27 replies to this topic

[Socio]

http://www.dailymail...ibly-wrong.html

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A 500 million-year-old bacteria has been brought back to life in a laboratory at Georgia Tech in an experiment with echoes of Jurassic Park's disastrous recreation of the dinosaurs.

The researchers have resurrected a 500-million-year-old gene and inserted it into a modern E Coli bacteria.

The 'Frankenstein' germ has thrived. In the lab, the creation has now lived through 1,000 generations.

The scientists hope to find out whether the 'ancient' bacteria will evolve the same way it did 'first time round' - or whether it will evolve into a different, new organism.

‘This is as close as we can get to rewinding and replaying the molecular tape of life,’ said scientist Betül Kaçar, a NASA astrobiology postdoctoral fellow in Georgia Tech.

The new 'chimeric' bacteria has mutated rapidly - and some have become stronger and healthier than today's germs.

I don't know about this, it reminds me of the the old saying "curiosity killed the cat" only this kind of curiosity could kill a whole lot more than just the cat.

Edited by Socio, 12 July 2012 - 01:05 PM.

[Wickian]

As long as the overweight security guard who watches the building at night doesn't fall asleep or get distracted watching replays of his favorites sports team, thereby allowing an evil mastermind to covertly steal ancient mega virus to use for his own nefarious purposes, we should be alright.

And even if the above does happen, an innocent bystander and/or down-on-his-luck cop will inevitably get drawn into the whole thing and use good old American ingenuity to do what no security/police force/government organization/mercenaries can do and recover said ancient mega virus minutes before it's released in L.A./N.Y., redeeming himself in front of his ex-wife/girlfriend.

They'll later make a movie about it.

[The Mule]

Im not worried about it escaping from the petrie dish.....

[ShadowSot]

Is it bad that I read the title of the thread, looked at the chart I have on my wall, then saw the title  of the Daily Fail article and laughed?
Another article, less hyperbolic, from Popular Science:http://www.popsci.co...modern-bacteria

I dunno what it is with the new software but it doesn't seem to like url tags anymore.

Edited by ShadowSot, 12 July 2012 - 01:36 PM.

[Mistydawn]

That's just what we need, a frankenstein bacteria on the loose...

[ShadowSot]

Mistydawn, on 12 July 2012 - 02:05 PM, said:

That's just what we need, a frankenstein bacteria on the loose...

Have you ever seen these types of labs? They are absolutely paranoid about contamination at these places.

[Coffey]

OH FFS!

Why cna't thye jsut leav eit alone.

It ALWAYS finds a way... did they not watch Jurrasic Park. lol

Seriosuly though, everytime thye play with these thing sit gets out... Anthrax and other military biological/chemical experiments ahve killed people int he past.

I don't beleiv ein God, but trying to play god is  ahuge mistake. You can't contend with nature. It's far superiour to us.

[ShadowSot]

Coffey, on 12 July 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

OH FFS!

Why cna't thye jsut leav eit alone.

It ALWAYS finds a way... did they not watch Jurrasic Park. lol

Seriosuly though, everytime thye play with these thing sit gets out... Anthrax and other military biological/chemical experiments ahve killed people int he past.

I don't beleiv ein God, but trying to play god is  ahuge mistake. You can't contend with nature. It's far superiour to us.

...
There's nothing to indicate at this time that this bacteria is harmful or able to survive outside of lab conditions.

And we should really stop using science fiction movies that are intended to horrify us as practical methods of judging science.
Really, really should.

[Mistydawn]

ShadowSot, on 12 July 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

Have you ever seen these types of labs? They are absolutely paranoid about contamination at these places.

Hmmm Shadow, but are all those who work there?

[ShadowSot]

Mistydawn, on 12 July 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

Hmmm Shadow, but are all those who work there?

In a word? Yes. They have to be to work there.

[Abramelin]

I remember reading in a Dutch magazine, some 35+ years ago, about ancient spores of bacteria brought back to life.

They were found in some salt layer, and were 650 million years old.

[Coffey]

ShadowSot, on 12 July 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

...
There's nothing to indicate at this time that this bacteria is harmful or able to survive outside of lab conditions.

And we should really stop using science fiction movies that are intended to horrify us as practical methods of judging science.
Really, really should.

Firstly the Jurrasic park Reference was blatent joke.

It says this bacteria mutates.... It might not be harmful right now, but if it mutated with soemthing else then the possibilities could be horrific.

As for Science fiction, most science fiction is based on facts to a degree, it makes it more realistic. Which is why it scares us more.

Also Science ficiton movies is not the reaosn i commented on this in the way I did. As I pointed out in my post, other things have got out of the lab before, or killed people in the lab.

ShadowSot, on 12 July 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

Have you ever seen these types of labs? They are absolutely paranoid about contamination at these places.

Funny you should say, someone in the comments wrote this:

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And for all the people worried about this getting out of the lab. The bad news is, (after reading about the level of stupidity, within the group doing the research) chances are it's already broke containment. The HeLa cell line is the most commonly used cell line in the world. And the amount of contamination by the HeLa line over the years has resulted in many projects either being scrapped, or severely compromised. incidentally, HeLa is an immortal cell line initially a cancer from Henrietta Lacks who died in 1951. Her cells are now considered a new species, & in total weigh over 50 million tons. The good news is, if it a serious bio hazard it will quickly mutate to become more benign.

lol

Edited by Coffey, 12 July 2012 - 03:29 PM.

[ShadowSot]

Quote

Firstly the Jurrasic park Reference was blatent joke.

Ah, my joke sensor is broke today, sorry.

Quote

It says this bacteria mutates.... It might not be harmful right now, but if it mutated with soemthing else then the possibilities could be horrific.

Which would make it exactly the same as any other virus or bacteria. It's why the flu is so dangerous. It's also why they have such strict precautions.

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As for Science fiction, most science fiction is based on facts to a degree, it makes it more realistic. Which is why it scares us more.

Not really. What scares us is the story, the context it's placed in happens to be science fiction. Loose facts are included to make it believable, sure. But no more so than any story.

Quote

Also Science ficiton movies is not the reaosn i commented on this in the way I did. As I pointed out in my post, other things have got out of the lab before, or killed people in the lab.

Yes... but your examples were things explicitly intended to kill people. In instances like ebola, there have been cases where it's escaped isolation. But it's been limited to one or two individuals (in one instance the fellow punctured himself with a needle by accident.)
  Immediate lockdown and isolation, no ebola escaped the lab.


EDIT: I find the forums new posting software to be scary and confusing! Why is this font randomly so small!

Edited by ShadowSot, 12 July 2012 - 03:49 PM.

[Mr. Smith]

This bacteria could be our elders. Show some respect.

[Aus Der Box Skeptisch]

Lol framling I like your post.