SourceSuperbugs aka Resistant Disease
You worry about what's going to kill us all. You worry about chemical weapons, biological weapons, nuclear weapons... Will Osama bin Laden lead an army of crazy terrorists to kill us? Will North Korea spark an atomic cataclysm? Forget all that. You want to know what's going to kill us all? Penicillin.
Because of the rampant misuse of antibiotics and antiviral medications, bacteria and viruses are evolving into superbugs.
The next time someone tries to tell you there's no such thing as evolution, tell them about drug-resistant staph. Survival of the fittest is alive and well in the world. And you're not the fittest, in case you were wondering.
Here's how it works. For decades, doctors routinely prescribed antibiotics like penicillin for just about any complaint, sometimes even without a real diagnosis. And why not? Germs are germs, and antibiotics kill germs.
When you kill germs with antibiotics, however, a few germs survive. The germs that survive are tougher than the germs that were killed. When you use antibiotics all the time, you create evolutionary pressure. The surviving germs reproduce and pass their genes for toughness on to the next generation.
The problem was worsened by well-meaning parents from the '50s through the '90s. June Cleaver gets a penicillin prescription for young Beaver's strep throat. The prescription lasts for a week. The Beave is feeling better by Day Four, so June stops giving him the pills and saves them for a rainy day.
On the bright side, June saves herself a trip to the doctor the next time Beaver gets a sore throat. If June had forced Beaver to keep taking the antibiotic for the whole seven days, it might have killed off the whole infection. But when you stop the antibiotic on Day Four, a pretty fair number of the more resilient germs survive, even when the symptoms have ended.
Forty years ago, there were no statistically identifiable strains of drug-resistant streptococcal infection (strep throat). From 1997 to 2002 alone, the number of reported incidents tripled.
Germs also evolve to evade antibiotics by reproducing faster and becoming more contagious, becoming more deadly in the process. By 2004, around 40% of life-threatening strep infections (i.e., pneumonia) were estimated to be resistant to at least two antibiotics.
And it's not just bacterial infections, either. Consider HIV, the AIDS virus. There is no drug that is proven to eliminate HIV. At best, HIV drug treatments simply reduce the amount of HIV in the blood. As a result, HIV is continually evolving into tougher and more deadly mutant strains. Even if you stop the drug treatment, the virus usually doesn't fully revert to the more innocuous form. And it's not just germs either. Pesticides have the same effect on insects. Hit your apartment with a roach bomb, and the two roaches that survive will breed tougher roaches. The same mechanic applies. Evolution forces the roaches to first become resistant to your first choice of pesticide, then become resistant to all forms of pesticide, then become tougher and meaner in every respect.
At the same time that the germs are getting tougher, we're getting weaker. Consider myopia. Although there are environmental factors that complicate the issue, the fact is that myopia was a severe impediment to survival 400 years ago. Today, it's increasing at epidemic levels around the industrialized world. Since the commoditization of eyeglasses, myopia no longer disqualifies you from living long enough to reproduce in an urban environment.
Although there's a vehement (and boring) argument about whether the primary cause of myopia is genetic or environmental, it's pretty easy to see that there would still be a lot less nearsightedness if 20/20 vision was required in order to survive and reproduce. There might also be a lot fewer people in general, but the ones who survived would have good vision.
Evolution cuts both ways. We've been treating diseases with antibiotics for six decades now, three or four generations. The body's natural immune systems are not as crucial to survival as they once were. Instead, we've relied on drug treatments to deal with disease. Our depleted immune systems are now open to further insult, such as the development of diseases that directly target immune response, HIV being the most notable example. Assuming the bugs give us a few more generations before wiping us out entirely, the drugs should stop working completely right about the time that the human immune system reaches its all-time low.
Admittedly, some bugs can and do evolve to protect themselves against the built-in human immune system. But our bodies employ a variety of tactics to get rid of infections, which helps lessen the short-term risk. Antibiotics have (until recently) been used prolifically, and they all work pretty much the same way, so the germs can adapt much more quickly.
Although we've been doing things wrong for considerably less than a century, there's a huge disparity in the evolutionary speed of humans vs. germs. Because humans are so complex and because a generation of humans takes 15-20 years to reach optimum reproduction age, it takes a lot longer for evolutionary progressions to take place on a systemic basis (devolution is faster because the genes for inferior traits like nearsightedness already exist in the population).
In contrast, germs measure their generations in minutes. Strep and staph, two of the most common bacteria, can produce multiple generations with a matter of hours. That means 20,000 or 50,000 generations of strep are produced for every one human generation. Bacteria also mutate much more easily than humans.
So what's the bright side? Well, some humans are smart enough to figure out that this problem exists. Hopefully, those humans are smart enough to figure out solutions as well. Right now, the best solutions are only slowing the problem. Tactics in the war on bugs include:
So far, these tactics have not been strikingly effective. The problem is that resistance is already in the gene pool out there in the real world. It's great that we're slowing the development of new forms of resistant diseases, but Pandora's Box doesn't close so easily.
