Maryn McKenna

2 weeks ago | thefern.org | Maryn McKenna

The virus' largely unchecked spread creates opportunities for it to mutate and become a public health emergency By This Story’s Impact more than 11.4 million subscribers across platforms This article was produced in collaboration with The New York Times.

2 months ago | thefern.org | Brent Cunningham |Maryn McKenna

By Brent CunninghamIn “Bird Flu in Cows Is a Slow-Motion Disaster,” FERN’s latest publishing partnership with The New York Times opinion section, science journalist and FERN contributor Maryn McKenna describes the frustrating limits on what the government is doing — and could be doing — to stop the spread of bird flu in cattle:Public health responders need to adopt a more granular understanding of the vulnerabilities of all types of farmers.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Maryn McKenna

Farmers in Georgia's northeastern corner woke up on Jan. 15 to discover that birds in their flock of 45,000 chickens were ill and dying. Within 24 hours, the state's veterinary laboratory confirmed the problem was bird flu. Within two days, the Georgia Department of Agriculture sent an emergency team to kill all infected and exposed birds, disinfect the barns, set up a 10-kilometer quarantine zone around the farm and impose mandatory testing on every poultry operation inside it.

2 months ago | linkedin.com | Maryn McKenna

Maryn McKenna Journalist and author: public health, global health, food policy. Contributing editor, Scientific American. Senior fellow, Emory University. TED speaker. Formerly Senior writer, WIRED.

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Maryn McKenna

On a low hill near the coast of Maine, the fresh petals of double daffodils shake frills of gold and peach in a gusting breeze. It is the middle of May, a clear blue sky overhead, and the lacy burgundy foliage of peonies and new stalks of twiggy curly willow are poking through swaths of black landscape fabric. Against the walls of a greenhouse, seedlings of cosmos and celosia, lisianthus and snapdragons rise in plastic trays. Mud season is barely over, but the turf is vivid green.