Slashdot Mirror
Black Death's Genome Cracked
exceed writes: "This article on Wired, and this article on Yahoo! News states that scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium. This will now (hopefully soon) lead to vaccinations and treatments for the disease it causes."
How much do we have in common with it? Are we the cure?
'nuff said.
So no more Black people will die? That helps them...hurry up and save the rest of us!
Writers imply. Readers infer.
there is a crack in my ass...
lick it
Get that rats nest off your head, you numbskull -- Wesley Willis
The Taliban had this years ago. The Taliban like to eat peanut butter. The Taliban sometimes get shit on their thumb when they wipe their ass.
Soon the Taliban will be ashes.
Bubonic Plague is a concern because of bioterrorism, but imagine if they can do the same decoding of the AIDS virus, how much that would help come up with a vaccination for AIDS and slowing down its damage in the human body...
when you feed the squirrels at the grand canyon?
yersinia pestis
mmm, my favorite
decameron anyone?
Satan will sue these scientists under the DMCA for having cracked the protection of his copyrighted microscopic pupil. Will Congress learn to weigh all sides of an issue before passing random laws?
Sounds like a great advance, but sadly I fear such information will also be used by some to develop even more deadly biological weapons.
Who the hell cares about the bubonic plague? We dealt with that shit back in the 1200's. There are more important diseases these scientists should have been studying, like AIDS and cancers.
Does this mean I won't lose 1 life point every time they hit me?
Oh wait, this isn't the Diablo forum!
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
Although the citizens of the U.S. will probably suffer an unspeakable loss of civil liberties and privacy, we will probably reap many benefits from the medical research that was spurred.
-sting3r
And it only took them about 700 years too!
I thought that there is already a cure for plage? I know it was a big problem back in middle ages, but does anyone still get sick with it?
Sorry for stupid question. Please enlighten me.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
Rest asssured, lowly peasants. Your fair and benevolent rulers have presented you with the ultimate cure for the vile scourge known as the black death. This, a lowly bar of soap, shall be your floral scented cure! Fear not any longer.
Pax Digitalia
"In their study, published in the Oct. 4 issue of Nature, the researchers mapped a strain of plague that killed a veterinarian in the United States in 1992. He contracted the disease after an infected cat sneezed on him."
If you mess around with some bad pussy you get burned.
It actually answers your questions.
Oh come on...why do medical-science-type people have to muck about,
wasting their time with old,
uncommon illnesses like Bubonic Plague.
I'd bet the number of BP cases are probably 50000 worldwide every year. maybe less.
HSV2 -- why dont they decode _that_ genome and get cracking on something to help with that.
I'm getting tired of all these damn blisters!
thanks to modern science, the trace amounts of plutonium released into the atmosphere will guarantee that 1 in 3 people will get cancer in their lifetimes.
so yeah, a speck of anthrax might kill you quickly, but a millionth of a gram of plutonium will make you suffer for years and wish you had taken the speck of anthrax instead.
red pill or blue pill?
the choice has already been made for you.
so smoke, drink, do drugs, because we've already doomed ourselves. might as well enjoy it.
i'm certainly enjoying my strontium 90 laced tobacco right now!
Have you seen the movie "Cobra", with Sylvester Stallone? That's one (or should I say "the") memorable quote from that film.
A Beowulf cluster of these?
LKJJL:JJLJJLKLJKLJ LAMENESS FILTER BLAH BLAH *(*&*&*(
// TODO: Insert Cool Sig
the black death mixed with goatsex, natalie pornman and hot grits.
it's what's for dinner!
Worldwide. In the US, it's more like "a couple", since it's mostly confined to people like veterinarians, who have a lot more contact with sick animals than does the rest of the population.
1 in 3 people will get cancer anyhow, from several different motives. Plutonium in the atmosphere will not change your chances a shit, so fuck your mother's ass.
AIDS (Anal Induced Death Sentence) affects only gay people who deserve to die. Please direct medical research to benefit deserving people.
