Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Lab Unravels SARS With A Beowulf Cluster
Amad writes "A Canadian Genetics Research Lab in BC, Canada has used a Linux Beowulf cluster to help sequence the genetic code of the virus linked to SARS. This lab is the first to crack it, and has posted the data to the public. You can read an article about the discovery, or check out the lab."
What is the harm in posting a string of letters online? The entire human genome sequence is already out there. Until someone figures out what all those letters mean, how they work and how they affect humans, I don't think we have too much to worry about.
Besides, are you familiar with what's published in scientific journals? There's a *lot* of information in *all* sorts of fields which people can exploit.
They've only sequenced the coronavirus which has been implicated in SARS. What about the paramyxovirus which some labs have also been finding in affected patients? In any case, both of these viruses are RNA based and are highly susceptible to mutagenesis and recombination. If a new, slightly modified virus appears, we could be in for another epidemic. We go through this yearly with influenza.
What is more important...finding the genetic info of SARS virus or the fact some cluster was used to find it...I would be more happy if the editors can include some info about the type of software or techniques used rather than hardware.
Does it really matter if it was Beowulf or mainframes?
Tat Tvam Asi