Ask
ASK the scientists any questions you have about science.
Chat
CHAT with the scientists in a 30 minute long text chat booked by your teacher.
Vote
VOTE for your favourite scientist to win a £500 prize to spend on communicating more science.
ASK the scientists any questions you have about science.
CHAT with the scientists in a 30 minute long text chat booked by your teacher.
VOTE for your favourite scientist to win a £500 prize to spend on communicating more science.
If you thought dangerous epidemics were stuck in history books, think again. As Zika showed last year, epidemics are still a threat in the age of modern medicine and scientists work hard to study them.
An epidemic is caused when a disease spreads over a large area, affects a large number of people at the same time and spreads faster than doctors can control. The outbreak of an epidemic can be caused by conditions like contaminated drinking water or the migration of animals.
There have been many epidemics throughout history, such as the Black Death in the 14th century which is thought to have killed up to 100 million people, and the Ebola outbreak of 2014.
In this zone, there is a scientist using maths to work out how many people are going to catch norovirus this year, one studying infectious diseases and how to prevent them and one researching how infectious diseases spread.
There is also a scientist working to stop whiteflies from becoming an epidemic in the UK and damaging crops, and an NHS doctor helping to treat people with infections.