[formernyer]

So what would anthrax look like? Would you see anything?? Could it be in envelope?? Maybe the powder is a carrier substance that when blown away would allow the spores to go with it??? Help. I want to know what I should be on the look out for. THanks

[ChemistCat]

I'm all for letting the media continue to hype white-powder stories. That way all the copycat terrorists who think bomb-threats, fake hate-messages, and bioterror scares are the height of humor will continue to use powdered sugar to scare the he** out of people and our resources won't be so completely diverted each time someone drops some on a train platform or on courthouse steps. Formernyer, what you need to be on the lookout for is being in the kind of place we know to be targets. There's a pattern to this if you look at it. What has been hit? Where are we vulnerable? I suggest Christmas shopping on the internet this year (Go Ebay) and avoidance of crowds and public bathrooms, but if you have to go into crowds go knowing the odds are still very, very good that you'll be JUST FINE. Just wash your hands and be alert. What really makes us safe now was demonstrated by the passengers of the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. The terrorists know now that they can't make us sit quietly and hope we'll be released on the tarmac. Anyone spraying something in a crowd now is going to be LYNCHED if the cops can't get there first!!!!!

[R. Scott]

" So what would anthrax look like?"

My money would be on something about the color and consistency of dried yeast – but finer.

[Bill Rice]

"Help. I want to know what I should be on the look out for"

Ragheads for starters, and then anything that's out of the ordinary.