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posted by janrinok on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the Andromeda-Strain dept.

Space Biosecurity: Scientists Warn that Alien Organisms on Earth May Become a Reality Stranger than Fiction:

Scientists warn, without good biosecurity measures 'alien organisms' on Earth may become a reality stranger than fiction.

Published in international journal BioSciences, a team of scientists, including Dr. Phill Cassey, Head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Adelaide, are calling for greater recognition of the biosecurity risks ahead of the space industry.

"In addition to government-led space missions, the arrival of private companies such as SpaceX has meant there are now more players in space exploration than ever before," said Associate Professor Cassey.

"We need to take action now to mitigate those risks."

Space biosecurity concerns itself with both the transfer of organisms from Earth to space (forward contamination) and vice-versa (backward contamination). While the research points out that at present the risk of alien organisms surviving the journey is low, it's not impossible.

Dr. Cassey said: "Risks that have low probability of occurrence, but have the potential for extreme consequences, are at the heart of biosecurity management. Because when things go wrong, they go really wrong."

Journal Reference:
Anthony Ricciardi, Phillip Cassey, Stefan Leuko, et al. Planetary Biosecurity: Applying Invasion Science to Prevent Biological Contamination from Space Travel, BioScience (DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biab115)


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  • (Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:27PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:27PM (#1199216)

    When man stumbles over some biological threat in space, he will bring it right straight back to earth. The talking heads in MSM media will tell us that it would be racisss to abandon the infected individuals out there in space, and that we need to hug a spaceman to get over our racisss attitudes.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:29PM (#1199217)
    If I thought you espoused those viewpoints, I'd mod you disagree or flamebait, but I'm pretty sure that's a somewhat realistic depiction of some of the reactions we might expect to see, given varying levels of xenophobia/philia.
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by choose another one on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:52PM (5 children)

    by choose another one (515) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:52PM (#1199220)

    When man stumbles over some batological threat in a cave, he will bring it straight back out to the surface. The talking heads in MSM media will tell us that it would be racisss to abandon the infected individuals in the cave, and that we need to hug a caveman to get over our racisss attitudes.

    FTFY, *cough*.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @04:18PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 24 2021, @04:18PM (#1199226)

      Ok Batman.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 24 2021, @06:26PM (1 child)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 24 2021, @06:26PM (#1199258) Journal

        For those who didn't see the TV show in the 1960's, Bruce Wayne (and his youthful ward Dick Grayson) were Incels.

        In one particular episode where it is necessary to temporarily set up a batcave in the UK in order to catch Lord Fogg, they fail to make mention of having to adapt the Bat Computer for 240 VAC.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 2) by pdfernhout on Friday November 26 2021, @04:59PM

          by pdfernhout (5984) on Friday November 26 2021, @04:59PM (#1199792) Homepage

          Maybe the Dynamic Duo brought over a portable nuclear generator to power the Bat computer?
          https://newatlas.com/energy/radiant-portable-advanced-nuclear/ [newatlas.com]
          "California company Radiant has secured funding to develop a compact, portable, "low-cost" one-megawatt nuclear micro-reactor that fits in a shipping container, powers about 1,000 homes and uses a helium coolant instead of water."

          --
          The biggest challenge of the 21st century: the irony of technologies of abundance used by scarcity-minded people.
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 24 2021, @08:47PM (1 child)

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday November 24 2021, @08:47PM (#1199341) Homepage Journal

      Racist? You've been watching too much Star Trek. Specist. The vegan nutjobs are already using that term. And you're NOT going to find any aliens that look anything like humans; how much do you resemble a squid? An elephant, and they're even mammals? A spider? And all those species arose from the first abiogenesis on Earth and you expect anything like Vulcans from a completely separate abiogenesis on another planet or moon??

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Wednesday November 24 2021, @09:15PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 24 2021, @09:15PM (#1199359) Journal

        And all those species arose from the first abiogenesis on Earth and you expect anything like Vulcans from a completely separate abiogenesis on another planet or moon??

        Well, that's going to make it pretty weird for Captain Kirk. Not that I would fail to watch the YouTube videos.

  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday November 24 2021, @04:20PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday November 24 2021, @04:20PM (#1199227) Journal

    Or....y'know...abandoning people to die of asphyxiation is wrong....

  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday November 24 2021, @08:38PM (3 children)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Wednesday November 24 2021, @08:38PM (#1199333) Homepage Journal

    I don't think you'll find any biological threats. I suspect that if/when we do find life, it will be so different that infection won't be possible. Extraterrestrial life may be based on completely different chemistry, and I don't see the danger.

    Keeping our bugs off of other bodies is something different. We already contaminated the moon with life when that Indian lander crashed. And we've been at it for such a short time... you better hope aliens ARE chemically incompatible, because we are a species prone to incompetence!

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 24 2021, @11:25PM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 24 2021, @11:25PM (#1199379) Journal

      LOL - I read a story years ago about a predator. He didn't want any meat or fluids from humans. He needed the phosphorus found in our bones. It was something of an annoyance to dismantle the human body to get at those precious chemicals, but a predator does what a predator has to do.

      • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday November 26 2021, @03:21PM (1 child)

        by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday November 26 2021, @03:21PM (#1199771) Homepage Journal

        A.E. Van Vogt Black Destroyer [mcgrewbooks.com]. But the alien creature looks very similar to a black panther, according to the picture on the magazine cover.

        --
        mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 27 2021, @01:23PM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 27 2021, @01:23PM (#1199963) Journal

          Yep, that's the one. Destroy a human body, just to extract a pound of one specific organic compound. It reminds me of killer whales, attacking a great white, extracting and eating the liver, and leaving the rest of the kill to drift in the ocean.

  • (Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday November 25 2021, @03:30AM

    by arslan (3462) on Thursday November 25 2021, @03:30AM (#1199424)

    They're just saying "space covid" which isn't unreasonable. We really should at least think about it somewhat and not react when the shit hits the fan like it did with covid.