the basic problem is that they want to do gain-of-function research in a BSL-2 laboratory because they think the virus would get out of a BSL-4 laboratory anyway
*Throws a rock at a beehive* uh guys? The bees seem to be going rogue
September 27, 2026 at 3:24 PM
the basic problem is that they want to do gain-of-function research in a BSL-2 laboratory because they think the virus would get out of a BSL-4 laboratory anyway
florida is the BSL-4 laboratory of democracy
September 3, 2025 at 6:53 PM
florida is the BSL-4 laboratory of democracy
Gabbard’s claims about Ukrainian biolabs are pathetic Russian propaganda.
Ukraine has only basic BSL-3 diagnostic labs for which vaccines exist, not maximum-isolation BSL-4 bioweapons centers.
By lying, she gave Russia a propaganda victory. She should be judged for treason
Ukraine has only basic BSL-3 diagnostic labs for which vaccines exist, not maximum-isolation BSL-4 bioweapons centers.
By lying, she gave Russia a propaganda victory. She should be judged for treason
July 18, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Gabbard’s claims about Ukrainian biolabs are pathetic Russian propaganda.
Ukraine has only basic BSL-3 diagnostic labs for which vaccines exist, not maximum-isolation BSL-4 bioweapons centers.
By lying, she gave Russia a propaganda victory. She should be judged for treason
Ukraine has only basic BSL-3 diagnostic labs for which vaccines exist, not maximum-isolation BSL-4 bioweapons centers.
By lying, she gave Russia a propaganda victory. She should be judged for treason
DHS were padlocking freezers in BSL-4 labs!!
Are you fucking jiving me?
They are, *completely*, insane.
“Only about a dozen BSL-4 labs exist in North America. These labs work with the viruses that cause Ebola, Lassa fever, and Marburg, types of hemorrhagic fevers”
Are you fucking jiving me?
They are, *completely*, insane.
“Only about a dozen BSL-4 labs exist in North America. These labs work with the viruses that cause Ebola, Lassa fever, and Marburg, types of hemorrhagic fevers”
SCOOP: The Trump administration has halted research activities at NIH's Integrated Research Facility, one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. My latest for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
RFK Jr.'s HHS Orders Lab Studying Deadly Infectious Diseases to Stop Research
NIAID's Integrated Research Facility is one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. Tuesday afternoon, all of its work was put on indefinite pause by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s departm...
www.wired.com
May 1, 2025 at 1:46 AM
DHS were padlocking freezers in BSL-4 labs!!
Are you fucking jiving me?
They are, *completely*, insane.
“Only about a dozen BSL-4 labs exist in North America. These labs work with the viruses that cause Ebola, Lassa fever, and Marburg, types of hemorrhagic fevers”
Are you fucking jiving me?
They are, *completely*, insane.
“Only about a dozen BSL-4 labs exist in North America. These labs work with the viruses that cause Ebola, Lassa fever, and Marburg, types of hemorrhagic fevers”
I wonder how "skeptical" RFK Jr. would be if we put him in a BSL-4 lab and had him lick all the petri dishes.
OH COME ON. If you want to swim in raw sewage, I guess you do you but don't put your grandkids at risk too.
Germ-theory skeptic RFK Jr. goes swimming in sewage-tainted water
The National Park Services bars all swimming and wading due to the health hazard.
arstechnica.com
May 12, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I wonder how "skeptical" RFK Jr. would be if we put him in a BSL-4 lab and had him lick all the petri dishes.
Covid came from nature. It wasn’t a lab accident. China would never be stupid enough to put a non-scientist in charge of a BSL-4 lab. Because that is how you end up with lab accidents. The CDC is a BSL-4 lab, just like Wuhan. Trump and RFK Jr put a non-scientist in charge. Atlanta should be worried.
August 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Covid came from nature. It wasn’t a lab accident. China would never be stupid enough to put a non-scientist in charge of a BSL-4 lab. Because that is how you end up with lab accidents. The CDC is a BSL-4 lab, just like Wuhan. Trump and RFK Jr put a non-scientist in charge. Atlanta should be worried.
