search
bioweapons
Trends
- 1Researchers rank catastrophic risks from advanced AI systems●Nuclear war, bioweapons, runaway AI: How researchers rank risks of smart systems
Researchers have published a ranking of the most serious risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems, placing extreme scenarios such as nuclear war, bioweapons development and runaway AI among the potential dangers. The work compares which threats experts consider most plausible and severe as smart systems grow more powerful, sparking debate over how governments should prioritise regulation and safety research.
- 2Secret Cold War bioweapons test exposed millions in Bay Area●The secret Cold War bioweapons test that exposed millions in the Bay Area
A newly detailed account revisits the 1950 Operation Sea-Spray, in which the US Navy sprayed Serratia marcescens bacteria over San Francisco from ships offshore to study how a biological attack might spread. The tests exposed an estimated 800,000 residents to the bacteria without their knowledge, and have since been linked to infections and at least one death. Readers are debating the ethics of secret government experiments on civilians and what accountability, if any, followed.