- Avoiding the use of antibiotics for minor infections, and letting the body's immune system handle routine colds and sore throats.
- Rotating the use of specific drugs or pesticides, instead of using the same ones all the time.
- Designing new kinds of drugs and treatments, such as genetic therapies, so that we're not constantly subjecting germs to the same tactics.
- Treating diseases with "drug cocktails" that simultaneously attack a micro-organism in more than one way.
- Designing treatments that specifically target the reproduction of bacteria and viruses, which is key to the process of evolving a resistance.
Additionally, some diseases are simply adapting to the above tactics. Because there isn't a treatment that can purge your body completely of HIV, the AIDS virus is particularly effective at evolving new and dangerous strains that are resistant to drug cocktails and rotating treatments. Recent reports also suggest that HIV may be evolving into a more deadly and faster-spreading form, but it's a little early to panic on that front yet.
Fortunately for us all, nature does have a way of correcting itself in these situations. Unfortunately, that way is known as an epidemic. When a disease evolves into a sufficiently deadly and contagious strain, it rips through a population, killing off the weak and ensuring that the strong survive and pass their genes to the next generation.
We haven't reached that stage. Yet. We might avoid it, if we're clever enough. At the moment, however, the smart money is probably on the bugs.
SourceTop 10 Signs Of Evolution In Modern Man
Through history, as natural selection played its part in the development of modern man, many of the useful functions and parts of the human body become unnecessary. What is most fascinating is that many of these parts of the body still remain in some form so we can see the progress of evolution. This list covers the ten most significant evolutionary changes that have taken place – leaving signs behind them.
10 Goose Bumps
Cutis Anserina
Humans get goose bumps when they are cold, frightened, angry, or in awe. Many other creatures get goose bumps for the same reason, for example this is why a cat or dog’s hair stands on end and the cause behind a porcupine’s quills raising. In cold situations, the rising hair traps air between the hairs and skin, creating insulation and warmth. In response to fear, goose bumps make an animal appear larger – hopefully scaring away the enemy. Humans no longer benefit from goose bumps and they are simply left over from our past when we were not clothed and needed to scare our own natural enemies. Natural selection removed the thick hair but left behind the mechanism for controlling it.
9 Jacobson’s Organ
Vomeronasal organ
Jacobson’s organ is a fascinating part of animal anatomy and it tells us a lot about our own sexual history. The organ is in the nose and it is a special “smell” organ which detects pheromones (the chemical that triggers sexual desire, alarm, or information about food trails). It is this organ that allows some animals to track others for sex and to know of potential dangers. Humans are born with the Jacobson’s organ, but in early development its abilities dwindle to a point that it is useless. Once upon a time, humans would have used this organ to locate mates when communication was not possible. Single’s evenings, chat rooms, and bars have now taken its place in the process of human mate-seeking.
8 Junk DNA
L-gulonolactone oxidase
While many of the hangovers from our “devolved” past are visible or physical, this is not true for all. Humans have structures in their genetic make-up that were once used to produces enzymes to process vitamin C (it is called L-gulonolactone oxidase). Most other animals have this functioning DNA but at some point in our history, a mutation disbled the gene – whilst leaving behind its remnants as junk DNA. This particular junk DNA indicates a common ancestry with other species on earth, so it is particularly interesting.
7 Extra Ear Muscles
Auriculares muscles
Also known as the extrinsic ear muscles, the auriculares muscles are used by animals to swivel and manipulate their ears (independently of their head) in order to focus their hearing on particular sounds. Humans still have the muscles that we would once have used for the very same reason – but our muscles are now so feeble that all they can do is give our ears a little wiggle. The use of these muscles in cats is very visible (as they can nearly turn their ears completely backwards) – particularly when they are stalking a bird and need to make the smallest movements possible so as to not frighten its future meal.
6 Plantaris Muscle
The plantaris muscle is used by animals in gripping and manipulating objects with their feet – something you see with apes who seem to be able to use their feet as well as their hands. Humans have this muscle as well, but it is now so underdeveloped that it is often taken out by doctors when they need tissue for reconstruction in other parts of the body. The muscle is so unimportant to the human body that 9% of humans are now born without it.
5 Wisdom Teeth
Early humans ate a lot of plants – and they needed to eat them quickly enough that they could eat a sufficient amount in one day to get all of the nutrients they needed. For this reason, we had an extra set of molars to make the larger mouth more productive. This was particularly essential as the body lacked the ability to sufficiently digest cellulose. As evolution made its selections, our diets changed, our jaws grew appropriately smaller, and our third molars became unnecessary. Some human populations have now all but completely stopped growing wisdom teeth, while others have almost 100% likelihood of developing them.
