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NOVA scienceNOW: Anthrax Investigation
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Program Overview
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Follow FBI agents and scientists as they participate in one of the
most extensive criminal investigations ever—to unravel the
mystery of where the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks originated.
This NOVA scienceNOW segment:
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chronicles the origin of the mystery—tabloid photo editor
Robert Stevens was diagnosed as dying from inhalation of anthrax
in the fall of 2001.
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reveals how scientists identified Stevens's anthrax as matching
the Ames strain from the United States Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).
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notes that the anthrax threat grew when four mailed letters
laced with anthrax turned up at news outlets and the U.S.
Senate.
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explains how The Institute for Genomic Research compared the
entire genome of Stevens's anthrax with that of the Ames
strain—more than 5 million letters and 5,000
genes—but found no differences.
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recounts that silica, a substance used to make anthrax disperse
more easily, was found in the anthrax samples used in the
attacks.
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shows how a scientist used a scanning electron microscope to
determine that the silica was not used to weaponize the anthrax.
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reports how researchers used information about "attack" anthrax
colonies grown in the lab to find single-letter mutations in
several strains, and then compared those to samples collected
from labs that had worked with the Ames strain.
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reveals the way that researchers and FBI agents traced the
attack anthrax back to its original source, USAMRIID, where it
was kept by scientist Bruce Ivins.
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concludes by noting that this new area of
science—microbial forensics may enable scientists to trace
future infectious-disease outbreaks back to their origins,
potentially stopping their spread.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program
is taped off the air.
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