The worst terrorist attacks in United States history occurred less than three weeks ago, and you people are discussing how "scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium."
How do "scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium" help the 6000+ people that died as a result of being burnt to death, ripped to shreds, smashed, blown to bits, jumping from 80 stories to their death to avoid being burnt alive or being pinned between thousands of tons of steel and concrete for a week?
Unless you are going to discuss something worthwhile to humanity, such as ridding the world of disease, then shut the fuck up and stop discussing this useless shit, please.
My *GOD* people, GET SOME PRIORITIES!
Quite frankly, the 6000+ people who died in this unprecedented tragedy could give a rats ass about the bubonic plague.
You people absolutely disgust me. You are all poor excuses for human beings.
I am almost ashamed to visit this site after seeing the terrorist attacks in the news on this site for a few days and then just brushing it aside and moving along as if it was no big deal.
You people simply play too many computer games and thus have no grip on the reality of this tragedy.
Its obvious that computer-game-playing-linux-geeks have no sense of reality, are very self-centered and have no regard for human life.
You should all be glad that you are alive and well and able to masturbate as frequently as you like while looking at goatse.cx, and not stuck under 100 stories of a collapsed building with your penis sliced off from shrapnel.
Tools of the Trade
Gloves: provide protection to the both the top and bottom. Surface abrasion in the walls of the large intestines are an ordinary occurrence even in normal conditions. For the top, minor paper cuts, scratches and sores on the hands can be protected with the use of gloves. For most situations, the standard disposable examination glove is sufficient. The longer calving gloves should be used if the top has cuts or scratches above the glove line. When choosing between vinyl and latex, the preference is for latex.
Lubricants: one of the most popular still remains regular CRISCO from Procter and Gamble. Water based lubricants rarely provide the lubrication necessary for fisting. Whatever lubricant is being used, seperate containers should be used for each person. This can be done by transferring lubricant from a freshly opened container to individual containers for each of the play participants.
Covers: for beds or floors, underpads or "chucks" are good. These pads have plastic on one side and are absorbant on the other. There are also rubberized play sheets available. Rolls of paper towels should be nearby.
Slings: made from leather, plastic webbing or canvas, a sling is normally supsended from the ceiling or from high on walls with metal chains.
Preparation
One thing to keep in mine is your diet. Before a session, foods like fruits, vegetable and whole grains are best while red meat and fatty foods should be avoided. During this period, avoid eating nuts as well as poppy, sesame and other seeds (19 to 36 hours before). The final 18 hours should see little consumed. What you do eat should digest slowly such as dairy products and eggs. Vitamins should be a part of your diet to ensure proper strength and nutrition is maintained. To aid in flushing your system, a hot drink about 15 mintues prior will help.
It goes without saying that an enema should be done before engaging in activity to rid the system of any remaining residue in your intestines. Allow about two hours between your final enema and the beginning of play.
Shaving: If the hair around your butt is long, you may want to shave it as it may otherwises get pulled when a hand is inserted.
Positions: Many bottoms perfer a sling when available. Another position condusive to fisting activity are doggie style, belly down and butt up. This position also provides the least bending of the rectum and often permits easier depth.
Entry: This is usually a slow process. Start your entry with the fingers straight and the thumb tucked under. The fingers may slowly wiggle to aid in entry, gently massaging the sides of the anus. As the bottom relaxes, the fingers may be broaden. Avoid sudden moves or jerks as this will cause the bottom to tighten up. Always make sure that there is plenty of lubricant in front of you, on your hand and on your wrist. For the bottom, deep breathing is a big help and as he exhales, the top will have an easier time for entry. Once inside, rest a few seconds until the bottom's body has had a chance to adjust. A gentle in-and-out motion without pulling out of the cavity will usually help the bottom build confidence. From this point, be creative and take your cues from the bottom as you subtly change speed, twist and explore deeper. Lengthy repetition of the same movement at the same spot will likely make the bottom sore.
