For about a year straight, Husseini reminds us, anyone discussing the possibility that the coronavirus originated in a lab—even credentialed scientists—were ridiculed in the media and kicked off internet platforms for promoting conspiracy theories. Now, it's suddenly acceptable to propose that this might have been the real origin of the global pandemic of the last year. But for those who have been paying attention, says Husseini, this controversy is nothing new: governments have been conducting "gain of function" research on deadly viruses for decades, and leaks are more common than people think. Husseini considers the danger to humanity from these pathogens comparable to the dangers from nuclear weapons.