A tapeworm: like a friend that will always be with you. A friend that's taller than you are. Living in your intestines.
Courtesy SavadorjoI just came across this tasty little item on CNN.com: A Chicago man recently passed a nine-foot-long tapeworm, which he believes to have gotten from undercooked salmon.
I’m not sure of the best way to express my feelings on this subject, so let’s just talk about tapeworms.
Tapeworms are, of course, parasitic flatworms. Humans can become infected with tapeworms by consuming food or water contaminated with the eggs or larvae of the worm. You might not think it, but whether one is infested with eggs or larva can make a big difference. If you accidentally eat the eggs, the larvae that hatch from them may migrate out of your intestines, and make little cystic homes in other parts of your body, like your lungs or liver. These cysts are both super gross, and super dangerous—you can die from them, and treatment is difficult. If, on the other hand, you unwittingly eat tapeworm larvae, it’s much more likely that the baby worm will snuggle up in your guts, and eat what you eat. This is super gross, and still pretty bad for you, and it’s best if you avoid it.
If you do get a tapeworm living in your intestines, as the man in the story did, you may suffer from nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, weakness, and loss of weight. Or you might not demonstrate any symptoms at all. But you’ll still have a huge worm living inside you.
There are a variety of tapeworm types that might infect you, including the beef tapeworm, the pork tapeworm, the dwarf tapeworm, and the fish tapeworm. Some tapeworms go through their whole lifecycle inside one host, developing from egg to larva to adult, while others attach themselves to the lining of the intestine, and others still allow themselves to be passed (into the toilet).
According to the Mayo clinic’s page on tapeworms, adult worms can grow up to fifty feet inside their hosts. So, all things considered, the Chicago guy should feel lucky.
Tapeworm eggs can be passed from one person to another via… stool… so be sure to wash your hands. Constantly.
Tags : In the future, motorcycles won’t be cool.
in Physical Science, Scientific Enterprise, Motion, Flow of Matter and Energy, and Human Organism
A motorcycle race...: In the future!
Courtesy Private CustardA student in the transportation program of the < a href=http://www.artcenter.edu/>Art Center College of Design has invented a brand new paradox: a concept-motorcycle that is somehow simultaneously totally awesome and utterly, hopelessly dorky.
It’s a mega future tri-moto electro cyber transporto THX laser blade runner terminatrix rideable machine.
I guess they call it the conceptual exoskeleton motorcycle, Deus Ex Machina. But I think my name for it is still less dorky.
What? You want an actual description of the vehicle? Well, you could just click on the long link above, and leave Science Buzz forever, but we like you here. So at least read the rest of the post before you go.
The Deus Ex Machina is sort of a wheeled tripod, with straps and an integrated helmet to secure the rider. It parks in an upright position, but once it starts moving, the “arms” of the tripod extend forward, so the rider is in a sort of superman position. The motorcycle steers according to the rider’s body position, translating movement to 36 pneumatic muscles. Like, um, Robocop, I think.
The whole vehicle is powered with electricity, using fancy lithium ion batteries and ultracapacitors (check out ARTiFactor’s post for more on ultracapacitors), and is capable of reaching speeds of around 75 mph.
The Ultra Deus Mega Electromachina motorcycle is still very much conceptual, however. That is to say, while all the technological components exist (in some form) the vehicle itself only exists as a computer rendering at the moment. So it’s probably not very fun to ride. The designer maintains that it’s not a fantasy: “It’s a green vehicle,” he says, “and all of the numbers are based in the real world.”
The design itself seems more based in the Minority Report world, but whatev.
There’s a video here, too.
Professor Julius Sumner Miller educated and entertained generations of Australians on television with his TV series called "Why is it so?"
Now you too can watch some "enchanting experiments" with the good professor! Both dialup or broadband connections available (click the link above for dozens of episodes).
If you were sad to see Pluto stripped of its planetary status, you can be glad that the poor mass of rock and ice has been given a break. The international body that officially defines the names of stellar objects has decided to call all objects like Pluto, plutoids. So if Pluto isn't a planet, what is it? It's a plutoid...so is Eris.
Yo mama is as big as a yacht, at least to an Australian whale calf in distress
Of the coast of Australia, a humpback whale calf has confused a yacht for its mother. See it for yourself in this National Geographic video.
Are you gonna eat all of that?: During the peak of his training, Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps was consuming up to 12,000 calories a day. Do you think you could win eight gold medals if you ate like that?
