Weird Science - Biology

Men are now obsolete, thanks to work by scientists at the Northeast England Stem Cell Institute. Professor Karim Nayernia and team have managed a "scientific first" by inducing stem cells into becoming artificial sperm in laboratory conditions. In mice, these sperm have proven able to fertilise eggs and produce viable offspring, opening the door to potential new infertility treatments in humans. Additionally, the stem cells themselves may come from either sex, raising the possibility of children being born without the traditional male input. Any such treatment is many years away however, and there are still problems to be overcome, not least that all the mice babies so far produced by this technique had abnormally short lives. Nayernia admits that the process is not perfect, but says that it could be ready for human trials in less than ten years (Telegraph).

But mothers, don't kick out the old man yet, not if you want a little help with the childcare that is. A team from the "Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution" in France has confirmed a prediction of the theory of evolution that fathers will invest more in children that resemble them. A total of 30 Senegalese families were studied and the paternal investment and resemblance were quantified for each. As expected, there was a significant correlation between the resemblance and investment scores, but also between investment and the nutrition and health of the child. So it seems we fathers still have our uses, for now (Science Daily).

Animals do many weird things to avoid being eaten, from camouflage, to making themselves look bigger or more dangerous, to having a false head or eye on a less vital point to divert attackers. However, one spider has a tactic that's never been observed before; it makes decoy models of itself. The Cyclosa mulmeinensis spider of Orchid Island, near Taiwan, decorates its web with pellets of silk the same size and (to wasps) colour as itself, then hides among them. Researchers from Tunghai University were actually able to observe wasp predators attacking the decoys while the spider escaped, confirming the effectiveness of the trick. The strategy is not without risk though, by having more spider sized blobs on it, the web may also be easier for the wasps to detect (Daily Mail).



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Posted By: Dumbfounded - Wed Jul 08, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Babies, Family, Insects and Spiders, Medicine, Science, Anthropology

Weird Weddings

In Saudi Arabia it is the groom who traditionally bears the cost of the marriage, and often men will put off the event to save for a bigger ceremony. So the prize of an all-expenses-paid wedding by a Saudi charity is quite an offer, even when it does come with a catch. To enter the draw you have to give up smoking. The charity "Purity", who is behind the campaign, will award the grand prize plus 20 runners-up prizes of free furniture in August, with all the winners being drawn from those men who complete a seven-day course on quitting. Hundreds of men have entered, including one who admitted taking up smoking just so he could enter by quitting (BBC News).

Mind you, it might be as well to get as healthy as possible before the big day, because according to recent research, marriage puts pounds on you. Lona Sandon, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, claims that newlyweds commonly gain up to 10 pounds in the months following the wedding. But before anyone assumes this is scientific proof that your partner has let himself/herself go, be advised that most often both partners gain weight together (Examiner).

Meanwhile, in Japan, most of the weight gain is starting to happen before the ceremony, as it is becoming increasingly common for the bride to be "eating for two". What was a shameful thing in Japan less than a generation ago is now being increasingly celebrated as a dekichatta kon or "double joy" wedding. According to Chika Hirotani of Watabe Wedding as many as 20% of weddings they supply are so blessed (Telegraph).

Another sort of double joy wedding also took place in Russia this week, when twin brothers married twin sisters in a twin ceremony. Alexei and Dimitry Semyonov finally tied the knot with their sweethearts Lilia and Liana after the four of them met at a dance party a year ago (MOS News). A video of the ceremony is also available (if you sit through the advertisement).



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Posted By: Dumbfounded - Tue Jun 30, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Addictions, Babies, Ceremonies, Weddings

Medical Weirdness

In a "stimulus package" of their own devising, Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have announced they are going to provide 70 drugs, including Viagra, free to America's recently dis-employed. Sadly, what might have been cure for those recession blues is limited to people who had already been prescribed one of the drugs prior to being laid off (New Scientist).

And ladies, with all that free Viagra about to hit the streets, now would be a good time to look your best. So what better way to rejuvenate your skin and cast off unsightly wrinkles than though injections of a compound derived from babies' foreskins. In what is, amazingly, not a joke, a British company has developed, and received UK approval for, a treatment called "Vavelta" that contains live fibroblasts harvested from the bits of baby boys left over after a circumcision. Each vial of the drug is only enough to revive less than a square inch of skin, and costs $1000. But you'll have to travel to get it, the FDA have yet to approve its use in the US (Scientific American).

Of course, it's not just your looks that needs tending as you get older, your mind needs attention too. Fortunately researchers have just announced that increased vitamin D is just the thing to keep us thinking flawlessly. Vitamin D, you will remember, comes to us mainly through eating oily fish and from exposure to the sun. So start saving for that Miami condo now (Telegraph).

