Name: Norman Anthony Aguero Currently a student at FIU. My major is chemistry and my minor is physics. My goal is to hopefully earn a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry.
According to Wikipedia, Cro-Magnon man lived about 35,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Upper Paleothici period of the Pleistocene epoch. (Apparently, having difficult to pronounce names gives the illusion of significance in the scientific world.)
But anywho, I beg to differ. And don't think I'm on some creationist trip either. Granted, I might possibly believe the Earth to be 4.5 billion years old. But that shouldn't discredit the information I am about to share.
You see, I'm not on a rampage to prove evolutionists wrong. I just like to prove myself correct. And at last I have proof.
Cro-Magnon man didn't live 10,000+ years ago. That fucker still walks the Earth today. I seen him with my own eyes. So in a sense, I'm about to prove how both creationists and evolutionists are correct.
Johnny "Neanderthal" Damon is living proof that Cro-Magnon man exists. I mean, good God look at the size of that dude's head. If Johnny Damon died today, and I had some scientific nitwit undig his bones 10 years from now he would swear up and down he found the missing link.
One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru.
The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.
The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows.
More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says.
Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports tribal people around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made extinct" if their land was not protected.
'Monumental crime'
Survival International said that although this particular group is increasing in number, others in the area are at risk from illegal logging.
The photos were taken during several flights over one of the most remote parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Acre region.
They show tribe members outside thatched huts, surrounded by the dense jungle, pointing bows and arrows up at the camera.
"We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist," the group quoted Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior, an official in the Brazilian government's Indian affairs department, as saying.
"This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence."
He described the threats to such tribes and their land as "a monumental crime against the natural world" and "further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilised' ones, treat the world".
Disease is also a risk, as members of tribal groups that have been contacted in the past have died of illnesses that they have no defence against, ranging from chicken pox to the common cold.
A third red spot has appeared alongside the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. in the turbulent Jovian atmosphere.
A potentially historic change is occurring on Jupiter. An upstart storm now rivals the gas giant's Big Red Spot as king of storms, astronomers announced last week.
The Little Red Spot, as it was named upon discovery in 2006, shows both size and speed in threatening to knock the former champion off its perch, with Junior's maximum winds reaching 384 mph (172 meters per second).
"In terms of maximum wind speed, the Little Red Spot as measured in 2007 and the Great Red Spot when last measured in 2000 are just about the same," said Andrew Cheng, physicist and lead study author at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Those winds far outstrip the 156 mph threshold that defines a Category 5 hurricane on Earth, and the Little Red Spot itself appears nearly as big as our whole planet.
Seeing spots
A third red spot on Jupiter was also announced last week by a different team, joining its larger super-storm cousins. The Great Red Spot has raged on for at least two centuries and perhaps as much as 350 years, ancient observations suggest.
Cheng's team used image maps made by the New Horizons spacecraft to gauge wind speed and direction.
The Hubble Space Telescope provided visible-light images of the storms, while the Very Large Telescope in Chile used mid-infrared to glimpse the thermal structure of the storms below the visible cloud tops.
The thermal heat images showed that the Little Red Spot may already match the Great Red Spot for size, although the latter still appears almost twice as large on the surface of Jupiter's atmosphere when examined in visible light.
"In the infrared, which sees deeper beneath those clouds, the Little Red Spot appears to be part of an interacting system that is actually larger than the Great Red Spot," Cheng told SPACE.com.
The Little Red Spot has steadily gained strength even as the Big Red Spot shrinks.
Both storms have winds that circulate in the opposite direction to that of a cyclone, or counterclockwise, and appear "strikingly similar," Cheng said.
Seeing red
Astronomers remain mystified by the angry red color of the storms. The Little Red Spot only changed color in late 2005 after it formed from earlier mergers of three smaller storms.
Similarly, the newest third red spot began as an oval white storm.
These latest findings support the theory that the most powerful storms dredge up material from below Jupiter's clouds and lift it into the upper atmosphere. That exposes the material to solar ultraviolet radiation and causes the color change to red.
The newcomer storm may end up merging with the Great Red Spot or getting pushed away when the two encounter each other in August, assuming their paths remain the same. The Little Red Spot lies at a lower latitude and will pass the Great Red Spot in June.
The idea that Jupiter is undergoing global climate change was proposed in 2004 by Phil Marcus, a mechanical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley.
He predicted large changes in the southern hemisphere starting around 2006 that would destabilize jet streams and spawn new storms.
Much of the activity in the gas giant's South Equatorial Belt has disappeared and left the Great Red Spot isolated, foreshadowing even greater changes to come.
"The Great Red Spot may not always be the largest and strongest storm on Jupiter," said Glenn Orton, planetary scientist and study coauthor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena
Use and abuse of substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs may begin in childhood or the teen years. Certain risk factors may increase someone's likelihood to abuse substances.
Factors within a family that influence a child's early development have been shown to be related to increased risk of drug abuse.
Chaotic home environment
Ineffective parenting
Lack of nurturing and parental attachment
Factors related to a child's socialization outside the family may also increase risk of drug abuse.
Inappropriately aggressive or shy behavior in the classroom
In geometry, a torus (pl. tori) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle, which does not touch the circle. Examples of tori include the surfaces of doughnuts and inner tubes. A circle rotated about a chord of the circle is called a torus in some contexts, but this is not a common usage in mathematics. The shape produced when a circle is rotated about a chord resembles a round cushion. Torus was the Latin word for a cushion of this shape.
Geometry
A torus can be defined parametrically by:
where
u, v are in the interval [0, 2π],
R is the distance from the center of the tube to the center of the torus,
These formulas are the same as for a cylinder of length 2πR and radius r, created by cutting the tube and unrolling it by straightening out the line running around the centre of the tube. The losses in surface area and volume on the inner side of the tube happen to exactly cancel out the gains on the outer side.
According to a broader definition, the generator of a torus need not be a circle but could also be an ellipse or any other conic section.
I learned this crap in (u,v) space, thanks to Dr. R.
Enzymes are proteinmolecules that manipulate other molecules — the enzymes' substrates. These target molecules bind to an enzyme's active site and are transformed into products through a series of steps known as the enzymatic mechanism. These mechanisms can be divided into single-substrate and multiple-substrate mechanisms. Kinetic studies on enzymes that only bind one substrate, such as triosephosphate isomerase, aim to measure the affinity with which the enzyme binds this substrate and the turnover rate.
When enzymes bind multiple substrates, such as dihydrofolate reductase (shown right), enzyme kinetics can also show the sequence in which these substrates bind and the sequence in which products are released. An example of enzymes that bind a single substrate and release multiple products are proteases, which cleave one protein substrate into two polypeptide products. Others join two substrates together, such as DNA polymerase linking a nucleotide to DNA. Although these mechanisms are often a complex series of steps, there is typically one rate-determining step that determines the overall kinetics. This rate-determining step may be a chemical reaction or a conformational change of the enzyme or substrates, such as those involved in the release of product(s) from the enzyme.
Knowledge of the enzyme's structure is helpful in interpreting the kinetic data. For example, the structure can suggest how substrates and products bind during catalysis; what changes occur during the reaction; and even the role of particular amino acid residues in the mechanism. Some enzymes change shape significantly during the mechanism; in such cases, it is helpful to determine the enzyme structure with and without bound substrate analogs that do not undergo the enzymatic reaction.
Not all biological catalysts are protein enzymes; RNA-based catalysts such as ribozymes and ribosomes are essential to many cellular functions, such as RNA splicing and translation. The main difference between ribozymes and enzymes is that the RNA catalysts perform a more limited set of reactions, although their reaction mechanisms and kinetics can be analysed and classified by the same methods.
General principles
The rate of reaction will increase as substrate concentration increases, eventually becoming saturated at very high concentrations of substrate.
The reaction catalysed by an enzyme uses exactly the same reactants and produces exactly the same products as the uncatalysed reaction. Like other catalysts, enzymes do not alter the position of equilibrium between substrates and products.[1] However, unlike normal chemical reactions, enzymes are saturable. This means as more substrate is added, the reaction rate will increase, because more active sites become occupied. This can continue until all the enzyme becomes saturated with substrate and the rate reaches a maximum. The two most important kinetic properties of an enzyme are how quickly the enzyme becomes saturated with a particular substrate, and the maximum rate it can achieve. Knowing these properties suggests what an enzyme might do in the environment of the cell and can show how the enzyme will respond to changes in these conditions.
Enzyme assays
Progress curve for an enzyme reaction. The slope in the initial rate period is the initial rate of reactionv. The Michaelis-Menten equation describe how this slope varies with the concentration of substrate.
