By Kevin E. Noonan — A recent COVID post elicited the comment that we were just a “ray of sunshine.” Following in this tradition, this post concerns a recent report, in PLOS Biology, that the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) evinced the development of a “highly efficient human pathogen” (to quote Billie Eilish, “Duh!”). The paper, entitled “Natural selection in the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in bats created a generalist virus and highly capable human pathogen,” was reported by an international team* of researchers. It was known prior to this work that SARS-CoV-2 and the virus that caused…
