Wuhan Corona Virus Coming Soon? (Now Here)

[Punatic007]

terracore you could have included the next paragraph:

"Author’s note: I have a Ph.D. in bioinformatics, and am a principal data scientist at a major pharmaceutical company. This paper isn’t directly in my wheelhouse, but it’s pretty close."

So he works for a pharmaceutical company, whose idea was it to publish the article, his or the company? He seems rather critical of the epidemiologists, a credential he does not claim. And exactly how close or not is he to the wheelhouse? Why the cryptic disclosure? Sorry folks but when he the author definitively claims it cannot be engineered and he knows authoritatively it came from the wet market in Wuhan, he lost all credibility to me. We simply do not know a heck of a lot about this virus.

Aside note to PaulW:
I'm not sure why you want to squash our conversation. If we claimed to be doctors or epidemiologists then yeah you would have a point but we are simply concerned citizens exploring all options and perhaps we have seen more than our share of Star Trek episodes during formative years but we still know we are simply questioning the great nation of China.

[terracore]

I had to google what a "bioinformatic" even was. It sounded like a made-up word to me but it's a real thing.

Apologies if this is a re-post: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi...823790.cms "India bans export of N95 masks"

"we have seen more than our share of Star Trek episodes during formative years"

Formative years? I still watch!

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

perhaps we have seen more than our share of Star Trek episodes during formative years

But never enough.
Side note:
Star Trek Picard, the latest Star Trek series is usually available only on CBS All Access for a fee. Right now CBS has episode one on YouTube for free.
It’s quite good.

[Punatic007]

Great news HOPTE, thanks!

[terracore]

It has a lot of allusions to the last TNG film made in 2002 "Nemesis" which I saw once in the theater. I never thought it was that good of a film but rewatched it so I would remember the references. Still not a great film but I'm better prepared for Picard episodes. I had completely forgotten about Data's mentally challenged "brother" (not Lor) that was shown in the first episode of Picard.

But I digress...

ETA: Picard trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FySrgrKJguE

[PaulW]

I’m not “squashing” (sic) anything. If people want to post ridiculous conspiracy theories to scare others and feel important then go ahead, but you may get the odd comment pointing this out, if only as an indication to other readers that no, this stuff is all wild conjecture.

The conversation turns to other fiction, ironic.

[ironyak]

Punatic007 - He seems rather critical of the epidemiologists, a credential he does not claim. And exactly how close or not is he to the wheelhouse?

For clarity, Ari Allyn-Feuer is Principal Data Analyst at GlaxoSmithKline, with a PhD from the Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics department at the University of Michigan. Bioinformatics concerns itself with the use of computers and informatics in understanding biology, which is what the paper is all about. While he is not a virologist, this publication is right at the door to his wheelhouse.

It's not an epidemiology paper, or even a virology paper really, it's a bioinformatics paper using computerized sequences of known viruses to compare to the novel cornonavirus. As many people are pointing out, yes nCov has some overlap with HIV, but it also has the same overlaps with many viruses, plants, animals, fungus, etc...

Trevor Bedford, Bioinformatic specialist at the University of Washington, Seattle
https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1223337991168380928
"However, a simple BLAST of such short sequences shows match to a huge variety of organisms. No reason to conclude HIV."

Not that it matters per se, but Bioinformatics was my bread and butter at one point (not virology, but drug discovery - even worked with GSK on some projects) and the techniques used in the paper are common tools used at the undergraduate level. You can even run your own searches for nCov sequence matches if you care to - there's nothing secretive about this information.
https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?CMD=Get&RID=390WU08T014
(the fist match is a worm, the second a fungus, etc...)

So why would several PhD scientists from India pre-publish such rushed, amateur, and unreviewed work that just happens to imply that nCov is a Chinese manufactured bioweapon during the height of a pandemic scare?

Or as the inimitable Donald Sutherland would say: "That's the real question isn't it: why? [...] Who benefited? Who has the power to cover it up? Who?"

[Punatic007]

ironyak and the same can be said about your esteemed bioinformation guy. Who's telling the truth or who is onto the truth? Hopefully time will tell, time that doesn't keep claiming lives as the rest of us scramble to understand what is going on. And all the while the Chinese upper government holds the cards they refuse to disclose. Secrets abound.

[ironyak]

I was just trying to answer your question of how close to his wheelhouse of expertise does this paper fall - the answer is very. Not that his credentials make him right, but when many unaffiliated scientists are reaching the same conclusion, it makes that paper out of India seem less reliable, no?

If you don't mind me asking, how do you choose which sources to trust? It seems you don't have the background to sort through the scientific data for yourself, so how do you pick between the CDC, CCP, WHO, CNN, FOX, FB, PW, etc... ("keeps 'em guessing like some kind of parlor game, prevents 'em from asking the most important question: why?" - Donald Sutherland in JFK, again)

For clarity I am sincerely interested in how others here approach this problem. The more I look at this the more it seems that the information wars (dare I say InfoWars are actually more important and consequential than the biological outbreak.

[twofeet]

I have been watching the medcram videos on YouTube about the coronavirus. Has helped me
understand the sickness from a medical viewpoint.