Death Matches



On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:46:37 -0600, Proton Soup wrote:
>On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:17:58 +0800, spodosaurus
><spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
>
>>elzinator wrote:
>>> On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:19:49 +0000, Helgi Briem wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:48:28 -0600, elzinator
>>>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:23:51 -0500, Lee Michaels wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>"elzinator" wrote
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>"Death Match: Elzinator and the Flu",
>>>>
>>>>>The department sent me home today with a stash of antibiotics and a
>>>>>"Get the hell out of here!". Perks of working in a university medical
>>>>>center.
>>>>
>>>>Why did the give you antibiotics if you have flu?
>>>>
>>>>What's that all about? Does no one in the medical
>>>>centre have any medical training?
>>>
>>>
>>> Do you know what 'secondary infections' are?
>>>
>>> I see you have no medical training.
>>
>>Out of curiousity, are you immunocompromised or are prone to bacterial
>>URTIs?
>
>I believe she mentioned "working in a university medical center",
>which means she's exposed to more nasties than your average Tom, ****,
>or Elzi. If you don't want to get sick, stay out of the hospital.

The route to my office and lab from the train station goes right
through the emergency receiving area. The entire South campus adjoins
three hospitals.

For what it's worth, probably 3/4 of the population in this area is in
one stage or another of URTIs. Everyone I've talked to has been sick
at some time in the last 30 days. We've had extremely fluctuating
temps (35 F one day and 76 F the next) and also high mold/spore
counts. My immune system took a downturn over the holidays with
moving, lack of sleep, etc and this is the 3rd time I have been tagged
with bugs since then. No time to fully recover.
And it's cold, raining right now with snow predicted. I need Arizona.

-------------------------------------------
"The human genome stopped evolving thousands of years ago. The growth of our brains decided
our bodies didn't need to evolve anymore. Perhaps that has now backfired."
 
On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 20:26:25 -0600, elzinator
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:46:37 -0600, Proton Soup wrote:
>>On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:17:58 +0800, spodosaurus
>><spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
>>
>>>elzinator wrote:
>>>> On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:19:49 +0000, Helgi Briem wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:48:28 -0600, elzinator
>>>>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:23:51 -0500, Lee Michaels wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>"elzinator" wrote
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>"Death Match: Elzinator and the Flu",
>>>>>
>>>>>>The department sent me home today with a stash of antibiotics and a
>>>>>>"Get the hell out of here!". Perks of working in a university medical
>>>>>>center.
>>>>>
>>>>>Why did the give you antibiotics if you have flu?
>>>>>
>>>>>What's that all about? Does no one in the medical
>>>>>centre have any medical training?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Do you know what 'secondary infections' are?
>>>>
>>>> I see you have no medical training.
>>>
>>>Out of curiousity, are you immunocompromised or are prone to bacterial
>>>URTIs?
>>
>>I believe she mentioned "working in a university medical center",
>>which means she's exposed to more nasties than your average Tom, ****,
>>or Elzi. If you don't want to get sick, stay out of the hospital.
>
>The route to my office and lab from the train station goes right
>through the emergency receiving area. The entire South campus adjoins
>three hospitals.
>
>For what it's worth, probably 3/4 of the population in this area is in
>one stage or another of URTIs. Everyone I've talked to has been sick
>at some time in the last 30 days. We've had extremely fluctuating
>temps (35 F one day and 76 F the next) and also high mold/spore
>counts. My immune system took a downturn over the holidays with
>moving, lack of sleep, etc and this is the 3rd time I have been tagged
>with bugs since then. No time to fully recover.
>And it's cold, raining right now with snow predicted. I need Arizona.

Bummer. Get swell soon, Elzi.

