Outbreak Watch: Get the latest updates on Ebola, New World screwworm, U.S. cyclosporiasis, H5 avian influenza, and why disease surveillance matters.

Why are vaccines easy for some diseases and elusive for others? Explore how pathogens like influenza, HIV, and malaria challenge prevention in different ways.

Discover how Edward Jenner's bold experiment transformed medicine, launched the science of vaccination, and helped eradicate smallpox in this episode of Infectious Dose exploring one of history's greatest public health turning points.

What military outbreaks reveal about infectious disease, crowded environments, and the hidden design choices that shape health and vulnerability.

Discover how infectious disease transformed military history in Holding the Line: How Prevention Became Military Strategy. From George Washington and Florence Nightingale to Walter Reed, military vaccination, COVID aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and today's influenza outbreaks, explore the history of force health protection and preventive medicine.

Discover how wounds become chemical signals that attract parasites, predators, microbes, and other organisms. Plus the latest Ebola, Marburg, hantavirus, and New World screwworm outbreak updates.

Field Notes #11: Nightfall explores why dusk is one of nature's busiest transitions, from mosquitoes and bats to owls and moths, plus the latest updates on Ebola, hantavirus, and New World screwworm.

Podcast episode on New World screwworm: how sterile insect releases eradicated a flesh‑eating parasite from North America, why Texas is seeing new screwworm cases in 2026, and what this outbreak reveals about prevention and the consequences of disabling the public health infrastructure that protects us.

Petrichor feels deeply human, but the smell of rain may not be for us at all. A look at geosmin, animal behavior, and the ecological signals hidden in summer storms.

Why can we smell rain? Explore the science of petrichor, geosmin, soil microbes, and the memories connected to summer storms in this immersive podcast episode.

What follows us home from a walk in the woods? This issue of Field Notes explores summer ecosystems and the unseen exchanges between people and nature.

How can a tick bite make someone allergic to red meat months later? Explore the mystery, science, diagnosis, and history of alpha-gal syndrome in this episode of Infectious Dose.

Standing Watch On the quiet machinery of survival Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode—something that feels like a hinge point—and follow it to see what it reveals. If you want the full story, you can read or listen to the episode here. In the Margins When people think about public health, they usually picture things with obvious health labels. Vaccination campaigns. Disease surveillance. Health departments. Epidemiologists tracking outbreaks. They rarely pic

Hurricanes don't create pathogens—they change exposure. Learn about floodwater infections, mold, mosquitoes, food safety, and hurricane preparedness in this Infectious Dose episode.

Exposure Archives On the histories infection writes into us Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode—something that feels like a hinge point—and follow it to see what it reveals. If you want the full story, you can read or listen to the episode here. In the Margins There’s a moment in this episode that won’t let go of me. Not the courtroom, not the verdict. It’s the nurse in Louisiana, at home, half-asleep, the familiar weight of someone she’d trusted for a decad

Outbreak After Dark explores the true crime case that brought forensic virology into court and asked: can a virus testify?

Blind Spots On viruses, visibility, and the signals we miss Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode—something that feels like a hinge point—and follow it to see what it reveals. If you want the full story, you can read or listen to the episode here. In the Margins Somewhere in almost every Ebola outbreak, there’s a moment when the virus is already there, but the tools built to recognize it are still looking for something else. In Yambuku in 1976, clinicians thou

What is Ebola really — and how does it spread? This episode explores Ebola transmission, pathogenesis, outbreak history, and the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda.

Walking the Line On risk, reassurance, and the lines that divide us Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode—something that feels like a hinge point—and follow it to see what it reveals. If you want the full story, you can read or listen to the episode here. In the Margins Somewhere during an outbreak investigation, a contact tracer has to decide whether someone “counts” as an exposure. Two passengers sat beside the same infected person on a flight. One was there

In Memoriam On uncertainty, memory, and the stories outbreaks inherit Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode—something that feels like a hinge point—and follow it to see what it reveals. If you want the full story, you can read or listen to the episode here. In the Margins One of the hardest things about modern outbreak communication is that people no longer hear scientific language in isolation. They hear it through memory. “Airborne” is no longer just a techn