Build Your Own Virus

Wire Tap writes "Scientists have assembled the first synthetic virus. The US researchers built the infectious agent from scratch using the genome sequence for polio. The most amusing part is this snippit: 'To construct the virus, the researchers say they followed a recipe they downloaded from the internet and used gene sequences from a mail-order supplier.' Heck, don't we all have our own mail-order suppliers for gene sequences?"

Comments

No more DeCSS for me

[Henry V .009]

I've posted an aerosol AIDS virus recipe to my website. Go there and check it out.

Sure it's a joke now, but just wait a few years...

You don't need a virus to paralyze and kill mice

[Valen Faerlwynd]

How do they know they didn't just create some sort of neuro-toxin? All they did was assemble the same basic "components" which made up the original virus. You could do the same thing with human body (admittdly with much more effort), and all you're essentially getting is a stack of carbon-based junk.

The distinguishing factors between a stack of carbon-based junk and a human being still elude me.

Love and Peace,
Valen