#illegal-biological-laboratory

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Artificial intelligence
fromFast Company
1 day ago

AI is rewriting the rules of biological experiments, but safety regulations aren't keeping up

AI is autonomously designing and running biological experiments, outpacing current governance systems meant to regulate these capabilities.
OMG science
fromNature
2 days ago

Viruses allegedly stolen from high-security lab cause stir in Brazil

A researcher was arrested in Brazil for allegedly stealing virus samples from a high-security laboratory, raising concerns in the virology community.
Digital life
fromwww.dw.com
14 hours ago

Dangerous Apps In the Web of Data Brokers

Smartphone apps collect detailed location data, often shared with data brokers, posing security risks to users, including soldiers and government officials.
US news
fromSecuritymagazine
5 days ago

Top Secret Clearance Holder Charged With Leaking Classified National Defense Information

Courtney Williams was arrested for allegedly sharing classified national defense information with unauthorized individuals, including a journalist, from 2022 to 2025.
#wildlife-trade
Coronavirus
fromNature
6 days ago

Almost half of traded wildlife carry disease-causing pathogens

Nearly half of wild mammal species traded carry pathogens that can infect humans, linking wildlife trade to major disease outbreaks.
Coronavirus
fromwww.npr.org
5 days ago

How bad for humans is wildlife trade? A new study has answers

The wildlife trade significantly increases the risk of zoonotic diseases transferring from animals to humans.
Coronavirus
fromNature
6 days ago

Almost half of traded wildlife carry disease-causing pathogens

Nearly half of wild mammal species traded carry pathogens that can infect humans, linking wildlife trade to major disease outbreaks.
Coronavirus
fromwww.npr.org
5 days ago

How bad for humans is wildlife trade? A new study has answers

The wildlife trade significantly increases the risk of zoonotic diseases transferring from animals to humans.
#peptides
Medicine
fromThe New Yorker
6 days ago

Are Unapproved Peptides Worth the Risk?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids that may enhance strength and recovery, but their safety and efficacy in humans are largely unknown.
Medicine
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

Traceability is vital': labs test thousands of unregulated substances amid peptide craze

The underground market for injectable peptides in the UK has surged, with thousands of unregulated substances being tested for safety and efficacy.
Medicine
fromFuturism
3 weeks ago

Is It Safe to Inject Gray-Market Chinese Peptides?

Peptides are increasingly accessible but largely untested compounds with unknown health effects and potential dangers despite growing popularity.
OMG science
fromNature
1 day ago

The air is full of DNA - here's what scientists are using it for

Airborne DNA is a new frontier for studying ecosystems, monitoring species, and assessing conservation efforts.
#ice
fromWIRED
2 weeks ago
NYC parents

Why ICE Is Allowed to Impersonate Law Enforcement

ICE agents misled campus security to detain a student without proper identification or judicial warrant.
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago
US politics

ICE confirms it deployed Paragon spyware inside the United States for drug trafficking cases - Silicon Canals

ICE is using commercial spyware domestically, raising constitutional concerns about warrantless surveillance and lack of oversight.
US politics
fromTechCrunch
1 week ago

ICE says it bought Paragon's spyware to use in drug trafficking cases | TechCrunch

ICE has utilized spyware from Paragon Solutions to combat drug trafficking and foreign terrorist organizations' use of encrypted communications.
NYC parents
fromWIRED
2 weeks ago

Why ICE Is Allowed to Impersonate Law Enforcement

ICE agents misled campus security to detain a student without proper identification or judicial warrant.
US politics
fromSilicon Canals
1 week ago

ICE confirms it deployed Paragon spyware inside the United States for drug trafficking cases - Silicon Canals

ICE is using commercial spyware domestically, raising constitutional concerns about warrantless surveillance and lack of oversight.
Privacy professionals
fromWIRED
6 days ago

Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends

Telegram groups facilitate the sale of hacking and surveillance services, promoting abusive content targeting women and girls.
Cannabis
fromFuturism
1 week ago

Scientists Gene Hacked a Plant So It Grows Five Types of Psychoactive Drugs at Once

Genetically engineered tobacco plants can produce five different psychedelics, potentially enabling sustainable production for therapeutic use.
fromThe Washington Post
6 days ago

