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    Biological WarAnnie Jacobsen

    Biological War

    Annie Jacobsen · 2026

    Biology & Medicine
    Open Library
    Stats for nerds
    2recommend
    5mentions
    5people
    2026years
    40% recommend60% neutral

    What Hacker News says

    1. amatron48Oct 2026
      In a similar vein, I highly recommend Annie Jacobsen's recent book, Biological War: A scenario. It dives into the Soviet/Russian biological weapons programs and discusses facilities such as the Vector Institute (State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology) located in Koltsovo, Siberia. Interestingly enough, the scenario follows a lab leak of weaponized plague at this research facility... having read the book it was rather shocking to see this headline.
      thread
    2. colinismynameSep 2026
      Biological War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen (released at the end of July) is a worthwhile read on this topic. Just as chilling as her book on nuclear war, in some ways, which is saying something.
      thread
    3. robmusialOct 2026
      I literally just finished Annie Jacobsen's book 'Biological War: A Scenario' last week where the central plot point is an accidental release of modified form of pneumonic plague from a lab in Siberia. Very coincidental timing, especially since it made me wonder how often labs like these have accidents and we never hear about them because it is cleaned up without issue.
      thread
    4. vanillacupcakeOct 2026
      “COVID was airborne. COVID had a case fatality rate of 1%. Pneumonic plague, without antibiotics, has a case fatality rate of 100%.” Annie Jacobsen Author of Biological War [00:23:00] https://www.jordanharbinger.com/annie-jacobsen-the-genes-and...
      thread
    5. A_D_E_P_TOct 2026
      There are some that had been modified to release endorphins!

      >"When we first heard Soviet scientists were inserting the endorphin gene [for euphoria] into plague," says Dr. Henry Heine, a former U.S. Army bacteriologist, "we were appalled. That they would purposefully engineer the Y. pestis bacteria to behave this way... to make you want to go out and socialize... this was some horrifying stuff."

      > . . .

      > Former assistant secretary of defense Andy Weber agrees. "I grew up thinking Reagan’s phrase ‘Evil Empire’ was an exaggeration," he tells us. "Then I learned what the Russians were doing [with biological warfare]." He pauses for effect. "It was evil."

      The accounts are from Annie Jacobsen's notes in "Biological War".

      thread

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