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Dormant Diseases Frozen In the Ice Are Waking Up (bbc.co.uk)

boley1 writes: Like a plot from a Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) movie, evil is waking up as permafrost melts due to weather or natural, man-made, local, and/or global climate change. (Take your pick of any or all -- doesn't matter -- the plot and result is roughly the same.) According the the BBC, a 12-year-old boy died and at least twenty people were hospitalized after being infected by a disease (anthrax) that lay buried in the ice for 75 years. "The theory is that, over 75 years ago, a reindeer infected with anthrax died and its frozen carcass became trapped under a layer of frozen soil, known as permafrost," reports BBC. "There it stayed until a heatwave in the summer of 2016, when the permafrost thawed." In this case, bringing back the disease was accidental, but the story goes on to give examples of scientists (no indication of whether they are mad or not) purposefully seeing what ancient bacteria and virus they can resurrect from the ice. How many more diseases are lurking in the ice? Will The Andromeda Strain be released by meddling scientists or global warming?

8 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. First... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Funny

    to die horribly in this sci-fi movie. ;)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  2. Um, right by 110010001000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sure, he got it from anthrax from a 75-year old reindeer. Ridiculous.

  3. Unfrozen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Announcer: [ over SUPER ] "One hundred thousand years ago, a caveman was out hunting on the frozen wastes when he slipped and fell into a crevasse. In 1988, he was discovered by some scientists and thawed out. He then went to law school and became.. Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.

    Jingle: "He used to be a caveman,
    but now he's a lawyer.
    Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer!"

    Announcer: Brought to you by.. Gas Plus - actually gives you gas, for those times when you feel like being the joker; and by National Escort Services - if we don't get a prostitute to your door in 15 minutes, you don't pay; and by Happy Fun Ball - still legal in 16 states - it's legal, it's fun, it's Happy Fun Ball! And now, tonight's episode of "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer".

    [ open on interior, courtroom, the Judge banging her gavel ]

    Judge: Mr. Cirroc, are you ready to give your summation?

    Cirroc: [ stepping out] It's just "Cirroc", your Honor.. and, yes, I'm ready. [ approaches the jury box ] Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes the honking horns of your traffic make me want to get out of my BMW.. and run off into the hills, or wherever.. Sometimes when I get a message on my fax machine, I wonder: "Did little demons get inside and type it?" I don't know! My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know - when a man like my client slips and falls on a sidewalk in front of a public library, then he is entitled to no less than two million in compensatory damages, and two million in punitive damages. Thank you.

    Judge: The jury will now retire to deliberate.

    Jury Foreman: [ standing ] Your Honor.. we don't need to retire. Cirroc's words are just as true now as they were in his time. We give him the full amount.

    [ the jury applauds Cirroc ]

    Judge: Did you hear that, Mr. Cirroc?

    Cirroc: [ cell phone to his ear ] Hang on a second.. [ to the judge ] I-I'm sorry, your Honor. I was listening to the magic voices coming out of this strange modern invention! [ smiles maliciously to the camera ]

    Announcer: This has been "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer". Join us next week for another episode. Here's a scene. [ cut to Cirroc and his caveman family standing before a podium at a political rally ]

    Cirroc: Thank you! Thank you very much, thank you! First of all, let me say how happy I am to be your nominee for the United States Senate! [ applause ] You know.. thank you.. I don't really understand your Congress, or your system of checks and balances.. because, as I said during the campaign - I'm just a caveman! I fell on some ice, and later got thawed out by scientists. But there is one thing I do know - we must do everything in our power to lower the Capitol Gains Tax. Thank you!

    Announcer: Next time, on "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer".

  4. Re:More idiotic click-bait by iggymanz · · Score: 5, Funny

    you think that's scary, squirrels chewed through the hard plastic box a few phone poles down the block to make a nest. Rainwater then shorted out the electronics and killed the internet connection! We then went 30 hours without internet! We were in hell!

  5. This is not True AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is just diseases being frozen for a while, no where near to True AI.

    We will never have true AI.

  6. Re:More idiotic click-bait by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Funny

    Even worse, A Møøse once bit my sister... No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies. And there is ice and permafrost in Norway, so...

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  7. Re:More idiotic click-bait by CaptnCrud · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apologies, the writers of this post have been sacked.

  8. Ok, new plan by Barlo_Mung_42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Melting the ice isn't cutting it. We need to start boiling the ice.