Just a week after the September 11th attacks, nerves still raw, America was hit with its worst-ever biological attack. The anthrax letters set off a new wave of panic, and reminded scientists how little we understand some of the world’s most dangerous germs. So the government chartered 13 labs to study these pathogens, as well as aggressive infectious disease agents. Given that the anthrax strain sent through the mail was thought to have been stolen from a lab, it’s no surprise that the new labs are highly secure. But Clever Apes got inside one.

The Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory is run by the University of Chicago, and located on the campus of Argonne National Laboratory. In the latest installment of Clever Apes, we largely skip over the science, and consider instead what it’s like to work at a place like the Ricketts lab. How do you take a coffee break when you’re in containment? How does your pizza delivery guy get through multiple layers of security? Do you worry about bringing plague home to your kids?

For another take on biological warfare, we head to the “wet lab” at the Field Museum, where Leo Smith specializes in venomous fish. It turns out there are many, many more of them than there are venomous snakes or scorpions, and yet we know next to nothing about them. Smith says the ever-growing catalog of known venomous fish could be a treasure trove for developing new drugs.

Just a week after the September 11th attacks, nerves still raw, America was hit with its worst-ever biological attack. The anthrax letters set off a new wave of panic, and reminded scientists how little we understand some of the world’s most dangerous germs. So the government chartered 13 labs to study these pathogens, as well as aggressive infectious disease agents. Given that the anthrax strain sent through the mail was thought to have been stolen from a lab, it’s no surprise that the new labs are highly secure. But Clever Apes got inside one.

The Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory is run by the University of Chicago, and located on the campus of Argonne National Laboratory. In the latest installment of Clever Apes, we largely skip over the science, and consider instead what it’s like to work at a place like the Ricketts lab. How do you take a coffee break when you’re in containment? How does your pizza delivery guy get through multiple layers of security? Do you worry about bringing plague home to your kids?

For another take on biological warfare, we head to the “wet lab” at the Field Museum, where Leo Smith specializes in venomous fish. It turns out there are many, many more of them than there are venomous snakes or scorpions, and yet we know next to nothing about them. Smith says the ever-growing catalog of known venomous fish could be a treasure trove for developing new drugs.