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Alaskan Village's Orange Goo Was Fungal Spores

Posted by Soulskill on from the this-is-how-the-zombie-apocalypse-starts dept.

olsmeister writes "In a follow-up to a report that was mentioned on Slashdot a week ago, the NOAA has determined that the orange 'goo' that washed up on the beaches at the remote Alaska village of Kivalina was not eggs of crustaceans, but rather spores from a fungus that creates rust on plants. It is not known whether the fungus is harmful to humans or not."

47 comments

  1. burst pipe by jnpcl · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Orange goo? I wonder if it makes you run faster...

    Now you're thinking with fungals!

    1. Re:burst pipe by PcItalian · · Score: 0

      Mod points anyone?

    2. Re:burst pipe by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I modded it up, thanks for the heads up.

      wait,

      Dohp

  2. Zerg alert by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Who let the infestor out ?

  3. Only One Way To Find Out by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 1

    It is not known whether the fungus is harmful to humans or not.

    Well, there's really only one way to find out. Some unlucky volunteer needs to scoop some up and put it on a cracker. Orange, glow-in-the-dark caviar will be quite the novelty if their guinea pig does OK ;-)

    1. Re:Only One Way To Find Out by SnarfQuest · · Score: 1

      If you eat it, it will turn you into a pirate. It was dropped by the flying spaghetti monster. It's trying to fix global warming.

      --
      Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
    2. Re:Only One Way To Find Out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh great it's blister rust v.01beta

  4. Does anyone have a link... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To the actual NOAA release, rather than the hideously dumbed-down MSN rehash?

    1. Re:Does anyone have a link... by Psychotria · · Score: 3, Informative

      To the actual NOAA release, rather than the hideously dumbed-down MSN rehash?

      http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/newsreleases/2011/orangesubstance081811.pdf

      Although it's not much more informative...

    2. Re:Does anyone have a link... by HarrySquatter · · Score: 1

      Here you go.

    3. Re:Does anyone have a link... by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      Hmm, where's the '+0.5 Informative' mod...

  5. San Diego smell? by jasno · · Score: 1

    What about the mysterious hydrocarbon odor wafting through San Diego lately?

    http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/19/tests-odiferous-air-come-negative/

    The scary thing is that it took so long for them to analyze it, and they still don't know what it is. It's hard to believe there isn't a system in place for rapidly identifying airborne contaminants.

    --

    http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
    1. Re:San Diego smell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      somewhat offtopic, wouldn't you say, elder?

    2. Re:San Diego smell? by egamma · · Score: 1

      What about the mysterious hydrocarbon odor wafting through San Diego lately?

      http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/aug/19/tests-odiferous-air-come-negative/

      The scary thing is that it took so long for them to analyze it, and they still don't know what it is. It's hard to believe there isn't a system in place for rapidly identifying airborne contaminants.

      The science goes where the money is--identifying the most dangerous things first, like radiation, anthrax, and 'in soviet russia' jokes.

      --
      Battlemaster--Game with friends in medival realms
    3. Re:San Diego smell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      "All analysis of the air samples gathered after the Wednesday afternoon incident have come up negative, said Mahmood Hossain"

      I think I see your problem right there. Better bring in one of the Bin Laden brothers to make sure.

    4. Re:San Diego smell? by jasno · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because no one grabbed an air sample while the smell was at its peak. It took them hours just to collect some air.

      It's probably just a jet fuel spill, but it could have also come from one of the many biosciences companies along the coast. Some people swear it smelled exactly like jet fuel. Others claimed it was exactly like chemicals used in protein denaturing. Thousands of people smelled it, but no one really knows what it is.

      --

      http://www.masturbateforpeace.com/
    5. Re:San Diego smell? by SnarfQuest · · Score: 1

      Sheesh... You burn one hamburger on your barbeque, and the whole neighborhood complains. Damn vegetarians.

      --
      Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
    6. Re:San Diego smell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      is that your euphemism for the loud sound that explodes from your ass and kills your neighbors, devil westerner

    7. Re:San Diego smell? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I guess it's time to go to the Boll Weevil and get a hamburger and a pitcher. Then try again when the Chargers play at home.

  6. That reminds me of my last girlfriend by elrous0 · · Score: 1

    Just go to the doctor and he'll give you some cream for it.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:That reminds me of my last girlfriend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just go to the doctor and he'll give you some cream for it.

      I don't get it. Did she cheat on you with her doctor?

  7. Well damn by Dyinobal · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Well damn I'm sure there is a joke in here about Sarah Palin I just can't think of it. +1 to anyone who does.

    1. Re:Well damn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sarah Palin has some pretty raunchy yeast infections if they are causing orange gooey discharges.

