As a society we have (rightly) spent soooo much time talking and thinking about SARS-CoV-2 but what about the billions of other viruses out there, most of which don't infect humans? This week evolutionary virologist Alvin Crespo talks about cassava mosaic begomoviruses which infect cassava plants, a food crop that is the main source of carbohydrates for the people of sub-Saharan Africa. We talk about where this virus came from, where all viruses may come from, and we also tackle topics related to 'parachute science', the scientific method and its limitations, and whether or not I am a generally ignorant person. It was fascinating learning about plant epidemics but sad to learn about the devastation they cause. However, as Alvin says during our conversation, we can learn a lot from these outbreaks which can hopefully prepare us for emergent plant viruses of the future.Alvin Crespo is a PhD candidate in the Ecology and Evolution program at Rutgers University in the Duffy lab. You can follow him on Twitter: @alvincrespo2 or read his published work on Google Scholar.Here are some links to things we mentioned in the episode:Alvin's research is funded by a n NSF Program called "PIRE: U.S.-East Africa Research and Education Partnership: Cassava mosaic disease - A paradigm for the evolution of insect-transmitted plant virus pathosystems".Here is the NSF award abstract and a list of the related publications to dateCollaborating institutes: North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T, Rutgers University, Auburn University, Biosciences eastern and central Africa International Livestock Reasearch Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub in Nairobi, Keny, Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI)- Mikocheni in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and JOMO Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Nairobi, Kenya.Here is a link to the phycologist mentioned from Burkina Faso, Dr. Bilassé Zongo: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bilasse-ZongoAlso, fun fact: it is the 40th anniversary of the first sequenced cassava mosaic begomovirus!For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram, @CouchMicroscopy on Twitter, or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!Music is "Introducing Cosmic Space" by Elf Power and "Vorticella Dreams" by L. Felipe Benites.