Reading a lot about the 50's and 60's warplanes, I've find this curious and hilarious incident previouly unknown to me, in http://www.vectorsite.net/avjavlin.html

Ten Cyprus-based Javelin FAW.9Rs were deployed to Zambia in late 1965 after Rhodesia declared independence from Britain. They flew south with a full load of six external tanks, raising a protest from the Egyptian government when they overflew Egyptian airspace without permission to get there. The deployment lasted well into 1966. Conditions were primitive, with one Javelin losing a Firestreak when a nest of termites crawled up the landing gear and ate the solid propellant out of the missile

 

The incident as relation with the little known Beira Patrol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beira_Patrol

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JI...55/ai_87146676/

Not mentionated in the interesting site http://www.britains-smallwars.com/main/index1.html

 

The incident remembers me also about sci-fi tales with syntetic bugs or microorganisms eating materials as plastics or metals, and getting out of control. I remember also the actual search of bacteries for eating chemical, oil, or radioactive wastes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Mohan_...scientific_work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomonas#U...ediation_agents

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_r...ns#Applications

 

More surrealist application ever:

In 2003, U.S. scientists demonstrated that D. radiodurans could be used as a means of information storage that might survive a nuclear catastrophe. They translated the song It's a Small World into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted these into the bacteria, and were able to retrieve them without errors 100 bacterial generations later.

More surrealist application ever:

In 2003, U.S. scientists demonstrated that D. radiodurans could be used as a means of information storage that might survive a nuclear catastrophe. They translated the song It's a Small World into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted these into the bacteria, and were able to retrieve them without errors 100 bacterial generations later.

 

 

Okay, but 100 bacterial generations is what, a week or two? I don't think that's going to help much ...

In 2003, U.S. scientists demonstrated that D. radiodurans could be used as a means of information storage that might survive a nuclear catastrophe. They translated the song It's a Small World into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted these into the bacteria, and were able to retrieve them without errors 100 bacterial generations later.

 

I've been to Disney. This sounds more like a very sinister weapon rather than meaningful science.

In 2003, U.S. scientists demonstrated that D. radiodurans could be used as a means of information storage that might survive a nuclear catastrophe. They translated the song It's a Small World into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted these into the bacteria, and were able to retrieve them without errors 100 bacterial generations later.

 

I've been to Disney. This sounds more like a very sinister weapon rather than meaningful science.

Right, so I shouldn't buy an Ipod 'cause we'll soon be able to buy our favourite music coded in the DNA of a virus that we self infect ourselves with and hear the music continously even when the boss is nagging about some cockup form last week?

Sound good, where do I put my name down?

Don.

In 2003, U.S. scientists demonstrated that D. radiodurans could be used as a means of information storage that might survive a nuclear catastrophe. They translated the song It's a Small World into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted these into the bacteria, and were able to retrieve them without errors 100 bacterial generations later.

 

I've been to Disney. This sounds more like a very sinister weapon rather than meaningful science.

Right, so I shouldn't buy an Ipod 'cause we'll soon be able to buy our favourite music coded in the DNA of a virus that we self infect ourselves with and hear the music continously even when the boss is nagging about some cockup form last week?

Sound good, where do I put my name down?

Don.

 

 

and music pirates who get illegal copys will die from those music bacterias?

 

Sounds linke something the music industrie ist dreaming of for generations...

In 2003, U.S. scientists demonstrated that D. radiodurans could be used as a means of information storage that might survive a nuclear catastrophe. They translated the song It's a Small World into a series of DNA segments 150 base pairs long, inserted these into the bacteria, and were able to retrieve them without errors 100 bacterial generations later.

 

I've been to Disney. This sounds more like a very sinister weapon rather than meaningful science.

Right, so I shouldn't buy an Ipod 'cause we'll soon be able to buy our favourite music coded in the DNA of a virus that we self infect ourselves with and hear the music continously even when the boss is nagging about some cockup form last week?

Sound good, where do I put my name down?

Don.

 

 

and music pirates who get illegal copys will die from those music bacterias?

 

Sounds linke something the music industrie ist dreaming of for generations...

Ye, great idea. I think we should start filing patent applications now!