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September 30, 2003

Crop Bio-terrorism Using Genetic Weapons: Horrifying Scenario

The New Scientist published this scary article in reaction to new reports from the US Agriculture Department about unorthodox terrorist risk scenarios. It's one more example of why uncontrolled genetic engineering is perhaps the greatest present long-term threat to the human species -- far more dangerous in fact than nuclear weapons. If we regulate plutonium technology and know-how with extreme security, why aren't we regulating genetic engineering technology and know-how just as carefully? Until we have effective means of quickly detecting and stopping genetic weapons we should be extremely careful about disseminating knowledge and technology that would potentially help terrorists or rogue states to cause harm. This is of course a very hairy ethical issue that could be debated endlessly. My point is not to limit scientific progress -- but on the other hand, not all scientific progress is "good" -- it's only good if humanity is ready to handle it responsibly.

Posted on September 30, 2003 at 08:57 AM in Biology, Genetic Engineering, Government, Medicine, Science, Terrorism |

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Nova's Trip to Edge of Space

  • Stepsedgestratosphere
    In 1999 I flew to the edge of space with the Russian air force, with Space Adventures. I made it to an altitude of just under 100,000 feet and flew at Mach 3 in a Mig-25 piloted by one of Russia's best test-pilots. These pics were taken by Space Adventures from similar flights to mine. I didn't take digital stills -- I got the whole flight on digital video, which was featured on the Discovery Channel.

Nova & Friends, Training For Space...

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    In 1999 I was invited to Russia as a guest of the Russian Space Agency to participate in zero-gravity training on an Ilyushin-76 parabolic flight training aircraft. It was really fun!!!! Among other people on that adventure were Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize and Zero-G Corporation), Bijal Trivedi (a good friend of mine, science journalist), and "Lord British" (creator of the Ultima games). Here are some pictures from that trip...

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