#pandemics

#pandemics

My grandfather Sidney Lipsyte, the son of immigrants who became a New York City public-school teacher and administrator, lived from 1904 to 2005, a good run I don't expect to match. He witnessed, and sometimes experienced, a century of mayhem and invention: human flight, human spaceflight, pandemics, vaccines, economic devastation, Nazi conquest, atomic murder, peace treaties, civil rights, pacemakers, penicillin, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.

Influenza viruses regularly accumulate small genetic changes, necessitating yearly updates to vaccines, and can also make sudden leaps through major genetic changes and reassortment.

The ability of AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude to provide troubleshooting advice to amateur biologists marks a significant milestone in bioweapon development risks.