• TERRORISMHistory of Hype and the Possibility of a Dystopian Future

    By Peter Bergen

    After 9/11, the Bush administration was preoccupied by the possibility of terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), so much so that the United States went to war in Iraq. In fact, in the post-9/11 era, terrorists only experimented with crude WMD of low lethality. However, now that we are in the age of AI, are we on the threshold of a dystopian reality?

  • COUNTERTERRORISMAssessing PRAHAAR: India’s First Counter-Terror Policy

    By Adil Rasheed

    India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) National Counter-Terrorism Policy and Strategy PRAHAAR policy document provides clear, concise direction for India’s counter-terrorism campaign. It is a definite step forward in eliminating the threat posed by the amorphous, multi-vector nature of terrorism. It also epitomizes the challenges of drafting a Counter-Terrorism policy for a vast, socio-culturally diverse country like India.

  • BIOSECURITY25 Years After Amerithrax: The Changing Landscape of Biosecurity

    By Aayushi Sharma and Ajey Lele

    The 2001 anthrax attacks in the US led to the emergence of biological terrorism as a public health, law enforcement, intelligence, and national security problem, highlighting the need for an integrated approach to addressing the threat. Advances in biotechnology, synthetic biology, and emerging technologies have defined the biological threat landscape over the past 25 years.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHChronic Underinvestment and Recent Disruptions Have Weakened U.S. Public Health System: Report

    America’s public health system is at an inflection point. Decades of chronic underinvestment, compounded by workforce reductions, funding disruptions, and institutional uncertainty during 2025 and 2026, have weakened the system’s capacity to protect communities from preventable disease and injury.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHFor Some Americans, Vaccines Aren’t About Science but Faith

    By Sarah Boden

    None of the major world religions oppose vaccines, yet thousands of Americans claim that immunizations conflict with their faith.

  • BIOSECURITYBuilding a Defense-in-Depth Biosecurity Strategy for the AI Era

    The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and biology could introduce serious global health and national security risks. As capabilities continue to advance, AI-enabled biotechnology might lower the technical, operational, and motivational barriers to creating biological weapons. It might also enable high-consequence attacks involving enhanced or novel pathogens.

  • VACCINE EXEMPTIONSAs SCOTUS Rejects Emergency Appeal for Religious Exemption to Vaccines, Thorny First Amendment Issues Persist

    By Sarah Boden

    Since May, more than a half dozen petitions have been filed with the Supreme Court by people who claim mandatory vaccine policies have harmed their right to religious freedom. The issue is not going away.

  • HAZARDOUS DUSTWhen the Dust Settles: Researchers Measure How Everyday Activity Spreads Hazardous Dust

    By Marguerite Huber

    Argonne researchers study the movement of dust particles from concrete surfaces during a simulated radiological contamination scenario, measuring how pedestrians and moving cars affect the spread of the particles.

  • GUNSViolence Prevention Program Responsible for 61% Decline in Gun Violence Deaths and Injuries

    UC Berkeley study finds the city of Richmond’s gun violence program led to three times the national decline in violence

  • FOOD SAFETYA Summer of Recalls Exposes Holes in the Nation’s Food Safety Net

    By Anna Claire Vollers

    A summer of food recalls has focused attention on the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding and staff at several public health agencies that track foodborne illnesses, and prompted questions about whether those changes have made consumers more vulnerable.

  • PUBLIC HEALTHCatholic Bishops Tell Florida AG There's No Theological Reason for School Vaccine Exemptions

    By Sarah Boden

    Catholic bishops in Florida rejected Florida attorney general’s argument that requiring students in parochial schools to be vaccinated is a violation of Catholic dogma. In a letter to the attorney general, the bishops argued that the position against religious exemptions for vaccines is rooted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Observers noted that it is “extraordinary” for the attorney general to lecture bishops on Catholic teachings.

  • VACCINE-PREVENTABLE DISEASESMeasles Used to Be in Our Rearview Mirror. Now Cases Are Reaching Record Highs.

    By Patricia Callahan

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, and President Donald Trump have been transforming a government that for decades promoted the lifesaving benefits of shots into one that sows doubts about their safety. The results were predictable: History has shown how vaccine-preventable diseases — long-forgotten scourges — can roar back to kill and disable children when trust in shots or access to them have faltered.

  • PUBLIC HEALTH The Threat of More, Expanded Measles Outbreaks Looms with Start of School

    By Sarah Boden

    A combination of dropping vaccination rates and skepticism – if not hostility – toward vaccination at the highest levels of HHS, resulting in conflicting federal messaging on vaccination, have created an opening for measles, widely considered the most contagious infectious disease known to humans.

  • FLESH-EATING BACTERIAFlesh‑Eating Bacteria Are Devouring Limbs in Warming Waters Worldwide − Here’s How to Protect Yourself

    By Bill Sullivan

    Flesh-eating bacteria sounds like the premise of a bad horror movie, but it’s a growing – and potentially fatal – threat to people in the U.S. and beyond. Vibrio vulnificus, a type of flesh-eating bacteria that thrives in warm seawater, is once again threatening the safety of beachgoers and raw shellfish enthusiasts.

  • AI & BIOSECURITYAI‑Designed Viruses Are a Test of Whether Biosecurity Can Keep Pace

    By Tuck Seng Wong and Kang Lan Tee

    Scientists have crossed an important line in biological engineering. In a recent study, researchers used artificial intelligence to design complete sets of genetic instructions for bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. These viruses were designed to infect bacteria rather than people, but even so, the experiment raises an important question: if AI becomes increasingly able to help design biological systems, are our safeguards developing fast enough?