Enzyme assays are laboratory procedures that measure the rate of enzyme reactions. Because enzymes are not consumed by the reactions they catalyse, enzyme assays usually follow changes in the concentration of either substrates or products to measure the rate of reaction. There are many methods of measurement. Spectrophotometric assays observe change in the absorbance of light between products and reactants; radiometric assays involve the incorporation or release of radioactivity to measure the amount of product made over time. Spectrophotometric assays are most convenient since they allow the rate of the reaction to be measured continuously. Although radiometric assays require the removal and counting of samples (i.e., they are discontinuous assays) they are usually extremely sensitive and can measure very low levels of enzyme activity.[2] An analogous approach is to use mass spectrometry to monitor the incorporation or release of stable isotopes as substrate is converted into product.
The most sensitive enzyme assays use lasers focused through a microscope to observe changes in single enzyme molecules as they catalyse their reactions. These measurements either use changes in the fluorescence of cofactors during an enzyme's reaction mechanism, or of fluorescent dyes added onto specific sites of the protein to report movements that occur during catalysis.[3] These studies are providing a new view of the kinetics and dynamics of single enzymes, as opposed to traditional enzyme kinetics, which observes the average behaviour of populations of millions of enzyme molecules.[4][5]
On the left is shown a typical progress curve for an enzyme assay. The enzyme produces product at a linear initial rate at the start of the reaction. Later in this progress curve, the rate slows down as substrate is used up or products accumulate. The length of the initial rate period depends on the assay conditions and can range from milliseconds to hours. Enzyme assays are usually set up to produce an initial rate lasting over a minute, to make measurements easier. However, equipment for rapidly mixing liquids allows fast kinetic measurements on initial rates of less than one second.[6] These very rapid assays are essential for measuring pre-steady-state kinetics, which are discussed below.
Most enzyme kinetics studies concentrate on this initial, linear part of enzyme reactions. However, it is also possible to measure the complete reaction curve and fit this data to a non-linear rate equation. This way of measuring enzyme reactions is called progress-curve analysis.[7] This approach is useful as an alternative to rapid kinetics when the initial rate is too fast to measure accurately.
Single-substrate reactions
Enzymes with single-substrate mechanisms include isomerases such as triosephosphateisomerase or bisphosphoglycerate mutase, intramolecular lyases such as adenylate cyclase and the hammerhead ribozyme, a RNA lyase.[8] However, some enzymes that only have a single substrate do not fall into this category of mechanisms. Catalase is an example of this, as the enzyme reacts with a first molecule of hydrogen peroxide substrate, becomes oxidised and is then reduced by a second molecule of substrate. Although a single substrate is involved, the existence of a modified enzyme intermediate means that the mechanism of catalase is actually a ping–pong mechanism, a type of mechanism that is discussed in the Multi-substrate reactions section below.
Michaelis–Menten kinetics
Saturation curve for an enzyme showing the relation between the concentration of substrate and rate.
Single-substrate mechanism for an enzyme reaction. k1, k-1 and k2 are the rate constants for the individual steps.
As enzyme-catalysed reactions are saturable, their rate of catalysis does not show a linear response to increasing substrate. If the initial rate of the reaction is measured over a range of substrate concentrations (denoted as [S]), the reaction rate (v) increases as [S] increases, as shown on the right. However, as [S] gets higher, the enzyme becomes saturated with substrate and the rate reaches Vmax, the enzyme's maximum rate.
The Michaelis-Menten kinetic model of a single-substrate reaction is shown on the right. There is an initial bimolecular reaction between the enzyme E and substrate S to form the enzyme–substrate complex ES. Although the enzymatic mechanism for the unimolecular reactionreaction can be quite complex, there is typically one rate-determining enzymatic step that allows the mechanism to be modelled as a single catalytic step of rate constant k2.
(Equation 1).
k2 is also called kcat or the turnover number, the maximum number of enzymatic reactions catalyzed per second.
At low concentrations of substrate [S], the enzyme exists in an equilibrium between both the free form E and the enzyme–substrate complex ES; increasing [S] likewise increases [ES] at the expense of [E], shifting the binding equilibrium to the right. Since the rate of the reaction depends on the concentration [ES], the rate is sensitive to small changes in [S]. However, at very high [S], the enzyme is entirely saturated with substrate, and exists only in the ES form. Under these conditions, the rate (v≈k2[E]tot=Vmax) is insensitive to small changes in [S]; here, [E]tot is the total enzyme concentration
which is approximately equal to the concentration [ES] under saturating conditions.
The Michaelis–Menten equation[9] describes how the reaction rate v depends on the position of the substrate-binding equilibrium and the rate constant k2. Michaelis and Menten showed when k2 is much less than k-1 (called the equilibrium assumption)[10] they could derive the following equation:
(Equation 2)
This Michaelis-Menten equation is the basis for most single-substrate enzyme kinetics.
The Michaelis constant Km is defined as the concentration at which the rate of the enzyme reaction is half Vmax. This may be verified by substituting [S] = Km into the Michaelis-Menten equation. If the rate-determining enzymatic step is slow compared to substrate dissociation (k2 << k-1), the Michaelis constant Km is roughly the dissociation constant of the ES complex, although this situation is relatively rare.
The more normal situation where k2 > k-1 is sometimes called Briggs-Haldane kinetics.[11] The Michaelis–Menten equation still holds under these more general conditions, as may be derived from the steady-state approximation.[10] During the initial-rate period, the reaction rate v is roughly constant, indicating that [ES] is similarly constant (cf. equation 1):
Therefore, the concentration [ES] is given by the formula
where the Michaelis constant Km is defined
([E] is the concentration of free enzyme). Taken together, the general formula for the reaction rate v is again the Michaelis-Menten equation:
The specificity constant kcat / Km is a measure of how efficiently an enzyme converts a substrate into product. Using the definition of the Michaelis constant Km, the Michaelis-Menten equation may be written in the form
where [E] is the concentration of free enzyme. Thus, the specificity constant is an effective second-order rate constant for free enzyme to react with free substrate to form product. The specificity constant is limited by the frequency with which the substrate and enzyme encounter each other in solution, as high as 1010M−1s−1.[12] Remarkably, this maximum rate is largely unaffected by the size of either the substrate or the enzyme.[13] The ratio of the specificity constants for two substrates is a quantitative comparison of how efficient the enzyme is in converting those substrates. The slope of the Michaelis-Menten graph at low substrate concentration [S] (when [S] << Km) also yields the specificity constant.
Lineweaver–Burk or double-reciprocal plot of kinetic data, showing the significance of the axis intercepts and gradient.
Using an interactive Michaelis–Menten kinetics tutorial at the University of Virginia,[α] the effects on the behaviour of an enzyme of varying kinetic constants can be explored.
The plot of v versus [S] above is not linear; although initially linear at low [S], it bends over to saturate at high [S]. Before the modern era of nonlinear curve-fitting on computers, this nonlinearity could make it difficult to estimate Km and Vmax accurately. Therefore, several researchers developed linearizations of the Michaelis-Menten equation, such as the Lineweaver-Burk plot, the Eadie-Hofstee diagram and the Hanes-Woolf plot. All of these linear representations can be useful for visualizing data, but none should be used to determine kinetic parameters, as computer software is readily available that allows for more accurate determination by nonlinear regression methods.[14]
The Lineweaver-Burk plot or double reciprocal plot is common way of illustrating kinetic data. This is produced by taking the reciprocal of both sides of the Michaelis–Menten equation. As shown on the right, this is a linear form of the Michaelis–Menten equation and produces a straight line with the equation y = mx + c with a y-intercept equivalent to 1/Vmax and an x-intercept of the graph representing -1/Km.
Naturally, no experimental values can be taken at negative 1/[S]; the lower limiting value 1/[S] = 0 (the y-intercept) corresponds to an infinite substrate concentration, where 1/v=1/Vmax as shown at the right; thus, the x-intercept is an extrapolation of the experimental data taken at positive concentrations. More generally, the Lineweaver-Burk plot skews the importance of measurements taken at low substrate concentrations and, thus, can yield inaccurate estimates of Vmax and Km.[15] A more accurate linear plotting method is the Eadie-Hofstee plot. In this case, v is plotted against v/[S]. In the third common linear representation, the Hanes-Woolf plot, [S]/v is plotted against [S]. In general, data normalisation can help diminish the amount of experimental work and can increase the reliability of the output, and is suitable for both graphical and numerical analysis.[16]
Practical significance of kinetic constants
The study of enzyme kinetics is important for two basic reasons. Firstly, it helps explain how enzymes work, and secondly, it helps predict how enzymes behave in living organisms. The kinetic constants defined above, Km and Vmax, are critical to attempts to understand how enzymes work together to control metabolism.
