Amazon is reportedly trying to cure the common cold

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(Image credit: THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Alexa? Get me the cure for the common cold.

Amazon is apparently hoping that's a phrase you'll be able to say one day, as the company is secretly trying to develop a common cold cure, CNBC reported on Friday. The name of this top secret effort certainly doesn't disappoint: "Project Gesundheit."

A small team on Amazon's research and development group Grand Challenge is reportedly working on this project, "hoping to develop a vaccine" but "exploring a variety of approaches to the problem," the report says.

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CNBC notes that Amazon hasn't actually publicly acknowledged Grand Challenge, but the outlet has been reporting on it for years, in 2018 writing that it was also "attempting to apply machine learning in ways that can help prevent and cure cancers." When it comes to curing the common cold, though, let's just say Amazon has its work cut out for it, with one source noting to CNBC, "the prevailing wisdom is that it's impossible." The difficulty of finding a cure, in other words, is nothing to sneeze at.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.