This blog has opened several doors for me. It has been a gateway to writing opportunities, speaking engagements and new friendships, and none of these benefits were apparent when I started. Everyone has similar stories of innocuous events that led to greater and unanticipated things. And such stories abound in the narrative of life.

Take the H1N1 flu virus. The drug Tamiflu was generally effective against last year’s H1N1 swine flu pandemic, but it doesn’t work against the seasonal strains that naturally circulate among humans. Ever since 2007, these seasonal strains have evolved to resist the drug thanks to a mutation called H274Y. This genetic tweak prevents Tamiflu from sticking to the virus’s surface, masking the virus from the drug.

The