Every Bioterrorism Expert's Worse Nightmare: Recent Man-Made Super-Flu Could Kill Half Humanity

This transmission electron micrograph taken at a magnification of 150,000x, reveals the ultrastructural details of an avian influenza A (H5N1) virion, pictured by the United States government's Centre for Disease Control.

Armageddon Super Virus Recipe: Keep Secret Or Publish? -- Sydney Morning Herald

To publish or not to publish?

That is the question gripping scientists after virologists said they had developed a bird flu virus - with a 60 per cent human mortality rate - that could spread as easily as the common cold.

Some fear the virus, if it fell into the wrong hands, could be modified by bioterrorists into a weapon that kills billions of people.

Read more ....

More News On The H5N1

'Anthrax isn't scary at all compared to this': Man-made flu virus with potential to wipe out many millions if it ever escaped is created in research lab -- Daily Mail
Man-made super-flu could kill half humanity -- RT
Super Virus Report Might Make or Break Biosecurity -- Top News
New manmade super virus? New bird flu has 60% human lethality -- Digital Journal
Canberra Vaccine Expert Urges Censorship on Bird Flu Strain Mutant Research -- IBTimes
“Bird Flu” Virus Experiment Sparks Controversy and a Biosecurity Review -- Decoded Science
US fears Dutch research could be biological weapon -- Radio Netherlands
Deadly man-made strain of H5N1 bird flu virus raises controversy -- Digital Journal
Should a New Recipe for Engineered Bird Flu, Potent Enough to Kill Millions, Be Published? -- Popular Science
Scientists Brace for Media Storm Around Controversial Flu Studies -- Science Insider
Deadly Man-Made Flu Won’t Kill Everyone Unless It Escapes From the Lab -- Gawker

Researchers Decry Proposed Rules To Secure Bio Research Labs

In Fort Detrick's new BSL-4 laboratory, a labyrinth of ducts guides air in the lab through banks of powerful filters, each of which removes more than 99 percent of particles larger than 0.0003 mm. Staff say air leaves the building cleaner than it arrives.

From Popular Mechanics:

This week, the White House released a study by the Working Group on Strengthening the Biosecurity of the United States that recommends stricter guidelines for dangerous pathogens and stronger screening standards for lab employees. But the reception of the proposed changes has been frosty among scientists, who worry that the restrictions will hamper their work, without obstructing terrorism.

Read more ....

Humans 2.0: Replacing The Mind And Body

U.S. Army Sgt. Juan Arredondo, outfitted with an i-LIMB after losing his hand in Iraq, says it does things naturally. The i-LIMB has flexible hydraulic drives located directly in the movable finger joints. Credit: Touch Bionics

From Live Science:

When President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio address Saturday that innovation would be a key to the future of the nation, he probably was not thinking specifically of artificial brains or replacement eyeballs.

But other researchers already have such goals in mind and are well on their way to building Humans 2.0, the real-life Steve Austin of the "Six Million Dollar Man."

Recent breakthroughs in bionics and lab-grown body parts — along with news last month that a Swiss research team aims to recreate the intricacies of the human brain within a decade — show science is rapidly creating many of the parts needed to build a fully functional human almost from scratch.

Read more ....

Biotechnology's Potential Barely Exploited: Scientists

This picture released by the Seoul research institute Maria BioTech shows human embryonic stem cells. New research tools will bring a boom in biotechnology that will unlock the enormous potential of using synthetic life to cure disease and develop environmentally friendly fuels, scientists say. (AFP/HO/File)

From Yahoo News/AFP:

CHICAGO (AFP) – New research tools will bring a boom in biotechnology that will unlock the enormous potential of using synthetic life to cure disease and develop environmentally friendly fuels, scientists say.

"If you look at all the things biology can do with technology, we have not yet scratched the surface," said Drew Endy, assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University.

The past 35 years of biotech development have introduced a number of "tremendous applications," particularly in the area of bioengineered drugs, Endy said at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science here.

Read more ....