This reminds me of Connie Willis' "The Boomsday Book". It's not as apocaliptic as it sounds, but it is very scary anyway. If you don't know what the big deal is the black death, read this book.
That was an "insightful" post, ashole!
are what the government uses to kill dumbfucks.
just like the lottery is a tax for those who are dumbfucks at math.
in all the talk flying about concerning biowarfare, I've seen several mentions of vaccinations, and how although useful, they would be hard to administer to large groups in a hurry.
is it possible to get vaccinations now? if so, who the hell do you as for something that weird?
...Like Blue Death, Green Death, White Death, Fuscia Death...
Infectious Disease Variants! Collect the WHOLE set!
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
stop fucking squirrels
dumbass
Microsoft has posted the genome of the Black Plague here, confirming the "viral" nature of the GPL. FSF responded by pointing out that the Black Death was actually a bacterium. Isaac Hayes suggested that a reconstructed Black Plague would produce this.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
This can now (maybe soon) also lead to even better biological weapons that can kill much more than the 200 millions that the plauge killed. Now scientists will be able to modify it and cause it to lead to even worser diseases.
2 reptiles beneath your current threshold.
It was cracked? Does that mean the genome was running IIS?
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan
During the christian, err I mean dark ages, people killed cats because they thought they were witches. The rodent population ran out of control, causing the black plauge problem. 1/3 of Europe was wiped out. The moral of the story. Cats rule, dogs drool.
Sure, but we both know that the people who will never see this vaccine are the people who need it the most.
No doubt, there will be patents involved. The first thing they will patent is the Genome itself. So, only one major company will be able to make these vaccines. And the result will be prices that only the wealthiest will be able to afford.
Another good idea down the shitter.
"People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
- Gov. Jesse Ventura
go fuck yourself
four words
you are an idiot
five words
kill or be killed, dumbass
It is Mine will that this plague be unleashed upon the sand-niggers and dune-coons, for they are a mote in Mine eyes.
/______\
/________\
Indeed, Mohummad, peace be on him!, tells the young in His village that 'The cure to foul plagues is in Mine rod! Let Me ram some healing medicines into you. Turn around'.
The
Prophet
Mohummad
Harbinger
of the
Arab Plague
/ x \
I |
I \==
\______/
||
[]
[]\ Muslims
[]\\
[] \\
[] \\ / o o \
[] && [][][][][][][][]| > /
[]8=KORAN=*O [] \ \_/ /
||\\ [] [] [] \----/
|| \\ [] [] []
|| \\[][][][][] [][]
Great! This is excellent! This is something that could have been great about 400 YEARS AGO!
Grr!
What they REALLY need to decode is whatever virus it is that prompts record executives to pull together a group of 4-5 teenage boys and turn them into a 'boy band'. Cure THAT virus, and the world will thank you.
why don't you get fucked up the Hershey Highway by a 6'7" nigger instead of bringing this insipid shit to the greater /. community???
Smallpox:
CDC is the only source of vaccinia vaccine and VIG for civilians. CDC will provide vaccinia vaccine to protect laboratory and other health-care personnel whose occupations place them at risk for exposure to vaccinia and other closely related Orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia recombinants. Vaccine should be administered under the supervision of a physician selected by the institution. Vaccine will be shipped to the responsible physician. Requests for vaccine and VIG, including the reason for the request, should be referred to
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Drug Services, National Center for Infectious Diseases
Mailstop D-09
Atlanta, GA 30333
Telephone: (404) 639-3670
Facsimile: (404) 639-3717
Plague:
Plague vaccine is available in the United States from Greer Labs. Plague vaccine USP is manufactured by Greer Laboratories, Inc., P.O. Box 800, Lenoir, NC, 28645-0800, telephone (800)438-0088 or (704)754-5327. The vaccine is shipped refrigerated in 20ml vials and should be stored at 2-8 degrees C (35-46 degrees F). It should not be frozen. The following groups of people should consider vaccination:
Persons working with the plague bacterium in the laboratory or in the field. Persons working in plague-affected areas or with potentially infected animals where they have little control over their environments, particularly in developing countries.
