Suddenly, talk of the Wuhan lab-leak theory seems to be everywhere. Major publications and social media have recently been filled with discussion of the subject. Animal-to human transmission — known as zoonotic spillover — is a common origin story for viruses, including Ebola and some bird flus. But some scientists have pointed to another possibility: that it escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As in other laboratories, researchers there sometimes modify viruses, to understand and treat them.

Source: New York Times May 27, 2021 10:18 UTC