4 ms·

All those ancient prions, viruses and bacteria that the world have not been exposed to for eons, now floating in the air and water, may very well be the best so

All those ancient prions, viruses and bacteria that the world have not been exposed to for eons, now floating in the air and water, may very well be the best solution to the human overpopulation problem.

rexpop 7y ago
You're sick.
- dang 7y ago
  Please don't respond to a bad comment with another bad comment. The site guidelines ask you not to: "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." Also, please restrain yourself from personal attack, regardless of how bad a comment is. Maybe you don't owe the person better, but you owe this community better if you want to keep posting here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
antonvs 7y ago
It's very unlikely. This article goes into more detail: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/24/575974220/are-there-zombie-viruses-in-the-thawing-permafrost https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/24/5759742... The summary is that most of those viruses and bacteria are long dead, and in those cases where something was frozen recently enough to still be viable, you'd most likely need to go to extreme lengths - like "kneeling in defrosted marine mammal goo" - to get infected by it.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  So like how Ebola spreads got it, not very improbable at all Dead viruses and bacteria are resurrected just be being exposed to a single live version of itself
  - antonvs 7y ago
    You'll notice there's not much Ebola in the world. Despite the sensationalist "Hot Zone" journalism around it, it's not a serious threat in first world countries. The reason is precisely because the precautions one needs to take to avoid it are just basic hygiene that we take for granted. > Dead viruses and bacteria are resurrected just be being exposed to a single live version of itself Did you read the article I linked? Perhaps you should have told that to the scientists who tried but failed to culture frozen organisms. If they can't culture it in a lab, then the chances of it reviving on its own in the wild are very low. I can't believe we're discussing a literal X-Files plot as though it's scientifically realistic.
    - rolltiide 7y ago
      > Did you read the article I linked? Perhaps you should have told that to the scientists who tried but failed to culture frozen organisms. I missed that part. Pretty cool It still only takes 1 live compatible one to come in contact with the frozen organism that still has enough biological data intact. There are so many organisms in the soil that we don't know about such that I don't consider it improbable.
southern_cross 7y ago
If ongoing risk from those ancient pathogens were anywhere close to being real, then every year when old glacial mountain ice melts and feeds the streams on which so many areas depend, there would also be serious disease outbreaks and epidemics in those areas. But that doesn't happen. Also, the scientists who drill into ancient ice and pull out cores and handle them freely would also face similar issues. But again that doesn't happen. Another thing to keep in mind is that, even if there were surviving pathogens in that old ice, generally we are the descendants of folks who survived exposure to those pathogens at some point in the past. So it may very well be in our genes to mostly just shrug off exposure to them today.

rexpop 7y ago

You're sick.

dang 7y ago
Please don't respond to a bad comment with another bad comment. The site guidelines ask you not to: "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." Also, please restrain yourself from personal attack, regardless of how bad a comment is. Maybe you don't owe the person better, but you owe this community better if you want to keep posting here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

antonvs 7y ago

It's very unlikely. This article goes into more detail: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/24/575974220/are-there-zombie-viruses-in-the-thawing-permafrost https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/01/24/5759742... The summary is that most of those viruses and bacteria are long dead, and in those cases where something was frozen recently enough to still be viable, you'd most likely need to go to extreme lengths - like "kneeling in defrosted marine mammal goo" - to get infected by it.

rolltiide 7y ago
So like how Ebola spreads got it, not very improbable at all Dead viruses and bacteria are resurrected just be being exposed to a single live version of itself
- antonvs 7y ago
  You'll notice there's not much Ebola in the world. Despite the sensationalist "Hot Zone" journalism around it, it's not a serious threat in first world countries. The reason is precisely because the precautions one needs to take to avoid it are just basic hygiene that we take for granted. > Dead viruses and bacteria are resurrected just be being exposed to a single live version of itself Did you read the article I linked? Perhaps you should have told that to the scientists who tried but failed to culture frozen organisms. If they can't culture it in a lab, then the chances of it reviving on its own in the wild are very low. I can't believe we're discussing a literal X-Files plot as though it's scientifically realistic.
  - rolltiide 7y ago
    > Did you read the article I linked? Perhaps you should have told that to the scientists who tried but failed to culture frozen organisms. I missed that part. Pretty cool It still only takes 1 live compatible one to come in contact with the frozen organism that still has enough biological data intact. There are so many organisms in the soil that we don't know about such that I don't consider it improbable.

southern_cross 7y ago

If ongoing risk from those ancient pathogens were anywhere close to being real, then every year when old glacial mountain ice melts and feeds the streams on which so many areas depend, there would also be serious disease outbreaks and epidemics in those areas. But that doesn't happen. Also, the scientists who drill into ancient ice and pull out cores and handle them freely would also face similar issues. But again that doesn't happen. Another thing to keep in mind is that, even if there were surviving pathogens in that old ice, generally we are the descendants of folks who survived exposure to those pathogens at some point in the past. So it may very well be in our genes to mostly just shrug off exposure to them today.