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Mocker
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: WestPac
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Jun 21st, 2003, 04:22 PM
Heheh the capability Gene-Tailoring has been around for almost a decade, and much longer than that in theory.
Actually there was an interesting insight into how such techniques are being used in this month's Popular Mechanics. A scientist, whose name was not important enough for me to remember sadly, has constructed a mosquito with a synthetic "selfish gene" which, when mating with mosqitoes sharing that same "selfish gene" it result in failed offspring incapable of supporting life. The Gene has been designed to replicate itself regardless of the sex of the carrier into the product of any mating. The man who designed it wished to kill malaria harbouring mosqutioes through out Africa, which could be done within a year if he can release 1% of the total mosquitoes worth of infect larvae on the continent.
I almost smile when I consider the possible translation of that research into biological agents. Virtually any species on earth could be killed in such a fashion, by anyone with the capital and the interest.
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