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> One of the scientists discovered that the size and location of a fragment of Covid-19 resembled the same fragment in Wuhan Institute of Virology research from

> One of the scientists discovered that the size and location of a fragment of Covid-19 resembled the same fragment in Wuhan Institute of Virology research from more than a decade earlier, in 2008. Can anyone with experience in that field weigh in how convincing that is if true.

schappim 3y ago
Although I’ve had suspicions about the convenient timing of COVID putting an end to the Hong Kong democracy protests, I haven’t come across any compelling evidence to support this notion. I’d advise taking the journalist’s words with caution, considering that her work (including her book) on the subject has faced criticism for lacking in details, presenting controversial scientific analysis, and omitting expert perspectives. This was pointed out in critiques of Markson’s thesis about the events in China.[1] [1] https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/09/sharri-marksons-book-on-covids-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/09/sharri-markson...
DonsDiscountGas 3y ago
I assume by "fragment" they mean "contig"[0]. This statement only has meaning if this particular contig is: a) found at WIV b) not found in the wild (to our knowledge, which we would expect to be incomplete) c) unlikely to have evolved in the wild from SARS-CoV-1 over the past 10 years. My reading of this sentence indicates they're saying a), but they don't mention b) or c). A good biologist wouldn't bother mentioning this type of thing unless they had good evidence for b) and c), but the sources are uncited and there's no details here. So I really wouldn't take anything away from this. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contig