Documents reveal that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) shipped approximately 11,000 viral samples, including coronaviruses, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China over a decade-long program. This transfer occurred despite the absence of a formal agreement or oversight mechanism with the Wuhan lab, which is linked to the Chinese military and has been a partner of USAID contractor EcoHealth Alliance. The samples originated from regions such as Yunnan Province, known for harboring viruses closely related to COVID-19. The shipments were funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars and involved U.S.-based scientists, including many of Chinese origin. The lack of formal agreements raised concerns about the potential misdirection of samples for bioweapons development and limited accessibility for U.S. government oversight. The revelations have prompted calls from some U.S. lawmakers for criminal investigations into USAID's role in these operations. The controversy also highlights questions about transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic, including why key figures such as Peter Daszak did not disclose these activities. Separately, the journal Science retracted a 15-year-old NASA astrobiology paper claiming a microorganism could thrive on arsenic, though the authors contested the retraction.