The Next Pandemic Won't Have the Symptoms You're Watching For
Outbreak detection still runs on fixed symptom checklists. A new Nature comment argues for symptom preparedness, and gives AI one narrow job.
Editor's picks
See allMeasles Elimination Now Hinges on 450 Letters of Viral Code
This month PAHO decides whether the United States and Mexico have lost measles elimination status. The verdict rests on a question of viral genomics: one chain of transmission, or many separate importations?
AI Can Call Drug Resistance in Hours. Should Labs Trust It Yet?
No Federal AI Law? How US States Are Quietly Writing the Rules for Health AI
AI-Designed Longevity Drugs Are in Human Trials. Do Any of Them Work?
AI Is Reading Disease One Cell at a Time. Is the Hype Ahead of the Data?
AI
See allVirology
See allRecent posts
See allCan AI Read DNA Without Being Taught the Genetic Code?
Codon-free models learn protein biology straight from raw DNA, with no translation table supplied. Here is what the evidence actually shows, and where these models still fall short.
If Your DNA Trains an AI That Finds a Blockbuster Drug, Who Gets Paid?
Who owns genetic data once it trains an AI model? We look at the law, the 23andMe bankruptcy, UK Biobank, the Cali Fund and benefit sharing to find out who profits.
AI Is Rewiring Microbes to Brew Our Medicines. Is It Working?
Synthetic biology is handing the design of medicine-making microbes to machine learning. We look at what AI-guided strain engineering has actually delivered, where it still stalls, and what the evidence supports.
Can an AI Chatbot Replace Your Therapist? What the 2026 Trials Really Show
AI therapy is being tested in real clinical trials. We read the 2025 and 2026 evidence on chatbot therapy for depression and anxiety, the safety gaps, and what regulators say.
100 Days to a Vaccine: Can AI Really Deliver the Pandemic Moonshot?
The 100 Days Mission wants a vaccine authorised within 100 days of spotting a new pandemic threat. We look at what AI has actually delivered, using the 2026 Ebola outbreak as a live test.
Convergent Evolution Keeps Repeating Itself. Can AI Explain Why?
Convergent evolution gave bats and dolphins sonar and turned lobster relatives into crabs. Machine learning is now finding the genes behind these repeats. Here is what the evidence shows.
AI in Healthcare
See allAI Can Call Drug Resistance in Hours. Should Labs Trust It Yet?
AI diagnostics can now predict antibiotic and antiviral resistance from a pathogen genome with striking accuracy. We examine the 2026 evidence, and why Europe's own susceptibility testing committee says it is not ready for the clinic.