In the years ahead, will pandemics become less common or more common? How likely is a virulent new outbreak of influenza? Or should we pay more attention to other sorts of disease? Has globalisation given the world more resilience in how to respond to pandemics, or put us at greater risk? Do infectious diseases invariably evolve into a less deadly form? Why were important "lessons to be learned" from SARS and other recent pandemics not, in fact, taken to heart? What are the prospects for something akin to a new Black Death, and how could society stop that from happening?

These are a sample of the questions that author and journalist Debora MacKenzie will be discussing in conversation with London Futurists on Saturday 7th November.