TeeRoy's 2 Cents:
- The paper has yet to be peer-reviewed, but assuming it holds up, this is definitive proof that the virus didn't come from a lab.
- I wonder if they'll be able to start work on vaccines for diseases that haven't even affected humans yet.
- I'm a lot more interested in the end of COVID than in its origins.
A group of scientists may have discovered the origins of the coronavirus.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland say the SARS-CoV-2 virus definitely originated in bats in China. They believe it spread to another animal before infecting humans.
But here's the real surprise -- the virus's closest known ancestor has been circulating in bats for decades, perhaps as long as 70 years. They have traced a single lineage from that virus to the one that causes COVID-19 in humans.
Scientists believe this will help us understand coronaviruses and perhaps be better prepared if another one begins to spread. (ABC News)