Microbes are on the march, back from the dead and meaner than ever! In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, germ warfare -- in public restrooms, swimming pools, -- even your own kitchen. Also, digging up the worst flu pandemic in history from the Norwegian permafrost. And biological terrorism hits the streets of New York.

SEGMENT 1:

University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba gives Judith Strasser the creeps with tales of just how many germs are out there; why they're getting stronger and what we can do to protect ourselves. Wash those hands! Also, journalist Malcolm Gladwell tells Steve Paulson about an expedition to dig up the Spanish Flu virus from the Norwegian tundra. Early in this century, Spanish Flu killed 20 - 40 million people, and scientists fear another deadly flu pandemic is just around the corner.

SEGMENT 2:

Richard Preston scared us all silly with his non-fiction book "The Hot Zone." Now he's written a biological thriller - "The Cobra Event" - which posits the effects of biological terrorism in New York. Preston tells Judith Strasser that while this book is fiction, it's based on scientific and political fact.

SEGMENT 3:

David Bodanis is a lecturer at Oxford and the author of "The Secret Family: Twenty Four Hours inside the Mysterious World of Our Minds and Bodies." He tells Jim Fleming about the bugs that live inside our pillows and among our eyelashes, and reveals the disgusting truth about what's really in orange juice and baby food.

Distribution dates:

• week of 11/09/97 - hour 2