2: Medical writer ROBIN MARANTZ HENIG. She's a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, Mirabella, and Vogue. Her new book, "A Dancing Matrix: Voyages Along the Viral Frontier," (Knopf) is about the work being done to understand viruses. The field has taken on new urgency since the AIDS virus emerged. HENIG says in the book that scientists have realized that emergence of a new virus is not as rare as they thought it was, and that it's caused mostly by human error rather than genetic mutation. They add that stresses on the ecological system can alter the balance between man and microbes, and can lead to the outbreak of a virus.
Copyright 1993 Fresh Air