SciShow warns 'The Plague Will Probably Return'

Today's brief educational entry takes its cue from SciShow and Hank Green are thinking about domestication. In the process of researching that entry, I found three SciShow videos about pandemics, specifically the bubonic plague. I begin with a warning that The Plague Will Probably Return.

Humanity's relationship with the bubonic plague is over 5000 years old. That's right, it didn't just suddenly appear (and then disappear) during the infamous Black Death. In fact, you could still catch The Plague, today! Although the bacteria that cause it could give you a different kind of plague, instead...

Hosted by: Madelyn Leembruggen (she/her)

In the middle of her history of the plague, Madelyn Leembruggen mentioned Justinian's plague, which I first mentioned in Pandemics and collapse 13 years ago. My conclusion turned out to be prophetic.

This blog is still about how to avoid the collapse of the current civilization and takes a science-fiction slant on the topic. An asteroid impact is the perfect merger of the two.

So are pandemics. We need to be prepared for them, too.

Did that ever turn out to be true!

SciShow's most recent video returned to the topic, How Volcanoes Caused The Black Death.

Volcanoes have caused many devastating disasters over the years, but they're not usually blamed for pandemics. Except that a team of researchers say a volcanic eruption may have caused the Black Death. Here's how.

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

Welcome to one of Commoner's Laws, "Everything is connected to everything else." The next plague pandemic may not need a major volcanic eruption to trigger it. Climate change or just an extreme weather event might do the trick.

Of course, the most recent pandemic wasn't plague and the next one probably won't be, either. It could be one of the pathogens mentioned in 7 Deadly Epidemics You Didn’t Know Existed.

From the non-bubonic plague that killed a Welsh king, to the deadliest pestilence in 16th century Mexico, to a pandemic we're currently in the middle of (No, it's not coronavirus), here are 7 disease outbreaks spanning roughly 25,000 years of human history that you probably haven't heard of.

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

Valley fever should look familiar; I wrote about it in Vox warns 'A desert fungus that infects humans is spreading' and again in PBS Digital explains how climate change can make us sick. Speaking of which, the one time I mentioned cholera was in Lancet reports climate change is a 'medical emergency'. Didn't I just write that climate change could kick off the next pandemic? It probably already has.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for a follow-up to Detroit's population increases for first time since 1957. Good news!