Making these predictions is not trivial, even for simple systems. For example, oxaloacetate is formed by malate dehydrogenase within the mitochondrion. Oxaloacetate can then be consumed by citrate synthase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase or aspartate aminotransferase, feeding into the citric acid cycle, gluconeogenesis or aspartic acid biosynthesis, respectively. Being able to predict how much oxaloacetate goes into which pathway requires knowledge of the concentration of oxaloacetate as well as the concentration and kinetics of each of these enzymes. This aim of predicting the behaviour of metabolic pathways reaches its most complex expression in the synthesis of huge amounts of kinetic and gene expression data into mathematical models of entire organisms. Although this goal is far in the future for any eukaryote, attempts are now being made to achieve this in bacteria, with models of Escherichia coli metabolism now being produced and tested.[17][18]
Mmm... Universe. Calculations show it really might be shaped like the snack favourite.
The doughnut is making a comeback – at least as a possible shape for our Universe.
The idea that the universe is finite and relatively small, rather than infinitely large, first became popular in 2003, when cosmologists noticed unexpected patterns in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – the relic radiation left behind by the Big Bang.
The CMB is made up of hot and cold spots that represent ripples in the density of the infant Universe, like waves in the sea. An infinite Universe should contain waves of all sizes, but cosmologists were surprised to find that longer wavelengths were missing from measurements of the CMB made by NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe.
“You can think of the Universe as a musical instrument - it cannot sustain vibrations that have a wavelength that is bigger than the length of the instrument itself,” explains Frank Steiner, a physicist at Ulm University in Germany.
Cosmologists have suggested various 'wrap-around' shapes for the Universe: it might be shaped like a football or even a weird 'doughnut'. In each case, the Universe would appear to be infinite, because you would never physically reach its edge - if you travelled far enough in any direction you would end up back where you started, just as if you were circumnavigating the globe.
But the notion soon suffered a setback. Cosmologists predicted that a wrap-around Universe would act like a hall of mirrors, with images from distant objects being repeated multiple times across the sky. Glenn Starkman at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and his colleagues searched for the predicted patterns, but found nothing.
Undeterred, Steiner and his colleagues have re-analysed the 2003 data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, looking for different shapes, including the so-called '3-torus', also dubbed the 'doughnut universe'.
Despite its catchy nickname, this shape is tough to visualize, says Steiner. The 3-torus is an extension of the familiar doughnut shape and can be formed from a rectangular piece of paper. You can imagine gluing together first one set of opposite edges to make a cylinder, and then the second set of opposing edges to make a doughnut shape, explains Steiner.
The 3-torus is formed in a similar way, but you begin with a cube and glue together each of the opposite faces. So if you were to attempt to exit one of the cube's faces, you would immediately find yourself entering again through the opposite one.
Other shapes are possible
Steiner’s team used three separate techniques to compare predictions of how the temperature fluctuations in different areas of the sky should match up in both an infinite Universe and a doughnut one. In each case, the doughnut gave the best match to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data. The team has even been able to pin point the probable size of the Universe, which would take around 56 billion light years to cross.
Jean-Pierre Luminet at the Paris Observatory in France, who proposed the football-shaped universe in 2003, likes Steiner's work. He agrees that the analysis shows that the doughnut is still a likely candidate, but adds that other shapes are also possible. “One must remember that the (football universe) is still alive and well,” says Luminet.
Starkman, however, is not convinced that Steiner’s team has done enough to win people over. “It could be true that the Universe is small,” he says, “but this doesn’t provide an answer one way or the other.”
Steiner believes that new and more precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background to be made by Europe's Planck satellite, which is due to be launched later this year, will help answer the question.
“Philosophically, I like the idea that the Universe is finite and one day we could fully explore it and find out everything about it,” Starkman says. “But since physics cannot be decided by philosophy, I hope it will be answered by Planck.”
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.
Chemically, DNA is a long polymer of simple units called nucleotides, with a backbone made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called bases. It is the sequence of these four bases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA, in a process called transcription.
Within cells, DNA is organized into structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are duplicated before cells divide, in a process called DNA replication. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, and fungi) store their DNA inside the cell nucleus, while in prokaryotes (bacteria and archae) it is found in the cell's cytoplasm. Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed.
Physical and chemical properties
The chemical structure of DNA. Hydrogen bonds are shown as dotted lines.
DNA is a long polymer made from repeating units called nucleotides. The DNA chain is 22 to 26 Ångströms wide (2.2 to 2.6 nanometres), and one nucleotide unit is 3.3 Å (0.33 nm) long. Although each individual repeating unit is very small, DNA polymers can be enormous molecules containing millions of nucleotides. For instance, the largest human chromosome, chromosome number 1, is approximately 220 million base pairs long.
In living organisms, DNA does not usually exist as a single molecule, but instead as a tightly-associated pair of molecules. These two long strands entwine like vines, in the shape of a double helix. The nucleotide repeats contain both the segment of the backbone of the molecule, which holds the chain together, and a base, which interacts with the other DNA strand in the helix. In general, a base linked to a sugar is called a nucleoside and a base linked to a sugar and one or more phosphate groups is called a nucleotide. If multiple nucleotides are linked together, as in DNA, this polymer is called a polynucleotide.
The backbone of the DNA strand is made from alternating phosphate and sugar residues. The sugar in DNA is 2-deoxyribose, which is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar. The sugars are joined together by phosphate groups that form phosphodiester bonds between the third and fifth carbon atoms of adjacent sugar rings. These asymmetric bonds mean a strand of DNA has a direction. In a double helix the direction of the nucleotides in one strand is opposite to their direction in the other strand. This arrangement of DNA strands is called antiparallel. The asymmetric ends of DNA strands are referred to as the 5′ (five prime) and 3′ (three prime) ends, with the 5' end being that with a terminal phosphate group and the 3' end that with a terminal hydroxyl group. One of the major differences between DNA and RNA is the sugar, with 2-deoxyribose being replaced by the alternative pentose sugar ribose in RNA.
The DNA double helix is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between the bases attached to the two strands. The four bases found in DNA are adenine (abbreviated A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). These four bases are attached to the sugar/phosphate to form the complete nucleotide, as shown for adenosine monophosphate.
These bases are classified into two types; adenine and guanine are fused five- and six-membered heterocyclic compounds called purines, while cytosine and thymine are six-membered rings called pyrimidines. A fifth pyrimidine base, called uracil (U), usually takes the place of thymine in RNA and differs from thymine by lacking a methyl group on its ring. Uracil is not usually found in DNA, occurring only as a breakdown product of cytosine.
Major and minor grooves
Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. Large version[9]
The double helix is a right-handed spiral. As the DNA strands wind around each other, they leave gaps between each set of phosphate backbones, revealing the sides of the bases inside (see animation). There are two of these grooves twisting around the surface of the double helix: one groove, the major groove, is 22 Å wide and the other, the minor groove, is 12 Å wide.The narrowness of the minor groove means that the edges of the bases are more accessible in the major groove. As a result, proteins like transcription factors that can bind to specific sequences in double-stranded DNA usually make contacts to the sides of the bases exposed in the major groove.
Each type of base on one strand forms a bond with just one type of base on the other strand. This is called complementary base pairing. Here, purines form hydrogen bonds to pyrimidines, with A bonding only to T, and C bonding only to G. This arrangement of two nucleotides binding together across the double helix is called a base pair. The double helix is also stabilized by the hydrophobic effect and pi stacking, which are not influenced by the sequence of the DNA. As hydrogen bonds are not covalent, they can be broken and rejoined relatively easily. The two strands of DNA in a double helix can therefore be pulled apart like a zipper, either by a mechanical force or high temperature. As a result of this complementarity, all the information in the double-stranded sequence of a DNA helix is duplicated on each strand, which is vital in DNA replication. Indeed, this reversible and specific interaction between complementary base pairs is critical for all the functions of DNA in living organisms.
Top, a GC base pair with three hydrogen bonds. Bottom, an AT base pair with two hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonds are shown as dashed lines.
The two types of base pairs form different numbers of hydrogen bonds, AT forming two hydrogen bonds, and GC forming three hydrogen bonds (see figures, left). The GC base pair is therefore stronger than the AT base pair. As a result, it is both the percentage of GC base pairs and the overall length of a DNA double helix that determine the strength of the association between the two strands of DNA. Long DNA helices with a high GC content have stronger-interacting strands, while short helices with high AT content have weaker-interacting strands.[14] In biology, parts of the DNA double helix that need to separate easily, such as the TATAAT Pribnow box in some promoters, tend to have a high AT content, making the strands easier to pull apart. In the laboratory, the strength of this interaction can be measured by finding the temperature required to break the hydrogen bonds, their melting temperature (also called Tm value). When all the base pairs in a DNA double helix melt, the strands separate and exist in solution as two entirely independent molecules. These single-stranded DNA molecules have no single common shape, but some conformations are more stable than others.
