TWiV reviews the difficulties in predicting species susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection by only examining the ACE2 protein, and the olfactory mucosa as a portal of entry into the central nervous system in COVID-19 patients. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit Guest: Amy Rosenfeld Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode NYC will create pandemic response institute (NY Bus J) Comparison of ACE2 in vertebrates (PNAS) Olfactory transmucosal invasion of CNS by SARS-CoV-2 (Nat Neurosci) Letters read on TWiV 690 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Science Picks Dickson – National Geographic best animal photos of 2020 Amy – American Contagions: Epidemics and the law from Smallpox to COVID-19 by John Fabian Witt Alan – HamSCI citizen science organization Rich – DeepMind’s AI makes gigantic leap in solving protein structures Vincent – Army Ants: Nature’s Ultimate Social Hunters by Daniel Kronauer Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv