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)
(Score: 3, Touché) by choose another one on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:52PM (5 children)
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)
Ok Batman.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 24 2021, @06:26PM (1 child)
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.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by pdfernhout on Friday November 26 2021, @04:59PM
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)
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
Well, that's going to make it pretty weird for Captain Kirk. Not that I would fail to watch the YouTube videos.