Getting Started…
The following resources comprise the core component of this week’s content, providing ‘An Introduction to 21st Century Science’. Once you’ve completed the readthrough below, please take the time to explore the resources labelled as ‘mandatory’ - these should take approximately five to ten minutes each to either watch, listen to or read. If you have the time or the inclination, you could also have a look through the ‘Optional Resources’ provided below and further expand upon your understanding of biorisk and pandemic prevention. The ‘Optional Resources’ typically take longer to work through (e.g. the Biotechnology for Bioefuels paper on microalgal biofuels is both long and complex), so you might want to consider listening to any audio/video resources at 1.25x or 1.5x speed/selectively skimming through any written resources.
Once you’ve completed the introductory component for this week, return to the ‘Getting Started’ section and explore both of the additional sections linked below - one of which explores a framework through which to analyse x-risks, whilst the other examines the varying roles of a doctor in the battle against biorisk. You are required to complete the introductory readthrough and explore the mandatory resources associated with each section of additional content, but are not required to work through any of the optional content. That said, you’re also very welcome to dip in and pick out any resources which feel interesting to you - even if they don’t seem directly relevant to the issues you’re considering. Having completed all required content, you can begin to work on the week’s concluding activity, as detailed below.
Week 5: Produce a short project proposal focusing on a particular issue within the domain of biorisk (e.g. a pathogen you consider to have significant pandemic potential, a deficit in healthcare infrastructure you consider to present a risk to vulnerable populations, a flaw in biosecurity legislation which allows for mismanagement of EPPPs, etc.). Your proposal should introduce your chosen issue, highlight the importance of that issue and offer a brief summary of how your project would help to tackle it (i.e. your methodology and your intended result). You may submit this proposal either in a text-based format or in the form of a short video.
If you choose to follow through with this proposal and complete a prototype of your project before the end of the year, you may submit this project (in the form of a Notion website, Youtube video, LinkedIn blog post, social media post, PowerPoint or Google Doc) for review and further guidance/support. Additionally, if you have chosen to commit, you may contact Beth Burke via email ([email protected]) or on Discord and request private project ideation sessions to aid in the development of your proposal/project.
Additional Content 🔬
An Amended Framework For Analysing Biorisk
Doctor Who?: The Role of Frontline Medical Professionals in Pandemic Prevention
An Introduction to Twenty-First Century Science
For the most part, the physical sciences (i.e. physics) dominated twentieth century scientific media, with Marie Curie’s discovery of radium and, therein, radiation, Oppenheimer’s conception and development of an atomic bomb (culminating in detonations across Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945) and the first spaceflight piloted by Soviet Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The study of the chemical and biological sciences continued to develop alongside physics but, despite persistent and important progress, neither captured the public imagination in much the same way. During the first two decades of the twenty-first century, however, a tangible shift in focus has been observed. The content of popular scientific media typically reflects the interests of its audience and, as some of the most recent articles published by The New Scientist suggest, readers crave insight into “How Genetically Modified Crops Could Feed Us And Help Safeguard Nature”, whether we could “Merge Biologically with the Fungal Network and Live Forever” and how “Gene Therapy Enabled Five Children Who Were Born Deaf to Hear”.
Synthetic biology, ‘biohacking’ and, more broadly, biotechnology are some of the most promising scientific fields of study, and offer some of the highest-salaried career options (with some of the most significant opportunities to collect data and spearhead projects which could prove influential on an industrial, or even global, scale) available to a wide range of modern graduates. Furthermore, many of the primary x-risks outlined by William MacAskill in What We Owe The Future and within the problem profiles produced by 80,000 Hours are inherently biological - from the risk of catastrophic pandemics explored throughout this course to the total ecological destruction promised by the imminent climate crisis. Whilst these existential ‘problems’ might not share a singular, accessible solution, the development of what might be solutions - or, at the very least, mitigating measures - would require the contributions of biologists, medics and policymakers alike, each sharing a holistic, interaction-based worldview consistent with that which is implicit to the study of bioscience.