Customs wrongly canceled Harvard scientist's visa over frog embryos, judge rules

U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss ruled that the government unlawfully canceled Petrova's J-1 visa, stating that the government failed to cite any authority allowing Customs and Border Protection officers to cancel the visa for failing to declare the embryos.
US news
SF parents
fromHigh Country News
2 weeks ago

A DNA archive critical to identifying missing migrants has itself gone missing - High Country News

Colibrí Center's missing-persons database has become inaccessible, leaving families without hope for identifying missing migrants.
fromBoston.com
6 days ago

Officer improperly canceled visa of Harvard scholar charged with frog embryo smuggling, judge rules

"The undisputed facts reveal that Ms. Petrova's visa was impermissibly canceled because of the frog embryo samples and for no other reason," Reiss wrote.
OMG science
#ai
Medicine
fromFast Company
1 week ago

AI is coming for superbugs

AI can significantly enhance antibiotic discovery, addressing the urgent global health crisis of antibiotic resistance.
Medicine
fromFast Company
1 week ago

AI is coming for superbugs

AI can significantly enhance antibiotic discovery, addressing the urgent global health crisis of antibiotic resistance.
Science
fromNature
3 weeks ago

Zombieland: Genome transplant brings 'dead' bacteria back to life

Researchers have revived 'dead' bacterial cells by replacing their DNA with a working genome from another species, advancing genome engineering.
fromSecuritymagazine
4 weeks ago

Targeted Phishing Attack Breaches Biotech Company Data

This phishing attack enabled the threat actor to access 'certain internal IT business applications.' The malicious actor gained unauthorized entry by compromising an employee's access to the organization's internal network for business administration.
Information security
fromNextgov.com
1 month ago

Tech bills of the week: Improved biological data for research; Section 702 reform; and more

Ushering in the Golden Age of Innovation is about more than just winning the global tech race - it's about securing the safety and prosperity of our country for generations to come. Our bill is an important step in this effort and will better ensure the United States has the infrastructure in place to lead the 21st century.
EU data protection
fromFuturism
2 weeks ago

Scientists Cloned a Mouse, Then Cloned the Clone, Et Cetera. The Results Were Horrific

"We had believed that we could create an infinite number of clones. That is why these results are so disappointing," study senior author Teruhiko Wakayama stated, highlighting the unexpected limitations encountered in the cloning process.
OMG science
Science
fromNature
4 weeks ago

Synthetic circuits for cell ratio control - Nature

Synthetic biology enables artificial cell differentiation and division of labor by engineering genetic and epigenetic circuits that mimic natural stem cell asymmetric division processes.
fromwww.npr.org
3 weeks ago

Inside a rare lab that's blazing a bold trail as it hunts for new drugs

Kelly Chibale describes the drug discovery process as a fairy-tale quest, stating, 'It doesn't mean that there aren't surprises or miracles. They do happen, but you have to kiss many frogs before you meet the prince.' This metaphor illustrates the challenges and unpredictability in finding effective medicines.
US news
fromIntelligencer
1 month ago

All Modern Warfare Is Chemical Warfare

On the night of Saturday, March 6, Israeli forces struck three sets of oil depots ringing Tehran - west, east, and south - simultaneously. The explosions were massive. Nearby residential areas were destroyed. Millions of liters of gasoline, diesel, and petroleum derivatives ignited, sending columns of black smoke thousands of feet into the air.
World politics
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Outrage as cancer-fighting drug in US patent echoes hidden CIA file

According to the patent, a specific crystalline form of the drug known as polymorph C may be more effective than other versions because it is absorbed more efficiently by the body. The patent also notes that laboratory studies showed the drug reduced tumor growth and helped mice with brain tumors live longer, prompting early clinical trials to test whether the treatment is safe and effective in humans.
Cancer
Privacy professionals
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Confidential health records from UK BioBank project exposed online

UK Biobank researchers have repeatedly exposed confidential health data online, creating privacy risks despite the absence of direct identifiers in the leaked files.
Healthcare
fromSocial Media Explorer
1 month ago

Medical Waste Disposal: A Breakdown - Social Media Explorer

U.S. healthcare facilities generate 3.5 million tons of medical waste annually, requiring specific disposal methods and regulatory compliance with potential fines up to $13,653 per violation.
#ai-safety
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago
Artificial intelligence

AI companies are hiring chemical weapons experts for safety - while embedded in military systems - Silicon Canals

AI companies hire weapons experts to prevent misuse of AI systems, creating structural contradictions between safety principles and commercial deployment in military operations.
fromwww.bbc.com
4 weeks ago
Artificial intelligence

