Mitchell Dupani

The human strain: can mpox be contained?

Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Ora Ogambi, Benjamin Sutherland, Mitchell Dupani, Vijay Vaitiswaran

The World Health Organization has declared a new, highly contagious mpox strain a global emergency due to the rapid spread of the lethal clade 1b variant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where conflict and vaccine shortages are hampering containment efforts. Simultaneously, defense experts warn of a potential Russian low Earth orbit nuclear weapon that could trigger a global electromagnetic pulse to disable satellites, prompting the Pentagon to fund AI-driven detection systems despite the weapon's violation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. In the technology sector, massive data center expansion driven by artificial intelligence is projected to double global energy consumption by 2026, creating tension between corporate carbon pledges and the urgent need for clean power sources like nuclear energy.