I don't know where you might find tularemia vaccine or some of the other lesser known organisms.
So then the cures for cancer and aids should be just around the corner right?
Bubonic plague is nasty, nasty stuff. . .I've read a lot about the various fun ways it can kill you through history books. For those who have no idea of what it did to Europe, read a good summary of the Black Death here.
Also, before people go off on biological weapons, etc, consider that there have been several recent breakouts of this disease, particularly in the southwest US(where I'm from). Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out this as an example. I remember reading in the paper in AZ about outbreaks occasionally and shuddering. A cure would be a godsend--even though there are only about 10-15 cases in the US a year, its a painful way to go.
- - - - - - - -
Don't worry, being eaten by a crocodile is just like going to sleep in a giant blender.
im cummmminnngggggg
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so you're saying that northern california,
northwest new mexico, northeast arizona, southwest colorado and southeast utah are equivalent to second and third world countries?
well, i can't argue with you there, buddy.
the 5 corners of squalor.
They'll never get out the exploits like vaccines and cures if they try to develop it in a closed development group. There are many skilled reverse-engineers in biology. Security through obscurity never works.
Open Source Black Death!
The cure is simple: DON'T SAY THE WORD "SHIT" SO MUCH.
It is a curse word, as overuse of it brings about the curse of the Black Death. Also avoid other curse words such as "fuck" and "mekrob".
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
and sin too, wait.....that can't be found in science.....only religion
Patent the genome before those Magnus Opus fucktards get a hold of it!
--
I like to watch.
This black bitch I met today gave me head without any resistance.
i guess all those CPU cycles i contributed are showing some positive results! i didn't get much from SETI...
The proper answer to "Why do I need to know this?" is always, "Because."
cats make good dog food
dogs make good mexican food
mexicans make good chinese food
don't eat chinese food or chinese people and you should be safe.
no, wait, don't eat mexican food or mexican people and you should be safe.
ah shit i lost the thread, just eat chiles and drink beer and you should be safe.
except for that mexican/chinese sunburn.
I wonder what the long-term impact of modern medicine is going to have on the future? I mean, we come up with cures for sickness and disease, thats great... But don't these things exist by nature for a reason? Natural population control perhaps? They obviously serve a purpose, so I guess I'm just speaking philosophically here.. I can't imagine having the ability to cure these diseases, but not putting it to use, wouldn't make much sense. But do you know what I'm trying to say?
insipid shit isn't the greater /. community?
Just rememebered that as a child i used to sing
"ring-a-ring-a roses,
pocket full of posies,
husha busha,
all fall down"
and never really understood what it was all about. then i found out that it was referring to the black plague epidemic of London when about a third(?) of the population was wiped out and people actually dropped dead on the streets...
A crank is a little thing that makes revolutions
anything that would make the rabble rousing, news manufacturing, mongoloid morons at CNN Shut The Fuck Up would be a good thing.
man i hate media paranoia. i wish i could make them all pet the squirrels at the grand canyon.
except Valerie Voss, she can show me her tits anytime, even if they are scraping her knees now.
The scientists were saying they knew that the bacteria modified itself and they even knew that it did it 1500 years ago. How do they know that? Would anyone with some knowledge of this care to speculate?
You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
Sure it was.
If it doesn't come in an easy to use powder, then I'm just too busy for it. I'll learn to live with my plague until it fits my hectic lifestyle.
You know you read trolls too much when you see that as 'penis bacteria'
A few years ago, there was a resurgence in the number of cases of tuberculosis, which was supposed to have been pretty well eliminated in the Western world. The basic cause of this increase was the presence of a population of immune-compromised individuals - AIDS patients.
I'm not suggesting that we're likely to see a similar resurgence of bubonic plague; the mechanism of transmission is very different. My point is that conditions at some point in the future could allow a plague outbreak to occur.
