H1N1 comes from pigs

The H1N1 flu virus that triggered the first influenza pandemic in 40 years seemed to come out of nowhere, but, of course, that wasn’t the case. The virus mutated inside a pig before making the leap to human beings, and scientists have traced it back to a strain that first emerged in U.S. factory pork farms back in 1998.

That’s #7 on the Top 10 Green Ideas list from Time magazine’s 2009 The Top 10 Everything of 2009.

(Via @Alternet → @SlowFoodUSA)