The pathogen is a fungus that causes blight on wheat and barley crops. No idea what the plan was, but bringing that to the Midwest could have been bad if released.
this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2025
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It was a post-doc student who wanted to continue his research at UMich on the fungus to develop ways to prevent blight. His peer-reviewed published research on the topic is available through google scholar: Google Scholar Link. He was wrong to try and sneak it in, but this looks like a dedicated scientific researcher making a bad decision - not an attempted terrorist attack.
giving them benefit of doubt - they still fucked up. they should get a permit with help of their PI and bring it in overtly with all proper paperwork
While I'd love to believe that, the article quotes the doctor as saying he did not bring it intentionally and thinks someone else put it in his bag
Well admitting to the crime is a poor defense.
Denying it confirms the intent behind the move was malicious. Wether it was done by him or anyone else, so this pretty much confirms it as an attempted attack on the US by China or at worst, a single chinese person.
In the article : “Liu stated that he intentionally hid the samples in his backpack because he knew there were restrictions on the importation of the materials,” the complaint says. “Liu confirmed that he had intentionally put the samples in a wad of tissues so CBP Officers would be less likely to find and confiscate them, and he could continue his research in the United States.”
Read the paragraph before that quote.
"But an examination of Liu’s and Jian’s electronic devices uncovered WeChat messages from 2022 in which they discussed smuggling seeds into the United States."
Replied to the wrong comment.
Read every one of his 30 published Google Scholar-linked articles.
No thank you. I'm just saying a doctor who doesn't follow procedure is not a good look. I really don't care about what his purpose is.
I have bad news for you about... well, basically all of science. It's done by humans, and humans are notoriously fallible.
Academic Nerds: famously good on the spot when challenged by authority figures.
That was only his initial story. Immediately after that, the article says he intentionally hid the samples in (used?) tissues so CBP would be less likely to find them.
The last of us 3?
Dragon Age
More Interstellar.
That could be apocalyptic for our food supply
Cue the conspiracy theorists losing their shit in 3... 2... 1...
Wuhan boogaloo 2, The Great Blightening
十二只猴子进入了聊天.
On a more serious note, this seems more like a case of poor judgment than attempted errorism.