Could an antibiotic resistant variant of bubonic plague appear? Could enviromental conditions increase the number of plague carrying rodents? The list goes on. While this research might not be a priority, it's certainly worthwhile.
Per Ardua Ad Astra
up the ass
The bubonic plauge is a disease, it kills people.
it once killed a lot of people about ten thousand years ago.
the plauge is a virus, viri have cells, cells have DNA
a medical research lab cracked the genome of the DNA
" Genome " is a biotech buzzword.
" Black Death " sounds scary, but also, Monty Python made a lot of joke about it because of all those people that died.
Geeks like buzzwords
Geeks like Monty Python
Black Death is scary
these are the only reasons i can see that we are trying to whore karma for a topic that does not bear much discussion after having been read.
The Yersinia pestis work is of course still very interesting and important, but I think the virus theory makes more sense... check it out!
- Sanger Center project page with additional info for the data hungry.
- Press release on which the news articles are based.
- Nature Science Update's take on the news
This can be seen as blatant karma-whoring, but I would really appreciate if submitters of science stories dug out links like these before posting. Gives much better credibility, IMHO.Reality or nothing.
This article in the Sydney Morning Herald suggests rats and fleas may not be to blame for the spread of the plague.
This is geat news, but scientists also dicovered something else. In the years when the plague was still making thousands die in Europe, some people develloped an immunity, based on their genes. Call it a mutation.
Now the chances are VERY big that this same immunity is causing some people that are HIV possitive never to get AIDS.
Now we can only hope that the two discoveries can work together in ending both AIDS and the plague.
42 + 1 = 42
Viri do not have cells, they only carry DNA, they have to take over your cells to reproduce...
Winter 2010: With Glowing Hearts
scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium. This will now (hopefully soon) lead to vaccinations and treatments for the disease it causes." Great! Now I can finally get rid of that bird mask, holy relic, and incense burner I'd been keeping around in case the Black Death returned...
Yeah i am bored and read these, and you can too.
Clearly, it is time to clamp down on general bicycling. Measures such as background checks for cyclists, mandatory use of Kryptonite bike locks, and requiring the filing of biking plans with local police agencies are common-sense measures that should be implemented immediately. However, due to the enhanced risk from the high concentrations of bicycles in our nation's urban centers, we must go further to protect the public: In our 30 largest cities, general bicycling must be banned.
Use of bicycles by law enforcement, the military, emergency medical services, and pizza delivery services to those groups would not need to be affected by the ban. Only the inconsiderate, fat-cat, idle bicycling wealthy who have hitherto felt free to clog our roads with their potentially lethal conveyances will be inconvenienced.
And isn't that a trivial price to pay for the safety of alllll the peeeeepul???
I mean there might soon be 600000 accounts, but even with the well accepted 6% homo/heterosexual ratio in the society, the number of gay posts is amazing.
Has someone been recruiting gays to populate Slashdot?
wish i could meta-moderate this one. that was NOT funny!
Meneer de Koekepeer
In their study, published in the Oct. 4 issue of Nature, the researchers mapped a strain of plague that killed a veterinarian in the United States in 1992. He contracted the disease after an infected cat sneezed on him.
Oh my god I would hate to die that way. Please just let me drown or get consumed by rats. Anything, but please don't let them print an obituary about me that admits that I was killed by a sneezing cat.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Yes, that is a common belief. However, it's just an urban legend that that rhyme has anything to do with the plague.
http://www.snopes2.com/language/literary/rosie.
lameness filter lameness filter lameness filter lameness filter lameness filter lameness filter lameness filter lameness filter
Your mouth is like Columbus Day.
Immuno Depressiv Brain Damage.
You are too stupid.
Your brain just commited suicide.
You now are a Proud Hetero. Possibly white.
with a love for Football. And beer.
Wich puts you in the "under 89IQ" category.
=> Stupid Hetero (Redneck subd.)
Please get a life, if possibly a new brain.
and then underclock it, having too much Brain time could shock your body.
