‘It’s way beyond just science’: untangling the hunt for Covid’s origins – podcast

One of the most compelling clues as to the origins of a once-in-a-century pandemic was uploaded without announcement – without being noticed for weeks – on a scientific database. And then, just as suddenly, it vanished from public view.

The genetic data, from swabs taken at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, in the weeks after Covid-19 first emerged, was available online for only a few weeks:…