Monday, February 4, 2008

SEE THROUGH-FROG

Japanese researchers have succeeded in producing see-through frogs, letting them observe organs, blood vessels and eggs under the skin without performing dissections.
"You can see through the skin how organs grow, how cancer starts and develops," said the lead researcher Masayuki Sumida, professor at the Institute for Amphibian Biology of state-run Hiroshima University.
"You can watch organs of the same frog over its entire life as you don't have to dissect it. The researcher can also observe how toxins affect bones, livers and other organs at lower costs,"
Dissections have become increasingly controversial in much of the world, particularly in schools where animal rights activists have pressed for humane alternatives such as using computer simulations.
The researchers produced the creature from rare mutants of the Japanese brown frog, or Rena japonica, whose backs are usually ochre or brown.Two kinds of recessive genes have been known to cause the frog to be pale.
Sumida's team crossed two frogs with recessive genes through artificial insemination and the offspring looked normal due to the presence of more powerful genes. But crossing the offspring led to a frog whose skin is transparent from the tadpole stage."We can see dramatic changes of organs when tadpoles mutate into frogs".
The transparent frogs can also reproduce, with their offspring inheriting their parents' traits, but their grandchildren die shortly after birth.While the researchers relied on artificial insemination, they said that genetic engineering could also produce transparent and even illuminating frogs.
Sumida said researchers could also inject into the transparent frogs an illuminating protein attached to a gene, which would light up the gene once it manifests -- for example, showing at what stage cancer starts.
She also said it would be unrealistic to apply the same method to mammals such as mice as their skin structure is different.

ZOMBIES, are they real or a work of fiction??

As you know, dear readers, I am quite a fan of zombies.,obviously the ones who have completed the entire series of RESIDENT EVIL, as well as I AM LEGEND, will surely have the urge to know whether the “so called” T-VIRUSES creating ZOMBIES.,actually exist… I was reading through a bunch of zombie stuff, and I thought I’d write up my Origins of Zombies. By that I term I mean, “how are they created?”
A zombie is a reanimated human corpse. They are among the lower forms of the undead, and often appear in large numbers. No one is certain about the origins of these pathetic and horrible things. They are near-mindless, possessing little reasoning power, though many can perform "remembered behaviors" from their mortal existence.
Zombies have been confused with many other monstrous creatures. Monstrous will try to make a clear distinction between the different entities that proceed from death.
Some zombies have the appearance of the living but their lack of free will and souls give them the appearance of mechanical robots.
Other display visible signs of desiccation, decay and emaciation on their face and body. They have blank, expressionless faces that become more animated when they get hungry and engage in a feeding frenzy.
They are incapable of speech, but often tend to make moaning and guttural sounds. They are normally encountered wearing whatever clothing they wore in their human life, prior to reanimation.

POWERS OF ZOMBIES….

Zombies never sleep, and they are incapable of fatigue.
Zombies are impervious to pain and require no air to breathe.
They are thus immune to drugs, poisons, gases, extremes of temperature and pressure, high voltage electricity, suffocation, and drowning.
While not invulnerable to physical injury, zombies can suffer great damage to their bodies (including dismemberment) without being adversely affected. Dismembering the legs will render the zombie immobile, but the creature will still continue to subsist. Likewise, decapitation will incapacitate the body, but the head will still "live".
Zombies don’t possess any superhuman strength, nor do they have a night vision, a characteristic usually common to undead monsters.
Contamination
Another deadly aspect of the zombie is their ability to rapidly spread their undead scourge, increasing their numbers to vast measures. The bite of a zombie will cause its victim to quickly grow sick and die (usually within 3 days), only to rise again as a zombie. There is no known cure for this virus. Excision and cauterization of the "bite-infected" area (e.g. - removing a hand or arm, etc.) has proven to be completely ineffective in halting a victim's metamorphosis into the Living Dead.
TYPES OF ZOMBIES:-
Two kinds of zombies exists in modern popular culture: one created by voodoo resulting in a spell-bound near dead state, and creatures created by scientific experimentation of strange chemicals on living human..
Voodoo Zombies
Typically, coming from the Caribbean, this type of zombie is created by use of black magic. Some call that magic voodoo, others like to call it hoodoo. There are two variants to Voodoo Zombies:
The Living Zombie: here the zombie is more a still alive person under a spell more than a zombie as we’d understand it. The remarkable thing about this type of zombie is that people can be cured: the spell or effects of the drug can be reversed. Additionally, these zombies are typically not infectious. These zombies have a chance to remember their pre-zombie life. In some cases, such zombies have the same mental capacity as their pre-zombie self. Indeed, selves “zombie kings” made themselves into zombies to achieve a rotting immortality.
Undead Zombie: in this case, the black magic is used to raise the dead rather than make control the living in a zombie-like state. These are your normal zombies: they want to eat people and their bite or other “fluid exchange” creates a new zombie. These zombies know nothing of their pre-zombie life. Indeed, they’re often rotting and just shambling mounds of grave-gunk.
BIO-ZOMBIES:-
These zombies are created by either genetic engineering or some sort of drug. There are two sub-types: Man-Made and Natural Bio Zombies.
Man-Made Bio Zombies
In most cases, esp. now-a-days, genetic engineering is involved with some sort of virus as the vehicle or cause of the “transformation.” Typically, a private pharama company is doing research for the military to create The Ultimate Weapon: a human converted into a zombie having (a.) near immunity, (b.) great strength, (c.) r determination to fight, and yet, (d.) are easy to control, at least as needed.
Also, Man-Made Bio Zombies can be created from toxic waste, post-Nuke derbies, or other agents whose zombie transformative powers are unintentional.
Natural Bio Zombies
In this case, instead of humans creating the Zombie Virus, it naturally occurs. For example, in the Max Brooks world of Zombies, the “Solanum” virus causes the initial out-break in China, where is spreads to the rest of the world.
These are inevitably “traditional zombies” through-and-through: slow moving, mindless, flesh-craving undead.
Apart from these there are even QUEISLING and PHILOSOPHICAL zombies….
The readers must be wondering, as to how did I select such an unusual topic for an article….. Well well….Sometimes the extra-ordinary reach of human experimentation sends a sudden shrill across my spine….. I just wonder….. ARE WE MECHANICAL ZOMBIES?? ARE WE HUNGRY FOR MORE POWER??
Hmmm…. So do give a thought to it….

