A Cure For The Common Cold

[filkertom]

Not that we can necessarily use it or even afford it -- whatever possible problems you can think of are already being discussed in the comments at dKos -- but still. It is pretty cool.

Comments

[redneckgaijin]

I'm actually pretty enthusiastic about this one. My main concern isn't affordability- it's the possibility of wiping out benevolent or even necessary viruses and sub-viral proteins.

This definitely needs more testing, but the potential... oh, the potential!

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Um, you *have* read Mira Grant's _Feed_ and _Deadline_,right?

*twitch, twitch*

[dragondances.livejournal.com]

^This. Especially with the news of the modified HIV they're testing to treat leukemia. TOO MUCH COINCIDENCE.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

There's no such thing as coincidence. All is going as we, erm, that is to say, the conspiracy have planned.

[kengr]

"Dear Seanan,
Please don't be a prophet."

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

TTTO "Billy, Don't Be a Hero"

Seanan, don't be a prophet, don't write the truth in advance,
Seanan, don't be a prophet, please don't get lucky by chance!
Viruses, zombies and drugs make me want to hide under the rug
Seanan, don't be a prophet, 'specially with _Feed_.

Yeah, Tom's in no danger from me.

[guruwench.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly... *twitch twitch*

[hms42]

I was thinking this too...

[jenrose]

Great minds... create the zombie apocalypse!

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Meh, it's just a drug, not a virus. It *probably* won't cause the dead to rise.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Dear Seanan, (Yeah I know you're not her. Bear with me.)

Thank you ever so much for turning two of science's loftiest goals into something to joke about in that "it won't really happen. Will it?" manner. Just don't end up being a prophet.

Sincerely,
Your fans.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I do not believe in zombie apocalypsi.

[caraig.livejournal.com]

I do, however, believe in the Zombie Apocalypso.

o/~ You put the brains in the coconut an' ya shake it all about... o/~

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

Drugs are not contagious.

[fionn320.livejournal.com]

Yet...

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Dear Seanan:

Please write a book about me winning the lottery. Thanks.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

And after he wins the lottery, he gives half to me, OK?

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

And hosts a lot of free music conventions.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Since most of the other comments have been references to or regarding Seanan's brilliant and hopefully not prescient work of fiction, I have to say, Dammit, it's such a pleasure to live in the future.

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

This is *totally* cool. Nice to have a ray of sunshine break through the ginormous pile of political shit for a change. Sometimes I just feel mired.

So this was a nice bit of the kind of news I llove: scientific discovery.

Also, all the zombie-related comments had me convulsed with laughter.

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

Actually, the prophet here is Michael Crichton. He described exactly this in The Andromeda strain. The side effects were a little horrific though - not the side effects of the drug itself, but the side effects of a return to coexistence with viruses after having them virtually eliminated from the body.

On an unrelated note, where did the idea of a virus causing the dead to walk come from? How exactly would a zombie virus be cultivated in dead tissue? How would it reproduce itself in cells that are not undergoing the processes of life?