After a night out with a parasitologist, Colin Carlson connected climate change to the risk of parasites going extinct—and his team’s work suggests up to one third of parasite species may be threatened. Now an assistant professor at Yale running an NSF project
A hangover can fade fast. A question doesn’t.
Colin Carlson was sitting at brunch with a parasitologist after a night out when the conversation turned to extinction. Could parasites—the organisms he’d spent time studying—be pushed toward disappearing by climate change?. That single worry became a research mission. one that now pulls together climate. public health. and ecology into a single warning.
Carlson, 29, works in public health and is now an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale University. The path to that role began with the early, personal curiosity at the edge of a hangover: whether parasites could go extinct as the climate shifts.
He and his parasitologist collaborator went on to conduct what the account describes as the largest study to date of parasite biodiversity. Their findings were stark: up to one third of parasite species are at risk of extinction caused by climate change. Parasites, the research argues, fill important niches in ecosystems around the world. If they die off, the consequences could be catastrophic.
That climate-linked vulnerability soon connected to a broader planetary-health focus in Carlson’s work. At Yale. he explores the science and policy behind planetary health and runs a National Science Foundation research project called Verena. In Verena, Carlson and colleagues look for emerging viral threats. His mission is to help the world understand what future public health emergencies could look like—and what can be done to mitigate them.
Carlson has also stepped outside the lab. He has testified in front of Congress on public health issues and advocated for increased investment in disease surveillance. The challenge, he says, is getting the people in power to act.
The pressures now feel personal as well. At Verena. the project is described as being in a “state of profound instability. ” with departing staff members. concerns about censorship. and uncertainty over lost federal funding. In his laboratory, Carlson keeps a Post-it note on his desk that reads: “Time spent on research is never wasted.”.
He leans on that line, even as the work becomes harder in ways that have nothing to do with experiments. “This is the hardest this job has ever been, and I say that kind of tongue in cheek because this job is hard,” Carlson says. “It is normally hard but rewarding. Right now it is mostly hard.”
What makes Carlson’s story land is how the same idea—survival under pressure—shows up in two different worlds. One is biological: parasites facing extinction from climate change. The other is institutional: research teams facing instability and uncertainty as funding and freedom to operate come under strain.
At the moment, Verena’s work continues under that cloud of instability, while Carlson keeps pushing the same underlying point to policymakers: surveillance and preparation matter before the next emergency arrives.
This article is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project produced with financial support from Regeneron. Carlson’s portrait and video interview were captured with the Museum of Science in Boston. The reporting is presented alongside an embedded video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVdnom-0JKo.
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Colin Carlson Yale University epidemiology public health climate change parasite extinction parasite biodiversity National Science Foundation Verena emerging viral threats disease surveillance planetary health
Parasites going extinct is kinda weird to worry about, like… doesn’t that mean less sickness?
Hangover sparked all this?? I mean good for him but sounds like a headline that’s doing too much. If parasites are at risk, isn’t that still climate messing up everything anyway.
So wait, he testified in front of Congress so now they’re gonna ban hangovers? Also “one third” sounds made up—parasites are everywhere, like in the dirt, in animals, everywhere. Climate change doesn’t just erase them overnight.
Up to one third threatened… but what does that even mean, like they just die out or evolve? I read something once that parasites actually keep ecosystems balanced so wouldn’t “extinction” make other stuff worse? Also it says he runs an NSF project for viral threats, so is this climate = viruses too? My brain’s all over the place with this article.