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Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
@PhilippMarkolin
Aug 30 • 5 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
This chapter dives into the ecological and molecular details underlying the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2.

It explains the extraordinary biology of bats, their unique immune systems, and their role as reservoirs for diverse coronaviruses, emphasizing the complex ...

1/4
... social structures and behaviors of bat species that facilitate viral recombination.

It describes how mosaic genomes like SARS-CoV-2’s could only have emerged through natural evolutionary processes within diverse bat populations and intermediate hosts.

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The chapter stresses that no laboratory could have artificially created the complex genome of SARS-CoV-2 given current scientific capabilities

Ignoring real natural risks while focusing on evidence-free lab leak theories distracts from necessary pandemic prevention efforts

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Truly understanding how recombination shaped viral evolution in sarbecoviruses destroys any version of a lab leak belief that postulates "de-novo", "gain-of-function" or "synthetic" bioengineering could have brought about SARS-COV-2.

This is a natural virus. Image
You can learn about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and discover the inside story behind the controversy surrounding it, in my book

Find it on Amazon as ebook or print:
amazon.com/Lab-Leak-Fever…

Or read / listen to it online, free access, as a serialized novel: protagonist-science.com/p/lab-leak-fev…

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More from @PhilippMarkolin

Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Aug 22
I gave a long interview to @BenjaminMateus7 about my book Lab Leak Fever and the politics surrounding the lab leak controversy.

Benjamin did a great job editing for conciseness and prompting some pretty deep questions

Some highlights in thread ⬇️

1/ Image
"My account doesn’t rely on unverifiable Chinese sources. That independence is important politically, since both China & US have advanced self-serving narratives

From my vantage point in Switzerland, I aimed to cut through this geopolitical tug-of-war and focus on the evidence."
"My guiding principle has been clear: “To all defenders of an evidence-based worldview”—the dedication in my book.

Evidence, not speculation, not deference to elites, not blind trust in science, but reasoned, evidence-based inquiry."
Read 28 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Aug 14, 2024
Listen to @PeterHotez; he points out 3 strategies of the anti-science movement to shift blame now that their actions killed so many people:

1) blame the vaccines for the deaths
2) blame the scientists for creating COVID
3) blame public health for bad communication

All false
1/
The anti-vaccine movement became a juggernaut during COVID-19 by exploiting people's anxieties & profiting from their fears

Because emotional manipulation is politically valuable, republicans soon merged with the ideology

Unfortunately, that caused over 200k Americans to die
2/
... just during the delta wave alone.

Given estimates of 1,4 million excess deaths since 2020, half of it after vaccines became available, the odds are that vaccine-preventable death toll was even higher.

A huge political liability for Republicans if voters woke up to that.
3/
Read 10 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Jun 9, 2024
I don't know, but I feel like the cool kids don't get sucked into magical worldviews and waste their time live-action roleplaying as "investigators" in trite conspiracy myths.

Which makes all of those in the media who fall for them, over and over again, kinda embarassing? Image
There is no version of the lab leak idea that does not assume conspiratorial elements, given the evidence we have today.

There is no lab leak "theory" in the first place, just innuendo and magical thinking with mutual contradictory ideas that can not explain available evidence
Given the overwhelming evidence for a zoonotic origin, the scientific case is long clear.

What remains of the lab leak is a zombie idea, a myth kept alive by, sorry to say, mostly science deniers, activists, media manipulators and too many suckers that keep amplifying it.
Read 6 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Jun 1, 2024
🚨 Public service announcment 🚨

During the election season, discourse manipulators and influence campaigns work overtime to mislead citizens about scientific topics.

Here are 18 common tactics explained, why it works, and why you should guard yourself against it.

A 🧵

1/

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First up are the merchants of doubt

They use an array of manipulation techniques to denounce experts with various smear tactics, deny a scientific consensus exists, and deceive the public with irrelevant stories.

Full story with case examples here:


2/protagonist-science.com/p/denounce-den…
Next are the merchants of ambiguity

They distort scientific arguments by turning them into partisan fights, discredit proponents of an evidence-based worldview & dismiss the scientific method with appeals to intuition

Full story & case examples here:


3/protagonist-science.com/p/distort-disc…
Read 5 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
May 27, 2024
Conspiracy theorists are shocked to learn that a science blogger writing about the bat origins of SARS-CoV-2 visits field sampling expeditions to interview bat researchers 😅

Good journalistic practice must be a nefarious plot 🤣

A niche 🧵 about conspiratorial ideation

1/ Image
Yesterday, I posted the above fotos to explain that my writing is based on expert interviews, personal research experience, scientific analysis and of course legwork.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed since 2022 that I must be a "paid" shill; from China, Biden, Fauci or EHA

2/

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For them, the idea that somebody could keep speaking up for science and scientists because he believes it is the right thing (& despite their hardest efforts to bully me out of the conversation with harassments), is unthinkable.

"He must be paid to do so." became their credo

3/
Read 22 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
May 22, 2024
🚨Important facts 🚨

SARS-CoV-2 is a natural virus that has nothing to do with gain-of-function research.

While a complex topic, there is zero scientific doubt behind this today.

--> Full story:

Here are 5 key highlights why we know this:
A short🧵

1/protagonist-science.com/p/treacherous-…
I) SARS-CoV-2 has a mosaic genome that could only have come about through viral #recombination with other bat viruses in the wild.

No laboratory procedure or experiment can create, fake, or simulate this natural process.

Design is out of the question
It was once a bat virus

2/ Image
II) #Recombination does not have the granularity to exclude all genetic tinkering approaches, such as single AA mutations in the RBD to make it better bind human cells

Turns out, hACE2 affinity in SARS-CoV-2 was not designed either, but 100% natural

Bats have it exactly

3/ Image
Read 10 tweets

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