The laboratories in Marburg e.g. have a BSL-4, the highest maximum-containment level, and probably the best known one. (3/11)
June 14, 2026 at 2:05 PM
The laboratories in Marburg e.g. have a BSL-4, the highest maximum-containment level, and probably the best known one. (3/11)
I tell you one thing, if I were a Senator in the RFK Jr. hearing I'd be wearing like six masks all stacked up and probably a BSL Level 4 hazmat suit
January 29, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I tell you one thing, if I were a Senator in the RFK Jr. hearing I'd be wearing like six masks all stacked up and probably a BSL Level 4 hazmat suit
Ebola is a BSL-4 pathogen.
Hantavirus is a BSL-3 pathogen, and so is COVID, and so is the plague.
Bsl-4: “Infectious aerosol transmission that may cause serious or lethal infections with no treatment available.”
Downplaying it is perilous, esp in a country with a NHS policy of “let it rip.”
Hantavirus is a BSL-3 pathogen, and so is COVID, and so is the plague.
Bsl-4: “Infectious aerosol transmission that may cause serious or lethal infections with no treatment available.”
Downplaying it is perilous, esp in a country with a NHS policy of “let it rip.”
May 26, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Ebola is a BSL-4 pathogen.
Hantavirus is a BSL-3 pathogen, and so is COVID, and so is the plague.
Bsl-4: “Infectious aerosol transmission that may cause serious or lethal infections with no treatment available.”
Downplaying it is perilous, esp in a country with a NHS policy of “let it rip.”
Hantavirus is a BSL-3 pathogen, and so is COVID, and so is the plague.
Bsl-4: “Infectious aerosol transmission that may cause serious or lethal infections with no treatment available.”
Downplaying it is perilous, esp in a country with a NHS policy of “let it rip.”
Ukraine has not a single BSL-4 lab. Outgoing DNI Gabbard singles out Ukraine, regardless, trying to argue that the threat assessment is higher due to the ongoing war, which however has been started by Russia. (4/11)
June 14, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Ukraine has not a single BSL-4 lab. Outgoing DNI Gabbard singles out Ukraine, regardless, trying to argue that the threat assessment is higher due to the ongoing war, which however has been started by Russia. (4/11)
I'd like to see him wander into a BSL-4 lab without protection to test that theory.
May 8, 2026 at 1:27 PM
I'd like to see him wander into a BSL-4 lab without protection to test that theory.
BSL-4 scientists literally undergo criminal background checks, get regular mental health and physical screenings, the facilities are intentionally placed in remote areas, their safety procedures have MULTIPLE redundancies.
bsky.app/profile/john...
bsky.app/profile/john...
It's what happens when your biolab looks like it is situated in a community college.
I love the show, but I feel like those labs in Reston and Atlanta are a bit more thorough than that.
I love the show, but I feel like those labs in Reston and Atlanta are a bit more thorough than that.
November 16, 2025 at 4:36 AM
BSL-4 scientists literally undergo criminal background checks, get regular mental health and physical screenings, the facilities are intentionally placed in remote areas, their safety procedures have MULTIPLE redundancies.
bsky.app/profile/john...
bsky.app/profile/john...
what if we don't give the hallucination machine access to BSL-4 materials
Almost the entire US technology policy space has been taken over by rich funders and consultants who genuinely believe the below wackadoodle sci-fi AI scenario is extremely likely, and that preventing it is the most important thing we could be doing right now.
www.verysane.ai/p/ai-safety-...
www.verysane.ai/p/ai-safety-...
September 24, 2026 at 2:11 PM
what if we don't give the hallucination machine access to BSL-4 materials
lock them in the bsl-4 labs without protective suits and deactivate the ventilation system
March 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
lock them in the bsl-4 labs without protective suits and deactivate the ventilation system
Casual Friday doesn't apply to the BSL-4, apparently.
