1.   At about the same time, Pentagon experts assembled a germ factory in the Nevada desert from commercially available materials.

2.   But not until Americans actually visited the premier Soviet germ factory did Washington fully grasp the enormity of what the Soviet Union had done.

3.   During cold and flu season, parents know all too well that day care centers and schools turn into jumping germ factories.

4.   Officials said the project was intended to assess how hard it would be for a terrorist or rogue nation to assemble a germ factory.

5.   The secret U.S. work included a Pentagon project to assemble a germ factory in the Nevada desert from commercially available materials, the newspaper said.