Then there are the biological weapons. The 20th century saw the creation of great weapons based on the principles of nuclear physics; the 21st century will see great weapons based on the knowledge of dna and the genetic code. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union used rudimentary genetic engineering to create incurable strains of Black Death (bubonic plague) that were resistant to drugs. This biotech Black Death was loaded into missile warheads aimed at the U.S. As biotechnology becomes more supple and powerful and as the genetic code of more organisms is unraveled, biologists will learn how to mix genes of different bugs to create deadly, unnatural strains that can be turned into deadly, effective weapons.

Scientists have found a type of bacterium that is virtually indestructible. It's called Deinococcus radiodurans ("terrible berry that survives radiation"). This bug can live in a blast of gamma rays that is the equivalent of thousands of lethal human doses--radiation so strong it cracks glass. Scientists have found "dead" radiodurans spores in Antarctica that have baked in UV light for 100 years. Yet when placed in a nutrient bath, the bug's dna reassembles itself and proliferates. If radiodurans genes could be put into anthrax, they might produce an anthrax that's virtually impossible to kill. From a bioweaponeer's point of view, the future is bright.

Biological weapons are a disgrace to biology. Most biologists haven't wanted to talk or even think about them. For years leading U.S. biologists were assuring themselves and the public that bioweapons don't work and aren't anything to worry about. It was a naive dream from the childhood of biology. The physicists lost their innocence when the first nuclear bomb went off in 1945. The biologists will lose their innocence when the first biological weapon spreads through the human species. MORE>>

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