Keith’s note: according to NBC “A large swath of the U.S. currently does not have the basic, ground-level immunity necessary to stop the spread of viruses that had once receded into the past, a six-month NBC News investigation in collaboration with scientists at Stanford University finds.” Given public policy ignorance that substitutes for epidemiology (Science) I can’t wait for all of the public opinion rants and arm waving about the Environmental Impact Studies for NASA Mars Sample return to Earth. That is – if that mission ever actually happens. Then it’s up to China to worry about this. Or not.

House Panel Wants NASA to Plan Mars Sample Return “If an NRC review of NASA’s mission concept concludes that it will not lead to a sample return, the bill directs the agency to spend the $150 million on developing a mission to orbit Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons. That would be in line with the priorities laid out in the NRC’s planetary science decadal survey, released in March 2011.” […]