Economist - Some of the efforts to control bird flu could be usefully extended to tackle other emerging human diseases that come from animals.

Foreign Affairs - If an influenza pandemic struck today, borders would close, the global economy would shut down, international vaccine supplies and health-care systems would be overwhelmed, and panic would reign. To limit the fallout, the industrialized world must create a detailed response strategy involving the public and private sectors.

New Yorker - An interview with Michael Specter, the author of the article "Nature's Bioterrorist" in which he summarizes the important points of the article.

New Yorker - Excellent article that explores if there is any way to prevent a deadly avian-flu pandemic.

New York Times [Nature] - Researchers have made an unexpectedly sudden advance in synthesizing long molecules of DNA, bringing them closer to the goal of redesigning genes and programming cells to make pharmaceuticals. But the success also puts within reach the manufacture of small genomes, such as those of viruses and perhaps certain bacteria. Some biologists fear that the technique might be used to make the genome of the smallpox virus.