@harishseshadri2 @stevenemassey @BiophysicsFL That's right. This part of the proposal could not move forward at all unless they found something no one had yet seen in nature. I don't think seasoned scientists would premise their project on finding something that they don't even know exists.

This timeline of Proximal Origin by @emilyakopp is going to be incredibly helpful to future scholars analyzing the unscientific behavior of prominent scientists regarding a plausible lab #OriginOfCovid usrtk.org/covid-19-origi…

@joemosch ... or labs continuing to run risky experiments.

WHO and world governments are not ready to stop a future pandemic in its tracks. There are straightforward ways to detect novel pathogens, support whistleblowers, and gather unpublished info from research journals & databases. Why aren't these being done? thefp.com/p/china-covid-…

Good news. We just won today’s court hearing against the University of North Carolina about documents of Ralph Baric possibly related to the origin of Covid-19. We asked the judge for in camera review of the documents, and appointment of a special master. The judge granted both.

@GrantEHaines @Big_Biology @mattwridley @KorionArt Please point me to that interview or podcast for a less sophisticated audience and explain the differences in arguments.

@pberto Sorry, the paperback has to be purchased separately but it’s a lot more affordable than the hardcover!

EcoHealth Alliance asked by @COVIDSelect to turn over all communications and documents, including those describing plans to put furin cleavage sites into SARS-like viruses with their partners at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. twitter.com/COVIDSelect/st…

@blesseraux twitter.com/ayjchan/status…

Investigators looking into scientists who shut down a lab #OriginOfCovid are unlikely to uncover a massive conspiracy with barefaced bribes to experts in academia & intelligence. But they’re also not going to find experts following the scientific method and telling whole truths.

House Republicans signal their intent to subpoena Lawrence Tabak, acting director of the NIH, following months of NIH refusing to turn over records related to risky virology and early pandemic GenBank submissions. This is why Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci left NIH.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

@PatrickSSte Yes of course but as an author you can always walk away from a Nature family paper if you believe the evidence does not support the claims. I’ve taken my name off such a paper before and asked not to even be acknowledged.

@PatrickSSte All parties were at fault to different extents but no one did the right thing: publicly call for an objective investigation of a lab #OriginOfCovid

Proximal Origin is looking less and less like "just a paper". It was written to make clear that the #OriginOfCovid was natural, higher-ups pushed for its release, and it was cited from the White House podium and across government agencies to dismiss questions about a lab leak.

From a CIA whistleblower: “Fauci came to our building, to promote the natural origin of the virus... He was covering his ass and he was trying to do it with the Intel community… he pushed the Kristian Anderson paper [Proximal Origin, which Fauci had advised]." #OriginOfCovid twitter.com/shellenberger/…

Pre-pandemic, no one knew what the risk of introducing furin cleavage sites into "low-risk" SARS-like viruses was. Post-pandemic, that risk can be estimated at millions of deaths, trillions in economic losses, a pandemic. Benefits = ?

2018 Defuse proposal by WIV, EcoHealth, UNC: We're going to put rare furin cleavage sites into SARS-like viruses that grow well but don't appear risky. 2023 Nature publication: This SARS-like virus is optimal for introducing furin cleavage sites but we urge constraint. twitter.com/harishseshadri…

Good Washington Post piece on need for research and support for Long Covid! There are too few articles on this, and often little readership. Not everyone can subscribe but one way to encourage more is a letter to the editor noting importance of such pieces: [email protected] twitter.com/PostOpinions/s…

@hansamad The docs and communications they are asking for should clarify why the 6 analysts lean toward a lab origin and why their assessments were changed.

@HL3133 @TylerAStepke @Bryce_Nickels @BUCEID I highly doubt my showing up in person would result in Ecohealth turning over all of their communications and documents with the WIV.

@vinay_kishore When the number isn't just one or two analysts, but 6 analysts, then it becomes even more unlikely that all the analysts became compromised by bribes alone.

@vinay_kishore I find this a little bit difficult to believe - that direct bribes were offered and taken. If one is hired as an analyst for the CIA, would they really just straight up take a bribe to change their assessment? Or were they put in a difficult situation and also offered money?

If this whistleblower is telling the truth, that means 1⃣ 6 out of 7 CIA analysts leaned toward lab #OriginOfCovid 2⃣Someone with authority talked the 6 analysts down from a lab origin assessment 3⃣ 4 agencies: FBI, DoE, CIA, DIA's scientific experts lean toward lab origin! twitter.com/COVIDSelect/st…

🚨BREAKING🚨 New testimony from a highly credible whistleblower alleges @CIA rewarded six analysts with significant financial incentives to change their COVID-19 origins conclusion from a lab-leak to zoonosis.

Even if a world-class virus hunting laboratory were to be established in every country, I'm not particularly confident that this will significantly help to predict and stop the spread of major outbreaks, especially those emerging due to research activities.

If it can be believed, in Jan 2020 while Covid-19 was running rampant in Wuhan, SARS-like virus hunters in town were going to crowded restaurants & taking public transit. One said: “In January it was already very dangerous, but I didn’t see it that way.” wsj.com/articles/bat-s…

"All of this work getting bat samples was supported by PREDICT. So if they're not able to predict the pandemics they themselves cause, then I'd say their program is in pretty bad shape..." - Kristian Andersen, Feb 2, 2020

In 2019, leading virus hunters at a world-class research institute did not predict and could not stop the spread of the exact type of virus they had been hunting for and studying in the lab for more than a decade. thebulletin.org/2023/09/the-us…

"DHS assures us that modern technology will make it perfectly safe to handle foot-and-mouth disease in a high-tech biolab in the heart of livestock country." So, if a lab leak occurs, there is plausible deniability & scientists can search endlessly for intermediate hosts.

My latest #OriginOfCovid interview is on @Big_Biology hosted by profs in infectious diseases & ecology, Lynn Martin & Art Woods. podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigbi…