If a theme runs through the books and articles I've written over the past 40 years, it's a fascination with what scientists have learned about the human body. A long career spent explaining biomedical research has led me to a deep respect for the scientific process. Despite its occasional missteps and self-corrections, I believe it ultimately moves us toward a clearer understanding of the world and how to thrive in it.

如果我过去40年所写的书籍和文章有一共同主题，那是因为我对人体的科学新发现感到着迷。阐明生物医学研究的漫长职业生涯，使我对科学过程产生深深的敬意。即使科学偶有失误和自我修正，我相信它终会让我们更加清楚理解这个世界，并懂得如何在其中蓬勃发展。

So as scientists first scrambled to figure out the never-before-seen coronavirus, I was primed to follow their advice about how to keep safe, based on the hypothesis that the virus was transmitted mostly by droplets from coughs and sneezes lingering on surfaces. I dutifully wiped down countertops, refrained from touching my face, and washed my hands so emphatically that the little diamond in my wedding ring shone like never before.

因此，当科学家最初忙乱地研究前所未见的新冠病毒，并假设病毒主要通过留在表面上的咳嗽与喷嚏飞沫传播，据此做出安全建议时，我很自然地就遵循了。我听话地擦拭了厨房的台面、忍住不摸自己的脸，并且使劲洗手，以至于我结婚戒指上的小钻石从来没有像现在这样闪闪发光。

And then, about two and a half weeks after my city, New York, shut down restaurants, Broadway plays, and the largest public school system in the country, scientists switched to a different message -- that everyone should wear a mask. This was a startling about-face. The initial advice, confidently delivered, had been not to wear a mask, unless you were a frontline health-care worker. The revision was largely based on a new hypothesis, that the coronavirus spread mostly through the air.

之后，在我所居住的纽约市关闭了餐馆、百老汇戏剧和美国最大的公立学校系统大约两周半后，科学家改提出了不同看法--每个人都应该戴口罩。这是一个惊人的大转变。最初的建议是信心满满地告诉大家不必戴口罩，除非你是第一线的医护人员。后来的修正有很大一部分是根据新冠病毒主要通过空气传播这一新假设。