Yes, perhaps it was one of those. A small furry rodent from Caucasia I believe? They do tickle somewhat when they get onto one's parts, or so I've been told.
Quote:
If we had a high enough % of scientists agreeing on the likelihood that a huge asteroid was going to hit, then I would at least open my mind to the possibility that it is time to consider spending some money on the project.
What would be your position ?
Much harder to adapt to a sudden devastating asteroid collision than to adapt to a slow gradual climate change. So I say blast that rock right out of the sky, especially if there was any risk of it slamming into Caucasia and wiping out the native fopaux population.
Armageddon super virus recipe: keep secret or publish?
Glenda Kwek December 6, 2011 - 1:26PM
To publish or not to publish?
That is the question gripping scientists after virologists said they had developed a bird flu virus - with a 60 per cent human mortality rate - that could spread as easily as the common cold.
Some fear the virus, if it fell into the wrong hands, could be modified by bioterrorists into a weapon that kills billions of people.
But supporters said publishing the H5N1 study would have the opposite effect, by helping governments and other scientists learn about how they could counter such pandemics - whether they occurred naturally or artificially.
"This study, from what I can tell, may be the most worrisome and controversial biological dual-use research that has occurred," said Michael Selgelid, the deputy director of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University.
The study, led by virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus medical centre in the Netherlands, was first outlined at an influenza conference in September, but is yet to be published in a journal - the next step for an academic.
Dr Fouchier and his colleagues are waiting for a review of the study by the National Security Advisory Board on Biosecurity (NSABB), a US body that issues non-binding decisions on live sciences research.
The NSABB's next meeting is on December 15, but even if it recommends the study not be published - and the decision is supported by the US government, the scientists could still publish their work in non-US journals, or on the internet, Dr Selgelid said.
Sensitive research
The H5N1 virus previously affected only birds, but in 1997, it was found in humans in Asia.
The flu spread across the world, infecting almost 600 people, according to the latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The virus was not known to have, or had not, mutated to the point at which it could be transmitted between humans until Dr Fouchier and his team embarked on their research.
Using ferrets, which react to viruses in a similar way to humans, the scientists tested out mutations of the bird flu.
Through five mutations, they created a strain of the H5N1 that was airborne, killing ferrets kept in different cages, the New Scientist magazine quoted Dr Fouchier as saying.
"It is worth asking the question - have the scientists pre-empted a naturally occurring threat, or have they simply created a threat that would not - and might never - otherwise exist?" asked biosecurity expert Christian Enemark of the Australian National University (ANU).
Associate Professor Enemark said that, while it was not possible to measure the likelihood that such research could be used as a bio-weapon, "before this virus was created, however, there was no such chance".
Even if the virus was not used for nefarious purposes, it could accidentally be released from a laboratory and cause a health crisis, Dr Selgelid added.
How devastating could it be?
The 1918 Spanish flu is considered to have been the "most severe" influenza pandemic, killing between 20 and 40 million people, the WHO said.
But the airborne disease had a mortality rate of about 2.5 per cent, compared with the H5N1 virus, which has a mortality rate of about 60 per cent.
"The study's [mutated] virus seems to be as deadly even when it became easily transmissible between ferrets," Dr Selgelid said.
"It seems not unlikely that the same changes would lead to a contagious human flu virus with a very high mortality rate."
THE world's heaviest greenhouse gas emitters, including China and the US, have forged a plan to unite all major nations under a legally binding pact to slow climate change. The last-ditch deal, reached yesterday at the end of the United Nations climate conference in South Africa, is the first time developing nations such as China and India have agreed to work towards emissions reduction targets that have ''legal force''.
Australia's Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, called the agreement ''a significant breakthrough in tackling global warming''.
The nations said that by 2015 they would develop a global pact for reducing emissions, though the pact may not be adopted until 2020. The Kyoto Protocol, which was to end next year, will be extended to bridge the gap until a new agreement comes into force.
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