The Darwin Virus | SHEVA

I read the Book the Darwins Radio.. its an novel written by Greg Bear. I saw the release Date and i was shocked. It was written 1999 and I don't know any more if I have read an Science Fiction Novel or it is already a Conspiracy Theory?

About the Book "Darwins Radio":

"Discredited anthropologist Mitch Rafelson has made an astonishing discovery in a recently uncovered ice cave in the AlpsAthe mummified remains of a Neanderthal couple and their newborn, strangely abnormal child. Kaye Lang, a molecular biologist specializing in retroviruses, has unearthed chilling evidence that so-called junk DNA may have a previously unguessed-at purpose in the scheme of life. Christopher Dicken, a virus hunter at the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, is hot in pursuit of a mysterious illness, dubbed Herod's flu, which seems to strike only expectant mothers and their fetuses. In Georgia, Tiflis a Mass grave has been found, with over 60 (pregnant) Women, all was killed 5 Years before. Gradually, as the three scientists pool their results, it becomes clear that Homo sapiens is about to face its greatest crisis, a challenge that has slept within our genes since before the dawn of humankind."

Built into the human genome are non-coding sequences of DNA called introns. In Darwin's Radio, certain portions of these "non-sense" sequences, remnants of prehistoric retroviruses, have been activated (SHEVA) and are translating numerous LPCs (large protein complexes). The activation of SHEVA and its consequential sudden speciation was postulated to be either controlled by a complex genetic network that perceives a need for modification or a human adaptive response to overcrowding. The disease, or rather, gene activation, is passed on laterally from male to female as per an STD. If impregnated, a woman in her first trimester who has contracted SHEVA will miscarry a deformed female fetus made of little more than two ovaries. This "first stage fetus" leaves behind a fertilized egg with fifty-two chromosomes rather than the typical forty-six characteristic of Homo sapiens sapiens.

The international response to the threat of SHEVA was to form a special task force that would work alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find a vaccine. Because the "disease", called "Herod's Flu", was already in the genome of every person on Earth, the only two options were to either inhibit the activation of the SHEVA gene by discovering the signal it used or to abort the second stage fetus. Due to the rapid mutation rate of the missing-link signal molecule, preventing the activation of the gene was infeasible. The second option, abortion, was already a controversial issue and the proposal of handing out free RU 486 was met with social upheaval, adding to the already chaotic social scene. The general public believed that the government was either not placing due importance on the death of countless fetuses, or already had a cure and refused to release it. In response, government research facilities were forced to test prospective treatments prematurely and could not pursue explanations for SHEVA outside of the "disease" category because of the potential reactions from the masses. It was not until viable secwritten book.ond stage fetuses were born that the idea of SHEVA being a part of evolution rather than a disease began to grow from a few isolated sources.

WOW sounds pretty damned serious.
2nd

Originally posted by thewarehouse
I read the Book the Darwins Radio.. its an novel written by Greg Bear. I saw the release Date and i was shocked. It was written 1999 and I don't know any more if I have read an Science Fiction Novel or it is already a Conspiracy Theory? :

Science fiction. I've met Greg Bear at sf conventions. He writes sf and does a lot of research on scenarios.

Honestly, folks wouldn't believe how weird the brains of sf writers are. Their livelihood depends on them creating plausible (and unique) "what if" fiction.

reply to post by thewarehouse


Sounds like an awesome book I'll have to find it.

it does sound possible and very frightening which makes it that much better.