Species Born Via Cancer Cells

Who saw this coming?

When you think about cancer, it's usually about the destruction that cancer is known to wreak on peoples' lives. It's never about creation, which makes this news so mind-blowing: a new species has been brought forth through cancer cells. Tobacco farmer Henrietta Lacks had a strange tumor in 1951 that baffled doctors. It was unlike any other cancer previously discovered or discovered since, so of course doctors were interesting in studying the unique cervical tumor. 

A researcher was able to propogate the cells of the tumor to create an essentially immortal line of human cells, and the cells have never stopped growing due to their mutation. Since then these cells have been used for a number of experiments to the point of even being sent into space to test zero gravity! Lacks' cells have grown to the point to where some researchers claim that they are their own new species since they continue to adapt to their environments as they grow, which is a keystone quality of a unique species!

That may be a stretch to some, but what do you think? Can cancer truly create new species?

 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

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News

Fake Foods at the Grocery Store

Or are they?

Are you one of the many people who doesn't buy a store's brand of ice cream because you've heard that it won't melt, so it's not real milk? How about one of the people who insist that grated Parmesan cheese is really sawdust? I'm one of those people, too! The thing is, we're only partly right. Store brand ice cream, for example, may really still have milk in it even if it does contain ingredients that keep it from melting (and tasting weird). Yes, there is wood pulp to help keep your Parm from clogging, but it's a pretty small amount.

That said, you have to wonder about all of the foods that are sold to us that we eat without much thought. When your doctor advises you to just eat like your great-grandparents ate, he or she isn't kidding: today's foods really do have plenty of weird ingredients in them, and even if they are FDA-approved, that doesn't say much, considering they inspect a very small percentage of food to begin with. Some foods have weird dehydrated ingredients, but they really are what they say they are, while others, advertised as "cheese product" or "chocolatey," really aren't cheese or chocolate. 

The food shaming needs to go; people buy what they can afford and what they want. But it's always interesting to see what's in the foods available at the supermarket and worth considering if you are in the market for specific foods. 

What food finds have you discovered to not be what they seem?

 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Klat Categories: 
Food & Beverage

Some Bats are Downright Creepy

There's a reason for those urban legends

With as many adorable bat videos and memes being shared around the Internet, it's easy to wonder why people were ever afraid of bats. They're just adorable little fruit-eaters, right? Well... sort of. Some bats do drink blood, but it's usually that of an animal like a cow rather than humans (although humans have been bitten, of course). But there are some bats that are just so awkward and downright freaky looking that it's easy to understand why some people have bat phobias.

Take the Griffin's leaf-nosed bat, which lives in Vietnam. Its nose looks like a squashed pile of leaves, which is downright alarming if you've never seen a roundleaf bat. It appears to look quite alien! Then there is the spotted bat, which has an unfortunate pair of ears. If Dumbo were a bat, he would be a spotted one.

It's important to continue to fight for bats by protecting them from white nose syndrome, providing habitats and building bat boxes, but if you're interested in freaky-looking bats, there is no shortage of them to find!

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

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Animals
Mammals

Do You Trust Your Own Eyes?

Some thoughts on freaky experiences

Let's talk about freaky phenomena in general for a moment. When you think about the freakiest thing you've ever experienced, can you honestly confirm that it was true? Whether you saw a ghost, heard a voice or experienced something totally weird, did it really happen? Or was it your imagination playing tricks on you?

As a person with an overactive imagination, I know that I often see things that other people don't see only to discover that my eyes were playing tricks on me. (I do have very poor vision!) The only exception that I know about is when my then-boyfriend saw a glowing white animal streak across the highway in front of us in the middle of nowhere. He's a total non-believer in any and all things supernatural so when he saw it, I thought maybe it wasn't my imagination for once!

Have you ever had an experience with something freaky that you KNOW was real? Share it in the chat!

 

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Culture

Rat-Fil-A

Woman says there was a rodent in her sandwich

It's a pretty gross story if it's a true one: A woman is suing Chick-Fil-A not because of their bigotry or contributions to organizations that want to kill gay people as you might expect, but because she says she found a rodent cooked into her bun. First she thought it was burned, then she flipped it on a table and saw that there was what appeared to be a small rodent in the bread. 

Is it even possible to bake a rodent into bread? It's certainly possible to stick a rodent into a sandwich, whether on purpose by a disgruntled worker or yourself in an attempt to make $50,000, which this woman is attempting to do. A lab analysis confirmed that it was a rodent, and she did take a bite of the sandwich. She is suing for "extreme nausea and anxiety. 

