Science author and journalist David Quammen will give a lecture at the University of Nevada, Reno's Discover Science Lecture Series, Thursday, Feb. 4. The lecture, titled "Ebola and Beyond: Scary Viruses in a Globalized World," will focus on his most recent works about Ebola and AIDS - his books "The Chimp and the River" and "Ebola" - which stem from his acclaimed book about emerging diseases, "Spillover."

Quammen is a journalist as well as a science, nature and travel writer. He has authored 15 books, five of them fiction.

In his 30-year career as a writer, more than 100 pieces of his short non-fiction have been published in popular magazines such as Harper's, Outside, Esquire, The Atlantic, Powder and Rolling Stone. He also wrote a column called "Natural Acts" for Outside magazine for 15 years. As a contributing writer for National Geographic magazine, he travels often, usually to wild and remote places. His latest feature article in National Geographic, published in July 2015, "Seeking the Source of Ebola," chronicles the progression of Ebola.

Quammen wrote on his webpages, "Something else I've said elsewhere: safety is craft, when it comes to writing, and art entails risk. For whatever this may be worth, and I invite you to discount it as coming from the author: "The Chimp and the River" probably constitutes the riskiest and most important 176 pages I've ever written."

Now in its sixth year, the annual Discover Science Lecture Series brings renowned scientists and science lecturers from around the country to share their knowledge with the community. Other speakers scheduled for the 2016 Discover Science Lecture Series are Paul Alan Cox, ethnomedicine expert, March 10 and Bob Williams, Hubble Space Telescope project leader, April 21.

The Quammen lecture will be held at 7 p.m., Feb. 4 in the Redfield Auditorium in the Davidson Mathematics and Science Center on the University campus. Parking is reserved for the event on the top level of the Brian J. Whalen Parking Complex on North Virginia Street. Admission is free.