Random Science news and articles

Remove this Banner Ad

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Thanks for your reply, I apologise that I somehow missed it.

For the record, I have been on and off cocktails of psychiatric drugs for 16 years. Pretty well all the common anti depressants, anti psychotics, and mood stabilisers (Valproic Acid and Lithium) I have experience with, all under the supervision of psychiatrists (not GPs).

Pristiq is the first drug to cause me any such grief. Coming off the others would give me a period of insomnia, at the worst. Pristiq (and I continue to take IR Seroquel) is the only drug to have serious withdrawals for me. Today's my first day taking no Pristiq at all (I have weaned down from 300mg to 0mg per my psychiatrist advice).

I can't really explain the feeling in words, but every night I feel like my skin is on fire and I'm lucky if I get even 4 hours sleep, which consist of vivid nightmares.

I have been told (unverified) that Pristiq and Effexor may hit opiate receptors in addition to their role as SNRIs, which could explain why they have some benefits for those with chronic pain disorders, and also perhaps why they give the heroin-tier withdrawals that I continue to experience.
Fingers crossed for successfully staying off the Desvenlafaxine.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
This is really interesting:

Clouds of Venus could be a good life candidate environment - certain depths of the atmosphere are similar pressure and temperature to earth, lots of energy for chemical/biochemical systems and a rich soup of molecules.

The surface would be tougher - an extremophile more extreme that those on Earth would be needed.

I keep thinking of how Phosphine gas is created industrially - heat up phosphorus. The surface of Venus is like a smelter, so a chemical process as opposed to a biochemical process must be possible.
 
Last edited:

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Another not-quite-sure-where-should put-it https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/202...-say-bacteria-behind-deaths-of-330-elephants/
Months ago 330 elephants died suddenly in Botswana, I followed it at the time, there were a couple of smaller groups die. Many of the elephants appeared to have literally dropped while on the hoof. The authorities quickly eliminated common infectious disease and poisons, leaving it a mystery.

Months later they now believe it is a neurotoxin from water dwelling cyanobacteria. Unless you really want to get down and dirty about them the Wiki has a good article about the very toxic world of Cyanotoxins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyano...,Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
 

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Raven intelligence similar to great apes Young Ravens Rival Adult Chimps in a Big Test of General Intelligence - Scientific American

An aside. I noticed the crows around Richmond had to change their behaviour during Covid19, hanging around back yards and domestic bins more, usually they hang around the back lanes raiding the bins of restaurants etc. Since the restrictions have lifted I have not seen a crow hanging around my house, so back to business as usual. It's been much quieter in the morning.
 
Last edited:

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
This is a 'ain't nature incredible' and why did I not know this (this will make more sense if I tell you in a past life and many years ago I started to do a PhD in Cubozoan (box jelly) envenomation but never finished)

octo.jpg

The ABC had an article about a bloke who got a Blue Ringed Octopus bite from a very small juvenile -see A blue-ringed octopus bite is rare but potentially deadly. Here's what you need to know - ABC News which got me interested in the toxin, Tetrodotoxin (TTX), which blocks fast Na+ channels in the peripheral nervous system, is the main component of the venom. Additional components of the venom include histamine, tryptamine, octopamine, taurine, acetylcholine and dopamine, but it's the TTX that will take you to the other side. The article gives you some idea of the horror of being progressively paralysed while awake.

Don't play with them if you see one over the summer, there is no antidote however respiratory support will keep you alive until the effects fade. So if you are unlucky enough to get bitten, call an ambulance, apply a pressure bandage if it's a limb bite, keep calm, still as you can and get to hospital.

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) poisoning most commonly occurs with the pufferfish, but occurs in many species, in fact what is weird is that it scattered occurs across many phylum. Fish, molluscs, starfish, worms, flatworms, crabs and even the odd newt. What was also strange was it only popped up here and there amongst the different phyla seemingly almost at random. A mystery.

In 2011 the mystery was solved.

Certain species of bacteria (eg pseudomonas, aeromonas, vibrio and others)were found to produce Tetrodotoxin and that these bacteria had become endocellular (Inside the cell) and symbiotic in these other organisms. Most organism that have been examined, except newts, these bacteria have been found to be the source of the TTX. For the Blue Ringed Octopus TTX production has been identified by 6 different bacteria, Alteromonas (2 strains), Bacillus (2), Pseudomonas (1) and Vibrio (1), based on biochemical and biological characteristics.

Isn't nature amazing! Darwin described nature as 'red in tooth and claw' however cooperation and mutual benefit often win the day. Mitochondria are perhaps the most powerful example.

If you are the sort of person whose heart gets thumping with TTX, the Wiki has a pretty detailed entry, including some interesting historical tid bits Tetrodotoxin - Wikipedia . About the octopus Tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria from the blue-ringed octopus Octopus maculosus | SpringerLink
 
Last edited:

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Rabbit walking of front legs. Wouldn't believe it unless I saw it Researchers find the secret of the bunny hop: it's all in the genes | Genetics | The Guardian The gene which cause this have been identified, single mutation.

People may remember the Elephants dying in Botswana some time back, which was found to due to toxins from Cyanobacteria. In the US birds have been dying for unknown reason for decades, at autopsy they had vacuoles (holes) in their brains. It is now believed to be due to a toxin from Cyanobacteria. Mysterious Killer of Bald Eagles Finally Identified (scitechdaily.com)

Cyanobacterium are often a problem in aquariums, but their really big claim to fame is that 2.4 billion years ago they started the first rise in atmospheric oxygen (the Great Oxygenation Event), without this we would never have come to be. Life would have remained low energy and probably single celled.
 
Last edited:
Hyperaccumulating plants. Quite remarkable how they can extract so much metal from the soil:

 

CD Xbow

Premiership Player
Oct 1, 2014
4,421
9,289
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Interesting Podcast by Peter Ward, an American Paleo who came up with the Medea Hypothesis, multicellular life is essentially destructive. It's the bad mummy version of the Gaia hypothesis. He was an ammonite man until his partner died diving, which he recounts graphically in the talk. He developed a severe case of the bends trying to save him including necrosis of some of his bones

Episode #12 Life Finds a Way... and Then Medea Kills It with Peter Ward | Paleo Nerds
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back