March 24, 2025 • Early in the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, scientists predicted the SARSCoV2 virus would mutate slowly. They were wrong. Hundreds of thousands of viral mutations and multiple seasonal waves later, we now know why. The answer changes researchers' understanding of viral evolutio n — and it could help predict the evolution of other viruses in the future. Emily talks about it all with Sarah Zhang, a health writer for The Atlantic. ...read more read less