EPISODE · Oct 11, 2023 · 25 MIN
The Leak from Compound 19
from The Reason We’re All Still Here · host Jeffrey Lewis
In February 2020, an elite group of biosecurity experts, worried about the threat of pandemics, plays a bizarrely prescient role-playing game. They run into an age-old pattern of secrecy and mistrust, one that thwarts their efforts to ‘beat’ the game. We travel back to a (real-life) period when dozens of mysterious deaths occurred in a closed Soviet city. As it turns out, hidden pieces of lung tissue help shed light on what, to this day, keeps the nations of the world from working together to fight infectious disease.
What this episode covers
In February 2020, an elite group of biosecurity experts, worried about the threat of pandemics, plays a bizarrely prescient role-playing game. They run into an age-old pattern of secrecy and mistrust, one that thwarts their efforts to ‘beat’ the game. We travel back to a (real-life) period when dozens of mysterious deaths occurred in a closed Soviet city. As it turns out, hidden pieces of lung tissue help shed light on what, to this day, keeps the nations of the world from working together to fight infectious disease.
NOW PLAYING
The Leak from Compound 19
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 26, 2026 ·1m
Mar 19, 2026 ·34m
Feb 18, 2026 ·11m
Feb 11, 2026 ·45m