Re: virus: The good guys

Bill Roh (sodom@ma.ultranet.com)
Fri, 14 Aug 1998 11:37:25 -0400


Just a quick note - Earth has at least one other species capable of traversing
space - Albiet not intentionally. In this months issue of "The Sciences" pg 16
_Conan The Bacterium_ by Patrick Huyghe - there is an article on the species D
Radiodurans - a bacteria that seems to have evolved to withstand severe drought.
Well, as a side effect, its DNA is assembled in such a way that when broken up, is
easily repaired - with little or no error. "At 1.75 Million rads - 37% still
survive. Most animals and other living creatures can take less than a 1000 rads or
so.

so - my point being, maybe in the future the best way to keep Earth life going, is
to wait for something big enough to hit the Earth and send these babies out into
space.

Sodom
Bill Roh

Nathaniel Hall wrote:

> Tim Rhodes wrote:
> >
> > Nathaniel Hall wrote:
> >
> > > A valid point, but if life has any purpose at all it is to live. Since we
> > are the fittest of the bunch due to the powerful nature of meme replication,
> > we are life's best hope.
> >
> > Actually, every living thing on the planet right now is as "fit" as us when
> > you get right down to it. Their genes have survived to this point in time
> > also. Proving, in the only way nature cares about, that they're genes are
> > as well suited to the present as ours.
> >
> > -Prof. Tim
>
> Well if you can't see beyond today that's true enough. But there is
> always tomorrow and what do you think will be alive then?
>
> Nate Hall