Curiosity may not have killed the cat but Mollivirus siberium might have . . . and might still. Scientists are about to “wake up” a 30,000-year-old virus found in the melting permafrost. They published their plan in in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal. What could possible go wrong, right? Just the plot of a dozen horror films.
There is actually a very good reason to go prodding ancient viruses in the lab that have been frozen since the last Ice Age. The team from the French National Centre for Scientific Research want to learn more about these viruses because, with climate change, they may soon be back in our environment with lethal effect. This is a “giant” virus because it is so big that it can be seen with just light microscopy. What is also amazing is that Mollivirus sibericum carries a complex genetic structure with more than 500 genes. As a point of comparison, the influenza virus has only 8 genes.
If that does not freak you out enough, they have a second 30,000-year-old virus, Pithovirus sibericum, in the same Russian permafrost. Last year, they discovered that Pithovirus sibericum is still infectious. Someone call Wolfgang Petersen. This screen play is writing itself.
So studying the past as a means to avoid a destructive future is actually a good thing after all? That won’t make all our “progressive political scientists’ very happy.
Phrenology and the static universe[Einstein developed that theory] are just 2 “settled science” of the past that almost all “leading scientists” believed true. I am not a scientist but I am a professional skeptic. And you know what, scientists are supposed to be professional skeptics as well. The sycophancy of scientists is more than a bit disturbing. But, those hacked emails showed the Stalinist tactics used to thwart skepticism. Being a true scientist, Einstein eventually changed his thoughts, seeing evidence of an expanding universe.
Paul
Yeah, let’s go back to the other explanations: riding horses to heaven, water walking, aliens, etc. The best solution is not without faults. However science deals with the search, that which is being searched, and is open ended.
What you are missing is that those most understanding that 63% of all new…..etc are the scientists themselves. Typically those running things wait until it is too late because from their bought and paid for places they are lacking the minerals. “If it ain’t broke why fix it?” Yup.
issac – science deals with a replicable result.
What is truly amazing is how some armchair observers can denigrate the work of most of the world’s leading scientists. We have tried, for dozens of centuries the religious approach to explaining and dealing with us. For the past few centuries the scientific, rational, and objective approach has taken over and seems to be doing quite well in the fields of medicine, preventive as well as curative.
Perhaps some of these viruses are the cause for this skepticism. There is a certain symptom of something amiss in someone who rants, “All you top scientists of the world who stand collectively at the head of hundreds of years of rational and investigative thought, don’t know what you are talking about.”
issac – 63% of all new scientific experiments cannot be duplicated. And scientific papers are so poorly written that others cannot read them. And we won’t even talk about the plagiarism, which is off the charts.
Third world overpopulation and illegal immigration cause environmental degredation too but nobody seems to worried about that.
Dave…. The climate has always been changing, humans just don’t live long enough to notice. I believe the point Mr. Nick makes regards the BS ‘science’ that purports to prove that humans are the cause. If you must have humans as the cause, then maybe seven billion is simply beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. Which third of the population shall we eliminate?
Dave-
Amen! 😄
People who accuse scientists of groupthink often are projecting their own groupthink. Not that scientists are incapable of groupthink or of making mistakes, but the Senator Inhofes of the world are truly dangerous.
Back to the topic directly at hand. It always comes down to the integrity and skill of the scientists who do this kind of work. Pandora’s Box is there waiting to be opened. Would you rather have it opened now by a relatively skilled and scrupulous group of scientists or do nothing, providing someone with less skill and scruples to open it first?
Dave, The hacked emails showed anyone w/ an open mind that the “verifiable facts” are cooked. I was somewhat a skeptic/agnostic before that scandal. Now, I know the science is really religion and use every opportunity to speak up on this scam. But understand, I drive a small car, I recycle, I use cloth grocery bags, etc. because it makes sense. I am an Episcopal in the movement. The people running it are Scientologists, keeping w/ the religion metaphor. They want to control us.
Nick, I hope you would agree at least that the verifiable facts of a changing climate and the arguably correct/incorrect policies consequently instituted should be treated separately.
The conversation becomes a dead-end most times because skepticism of policy is often buttressed with an undue denial of numerous university, NASA, et al. findings, which generally reveal the extent of an altering climate .
The core members of the first Church of the Environment are former Viet Nam protesters. They needed a new cause and founded their new religion, based on fear.
“With climate change.” Please! This is just another “The sky is falling” meme. I’m still waiting to read a post about our Uber Presidents overreach w/ the EPA. i guess some overreaches are good if you are an active member in the fundamentalist Church of Environmentalism.
What Dave said., with global warming, and permafrost melt, we should be taking a look at the efficacy of these critters, so that we’re not on their dinner table. We now return control of your television set to you until next time on . . .
I have seen this plot several times and it never ends well. Dooooooon’t do it.!!!!!!!
Alarmists said the Large Hadron Collider in Europe was going to create a black hole that would swallow up the Earth. There is no evidence that it happened.
Interesting to read non-scientists here wax nonsensical about the workings of science.
“If we are not careful, and we industrialize these areas without putting safeguards in place, we run the risk of one day waking up viruses such as smallpox that we thought were eradicated.”
Maybe complainers should focus on that industrialization, which is a driving force behind this further, preventative study.
Propagating the tired stereotype of mad scientists goes against reality. And the scientists who deal with these viruses are on the frontline: no need to invoke their mothers.
Much like when Ebola was at its worst — there were lots of cries about why more study wasn’t done prior. Meanwhile, many people complained, prior, about the mere handling of deadly viruses, because of the risk.
Can’t have it both ways.
Treat the issue like a taser should be treated when someone says that they are not lethal. Have the scientists’ mothers come in and subject them to the virus– say an enema- and have the process recorded on video. With the taser there is the common scenario where the cop has tasered some person and says it is just fine. Ok, take the cop’s deposition and summon in his mom. Video tape a taser being shot in the mom’s back or chest. See if the cop objects. Tase him if he objects too strenuously. Tasers are well known to be lethal weapons.
Whether it’s permafrost melting due to climate change or someone having intercourse with the wrong monkey, micro-organisms will be continue to be released and threaten the macro-organisms. Damn that double helix!
Watch out for government scientists in white lab coats saying “Everything will be OK.” That’s the first sign it won’t be.
If it’s anything like this brain eating amoeba…..What happens after the wake up, will be interesting.
We now live in a world wherein a scientist or a leader of a small but virulent group of cowards can destroy the world. You would think that scientists would be a bit more risk aware but they don’t appear to be. Human life, the people who actually inhabit the earth, seems to be worthless to some. They never say to themselves we can do this but SHOULD we. They don’t care about the risk to others. It’s the glory or satisfaction for them that is important.
The result will not be a screen play but perhaps the death of millions. As for the cliaim that this is good for climate change studies…give me a break. They are going to do it because they can.