A document has just gone on display at Mount Vernon, Virginia - the museum in the former home of George Washington, first US President. It is an order dated 1777 and signed by Washington himself to send troops that had not been vaccinated for smallpox - or survived it - to Philadelphia to be vaccinated. These troops…

Everyone knows that the government is hiding the existence of genetically enhanced lifeforms. But the webcomic Skin Horse reveals the government agency you never suspected: Black Ops Social Services – complete with transgenic and undead social workers.

Since the 2001 anthrax scare in the US, the government here has maintained a list of 80 microbes and toxins that are essentially forbidden to researchers. Now scientists say the list is undermining security rather than strengthening it.

Bioethicist Malcolm Dando has published a disturbing and well-researched editorial in this week's Nature magazine, about how biological research is being weaponized - and how poorly biologists understand the military implications of their work. Here's what he has to say.