“Invisible borders”: this is why we are not the masters of the Earth

Since the dawn of time, bacteria, viruses and microorganisms have proved to be precious allies for humans, but also terrible enemies. It is therefore essential to study them and learn to live with them. Knowledge of the past is, as always, the main way to interpret the present. For this reason the writer and scientific popularizer Barbara Gallavotti, in her latest work “Confini invisibili” (Mondadori, 2022, pp. 228, also e-book), traces the history of microbes, as old as that of human beings. It does so by examining with the competence and clarity of language that distinguish it, the ingenious solutions that they have adopted in order not to become extinct, indeed taking advantage of every opportunity to become stronger and more numerous.

Even the human body, however, in an equally amazing way, has developed strategies for not succumbing, often resorting to the help of science. This duel between men and microbes has resounded in a striking way in the last two years of the pandemic, showing once more that we are not the absolute masters of the planet on which we live and that no matter how modern, technological and evolved we are, our existence is linked in an inseparable way to the relationship with what surrounds us: from the infinitely large to the infinitely small.

This is confirmed by Barbara Gallavotti:

“These two years of pandemic have taught us that microbes continue to exist and continue to represent a danger. For a long time we have removed it in the West. We could only deal with non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular or forms of dementia. Now we have remembered what the poorest countries have never stopped knowing: infections are by no means easy to deal with ".

Should what happened therefore lead us to look at the world around us in a different way?

“I would say that a collective consciousness has emerged that makes us look at nature in a less 'Disney-like' way. In short, the vision according to which natural places are always welcoming and benevolent towards us has failed ”.

How has science responded to the challenges of the past two years?

“He responded by making enormous steps forward, for example, as regards the possibility of letting an RNA enter a cell for a specific purpose. In our case, mRNA vaccines were born, but in the future this technique could lead us to develop drugs against cancer, for example. MRNA drugs have been under study for years and the pandemic has given a huge boost to research in this area ”.

There has been a lot of controversy over vaccines. But did they work in your opinion?

“Vaccines were not meant to avoid contagion, even though everyone hoped they would. They have been designed to defend us from serious disease due to Covid and in this sense they have worked and continue to be effective even against variants. So they did their job very well ”.

In your book, you look ahead to the challenges of the near future. What should we expect?

“The challenges of the future are those related to climate change and our ability to coexist with other species. To return to the pandemic of the last two years, this event has shown us what can happen when we come into contact with organisms that exist in nature and with which we have never had relationships. And these new contacts increase as our pressure on natural environments grows. So the great challenge of the future is to ensure our survival on our planet. Then there are more specific challenges: getting to know our immune system better, finding a universal antiviral capable of protecting us ".

On the issue of climate change, is there the right attention from public opinion?

“By now there is the awareness that we are already in the process of change. We touch it with our hands, we live it directly. So there is more attention to climate change than even a few years ago ”.

In the meantime, we are talking about coal as a source of energy to deal with possible emergencies ...

“We talk about it because we are afraid of what could happen with the war in Ukraine. However, it is increasingly evident that fossil fuels cannot be the solution and for two reasons ".

Which?

"They pollute and at the same time are a source of international tension".

Is there room for nuclear as an alternative energy source?

“I talked about it in my recent TV show, Fifth Dimension - the future is here: nuclear power in use today is frightening and carries risks that are considered unacceptable for most people. However, innovative technologies are being developed, with smaller and more efficient power plants. They are safer plants with fewer problems for waste disposal. However, they will be active between ten and twenty years: therefore they cannot help us immediately.

Remaining with his program "Fifth dimension - the future is here", ample space was given to Sardinia ...

“For the episode on the theme of youth and aging we went to Ogliastra, one of the so-called 'blue zones' where a long and healthy life seems to be the norm, and affects - exceptionally - both men and women. And then we talked about the former mines of Sulcis, a place that for me represents a model of how the planet must act to get out of the environmental emergency. The Sulcis mines, abandoned precisely because of their environmental impact, are not only having new life, but have become one of the centers of scientific excellence in which to investigate the secrets of the Universe. They are therefore a symbol: from being a problem for the environment as they were, they have become the cradle of ideas that could help us to get out of the environmental emergency ".