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Gene drives can't harm us but they could easily wreak havoc on fast reproducing species we depend upon. Bees, are what I'd target if I were inclined to cause a

Gene drives can't harm us but they could easily wreak havoc on fast reproducing species we depend upon. Bees, are what I'd target if I were inclined to cause apocalypses. And perhaps soil nematodes.

mapt 10y ago
Want to see some rapid speciation? Kill off all the bees* and watch the other insects take over and start to specialize. It's not necessarily an apocalypse event, based on http://www.hortmag.com/plants/fruits-veggies/vegetable-crops-that-do-not-need-pollinators http://www.hortmag.com/plants/fruits-veggies/vegetable-crops... and Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated... : "The most essential staple food crops on the planet, like corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and sorghum, need no insect help at all; they are wind-pollinated or self-pollinating. Other staple food crops, like bananas and plantains, are sterile and propagated from cuttings, requiring no pollination of any form, ever. Further, foods such as root vegetables and salad crops will produce a useful food crop without pollination, though they may not set seed;" *The unknown unknowns about gene drive weapons may or may not be able more powerful than the extreme efficacy of natural selection on r-strategists.
deftnerd 10y ago
I read a trio of apocalypse short story collections earlier in the year and one of the ones that stuck in my head the most was a trio of stories... "Spore", "Fruiting Bodies", and "Resistance" by Seanan McGuire. It centered around a molecular biologist who worked a lab that accidentally releases a modified strain of a "hardier, healthier, and easier-to-grow bread mold, that was resistant to virtually every fungicide and sterilizing agent we knew" It becomes a fungal apex predator and is capable of consuming living tissue. It was one of the most frightening apocalypse scenarios I've ever read because it seemed somewhat plausible. A hardier fungus could change ecosystems dramatically. About 300 million years ago, fungi evolved the ability to break down lignin. Before then when biomass died, it didn't rot away and slowly got turned into the coal and oil deposits that we now consume. Fallen trees stayed where they fell for thousands of years and got turned into petrified wood. Since that evolution, everything changed so much that it affected future geology. Never underestimate the ability of our fuzzy fungi cousins and how they can change the world.

Gene drives can't harm us but they could easily wreak havoc on fast reproducing species we depend upon. Bees, are what I'd target if I were inclined to cause apocalypses. And perhaps soil nematodes.

mapt 10y ago

Want to see some rapid speciation? Kill off all the bees* and watch the other insects take over and start to specialize. It's not necessarily an apocalypse event, based on http://www.hortmag.com/plants/fruits-veggies/vegetable-crops-that-do-not-need-pollinators http://www.hortmag.com/plants/fruits-veggies/vegetable-crops... and Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated_by_bees https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crop_plants_pollinated... : "The most essential staple food crops on the planet, like corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and sorghum, need no insect help at all; they are wind-pollinated or self-pollinating. Other staple food crops, like bananas and plantains, are sterile and propagated from cuttings, requiring no pollination of any form, ever. Further, foods such as root vegetables and salad crops will produce a useful food crop without pollination, though they may not set seed;" *The unknown unknowns about gene drive weapons may or may not be able more powerful than the extreme efficacy of natural selection on r-strategists.

deftnerd 10y ago

I read a trio of apocalypse short story collections earlier in the year and one of the ones that stuck in my head the most was a trio of stories... "Spore", "Fruiting Bodies", and "Resistance" by Seanan McGuire. It centered around a molecular biologist who worked a lab that accidentally releases a modified strain of a "hardier, healthier, and easier-to-grow bread mold, that was resistant to virtually every fungicide and sterilizing agent we knew" It becomes a fungal apex predator and is capable of consuming living tissue. It was one of the most frightening apocalypse scenarios I've ever read because it seemed somewhat plausible. A hardier fungus could change ecosystems dramatically. About 300 million years ago, fungi evolved the ability to break down lignin. Before then when biomass died, it didn't rot away and slowly got turned into the coal and oil deposits that we now consume. Fallen trees stayed where they fell for thousands of years and got turned into petrified wood. Since that evolution, everything changed so much that it affected future geology. Never underestimate the ability of our fuzzy fungi cousins and how they can change the world.