Want to stop the next pandemic? Leave the bats alone!

Decreasing our interactions with bats might help to lower the risk of viruses hopping from animals to humans, and triggering the next pandemic. — AFP

Can bats save the world?

That might be a bit of an oversimplification, but these small mammals could still help reduce the risk of global pandemics, such as the Covid-19 pandemic that started in 2020 and caused nearly seven million deaths worldwide, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data.