This week, we’re inviting readers on an adventure into the frontiers of global health: the frozen Arctic, space, the deepest realms of the sea, the mountains of Lesotho, and the Alaska tundra.
Virologist Jean-Michel Claverie discusses how microbes stored in the frozen earth—the permafrost of the Siberian Arctic—for nearly a million years could be released by accelerated thawing, and what that means for international public health.
David P. Fidler explains why excitement about space activities is tempered by terrestrial politics that have slipped “the surly bonds of earth,” and created risks for outer space as a frontier for global health.
Mary Brophy Marcus speaks with marine experts who have spent their entire careers studying the deep sea and its scientific treasures, including how microbes culled from the murky depths are leading to new drug discoveries.
Chen Chen shares the story of the shepherd population in Lesotho as an example of the particular obstacles to health-care access for semi-nomadic and nomadic populations, which include millions of people globally.
Isabella Turilli delves into the fraught landscape of food governance in Alaska, where laws around subsistence hunting and fishing are not protecting the Indigenous peoples whose lives depend upon the practice.
As always, thank you for reading.—Thomas J. Bollyky and Mary Brophy Marcus, Editors
