The mystery of where omicron came from — and why it matters
The discovery of omicron — the new variant of coronavirus with a high number of concerning mutations — has kicked off a frenzy of research. Scientists are racing to figure out how transmissible this variant is and how resistant to vaccines.
They're also grappling with a mystery: How did omicron get created?
NPR spoke with two scientists in the thick of this research. Trevor Bedford is a computational virologist and professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Richard Lessells is an infectious disease specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, and part of the team that identified omicron in South Africa and alerted the world. Here's what they have to say.
Omicron's genetic family tree contains a big surprise
One of the key tools that scientists use to puzzle out the origin of a particular coronavirus variant is to look at its genetic code. Just as a person who wants to find out their ancestry
