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Quote by Richard Preston

“Once the cells in a biological machine stop working, it can never be started again. It goes into a cascade of decay, falling toward disorder and randomness. Except in the case of viruses. They can turn off and go dead. Then, if they come in contact with a living system, they switch on and multiply. (194)”

Quote by Richard Preston

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Author

Richard Preston
Richard Preston

Richard Preston is an American writer known for his insightful exploration of science and nature. His works often delve into complex scientific topics, presented with a captivating narrative style. His notable works include 'The Hot Zone' and 'The Wild Trees'. more

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“Occasionally they came to villages, and at each village they encountered a roadblock of fallen trees. Having had centuries of experience with the smallpox virus, the village elders had instituted their own methods for controlling the virus, according to their received wisdom, which was to cut their villages off from the world, to protect their people from a raging plague. It was reverse quarantine, an ancient practice in Africa, where a village bars itself from strangers during a time of disease, and drives away outsiders who appear. (94)”

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“The Ludolphian number is fixed in eternity— not a digit out of place, all characters in their proper order, an endless sentence written to the end of the world by the division of the circle’s diameter into its circumference.”

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Book:Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
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