[DIYbio] Re: Science literacy

I have encountered some "older" person, likely in their 50s or 60s, she raises goats and has sold kefir grains for many years. She does not believe in viruses, or that they have ever been isolated. She does not believe that TEM images are actually of viruses. Apparently due to some quack named Stefan Lanka.

I don't even know where to go from here. Why is this even a possibility in the modern world? I think anyone on this forum is healthy skeptic, or at least overly curious. But I'm left to wonder how common is this type of "denier". I'm left to wonder if I'm suffering "expert bias" and left unable to tolerate explaining such seemingly obvious things. Even given the faults of human researchers, retractions, faked data, complexity of the universe and the ever expanding knowledge and knowledge of a knowledge-gap.

Biohacking is so commonplace to me, in mindset anyway... Nanotech fab hurdles and limitations... Microscopy (and nanoscopy)... I'm concerned that with as much time as I've spent typing to some random facebook thread, that it's a sisyphean effort. That I'm scooping out water from the Titanic with a cup, but it's pouring in through a gaping hole in the lower level that I'll never see (let alone be able to help).

People talk about fixing earth before rocketing to Mars, but is this validation for the desire for near-term interplanetary emigration?

If this was a contaminated environmental culture in the lab, you'd either use a selective agent (antibiotic) or perform serial sub-culturing until you purified your strain of interest.

I'm not looking for answers, but maybe some encouragement. I'm otherwise more interested in social distancing than ever.