If it's true, it is pretty awful, but I don't think it's worth $50,000. Do you know what's already IN the fast food you're eating? Things that are probably just as gross as a dead rat.

Do you think she should get that much money?

 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

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News

Freaky Total Solar Eclipse Possibilities

What do you hope to see?

The upcoming solar eclipse is huge for a number of reasons and everyone seems to be making big plans to view it. You've probably heard about the horrendous traffic that is supposed to happen that weekend but did you know that there are some pretty freaky things that may occur, too? 

If you look at the ground, you may see a bunch of snakes that aren't there. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can see this optical illusion during an eclipse. When the sun filters through trees, you can also view othe cool images as the trees serve as pinholes. Shadow bands that appear to move may also be visible; click the link to see what they look like!

We could also see temperatures drop for up to 20 degrees during the eclipse, so be ready for that if you weren't aware that it could happen already! When the animals get confused by this, it's possible for some of them to exhibit opposite appropriate behavior for that time of day, so just be aware of that, too. 

Click the link for more freaky things that might happen during the eclipse, but whatever you do, be sure to wear NASA approved glasses in order to view the eclipse safely!

 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

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Science
Weather
Space

New Sea-snake Mimics Springtrap

This thing is out for blood

New animal species are always exciting to behold because we get so jaded when we believe we know every species when, in reality, there are countless more types of creatures to be discovered. The ocean proves this point again and again, and we've barely scratched the surface, so to speak, in really exploring their depths. 

Just off the coast of Costa Rica, a new subspecies of sea snake has been discovered and it's extra interesting because of the way it hunts. It hangs down from the surface like a snake chandelier before springing down upon its prey like a loaded spring trap. Fish just don't see it coming from above and it takes total advantage of their obliviousness.

What cool animal finds have you stumbled upon this week?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Klat Categories: 
Animals
Wild

Border Patrol "Checkpoints" Are Freakier Than Any Urban Legend

Teacher gets detained to demonstrate

Did you know that we have 71 border patrol "checkpoints" in our Southern states to check people's immigration status? If you're from the South you may already know about this true and freaky phenomenon but for those of us in the Midwest or Northern states, it was a rude awakening to see this teacher get pulled over and detained for refusing to answer a single question: whether or not she was a U.S. citizen. And I can't even imagine what it's like if your skin's not white. She explains that she is refusing to answer because she's not entering or exiting a border and shouldn't have to be stopped and questioned, and she's right.

When the agents explain that they are just doing their jobs, she agrees and understands, but points out that corrupt regimes always start out by "just doing their jobs." How can anyone think this is okay? All of those who always explain how great the freedom is here... how is this free?

What other strange and freaky U.S. government phenomena have you witnessed?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 

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Travel

Phantom Hitchhikers

We want to hear your local stories!

You know the story. A hitchhiker (usually a woman but not always) asks for a ride and the driver picks him or her up. Once they reach their destination, they disappear, only to leave the driver to discover that he or she had been dead for many years. He or she often tells the story in a tavern or bar to a group of grim locals who inform the driver that the hitchhiker was a girl who died in a car crash on prom night or something like that. The urban legend is so popular that it was the subject of the pilot episode of the hit CW series Supernatural.

The cool thing about this urban legend is the same cool thing about many others: so many small towns in America have their version of the tale. Some say it's a group of kids in a cornfield, some say it's an old man in the rain... No matte what, the ending is typically the same, and it's fascinating to compare and contrast different towns' stories.

What are the urban legends of your town? Do you have any like this one?

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Culture

Animals Who Smell Death

It's a pretty freaky phenomenon

Can dogs and cats detect when someone is dying or about to die? Some say a resounding yes, and as weird as it sounds, it actually makes sense--at least, in some cases. The superior sense of smell that a dog has, for example, may be able to pick up some conditions that have an odor that is undetectable to the human sense of smell. Scientists believe that dogs may be able to smell melanoma, for example.

Even so, that doesn't explain cases like the hospice cat who snuggles with patients the night before they die. Workers at the hospice say that the cat is usually so correct that they will even contact family members when they notice it snuggling with a patient in order for the family to say their last goodbyes. Is this just one isolated cat who can smell bodies that no longer function or is something more at play here?

What do you think about animals that can sense or smell death and dying?

 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Klat Categories: 
Animals
Pets

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