if we can just barely see the RNA strand with the most powerful microscopes on earth, I find it hard to believe ‘cuts’ are observable.
No idea, I can’t find where I read it now. It was around the time the Indian researches came out with the HIV delivery system announcement.
Virologists can see the virus’s whole genome code, 30,000 or so nucleotides, translated from the actual chemistry to a sequenced digital format. How they arrive at that is beyond me, but I’m sure they can then compare one digitized virus to another. Differences would mean mutations or “cuts”.
A seasoned scientist can probably accurately judge whether the change is a mutation or a cut. The computer can probably also compare the whole 30,000 nucleotide chain for similarities in part of the chain to parts of other unrelated viruses on record. The most savvy of the virologists can probably tell what’s been engineered and which lab in the world did it, but maybe that’s wishful thinking.
As for the Wuhan virus escaping from a lab, China didn’t seem to be prepared for it. It could have been incompetence of the warden in charge of disposing of lab waste or animals, but it could also have been an intentional accident brought about by someone who wanted to give the world a nasty Christmas present. Who might have done that?