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."
We just slashdotted information that could possibly (and probably) lead to a cure for SARS. Are we all terrorists now?
EOF
sars has higher mortality rate than the 'killer flu' that killed 20-40 million people in 1918, so keeping it under control is _very_ important, though, the chinese might have very hard time if gets to spread to rural areas where they can't even track it's progress well.
so it's definetely nothing to sneeze at, would f-* hate having to isolate at some cottage for it to pass(oh wait if it had internet i wouldnt notice any difference).
(yeah, sure, hiv has mortality rate of 100%, but to get it you at least have to have some sort of fun)
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Well there are plenty of nasty virii sequenced and deposited for all to see in genbank. For every 1 scientist using information for evil, there are 5,000 using the information for good. -Andy
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.
I'm glad that they appear to be giving the information out freely. I applaud that.
Now imagine that they went and {patented | copyrighted | appropriate IP protection} the information first so they could commercially leverage it. Wouldn't there be a worldwide public outcry?
Then why isn't there one when other genetic information, that could possibly save even more lives, is locked down? Just my thoughts...
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
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.
You can't be serious. If "evildoers" were planning on using SARS as a biological weapon, they would not download the gene sequencing information from the internet. They would need lots of expensive equipment to manufacture the virus from that data. If they wanted SARS, they'd just get some real samples somehow--like kidnapping an infected person. Much cheaper. Much easier. Requires no scientific knowledge.
Hmm...could they be posting on the internet, so every scientist in the world can work on it if they want to, so a cure may be discovered more quickly? Naahh...they just want to give to terrorists!
What are you saying? That "we" should keep all the knowledge about this disease locked up in a single room, so only a handful of reasearchers can work on it?
You sound like the "zero tolerance" schools, homeland security, and the DRM cartel. "We have to act like jack-booted thugs and take everything away. Lest one single person may use a 'weapon of mass destruction' / 'tweety bird keychain' / P2P to wipe out the entire world!"