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"This category [science fiction] excludes rocket ships that make U-turns, serpent men of Neptune that lust after human maidens, and stories by authors who flunked their Boy Scout merit badge tests in descriptive astronomy."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Designed Bacteria | ||
| Very early reference to the idea of bacteria designed to wipe out a particular species, and no others. |
In this novel of a far-future Earth, an unlikely invader has come to challenge the remnants of humanity. A single spore has seeded and grown; its progeny capture one man - and learn from him. And release him to infect others.
Zar is able to gasp out this warning.
| "...Keep power flowing in the purification generators if you can! ...those plants! Their approach to problems is different from our own. No metals. No machines as we know them. But in hidden compartments in their tissues it was easy for them to create the bacteria of death! They invented those bacteria, and grew them, breaking them away from their own substance. Some way, when I was captive, I was infected. The thorns on the tendrils that held me! I was the carrier! |
| Technovelgy from Seeds of the Dusk,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Astounding Stories in 1937 Additional resources -
|
This engineered plague is not only virulent, but insidious in its effects:
Compare to the
engineered plague from The Hole in the Moon (1952) by Margaret St. Clair and the specific gene weapon from The Mannichon Solution (1967) by Irwin Shaw.
During its incipient stages the poisons of it seem actually to stimulate mental and physical activity, giving a treacherous impression of robust health.
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and Technology from Seeds of the Dusk
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Tech news articles related to Seeds of the Dusk
Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun
Designed Bacteria-related
news articles:
- EDSAP Wearable Stroke Detection
| What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells? |
| Black Fungus Blocks Radiation |
| Lunar Biorepository Proposed For Cryo-Preservation Of Earth Species |
| Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light |
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'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