A DNA sequence is called "sense" if its sequence is the same as that of a messenger RNA copy that is translated into protein. The sequence on the opposite strand is called the "antisense" sequence. Both sense and antisense sequences can exist on different parts of the same strand of DNA (i.e. both strands contain both sense and antisense sequences). In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, antisense RNA sequences are produced, but the functions of these RNAs are not entirely clear.[18] One proposal is that antisense RNAs are involved in regulating gene expression through RNA-RNA base pairing.[19]
A few DNA sequences in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and more in plasmids and viruses, blur the distinction between sense and antisense strands by having overlapping genes. In these cases, some DNA sequences do double duty, encoding one protein when read along one strand, and a second protein when read in the opposite direction along the other strand. In bacteria, this overlap may be involved in the regulation of gene transcription, while in viruses, overlapping genes increase the amount of information that can be encoded within the small viral genome.
DNA can be twisted like a rope in a process called DNA supercoiling. With DNA in its "relaxed" state, a strand usually circles the axis of the double helix once every 10.4 base pairs, but if the DNA is twisted the strands become more tightly or more loosely wound. If the DNA is twisted in the direction of the helix, this is positive supercoiling, and the bases are held more tightly together. If they are twisted in the opposite direction, this is negative supercoiling, and the bases come apart more easily. In nature, most DNA has slight negative supercoiling that is introduced by enzymes called topoisomerases.[24] These enzymes are also needed to relieve the twisting stresses introduced into DNA strands during processes such as transcription and DNA replication.
From left to right, the structures of A, B and Z DNA
DNA exists in many possible conformations. However, only A-DNA, B-DNA, and Z-DNA have been observed in organisms. Which conformation DNA adopts depends on the sequence of the DNA, the amount and direction of supercoiling, chemical modifications of the bases and also solution conditions, such as the concentration of metalions and polyamines. Of these three conformations, the "B" form described above is most common under the conditions found in cells. The two alternative double-helical forms of DNA differ in their geometry and dimensions.
The A form is a wider right-handed spiral, with a shallow, wide minor groove and a narrower, deeper major groove. The A form occurs under non-physiological conditions in dehydrated samples of DNA, while in the cell it may be produced in hybrid pairings of DNA and RNA strands, as well as in enzyme-DNA complexes. Segments of DNA where the bases have been chemically-modified by methylation may undergo a larger change in conformation and adopt the Z form. Here, the strands turn about the helical axis in a left-handed spiral, the opposite of the more common B form. These unusual structures can be recognized by specific Z-DNA binding proteins and may be involved in the regulation of transcription.
A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is politics?"
Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me capitalism. Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the Government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the people. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense,"
So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said.
Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed. The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."
The father says, "Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."
The little boy replies, "Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in deep poo."
In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said: "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me."
Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans. He gave Noah the blueprints, saying: You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark.
Noah! He roared, I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark? Forgive me, Lord, begged Noah, 'but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations.We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted forthe future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hearnothing of it.Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go! When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me.They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will.
They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumaneto put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew. Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work. The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience.
trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark. Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a
rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked,'You mean you're not going to destroy the world?' 'No,' said the Lord.'The the government beat me to it.
At the hotel you can find a breakfast room and a coffee shop apart from the 100 - 120 person brassiere which offers Hungarian specialities and international cuisine for the guests and customers from the city.
In an East African newspaper: A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.
In a Vienna hotel: In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.
A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest: It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.
In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.
A translated sentence from a Russian chess book: A lot of water has been passed under the bridge since this variation has been played
In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.
In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency: Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we guarantee no miscarriages.
Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand: Would you like to ride on your own ass?
On the faucet in a finnish washroom: To stop the drip, turn cock to right.
In the window of a Swedish furrier: Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin.
On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong: Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life.
Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan: Stop: Drive Sideways
In a Swiss mountain inn: Special today - no ice cream.
In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.
In a Tokyo bar: Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.
Tokyo hotel: It is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not person to do such thing is please not to read notis.
Another Tokyo hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
In a Copenhagen airline ticket office: We take your bags and send them in all directions.
On the door of a Moscow hotel room: If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.
In a Norwegian cocktail lounge: Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
At a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.
In the office of a Roman doctor: Specialist in women and other diseases.
In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.
Bucharest: The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time, we regret that you will be unbearable.
Austria: Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.
Hong-Kong tailor shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
Bangkok dry cleaner: Drop your trousers here for best results.
Rhodes tailor shop: Order your summer suit. Because is big rush, we will execute customers in strict rotation.
Portuguese patent agent: 'It will not be necessary to state the name and address of the inventor if the applicant is not himself.'
Majorca: - English well talking
- Here speeching American
On a menu of a Polish hotel: Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beer soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.
A Hungarian mistranslation in a customs list: Sporting firearms with ammunition = sportoló tűzoltók ellátmánnyal (athletic firemen with supplies)
The Revolting Cigar-Makeress
The following is an extract from a synopsis of Carmen, thoughtfully provided some years ago by the Paris Opera for the benefit of its English and American patrons:
Carmen is a cigar-makeress from a tabago factory who loves with Don Jose of the mounting guard. Carmen takes a flower from her corsets and lances it to Don Jose (Duet: 'Talk me of my mother'). There is a noise inside the tabago factory and the revolting cigar-makeress bursts into the stage. Carmen is arrested and Don Jose is ordered to mounting guard her but Carmen subduces him and he lets her escape.
ACT 2. The Tavern. Carmen, Frasquita, Mercedes, Zuniga, Morales. Carmen's aria ('the sistrums are tinkling'). Enter Escamillio, a balls-fighter. Enter two smugglers (Duet: 'We have in mind a business') but Carmen refuses to penetrate because Don Jose has liberated from prison. He just now arrives (Aria: 'Slop, here who comes!') but hear are the bugles singing his retreat. Don Jose will leave and draws his sword. Called by carmen shrieks the two smugglers interfere with her but Don Jose is bound to dessert, he will follow into them (final chorus: 'Opening sky wandering life')...
ACT4, a place in Seville. Procession of balls-fighters, the roaring of the balls heard in the arena. Escamillio enters. (Aria and chorus: 'Toreador, toreador, All hail the balls of a Toreador'.) Enter Don Jose (ARIA: I do not threaten, I besooch you'.) but Carmen repels himwants to join with Escamillio now chaired by the crowd. Don Jose stabs her (Aria: 'Oh rupture, rupture, you may arrest me, I did kill der') he sings 'Oh my beautiful Carmen, my subductive Carmen...'
It all ads up to a laugh in any language
Tim Miles, Eye on America
Sunday Express, July 10, 1994
THE billions of dollars spent on advertising by U.S. conglomerates - there's a commercial on TV every second of every day - ensures that whatever the product, it is firmly embedded in the consciousness.
Getting the message across to an international audience, however, can prove much trickier.
Glitches in translation have often had hilarious results.
Sometimes ignorance of another country's culture results in vociferous protests.
McDonald's promotion of the World Cup upset Moslems when the Saudi Arabian flag, with its Koranic text, was stamped on the burger wrappers. But the translation traumas make for a lot more fun at the expense of the boardroom stuffed shirts.
When Kentucky Fried Chicken exported its "Finger Lickin' Good" slogan to the Chinese, it emerged as "Eat Your Fingers Off".
Similarly, Pepsi didn't have much luck trying to persuade the Chinese to guzzle their cola. "Come Alive With The Pepsi Generation" somehow ended up in the native tongue as "Pepsi Will Bring Your Ancestors Back From The Dead".
In Spain, the Parker Pen company pushed its products with the dullish poster slogan which should have read: "To avoid embarrassment use Parker Superquink". To the equal embarrassment of the manufacturers, the final version trumpeted: "To avoid pregnancy use Parker Superquink".
Whether the Spanish swallowed it, or inserted it, remains a mystery.
Coors Beer lost its fizz in Spain as well when their hip phrase "Turn It Loose" came out as "Drink Coors and Get Diaorrhea".
And when Otis Engineering took part in an exhibition in Moscow, a translator somehow managed to render a "completion equipment" sign into "equipment for orgasms". "Body by Fisher", boasted the auto giant General Motors. "Corpse by Fisher" was how the Belgians read it.
Car names in particular don't travel well. The Pinto, made by Ford, is a Brazilian slang for a small sex organ. And when GM introduced the Nova into Spain, they quickly discovered the words no and va mean "doesn't go".
But the blunders can work the other way round. Roger Axtell, who has written six books on the do's and don'ts of internationl business, cites several foreign brands which didn't click in the United States, including a French soft drink called "Pshitt" and the Japanese cofee creamer "Creap". I can't think why.
