Bob Novella

speaker

4,920 appearances 18 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 19 Sep

Bob Novella’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 18 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 4.

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The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe · The Skeptics Guide #1063 - Nov 22 2025 podcast

And then they assembled those genomes in the lab and watched them come to life inside bacteria cells. voice-verified

They had 16 successful AI-generated designs from the Stanford and ARC Institute teams. voice-verified

They produced fully working bacteriophages, and this marks a significant shift in how biology can be engineered. voice-verified

Now, of course, I mean, who hasn't thought about this? voice-verified

I've been thinking about them using AI to do genetic engineering for a long time. voice-verified

Yeah, it's code, right? voice-verified

It's a perfect tool for it. voice-verified

Exactly, yeah. voice-verified

And this is probably not the first time it's been used this way, but this particular thing that was accomplished is pretty significant. voice-verified

So in case you don't know, a bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria. voice-verified

It can't reproduce or grow on its own. voice-verified

And what it does is it attaches itself to a living bacterial cell. voice-verified

Then it injects its genetic material, which then hijacks the cell's internal machinery, which forces the cell to make new viral components. voice-verified

This is, you know, exactly what happened with COVID. voice-verified

And then eventually, it causes the cell to burst open. voice-verified

And this is very much like a Thanksgiving meal at my house, by the way. voice-verified

Each phage usually targets only one type of bacteria, sometimes even a single strain. voice-verified

And that's pretty cool. voice-verified

That means you can match a specific phage to a specific infection. voice-verified

So the targeting potential here is at maximum. voice-verified

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