In 1346, the Tartars used crude catapults to launch plague-infested corpses into the Crimean city of Kaffa, in southwest Ukraine. Today, scientists here and abroad tinker with some of the most deadly ingredients known to man. Biological weapons, in particular, are easy and quick to make. A single disease-producing bacterium can divide every 20 minutes. An aspirin bottle of bacteria could yield a huge arsenal in just a week.
Chemical weapons take longer to produce, but kill much faster.
A single drop of sarin and VX, for instance, can kill in minutes. A microscopic view of anthrax bacteria, which live in soil and infect animals more often than people. There, they quickly multiply and produce toxins that spread through the body via the bloodstream. One billionth of a gram can kill one person. Gas mask, vaccine.