-----------
Proton Soup

"Thanks for noticing that I didn't actually say anything." - Mike Lane
 
"elzinator" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:46:37 -0600, Proton Soup wrote:
> >On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:17:58 +0800, spodosaurus
> ><spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
> >
> >>elzinator wrote:
> >>> On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:19:49 +0000, Helgi Briem wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:48:28 -0600, elzinator
> >>>><[email protected]> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:23:51 -0500, Lee Michaels wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>"elzinator" wrote
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>"Death Match: Elzinator and the Flu",
> >>>>
> >>>>>The department sent me home today with a stash of antibiotics and a
> >>>>>"Get the hell out of here!". Perks of working in a university medical
> >>>>>center.
> >>>>
> >>>>Why did the give you antibiotics if you have flu?
> >>>>
> >>>>What's that all about? Does no one in the medical
> >>>>centre have any medical training?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Do you know what 'secondary infections' are?
> >>>
> >>> I see you have no medical training.
> >>
> >>Out of curiousity, are you immunocompromised or are prone to bacterial
> >>URTIs?
> >
> >I believe she mentioned "working in a university medical center",
> >which means she's exposed to more nasties than your average Tom, ****,
> >or Elzi. If you don't want to get sick, stay out of the hospital.
>
> The route to my office and lab from the train station goes right
> through the emergency receiving area. The entire South campus adjoins
> three hospitals.
>
> For what it's worth, probably 3/4 of the population in this area is in
> one stage or another of URTIs. Everyone I've talked to has been sick
> at some time in the last 30 days. We've had extremely fluctuating
> temps (35 F one day and 76 F the next) and also high mold/spore
> counts. My immune system took a downturn over the holidays with
> moving, lack of sleep, etc and this is the 3rd time I have been tagged
> with bugs since then. No time to fully recover.
> And it's cold, raining right now with snow predicted. I need Arizona.
>

It's cold here today. 26 C.
Expecting 30+ tomorrow.

> -------------------------------------------
> "The human genome stopped evolving thousands of years ago. The growth of
our brains decided
> our bodies didn't need to evolve anymore. Perhaps that has now backfired."
 
On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 16:08:27 -0600, elzinator
<[email protected]> wrote:


>>>>Why did the give you antibiotics if you have flu?

>>>Do you know what 'secondary infections' are?
>>
>>Yup. You didn't mention having any. Do you?

>I already have a secondary infection. Hence the Abs. I didn't really
>shake off the first bug, then got hit with a stomach bug, then 2
>weeks later, this one. Triple whammy.

In that case I apologise. It was a bad throwaway
remark anyway at your expense and uncalled for,
even in the true MFW spirit.

I hope you get well soon.

--
Helgi Briem hbriem AT simnet DOT is
 
On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 16:54:00 GMT, "David Cohen"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>> One day people are really gonna need them and they
>> won't work.
>
>"One day" arrived a number of years ago. Methicillin resistant
>Staphylococcus aureus, oxicillin resistant Staph aureus, vancomycin
>resistant Enterococcus. People die from these, and others.

I know. But most of the time, even though these strains
are immune to certain common antibiotics, there still
can be found one or two that they are not immune to
and will work. But they're getting rarer.

An area that I would find interesting to look at, if I ever
went back to microbiology, my first love, is the use and
design of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents. When
they were first discovered in the 30s, some promising
work was done in that direction, but quickly disappeared
and became a non-issue with the discovery of fungal
antibiotics. I have a hunch that people may have a closer
look in the future and discover that they can be used for
other things besides gene transfer.

--
Helgi Briem hbriem AT simnet DOT is
 
Proton Soup wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:17:58 +0800, spodosaurus
> <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
>
>
>>elzinator wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 09:19:49 +0000, Helgi Briem wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:48:28 -0600, elzinator
>>>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:23:51 -0500, Lee Michaels wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>"elzinator" wrote
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>"Death Match: Elzinator and the Flu",
>>>>
>>>>>The department sent me home today with a stash of antibiotics and a
>>>>>"Get the hell out of here!". Perks of working in a university medical
>>>>>center.
>>>>
>>>>Why did the give you antibiotics if you have flu?
>>>>
>>>>What's that all about? Does no one in the medical
>>>>centre have any medical training?
>>>
>>>
>>>Do you know what 'secondary infections' are?
>>>
>>>I see you have no medical training.
>>
>>Out of curiousity, are you immunocompromised or are prone to bacterial
>>URTIs?
>
>
> I believe she mentioned "working in a university medical center",
> which means she's exposed to more nasties than your average Tom, ****,
> or Elzi. If you don't want to get sick, stay out of the hospital.

Being significantly immunocomprimised myself, I stay out of hospitals
whenever possible. I don't even go in to get my medication or surgical
supplies for the injections/infusions/chelations etc etc. I wait in the
car and my wife goes in. Those places are full of sick people!!!

Ari


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
Mick R. wrote:
> "elzinator" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>

>>And it's cold, raining right now with snow predicted. I need Arizona.
>>
>
>
> It's cold here today. 26 C.
> Expecting 30+ tomorrow.

Now *that'* downright cruel.

We'll laugh at you in July when you're freezing YOUR ass off, though,
you metric-luvin down-undering guy.

