Lab Leak

Covid Lab Leak Fight Obscures the Global Rise of High-Security Biolabs

There are more and more high-containment labs being built around the world — and no universal agreement on how to regulate or monitor them.

Did COVID Originally Leak From a Chinese Lab? Politics May Prevent Us Ever Knowing for Sure

The problem, says Ayelet Berman, who leads the Global Health Law and Governance Program at National University of Singapore’s Center for International Law, is that in the existing political climate, China has nothing to gain from being more transparent. And that sets a dangerous precedent. Berman says that inquiries and research on future outbreaks may be similarly hampered by origin countries’ fears of facing economic and social backlash.

We’ve Been Talking About the Lab-Leak Hypothesis All Wrong

For some lab-leak theorists, the fact that so many prominent experts converged so rapidly on a declaration of natural origin so soon after expressing their doubts is proof of a “zoonotic conspiracy” — a coordinated effort to suppress discussion of the possible lab origins of SARS-CoV-2.

Why Scientists Got the Covid Lab Leak Wrong

We’re only human, and we’re as susceptible as everybody else to cognitive biases and self-interest.

Did covid-19 leak from a Chinese lab?

Once the theory was dismissed and derided. Now it is back and gaining currency.

Fight Over Covid’s Origins Renews Debate on Risks of Lab Work

Talk of ‘gain-of-function’ research, a muddy category at best, brings up deep questions about how scientists should study viruses and other pathogens.

If the Lab-Leak Theory Is Right, What’s Next?

We know enough to acknowledge that the scenario is possible, and we should therefore act as though it’s true.

It’s Not Case Closed on the Lab-Leak Theory

Yes, the Department of Energy says the virus most likely came from a lab. No, the DOE isn’t very sure at all—and other agencies disagree.

Lancet Report Claiming COVID Could Have Come From U.S. Lab Met With Uproar

A new report from the top medical journal says it’s “feasible.” But critics have a few concerns.

The COVID lab leak theory is dead. Here’s how we know the virus came from a Wuhan market

The take-home message is the COVID pandemic probably did begin where the first cases were detected – at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. At the same time this lays to rest the idea that the virus escaped from a laboratory.

The COVID-19 Lab Leak Debate Shows How Experts Failed Us

The messy public debate about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is the endpoint of over a year of failures on the part of science communicators.

The COVID-19 lab-leak hypothesis is plausible because accidents happen. I should know

From a scientific perspective alone, it is important to investigate the lab-leak hypothesis because, if true, we have to tighten safety procedures to prevent future leaks.

The FBI and Energy Department think Covid-19 came from a lab. Now what?

We don’t need to know how this pandemic started to begin to prevent the next one.

The lab leak hypothesis, explained

We may never know for sure if the virus that causes Covid-19 leaked from a lab. But that won’t stop the debate.

The Lab-Leak Theory Meets Its Perfect Match

Both pandemic-origin arguments depend on coincidence.

The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins

Throughout 2020, the notion that the novel coronavirus leaked from a lab was off-limits. Those who dared to push for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark.

Theory That COVID Came From A Chinese Lab Takes On New Life In Wake Of WHO Report

Before COVID-19, few scientists would have pegged the city of Wuhan, in temperate central China, as a likely starting point for a global coronavirus pandemic. Its climate and fauna don't fit the bill. But the city of 11 million straddling the Yangtze River is home to some of China's most advanced biological research laboratories. And one of the secretive, state-run institutions, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is known to conduct experiments on the kind of virus that has killed nearly 3 million people worldwide so far since late 2019.

Why China Is Struggling to Make the Lab Leak Theory Go Away

U.S. spy agencies are about to report on COVID-19’s origins, but don’t hold your breath.

The Lab Leak Will Haunt Us Forever

Each new revelation is a reminder of how little is actually known.

10 reasons why scientists believe coronavirus originated from lab in Wuhan, China

... the theory that the virus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which studies coronaviruses, is no longer shunned as a conspiracy and is gaining more traction among scientific communities calling for further inquiry.