In Brief... World News Review: Back From the Dead
Prehistoric viruses are lying dormant in the polar ice caps.
Prehistoric viruses are lying dormant in the polar ice caps-and a bout of warm weather could release them into the atmosphere, sparking new epidemics. This chilling warning follows the discovery, for the first time, of an ancient virus in Arctic ice. The virus, found deep within the Greenland ice pack, is known as a tomato mosaic tobamovirus (ToMV), a common plant pathogen. The discovery suggests that other viruses, such as ancient strains of flu, polio and smallpox, may also be entombed and could make a comeback. "We don't know the survival rate, or how often they get back into the environment. But it certainly is possible," says Tom Starmer of Syracuse University in New York.
Starmer's colleagues Scott Rogers and John Castello had earlier found ToMV in clouds and fog. The virus can survive in such environments because it belongs to a family with particularly tough protein coats. "Since it's widespread, moves in the atmosphere and is very stable, we deduced that we would find it in the Arctic ice," says Rogers. The team says that a brief rise in temperature could unleash the entombed viruses. "The ice is melting constantly around the poles," says Rogers. If released, they could cause outbreaks of disease (New Scientist, by Matt Walker, September 4, 1999).
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: November 1999
Course Content
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Peter Eddington
Peter serves at the home office as Interim Manager of Media and Communications Services.
He studied production engineering at the Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and is a journeyman machinist. He moved to the United States to attend Ambassador College in 1980. He graduated from the Pasadena campus in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married his college sweetheart, Terri. Peter was ordained an elder in 1992. He served as assistant pastor in the Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, California, congregations from 1995 through 1998 and the Cincinnati, Ohio, congregations from 2010 through 2011.
