on bird flu transmission

* The Swift Centre’s forecasts for the bird flu outbreak

* Scott Alexander’s big piece on bird flu

* The evidence for the effect of antivirals on bird flu

* DOGE cuts to a programme that monitored bird flu in dairy products, and to animal monitoring

Credits

We’re very grateful to Claire Wang for her help with researching this episode. The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe

Every week, Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie pull apart the biggest arguments and most confusing claims making headlines. Science Fictions isn't just about celebrating breakthroughs; it's a necessary dive into the messy, contested, and often surprising realities of how science actually works. You'll hear them unpack heated debates, examine questionable studies, and explore why even solid research can sometimes lead to public confusion. This podcast serves as a guide through the noise, separating compelling evidence from overblown narratives. Each episode feels like a conversation with two deeply informed friends who aren't afraid to ask tough questions, offering clarity on topics that matter. For anyone curious about the stories behind the science headlines, this is an essential listen. Tune in for thoughtful analysis that goes beyond the press release, grounded in a genuine fascination with how we know what we know.
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