These are examples of how a determined copy-typist can bring to life a piece of rather humdrum English, not to mention mediocre translation. The passage quoted is part of a Yugoslavian hotel brochure.
'The hotel is responsible for money valuables only when deposited in the sofe at the reception desk.
Check - ont time is mid - day and the room should be vacated by 2 p.m. or you will be charged for an adrtional ught.
Returu your key to the holl parter when leaving the room.
Please settle your account at the coshier's weckly.
If you do not wish to be disturbed, haug on the ont side of the door the sign provided.
Voltage is 220 V but the use of the electric i rous or telt les is not permitted.
For schedube and programmes of theaters as well as the tickets for all the types of performances, please, consult (he hall parter).
Ladie's and gentlemen's hairdressing salloon is on the ground floor.
On req nest your laundry will be washed and ironed in the shortest time as possible; please call the chambermaid (the haundry bag is in your room).
An underground garage for your car is al your disposal, too the vehicles in the parking place are not insured by the hotel.
Cocktail parties, private and business meetings, banqnets, (will con be arranged) on your behalf by us.'
Not to be outdone by their yugoslavian counterparts, a hotel in Brno generously informs its clients that: 'The flattening of underwear with plessure is the job of the chambermaid. Turn to her straight away.'
Hotel English is, of course, an integral part of one's stay abroad, a linguistic touch of local colour. I, for one, would refuse on principle to stay in a hotel whose brochure was written in perfect English. Beware! - beneath that shiny language gloss they are almost certainly trying to hide something!
This philosphy is shared by an Italian company who manufacture a product called 'Stonit'; I was so inspired by their honest advertising that I rushed out straightaway and bought great quantities of the stuff, though I had no idea what I was going to do with it:
'Our goal is to develop and persue a simple idea: "to take up spaces unattainable by other materials".
Once more an italian product, "STONIT" is brought on the market of outstanding esthetics and advanced technology.
STONIT is, above all, "itself", far from seeking to imitate conventional stones.
Stone Italiana, first producer has been playing for many years now in this field the role proper to all "NUMBER ONE".'
I still have all my Stonit in the back shed, and it'll probably stay there for many years to come; I don't mind - at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that it's "itself".
A slightly different philosophy affected the translation services at the European Athletics Championships in Split last year. To combat growing commercial interest in the sport, it was decided, among other things, to confer upon translating a truly amateur status. Information given to the press included the following items:
'TV record: At none European championship in athletic there were so many people from TV at one place as it will be in Split.'
'In the sale which is climatised in the hotel "Marjan" six writting machines and six telephone cabins are opened and insured for the purposes of journalists.'
'If journalist needs a doctor: While on sports feelds and in A 90 objects all journalists may use ambulance services which are openede on these places. In both sports villages "Split" and "Duilovo" there are ambulances of general medicine which work from 7-22 o'clock and ambulance on the city stadium is opened from 8-23 o'clock.'
A press release announced that: 'Many honorable people will be at Poljud during the European championship in athletic. Sports and political. Juan Antonio Samaranch, MOK president, ambassadors from many countries the highest Yugoslav functioners.'
And, finally, some useful advice was given to the Yugoslav team manager: 'You may put, if you want, part of the representative in a hotel. "Split", in the new built part. Some representatives will come in Split in the number less expected... Our representatives will mostly arrive on the European championship one by one maybe in groups, but not complete.'
Advice for women and men, from a humble, so big, and strong and intelligent chemist (me).
PREGNANCY Q & A & more!
>Q: Should I have a baby after 35?
>A: No, 35 children is enough.
>
>Q : I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?
>A: With any luck, right after he finishes college.
>
>Q : What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex?
>A: Childbirth.
>
>Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational.
>A: So what's your question?
>
>Q : My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right?
>A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.
>
>Q: When is the best time to get an epidural?
>A: Right after you find out you're pregnant.
>
>Q : Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor?
>A: Not unless the word 'alimony' means anything to you.
>
>Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth?
>A: Yes, pregnancy.
>
>Q : Do I have to have a baby shower?
>A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly.
>
>Q : Our baby was born last week. When will my wife begin to feel and act normal again?
>A : When the kids are in college.
>
>'ESTROGEN ISSUES'
>
>10 WAYS TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE 'ESTROGEN ISSUES'
>
>1. Everyone around you has an attitude problem.
>2. You're adding chocolate chips to your cheese omelet.
>3. The dryer has shrunk every last pair of your jeans.
>4. Your husband is suddenly agreeing to everything you say.
>5. You 're using your cellular phone to dial up every bumper sticker that says: 'How's my driving-call 1- 800-'.
>6. Everyone's head looks like an invitation to batting practice.
>7. Everyone seems to have just landed here from 'outer space.'
>9. You're sure that everyone is scheming to drive you crazy.
>10. The ibuprofen bottle is empty and you bought it yesterday.
>
>TOP TEN THINGS ONLY WOMEN UNDERSTAND
>10. Cats' facial expressions.
>9. The need for the same style of shoes in different colors.
>8. Why bean sprouts aren't just weeds.
>7. Fat clothes.
>6. Taking a car trip without trying to beat your best time.
>5. The difference between beige, ecru, cream, off-white, and eggshell.
>4. Cutting your hair to make it grow.
>3. Eyelash curlers.
>2. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made.
>
>AND, the Number One thing only women understand:
>
>1. OTHER WOMEN
Mermaids are one of the most ancient myths of humanity. Everyone knows the basic template: She's a woman on top but a fish on the bottom. The classic image is that of an alluring, bare-breasted mermaid sitting on a rock, ready to disappear beneath the waves at a moment's notice.
First off, let's just make three things perfectly clear. 1) There are no mermaids. 2) There are no mermaids. 3) There are no mermaids. Only two kinds of people seriously claim that mermaids are real: Hoaxers and idiots. We'll come back to this.
While they aren't real, mermaids are interesting. Many myths can be traced directly back to one primal source, but the general concept of the mermaid seems to have a universal quality. The earliest and best-known references to mermaids are found in Syrian and Greek myth. The Sirens in the Odyssey are often believed to be mermaids, but that was a later tradition and not part of the original text. Homer didn't describe the sirens as having fishy bits; they were simply sea maidens whose beautiful songs lured men to their deaths.
Variations on the theme can be found all over the world -- throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, and even in indigenous American mythology -- but there is little common ground among the different iterations, with very few details to be found. This contrasts with legendary beasts like vampires or Yeti, in which very detailed legends have sprung up around specific geographical regions.
Often, related cryptozoological creatures are lumped in with your basic mermaid, but many of these belong to unrelated traditions. For instance, there are numerous legends about nautical shapechangers, particularly in Europe and the British Isles, but most of these legends are not mermaid- or even fish-specific. These include Celtic legends of the Silkies (seals) which are more appropriately part of the overall shapechanging framework associated with faery traditions like the Tuatha De Danaan.
Then there are the water nymphs, overtly sexual faery-types who are all woman, but somehow magically connected to water (usually specific bodies of water). These tales are especially common in Asia and Europe, and they usually come across as the least complicated form of male sex fantasy.
Actual mermaid stories are fascinating for precisely the opposite reason: they're the most complicated form of male sex fantasy. Mermaids are sex objects on prima facie grounds, but they're missing some salient parts below the waist. And therein lies a tale, so to speak.
Coupled with a total lack of non-fraudulent forensic evidence that anything remotely similar to a mermaid has ever existed, the inconsistency of the legends strongly suggests mermaids have a lot more to do with zeitgeist than zoology. That premise gained substantial ground as the Freudian implications of the mermaid became clearer and clearer with each retelling, culminating in the 1836 story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen.
Unlike the Disney movie of the same name, Andersen's Mermaid is a violent fairy tale laced with sexual subtext (as the best always are). When the soft, tender, little mermaid reaches the ripe, ripe age of 15, she falls in love with a human prince. She seeks a magic spell to grant her legs, but the price is stabbing pain with every step she takes on land. The witch who provides the spell also cuts out the mermaid's tongue with the cheerful observation, "Cleanliness is good." After enduring all this, the mermaid is jilted by her beloved prince, who opts for an authentic human princess rather than a foundling. The mermaid is offered the option of murdering her prince's bride, but prefers to commit suicide by throwing herself into the sea.
Andersen's mermaid has become a national symbol in Denmark, being depicted in a 1913 bronze sculpture by Edvard Eriksen. The statue is likely most famous for its frequent defacement and dismemberment, occasionally showing up in the news after being beheaded. The first such beheading took place on 24 April 1964; the crime remained a mystery until 1997, when writer Jørgen Nash confessed to severing the head and tossing it into a nearby lake. Since the first decapitation, the statue has been subjected to numerous drunken copycat crimes, losing its share of arms and heads over the years, or being dressed in a painted-on crimson bikini top.