Delenn
 
spodosaurus wrote:

> Being significantly immunocomprimised myself, I stay out of hospitals
> whenever possible. I don't even go in to get my medication or surgical
> supplies for the injections/infusions/chelations etc etc. I wait in the
> car and my wife goes in. Those places are full of sick people!!!

So are grocery stores. I know we've talked about this before, but I'm
really a big believer in having everyone in the house wash their hands
as soon as they walk in the door. It's become second nature so that
they don't even have to be nagged anymore.

But for the really grimy places I don't wait: I bring the little Purrell
bottle with me in my purse and use it in the car right after visiting a
doctor's clinic or a daycare full of snotty-nosed kids.

My kid had chicken pox last week and we didn't bring him to the doctor's
at all. I just phoned it in. No sense in exposing a kid who already
has a virus to any other **** going around.

Delenn
 
Delenn wrote:
> spodosaurus wrote:
>
>> Being significantly immunocomprimised myself, I stay out of hospitals
>> whenever possible. I don't even go in to get my medication or surgical
>> supplies for the injections/infusions/chelations etc etc. I wait in
>> the car and my wife goes in. Those places are full of sick people!!!
>
>
> So are grocery stores. I know we've talked about this before, but I'm
> really a big believer in having everyone in the house wash their hands
> as soon as they walk in the door. It's become second nature so that
> they don't even have to be nagged anymore.
>

My wife never likes it when I come grocery shopping anyway. I 'get in
the way'. But I don't like shopping centres and such anymore, too many
people coughing and sneezing.

> But for the really grimy places I don't wait: I bring the little Purrell
> bottle with me in my purse and use it in the car right after visiting a
> doctor's clinic or a daycare full of snotty-nosed kids.
>

We have a little pouch of antibacterial wipes in the car glovebox.

> My kid had chicken pox last week and we didn't bring him to the doctor's
> at all. I just phoned it in. No sense in exposing a kid who already
> has a virus to any other **** going around.

I hate having to go to my GPs office. I often sit out in the car if it
isn't too hot and wait to get waived in. He's not thrilled about me
sitting in the waiting room either, with the risk of catching things for me.

>
> Delenn


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
DZ wrote:
> Delenn <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>So are grocery stores. I know we've talked about this before, but I'm
>>really a big believer in having everyone in the house wash their hands
>>as soon as they walk in the door. It's become second nature so that
>>they don't even have to be nagged anymore.
>
>
> Don't they put the bugs back in when they touch the faucet handles to
> turn down the water?

Not unless the 'handles' are perfect spheres. Most have ridges or bumps:
you press one side to twist the tap on, and you press the other side
when twisting the tap off. That said, we're probably going to be
changing the kitchen and bathroom taps over to mini versions of the
paddle handles that you see in hospitals and doctors' offices. Better to
be safe with me.

> Of course at home you can go through an elaborate
> procedure of say turning the handles with a piece of paper towel etc
> without anyone noticing that you look like a ****.
>

I don't at home, I know how regularly mine are cleaned. It's in public
restrooms that I'm much happier when they use paper towels: I turn the
water off using that method in those places :)

> At public places like gyms the faucets probably accumulate higher and
> more diverse concentration of germs than your unwashed hands. That is,
> unless you're already sick.

Yeah, but after wiping your ****, it's a good idea to wash your hands,
dude... Remind me to wear gloves if we ever shake hands :p

Cheers,

Ari


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
DZ wrote:
> spodosaurus <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
>
>>DZ wrote:
>>
>>>At public places like gyms the faucets probably accumulate higher and
>>>more diverse concentration of germs than your unwashed hands. That is,
>>>unless you're already sick.
>>
>>Yeah, but after wiping your ****, it's a good idea to wash your hands,
>>dude... Remind me to wear gloves if we ever shake hands :p
>
>
> I adhere to social norms and wash my hands while compromising chances
> of staying away from the flu. Come to think of it, it's a good idea to
> disinfect the hands *before* going to the toilet.
>
> DZ

I guess that all depends on how much you value what you'll be holding ;-)

Ari

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
"DZ" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> spodosaurus <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
> > DZ wrote:
> >> At public places like gyms the faucets probably accumulate higher and
> >> more diverse concentration of germs than your unwashed hands. That is,
> >> unless you're already sick.
> >
> > Yeah, but after wiping your ****, it's a good idea to wash your hands,
> > dude... Remind me to wear gloves if we ever shake hands :p
>
> I adhere to social norms and wash my hands while compromising chances
> of staying away from the flu. Come to think of it, it's a good idea to
> disinfect the hands *before* going to the toilet.
>
> DZ

The rule is: biologist's wash their hands afterwards, chemist's wash their
hands before, and engineer's don't see the point!
A leason this chemist learned one day cutting habaneros for chilie....WOW!
 
