Nerdy Science Blog

If you are a vegetarian, the following news might be useless to you.

Scientists from University of Adelaide discovered a bacterium cause disease among meat lovers.  The discovery led by microbiologists Dr Adrienne Paton and Professor James Paton was published in Nature on 30 October.

E. coli bacteria will release Subtilase cytotoxin, a potent bacterial toxin, to target Neu5Gc sugar on cell surface.  This will cause bloody diarrhoea and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) in humans.  However human does no make Neu5Gc naturally, and we the toxin release by the bateria should do us no harm.  The secret to the triumph of the bacterium is because we eat too much meat and fairy products.  While we are creating more carbon emmission by eating the food we love, we also uptake Neu5Gc sugar which is rich in these food into our body.  Scientist emphasized that it is important to eat well-cooked meat and pasteurised dairy products as the bacteria are killed in these food products.

Other researchers involved in this study included scientists from Monash University, the University of California and Emory University.

(news)

Meredith F. Small wrote that sarcasm is skill for social survival.  Dr. Katherine Rankin, neurophysiologist at the University of California discovered that sarcasm is important (both positive and negative) in human social interaction.  If  you don’t get sarcastic jokes, it is probably your part of your right brain (parahippocampal gyrus) is damaged.  It is said that people decide how important a friend is based on how well one get their jokes.  So don’t blame me being sarcastic (which I always do, and that proves I’m more evolved than those who don’t get my sarcastic jokes).