Victorian notions of cleanliness aside, the mermaid is a densely layered collection of sexual metaphors and complexes. She's naked and continually wet, with long hair and bare breasts, but she lacks the vagina that (perhaps) dominates the dreams of the sex-starved sailors who encounter her. In The Little Mermaid, she trades her tongue for a vagina, but is forced to endure terrible stabbing pains when she walks, bleeding from her feet, which adds a menstrual motif to an already overcrowded set of symbols.
With all this subtext going for it, it's little wonder that the 19th century imagination took the idea of the mermaid and ran with it. People wanted mermaids to be real. The most spectacular manifestation of this trend was the "discovery" of the FeeJee Mermaid by intrepid scientist P.T. Barnum. Unfortunately, in Barnum's hands, the mermaid proved to be the exact opposite of sexy.
The FeeJee mermaid was supposedly the mortal remains of a genuine mermaid from the "FeeJee" islands in South America. Although Barnum advertised the exhibit with pictures of the traditional bare-breasted beauties, the actual FeeJee mermaid looked like a refugee from a Hollywood pitch gone terribly wrong: "It's like Gremlins meets Piranha meets Ebirah!"
The FeeJee mermaid was probably modeled after some rare and similarly weird historical artifacts found in Japan. The pedigree of the mummified creature was attested to by one of Barnum's cronies posing as a professor. With the support of several additional letters of scientific authentication (forged by Barnum himself), the FeeJee mermaid became part an insanely popular element of Barnum's traveling show, even after it was exposed as a glued-together conglomeration of parts from several different animals.
Even after Barnum confessed his fraud in 1855, showings of the FeeJee mermaid still sold out his traveling shows and inspired long lines at his "American Museum." Ironically, today there are now forgeries of the original fraud, and all-new frauds based on forgeries of the original fraud.
The FeeJee mermaid inspired numerous imitations which have become valuable, if eccentric, collectors' items. The basic template has exploded into cyberspace recently in the form of e-mail forwards and Web-based hoaxes which pop up sporadically. Any major nautical event, such as the December 2004 tsunami that wiped out hundreds of thousands of lives, can sublimate into yet another batch of e-mails insisting that CNN improbably missed the story of mermaid corpses washing up on every shore.
The frequency of these hoaxes tells you something about the enduring psychology of the myth. Outside the pages of the Weekly World News, you don't see similar hoaxes circulating regarding such mythic creatures as vampires or snipes.
The persistent nature of the legend has also inspired scientists to take a crack at explaining the worldwide fascination with mermaids. The results of their studies are less than impressive. The best theory they have been able to muster is that the mermaid myth is based on sightings of the dugong, a sea lion species whose females have hooter-like mammary glands.
Clearly, these scientists are full of shit. Perhaps they are in denial about the mermaid's resonance with their own subconscious urges. The legend of the mermaid is a weird conglomerate of sexual fantasies, Freudian taboos, innumerable water-based creation myths and perhaps our primal genetic memory of evolving from the sea (after all, fetuses develop something resembling gills during their time in the womb).
If the mind-blowingly ugly dugong somehow stimulates your libido and/or awakens your spiritual essence, we suggest you seek help immediately.
At Lancaster University, they’re unraveling the secrets of how to build a universe. In fact, they have already formed one, or something very much like it. This scientific breakthrough lies in the bottom of a chamber no larger than your pinky finger, filled with helium and cooled to 0.0003 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero.
By placing helium in a state which most closely resembles the form it held at the beginning of the universe, scientists have created an opportunity for the gas to go through several low-energy evolutions. These defects in space-time, are represented by tiny whirlpools in the helium, which are created by the rapid expansion, and equally rapid slowing of the expansion; something that it’s believed our own universe did at the big bang and in the moments thereafter.
How, then, did our universe go from whirlpools that could fit in a thimble to galaxies larger than our imaginations can properly comprehend? Physicists, ever ready with their dry wit, have deemed these phenomena “inflation.” Nobody knows how this works or why, this happened; vast amounts of energy aren’t something you’d like to replicate in a lab. Black holes and supernovas aren’t pleasant lab partners. It’s quite evident to the researchers however, that inflation, or something very much like it took place and, lacking the ability to do field research of lab trials, they have built scale models. This is where the tiny galaxies come in.
The theory being presented by the physicists in Lancaster University is that inflation is the product of violent competition: a series of collisions between universes known as “3-branes;” a term related to string theory which I’m frankly not smart enough to explain to you. Suffice to say that our universe is one, because it exists in 3-5 dimensions.
What the string theorists claim is that in a collision of two 3-branes, or two different modes of pure helium like that containing the mini-galaxy, the universe will rapidly expand and stop instantly, mimicking the halting advance of the universe’s growth. Remarkably, when super cooled helium in different phases is mixed, it does exactly that: symmetries in the solution disappear, and aberrations form; the first step in several that lead to the forming of galaxies out of nothing. The secrets of the universe it seems, aren’t safe for long.
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line
I find it very, very easy to be true
I find myself alone when each day is through
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you
Because you're mine, I walk the line
As sure as night is dark and day is light
I keep you on my mind both day and night
And happiness I've known proves that it's right
Because you're mine, I walk the line
You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk the line
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line
In the complex and unpredictable world of ufology, compelling evidence often emerges in the most unexpected places, and from the mouths of the most unexpected people. The South African sangoma (a shaman or healer) and high sanusi (clairvoyant and lore-master) Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa is a case in point. Credo is recognized by many as one of the most distinguished African traditional healers of the 20th century. He is, in fact, the spiritual leader of the sanusis and sangomas of South Africa. He is also an artist and writer of some repute.
Given his impressive credentials, it might strike the reader as surprising that Credo claims to have been abducted by beings his people, the Zulus, call the mantindane. Even more surprising is the fact that these creatures look and act exactly like what we in the West call the “grays.”
Credo was born in 1921 in the South African province of Natal. The name Vusamazulu means “awakener of the Zulus,” and was given to Credo during his initiation as a sangoma. Mutwa means “little bush man.” He was given the name Credo (“I believe”) by his Roman Catholic father, who disowned him when he decided to renounce Christianity and become a medicine man.
The late John E. Mack was among one of the first UFO researchers in the West to interview Credo. Credo has also been interviewed by the Australian UFO researcher Bill Chalker, the controversial conspiracy theorist David Icke, and even Zecharia Sitchin, author of The Earth Chronicles. All of these men have been involved in research concerning a subject that could best be described as alien intervention. According to Credo, when he talks about extraterrestrials and other topics of this nature he often feels “caught between, on the one hand, Western thought, including the Christian religion, and African thought, which accepts these things without question.”
Mack first met Credo in 1994, during a short trip to South Africa. “Credo seemed a noble, even regal figure with his colorful robes and heavy metal adornments of the sangoma, which seemed as if they ought to weigh him down,” explains Mack in Passport to the Cosmos. During the interview, Credo told Mack about his own alleged alien abduction experiences—experiences that Mack, an expert on the alien abduction phenomenon, found difficult not to take seriously.
Credo views the world as a strange and frightening place, controlled by alien forces who possess far more knowledge than, and are intellectually superior to, humanity. Some of these beings, he says, are wise, benevolent and wish to help us. But the same cannot be said of the mantindane, who are just as selfish and power-hungry as humans. They preserve humanity, he says, in order to protect their own self-interests, because they are “obsessed with self-preservation… This wish to play God over lesser beings is the same with us and with them. Throughout the cosmos vice is the same.”
Some of these beings, says Credo, have covertly and profoundly influenced all human cultures and civilizations for millennia. They have aided our evolution and helped us survive by providing us with knowledge, primarily of a scientific nature. Some of them, the mantindane in particular, are “part of the Earth,” and therefore should not be considered foreign. “We and the mantindane are one and the same stupid race,” says Credo. “Far from these creatures being aliens, they are our future descendants. I am sure of this.”
As regards different types of alien beings, the mantindane are apparently the most important to Africans, who fear them greatly. The word mantindane, by the way, translates as “the tormentors.” Credo described these entities to Mack as troublesome and “parasitic,” claiming that they “instil superstition, sow discord, and may even cause disease.”....Read the rest of this article exclusively in the May 2008 issue of FATE.
In 1415, Henry the V took his army of around 6,000 men across the English channel and into southern France. After cutting trees and preparing large pointed sticks, Henry marched his army northwest for 17 days and over 270 miles. With only one day's rest, the mighty force was hagard and exhausted by the time they reached the flat land between the forest of Agincourt.
The French army, consisting of 25,000 troops, 15,000 of which were mounted knights in armor, arrived on the evening of October 24. Their army was a mishmash of Frenchmen from all over the feudal country. It rained hard that night, and both armies were soaked to the bone by morning. Most French knights slept in the saddle so as not to sully their expensive and ornate armor.
