Trudy joins the the TWiVlords to discuss new tests for detecting prions in the blood, and evidence showing that foamy retroviruses originated in the seas with their jawed vertebrate hosts at least 450 million years ago.

The TWiVsters describe a mouse model for MERS coronavirus-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome, produced by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the murine gene encoding an ortholog of the virus receptor.