Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Check out Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer at bookshop.org/lists/scishow-recommended-reading. This video was made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. To learn more, head to sloan.org/programs/public-understanding.
People have been trying to prevent the spread of infectious disease forever, yet we only got germ theory in the 19th century. Except for one 16th century Italian doctor, who got it exactly right and was immediately forgotten. Here's how we've been making slow progress for more than a millennium.
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Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSoxOeyC8VOKrmWYxfZcm66vSOpixNvUaBk6i7vv0CRjQITIUXER8fSr-hE3bk370fq-1pszqvQiaUY/pub
Check out Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer at bookshop.org/lists/scishow-recommended-reading. This video was made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. To learn more, head to sloan.org/programs/public-understanding.
People have been trying to prevent the spread of infectious disease forever, yet we only got germ theory in the 19th century. Except for one 16th century Italian doctor, who got it exactly right and was immediately forgotten. Here's how we've been making slow progress for more than a millennium.
Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
----------
Support us for $8/month on Patreon and keep SciShow going!
patreon.com/scishow
Or support us directly: complexly.com/support
Join our SciShow email list to get the latest news and highlights:
https://mailchi.mp/scishow/email
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: David Johnston, Cye Stoner, Jp Lynch, Bethany Matthews, Chris Curry, J.V. Rosenbalm, Alan Wong, Toyas Dhake, Reed Spilmann, Garrett Galloway, Friso, Lyndsay Brown, Jeremy Mattern, Jaap Westera, Matt Curls, Eric Jensen, Chris Mackey, Adam Brainard, Piya Shedden, Steve Gums, Alex Hackman, Kevin Knupp, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer, Joseph Ruf, Jason A Saslow
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
SciShow Tangents Podcast: scishow-tangents.simplecast.com
TikTok: tiktok.com/@scishow
Instagram: instagram.com/thescishow
Facebook: facebook.com/scishow
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scishow.bsky.social
#SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly
----------
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSoxOeyC8VOKrmWYxfZcm66vSOpixNvUaBk6i7vv0CRjQITIUXER8fSr-hE3bk370fq-1pszqvQiaUY/pub
