Edward Feil

Edward Feil is a professor of biology and biochemistry at the University of Bath and works at the Milner Centre for Evolution.

Mutation unknown: Covid’s mysterious evolution

Common wisdom states that a new pathogen, once introduced into a vulnerable human population with no immune defences, will evolve over time to grow more benign and live in amity with its host. After all, the argument goes, a pathogen will depend on its host for its own survival, so causing mass disease and death