/sci/ - Science & Math

>Professor Chen and her colleagues deliberately mixed the H5N1 bird-flu virus, which is highly lethal but not easily transmitted between people, with a 2009 strain of H1N1 flu virus, which is very infectious to humans.

>When flu viruses come together by infecting the same cell they can swap genetic material and produce “hybrids” through the re-assortment of genes. The researchers were trying to emulate what happens in nature when animals such as pigs are co-infected with two different strains of virus, Professor Chen said.


What in the happy fuck are they thinking? it this new hybrid virus does get out, we are so fucked!.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/appalling-irresponsibility-senior-scientists-attack-chinese-researchers-for-creating-new-strains-of-influenza-virus-in-veterinary-laboratory-8601658.html

Will there ever be a cure for

- HIV
- Herpes
- Alzheimer
- Parkinson's

?

Is anybody else fascinated by microbiology? I've always had an interest in virology and I'm seriously considering a major in microbiology.

What type of infectious disease is the worst: viral, bacterial, prionic, protistal, helminthal or fungal?

or… what's the most deadly/dangerous/contagious disease for each pathogen category?

in systems where there are both prey and predators, where the population oscillates like a sine wave, is the evolution faster than in a population whose population stays about constant (no big prey/predator relationships)?

Why hello sci, you seem like a smart bunch of chaps. What to think of a major pandemic? How soon? How destructive? And who will be safe?

I think this news article is worth sharing:

|http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/andre-picard/the-return-of-measles-where-did-
we-go-wrong/article2052432/

It's similar to how, in John Allen Paulos' "Innumeracy", we;'re increasingly proud of our ignorance to the sciences. So much so, that we're not vaccinating our children (as well as other things) and now have a returning pandemic.

Does /sci/ believe in vaccines? I sure do.

how come there are always a small percentage of people who is immune to any given virus?

So, /sci.

There is something I have been wondering about for quite some time. As you know, there are infact viruses capable of assuming control of an individuals brain, shutting down certain functions and reinforcing others.

Theoretically, would it be possible to somehow grab traits from multiple forms of this virus, along with some virus transmitted via saliva/blood etc to create a brain parasite capalble of spreading trough bites, scratches and such?

I am by no means a scientist, which is why I come to ask you, so please spare me the "You're a fucking retard" part.

Not really sci related but whatev.

So I'm going to my doctor today because I've been having pains in my chest/abdomen area and I also get a really intense pressure in my head after I work out. My history is a full year of mono in 2008/2009 along with a MRSA infection. My doctor is worthless however. He missed my mono diagnosis three times. I had to order the mono test. The last time I was there I had so many symptoms I should have probably been in a hospital and he calmly made up some reason for every symptom. For example, my nose has been bloody every time I wipe it for a full year. He told me that it is dry season. I told him that I had gastrointestianl problems: heartburn and diarrhea. He told me I need to wipe my ass better.

The last time I was there I told him I've had pains near my spleen. (Spleens are commonly fucked up by mono infections) He sent me to a cardiologist.

Now I'm going back and realize fully that my care is in my own hands. I know you guys aren't doctors, but what would you do? What would you say? Should I make him perform scans of my abdomen and possibly head. (I also get weird pains on the left side of my head)

Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

In senior biology im expected to think up a project for an extended experimental investigation. The only problem is that since the teachers been taking the class for about 10 years everything i've though of has already been done.

i can technically choose from anything as long as she approves however the majority of people choose bacterial growth plates ect.

i need a really good project, i was thinking something in virology, anybody care to contribute?

Is the virus a living or non-living thing?

In b4 Andromeda strain.

Anyway, that's the lunatic fringe. But there is a minority in the scientific community that think viruses aren't actually live. But are really more like chemical machines.

Disease has done far worse damage than religion ever could, so really if it wasn't for scientists...

...wait, scientists have to be educated in schools first...

... and religious nuts always stifle scientific education...

...it really is religion's fault!!!

Hey /sci/, check out CERS, they've got a something really interesting on there hands, could change the way blood supplies work. If you've got a few extra bucks laying around, could be good.

i have a question..
i don't understand these new epidemics that pop up out of nowhere and wipe off a lot of people.. i'm talking about mad cow, bird flu, swine flu, SARS.. etc

how the fuck do they just decide it is time to infect a few dozens? how did doctors fight it? as far as i know, they just isolate the patients and let them die.. and most of all, where the fuck are they? how do they just disappear? do they just decide they killed enough people and die out?

i'm very confused..

-In a few years we all have our own "biological program compilers", which is like normal program builders except it builds biological shit.

what would u do ? write viruses ?

Lets discuss our race, the weeknesses, teh strengths,
and our potential and where we could end up in the future.

2 questions.

1. Is it possible to make a nano scale, or at least cellular scale camera, perhaps for roaming the body checking shit out or just a general micro-optic?

2. How does one enter the field of nano-engineering/research? What do I need to study, entrance scores etc.

what is a virus, is it a living thing, and how did they originate?