Mourning The Mountain Lion.

Space hurricanes, Satanist democracy, and the Vector Research Center.

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1. In the heart of Siberia, a team of Russian scientists is working to reawaken ancient viruses, sparking concerns that a mishap could trigger a new pandemic. Scientists at the Vector research center in Russia’s Novosibirsk region are analyzing the remains of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses and other Ice Age animals to identify and revive prehistoric viruses, also known as paleoviruses. The animals were almost perfectly preserved in the frozen earth of Yakutia, a vast region in northeast Siberia where winter temperatures can plunge as low as minus 55C. The research, which began last year, is aimed at researching how viruses evolve….“The Vector research is very, very risky,” Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, from the National Centre of Scientific Research at the University of Aix-Marseille, told The Times. “Our immune systems have never encountered these type of viruses. Some of them could be 200,000 or even 400,000 years old.” He warned that viruses that killed mammoths and other prehistoric animals would also be able to infect humans. A former Soviet biological weapons laboratory, the Vector State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology is one of 59 maximum-security bio-labs in the world. It is also one of only two sites that are allowed to keep samples of the deadly smallpox virus, with the other in the United States. However, its reputation has suffered after a number of accidents. (Source: thetimes.co.uk, richard-preston.net)