BlueDot Narrated

Far-UVC

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://www.faruvc.org/ Author(s): Jeff Kaufman. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

Innovate and Stockpile: Respiratory Protection for Essential Workers in a Catastrophic Pandemic

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/hs.2022.0126 Author(s): Nadia X. Montazeri and Jonas B. Sandbrink. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Flipping the switch on far-UVC

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/flipping-the-switch-on-far-uvc?hide_intro_popup=true Author(s): Richard Williamson. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

What is AI Alignment?

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://blog.bluedot.org/p/what-is-ai-alignment Author(s): Adam Jones. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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What Are the Odds H5N1 Is Worse Than COVID-19

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Executive Summary The chance of H5N1 or one of its descendants causing a pandemic is slim, but the impact would probably be more severe than COVID-19 A reasonable forecast that H5N1 causes a pandemic as bad as or worse than COVID-19 beginning in the next year is ~4%, which means the expected cost in terms of potential harms to the U.S. is at least $640 billion The federal government can reduce that risk by: Scaling up testing & sequencing Banning mink farms Not pursuing H5N1 gain-of-function research Laying the groundwork for mass production of an H5N1 vaccine Investing in general pandemic prevention Background Though COVID-19 is often referred to as a “once-in-a-century event,” this expression should not be taken literally. Another COVID-like pandemic at some point is almost inevitable, and the chances of a devastating pandemic materializing in any given year are low but constant. Recently, media figures have raised concerns that the highly pathogenic avian [...] Original text https://progress.institute/what-are-the-chances-an-h5n1-pandemic-is-worse-than-covid First published 14 February 2023 A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

Scaling US Pathogen Detection

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Description: This post models how an effective biosurveillance system might work in the US using metagenomic sequencing (MGS). Metagenomic sequencing can read out any nucleic acid (RNA or DNA) in a sample. Analyzing these fragments allows the identification of both known pathogens as well as unknown reads that could represent a new threat. Original Text: https://naobservatory.org/blog/biothreat_radar/ Author(s): Simon Grimm, Lennart Justen, and Jeff Kaufman. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Do the Biorisk Evaluations of AI Labs Actually Measure the Risk of Developing Bioweapons?

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/do-the-biorisk-evaluations-of-ai-labs-actually-measure-the-risk-of-developing-bioweapons Author(s): Anson Ho and Arden Berg. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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The Four Pillars: A Hypothesis for Countering Catastrophic Biological Risk

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://defensesindepth.bio/the-four-pillars-a-hypothesis-for-countering-catastrophic-biological-risk/ Guide: Andrew Snyder-Beattie leads Coefficient Giving’s Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness program. Here he lays out their thinking on the key pillars in biodefense, including PPE and biohardening of indoor spaces. Author(s): Andrew Snyder-Beattie. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Risk and Benefit Analysis of Gain of Function Research

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://osp.od.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Risk%20and%20Benefit%20Analysis%20of%20Gain%20of%20Function%20Research%20-%20Draft%20Final%20Report.pdf Author(s): Corey Meyer, Kavita Berger, and Rocco Casagrande. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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How to stop bioterrorists from buying dangerous DNA

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://thebulletin.org/2025/04/how-to-stop-bioterrorists-from-buying-dangerous-dna/ Author(s): Steph Batalis and Vikram Venkatram. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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How AI could enable catastrophic pandemics

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://blog.bluedot.org/p/how-ai-could-enable-catastrophic-pandemics Author(s): Will Saunter. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Securing Civilisation Against Catastrophic Pandemics

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://www.gcsp.ch/sites/default/files/2024-12/securing-civilisation-against-catastrophic-pandemics-gp-31.pdf Author(s): Anjali Gopal, William Bradshaw, Vaishnav Sunil, and Kevin M. Esvelt. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Why do we take LLMs seriously as a potential source of biorisk?

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://red.anthropic.com/2025/biorisk/ Author(s): Anthropic A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Accelerating Vaccine Development: The 100 Days Mission

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original text: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK614029/ Author(s): Aishani Aatresh, Nicole Lurie, and Richard Hatchett. A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Day Zero Antivirals for Future Pandemics

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. Original Text: https://press.asimov.com/articles/antivirals Author(s): Brian Wang A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

Artificial Intelligence and Biological Misuse: Differentiating Risks of Language Models and Biological Design Tools

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. This paper proposes two categories of AI models that could have impacts on biosecurity in different ways: large language models (LLMs) and biological design tools (BDTs). Overall, the author suggests that LLMs could lower barriers to biological misuse, while BDTs could expand the capabilities of sophisticated actors to create pandemic pathogens worse than anything seen to date. The paper also provides suggestions for mitigating these risks. Original text: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.13952 Author(s): Jonas B. Sandbrink A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Understanding AI-Facilitated Biological Weapon Development

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. This report breaks down the categorisation of LLMs and BDTs into more specific subcategories of AI-enabled biological tools at each stage of the risk chain, from ideation to production of biological weapons. By being more specific about the existing and potential tools at each stage, we can have more precise discussions about the risks. Original text: https://www.longtermresilience.org/post/report-launch-examining-risks-at-the-intersection-of-ai-and-bio Author(s): Cassidy Nelson and Sophie Rose A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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Info Hazard Guidance for Biosecurity Discussions

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. This document introduces the concept of information hazards (often called 'info hazards') and reasoning for why we should be cautious around them. It also provides a list of concrete examples that seem safe to discuss, stressing the importance of maintaining a balance between openness and conscientiousness. It's worth noting that reasonable people disagree about the degree of caution with which to approach info hazards. Original text: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d8269g3b-_GeNAPwxGZ8vqWuCzw7F1a5dwHdrxXH4xw/edit?usp=sharing Author(s): Chris Bakerlee and Tessa Alexanian A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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High-Risk Human-Caused Pathogen Exposure Events From 1975-2016

Audio versions of the blog posts and papers from BlueDot courses. This table documents the known human-caused pathogen exposure events from 1975-2016, both accidental and deliberate, from peaceful research and bioweapons programmes. Using this data, we can start to build an idea of the base rate of these events to begin to inform how likely we might expect human-caused pandemics to be in the future. Original text: https://f1000research.com/articles/10-752 Author(s): David Manheim and Gregory Lewis A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

Biosecurity and the Goals of This Course

Audio versions of blogs and papers from BlueDot courses. This introduction to the course underscores its focus on mitigating the risk of catastrophic pandemics, a specific aspect of the complex and multidisciplinary field of biosecurity. It clarifies various interpretations of 'biosecurity', categorises different sources of pandemic risk, and underscores the need for collaboration across numerous disciplines and skill sets to effectively prevent pandemics. We also highlight the core values of the course - a scout mindset, healthy scepticism, active learning and community. Original text: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1niZllKaLbYhVvA2ls9c5pVxgJyJfXr_IiU1XYaf9jCM/edit?usp=sharing Author(s): Will Saunter A podcast by BlueDot Impact.

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