4 Third Eyelid
If you watch a cat blink, you will see a white membrane cross its eye – that is called its third eyelid. It is quite a rare thing in mammals, but common in birds, reptiles, and fish. Humans have a remnant (but non-working) third eyelid (you can see it in the picture above). It has become quite small in humans, but some populations have more visible portions than others. There is only one known species of primate that still has a functioning third eyelid, and that is the Calabar angwantibo (closely related to lorises) which lives in West Africa.
3 Darwin’s Point
plica semilunaris
Darwin’s point is found in the majority of mammals, and humans are no exception. It is most likely used to help focus sounds in animals, but it no longer has a function in humans. Only 10.4% of the human population still has this visible left-over mark of our past, but it is possible that a much larger number of people carry the gene that produces it as it does not always cause the ear tubercle to appear. The point (shown in the picture above) is a small thick nodule at the junction of the upper and middle sections of the ear.
2 Coccyx
The coccyx is the remnant of what was once a human tail. Over time we lost the need for a tail (as tree swinging was replaced by hanging out at the local water hole grunting neanderthal gossip), but we did not lose the need for the coccyx: it now functions as a support structure for various muscles and a support for a person when he sits down and leans back. The coccyx also supports the position of the anus.
1 Appendix
The appendix has no known use in modern humans and is often removed when it becomes infected. While its original use is still speculated on, most scientists agree with Darwin’s suggestion that it once helped to process the cellulose found in the leaf-rich diet that we once had. Over the course of evolution, as our diet has changed, the appendix became less useful. What is particularly interesting is that many evolutionary theorists believe that natural selection (while removing all of the abilities of the appendix) selects larger appendices because they are less likely to become inflamed and diseased. So unlike the little toe, which may eventually vanish and is equally useless, the appendix is likely to stay with us for a long time – just hanging around doing nothing.
Contributor: JFrater
SourceGod Introduces New Bird
October 9, 2009 | Issue 45•41
THE HEAVENS—In what is being described by advance marketing materials as "the first divine creation in more than 6,000 years," God Almighty, Our Lord Most High, introduced a brand-new species of bird into existence Monday.
Enlarge ImageGod attends the launch of the new bird (inset).
"Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, prepare thine eyes for the most exciting line of avian wildlife in millennia," God announced as He released an estimated 14 million first-run models into the important bird markets of North America, Australia, and Eurasia. "This new bird has it all: slicker wings, a more streamlined beak, better-than-ever capacity for beautiful song. Plus, all of the grace and majesty you've come to expect from the Eternal Creator of Life Itself."
"The bird is back," God continued, His booming voice parting the very heavens. "And baby, it's never looked better."
According to the latest specs, etched in two tablets of stone and handed down from atop Mount Sinai, the new bird is anticipated by God to be His finest creation to date. Available in two colors-—male and female—the bird reportedly combines everything God has learned from His previous works into one "new twist on an old favorite."
In keeping with tradition, the bird has not been given a name by God, who has left it to mankind to name all the animals.
"This came out at the perfect time," said Chet Clem, Chair of Biblical Science at Oral Roberts University. "God hadn't come out with anything in a long while, and people, quite frankly, were beginning to lose faith in Him. But this bird is totally worth the wait."
Added Clem, "It's classic God."
Enlarge ImageAn early blueprint for the design of the heaven-sent creature.
"Our Heavenly Father has really outdone Himself this time," ornithologist Dr. Avram Wasserbaum agreed. "Birds don't tend to be His strong suit—take the buzzard or the dodo, for instance. This latest bird, though, has all of God's patented design touches: splendor, grace, and an ineffable sense of timelessness. Trust me, once folks get a load of the brilliant plumage, this thing is really going to put God back on top."
"Plus, birds are hot right now," he added.
For His part, God has even gone so far as to call the new bird His "masterpiece."
"I'm telling you, I pulled out all the stops on this one," He said. "It looks kind of like a hawk, but it's more compact, and it has a smart, sexy flight pattern that has to be seen to be believed. And if that's not enough, get this: This bird eats insects, like a bat."
God's faith in His newest creation remains so high, in fact, that if it turns out to be as popular as expected, He plans to discontinue one of His less beloved species, such as the pigeon.
Not all, however, are impressed.
"The wingspan is not really doing it for me," said well-known creation critic Jean Krewson. "And does it always squawk like that? After six millennia, couldn't God have come up with something a little edgier to breathe life into? I hate to say it, but maybe the One Who Made Man Flesh is losing His touch."
"It's no bald eagle, that's for sure," he added.
Despite such criticisms, most humans remained united in praise of the new species, which is already surpassing previous records for bird popularity in all major wildlife sectors.
"Get 'em while supplies last," God said. "Or before they're hunted to total extinction."
God attends the launch of the new bird (inset).
An early blueprint for the design of the heaven-sent creature.
