In late 2024, scientists published a warning against building a piece of biotechnology that some had spent decades developing: mirror bacteria. They worry that those hypothetical synthetic organisms built from mirror-image forms of proteins, amino acids, DNA, and other biomolecules, could be resistant to human and animal immunity, as well as the predators that keep wild bacteria in check.
Ahead of the Paris Conference on Risks from Mirror Life, Brown University’s Wilmot James and University of Manchester’s Patrick Yizhi Cai outline how research on individual mirror-image molecules could help treat diseases such as cancer, but stakeholders need to chart a path forward to regulate studies on full mirror organisms.
Following the massive success of Netflix’s Adolescence, Amber Peterman, Alessandra Guedes, and Christine Kolbe-Stuart of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) explore how the show, which has sparked a global dialogue on toxic masculinity and violence, is inspiring social change through edutainment.
To commemorate World Bicycle Day on June 3, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Madeline Moberg, Theo Vos, Liane Ong, and Hailey Lenox highlight the benefits of cycling on human and planetary health but warn that more than 60,000 cyclists die annually in traffic crashes worldwide. To guarantee road safety and ensure people everywhere can reap the benefits of active transportation, the authors suggest that cities emulate the 15-minute city model.
Next, researchers Nelson Aghogho Evaborhene and Afifah Rahman-Shepherd underscore the role regional institutions, such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, can play in filling the leadership gaps left by the United States and European Union member states to build resilient health systems and handle emergencies.
In Canada, supervised consumption sites have fallen under political attack due to concerns about their potential to attract violent crime. Harvard undergraduate Suhanee Mitragotri and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine MD/PhD candidate David T. Zhu highlight the findings of a new study that illustrates those sites’ safety and supports their use as a drug overdose prevention tool.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
