In 2016, synthetic biologists reconstructed a possibly extinct disease, known as horsepox, using mail-order DNA for around $100,000. The experiment was strictly for research purposes, and the disease itself is harmless to humans. But the published results, including the methodology, raised concerns that a nefarious agent, given appropriate resources, could engineer a pandemic. In an op-ed published today in PLOS Pathogens, Media Lab Professor Kevin Esvelt, who develops and studies gene-editing techniques, argues for tighter biosecurity and greater research transparency to keep such “information hazards”—published information that could be used to cause harm—in check. Esvelt spoke with MIT News about his ideas.