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seed ICBMs

ICBMs as weapon of mass seeding
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If we need to decommission old missiles, why not replace the payload with seeding pods and just shoot it to a random area that needs strategic seeding?

Plus you can use it to terrify non-nuclear powers and do something useful in their land at the same time.

mofosyne, Jul 24 2019

seed bullets seed_20bullet
Simpler to implement if you only need to seed a smaller area [mofosyne, Jul 24 2019]

[link]






       ...full of blossoms in the warhead, going Woodstocky
not_morrison_rm, Jul 24 2019
  

       If the seeds were Japanese knotweed, it would remain a deeply intimidating weapon.
bs0u0155, Jul 24 2019
  

       Some synbio person with a sense of humour ought to engineer a few cannabinoid pathways into a bunch of common plants and then disperse the results.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 24 2019
  

       Would that not require as a prerequisite engineering a sense of humour into, for example, a molecular biologist ? That's a hard row to hoe...
8th of 7, Jul 24 2019
  

       Depends a lot on the molecular biologist. Molecular biology is a discipline that lends itself to adventure, and leads one to the exploration of the several tens of thousands of products in the Sigma catalogue. Many of them are such things as dreams are made of, or at least metabolic precursors.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 24 2019
  

       //several tens of thousands of products in the Sigma catalogue//   

       As a bright eyed* young PhD student, anything less than 300 quid or so would just get bought, same day, there by noon-ish the next day. Nowadays its about layers of micromanagement and inefficiency.   

       * Mon-thurs, frequently hungover-eyed on Friday and Saturday mornings
bs0u0155, Jul 24 2019
  

       Ah, [bs], the joys of academic freedom - generous budgets, relaxed health and safety, authority to purchase, turn-on-a- sixpence commonsense decisions on capital equipment... All of these things are alive and well if you come across to the dark side and start a biotech company.   

       Academics, of course, are bound in chains. You wouldn't catch me in academia these days.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 24 2019
  

       //start a biotech company.//   

       Ah, so you're saying I should whiten my teeth and take my 1", 8 minute fluorescent micro protein gel what I got 3d printed to some rich Californians?
bs0u0155, Jul 25 2019
  

       //take my 1", 8 minute fluorescent micro protein gel what I got 3d printed to some rich Californians?// Hmm. A single product sounds better suited to a licensing deal from the start.   

       //Any helpful influence would be appreciated.// What sort of company are you planning?
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 25 2019
  

       In principle, it would be possible to bioengineer aerodynamic-looking trees (pine, redwood, etc.) to internally store the oxygen produced by photosynthesis as part of the dead wood in their trunk structure (essentially becoming a single giant solid rocket booster) then end their lifecycle with a ballistic launch which scatters seeds and fire to neighboring continents selected at random.
sninctown, Jul 27 2019
  

       Oddly enough, the Snap Dragon Vine (no relation to the familiar snapdragon) does something similar. Once the seeds have ripened, it starts feeding gas (mainly oxygen, but with some nitrogen and ethylene) into nut-like seed pod. The pod is gas-tight due to a latex coating on its inner surface, and internal pressures can exceed 5 bar. The three lobes of the pod are held together by a rather ingenious mechanism which ensures that once one part of the joint starts to crack, all three joints fail simultaneously within a few microseconds. The resulting explosion has been likened to a small-bore pistol shot, and there are credible reports of (admittedly minor) injuries from flying fragments. The gravel-like seeds can be thrown up to 20 metres.   

       There is also a weevil that eats the seeds just before they reach full maturity. It burrows through the pod, moulting as it does so and cementing its moulted skin into the hole behind it; if it didn't do this, it would be expelled as soon as it had bored through into the pressurised centre.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 27 2019
  

       NORAD: "Hi, Moscow? Don't worry, those are just geraniums coming over the North Pole towards you. No need to be alarmed."   

       Moscow Nuclear Command: (read in heavy Russian accent) "Phew, that is relief! And thank you for be so thoughtful! These go to be beautiful in Moscow spring."
doctorremulac3, Jul 29 2019
  

       // notes in my Filofax //   

       I had to look that up. Turns out it's a paper day-planner book or something like that.   

       // The three lobes of the pod are held together by a rather ingenious mechanism which ensures that once one part of the joint starts to crack, all three joints fail simultaneously within a few microseconds. //   

       Has anybody biomimicrised that yet? It sounds useful, a bit like the shutters on electrical outlets, but more exciting.
notexactly, Aug 18 2019
  
      
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