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Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!panix!.POSTED.2602:f977:0:1::2!not-for-mail From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom,rec.arts.sf.science,rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: idiots walk among us Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2025 10:37:14 -0400 (EDT) Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Message-ID: <vqk92q$ffq$1@panix2.panix.com> References: <0001HW.2D7BB48800F8D22B70000998A38F@news.supernews.com> <vqi3sl$9328$1@dont-email.me> <vqi4q7$9je$1@reader1.panix.com> Injection-Info: reader1.panix.com; posting-host="2602:f977:0:1::2"; logging-data="17475"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@panix.com" Bytes: 1532 Lines: 18 Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote: >Mike Van Pelt <usenet@mikevanpelt.com> wrote: >> Nobody gets vaccinated against smallpox any more, since the virus >> is extinct. In the wild. I grimly await some (long string of >> weapons-grade expletives) to break that out of the freezer and >> inflict it on the world again. > >That may not be the only way it can happen. At a book signing I asked >James Watson if a terrorist could synthesize smallpox, given that its >complete genome is in the open literature. He said no, but he looked >very uncomfortable when answering, so I'm skeptical. It's more than just one big protein, so yeah, it's not going to be an easy job for a terrorist to do. It might be easier to find some in a freezer somewhere. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."