HeyJaredGoing Viral
The history, science and culture of infectious disease. Plus, a little politics and poetry.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 18, 2026
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- Jul 5, 2026
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Regulate or die! (opens the original)
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It can’t have escaped your attention that, depending on who you listen to, we are either on the brink of a technological breakthrough that could dramatically transform human health and living conditions or exterminate our species as we know it.As AI gets faster and smarter it has the potential to “cure most major diseases” and “greatly accelerate economic growth”, wrote Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, in an open letter this week. But in the hands of “bad actors”, the same technol
First Steps: My Guide Dog Puppy Journey. Part 1. (opens the original)
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Regular readers of this Substack will know that when I’m not writing about pandemics or the politics of healthcare, I can be found exercising my dog in the park. At least, that’s where you would have found me a little over a year ago. Then, in June 2025, my beloved goldendoodle Murphy passed away and for the first time in sixteen years I found myself walking in the park on my own.Alas, without my faithful companion by my side I felt bereft. I also developed a bad case of the messiah complex.One
I’m not a cardiologist... let me tell you what I now about blood pressure. Part 2. (opens the original)
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Like many people for whom diet and weight do not appear to be significant factors, I have long suspected that my hypertension has both a genetic and emotional component. Scientists estimate that one third of the observed variations in blood pressure are due to genetic predisposition. While it is rare to have the full suite of genetic variants, it is estimated that collectively they are associated with around 13 mmHg higher blood pressure. In theory, screening for and identifying these genes coul
I’m not a cardiologist … let me tell you what I know about blood pressure. Part 1. (opens the original)
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The other day I made the mistake of Googling “hypertension”. Within hours my social media feed was full of influencers extolling the benefits for blood pressure (BP) of turmeric and other natural products like beetroot. Next came adverts from the manufacturers of smart watches and wearables, like Hilo, a wrist band that monitors BP and other metrics, such as heart rate and blood oxygen, round the clock. Unlike conventional arm cuffs which have to be inflated mechanically, “Hilo measures it every
The Biggest Bioterrorist of All. (opens the original)
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Of all the ways the human race could be extinguished (nuclear war, asteroid strike, a wet-bulb event), the most gruesome of all is surely an attack involving a biologically engineered pathogen. Think an excruciating headache, accompanied by sharp chest pains, burning fever and the leaking of haemorrhagic fluids from bodily orifices. Now imagine that this pathogen spreads via coughs and sneezes like Covid-19 and has been engineered so that its victims initially feel euphoric, making it more likel
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