Hoping not to read from you again,
Never.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
By chance my Black Death World Tour T-Shirt from NortherSun.com arived today. Its a fun shirt with the years it spread across Europe on it and on the back it has a list of cities it "toured".
Also some of you RPG or SCI-FI lovers should check out the series called Amber for another story of the black death.
SS
Ascii artist &
Doesn't having the genome also mean that genetic modifications are also easier? So for every vaccine, a new strain can be developed to defeat such vaccine....
Now that genetic engineering and gene treatment has come to it's current state would it be possible to create virus, that doesn't cause disease, but instead injects the host with replacement DNA and is contagious? I thought I read that virii were used to help transfer DNA to gene therapy patients. If a virus, such as chicken pox could be used as a carrier, then one could consider tampering with the DNA of any one who caught the virus.
Something like this could be used either as a bioweapon, or as a technique to mass distribute say a vaccine. So rather than having to distribute injections of vaccine for Anthrax (6 injections over 100 weeks), some theraputic virus could be created to modify the populations DNA to protect against Anthrax.
"The most virulent & deadly version of plague (pneumatic)..."
Actually, there were three types:
Bubonic (lymph nodes)
Pneumonic (lungs)
Septicemic (blood)
The deadliest was Septicemic, killing 100% of the people that contracted it. However, there had to be a very specific set of circumstances (temerature, etc.) for a person to get this type.
Just FYI, Pneumonic killed about 90% of the people that got it and Bubonic killed about 75%.
"Study your math, kids. Key to the universe." -The Archangel Gabriel
In their study, published in the Oct. 4 issue of Nature, the researchers mapped a strain of plague that killed a veterinarian in the United States in 1992. He contracted the disease after an infected cat sneezed on him.
Don't let cats sneeze on you!!
=steve
--- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
Neither.
A vector is the thing that moves the infectious agent (bacterium or virus) to a new host. Unless you want to count the bloodstream or lymph or other internal body systems as a "vector" for infection spread within the body. But vector really refers to movements of agents between hosts.
"Host" makes it sound so ambivalent eh? I guess it's a nicer than saying poor doomed bastard(s).
-s
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
This seems like it's oh... a couple of centuries late (give or take) =P
"Bring out ya dead..."
E.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
Well, it hasn't been good for gene research here in Manhattan. All my colleagues still look like they've been shot in the gut. Seriously. I don't really feel like going to work myself.
What do you think is the limiting ingredient in molec. bio. research? It isn't money - I hate to admit it, but we have plenty. It's competent and capable people who are interested in the field. Eight years down the line we might see more people entering this field particularly because of an interest in bioterrorism (although, if they work for the US government I worry about how much of what they do will really be "defensive".) I think it's more likely that it will draw our best and brightest into the military, intelligence, etc. Sure, we'll refocus our efforts to some extent on molec. bio. that is applicable in anti-bioterrorism, but that comes at an opportunity cost. Do you think that this knowledge is really of more benefit to mankind than plant genetics? AIDS or cancer research? Would it be of more benefit if there were no lunatics with anthrax bombs? I really don't see a silver lining to this.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
They are frequent plague outbreaks in Colorado prarie dogs, California rats and rabbits. One suspected case earlier this year turned out to be another kind of pneumonia. The victim had lived next to an infected prarie dog population. In California they close the San Jacinto parks now and then because of rodent plague.
Now if they could only cure the Blue Scren of Death...
--T
http://www.theMediaBunker.com
A "bleeding plague" is torturing Afganistan refugees today. Three years of drought, twenty years of civil war, and the anticpiated US retailer have caused dreadful living conditions.
I immediataely thought of the backwards episode of Seinfeld where George (and Jerry I think) went to the apartment of Elaine's friend's fiancee's parents and they asked if she was going to India where the marriage cermenony was supposed to be. When she said yes they said they would never go to back to India because it is really dirty. Then they said, "India still has the plague. In this day and age, can you imagine" or something to that effect.
And then they recommended that they dont use the toilets while there.
Only problem with developing a vacceen for this is how the hell do you test it.