AI firm Anthropic seeks weapons expert to stop users from 'misuse'

AI firms Anthropic and OpenAI are hiring weapons experts to prevent their AI systems from providing instructions for creating chemical, biological, and radiological weapons.
Artificial intelligence
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

AI companies are hiring chemical weapons experts for safety - while embedded in military systems - Silicon Canals

AI companies hire weapons experts to prevent misuse of AI systems, creating structural contradictions between safety principles and commercial deployment in military operations.
Artificial intelligence
fromwww.bbc.com
4 weeks ago

AI firm Anthropic seeks weapons expert to stop users from 'misuse'

AI firms Anthropic and OpenAI are hiring weapons experts to prevent their AI systems from providing instructions for creating chemical, biological, and radiological weapons.
Austin
fromTechCrunch
1 month ago

Owner of ICE detention facility sees big opportunity in AI man camps | TechCrunch

AI data center developers are using temporary worker villages called man camps, with companies like Target Hospitality securing $132 million in contracts to build and operate these facilities.
Cancer
fromMail Online
1 month ago

CIA backlash after hidden document hints at possible cancer cure

A declassified 1951 CIA document summarizes Soviet research identifying biochemical similarities between parasitic worms and cancerous tumors, suggesting potential shared treatment approaches.
Coronavirus
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Scientists discover clue in viruses that reveal if they were lab-made

A new study analyzing seven viral outbreaks found no unusual genetic changes in Covid or most viruses before emergence, supporting a natural zoonotic origin rather than lab creation.
Medicine
fromThe Atlantic
4 weeks ago

Everyone Is a Biohacker Now

Vyleesi, a prescription female libido drug, is being purchased off-label by men through online retailers exploiting 'research use only' disclaimers to circumvent prescription requirements.
Privacy technologies
fromInfoWorld
1 month ago

What I learned as an undercover agent on Moltbook

OpenClaw AI agents on Moltbook social network pose severe cybersecurity risks through unauthorized access to sensitive user data and financial systems.
Artificial intelligence
fromFast Company
1 month ago

Anthropic's forced removal from the U.S. government is threatening critical AI nuclear safety research

The Trump administration's wind-down of Anthropic technology in U.S. government threatens critical national security partnerships focused on preventing AI-assisted development of nuclear and biological weapons.
Information security
fromTheregister
1 month ago

Spyware disguised as emergency-alert app sent to Israelis

Hamas-linked attackers distributed spyware disguised as an emergency-alert app to Israeli smartphones via SMS phishing messages impersonating the official Oref Alert rocket warning service.
US politics
fromFuturism
1 month ago

US Military Tested Havana Syndrome Weapon on Large Mammals, Whistleblowers Says

Former CIA officers claim the US government covered up Havana Syndrome research and a weapon allegedly tested on animals, while refusing adequate medical care to affected personnel.
Privacy professionals
fromSecurityWeek
1 month ago

FBI Investigating 'Suspicious' Cyber Activity on System Holding Sensitive Surveillance Information

The FBI is investigating suspicious activities on an internal system containing sensitive surveillance data, with an unidentified actor using sophisticated techniques to exploit network security controls.
Information security
fromtechcrunch.com
1 month ago

FBI investigating hack on its wiretap and surveillance systems: report

Hackers breached FBI networks managing wiretaps and foreign intelligence surveillance warrants, marking another major U.S. government cybersecurity incident amid ongoing threats from Chinese and Russian threat actors.
California
fromwww.ocregister.com
1 month ago

FBI hazmat team descends on homemade science lab at luxury California house

A juvenile mixed unknown chemicals in a rented luxury home in Irvine, triggering a multiday FBI hazardous materials response with no identified public safety threat.
Artificial intelligence
fromNature
1 month ago

Stop the use of AI in war until laws can be agreed

Frontier AI models are unreliable for warfare and lack legal frameworks; international rules must govern military AI use before deployment to prevent civilian harm.
UK news
fromwww.aljazeera.com
1 month ago

Blood tech: UK's use of Israeli spyware that helps underpin a genocide

The UK government purchases Israeli spyware developed and tested on Palestinians despite publicly criticizing Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
Privacy professionals
fromAV Club
1 month ago

Border Protection gathered location data from games and apps to track people's movements