On the morning of October 25, the French and British armies were salty and ready to fight. Henry moved his troups slowly up the 1/2 mile wide passage between the two forests of Agincourt. By 11 Am, the French commanders were still bickering over tactics and whether or not to charge, and the British were within 400 yards of the French.
Now what made the battle of Agincourt so interesting was the introduction of what could be considered the only good thing to come out of Wales aside from sheep bestiality: the Welsh long bow. This weapon could dismount a rider at 300 yards, and with top notch arrows, could pierce armor at close range.
When Henry had his troups within bowshot of the French, he loosed the first of many volleys of arrows. The French, caught off guard, charged with half their forces. The Duke of Orlean barely made it 200 yards before his knights broke and ran under a hail of deadly wood and steel. Many of the knights sank into the mud and were smooshed as the horses and frightened soldiers trampled them into a fine paste.
Those knights that did make it to the British front lines were lept upon by unarmored soldiers carrying short swords, who plunged their blades into the joints of the French armor. All this came after a great number of horses were impaled upon the huge pointed sticks the British had placed in the ground in front of them.
At the end of the day, the French had lost some 10,000 men, and the British mourned only 500 dead. In one day, the Hundred Years War had turned and the long bow had successfully defeated the myth of the invincible knight in armor.
Shakespeare went on to glorify this battle, and the French, to vilify it. For the next 100 years, every lad over the age of 6 in Britain was required to be instructed in the firing and maintaining of the long bow.
In response to this, the French began cutting off the index and middle fingers of all British men caught in battle or on French land, thus removing the digits that allowed the firing of a bow. This is where the British tradition of waving two fingers at someone as an insult arose. Thusly, the very American middle fingered salute, or "the bird," is a descendant of this.
Features of Googie include upswept roofs, curvaceous, geometric shapes, and bold use of glass, steel and neon. Googie was also characterized by space-age designs that depict motion, such as boomerangs, flying saucers, atoms and parabolas, and free-form designs such as "soft" parallelograms and the ubiquitous artist's-palette motif. These stylistic conventions reflected American society's emphasis on futuristic designs and fascination with Space Age themes.
As with the art deco style of the 1930s, Googie became undervalued as time passed, and many buildings built in this style have been destroyed.
The style is related to and sometimes synonymous with the Raygun Gothic style as coined by writer William Gibson.
Origin
According to author Alan Hess in his book Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture, the origin of the name Googie goes back to 1949, when architect John Lautner designed a coffee shop by the name of "Googie's", which had very distinctive architectural characteristics. This coffee shop was on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights in Los Angeles but was demolished in the 1980s. According to Hess, the name Googie stuck as a rubric for the architectural style when Professor Douglass Haskell of Yale and architectural photographer Julius Shulman were driving through Los Angeles one day. Haskell insisted on stopping the car upon seeing Googie's, and proclaimed "This is Googie architecture." He made the name stick after an article he wrote appeared in a 1952 edition of House and Home magazine.
History
The identity of the first architect to practice in the style is often disputed, though Wayne McAllister is usually given credit for kick-starting the style with his 1949 Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Toluca Lake. Along with McAllister, the most prolific Googie architects were John Lautner, Douglas Honnold and the team of Louis Armet and Eldon Davis. Also instrumental in developing the style was designer Helen Liu Fong, a key member of the firm of Armet and Davis. Joining the firm in 1951, she created such iconic Googie interiors as those of the Johnie's Coffee Shop on Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, the first Norm's Restaurant on Figueroa Street, and the Holiday Bowl on Crenshaw Boulevard.
America's preoccupation with space travel had a significant influence on the unique style of Googie architecture. Speculation about space travel had roots going as far back as 1920s science fiction. In the 1950s, space travel became a reality for the first time in history. In 1957, America's preoccupation grew into an obsession, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first human-made satellite to "break the surly bonds" of the Earth's atmosphere and "rise unshackled to the dark serene." The obsession intensified into a near mania when the Soviet Union launched Vostok 1 carrying the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into Earth orbit in 1961. The Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations made competing with the Soviets for dominance in space a national priority of considerable urgency and importance. This marked the beginning of "The Space Race."
With space travel such an important part of the national zeitgeist, architects decided that they wanted to give people a little taste of the future in the here and now. Googie style signs usually have something with sharp and bold angles, which suggest the aerodynamic features of a rocket ship (illustration. left). Also, at the time, the unique architecture was a form of architectural braggadocio, as rockets were technological novelties at the time. Perhaps the most famous example of Googie's legacy is the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington (illustration, above right). A revealing comparison can be made between the Space Needle and the non-Googie Osaka Tower of 1966.
Influence
Googie heavily influenced retro-futurism. The somewhat cartoonish style is appropriately exemplified in the Jetsons cartoons, and the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California featured a Googie Tomorrowland (much of Tomorrowland still features Googie architecture, such as the Tomorrowland Terrace, Pizza Port, and Disneyland Railroad station). Three classic locations for Googie were Miami Beach, Florida, where secondary commercial structures took hints from the resort Baroque of Morris Lapidus and other hotel designers; the first phase of Las Vegas, Nevada; and Southern California, where Richard Neutra built a drive-inchurch in Garden Grove. Googie was also the inspiration for the set design style of The Incredibles.
The eye-catching style flourished in a carnival atmosphere along multi-lane highways, in motel architecture and above all in signage. Private clients were the backbone of Googie, though the Seattle Space Needle qualifies as "establishment Googie" (even though the Space Needle is, and always has been, privately owned).
Ultimately, the style fell out of favor and, over time, numerous examples of the Googie style have either fallen into disrepair or been destroyed completely - usually being replaced with buildings that lack the distinctive flashiness of the style.
Characteristics
Cantilevered structures, acute angles, illuminated plastic panelling, freeform boomerang and artist's palette shapes and cutouts, and tailfins on buildings marked Googie architecture, which was beneath contempt to the architects of Modernism, but found defenders in the post-Modern climate at the end of the 20th century. The common elements that generally distinguish Googie from other forms of architecture are:
Roofs sloping at an upward angle - This is the one particular element in which architects were really showing off, and also creating a unique structure. Many roofs of Googie style coffee shops, and other structures, have a roof that appear to be 2/3 of an inverted obtuse triangle. A great example of this is the famous, but now closed, Johnie's Coffee Shop on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Starbursts - Starbursts are an ornament that goes hand in hand with the Googie style, showing its Space Age and whimsical influences. Perhaps the most notable example of the starburst appears on the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, which has now become somewhat famous.
Architecture professor Douglas Haskel (mentioned below) perhaps described the Googie style best, saying that, "If it looks like a bird, it must be a geometric bird." Also, the buildings must appear in some cases to defy gravity, as Haskel noted that, "Whenever possible, the building must hang from the sky." Googie is not a style noted for its subtlety, as inclusion, rather than minimalism, is one of the central features.
Bodyshock: The Amazing Story behind the 256 Year-Old Man
May 3, 2008
By Chris Ingham Brooke - Chief Graffiti Artist
Li Ching-Yun. Image from The People’s Republic of China
According to the 1933 obituaries in both Time Magazine and the New York Times, Li Ching-Yun was reported to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256.
Was he really that old? Could he have forgotten his own birthday or exaggerated his claim? Environmental Graffiti investigates.
The Secrets to an Interminable Life
“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.” These were the words of advice Li gave to Wu Pei-fu, the warlord, who took Li into his house to learn the secret of extremely long life.
Li maintained that inward calm and peace of mind were the secrets to incredible longevity. His diet after all, was mainly based on rice and wine.
From 0 to 256
Unsurprisingly, not much is known about Li Ching-Yun’s early life. We know he was born in the province of Szechwan in China, where he also died. We also know that by his tenth birthday, Ching-Yun was literate and had travelled to Kansu, Shansi, Tibet, Annam, Siam and Manchuria gathering herbs. After that, it gets a bit fuzzy…
Apparently, for over one hundred years, Li continued selling his own herbs and then subsequently sold herbs collected by others. He also (according to Time) had six-inch long fingernails on his right hand.
You might be thinking that he looked decrepit, shrivelled, leather-like and creepy, however sources at the time were astonished at his youthfulness. Was this suspect? Was Li Ching-Yun as old as he claimed he was, or was his birthday a clerical error or exaggeration?
Let’s take a brief look at both sides…
The Nine Lives of Li Ching-Yun
By his own admission he was born in 1736 and had lived 197 years. However, in 1930 a professor and dean at Minkuo University by the name of Wu Chung-chien, found records “proving” that Li was born in 1677. Records allegedly showed that the Imperial Chinese Government congratulated him on his 150th and 200th Birthdays.
