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January 17, 2013 Flu viruses hijack the machinery inside animal cells to replicate. The theft is a complicated process that takes time. If the virus leaves the cells too early or too late, the risk of infection falls.

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September 28, 2012 Virologists have published the genome sequence of the new coronavirus, which has killed one man and hospitalized another. The mystery virus is most closely related to coronaviruses that infect bats in Southeast Asia. But this doesn't necessarily mean that the men caught the virus directly from bats.

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August 29, 2012 So far, two Missouri farmers are the only known cases of the tick-borne virus in the world. But experts are sure they'll find more. The men recovered but suffered serious illness that required hospital care and weeks of convalescence.

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March 26, 2012 An expert committee that advises the government is once again going to review some controversial studies on bird flu to see if they can be published openly. Last year, those experts said no, because of concerns that the work could be misused and was too dangerous, but the government asked it to reconsider after a World Health Organization panel came to the opposite conclusion.

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February 15, 2012 Research in a genetically modified bird flu viruses has made it transferable among ferrets. Are humans next? Can and should scientific knowledge surrounding potentially dangerous research be controlled?

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