Recent News

By Category: Research

David Hoffman: On biology: promise and peril

(Foreign Policy) We live in an age of breathtaking advances in the life sciences. Achievements in sequencing, or plotting the genetic blueprint of an organism, have been astounding, and may lead to great benefits in public health and medicine. But biological research can be dual-use: that which improves the lot of mankind can also be Read More »

December 29, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Biological Weapons, Biotechnology, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Fearing Bioterrorism, Government Panel Asks: What Research Should Be Secret?

(PBS NewsHour) Ray Suarez discusses the question that many in the science, bioterrorism and national security fields are considering with Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Bruce Alberts of the journal Science. …

December 28, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biological Weapons, Biosafety, and Research
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Lawmaker renews call to halt biodefense lab’s move to Kansas

(Topeka Capital Journal) AP GARDEN CITY, NY — A New York congressman wants to take the “For Sale” sign off Plum Island. In a letter this week, Rep. Timothy Bishop argues it is ludicrous for the federal government to be spending as much as $1 billion to …

December 27, 2011
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Biosafety, and Research
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Biomedical experiments and public safety

(NPR – The Diane Rehm Show) Two leading scientific journals have been asked not to publish details of research into the deadly bird flu virus. The research involved creating a highly transmissible version of H5N1. The scientists hope to gain valuable data that could lead to a vaccine. But the National Science Advisory Board for Read More »

December 23, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biosafety, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Should Scientific Journals Describe How Researchers Made a Killer Flu?

(TIME) H5N1 avian flu rarely infects humans, but it is deadly when it does. Since the virus first emerged in humans in Hong Kong in 1997, nearly 600 people have been infected worldwide and almost 60% have died. The virus isn’t very transmissible, but scientists have long worried that it might mutate, perhaps through reassortment Read More »