Monday 7 January 2013

Germs for peace


In my forthcoming novel 2077: Knights of Peace one of the methods used to disable minorities which try to impose their will on society by violence is the use of explosives-eating bacteria.

Student  led research at Edinburgh University has according to a 2009 BBC news item been trying to develop bioluminescent bacteria which glow in the presence of buried landmines. Does anyone know of similar work or have more information on progress at Edinburgh?  


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8362066.stm
http://boingboing.net/2009/11/20/glowing-bacteria-tha.html

Even better would be  bacteria that could destroy the explosives as well as find them. One problem would be to avoid stopping the useful employment of explosives in, e.g., quarry blasting. Presumably they would have to be tagged to deactivate the germs. And keeping such powerful genetically engineered bugs out of reach from malevolent groups would be a major challenge. Perhaps the only long term solution is to make a world in which malevolence itself is eliminated - a theme which is tackled in the book.

Author, 2077 AD