| Monday
June 6, 2011 Garage
biology and E. Coli
Dear Mr. Pournelle,
I came to your blog (once again!) via the Instapundit.
Do not fear the garage biologists. Okay, fear them but
fear this person more: the disgruntled graduate student or post-doctoral
fellow.
I run a cell biology laboratory at a university. I
deal with grad students and post-docs. A lot of what we do involves moving
clonal DNA (a gene where you strip out all the introns) or bits of RNA into
viruses such as lentivirus or adenovirus. We build various plasmids (to
carry the cDNA) in bacteria, including from time to time E. coli.
Do you know how hard this is? It is NOT HARD AT ALL
when you have knowledge (the grad student) and equipment (my lab).
The garage biologist is limited by resources. My lab
is NIH funded: I have every tool, resource and reagent you'll ever need to
make a super-bug.
And, if the post-doc is half-way smart, the glorious
lab mentor (me) will never notice.
"Say, what're you working on this week, Susie?"
"Oh, just some new vectors for those experiments we talked about in the
lab meeting, Steve."
"Hokay, keep up the good work!"
See how easy that is?
Grad students and post-docs increasingly come from
abroad. How well are they screened so as to ensure they don't have a
deep, quiet allegiance to a terror group? What if one of them came here just
to be a scientist but at some point walks into the wrong mosque and develops
a case of 'sudden jihadi syndrome'?
For that matter, we can grow our own terrorists at
home.
Just a happy thought for a Sunday.
Cheers,
Steve White, MD
University of Chicago
[Emphasis added]
Something else to worry about. Thanks.
And no, I am not taking this lightly. Actually I
am rather stunned at some of the scenarios that come to mind.
More discussion
==
E. Coli Source
Jerry
The German E. coli outbreak has been traced to sprouts
from a local organic farm that supplies salad mix to several Hamburg
restaurants.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/05
/e-coli-outbreak-overwhelms-german-hospitals/?test=latestnews
The visions of bioterrorists dancing in our heads can
go back to sleep. For now.
Jim
=============
Continuing
refugee camps
You write "There are no camps of refugee stateless
Jews, or of German refugees from Poland, etc.".
But there are still camps of refugee Algerian Harkis
in France, and at least until very recently South Moluccans in Holland, all
people who had supported the former colonial regimes but had no practical
means of integrating. Incidentally, this contradicts the Israeli claim that
only Palestinians ended up like that.
By the way, another alleged machine translation howler
I have heard states that "out of sight, out of mind" came back as "invisible
idiot".
Yours sincerely,
P.M.Lawrence
The situations are not really symmetrical, but in
any event I don't think that has much bearing on the Middle East
situation, or on US Middle East policy. The existence of the refugee camps
in Palestine makes it certain that "the right of return" will continue to
be demanded as a condition for peace.
The Harkis were a central part of the political
developments leading to the end of the Fourth Republic and the
establishment of contemporary France, but they are no longer of political
significance. I don't recall ever repeating the Israeli claims that the
Palestinian camps are unique, or that it matters whether or not they are
unique. It is manifestly true that the situation in the Middle East is not
symmetrical: there are, so far as I know, no camps of Jews demanding a
right of return to various Arab countries from which they were expelled.
My point was that the Israelis may have made a
mistake in not simply annexing the conquered territories (including
Sinai?) and expelling the domestic population, as the Polish/USSR
coalition did when they partitioned Germany, and the USSR in the partition
of Poland. It would have been politically difficult at the time, but
perhaps they would be better off now? It is almost certain that Israel
would be more prosperous. Making the deserts bloom is not an idle
metaphor.
==========
Space
Dear Dr Pournelle, I recently really read Larry
Niven's "N-Space". First time in Many years. I was moved by Space, the last
story entry about the "Citizens Advisory Council for a National Space
Policy". Could we as a nation be any farther from this now, a decade after
the tax exemptions would have run out as proposed by the paper? We have too
soon gone into the entitlement, me, me, me, phase of democracy as described
elsewhere. Even in 1990, when the book was published, there was still hope
in the world / USA. More I want to say, I just don't know how to write it.
