Why the international community should focus on incapacitating chemical agents—aka knockout gas—at the upcoming Chemical Weapons Convention conference

In the United States, anxiety about the disease poses more health dangers than the disease

What's the most important thing people can do with their lives? Help humanity survive into the distant future.

Fears that terrorists could get and use nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons are overblown

What's gone wrong and what's going right in dealing with Ebola, in Africa and America

The director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on Syria, terrorists looking for chemical weapons, and the need to watch out for weapons that haven't even been invented yet

Deforestation, bushmeat consumption, and burial practices contribute to the emergence and spread of Ebola outbreaks

The Russia-US deal to eliminate Damascus’ stockpile has achieved a great deal—far more than the alternative would have accomplished

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and the risks posed by massive gatherings of people, such as the Hajj

To beat back chikungunya, dengue, and yellow fever, human behavior has to change.

Libya and Syria built huge chemical weapons caches—even though, as history shows, chemical weapons have been largely useless on the battlefield

A careful review of threats leads the Bulletin's Science and Security Board to conclude that the risk of civilization-threatening technological catastrophe remains high, and that the hands of the Doomsday Clock should therefore remain at five minutes to midnight.

Why the world should begin exploring the possible use of synthetic biology to counter the worst effects of climate change.

Once again, evidence of WMD is lacking. This time it’s in Syria.

In his keynote address delivered at the International Conference on Science and International Security: Addressing the Challenges of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism in Madrid on November 9, Sen. Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, stressed the need to expand the 20-year-old Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, which he and former Sen. Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia, developed in 1991 to secure and destroy nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons in the former Soviet Union.

Lab leaks are scary. Gain of function can be scary. But that doesn't mean the two are intertwined.

There is an old joke that always makes me smile. It goes something like this: A visitor to Ireland was in Cork and needed to get to Dublin quickly, so he asked a local what the best way to drive was. The answer came back after a short pause for thought: "If I was going to Dublin, I wouldn't start from here."

Countries around the world are planning to build even more facilities for researching the most dangerous pathogens. A pair or scholars is mapping their locations and shedding light on these frequently controversial operations.

Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president in 2024, has banned "gain of function" research in Florida.

Could the COVID-19 pandemic have started with a lab accident? While the matter has become heavily politicized, a credible investigation could help clear things up.