Wikipedia -WSS

Wikipedia

author：Wikipedia 2025-09-27 09:54:00 - browse：25

If you ask a chatbot how to cause a pandemic, it will suggest the 1918 influenza virus, according to researcher Kevin Esvelt. It will even tell you where to find the gene sequences online and where to purchase the genetic components.

Esvelt is a biologist and MIT professor whose work has included altering the genes of mice to prevent the spread of Lyme disease. In a recent First Opinion essay, he wrote about how easy and inexpensive it has become to order genetic components that could be used to create harmful pathogens or toxins and how the biotech industry and government agencies must strengthen safety precautions to prevent this.

Esvelt sat down with host Pat Skerrett to chat about the amazing things genetic technology can accomplish when used correctly, as well as the dangers of such technology in the hands of someone with bad intentions.

“We’re trying to do biotech to accomplish amazing things and heal people,” Esvelt said. “You don’t want to think about the same tools being misused and, to most scientists, this doesn’t come naturally.”

Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter to read each week’s best First Opinion essays.

Newsletters

Sign up for First Opinion Podcast

Weekly alerts when a new episode drops from STAT’s First Opinion podcast

Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy

Previous article： As demand for Covid shots wanes, Moderna seeks its next success
Next article： Biotech execs pursue obesity drug boom: ‘It’s the early innings’

knowledge

WSS

Why failed clinical trials don’t always spell doom for a new drug

Illumina names Agilent executive as new CEO

South Korea throws huge K

Biotech execs pursue obesity drug boom: ‘It’s the early innings’

Biotech execs pursue obesity drug boom: ‘It’s the early innings’

Friends ask where James Watson's attitudes about race came from

hotspot

Wikipedia

Sign up for First Opinion Podcast

focus

Biden outlines 'new path' to provide student loan relief after Supreme Court rejection

What to know about Virgin Galactic's 1st mission taking paying customers to space

Over 800 arrested across France in 3rd night of riots after fatal police shooting of teen

House transparency, PBM reform bill gains bipartisan support

Anesthesiologist group: stop taking Ozempic before surgery

House transparency, PBM reform bill gains bipartisan support

Activists slam private health insurers over coverage restrictions

Naloxone nonprofit donates 200,000 doses after FDA approval

BioMarin wins approval for gene therapy to treat hemophilia A

Anavex keeps shifting the goalposts in its clinical trials

hotspot

House transparency, PBM reform bill gains bipartisan support

Drastic changes should bring profitability, startup health insurers say

Illumina names Agilent executive as new CEO

Wegovy trial has doctors encouraged over new possibilities

Methadone doses haven’t kept up in the age of fentanyl

Trump surgeon general acknowledges mistakes during Covid

knowledge

knowledge

knowledge

focus