President Trump said Friday that he isn't concerned about the state of the USS Abraham Lincoln, despite calls from lawmakers to investigate reports of mental health issues for those onboard.
Why it matters: The San Diego-based aircraft carrier has been deployed for nine months, and numerousreports have indicated that crew members' families are concerned about a lack of food and other basic supplies.
What's the commonthread connecting AI advances, biological breakthroughs, a preponderance of high-risk-high-reward research, escalating geopolitical tensions and a hollowed-out U.S. public health sector?
They all heighten the risk that one day a lethal human-made pathogen will emerge, either accidentally or intentionally, and we won't be ready for it.
Why it matters: The same advances that make this a pivotal moment for medical innovation are intensifying the risk of catastrophic lab mishaps, though how significant a risk is hotly debated by experts.
"It is a very small tweak from trying to target a disease, and making gene therapies to try to target a disease, to turning a virus into something that can be much more detrimental," said Ashish Jha, the Biden administration's COVID response coordinator.
He has since founded a company that aims to detect emerging biological threats.