U.S. Customs and Border Protection purchases location data from ad agencies through real-time bidding to track individuals' movements without warrants or consent.
World news
fromLondon Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com
2 months ago

Putin threatens 'genetics' weapon more lethal than the 'atomic bomb' - London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Genetics-based weapons are presented as potentially more dangerous than atomic bombs, prompting calls to prioritize technological superiority in genetics, AI, and biotechnology.
Public health
fromWIRED
2 months ago

Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantanamo

Uniformed US Public Health Service personnel are being deployed to immigration detention sites, including Guantánamo, encountering bleak, potentially inhumane detention conditions and morale-based resignations.
#biosecurity
Higher education
fromNature
2 months ago

Six steps to protect researchers' digital security

Academic freedom and researchers' safety are deteriorating globally due to harassment, political interference, legal threats, and underreporting.
UK politics
fromwww.bbc.com
1 month ago

Asylum seeker accused of MI5 fake dynamite alert

A failed asylum seeker placed a fake explosive outside MI5 headquarters after losing his final asylum appeal, prompting a counterterrorism response and arrest.
Privacy professionals
fromPrivacy International
1 month ago

Analysis of the Disclosures following the ICO Enforcement Notice on GPS Tagging of Migrants

UK immigration authorities mandate GPS ankle tags on migrants and asylum seekers, collecting vast amounts of sensitive location data that is often inaccurate and subject to misinterpretation.
fromFuturism
2 months ago

FBI Raids Mysterious Biological Lab

We don't know what exactly investigators found or whether they are in any way harmful. However, we do have an intriguing clue. The property was linked to Jia Bei Zhu, a 62-year-old Chinese citizen who was arrested in October 2023 on charges of manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices and making false statements to the FDA, according to NBC News.
US news
World news
fromDataBreaches.Net
2 months ago

Under Pressure: Exploring the effect of legal and criminal threats on security researchers and journalists - DataBreaches.Net

Most surveyed journalists and security researchers face legal or criminal threats, yet most do not retract or change their work in response.
UK news
fromwww.bbc.com
2 months ago

'We weren't perfect', says bogus Covid lab accused

Faisal Shoukat and co-defendants are accused of running a fraudulent COVID-19 testing company that sent fake negative results, mishandled samples, and laundered money.
Public health
fromwww.mercurynews.com
2 months ago

Evacuations, shelter in place order in effect while hazardous materials removed from Berkeley home

Residents near Colusa and Tacoma in Thousand Oaks were ordered to shelter in place or evacuate while hazardous photography chemicals including picric acid were removed.
fromWIRED
2 months ago

ICE and CBP's Face-Recognition App Can't Actually Verify Who People Are

Mobile Fortify, now used by United States immigration agents in towns and cities across the US, is not designed to reliably identify people in the streets and was deployed without the scrutiny that has historically governed the rollout of technologies that impact people's privacy, according to records reviewed by WIRED. The Department of Homeland Security launched Mobile Fortify in the spring of 2025 to "determine or verify" the identities of individuals stopped or detained by DHS officers during federal operations, records show.
Privacy technologies
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Top-secret files reveal Americans were used as human guinea pigs

This happened to 18 hospital patients between 1945 and 1947, where doctors secretly administered plutonium to study how it moved through and affected the human body as part of early US nuclear experiments during World War II and the Cold War.
Medicine
Science
fromMail Online
2 months ago

Scientists use AI to create a virus never seen before

Scientists used AI and gene-assembly tools to create Evo-Φ2147, a novel 11-gene virus designed to kill pathogenic E. coli.
Public health
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
1 month ago

Key NIH research institute told to remove references to 'pandemic preparedness'

NIAID staff were ordered to remove 'biodefense' and 'pandemic preparedness' from web pages as the institute shifts focus away from those research priorities.
US politics
fromFortune
1 month ago

China's government intervenes to show Michigan scientists were carrying worms, not biological materials | Fortune

Charges against three Chinese scientists at University of Michigan were dismissed after Chinese government intervention, despite initial national security claims about smuggled biological materials that proved harmless.
fromArs Technica
1 month ago

Have we leapt into commercial genetic testing without understanding it?

Martschenko's argument is largely that genetic research and data have almost always been used thus far as a justification to further entrench extant social inequalities. But we know the solutions to many of the injustices in our world-trying to lift people out of poverty, for example-and we certainly don't need more genetic research to implement them. Trejo's point is largely that more information is generally better than less.
Science
fromNature
1 month ago

AI tools can design genomes. Will they upend how life evolves?