.. but still .. infecting an animal with this stuff begs the question of if we want it to get out.
Animal testing occurs all the time
/sarcasm ON!
The plague has been causing problems for mankind since the middle ages! Damned high time they finally dealt with it! Of course, if it took them this long to deal with the plague, I don't expect to see any cures for these modern diseases any time soon! Damned doctors cost too much anyway...
A friend of mine has been doing research at UND, Grand Forks. Most of the bug's DNA has been decoded for a long time. They've been cloning and disabling black death for years in their labs. Recently (this past summer), they engineered a mutant hybrid which isn't dangerous to humans. With the complete genome, they should be able to do really fun stuff with it.
After some searching, I finally found some of the Sanger Center's hardware specs (by clicking on the Compaq Nonstop link at the bottom of the main page).
Basically, they used a boat load of Alpha's (R.I.P.) -- EV5's, EV56's and EV6's --, 48 Pentium Linux machines, and some more from SGI and Sun.
Here's a link to the slide.
.. but unfortunately, it's not up on their website yet -- I just got the issue yesterday.
Apparently, the Soviets developed a strain that is resistant to antibiotics before the bio-weapons military program was shut down in the early 90s.
They worry about plauge over there the way our guys worry about anthrax over here.
BTW, they mentioned in the article that in addition to small-to-moderate sized outbreaks in third world countries, we receive a couple of cases of plague here in the U.S., mostly in the Southeast where people are infected by bites from prairie dog fleas. The plague bug lives quite happily amongst the prairie dogs -- it's only an unfortunate turn in natural selection that made it infect humans (remember, the number rule for a parasite is *DON'T KILL THE HOST*).
If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
Oh, wait... got it already.
I looked into the abyss, and the abyss looked into me--and we both winked.
Yep, You'll never read about Black Death's KDE being cracked because those guys are much better coders.
What would the world be like if all the computer hackers quit hacking computer systems and started trying to hack the genetic code for dangerous bacterium/virii? I'd imagine the planet would be a healthier place or a more danergerous one.
I heard there's like 11 cases reported in America a year...
That's not a plague.
So what do they call it on a small scale?
The Bubon?
Okay so the government and the general population has been very concerned about the possibility of biological or chemical attacks in the near future. Then suddenly, at a REALLY convenient time, they managed to unlock the genetic code of Bubonic Plauge. A couple possibile conspiracies come out of this:
1) They have announced this discovery as a means of alleviating some concern in the public over bio-warfare. See, we can beat bio-terrorism, don't worry, go out and keep buying things.
2) They have announced this discovery as a means of disrupting already in the works terrorist plans. Oh damn, our neat little apocalyptic bio-weapon may be completely useless. Time to go back to blowing up buildings I guess.
One would probably be the more likely of these two choices given that the time to develop something useful from the reverse-engineered genetic material would be quite a long time.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
For those who don't scorn the dead-tree format,
7 1/ qid=1002208191/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/103-6350268-028 3007\
this classic has a largish chapter devoted to
the Black Death and its effects upon medieval
society and thinking. An Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/03453495
Yahoo! or Yahoo Serious?
As I remember it the biggest problem with the "Black Plague" of the middle ages was that Bubonic plague can become Pneumonic (of the lungs) plague and then humans can infect other humans by coughing/sneezing and *that* is the reason for the wide spread of the disease. It was not necessarily because everyone had a house full of flea infested rats.
Hygine does play an obvious and important factor in all of this as bathing was seen as something to avoid in order to stay healthy.
Feel free to correct me as needed.
You could probably use the information to create a nifty biological weapon!
(Yes! I am being a cynic)
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
This will now (hopefully soon) lead to vaccinations and treatments for the disease it causes."
Actually its going to be a LONG time before anything usefull comes from this research. Gene's have nothing to do with diesese, it's the folding protiens derived from those genes that can make you sick, or cure a diesese.
--toq
In what sense is the genome "decoded"?