Thanks, Obama 🙄.
Thanks, Obama 🙄.
October 25, 2024 at 7:27 PM
Casual Friday doesn't apply to the BSL-4, apparently.
Thanks, Obama 🙄.
Thanks, Obama 🙄.
If you really wanna go down a rabbit hole of how unlikely this premise is, check out this 2016 report on how intensive just entering and exiting a containment lab is.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
November 16, 2025 at 4:43 AM
If you really wanna go down a rabbit hole of how unlikely this premise is, check out this 2016 report on how intensive just entering and exiting a containment lab is.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
We had walkin autoclaves in the BSL-4 in my postdoc. No thank you.
August 14, 2025 at 8:47 PM
We had walkin autoclaves in the BSL-4 in my postdoc. No thank you.
this sentence was engineered in the BSL-4 discourse lab under fort detrick
July 9, 2025 at 5:44 PM
this sentence was engineered in the BSL-4 discourse lab under fort detrick
Finally passed my BSL level 4 🥳
November 19, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Finally passed my BSL level 4 🥳
TB is also a great comparison because both it and covid are biosafety level 3 infectious agents (influenza is BSL-2, Ebola is BSL-4).
One last point to finish up the story: TB is still the second-biggest infectious killer in the world. What’s the MOST infectious killer?
COVID.
Which we don’t test for, don’t track, don’t contact trace, don’t mask against, and don’t isolate for.
(8/8)
COVID.
Which we don’t test for, don’t track, don’t contact trace, don’t mask against, and don’t isolate for.
(8/8)
Tuberculosis (TB)
WHO fact sheet on tuberculosis (TB): includes key facts, definition, global impact, treatment, HIV and TB, multidrug-resistant TB and WHO response.
www.who.int
February 13, 2024 at 5:15 PM
TB is also a great comparison because both it and covid are biosafety level 3 infectious agents (influenza is BSL-2, Ebola is BSL-4).
“A completely dishonest characterization of facilities engaged in benign basic biological, medical, and veterinary research. It is no different from research performed in the U.S. or Europe.
Ukraine only has a few facilities rated BSL-3 and none rated BSL-4.” — John Ridge, “weapons scientist”
Ukraine only has a few facilities rated BSL-3 and none rated BSL-4.” — John Ridge, “weapons scientist”
June 12, 2026 at 4:29 PM
“A completely dishonest characterization of facilities engaged in benign basic biological, medical, and veterinary research. It is no different from research performed in the U.S. or Europe.
Ukraine only has a few facilities rated BSL-3 and none rated BSL-4.” — John Ridge, “weapons scientist”
Ukraine only has a few facilities rated BSL-3 and none rated BSL-4.” — John Ridge, “weapons scientist”
this is what pisses me off. sam altman is doing media hits with a flashlight under his chin while oai researchers are doing the equivalent of bsl-4 research in the office break room
a day late with my take but I sort of suspect a factor for the openai breakout is that they weren't trying very hard to make a good sandbox cause they didn't think this would happen. I think the jury's still out on whether trying hard to make a good sandbox will work; I suspect it's possible
July 23, 2026 at 3:20 PM
this is what pisses me off. sam altman is doing media hits with a flashlight under his chin while oai researchers are doing the equivalent of bsl-4 research in the office break room
we're reinventing the positive pressure bsl-4 suit
October 18, 2025 at 10:02 PM
we're reinventing the positive pressure bsl-4 suit
these are the dumbest people of all time and they are discovering new ways to be dumb like they're concocting dumbass viruses in a BSL-4 lab
October 20, 2025 at 10:58 PM
these are the dumbest people of all time and they are discovering new ways to be dumb like they're concocting dumbass viruses in a BSL-4 lab
RIP, please bury what remains of your brain afterward in accordance with BSL-4 procedures.
July 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
RIP, please bury what remains of your brain afterward in accordance with BSL-4 procedures.