Posted on 07/19/2013 1:28:41 PM PDT by neverdem
Obamavirus next?
Meh. I saw a bunch of these at the beginning of promethius.
That movie sucked.
-PJ
Fascinating stuff, even if I barely understand it.
Waiting for the day we create something we cannot kill.
How about BFV? (*Participants are limited to three guesses each* *void where prohibited by law*)
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Its already here and it wants to enslave or kill all of us.
To create a little context for this, on the tree of life, the very top level is “alive or not alive”, with of course, only life qualifying.
The very next level is called “domain”. For centuries now, there were only two domains: bacteria and “Eukarya”, or “everything alive that isn’t bacteria.
But then, not too long ago, biologists decided that there was a third domain. “Archaea”. They look like bacteria but aren’t bacteria, following a completely different evolutionary path. Originally they were called “extremophiles”, because they were found in extremely harsh environments, where even bacteria don’t live. They also eat things that bacteria don’t eat, like hydrogen gas.
And, surprise, they also live in the intestines of some people, and are important to good digestion.
To add a fourth domain so soon is a radical notion, and will take much debate. For example, why did bacteria and Eukarya evolve a lot, but Archaea and Pandoraviruses not evolve very much at all.
Big Friendly Viruses?
And, perhaps why some are fat and some are skinny?
Not nearly as bad as Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, or the Alien vs. Predator films. All-in-all, I enjoyed it but was left with more questions than answers.
A good question to which there is only a limited answer yet.
Archaea do consume hydrogen gas generated in the gut, that inhibits bacterial growth; so bacteria function better and our food is more nutritious. The end product is methane.
“Methanobrevibacter smithii is the dominant archaeon in the human gut. It is important for the efficient digestion of polysaccharides (complex sugars) because it consumes end products of bacterial fermentation. Methanobrevibacter smithii is a single-celled micro-organism from the Archaea domain. M. smithii recycles hydrogen in methane, allowing for an increase in the transformation of nutrients into calories.”
“Researchers have sequenced M. smithii genome, indicating that M. smithii may be a therapeutic target for reducing energy harvest in obese humans.”
“The human gut microbiota has three main groups of hydrogen consuming microbes: methanogens including M. smithii, a polyphyletic group of acetogens, and sulfate-reducing bacteria.”
Importantly, of the 300-1000 different kinds of bacteria in the gut, though almost all the space is occupied by 30-40 different kinds, there are some bacteria that directly contribute to weight gain.
One such are those from the enterobacter genus.
“A recent study has shown that the presence of Enterobacter cloacae B29 in the gut of a morbidly obese individual may have contributed to the patients obesity. Reduction of the bacterial load within the patients gut, from 35% E. cloacae B29 to non-detectable levels, was associated with a parallel reduction in endotoxin load in the patient and a concomitant, significant reduction in weight.”
Cousin to the BFG 9000. Participants may or may not get the reference, lol
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