Here is a reading list of articles from the past six months about what is known and not known about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, accidents and leaks at biosafety and biowarfare laboratories, and the health risks of gain-of-function research, which aims to increase the host range, transmissibility, infectivity or pathogenicity of potential pandemic pathogens. This list is a work in progress. If you have suggestions for other readings that should be on this page, please send them to us via email at hana@usrtk.org.

The New York Times. We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives. [Opinion]. By Zeynep Tufekci. March 16, 2025.

The New York Times. Recent Virus Research Should Raise Alarm. [Opinion]. By W. Ian Lipkin and Ralph Baric. March 3, 2025.

Vanity Fair. Exclusive: Inside the FBI’s Lab Leak Investigation. By Katherine Eban. February 27, 2025.

Nature news. What sparked the COVID pandemic? Mounting evidence points to raccoon dogs. By Smriti Mallapaty. February 21, 2025.

The New York Times. C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins. By Julian E. Barnes. January 25, 2025.

The Wall Street Journal. Behind Closed Doors: The Spy-World Scientists Who Argued Covid Was a Lab Leak. By Michael R. Gordon and Warren P. Strobel. December 26, 2024.

Biosafety Now. Crits-Christoph et al., 2024 Retraction Request. Paul Babitzke et al. September 20, 2024.

Cell. Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alexander Crits-Cristoph et al. September 19, 2024.

DRASTIC. Worldwide Biosafety Map of BSL3 and BSL4 Laboratories. June 18, 2024.

The New York Times. Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Points. [Opinion] By Alina Chan. June 2, 2024.

The New York Times. U.S. Tightens Rules on Risky Virus Research. By Carl Zimmer and Benjamin Mueller. May 7, 2024.

U.S. House of Representatives, Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus Pandemic. An Evaluation of the Evidence Surrounding EcoHealth Alliance, Inc.’s Research Activities. May 1, 2024.

Vanity Fair. Ralph Baric, Whose Virology Techniques Were Used in Wuhan, Testified That Lab Leak Was Possible. By Katherine Eban. May 1, 2024.

AP News. Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous. By Dake Kang and Maria Cheng. April 23, 2024.

Risk Analysis. Use of a risk assessment tool to determine the origin of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Xin Chen, Fatema Kalyar, Abrar Ahmad Chughtai and Chandini Raina MacIntyre. March 15, 2024.

The Wall Street Journal. Where Did Covid Come From? [Commentary] By Nicholas Wade. February 28, 2024.

City Journal. The Story of the Decade – New documents strengthen—perhaps conclusively—the lab-leak hypothesis of Covid-19’s origins. By Nicholas Wade. January 25, 2024.

The Wall Street Journal. Chinese Lab Mapped Deadly Coronavirus Two Weeks Before Beijing Told the World, Documents Show. By Warren Strobel. January 17, 2024.