MORE DIRT ON ANTIMICROBIAL SOAPS

Researchers have found that the use of antimicrobial soaps and other cleaning products may be directly exposing consumers to significant quantities of the carcinogen chloroform. They shown that when the chemical triclosan, present in many antimicrobial soaps, reacts with chlorine in tap water, chloroform is produced. Triclosan is a synthetic antimicrobial agent. Its broad-spectrum bacteria-fighting ability has made it increasingly pervasive in personal care products, cosmetics, antimicrobial creams, acne treatments, lotions, hand soaps, and dish soaps.
"There are numerous potential exposure pathways that can be envisioned, such as inhalation and skin exposure, when using antimicrobial soaps to wash dishes or when taking a shower. There is also risk of exposure when using triclosan laden moisturizers as they may also react with chlorine in the water."
There are some possibilities that the chloroform produced when the antimicrobial soap containing triclosan mixes with chlorinated water could be absorbed through your skin or inhaled.
These new findings add weight to calls for the FDA to closely monitor and possibly regulate the home use of antimicrobials such as triclosan. Most of the consumer products that contain triclosan eventually end up being discharged down residential drains. Previous research has shown that photochemical reactions involving triclosan could be producing dioxins in the presence of sunlight. Researchers are concerned as even at low levels, dioxins tend to accumulate along the food chain. The researchers note that the increasing popularity of antimicrobial products has preceded the study of the possible harmful affects of the use of such products.

Parasites: 10 frightening facts!

Ten Things You Never Wanted To Know About Parasites
1: They're everywhere!You cannot always see parasites, but rest assured that a whopping 75% of the world's creatures belong to this family. And did you know the average human body alone is known to host over a million of them?2: Gut feelingsIf you don't have at least one kind of worm residing in your guts, you're in the minority. After all, over three-quarters of the world's population keep them cosy. Though most of them are small, the biggest tapeworm ever recorded was over 60 feet long. Nice!3: HookwormsA staggering 1.3 billion of the world's population suffer from hookworms, minute monsters that cause anaemia by sucking the blood from the intestinal lining. 4: SmallpoxSmallpox was officially eradicated in 1980, but did you know that the micro parasites that cause this deadly disease currently lie dormant in the ice of Greenland? Some scientists are even worried that global warming could actually free them from captivity.5: EbolaSome parasites are content to feed on bits of you over time. Others are less polite. The dreaded Ebola parasite will, for example, attack internal organs and eat into collagen, which is the connective tissue that holds the human body together.6: Pregnant protectionPregnant women may have a special reason to resent parasites. Scientists believe that morning sickness is the body's way of protecting mother and child from parasitic infection.7: Guinea WormsThe good thing about Tapeworms is that they have the decency to stay hidden. Not so the Guinea Worm. Ingested via contaminated water, the larvae burrow into the intestines and eventually emerge, fully grown, from the skin.8: PinwormsAs prevalent in the West as anywhere else, Pinworms are staple-sized intestinal blighters that crawl out of your backside while you're asleep and deposit their eggs on your bedding.9: Men more at threatMen are twice as likely as women to die of parasite-induced causes. This is thought to be because men tend to be larger and present a greater target.10. Most deadly parasiteThe worst parasite of all is the one that causes malaria. Currently killing a person every 30 seconds, malaria has been responsible for over half of all human deaths since the Stone Age.