Helgi Briem wrote:
> On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 16:54:00 GMT, "David Cohen"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> One day people are really gonna need them and they
> >> won't work.
> >
> >"One day" arrived a number of years ago. Methicillin resistant
> >Staphylococcus aureus, oxicillin resistant Staph aureus, vancomycin
> >resistant Enterococcus. People die from these, and others.
>
> I know. But most of the time, even though these strains
> are immune to certain common antibiotics, there still
> can be found one or two that they are not immune to
> and will work. But they're getting rarer.
>
> An area that I would find interesting to look at, if I ever
> went back to microbiology, my first love, is the use and
> design of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents. When
> they were first discovered in the 30s, some promising
> work was done in that direction, but quickly disappeared
> and became a non-issue with the discovery of fungal
> antibiotics. I have a hunch that people may have a closer
> look in the future and discover that they can be used for
> other things besides gene transfer.

Dude, read "Darwin's Radio."
 
"Delenn" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mick R. wrote:
> > "elzinator" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >
>
> >>And it's cold, raining right now with snow predicted. I need Arizona.
> >>
> >
> >
> > It's cold here today. 26 C.
> > Expecting 30+ tomorrow.
>
> Now *that'* downright cruel.
>
> We'll laugh at you in July when you're freezing YOUR ass off, though,
> you metric-luvin down-undering guy.
>

Yeah, it'll be bad then. Down around 5C. Fair's fair, laugh away.

--
Mick R.
It doesn't matter if we like each other or not. Cancer will touch all of us
eventually. Please help.
http://www.grid.org/download/
http://www.grid.org/services/teams/team.htm?id=C7C8FCBB-2CD4-4F3C-8763-3E16A0FB20D1
> Delenn
 
"Dr_Dickie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "DZ" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > spodosaurus <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
> > > DZ wrote:
> > >> At public places like gyms the faucets probably accumulate higher and
> > >> more diverse concentration of germs than your unwashed hands. That
is,
> > >> unless you're already sick.
> > >
> > > Yeah, but after wiping your ****, it's a good idea to wash your hands,
> > > dude... Remind me to wear gloves if we ever shake hands :p
> >
> > I adhere to social norms and wash my hands while compromising chances
> > of staying away from the flu. Come to think of it, it's a good idea to
> > disinfect the hands *before* going to the toilet.
> >
> > DZ
>
> The rule is: biologist's wash their hands afterwards, chemist's wash their
> hands before, and engineer's don't see the point!
> A leason this chemist learned one day cutting habaneros for chilie....WOW!
>
I take it that you didn't put on any soft music and lower the lights before
that encounter.

I found Dencorub to be just as bad. Methyl Salicilate ... not good

--
Mick R.
It doesn't matter if we like each other or not. Cancer will touch all of us
eventually. Please help.
http://www.grid.org/download/
http://www.grid.org/services/teams/team.htm?id=C7C8FCBB-2CD4-4F3C-8763-3E16A0FB20D1
>
 
On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:50:23 -0500, Delenn <[email protected]> wrote:

>Mick R. wrote:
>> "elzinator" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>
>>>And it's cold, raining right now with snow predicted. I need Arizona.
>>>
>>
>>
>> It's cold here today. 26 C.
>> Expecting 30+ tomorrow.
>
>Now *that'* downright cruel.
>
>We'll laugh at you in July when you're freezing YOUR ass off, though,
>you metric-luvin down-undering guy.
>
>Delenn

It's 72 F here today, nice and sunny.

We might get rain in a couple of weeks, though.
 
On 2 Feb 2005 11:13:01 -0800, "elzinator" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>> An area that I would find interesting to look at, if I ever
>> went back to microbiology, my first love, is the use and
>> design of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents. When
>> they were first discovered in the 30s, some promising
>> work was done in that direction, but quickly disappeared
>> and became a non-issue with the discovery of fungal
>> antibiotics. I have a hunch that people may have a closer
>> look in the future and discover that they can be used for
>> other things besides gene transfer.
>
>Dude, read "Darwin's Radio."

Hmmm. I haven't read the book, but according to the
blurbs and reviews, the premise of Greg Bears novel
is that within the "junk DNA" in the genome there
lurk dormant retroviruses, ready for the "next stage
of human evolution".

