• Doomsday Clock Set at 90 Seconds to Midnight

    The Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight, due largely but not exclusively to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation. The new Clock time was also influenced by continuing threats posed by the climate crisis and the breakdown of global norms and institutions needed to mitigate risks associated with advancing technologies and biological threats.

  • The Last of Us: Fungal Infections Really Can Kill – and They’re Getting More Dangerous

    Millions have been tuning in every week to watch the highly anticipated TV adaptation of “The Last of Us.” The show depicts a post-apocalyptic world where society has collapsed due to the outbreak of a dangerous, brain-controlling fungal infection that turns humans into hostile, cannibalistic “zombies.” Fortunately for us, a fast-spreading fungal pandemic is pretty unlikely – but this doesn’t mean fungi aren’t still a concern.

  • COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories That Spread Fastest Focused on Evil, Secrecy

    In the early pandemic, conspiracy theories that were shared the most on Twitter highlighted malicious purposes and secretive actions of supposed bad actors behind the crisis, according to an analysis of nearly 400,000 posts.

  • How Countries Responded to the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Researchers offer new insights into how countries respond to systemic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A new, data-driven approach quantifies pandemic resiliency in multiple dimensions.

  • Can ‘Digital Traces’ from Internet Searches and Social Media Predict Outbreaks of COVID-19?

    Your Google searches and Twitter accounts alert marketers about what items you might like to  purchase—could they also serve as an early warning system when COVID-19 levels are about to take off?

  • Tackling Crowd Management in Subways During Pandemics

    Mass transit, and subways in particular, are essential to the economic viability and environmental sustainability of cities across the globe. Researchers are working with NYC’s MTA to develop machine learning and traffic models to optimize traffic flow during pandemics.

  • Pathogen Early Warning

    When COVID-19 struck in late 2019 and early 2020, governments worldwide were caught off guard. The systems that countries and international institutions established, particularly those designed to spot novel threats before they metastasized into something more dangerous, proved insufficient to halt COVID-19’s spread. Since then, the importance of effective early warning systems has only increased.

  • House Intelligence Panel Releases COVID-19 Reports

    The House Intelligence Committee released a declassified report examining the Intelligence Community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic following a two-year investigation. The report examines the IC’s posture to support global health security policymakers, the IC’s performance in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the steps the IC must take to strengthen any future pandemic response.

  • WHO Urges China to Share Data on Origin of COVID-19 Pandemic

    The World Health Organization has urged China to share data on the origin of the coronavirus that caused the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

  • COVID Vaccine More Effective Than Infection Against Death, Hospital Care, Study Finds

    One of the first large studies to compare deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits among COVID-19 vaccine recipients versus those who were infected shows the vaccines were more effective in preventing negative outcomes, especially for adults aged 60 years and older.

  • Software Tracking Pandemics

    DHS has awarded $5 million to create tools to increase the nation’s level of preparedness for biological threats — including an infection rate tracking program for COVID-19 developed by a Sandia National Laboratories team in 2020.

  • Biodefense and Emergency Use Authorization

    Emergency-use-authorization (EUA) is the representative biodefense policy that allows the use of unlicensed medical countermeasures or off-label use of approved medical countermeasures in response to public health emergencies. The EUA policies of the United States and South Korea produced drastically different outcomes.

  • When Will COVID-19 Become Endemic?

    Government leaders are optimistic that COVID-19 is becoming endemic, meaning more predictable and manageable. But many scientists say it’s too soon to behave like the pandemic is over.

  • What Have We Learned from COVID-19? Apparently Not Much

    Even if it were true that COVID-19 is no longer a major part of our lives, the fact still remains that these numbers are as high as they are because of how poorly the US responded to the pandemic. This boom and bust funding cycle clearly does not work for public health.

  • How to End COVID-19 as a Public Health Threat

    Over 350 multidisciplinary experts from more than 100 countries reach consensus: A new global COVID-19 study provides actionable recommendations to end the public health threat without exacerbating socio-economic burdens or putting the most vulnerable at greater risk.