TA-418

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

Okay, so, I'm listening to A Name Not A Number, and what I JUST realized is that the Ruku virus was a harmless virus UNLESS it was injected into the bloodstream. Oxygen killed it until TA-418 could be added to it, making it indestructible with TA-418 added and oxygen couldn't destroy it.

Why did Whit and Tasha make TA-418 then? o.0 That's kind of confusing. Why would they make something that would help extremist groups put a normally non-deadly virus into the air as a deadly virus with TA-418 added to it? If they hadn't created TA-418, the virus would have been harmless.

Then again, there is oxygen in the bloodstream. How can the Ruku virus live long enough to deteriorate the central nervous system if injected into the bloodstream? That's the only way it would work without TA-418.

I am now CONFUSED.

I think the writers tried to make it sound cool and concrete, but here I am picking apart their science. Unless you guys can help me sort through this confusing mess. o.0

[Jesus' Princess]

Now that you say it that way, I'm confused also...

But has anyone ever noticed that Ruku virus, is a rearranged spelling of Kuru, which is a real disease? I'm sure they did it on purpose, but I just connected the dots between those two a few weeks ago.

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

I bet you that was on purpose! Agreed! But what kind of disease is Kuru? *googles herself*

EDIT: A nervous system disease, funny enough. But it's rare. They claimed Ruku was a deadly virus once in the bloodstream. Kuru came from being a cannibalist *cannibalism*. Go. Figure.

[The Top Crusader]

There are plenty of diseases that can't be transmitted through the air... its not really an odd thing.

And Whit and Tasha were developing it to help the US wipe out enemy nations. Whit was probably on board the Enola Gay back in 1945, he loves that kind of stuff.

[Danielle Abigail Maxwell]

That's not the weird part. Why were Whit and Tasha, especially WHIT, making a compound that could help a virus adapt IN the air? That's the confusing part. Plenty of diseases can't live in the air. The only way to get HIV/AIDS is for it to have been transmitted through infected blood, having intercourse, semen - direct contact, not indirect. You can't get HIV/AIDS by living with a person day in and day out. But HIV/AIDS is a communicable disease - in one way. A cold is spread through the air. I know this, don't worry.

It's the why did they even create the TA-418 compound if the virus could only kill by being injected into the bloodstream directly? *and they state that is it the oxygen part rather clearly. The air is made up of plenty of other things - CO2, Nitrogen, oxygen, dust, particles*

Though, interesting to see how I could incorporate this into one of my fanfics one day... it's been a long time coming.

[LizzieG]

I've actually done some thinking on the subject lately. Here are a few thoughts and theories:

I wondered why Tasha's group would knowingly create something that would make the ruku virus unstoppable. Could they have created TA-418 for an entirely different purpose ... perhaps to help "good" microbes adapt? If Tasha, Hans Tessler, and others were the creators of TA-418, they must've done so before Red Scorpion came on the scene and stole ruku. So which came first: ruku or TA-418?

Since Hans Tessler was the link between TA-418 and ruku, could he have developed the virus specifically to need TA-418? But if so, why would he hide the formula within the documentation? Was he a bad guy, or more of an Iron Man type (kidnapped by terrorists and forced to build a powerful weapon)? Considering that they ended up killing him, it almost seems like the latter. In that case, however, why would he have put the formula for TA-418 within the documentation at all? And if he was bad, why wouldn't he have made the link between TA-418 and ruku clearer (or was it clearer to the Rakistani government than it was to Red Scorpion?)? That isn't very important, but it looks like he took something that was probably supposed to be used for good (TA-418) and used it to make a deadly virus.

[rickyderocher]

Hmmmm... I've actually been thinking about this subject myself.

Whit and Tasha were working on TA-418 with Hans Tessler who was working for the Rakistianis.