I though that gene sequencing is just a matter of *transcribing* the sequence, and that at that point you still have a lot of work to do to figure out what gene does what with what protein.
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
That virus is called "Young Girls." Get rid of it, and nobody would buy the the boy band cds. Of course, the "Young Boys" virus would then have a lot less fun... ;)
Do not confuse duty with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different.Duty is a debt you owe to yourself.
In your version, with the "ah-choo" sneeze reference, the rhyme make good sense as a silly bit of play in which all are overcome by their own sneezing/allergies to the rosies and posies to the point at which they fall down (giggling of course, only to get up and do it again).
I could honestly see it either way. I must admit that when I read the Bubonic Plague reference, it rang as highly plausible as a sort of darkly humorous play that might have evolved in the aftermath of the plague.
The 'debunkings' I've read at Snopes and elsewhere aren't tremendously convincing to me despite the extremely self-confident tone in which they are written. In the end, though, I'd go with the allergy/sneezing/fall down idea.
**>>BELCH
I find this interesting because the bubonic plague infects the human body by the same means as HIV (by attaching to a receptor on the cell membrane, which is normally responsible for inflammation around cuts/etc.) Perhaps this discovery will be beneficial to AIDS patients.
On a side note, natural selection has made many people of European descent are resistant to HIV. A small percentage are actually entirely immune.
Funnier than most of your posts...
"Eat a Dead Gay Baby for Jesus!"
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
That (4/10/01) date is today. not April 10th. (Just for fellow Americans who put the month first)
This is major news but I don't see it on CNN's webpage. Lots of fluffy stuff about George "God Blessing" America. God isn't gonna save anyone. Logic, and clear thinking might make a difference.
On a related note, the first place I saw those
GBA signs were on gas stations here in Central Illinois, that raised the gas prices to 4 dollars a gallon on 9/11.
Knowing the genome is good and fine. You have to know what the end products are. These proteins are the bits which actually do the dirty work around your body. It isn't as easy as looking at the genome and "reading" a list of things that are produced. Proteins are folded and changed as they are produced. If this didn't happen most would be non-functional. Again, this is like having a dictionary but really being interested in what a page from War and Peace looks like.
A vaccine has been available for "plague" (Yersinia pestis) since the nineteenth century http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00041 848.htm
...it is not thought to be 100% effective though.
For "cracking" my IP, these people are in violation of the DMCA.
This is God's lawyer.
... the bubonic plague happened hundreds of years ago, when everyone grew boobs on their necks.
Hence the name "bubonic".
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this one of the big fallacies of genetic research, oft propagated by gullible journalists, i.e. the implicit assumption that now that we have "decoded" the genetic makeup of some disease organism we are able to effect a cure? Isn't it also true that knowing which gene in the human body is responsible for a particular illness/condition does not necessarily mean we can cure the condition? As an example, we've known the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis for 20 some years, yet there is no cure.
"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens." - Schiller
Now if only they could crack the genome of the Blue (Screen of) Death.
1 Small molecule metabolism
- 1.A Degradation
[18]
- 1.A.1 Carbon compounds
[66]
- 1.A.2 Amino acids
[23]
- 1.B Energy metabolism
- 1.B.1 Glycolysis
[12]
- 1.B.10 Glyoxylate bypass
[3]
- 1.B.2 Pyruvate dehydrogenase
[4]
- 1.B.3 Tricarboxylic acid cycle
[15]
- 1.B.5 Pentose phosphate pathway
[3]
- 1.B.5.a Oxidative branch
- 1.B.5.b Non-oxidative branch
[4]
- 1.B.6 Entner-Doudoroff pathway
[2]
If you're a biologist or just curious you should definitely check this out. I wish I had this kind of info when I did a report on the Black Plague in High School!Tired of free ipod spam sigs? Opt ou
A similar procedure is used to extract DNA in a scientific lab. Interesting stuff.
Tired of free ipod spam sigs? Opt ou
hooooo boy yer reaching there...
Is Cracking dna like reverse-engineering dna? What DMCA say about that?