Biology is undergoing a transformation. After centuries of studying life as it evolves naturally, researchers are now using a combination of computation and genome engineering to intervene, generating new proteins and even whole bacteria from scratch. The use of artificial-intelligence tools to design biological components, an approach known as generative biology, is set to turbocharge this area of research. Just last year, scientists used AI-assisted design to produce artificial genes that can be expressed in mammalian cells.
Science
US politics
fromThe Atlantic
2 months ago

The Real Reason ICE Agents Wear Masks

Federal agents empowered to use force must be publicly identifiable to ensure accountability; anonymity for such public servants is unjustified.
Privacy professionals
fromWIRED
2 months ago

ICE Agents Are 'Doxing' Themselves

ICE List claims a leaked database of nearly 4,500 DHS employees but mainly aggregates publicly posted information, includes inaccuracies, and operates as a crowdsourced wiki.
US news
fromABC7 Chicago
2 months ago

Hazmat, SWAT, FBI swarm Las Vegas home after possible biolab found

Law enforcement and hazmat teams responded to a suspected illegal biological laboratory in a Las Vegas home, detaining one person and removing hazardous materials.
fromNature
2 months ago

NIH rolls back red tape on some experiments - spurring excitement and concern

Many researchers are surprised and relieved over an unusual step taken by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH): the agency is rolling back the red tape on a host of basic-science experiments that involved human participants and had been classified as clinical trials. The decision, which was announced on 29 January and is part of a broader NIH effort to reduce administrative burden, should free such research from the heavy bureaucratic requirements that are designed for clinical trials but are sometimes ill-suited to other fields, such as basic psychology and behavioural studies.
Medicine
fromTruthout
2 months ago

Trump Admin Tells USDA Staff to Investigate Foreign Scientists They Work With

The Trump administration is directing employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate foreign scientists who collaborate with the agency on research papers for evidence of "subversive or criminal activity." The new directive, part of a broader effort to increase scrutiny of research done with foreign partners, asks workers in the agency's research arm to use Google to check the backgrounds of all foreign nationals collaborating with its scientists.
US politics
fromNature
1 month ago

The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next?

Last November, the UK government announced a bold plan to phase out animal testing in some areas of research. Animal tests for skin irritation are scheduled for elimination this year, and some studies on dogs should be slashed by 2030. The long-term vision is 'a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances'.
Science
fromTheregister
2 months ago

US Army seeks autonomous bio, chemical cleanup bots

The Army recently published a Request For Information on Autonomous Decontamination Systems (ADS) to see what might be out there in the existing commercial market to help its Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) troops more easily clean up contaminated vehicles, infrastructure, and terrain. "ADS will reduce manpower and optimize resources required for decontamination operations while mitigating the risk of exposure of warfighters to Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents through robotic means," the Army said in its RFI.
US news
US politics
fromTruthout
1 month ago

CBP Doubles and ICE Quadruples Their Weapons Stockpiles in 1 Year

ICE and CBP spending on weapons and ammunition exceeded $144 million in 2025, with ICE spending surging 360 percent and CBP spending doubling compared to 2024.
Medicine
fromNature
2 months ago

The infection enigma: why some people die from typically harmless germs

Genetic mutations in immune-related genes cause inborn errors of immunity that make some people uniquely vulnerable to severe infections and immune disorders.
fromElectronic Frontier Foundation
2 months ago

Report: ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds On Medicaid Data

Now we have the first evidence that our concerns have become reality. "Palantir is working on a tool for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a \"confidence score\" on the person's current address," 404 Media reports today. "ICE is using it to find locations where lots of people it might detain could be based."
US politics
US politics
fromprivacyinternational.org
2 months ago

The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media

U.S. CBP proposed mandatory collection of extensive personal data from visa-free travellers, including social media, contact histories, biometrics and DNA via government mobile apps.
fromTechCrunch
2 months ago

Here's the tech powering ICE's deportation crackdown | TechCrunch

Cell-site simulators ICE has a technology known as cell-site simulators to snoop on cellphones. These surveillance devices, as the name suggests, are designed to appear as a cellphone tower, tricking nearby phones to connect to them. Once that happens, the law enforcement authorities who are using the cell-site simulators can locate and identify the phones in their vicinity, and potentially intercept calls, text messages, and internet traffic.
US politics
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