So two theories here:
1). Rakisitan is a US ally and so the research on Ruku was part of a joint US-Rakisitan effort.
2). The research really started out as US only research but Hans sold out the project to the Rakisitanis for money -though he ended up being killed by them - "Payment in full" Later when the lab was hit by Red Scorpion, Tasha pretended to aid Red Scorpion but only as a means to get the research back for the US. Since she knew about TA-418, she knew that the virus without it was harmless and that Red Scorpion couldn't really do anything dangerous with it - so she was playing along with them long enough for a solid case to be drawn against them.

Though this raises another question - when did Blackgaard get the formula for TA-418? He said that he always knew about it- but he did not say that he had the formula and the only complete formula was the copy Tasha that was put in the safe at Whit's End - which none of the bad guys got. But by Darkness Before Dawn he seems to be in possession of the knowledge of how to create TA-418 as this is why he going after the mineral in the tunnel. And it seems that Professor Boveril is ready to create TA-418.

It may be possible that he got a copy of the formula from a mole in the European Security Agency or the NSA in between the events of a Name Not A Number and Darkness Before Dawn.

[SoccerLOTR]

I feel like i thought this through at one point and came up with a good explanation, but I don't fully remember at the moment...I think I always assumed that Whit and Tasha created TA-418 for an alternative purpose. From what Professor Bovril said later, the mineral it was derived from could also be used to create a cure for Ruku...so I feel like the formula had a number of uses, one of them being that it stabilized the ruku virus.

[rickyderocher]

I feel like i thought this through at one point and came up with a good explanation, but I don't fully remember at the moment...I think I always assumed that Whit and Tasha created TA-418 for an alternative purpose. From what Professor Bovril said later, the mineral it was derived from could also be used to create a cure for Ruku...so I feel like the formula had a number of uses, one of them being that it stabilized the ruku virus.

So maybe Tasha and Whit were originally working on TA-418 as a way to cure diseases that could be used in chemical warfare, and Hans Tessler hijacked the project as a way to use TA-418 to stabilized the Ruku virus.

[Marvin D.]

http://thetoo.com/memberlist.php?mode=v ... ile&u=7215

[howdypardner]

The reason why Whit and Tasha made TA-418 was because the Odyssey writers are writers and not biologists. Kudos to them for a great plot (it's still quite possibly my favorite episode), but there are so many scientific plot holes in this episode that it looks like a sponge under the microscope.

But a little bit of biological background...

I work in a molecular biology lab. Many scientists around the world (and down the hall from my lab) are trying to adapt viruses to infect different cell types. Some researchers are hoping to create a virus that will deliver "good" copies of genes to patients who have genetic diseases that cause their cells to make either a damaging form of a protein (e.g. sickle cell anemia) or no functioning form of a protein (e.g. cystic fibrosis). This could theoretically cure someone of a genetic disease, something that's never been possible before. (Already, labs in France have used this technology to give SCID patients - "bubble boys" who are born with no immune system - functioning copies of a gene to remedy this; however, this treatment has also been associated with leukemia.) Others are trying to get viruses to target cancer cells and leave healthy cells alone.

To quote Donovan in ANNAN, TA-418 is "a synthetic compound that attaches itself to the virus' DNA and causes it to adapt to air, dust, water...anything." This is...complete nonsense. (Sorry, writers.) Lots of things attach to DNA. My lab uses fluorescent dyes to measure DNA content. But once you start CHANGING DNA, you've basically killed the organism. (I won't go into the argument that viruses are technically not living.) There are all sorts of mechanisms for ensuring that DNA sequences aren't changed. Believe it or not, there are proofreading proteins that check your DNA every second to make sure it's copied correctly. There's only one type protein that rearranges DNA - recombinases. Those are found in B cells, the immune cells that make antibodies. The purpose of the rearrangement here is to make you lots and lots and lots of different antibodies to fight off different germs. (God is really awesomely smart, isn't He?)

[Leonard Meltsner]

Very nicely put. Before this thread, I never really considered the scientific holes of TA-418. Now they stick out to me incredibly. I'd say like a diatom under a microscope. Still full of holes, but it looks incredible nonetheless.

And yes, God is really awesomely smart. I've always felt wonder for the p53 gene. DNA Polymerase is pretty incredible too.