Courtesy White HouseFor the past week, it's been all Michael Phelps, all the time on the media. So why shouldn't Science Buzz jump on the bandwagon as well. Here's an interesting story from National Public Radio about the food consumption that the all-time Olympic gold medal winner puts down as part of his training regimine. Be sure to listen to the listing of the typical Phelps breakfast. It puts Old Country Buffet to shame, right down to the chocolate chip pancakes.
His daily calorie intake during peak times of training is 12,000 calories. Standard diets for mere mortals suggest a caloric intake of up to 2,000 calories. Ah, now I get it. He's winning all those gold medals by eating a lot. That's great news for me with the approach of football season and all the calories I'll be consuming on my sofa while watching the games. I should be in gold medal shape by November, don't you think?
And if you haven't gotten your fill of Michael Phelps info by now, here's another NPR story about the technology behind the timing systems used at the Olympic pool that can figure out the winners of races who are separated by just a hundreth of a second.
Here's a charming story about sea turtles and a restaurant in Rome. If he were still alive, I think Rodney Dangefield could make some pretty good jokes out of this material.
Driving while down: Is it the mood or the treatment that's the problem?
Courtesy Ben McLeodA new study out of the University of North Dakota is showing a link between antidepressant use and impaired driving, at least in some cases. Research lead Dr. Holly J. Dannewitz and her colleagues presented their results at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston.
In the study, 31 people with varying degrees of depression and treated with antidepressants were compared with 29 control group members who were unmedicated. Those using antidepressants were divided further into two groups: those having high levels of depression symptoms and those with lower levels. Those suffering from higher symptoms were treated with higher doses of antipressants. All three groups took part in a driving simulation and were scored for typical driving-based decisions, such as reacting to stop signs, traffic signals, brake lights, changing speed limits, animals, bicycles and other cars.
The more depressed participants scored much worse in the study than the other two groups. When the scores were totaled up, participants not on medication got 69 points, those on medication but with milder depression symptoms scored 65, and those with elevated symptoms scored 54.
"We already know that depression causes concentration problems," said Dr. Dannewitz. "And now it appears that people taking antidepressants who also have relatively higher depression scores fare significantly worse when attempting to perform a computerized simulation of driving."
Previous studies have already shown lower concentration abilities in depression sufferers, and manufacturers of antidepressant medication often warn against driving or using machinery while on the drugs. So, it's not clear whether the poor scores were caused by the increased medication use or by the more depressed mood. Dr. Dannewitz hopes to sort this out with further studies using clinically depressed patients who are not on anti-depressants.
"There is obviously more work to do on this. We need a much larger study, but there certainly seems to be some sort of link," Dannewitz said.
SOURCES and LINKS
Medicine News Today website story
MentalHealth.net story
Info on anti-depressants
Flash flood: Rafters, hikers stranded or missing in Grand Canyon's side canyons
High and dry: Earlier this summer, hikers meandered along a trail high above Havasu Creek along the Grand Canyon. High rains this weekend flooded the side canyon, sending hikers and rafters high up the canyon walls to safety.
Courtesy ladydog22Arizona isn't known as a wet place, but a surge of rain (3 to 6 inches) in northern Arizona has recreationers in side canyons of the Grand Canyon scrambling to deal with flash floods that have washed away their boats and supplies. Here's a link to more details and photos.
Electricity from wind was cheaper: I saved 44 cents on my July electric bill because 100 per cent of my electricity is from wind power.
Courtesy ARTiFactor
I saved money because my electricity comes from wind
About two years ago I signed up for Windsource (click to see my Buzz writeup). Windsource is an Xcel Energy program that allows customers to have all or part of their electricity come from wind (click here for details about windsource charges).
Benefits of wind energy
I did not sign up for Windsource to save money. I was willing to pay extra for wind generated electricity because wind energy has multiple benefits.
- No carbon dioxide emissions
- No sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, or mercury emissions
- No water consumption requirement
- Creates jobs
- Creates income for farmers
- Wind is forever (renewable)
- Wind energy reduces need for importing energy and exporting dollars
Want to help promote wind energy?
Renewable energy credits have provided incentives for investments in wind energy. A federal production tax credit (PTC) has an expiration date less than five months from now. If you agree that continuing incentives for renewable energy is wise,
Urge your Members of Congress to extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC)
Click the link above for help on how to take action.
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