This Week in Virology #105: Finches score again

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit

Vincent, Dickson, Alan, and Rich review eradication of rinderpest, endogenous hepatitis B virus in the zebra finch genome, and identification of the cell receptor for an extinct retrovirus.

Download TWiV #105 (66 MB .mp3, 92 minutes)

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Links for this episode:

• Eradication of rinderpest
• Rinderpest in the Merck Veterinary Manual
• Rinderpest summary (pdf)
• Manual on the preparation of rinderpest contingency plans
• Walter Plowright obituary
• The Plowright vaccine
• Measles evolution from rinderpest
• Endogenous hepadnaviruses in the genome of the zebra finch (PLoS One)
• Receptor for an extinct retrovirus (PNAS)
• Vertical farm: NPR post and YouTube video
• Letters read on TWiV 105

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson - Winged Migration
Alan - Web-accessible shortwave receivers
Rich - Personal Genome Project
Vincent - XVIVO scientific animation

Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv or leave voicemail at Skype: twivpodcast. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twiv.