Every day the average person draws in 2,000 gallons of air—and with it, thousands of living things. The bacteria, fungi, algae, and other organisms that inhabit the air constitute one of the last great frontiers of science. This invisible ecosystem known as the aerobiome remains so mysterious that it took scientists two years to agree that the Covid-19 pandemic was caused by an airborne virus.

New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer draws on his new book, Air-Borne, to examine how the nature of the aerobiome was discovered over the centuries, beginning with aerobiology pioneers who stretched the limits of science and were doubted for generations. He contextualizes the recent pandemic as part of a bigger, largely untold story and explores how the aerobiome is an essential part of a living world—a highway through the sky for many species—of which we become a part with every breath we take.

Copies of Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe (Dutton) are available for purchase.

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