Since I was infected at about 12 years of age by
Heinlein, hard S/F has been my chosen literature, with healthy doses of
Tolkien, C S Lewis, Tim Lahaye, {dare I say} Rowling, The US's founding
papers, and a multitude of others, I always found stories of hope through
individual ethics of hard work through tough times and by perseverance. Why
have we, as a culture. a nation, given up on that individual perseverance,
hard work ethics, and aesthetics? Why do we not understand that the rights
referenced and given (there are differences) in our Constitution and BOR are
there for us to do what is right (correct), not to do whatever the hell we
want? I am no politico, socio (sic), activist, I am just a working American
who expects correct representation in government. Apathy?, laziness? (just
worn out)!?
The only book I find to true and correct and has true
hope and promise, also says things will get much worse before they are
turned better.Of course that is The Bible!
Anyway, I just wanted to comment on the concepts in
the referenced story, I suppose I should not find it so surprising that such
common sense approaches would have been thrown in the toilet by the "powers
that be".
Thank you Jerry,
Roger Miller
==========
Inconstant moon
Jerry,
Mr. Niven's Inconstant Moon might have happened in
real life c. 12,837 years BP.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/
Did_A_Massive_Solar_Proton_Event_Fry_The_Earth_999.html
Jim
============
laser boosted space vehicle
As I recall, a favorite author of mine described a
laser boosted launch system operated by Laurie Jo Hansen out of a site in
Baja. 35 years later we are getting closer. I thought you might enjoy the
link.
http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/skylon.html
bill
=============
Cold fusion
Hello Jerry,
I read the following link provided by Dave:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7942 . Interesting. I'm with you in
the opinion that cheap, plentiful energy is the key to freedom and
prosperity and while in these matters fraud (or even honest scientific
error) is a distinct possibility, I continue to hope that in at least one
instance the claims are true.
I also read a large number of the reader comments on
the article and found it maybe even MORE interesting that many of comments
reflected the fervent hope that it IS a hoax, on the theory that making
cheap, plentiful energy available to humans was the worst thing that could
happen to the planet. And that their overwhelming concern was saving the
planet. Specifically saving it from humans, and at any cost to the humans,
including the forcible suppression of any technology offering abundant, low
cost energy.
These people vote and they vote overwhelmingly,
possibly exclusively, in the strict definition of the word, Democratic.
Bob Ludwick
If wishes were horses then beggars would ride. I
have some hopes for cold fusion but I do not plan on having it. It does
make some wonderful science fictions stories. If energy becomes cheap the
world is a different place. And, of course, space solar, once
developed, is a bit like cold fusion: it's a matter of engineering and
development after that. Of course space solar is capital intensive
expensive, but it's also limitless and has very low operating costs.
No fuel costs...
===========
Jeff Greason in Huntsville
I hate watching videos online. Luckily, the video here
isn't important. Just set it to run in a background window and LISTEN. And
spread the word.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy2kIPLsUn0
Stephen
At ISDC. As it happens, I was the chairman
of the first annual ISDC lo these many years ago. I am glad it still
exists. Greason is in some ways Max Hunter's successor.
========
well, I think I found the most serious drawback to
e-books -
Dropped mine and it drowned. Damned expensive to
replace when the circumstance would have me carrying a cheap paperback in
the past.
(sigh)
I hope you are feeling better.
R,
Rose
Sympathies...
==========
Nuclear Arsenals
The United States has 882 deployed
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic
missiles (SLBMs) and heavy bombers, compared with 521 for Russia,
according to the State Department, which published the new START aggregate
numbers.
The United States also has 1,800 deployed warheads
and 1,124 launchers, as well as deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers,
compared with Russia's 1,537 deployed warheads and 865 launchers and heavy
bombers, according to the figures.
The figures are current as of February 5, 2011, "as
drawn from the initial exchange of data by the parties" that was required
within 45 days of the treaty coming into force.
The new START limits each side to 1,550 deployed
warheads and 700 deployed ICBMs and SLBMs and heavy bombers, meaning the
United States would still need to reduce its arsenal under the terms of
the treaty.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Russia_
nuclear_arsenal_data_released_999.html
-------- Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
I no longer know much about the inventory and
missile technology. Thanks/
=========
"China does not pursue hegemony. We will not do it
even when we grow stronger. This is not only the basic state policy, but
also a solemn commitment to the people of the world."
In March, China announced that its defence budget
would rise 12.7 percent in 2011 to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.7 billion),
fuelling regional concerns about Beijing's military build-up in addition to
its economic clout.
Addressing an audience of senior military officers
from countries including the United States, Britain and Brazil, Zhang said
China's armed forces needed "reform" to win increasingly high-tech
conflicts.
