Comment by perihelions | Hacker News Reader

Comment by perihelions | Hacker News Reader

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The C. elegans PhD student at Univ. of Michigan was ordered held without bond[0], in June; and the Harvard Medical School researcher was freed by a judge after being—unlawfully—caged by ICE for 116 days[1].

Here's[2] the FBI director's Twitter thread about the C. elegans researcher, for a flavor of the MAGA sociology that's driving this. [edit]: His rhetoric in the case in [3] is even less hingèd.

[0] https://detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/06/27...

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01958-4 ( https://archive.is/XIONv )

[2] https://xcancel.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/19322140473000796... ("This case is part of a broader effort from the FBI and our federal partners to heavily crack down on similar pathogeon [sic] smuggling operations, as the CCP works relentlessly to undermine America’s research institutions.")

[3] https://xcancel.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/19300448842845230... ("This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk. Your FBI will continue working tirelessly to be on guard against it.")

Can't read [0] since I'm not a subscriber.

>After being charged last month with trying to smuggle frog embryos into the United States, Kseniia Petrova, a Russian bioinformatician, was indicted on 25 June on additional charges by a grand jury in Boston, Massachusetts — including making a false statement to customs agents.

Well, that's ... something.

Honestly, when I first read your comment I got the impression that these students might have done something innocuous that got grossly misinterpreted (perhaps on purpose) and that's how they got in trouble ...

But the ones you showed so far did engage, quite clearly, in criminal behavior. I don't think ICE/Patel/Trump should be blamed for that.

#3, regardless of intent, is definitely illegal shit. how can you possibly think its ok to smuggle pthogenic fungus into the the country in baggies, then lie about it.

it's also surprising there wasn't more scrutiny in the past. there are colonels in the PLA that have actively called for and published materials calling for agro and bio terrorism against the US, and all chinese nationals are required to debrief on return.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibberella_zeae

> Experts doubt that the smuggled fungus could be used effectively, since the logistics, as well as physical conditions, such as temperature and humidity, for creating a widespread infection with this pathogen are not straightforward. Furthermore, this fungal infection can be prevented and/or controlled with the use of pesticides and cultural practices, like harvesting early to stop fungal growth. Having said that, if the strain that Jian and Liu brought into the U.S is a new potent variant, there is a possibility of it being an effective weapon. Nevertheless, F. graminearum has been studied in the U.S. for more than a century, and it is a common factor to treat in food safety protocols.

You'd expect the CCP to be a little better at it if that were the intention.

The samples were completely common, the fungus is endemic to the US already and the PhDs are studying them for US institutions to lessen their impact on US crops.

Forgot to mention that the press releases make a critical typo that makes them seem extremely nefarious and implies they were planning on some sort of warfare when it’s extremely benign…

“While searching one of Liu’s cell phones, they found an article in PDF form titled “2018 Plant Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.” Authorities said the article specifically referenced Fusarium graminearum as “an example of a destructive disease and pathogen for crops” and is “responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.”

But the actual article is about the ‘warfare’ between plants and pathogens in a world with a changing climate as denoted by the hyphen in the title..

“Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions”

There is great need for future research to increasingly use dynamic environmental conditions in order to fully understand the multidimensional nature of plant-pathogen interactions and produce disease-resistant crop plants that are resilient to climate change.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29787730/

what the actual fuck? you do not smuggle lab samples in baggies. that is suspicious behavior. you send it through the post and let authorities know you are doing it by declaring it.

have people gone mad?

The import process is a bureaucratic nightmare - you don’t send it through the post in any case, lest it get lost for long enough that your samples perish.

The more common route is you complete the paperwork, fly with it in your carry-on and declare it all at customs.

Having worked in a related field, it certainly wasn’t uncommon for scientists to skip some of the hassle and just not declare their research material. Definitely not ‘proper’ and certainly higher risk to their immigration/visa status if they were foreign nationals, but still not uncommon when the alternative is spending hours in CBP inspections before you spend hours in the normal immigration queue.

Here is a link for the first article: https://archive.is/mlzx4

Not sure what the outrage is,

Chinese scholar from UM Chengxuan Han expected to plead guilty in smuggling case

"During the secondary inspection, Han made false statements that she had not sent packages to members of the UM Lab," an FBI agent wrote in the court filing. "When pressed, Han admitted that she had shipped packages to members of the UM Lab. Han initially stated to (Customs and Border Patrol) officers that the packages were plastic cups (rather than petri dishes) and a book (omitting the envelope with suspected biological materials concealed in it)."

The FBI counterintelligence case against UM scholar Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, involves allegations that Jian received money from a Chinese foundation funded largely by the Chinese government to conduct post-doctoral work. That includes research on a fungus known as Fusarium graminearum, a biological pathogen that can cause devastating diseases in crops.

Maybe these students are getting overcharged, but they were clearly caught smuggling.

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