What has science fiction, good or not, about dormant
prescient human retroviruses got to do with using
bacteriophages to kill bacteria? (which is what they do
anyway). Being a (former) evolutionary biologist, I get
very skeptical about ideas of evolution having predetermined
"goals" and "stages". Even in fiction, much as I like fantasy.

Of course bacteriophages such as lambda and M13 are
used daily in every molecular biology lab in the world,
so there is already a lot of knowledge on how to design
bacterial viruses for specific purposes.

--
Helgi Briem hbriem AT simnet DOT is
 
"Mick R." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Dr_Dickie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "DZ" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > spodosaurus <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
> > > > DZ wrote:
> > > >> At public places like gyms the faucets probably accumulate higher
and
> > > >> more diverse concentration of germs than your unwashed hands. That
> is,
> > > >> unless you're already sick.
> > > >
> > > > Yeah, but after wiping your ****, it's a good idea to wash your
hands,
> > > > dude... Remind me to wear gloves if we ever shake hands :p
> > >
> > > I adhere to social norms and wash my hands while compromising chances
> > > of staying away from the flu. Come to think of it, it's a good idea to
> > > disinfect the hands *before* going to the toilet.
> > >
> > > DZ
> >
> > The rule is: biologist's wash their hands afterwards, chemist's wash
their
> > hands before, and engineer's don't see the point!
> > A leason this chemist learned one day cutting habaneros for
chilie....WOW!
> >
> I take it that you didn't put on any soft music and lower the lights
before
> that encounter.
>
> I found Dencorub to be just as bad. Methyl Salicilate ... not good
>
> --
> Mick R.
>

No no, you don't understand, I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of
cutting the habs!!! Ouch.
 
"DZ" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dr_Dickie <[email protected]> wrote:
> > "DZ" wrote
> >> spodosaurus <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote:
> >> > DZ wrote:
> >> >> At public places like gyms the faucets probably accumulate higher
and
> >> >> more diverse concentration of germs than your unwashed hands. That
is,
> >> >> unless you're already sick.
> >> >
> >> > Yeah, but after wiping your ****, it's a good idea to wash your
hands,
> >> > dude... Remind me to wear gloves if we ever shake hands :p
> >>
> >> I adhere to social norms and wash my hands while compromising chances
> >> of staying away from the flu. Come to think of it, it's a good idea to
> >> disinfect the hands *before* going to the toilet.
> >
> > The rule is: biologist's wash their hands afterwards,
>
> Being both a biologist and a statistician or either one of them
> depending on the situation - I agree that biologists are more
> considerate than others. But that's the only reason. There won't be
> more *infectious* germs on the hands "after" compared to "before".
> Maybe some tapeworm eggs if you had too much sushi.
>
> DZ
>

If you are doing number one, I agree (likely to get more bugs on your hands
from the door handle after washing brings them all to the surface); however,
considering that 0.33% of feces is considered to be bacteria (e. coli
mostly) and bacterial material (dead ones too). You would have to be a very
careful wiper after nuber 2 to leave the loo with same as you entered!
 
On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 09:39:41 +0000, Helgi Briem wrote:
>On 2 Feb 2005 11:13:01 -0800, "elzinator" <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>>> An area that I would find interesting to look at, if I ever
>>> went back to microbiology, my first love, is the use and
>>> design of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents. When
>>> they were first discovered in the 30s, some promising
>>> work was done in that direction, but quickly disappeared
>>> and became a non-issue with the discovery of fungal
>>> antibiotics. I have a hunch that people may have a closer
>>> look in the future and discover that they can be used for
>>> other things besides gene transfer.
>>
>>Dude, read "Darwin's Radio."
>
>Hmmm. I haven't read the book, but according to the
>blurbs and reviews, the premise of Greg Bears novel
>is that within the "junk DNA" in the genome there
>lurk dormant retroviruses, ready for the "next stage
>of human evolution".
>
>What has science fiction, good or not, about dormant
>prescient human retroviruses got to do with using
>bacteriophages to kill bacteria? (which is what they do
>anyway).

Read the book.

> Being a (former) evolutionary biologist, I get
>very skeptical about ideas of evolution having predetermined
>"goals" and "stages". Even in fiction, much as I like fantasy.

Use your imagination.

>Of course bacteriophages such as lambda and M13 are
>used daily in every molecular biology lab in the world,
>so there is already a lot of knowledge on how to design
>bacterial viruses for specific purposes.

Being done in veterinary medicine.

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"The human genome stopped evolving thousands of years ago. The growth of our brains decided
our bodies didn't need to evolve anymore. Perhaps that has now backfired."
 
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