"The (Chinese) army has to be modernised to fight
modern wars in an informationalised age. This is a major challenge facing
us," said Zhang, speaking through an interpreter.
He said China's aims had always been defensive, but
added: "The goal of modernisation of our army is to transform it from a
regional defence force to an all-theatre manoeuvring force." </>
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/
Chinese_military_build-up_no_threat_senior_army_official_999.html
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
The Middle Kingdom does not intend to lose
another Opium War.
============
Chilling Out
at Godzilla Springs
You load 16 tons, and what do
you get?
A lot deader on average than a
nuclear saruman at Fukushima:
Energy Source
Death Rate (deaths per TWh)
Coal - world average
161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity)
Coal - China
278
Coal - USA
15
Oil
36 (36% of world energy)
Natural Gas
4 (21% of world energy)
Biofuel/Biomass
12
Peat
12
Hydro inc dam failures
1.4 (about 2500 TWh/yr & 171,000 Banqiao dead)
Solar (rooftop)
0.44 (less than 0.1% of world energy)
Wind
0.15 (less than 1% of world energy)
Hydro in Europe
0.10 (europe death rate, 2.2% of world energy)
Nuclear
0.04 (5.9% of world energy)
[Credit: Brian Wang at
NextBigFuture]
Russell Seitz
Them nukes is deadly, deadly I tell you.
==
Walking away from nucs...
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/37196
"Some 10 GW of thermal power generating capacity needs
to be built in Germany by 2020 in addition to capacity already under
construction to ensure a healthy reserve margin, the German government
indicated in its decision Monday to close all the country’s nuclear power
stations by 2022."
So much for CO2 and global warming.
Charles Brumbelow
==
Re: MIT Faculty Report on Fukushima
Jerry,
The report is titled "Technical Lessons Learned from
the Fukushima-Daichii Accident and Possible Corrective Actions for the
Nuclear Industry: An Initial Evaluation" Find it here:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://
mitnse.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/fukushima-
lessons-learned-mit-nsp-025.pdf&pli=1
I am literally just digging into this having only just
noticed its release. To wet your appetite here is the end of the first
paragraph:
"This may lead to a global slow-down of the nuclear
enterprise, based on the perception that nuclear energy is not safe enough.
However, the lessons to be drawn from the Fukushima accident are different."
Regards, George
The quake and tsunami were the worst disaster,
but not the only disaster. The loss of nuclear power is itself a disaster.
Energy means freedom. Rare energy makes for the opposite.
====================
And if you didn't see this, it's worth watching:
George Dyson on Orion.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l2QopJbDBs>
- Roland Dobbins
I'm not astonished that Freeman's son has more of
the old ORION documents than NASA and DARPA have kept. One of my first
assignments when I transferred from Human Factors to Systems Analysis at
Boeing was to do a report on the Orion concept and research. This would
have been about 1961.
=========
Bio Terrorism.
Jerry, A rather curious sect tried to win a local
election by infecting the locals with a virulent strain of Salmonella
enterica that they cultured in their headquarters. They were caught, and the
two people most responsible were each sentenced to 20 years. Remarkably,
they were released after less than three years as they had behaved well in
prison. I'd like to know if there was another reason as well. Wiki have the
whole story at:- <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack>.
John Edwards
First I heard of it. It needs looking into.
Perhaps it was concluded they were incompent? I presume it would not be
all that difficult to culture MRSA once you got a sample of it. It would
be dangerous to do that, but...
==========
Unregulated market
"A totally unregulated market will end up with human
flesh sold in the market place."
I kind of wish you'd stop using this example, as it
seems to conflate the term "unregulated" with "lawless," as though a nation
that had no laws against freely selling soap, cars, or rabbits would by
necessity have no laws against enslaving human beings, murder for hire, or
other direct violations of the human right to life and liberty in order to
make money. These really aren't the same things at all.
Historically, there have been quite a number of
societies where free commerce was mostly unregulated by the state, but the
sale of human flesh was definitely outlawed. As one example, most of the
United States prior to the Civil War, and all of it for many years
afterward. England for almost a century after their own Abolition.
Tom Brosz
My point is that the market has no morals. Those
have to be supplied by politics, not economics. If you were to repeal the
laws against slavery, you could expect slaves to appear in the market
within a generation. Markets are lawless, or nearly so.
==========================d
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