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Germs Taken Into Space May Come Back Deadlier
westlake writes "Sounds like the plot for a B-movie, doesn't it? Germs go into space and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened. In a medical experiment, salmonella carried about the space shuttle in the fall of 2006 proved far more lethal to lab mice than their earth-bound source. 90% dead vs. 60% dead in twenty-six days, with half the mice dying at 1/3 the oral dose. Apparently 167 genes in the space-evolved strain had changed. The likely cause: In microgravity the force of fluids passing over the cells is low, similar to conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, and the cells adapted quickly to the new environment."
Or breed better mice.
This was first documented in 1988, but they don't want you to know about it.
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
What's the policy for de-bugging astronauts, anyway?
Same as any other de-bug problem. Blame Microsoft and hope for a patch.
But seriously... I know there's some post flight isolation probably accompanied by standard physicals and rehabilitation for those that underwent extended stays in space. My guess is they're relatively thorough, but if if the astronauts are harboring something that isn't detected and they don't show any symptoms it could be a "bad thing." With all the isolation and health checks before, during, and after though, it's probably not a terrible risk. Or at least it's been fairly safe so far.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
The AIDS plague "patient zero" is estimated to have become infected in 1969, the year men returned from the moon.
This plague that has killed millions of people, primarily among homosexual men, perhaps originated in a tiny canister of testosterone-pumped men trapped in a tiny metal can thousands of miles from Earth, with only each other to turn to in conditions of unprecedented stress and lonliness.
Yep, it does sound like the plot from a B movie - by John Waters.
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make install -not war
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Just remember WHO this planet belongs to after all.
I for one welcome our mutated Moneran overlords.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Isn't it entirely probable, nay likely even that an old Soviet bioweapons satellite is going to crash sometime with germs that will reanimate the dead on a large scale?
I think you just hit on th very idea of foresight. It's one of those things that's supposed to separate the higher mammals from things like bacteria and from natural processes like evolution, after all.
That is, unless someone believes in sentient bacteria or a divine hand of an intelligent God/gods guiding evolution. Anything left to chance and trial will ultimately only rarely see a trade of a short-term negative for a long-term positive, because it would have to happen by chance and without conscious effort.
It doesn't really make any difference. All the experiment really shows is that:
1) Grow bacteria
2) Alter environment
3) Change gene expression (via mutation, removal of suppression, whatever biologic mechanism you'd propose)
4) Write grant proposal (the 64 million dollar question - that's one hell of a grant)
5) Profit!
Doing it in space is even way cooler than doing it on the Internet. I smell a patent application. You might even get a free trip to Florida!
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I kept telling people how realistic this movie was!
http://imdb.com/title/tt0211443/
"Evil Gets an Upgrade." Man, so ahead of its time.
Irradiated flesh doesn't turn into the Hulk or glow or become self-intelligent. No. It just dies I have several thousand volumes of books (comic books) that contradict you. Who should I believe, some Nobel prize winning biologist who has only written a couple dozen scientific papers in his life (and only a couple dealing with radiation) or Stan Lee who has published hundreds of volumes dealing with the biological and social effects of radiation? Suppose the germ developed a version of itself that was 100% lethal and then killed its own host before the host could spread it. Well the germ dies too, doesn't it? Not if it reanimates the dead! Did you miss that part? These germs are going to be so deadly that they take you past 'dead' and bring you to 'undead.' You might even say that they are undeadly! The only thing that they need to survive is a highly dense energy source that their host body could consume--maybe something like the brains of unsuspecting victims.
But evolution is impossible! The Kansas school board told me so. This must be another NASA conspiracy like the fake moon landings.
When I first read that, I thought it said, "Germans Taken Into Space May Come Back Deadlier."
But, if I become undead, then becoming dead isn't as much of a bother, then, isn't it?
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
So you're saying evolution is like MacGuyver?