this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
330 points (98.2% liked)

World News

39327 readers
1689 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Leading scientists, including Nobel laureates, are urging a halt to research on creating “mirror life” microbes, citing “unprecedented risks” to life on Earth.

Mirror microbes, built from reversed molecular structures, could evade natural immune systems, leading to uncontrollable lethal infections.

While mirror molecules hold potential for medical and industrial uses, researchers warn that mirror organisms could escape containment and resist antibiotics.

A 299-page report in Science advocates banning such research until safety can be ensured and calls for global debate on its ethical and ecological implications.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 days ago (2 children)

A 299-page report in Science advocates banning such research until safety can be ensured and calls for global debate on its ethical and ecological implications

Which will not be read or followed!

Weeeeee! Maybe i die of superflu instead of hunger or jackboot

[–] kerrigan778 19 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't think viruses are the major concern here, viruses need to be compatible with our cells and DNA or RNA. It's bacteria and other simplistic life forms that could infect our body and be largely invisible to our immune system.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] kerrigan778 4 points 3 days ago

A biological hate machine

[–] Buddahriffic 7 points 4 days ago

Yeah, this should probably be approached from the angle of "someone might do this, so we should do research to be prepared".

Research ways to improve containment to reduce the chance of an accidental containment breach.

And research ways to quickly determine the weaknesses of such synthetic lifeforms if a breach happens anyways. Also to be prepared in case someone deliberately weaponizes it.

By the way, this kind of thing is why IMO if we ever do find extra terrestrial life, attempting to make any kind of physical contact or even land on the planet might end up dooming both our own species (and maybe all current complex life on Earth) as well as any complex life on that other planet. They could have basic forms of life that are entirely different from our own and completely invisible to our immune systems.

Though it would probably also have cool results in a few hundred million years, after microbial life has evolved defenses and perhaps some hybridizations.