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You're trying to frame this as a scientists vs the everyman debate, but there were plenty of scientists who were against gain of function research and warned th
by swebs 5y ago
You're trying to frame this as a scientists vs the everyman debate, but there were plenty of scientists who were against gain of function research and warned that this exact scenario could happen.
- Gibbon1 5y agoSeems like scientists with the training an experience to know what they are talking about say SARS-Covid2 doesn't look like the result of gain of function research.
- swebs 5y agoGot a link? I'm interested to see how its even possible to distinguish that.
- Gibbon1 5y agoI think one. I can't vouch for any of the detail. (Just like almost everyone else) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9 "Furthermore, if genetic manipulation had been performed, one of the several reverse-genetic systems available for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used19. However, the genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone"
- dekhn 5y agoWhen a scientist says 'irrefutably' that just means you should check their work even more carefully. One of the authors of this paper is mentioned in the article, he's walked back his stance a bit.