• Science

    This Germ Could Save Your Life

    By Posted on 3.12.2008 10 Comments

    Its a drizzly morning on New Yorks Upper East Side, and Rockefeller University microbiologist David Thaler is sipping a double espresso amid the retro-hippie pillows and dangling paper stars of Java Girl, a favorite haunt of the neighborhoods brainiac Nobel laureates, aging poets and famous entertainers. Thaler somehow manages to embody all three—a long, graying ponytail curling down the middle of his back, wire-frame glasses askew over expansive brown eyes, and a schnozz to rival an Einstein, Ginsberg or Allen. Thaler is one of the leading cheerleaders for a new field of biotechnology aimed at engineering the bacteria inside us to deliver drugs, destroy tumors, actively fight infection, and even vaccinate against their disease-causing kin.

    2.13.2008 at 09:16pm - Comment by Czar

    Once we understand the bacteria or virus genome, we could even reprogram them to hunt down other bacteria or viruses such as Flesh eating bacteria and HIV viruses. they can have a set lifetime of only a few days and have their reproductive genes removed or replaced.

  • Technology

    Falling Satellite Probably Not a Danger

    By Posted on 1.29.2008 3 Comments

    It started out as a 10-ton satellite packed with hazardous materials plummeting towards Earth. Then it dropped down to 4 tons, and the materials turned out not to be hazardous. Details are still sketchy, but it now seems clear that the NROL-21 USA-193 satellite that failed just hours after its December 2006 launch is now on its way back down to Earth. Should we be worried?

    2.13.2008 at 04:23pm - Comment by Czar

    sadly,we often prefer to just turn a blind eye towards certain things. If it appears that a country is developing space weapons, we may pretend that they are not or say that they are not a threat. Weaponization of space is imminent. despite the international pact made by several countries, including us, other countries who have not signed the pact will deploy weapons in space. If or when they attack us, we will, in retaliation, deploy weapons in space to combat them. we likely have a "nonexistent" branch of military that is developing weapons made for space just in case. China, us, and some other advanced countries already have the capability of shooting down satellites. the attack plan of another country could be well disguised. they could for example, send up satellites that may seem legitimate, maybe even work, but that are really loaded with perhaps explosives or are just very large. these could then attack our satellites, the space station, or act like ballistics from space. if they are used as ballistics, an operational error could be invented and it could appear as if the craft is plummeting out of control when it could be precisely controlled and targeted to crash into the white house, etc. plus, the country who planned that would be mostly safe because everyone would think it was an accident when it really wasn't. If that happened, then the people who develop that controversial ideas that it was planned would be right for once. Unfortunately, we will eventually become so advanced that we will be set back centuries if we fight a war because we will utterly annihilate each other. If I were an alien watching us, I would not return their signals due to our apparently violent nature.



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