A minor point, but this sentence bothered me:
“The so-called Ebola virus glycoprotein, or ‘spike protein’ ....”
In the scientific world, “glyco” means “sugar,” and it comes from the greek word “glyco,” which means “sweet.” It’s just a bit remarkable to me that a SciAm writer and editor decided that “glycoprotein” meant “spike protein,” when it really means “sugar / protein [molecule].”