Controversial bird flu papers fly

But research freeze holds

2012 SCIENCE NEWS TOP 25: 3

Bird flu researchers started the year with a self-imposed moratorium on work deemed too dangerous for public consumption. That ban was supposed to last just 60 days, but as the year ends, the research is still on hold. And scientists have been left debating whether it makes sense in the first place to do research that, in the wrong hands, could spread a deadly disease.