A few decades ago, few scientists considered coronaviruses a big deal. The ones they knew about generally caused nothing worse than a common cold.
But that changed with SARS came on the scene early in the 21st century, proving that a coronavirus could be lethal.
And then SARS-CoV-2, which we know as COVID-19, got all of our attention.
It's a long story, with effects on humans and other creatures going back thousands of years, and epidemiologist Dan Werb tells it in The Invisible Siege: The Rise of Coronaviruses and the Search for a Cure.
We pick the scientist's brain about the things we did not know about coronaviruses... and should have.