'Humans are top of the food chain'

No we're not -_-

And we never shall be (which is a very good thing because imagine the terrible things we'd do if we were!) So who is sitting on the top of the food chain? Sharks? Hippo's? Lions? There not even a blimp on the radar.

Microorganisms

Yes, something so tiny has the potential to wipe out all species on earth. Bacteria, Viruses, Fungi and parasites are like a double edged sword to us. They can cure us such as the Fungi Penicillium chrysogenum produces a byproduct of penicillin or they can kill us. Horribly.

So in no particular order we have 3 truly awful diseases ever known to the earth.

1. Mad Cow disease.

Poor Cow that was inflicted with mad cow disease

Mad cow disease's official name is Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy. It affects the brain and spinal cord and has a very long incubation period of 30 months to 8 years and can affect both Cattle and can affect humans in the slice of Beef they eat was from an infected cow. The cause of this disease is a little misfolded protein called the Prion protein.

 

When infected with this disease you experience depression, insomnia and anxiety and as it progresses you experience muscle spasms. You then lose muscle control and coordination, and may also face some problems involving vision and memory. Starting with  blurred vision, and then forgetting people and things that they do in their daily life. Dementia thus begins to spring it ugly head and all mental and physical functions will become weakened. During the final stages of the ailment, the patient may go into a coma which finally leads to death.

 

Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy became an epidemic in 2004 and really scared people. And rightly so because it turns your brain to mush! But this is what I think of of mad cow disease...

 

 

 

2. Rabies

 A poor man infected with Rabies in restraints

 

The Rabies Virus is a viral disease (obviously) that can be transmitted through blood and saliva. It is Zoonotic like mad cow disease (which means it can be passed from animal to humans) and is almost always fatal when not treated before symptoms occur. Which is what makes it so fucking hard to treat because nobody can know if they have it if they aren't showing symptoms yet.

The Rabies virus cannot survive in water and so infects the host with a paralysing fear of water and an inability to swallow. The first symptoms appear flu like with a raised temperature, sneezing and coughing. Soon after, the symptoms expand to slight or partial paralysis, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behaviour, paranoia, terror, hallucinations, progressing to delirium within four days of initial symptoms occurring. People with the Rabies Virus can often walk around in circles without purpose and often become violent, which is why the man depicted above is in restraints.

 

Only one person has ever survived Rabies without the intervention of a vaccination beforehand. Many people say that if a zombie apocalyse were to ever occur (these people obviously live on the internet) the Rabies virus would be responsible.

 

This Racoons not looking so sweet now is he?

 

3. The Ebola Virus

 

 

The Ebola Virus is a truly terrible virus that makes HIV look like a common cold.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is potentially lethal and encompasses a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, generalised pain or malaise, and sometimes internal and external bleeding. Mortality rates are generally very high, in the region of 80% – 90%, with the cause of death usually due to hypovolemic shock or organ failure.

 

You can obtain this virus from unsterilised needles, hospital contagion or person to person contact. Well actually you could get it from anywhere which is why it could easily become an epidemic.

 

 

 

So here is WhatTheJunk's 3 terrible diseases that make me want to sterilise everything I own and become a shut in. And now you probably do to.

 

 

 

 

 



Genetic Engineering

What if we could?

For those who don't know, genetic engineering or genetic modification as it is also known, is the direct manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. The particular genetic engineering that we are going to focus on is that of animals.

For centuries, humans have long entertained themselves with folk tales of Mermaids which were half human and half fish or about unicorns with wings, but what if you could actually do that? (Although hopefully we wouldn't create the unfortunate animal pictured to the left)

The most common use of genetic modification known is something called selective breeding (such as that used for dogs when they have desirable traits). But if you wanted to create an animal totally new you would have to manipulate there genes, because I mean come on, as much as you try your never gonna get a Shark and a seagull at it are you?

Of Course we can create a hybrid!

But how would it survive the hybridisation? Well, again with my crappy theories, I have a brainwave as to how you could deal with that problem.

So,

The process of genetic engineering with anything go like this; Isolating the desired gene, constructing it with another, targeting the gene, transforming the gene, selecting and rejecting (as when you mix two genes together it could also create undesirable traits that you would need to get rid of), regeneration (so as to create a whole animal) and then of course confirmation that you have created an animal that functions as you would of hoped.

This is a long process and not all genes are going to survive it. And of course as you're practically breaking the law's of nature, the animal that you have created will most likely die from the process of the hybridisation or the hybridisation itself (if they survived it) would either shorten it's life span considerably or disable it.

Well how would we create a hybrid if it won't survive the process of hybridisation?

This is where my theory comes's in. The Chiroptera (the Greek name for Bat),  is the most resilient creature known in the animal kingdom. And you'll be surprised to know its an mammal as well. It can carry thousands of diseases such as HIV, rabies (which is a terribly awful disease) and anything else you can think of without actually ever being infected with it.

This would make it a perfect candidate for genetic engineering as the genetic coding of the Bat and of course it's immune system would allow it to mature without rejecting it's various added parts.


This is purely an expression of scientific interest only as any further action would be unethical and extremely cruel on the animals involved. (I mean imagine waking up and you've been mixed with like a snail. How fucking disappointing would that be?)