    2. Re:Well damn by forgot_my_username · · Score: 4, Funny

      But you can't cause you just posted... damn... now, I can't as well.
      Ok, so Sarah Palin, a polar bear, and a cup of orange fungus spores walk into a bar...
      They all saddle up to the bar for a drink.
      The polar bear looks at Palin and then says to the orange fungus spores... I guess they will serve anyone here
      Sarah Palin then blurts out "I'm a frayed knot!"



      you didn't say it had to be a good joke.

    3. Re:Well damn by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      The orange goo is the only resident of Alaska convinced she would be a good president and wanted to show it's support?

    4. Re:Well damn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You left out the best part! That's when the string says:"Wrecked him? Damn near killed him!"

    5. Re:Well damn by camperslo · · Score: 1

      Leave it to goo to be insightful enough to realize that intelligence can be overrated. Maybe it thinks the comparative youngster would have been an ideal backup if John McCain got ill: Spare parts!

    6. Re:Well damn by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      Sarah Palin has always been a fun gal.

    7. Re:Well damn by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      Though somewhat of a spore loser...

  8. just thinking by Anarchduke · · Score: 1

    Hey if we're lucky, its going to kick off the zombie apocalypse.

    --
    who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
  9. Relieved by wsxyz · · Score: 1

    I am very relieved to find out it wasn't a skull-boring, brain-eating crustacean.

    1. Re:Relieved by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      I am very relieved to find out it wasn't a skull-boring, brain-eating crustacean.

      What happens if I tell you it's a skull-boring, brain eating fungus?

      Does that make you feel any better?

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Relieved by wsxyz · · Score: 1

      No problem. My tough actin' Tinactin is ready and waiting.

  10. Good Job Homeland Security by aywang31 · · Score: 2

    You would think that given how much the US government spends on homeland security and protection against bio/chem threats, they would be able to analyze this faster. Then again, remote Alaskan villages are probably the last place any terrorist would think of to attack.

    1. Re:Good Job Homeland Security by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      You would think that given how much the US government spends on homeland security and protection against bio/chem threats, they would be able to analyze this faster. Then again, remote Alaskan villages are probably the last place any terrorist would think of to attack.

      If it is an unknown fungus, it will take some time to figure out it's phylogeny. Probably the most direct method would be DNA sequencing. This can be done fairly quickly but interpreting the data might take some time.

      Since it's unlikely to be a terrorist attack for the reasons you mention, the biggest problem may well be figuring out who should pay for it.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Good Job Homeland Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congratulations! You seem to be one of the few who realize that Alaska is a part of the US!
      God forbid this should be linked to global warming and the hyper-accelerated thawing of the arctic. It makes me wonder what else is lurking under the ice. As for who is going to pay for it, the answer revolves around oil - either the oil companies who are banking on the thawing of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas or those trying to stop them. As for the natives who have thrived in the Arctic for the last 10,000 years - the rest of humanity has already proven that they don't give a flying f*&k about them.

    3. Re:Good Job Homeland Security by Pranadevil2k · · Score: 1

      If I were a terrorist/rival nation/supervillain testing a killer super fungus, I would test it in an area where the impact would be noticeable but the reaction would be slow. Once preliminary tests are finished you can adjust for larger/more effective deployment. Just saying.

    4. Re:Good Job Homeland Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh eat shit, and while you're doing that educate yourself on aboriginal history in the north, and about current issues surrounding aboriginals in the north. I guarantee the many, many first nations (Dene, Inuit, and so forth) folk I work with each and everyday would laugh in your face.

  11. shipping container by nixnox · · Score: 2

    logistically, the easiest explanation is a cargo ship container carrying grain contaminated with a rust fungus, gone overboard and ruptured open, spreading the resulting gooey goodness before port inspectors could go "blech" in person. note that I'm not saying it went overboard accidentally, although it would be hard to implement without a dock loader-- it's a lot easier to write off a container "lost" at sea than "contents consumed by fungus"

    1. Re:shipping container by 3vi1 · · Score: 2

      Or, it's an ancient superfungus that had been locked in an iceshelf after killing all life on the planet hundreds of millions of years ago... set free by global warming.

      Whichever.

    2. Re:shipping container by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it's so "super" how come it's locked in an iceshelf? Ancient superman?

  12. Could it be???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    maybe it's from the radiation from Japan ... Just sayin

  13. A fungal bloom! by Murasaki+Skies · · Score: 0

    Hurry everyone, to the perimeter defense!

    --
    Waiiii!!!!!! I have bad karma!
  14. Doesn't... by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    LSD come from a "rust" on grain? Hmmmm.....

    1. Re:Doesn't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would explain Palin, iåf the stuff been there for some year but noone noticed.

    2. Re:Doesn't... by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

      That's an insult to honest, hard working, LSD users everywhere, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  15. Planet is rising! by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    Better watch out for those mindworms.