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>Also, say the title is not misleading and they publish the results and some crazy dictator gets his hands on it. The difference between bioweapons and nuclear
by tsotha 15y ago
>Also, say the title is not misleading and they publish the results and some crazy dictator gets his hands on it.
The difference between bioweapons and nuclear weapons is the former don't require the resources of a state. It could just as easily be done by a few grad students. Maybe even a single grad student.
- saulrh 15y agoThere was an article that went over exactly this in Discover magazine a month or two ago. Summary is that it's harder than you might think. To quote: "You would need more than a garage; you would need a great garage and a lot of money. And it's not trivial. You need the oligonucleotides to stitch genes together, and as far as I know, most companies will check the order if the sequence represents that of a dangerous virus." http://discovermagazine.com/2011/oct/21-dawn-of-the-biohackers http://discovermagazine.com/2011/oct/21-dawn-of-the-biohacke...
- skrebbel 15y agoSoo if a university group can do it, then it's too difficult for North Korea to do?
- saulrh 15y agoThe university group can do it because it can pay $500k to our biotech industry for pre-researched and in-production batches of chemicals, equipment, and other supplies. North Korea doesn't have that biotechnology industry to start with and would be starting over from a cottage industry.
- rsheridan6 15y agoI doubt it would be very difficult to social-engineer your way into being able to buy those materials if you had the money.
- skrebbel 15y agoi dont know where you're from, but your universities are RICH!
- DanBC 15y ago(http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/16/cambridge-tops-guardian-league-table http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/16/cambridge-to...) > Professor David Tidmarsh, vice-chancellor of Birmingham City University, says [. . .] the university is investing £180m in new buildings, facilities and equipment. > At Oxford, average spend per student fell to £11,232 in 2009-10 from £11,410 the year before. The university spends substantially more than other institutions. Cambridge spent £8,612 in 2009-10, a rise from £8,118 the year before.* Rough guide to student numbers (pdf) (http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/supplements2010-11/Student_Numbers_2010-2011.pdf http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazett...)
- tsotha 15y agoYou mean the kind of facilities you'd find in a university lab?
- DanBC 15y agoHave a look at what groups like Aum Shinrikyo are thought to have achieved. I have no doubt that if they were still active they'd have little problem doing this.
- jballanc 15y agoProducing biological agents is trivial. Weaponizing them is a far, far, far more daunting task. See here for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare#Offensive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare#Offensive