Meanwhile, in a case of medical irony, one little spoken of casualty of the strategic arms treaties and test bans has been the availability of medicinal isotopes such as those used in radiography and some cancer treatments. Today, all isotopes for the Americas are supplied by just one facility, the MAPLE facility in Ontario, also the world's oldest operating nuclear reactor. Only now, it's shutting down over safety concerns, and there's no replacement ready (National Post).

Finally, as an irony supplement, researchers have discovered that Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes a host of physical and mental problems, also protects against some forms of cancer. Down syndrome is caused by having an extra copy of one chromosome, and it is through having an additional copy of one of the genes on that chromosome, which interferes with the formation of blood vessels, that sufferers from DS are less susceptible to many 'solid tumor' cancers. It's hoped that this discovery might lead to better ways to fight cancer in the future (Science).

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu May 21, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Babies, Health, Medicine, Brain

Your Daily Loser & Jury Duty for May 12th

Your Daily Loser - During an argument back in October of 2006, Chytoria Graham picked up her infant son and swung him like a baseball bat, hitting her boyfriend, and fracturing the baby's skull (the boy survived). She was sentenced to 10 years in prison. So why is she back in the news? Because Chytoria is appealing her sentence and claims the public defenders who represented her at trial were ineffective. She's also just been released on bail.

Jury Duty - Some people just don't see the line between acceptable and not acceptable. Todd Marcum, of Salem, Oregon, is one of those people. Marcum was arrested for putting an electronic, shocking dog collar on his children. And not because they were misbehaving, but because he thought it was funny. The Story. // The Mugshot.

Posted By: Nethie - Tue May 12, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Babies, Crime, Domestic, Family, Your Daily Jury Duty, Your Daily Loser, Goofs and Screw-ups

Baby-Dropping Ritual

Muslims in western India have been dropping babies off the roof of a fifteen-meter-high temple for five-hundred years, and none of the babies have been hurt yet, though they look a bit dazed after landing. So the organizers of the event figure, why stop now? In fact, they claim that dropping the babies off the temple helps the kids grow up strong. Reuters has more details.

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 06, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Babies, Ceremonies, Religion

Baby Sounds For Pets

I wonder if anyone buys this product just because they like to hear baby sounds:

Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 06, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Babies, Pets

The Dionne Quintuplets

Everyone knows we're in the midst of a new Great Depression. But isn't it a little spooky that so many things from the 1930's are repeating themselves? Such as: a nation, mired in bad economic times, is distracted by a case of multiple births.

Today, we have the "Octo-mom."




But some seventy years ago, it was the Dionne Quintuplets.




Somehow I doubt we as a nation will be still following these 2009 kids six years from their birth.




Nor will there be a mass rush to merchandise the unnatural octuplets.




And of course, the ever-prophetic The Simpsons nailed it all ten years ago, with the episode entitled EIGHT MISBEHAVIN'.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 07, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Babies, Body Modifications, Celebrities, Drugs, Fads, Family, Human Marvels, Obsessions, Pop Culture, Technology, 1930s

Ovary and Egg Floaty Pen

A MUST HAVE for the Floaty Pen Enthusiast! The Limited Edtion Chrissy Caviar Floaty Pen.

Chrissy Conant had some of her eggs removed and put them in a floaty pen. Which means you can "Watch Chrissy's egg float back and forth between her ovary and the jar!"

Best of all, it's available on Amazon.

Apparently this was a limited edition of 1000 pens. That seems like a lot of eggs to have removed.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Feb 02, 2009 - Comments (11)
Category: Babies, Eggs

Caylee Sunshine Doll

Chuck has posted a couple of times about slain F state toddler Caylee Marie Anthony. Now a Jacksonville company is coming out with a Caylee tribute doll. It's called the Caylee Sunshine Doll. On sale for only $29.99. It sings the song "You Are My Sunshine" when you push her belly button.

But the company doesn't want anyone to think it's trying to profit from tragedy, or that producing such a doll is kind of sick and twisted. After all, the company points out that the doll doesn't look exactly like Caylee. If it did, that would be "too morbid and difficult for the public."

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 30, 2009 - Comments (9)
Category: Babies

Foot in Brain

A colorado surgeon found a tiny foot, hand, thigh, and parts of an intestine growing inside the brain of a 3-day-old baby. DenverChannel.com has a picture of the brain-foot.

It's not clear whether this was a case of "fetus in fetu" (a fetus growing inside its twin) or fetiform teratoma (a kind of tumor).

Wikipedia has a good article on Teratomas, noting that teratomas have been reported to contain "hair, teeth, bone and very rarely more complex organs such as eyeball, torso, and hand." There was even one case of a mature teratoma being "reported to contain a rudimentary beating heart."

For your entertainment, here's a photo (from Wikipedia) of a cystic teratoma containing hair.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 18, 2008 - Comments (5)
Category: Babies, Body Modifications, Medicine