Science!: Vomit Guns, Nose Spray and Plastic

[Eagle Est1986]

Awesome Futurama reference, it distracted me from finishing that last page but I did enjoy it.
That nose spray sounds pretty interesting, I'm sure it'll be all the rage amongst the cool kids at revision time.
I'm a bit dubious about the fattening plastic though, I'm pretty sure these scientists are just getting paid to find reasons why national obesity isn't really anyone's fault.

Anyways, great article again Lauren.

I often wonder if i'm a little gay or something. I really don't find Megan Fox attractive.

Don't worry, me either. I think Movie Bob sums it up pretty nicely in his review of Jennifer's Body.

 

[LTK_70]

Edit:
Fun fact: Bdelloid rotifers aren't the only organisms that can desiccate when water is scarce. Tardigrades (or Water Bears) can survive up to 10 years while desiccated.

Not just micro-organisms are this hardy when it comes to surviving without water. I've got this little barren ball of twigs sitting here in my room. You'd say it's a dead fern that I forgot to water for months on end, but it's actually still very alive. When I water the plant, it opens its leaves like a blossoming flower and turns green within minutes. It's said it can actually survive hundreds of years in the desert without rain. Unfortunately, I don't remember how it's called.

Those bdelloid rotifers look pretty awesome, though. At first I thought you were going to describe that lizard species where males died out and females clone themselves by inducing ovulation by mimicing sex. It's a whole lesbian lizard species! But bdelloid rotifers are much better than that. I wonder if they can be used for genetic modification? If you grow a good population of them you might be able to isolate a vital gene that's largely expressed by other micro-organisms in its food.

They do look similar to the Asari - that is, if Asari were to eat their mates to gain their genes instead of having sex with them. Although now that I think of it, eating someone's DNA might be a lot easier than getting them to have sex with you. You only need one cell if you want to eat it, but there are a lot more cells involved to make reproduction work.

BDELLOID ROTIFER WILL EAT YOUR DNA AND YOU WILL BECOME A PART OF IT

 

[Distorted Stu]

erm thats just awesome! I wish i knew suff about electronics, i would make a vomit gun.

 

[monalith]

"Scientists believe that the rotifers habitually break down their own genome and then rebuild it using genes from surrounding rotifers and even other species. Another way they receive new genetic information is from the food they eat,"

So they're basically Tiny Tyranids?

yep we better get the ultramarines to kill them before they kill us.

 

[InventiveHero]

Another awesome issue! I needs me a Vomit Gun - or at least the reasoning as to how a bunch of LED's glued to a flashlight make you puke.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Plastic makes you fat? Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have eaten all those plastic bags while I was in the womb. Who can I sue?

Also, those rotifers- if they willingly splice their DNA with that of other species, does that make them Splicers? Are we going to be seeing them in BioShock 2?

Seriously, though, how do you classify a species that alters its genetic blueprint on a whim?

 

[thiosk]

I love the pop culture references.

death, by SNU SNU!

 

[Andronicus]

I was recently asked to write a report about a type of gene modification technology for biology, and the last article here inspired me to write about Horizontal Gene Transfer. Thankyou Lauren, your legacy shall live on in the form of a brief mention in my 1000 word biology report!

 

[BehattedWanderer]

No offense to the new guy, but thank goodness you're still here, since WilsonsCrazyBed went AWOL, apparently--I need to get my weekly nerd humor somewhere. Thanks, and, as always, great set of articles (Especially the vomit Gun! Someone tell the mythbusters, Let them build one, and then show us people spewing once it's triggered!)