One thing that worries me a lot

viruses. not the computer ones. (i'm on OS X) :)

i'm worried about the biological ones. the ones that kick our immune systems butts.

i don't know how much you know about viruses, but they are pretty scary creatures. the way they operate is really high tech. they are extremely simple organisms. they are basically made up of malicious DNA and a mechanism to deliver it to our cells.

they attach themselves to the walls of our cells, inject themselves right into the core of our cells and they modify the DNA in our cell nuclei. basically they hack in to our main database and change a few bits in order to make the cells work for them instead of doing their regular jobs. they change the cells DNA and insert their own code to change its function. the cell eventually gets destroyed and the virus multiplied breaks out the cell membrane to attack other cells.

there is no cure for viruses. we can only treat the symptoms and try to prevent their movement, but we can't kill them.

every virus acts in a different way, much like computer viruses attack different parts of the code. some are more successful in contamination, others are more deadly.

here comes the most scary part. because they operate by changing DNA, they have the ability to take parts of DNA from each other as well. if two viruses exist in one body, the two viruses can randomly exchange parts of their code. most of these operations are unsuccessful and the resulting virus is not functional. but for the same reason the speed of viral evolution is so much faster than any other living being on earth. they don't wait for random mistakes to happen in their DNA, but they go and change parts of code.

the difference is huge. every living being except the viruses has to wait for cosmic radiation and other factors to alter their DNA and wait and see if their offsprings are more successful in the current environment than the predecessors. it's evolution bit by bit. slow process. viruses however take a whole DNA sequence from each other. it's like i could take my dogs sense of smell and my cats springs in an instant and give them to my future kid. instant superman.

all this leads to my big worry. if let's say flu, which is very contagious as we know, takes the deadly DNA of AIDS or even worse ebola. that would be the ultimate human killer. i'm not afraid of death, but i'm afraid of massive plagues. that was the most scary thing in the books i read about the Renaissance times.

such a disaster would kill millions before we could even react. right after, it would completely destroy our civilization as we know it. no more traveling, no pubs, schools or workplaces. we would all communicate via technology only. is that so bad? :)

the only hope is that viruses do not exchange these DNA sequences consciously. they don't think, they just act. it's random. so we can hope that it will take long time until a deadly cocktail emerges.

what can you do about this? nothing. other than washing your hands after each handshake or other human contact. most importantly if you got flu or other virus, stay home, don't give the bastards more chance to pair up in a deadly couple.