Man Versus Microbe: What Will It Take to Win?

The COVID-19 pandemic that swept the planet in the early 2020s killed nearly six million, delivered unimaginable human suffering and $22 trillion in lost global growth. We weren't prepared and should have been.
Unraveling the secrets of microbes, an invisible parallel universe of tiny life forms all around us, is central to managing the big twenty-first-century challenges of pandemics, bioterrorism, food security and climate change. Scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs and political leaders are racing to decode this biological realm with powerful new tools to extend human lifespans and make the world safer and more prosperous. Yet such technologies need to be handled with care. The price of getting this wrong will be unbearable.
Man Versus Microbe is about humanity's competitive, symbiotic and precarious relationship with the microbial world. Brian Bremner (Senior Executive Editor, Bloomberg) offers a book on the exhilarating fields of synthetic biology and genetics, abundant with material on emerging technologies to deepen one's understanding of how virus hunters chase bugs or how geneticists unlock the workings of a microbe's constituent DNA. This book is for readers who want to learn more about humanity's fight to contain future pandemics and better understand the risks and opportunities of living in the world of microbes. After navigating through a disruptive pandemic, we are all amateur epidemiologists now.

Contents:

• About the Author
• Introduction
• The Risks:
• • Global System Failure
  • Surveillance for a Pandemic Age
  • Hacking into Nature's Secrets
  • Vaccines Anytime, Anywhere
  • How the WHO Lost Its Way
• The Opportunities:
• • Our Microbes, Ourselves
  • Viruses That Do No Harm
  • Terrestrial Distress Signals
  • Microbial Ocean Lords
  • Tiny Sky Pilots in the Jetstream
  • Why Microbes Control Climate Destiny
• The Deep Future:
• • The Synthetic Biology Paradox
  • Biorisk Without Borders
  • Microbial Eve: A Creation Story
  • Ground Control to Major E. Coli
• Conclusion: What the Microbes Are Telling Us
• Acknowledgments
• References
• Index

Readership: This is a popular science book for a general readership interested in infectious diseases, microbiology, biosecurity, astrobiology, genetics, personalized medicine, food security and climate change. Also of interest to business-minded readers and policymakers looking for analysis of leading-edge technologies in biotech and technology start-ups. While this is for a general readership, university leaders may be interested in adding it to secondary reading on their courses.