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Superflu Being Brewed in the Lab

Posted by michael on from the 1-6-million-dead-and-pass-to-your-left dept.

Genial Generalist writes "Superflu is being brewed in the lab, an article by Michael Le Page, describes some of the ongoing efforts to genetically modify the different strains of flu, specifically CDC modification of bird flu for the purpose of developing new vaccines."

29 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. Oh NO! Worldwide Outbreak!!! by dukeluke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wasn't there a movie about this very topic not too long ago?...hmm...I believe it was dubbed Mission Impossible 2.

    Point being, haven't we learned any lessons from the movies?!

    Create super virus - (and hopefully the corresponding vaccine).
    Sell super virus to terrorists - (and act like it got stolen).
    Keep vaccine to sell to public when 'Outbreak' occurs (another good movie).

    I hope someone can understand the devastation that could arise should this truly happen!

    But, if 'Outbreak' does occur or 'Mission Impossible 2' then I'm getting out of the city and heading to the hills!

  2. Whack? Quote from article by strictnein · · Score: 3, Funny

    From the article:
    In 2001, for instance, Australian researchers created a mousepox virus far more virulent than any wild strains. This scenario is unlikely, but not impossible, says virologist Earl Brown of the University of Ottawa, Canada.
    "You could create something that is right out of whack, but I'd be surprised."
    Mousepox virus. Is it good or is it whack?
    Looks like this researcher has been reading a little bit too much slashdot.

    --
    Casual Games/Downloads
  3. Good morning, Captain by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    First news item about Cap'n Trips I've seen in a while anyway.

    I'd better start looking for real estate in either Boulder or Las Vegas. Not sure yet.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  4. Re:Oh NO! Worldwide Outbreak!!! by lafiel · · Score: 3, Funny

    Quickly, someone call Hollywood! Only Tom Cruise can save us now.

  5. well, i'm not too terrified by Transient0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    We've been in a position for years where a massive failure at any number of nuclear or biological research facilities could effectively kill us all.

    so they've added one more to the list.

    It's the sort of thing you get used to.

    --
    lysergically yours
    1. Re:well, i'm not too terrified by haystor · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why oh why don't they work on a genocidal virus that attacks mosquitos?

      --
      t
  6. SuperFlu! by cybermace5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds like a superhero name. "What's wrong with that guy? It's mono! It's a cold! It's....SUPERFLU!"

    Please take a number to administer beatings.

    --
    ...
  7. Going the wrong way by chamilto0516 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Making a superflu? Did they read the memo wrong? We need something to FIGHT a superflu! Hey guys, your scientist, we expected you pay a bit more attention to the details.

    Yet another post by someone who didn't click-thru to the article

    --
    Magic Eight Ball: Outlook not so good., Hmmm, how about Excel and Word?
  8. They don't need a lab... by Lattitude · · Score: 4, Funny

    My kid's daycare has a pretty good batch going at all times...

  9. Re:Bosh by ArmenTanzarian · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's it, you're goin' on the B Ark...

  10. Re:Oh NO! Worldwide Outbreak!!! by the+real+darkskye · · Score: 4, Funny

    Only Tom Cruise can save us?
    We're all doomed!

    Heads for the nearing sporting goods department and sets up home in a nearby supermarket

    --
    Music is everybody's possession.
    It's only publishers who think that people own it.
    Fuck Beta
    ~John Lenno
  11. Superflu by illuminata · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't that a bit superfluous?

    Oh snap, oooooh snap! Score one for the big I!

    --


    Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
  12. I get to play the part of Stu! by Digital+Dharma · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mainly because he's one of the few that lives in Steven King's "The Stand".

    The part of the Walking Dude should be played by Darl McBride =]

    --
    End of Line.
  13. shouldn't that be? by caino59 · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Create ubervirus
    2. Create vaccine for said ubervirus
    3. ????
    4. Profit!

    sorry about that...

    1. Re:shouldn't that be? by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny

      3. Release ubervirus

    2. Re:shouldn't that be? by what+the+dumple+is · · Score: 3, Funny

      What and ask for a $699 license fee?

  14. Re:Oh Boy by cybermace5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm from up north, but I'll give it a try:

    "Ootbreark."

    "Owwwwootbreeark."

    Nope, sorry.

    --
    ...
  15. mmmm, Captain Trips by RunzWithScissors · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sounds not unlike a certain 70s novel I read once. Maybe the survivors of said flu can battle out the final war of good vs. evil! Post apocalyptic society here I come! -Runz

  16. Not what you'd want to overhear at a bar... by Howard+Beale · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, would you go out with me if I was the last man alive???

    Yes? Hmmmmmmm....

  17. Re:How about 100 million? 200 million? by Sumocide · · Score: 5, Funny
    I heard on NPR a week or two ago, from an author who wrote about the 1918 pandemic, that in one instance a man boarded a trolley. Before the trolley got to the end of the line, the conductor and several passengers were dead.

    Probably because the trolley crashed, he just failed to mention that. Book sales and all.

  18. Re:Bosh by simcop2387 · · Score: 3, Funny

    no but i say we keep the telephone sanitizers this time

  19. U.S. i -was- working on it's own version. by dameron · · Score: 3, Funny

    It was to be dubbed Superflu-US, but then it was decided they didn't need it after all..

    -dameron

  20. Oh, fer cryin' out loud, relax! by jstave · · Score: 2, Funny

    The folks at Symantec will take care of it. Actually, I suppose getting a flu shot is conceptually the same as doing a "liveupdate" -- it just hurts more.

  21. When will we learn? by kippy · · Score: 3, Funny

    All science and research should be stopped for fear of the off chance that something out of a crappy checkout-line novel will occur.

    Have Stephen King books taught us nothing?

    --
    Blaze a trail to the New World
  22. cue Curtis Mayfield soundtrack... by Dewb · · Score: 2, Funny


    Never a dude like this one!
    He's got a plan
    to stick it to the man!

    Oh... Superfl u ... sorry.

  23. No, that's it. by darkmeridian · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now we're fucked.

    --
    A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
  24. Crime fighter by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

    When Superflu is brewed in the lab, he will fight crime while driving around in a cadilac convertible.
    And he'll get all the chicks.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  25. I wonder if... by Bendebecker · · Score: 2, Funny

    The price of housing in Boulder, Colorado is going up cause of this...

    --
    There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
    most of us won't be able to afford it.
    -- Lemmy
  26. Re:Oh NO! Worldwide Outbreak!!! by uncoveror · · Score: 2, Funny
    Do you want to know what is really going on? The superflu, as well as other chemical and biological agents, are being distributed in designer immitation perfume and cologne.

    Those pushy people who pounce on you in the mall parking lot are the terrorists, but they don't even know it.Read more.

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.