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Science In Action: Online harassment of Covid scientists

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Online harassment of COVID scientists

17/11/2022 GMT

Online harassment of Covid scientists

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Online harassment of Covid scientists

Virologists studying Covid-19 have been subject to online threats

Virologists studying Covid-19 have been subject to online threats. Also, we discuss Covid ’s origins, anti-Chinese sentiment since the pandemic, and hear from the RRS Discovery.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, scientists studying the virus have become targets of online harassment, and more recently, death threats. Roland speaks to Dr Angela Rasmussen, virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, about her experiences.

Spyros Lytras, PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow, talks Roland through the evolutionary history of the virus that causes Covid-19 and how there isn’t just one ancestor, but several. 

Anti-Asian sentiment has seen a big increase since the pandemic. Dr Qian He, Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University, looked into how US-China relations have influenced how Americans view Chinese today.

And we hear from scientists on board the RRS Discovery, which is currently located near St Helena and Ascension Island, surveying the health of the surrounding ocean. On board, documentary film-maker Lawrence Eagling, talks to Shona Murray, pelagic ecologist from the University of Western Australia, and Gareth Flint, mechanical engineer at British Antarctic Survey, about their work and findings.

(Photo: A scientist stands behind testing kits and checks his phone. Credit: Getty Images)

Producer: Roland Pease
Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston

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