So the question is, had he forgotten his own birthday? Was this even the same Li Ching-Yun?
Looking at all of this from a medical and documented perspective: Jeanne Louise Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 so far holds the title for the person who has roamed the earth the longest: 122 years, which is a phenomenal length of time.
That means, that if the records discovered by Wu Chung-chien were accurate, Li Ching-Yun’s age would surpass the official record by more than 130 years. Is this even medically possible?
The detail, which seems to prove both arguments and debunk them at the same time, is Li’s youthful appearance, noted in a 1928 article from the New York Times. Visually and physically, he appeared to look like a typical 60 year-old. Does this therefore signify a superhuman body capable of lasting one quarter of a millennium, or is the story of Li Ching-Yun based on a series of half-truths, lies or exaggerations?
Unfortunately, we may never know. You may draw your own logical conclusions.
The bond-line formula to the right is that of Caffeine. That's the way motimers that we, in my field, draw molecular structure. Every angle means something. The middle structure is called a space filling model. That's what the bond line formula represents.
In the case of the bond line formula, notice that the hexagonal part of the structure has two methyl (CH3) groups attached to the nitrogens. In between these groups there is a double bonded oxygen bound to the upper right corner of the hexagon. The oxygen is colored in red. There is another double bonded oxygen pointing down. Where the double lines meet, at the corners of the hexagon, represent carbon atoms. If we were to draw out where the oxygen meets the carbon, it would look like this: C=O. That carbon double bonded to the oxygen is called a carbonyl, and it plays an important part in bio and organic chemistry. We usually do not draw out the carbons, because that would clutter up the structure. My earlier post on trajectories and nucleophilic attacks gives us a clue to the importance of carbonyls.
Theobromine, also known as xantheose,is a the bitter found in Chocolate.
Motimers, if you note, the bond angle formulae are drawn 180° with respect to each other or flipped from right to left then turned upside down. That's okay. We chemists draw them any way, it does not mean anything. These formulas could also be drawn upside down, or right side up then flipped.
Can one of you guys or, Jeez...girls,,,,,notice what the differances are between both. No Roma, it is not the one closest to the sun (NBUITA). A methyl group is missing on the nitrogen surrounded by the carbonyls and in its place there is a hydrogen atom. So that's the differance between caffeine and chocolate, the rest of the molecule is identical. I've heard from various people that chocolate keeps them awake at night. They might just be right.
Diagram showing the Bürgi-Dunitz angle, where Nu is a nucleophile
Molecular orbital diagram of the attack of a nucleophile on a carbonyl LUMO
The Bürgi-Dunitz angle describes the angle of attack of a nucleophile at a carbonyl center. The angle was named after H. B. Bürgi and J.D. Dunitz, its principal investigators.
The Bürgi-Dunitz angle depends not upon the nature of the nucleophile but, instead, is an intrinsic property of carbonyl centers. Originally described vaguely as 105 ± 5°, the angle has come to be recognized as 107°. This result, the product of SCF-LCAO-MO calculations, is quite close to the tetrahedral angle (109.5°) and supports the existence of a tetrahedral intermediate in such reactions.
The angle is a product of the overlap between the LUMO of the carbonyl function and HOMO of the nucleophile. The π*-orbital is perpendicular to the C=O bond, and optimally so, too, would be the angle of nucleophilic attack, which would produce the most energetically optimal overlap between its HOMO and the LUMO of the carbonyl center. However, the lone pairs of oxygen and the atom’s high electronegativity interact with that of the basic nucleophile force the angle of attack to 107°.
While it may appear inconsequential, the Bürgi-Dunitz angle was integral to the understanding the stereocontrol of hindered carbonyl centers and was an important factor in the perfection of the Cram-Felkin-Anh (Nguyen) model.
A Buddhist monk, visiting New York City for the first time in twenty years, walked up to a hot dog vendor, handed him a twenty dollar bill, and said, “Make me one with everything.”
The vendor pocketed the money, and handed the Buddhist monk his hot dog. The monk, after waiting for a moment, asked for his change. The vendor looked at him and said, “Change comes from within.” With a wistful smile, the monk walked away.
I had cousin, that went fishing with my dad, and could cast out (using a Penn reel, Bait caster, the reels that tangle up easy) half way across the Hudson river about here (the picture above). Maybe about 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile. His name was Armando, a tough guy. He passed away about 15 years ago. My dad and Armando use to buy blood worms and sand worms for bait, and would catch strippers and eels. I remember that I was awed by their fishing skills, but the New York Central railroad skirted the shores of the Hudson behind where this picture was taken. I grew up in the brownstones facing the IRT subway's elevated route.
Everytime a train would rumble thru the West Side Line I'd run to see the diesels that were pulling their consists. I was and still am a train fanatic. Yup, I'm a rail fan. In the late 1980's, well into the early 1990's I became a member of the Gold Coast Railroad museum, and I became a qualified engineer on several diesls. I always wanted to be a train driver and I became one. I know how to drive diesel locomotives.
By the way Armando could toss a pinky ball from one end of the neighborhood to another brownstone, 60 feet above where he started. Physics, talk about projectile trajectories. His arm was amazing. He died in his early fifties. The curse of my great grandmother's side of the family.
When an Ohio woman looked at an ultrasound she expected to see a developing fetus.
Instead, she saw what she believes to be an image of Jesus Christ, MyFox Cleveland reported on its Web site.
Monet Sledge, from Lorain, Ohio, got an ultrasound in preparation for her first baby and was shocked when she saw what appeared to be an image of Christ on the Cross, the Web site reported.
She showed the image to her sister, a mother of four, to get her opinion. "I was expecting to see little body parts," Sledge's sister Tequoia Smith told MyFox Cleveland. "Like a face, arms and legs."
But she too believes saw Jesus on the cross.
"As soon as I saw it I was like oh my gosh."
"People say maybe my baby is gonna be blessed and maybe it is a good sign," said mother-to-be Sledge. "I don't know, I've done wrong in my life, maybe he's forgiven me early."
Doctors say the baby is perfectly healthy and due Aug. 12.
Enlarge Image
Mermaids are one of the most ancient myths of humanity. Everyone knows the basic template: She's a woman on top but a fish on the bottom. The classic image is that of an alluring, bare-breasted mermaid sitting on a rock, ready to disappear beneath the waves at a moment's notice.
Often, related cryptozoological creatures are lumped in with your basic mermaid, but many of these belong to unrelated traditions. For instance, there are numerous legends about nautical shapechangers, particularly in Europe and the British Isles, but most of these legends are not mermaid- or even fish-specific. These include Celtic legends of the Silkies (seals) which are more appropriately part of the overall shapechanging framework associated with faery traditions like the Tuatha De Danaan. 
Unlike the 
Since the first decapitation, the statue has been subjected to numerous drunken copycat crimes, losing its share of arms and heads over the years, or being dressed in a painted-on crimson bikini top. 
With all this subtext going for it, it's little wonder that the 19th century imagination took the idea of the mermaid and ran with it. People wanted mermaids to be real. The most spectacular manifestation of this trend was the "discovery" of the FeeJee Mermaid by intrepid scientist 
The FeeJee mermaid was probably modeled after some rare and similarly weird historical artifacts found in Japan. The pedigree of the mummified creature was attested to by one of Barnum's cronies posing as a professor. With the support of several additional letters of scientific authentication (forged by Barnum himself), the FeeJee mermaid became part an insanely popular element of Barnum's traveling show, even after it was exposed as a glued-together conglomeration of parts from several different animals. 
Even after Barnum confessed his fraud in 1855, showings of the FeeJee mermaid still sold out his traveling shows and inspired long lines at his "American Museum." Ironically, today there are now forgeries of the original fraud, and all-new frauds based on forgeries of the original fraud. 
The frequency of these hoaxes tells you something about the enduring psychology of the myth. Outside the pages of the Weekly World News, you don't see similar hoaxes circulating regarding such mythic creatures as vampires or 
Clearly, these scientists are full of shit. Perhaps they are in denial about the mermaid's resonance with their own subconscious urges. The legend of the mermaid is a weird conglomerate of sexual fantasies, Freudian taboos, innumerable water-based creation myths and perhaps our primal genetic memory of evolving from the sea (after all, fetuses develop something resembling gills during their time in the womb). 
In the complex and unpredictable world of ufology, compelling evidence often emerges in the most unexpected places, and from the mouths of the most unexpected people. The South African sangoma (a shaman or healer) and high sanusi (clairvoyant and lore-master) Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa is a case in point. Credo is recognized by many as one of the most distinguished African traditional healers of the 20th century. He is, in fact, the spiritual leader of the sanusis and sangomas of South Africa. He is also an artist and writer of some repute.
