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Audio: David Quammen on ecological restoration, emerging diseases, evolutionary science, and more

  • Today we speak with award-winning science writer, author, and journalist David Quammen about some of the most promising and fascinating trends in conservation and evolutionary science.
  • In a recent piece for National Geographic, where he is a regular contributor, Quammen profiles Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. His 2014 book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, looks at the science, history, and human impacts of emerging diseases. Quammen’s most recent book, 2018’s The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, explores the revolution in how scientists understand the history of evolution on Earth sparked by the work of Carl Woese.
  • David Quammen appears on the Mongabay Newscast to discuss all of the above as well as what gives him hope that biodiversity loss and destruction of the natural world can be halted.

Today we speak with award-winning science writer, author, and journalist David Quammen about some of the most promising and fascinating trends in conservation and evolutionary science.

Listen here:

 

In a recent piece for National Geographic, where he is a regular contributor, Quammen profiles Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique — once touted by none other than E.O. Wilson himself, in an interview with Mongabay, as a place where successful restoration efforts were underway and benefitting nature, wildlife, and humans.

Another recent focus of Quammen’s work has been emerging diseases — his 2014 book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, for instance, looks at the science, history, and human impacts of emerging diseases, especially viral diseases like ebola. That made his appearance on the Newscast particularly well-timed, because the day before taping the interview, the World Health Organization announced that an ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become a global health emergency, only the fifth time the WHO has ever made such a declaration.

Quammen’s most recent book, 2018’s The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life, explores the revolution in how scientists understand the history of evolution on Earth sparked by the work of Carl Woese.

David Quammen appears on the Mongabay Newscast to discuss all of the above as well as what gives him hope that biodiversity loss and destruction of the natural world can be halted.

Here’s this episode’s top news:

Would you like to hear how Mongabay grew out of its founder’s childhood adventures in rainforests and a fascination with frogs? Or how a Mongabay editor reacted to meeting one of the world’s last Bornean rhinos? We now offer Insider Content that delivers behind-the-scenes reporting and stories like these from our team. For a small monthly donation, you’ll get exclusive access and support our work in a new way. Visit mongabay.com/insider to learn more and join the growing community of Mongabay readers on the inside track.

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The lion population in Gorongosa National Park is on the rebound thanks to the Gorongosa Restoration Project. Photo via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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