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Here's an achievement that will have bioethicists reaching for their banhammers: the recreation of the horsepox virus using DNA ordered in the mail (from a German company):
Eradicating smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases in history, took humanity decades and cost billions of dollars. Bringing the scourge back would probably take a small scientific team with little specialized knowledge half a year and cost about $100,000.
That's one conclusion from an unusual and as-yet unpublished experiment performed last year by Canadian researchers. A group led by virologist David Evans of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, says it has synthesized the horsepox virus, a relative of smallpox, from genetic pieces ordered in the mail. Horsepox is not known to harm humans—and like smallpox, researchers believe it no longer exists in nature; nor is it seen as a major agricultural threat. But the technique Evans used could be used to recreate smallpox, a horrific disease that was declared eradicated in 1980. "No question. If it's possible with horsepox, it's possible with smallpox," says virologist Gerd Sutter of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany.
Evans hopes the research—most of which was done by research associate Ryan Noyce—will help unravel the origins of a centuries-old smallpox vaccine and lead to new, better vaccines or even cancer therapeutics. Scientifically, the achievement isn't a big surprise. Researchers had assumed it would one day be possible to synthesize poxviruses since virologists assembled the much smaller poliovirus from scratch in 2002. But the new work—like the poliovirus reconstitutions before it—is raising troubling questions about how terrorists or rogue states could use modern biotechnology. Given that backdrop, the study marks "an important milestone, a proof of concept of what can be done with viral synthesis," says bioethicist Nicholas Evans—who's not related to David Evans—of the University of Massachusetts in Lowell.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday July 09 2017, @11:58PM (4 children)
This is the future. Any DNA you want, made to order. If the German company won't make it for you, you go to the Chinese company. By the time the Chinese government cracks down, you'll be able to synthesize DNA with a $10,000 machine and create bacterial cells from scratch.
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(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday July 10 2017, @12:12AM (3 children)
Most civilized organizations won't touch this because they see it as "playing God," a kind of Pandora's box. But to those nations with resources (such as China) who don't give a fuck, they are developing Supermen. They are engineering Chinese with large cocks and high IQ's to conquer their detractors.
These times are exciting times indeed, and as with open-source code the common man has more power than ever thanks to cheap technology and free knowledge. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be headed off to a clandestine Asian laboratory to get some wings and retractable claws.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday July 10 2017, @12:41AM
It's a beautiful thing. If Judeo-Christian USA won't let it happen, China it is.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday July 10 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
If they don't give a fuck, why would they bother with large cocks?
You'd think soldiers with no vulnerable balls would be more useful.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 11 2017, @12:32AM
If you had a large cock, you would know it gets in the way and protects the balls.