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Air is full of DNA

nature.com

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Re: Air is full of DNA

#11

Post by popopo73 »

shevy-java wrote: post #8
tim333 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. I think they had to delete all the sequencing data from the Wuhan Institute of Virology so stuff in the air wouldn't show up.

That was never a convincing argument, IMO. Just as US institutes would claim that China is responsible, by the same token the argument works on any other lab too - yet the media did not present in that way. Ever. That's not accurate reporting; that's an attempt at victim blaming. Next thing someone may do is give a powerpoint presentation about weapons of mass destruction in some far-away country ...

    >Just as US institutes would claim that China is responsible, by the same token the argument works on any other lab too - yet the media did not present in that way. Ever. That's not accurate reporting; that's an attempt at victim blaming.
So your idea of accurate reporting is to apply whataboutisms?

Re: Air is full of DNA

#13

Post by madaxe_again »

I was chatting with a biologist friend a while back, and one tidbit he dropped in was that any sample of air from anywhere on earth will likely contain the dna of organisms unknown to science, so abundant the tree of life is.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#14

Post by samplatt »

dubi_steinkek wrote: post #6
cmrx64 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

four figures these days. fits in your hand. nanopore is a revolution. https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion there’s youtubers that have videos about doing this in a home wetlab. very achievable. some amateur soil biologists using this to try and sample microdiversity as the planet… humanifies.

Do you have links to these youtubers? Sounds interesting

Not OP, but The Thought Emporium is a personal favourite. Their name belies the hands-on nature of their videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0_q-fD_lyU

Re: Air is full of DNA

#15

Post by smolder »

butvacuum wrote: post #2

buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with. I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button. I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc somethin…

Paleontology has been really helped by the ease of sequencing, to the point where many evolutionary arguments are moot. Humans are apes, birds are dinosaurs. Some people still dispute it, but not with evidence on their side.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#16

Post by globular-toast »

butvacuum wrote: post #2

buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with. I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button. I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc somethin…

Should be noted, though, the cheaper/quicker techniques do still come with compromises compared to the "gold standard" technique used for the Human Genome Project.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#18

Post by philipallstar »

shevy-java wrote: post #8
tim333 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. I think they had to delete all the sequencing data from the Wuhan Institute of Virology so stuff in the air wouldn't show up.

That was never a convincing argument, IMO. Just as US institutes would claim that China is responsible, by the same token the argument works on any other lab too - yet the media did not present in that way. Ever. That's not accurate reporting; that's an attempt at victim blaming. Next thing someone may do is give a powerpoint presentation about weapons of mass destruction in some far-away country ...

Actually, the US did a lot to downplay the idea that the nearby lab in Wuhan that was doing gain of function research on coronaviruses was in any way involved, to the extent that you'd get shadow-banned on Twitter for mentioning it.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#19

Post by azalemeth »

I do often wonder about stories like this in the context of forensic science – my (incomplete!) understanding a lot of the time suspect DNA samples are taken from small areas and amplified significantly with high-cycle count PCR. I'd worry that any jury presented with a statistical argument about a fragment of somebody's DNA being very unlikely ("1 in 100 million") to be different to the sample found at the scene would not be aware of all of the potential systematic reasons why the actual true probability may be much, much higher.

Re: Air is full of DNA

#20

Post by Terr_ »

azalemeth wrote: post #19

I do often wonder about stories like this in the context of forensic science – my (incomplete!) understanding a lot of the time suspect DNA samples are taken from small areas and amplified significantly with high-cycle count PCR. I'd worry that any jury presented with a statistical argument about a fragment of somebody's DNA being very unlikely ("1 in 100 million") to be different to the sample found at the scene wou…

Probability seems to be one of those things humans habitually mess-up at.

"The chances of this person's unique DNA showing up at the scene are a zillion to one!"

"What does that really mean when the sample also contains unique DNA for a hundred other people? Did all of them commit the crime as a group?"

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