Many deadly viruses, diseases, and toxins are known to have occurred naturally, but some did not. In fact, some of them were man-made. Even the viruses that remain with their cures undiscovered were made in science laboratories. But how do these viruses find their way out of science laboratories? That’s a good question. Scientists have accomplished many successes, but some successes too can also lead to bad consequences. This list reveals some of the man-made viruses, diseases, and toxins that are dangerous when used as chemical or biological weapons. Some even have the highest death-rates in the world. Would they have not been made in the first place, hundreds of millions killed by them could have lived. But some viruses and diseases on this list were made in an attempt to study their potential and discover their cures. Their makers probably didn't have bad intentions when they made them, although they knew the risk.
10. Tabun
Tabun is a man-made nerve agent that is not found naturally in the environment. It is a tasteless, colorless to brownish chemical with a faint fruity odor. It was invented by a German chemist named Gerhard Schrader, in the mid 1930's. Its material is similar to those used in pesticides, but it is more poisonous and fast acting. When the liquid form of Tabun is exposed to high temperatures, it turns into vapour and settle in low-lying areas. This is the kind of chemical that you wouldn't want to put in your home, even in a sealed bottle or container because someone – especially your children, might get into contact with it. It is lethal whether absorbed through the skin, eye-contact, and even when inhaled as a gas from contaminated air. Death from skin absorption may be delayed, but an inhaled dosage kills in one to ten minutes. Hitler also used tabun as a destructive weapon against the Britain Allies, but despite how effective the gas was to the troops, he later stopped using the gas against them. If he continued to use it as a weapon against the allied soldiers, millions could have died. This brings us to the curiosity of whether the Nazi scientist, Otto Ambros, who was also a board member of the IG Farben to help mastermind the firm's chemical weapons section, had been the one who deprived Hiltler from using tabun against the Allied soldiers [LINK 1].
Symptoms of Tabun exposure include drooling, breathing difficulties, excessive sweating, vomiting, involuntary urination and defecation, and pinpointing of the eye pupils. It is also possible that Tabun and other nerve agents were used in chemical warfare during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980's.
9. Anthrax
Anthrax is a disease that can kill most living organisms. It is also one of the diseases that are acknowledged as bio-weapons. In the wild, it can even kill most animals including Elephants and Lions, but some predators have a lot more resistance to it than hoofed-mammals. Animals that die of anthrax have spores formed by the bacteria inside of them. These spores consist of a triple protein-like coat around the core of DNA, and they become dormant. Even on the soil and water, the spores can remain viable for years and, when breathed or in contact with another organism, they become active and infect it. A natural occurring anthrax does exist, but scientist discovered that the anthrax bacterium can also be grown in a laboratory to make the man-made version of Anthrax. In 1979, there was an accidental release of spores from a military research laboratory that caused at least 79 cases of respiratory infection and 68 deaths [LINK 2]. A terrorist group also released anthrax throughout Tokyo on eight occasions. In 2001, there was another incident of a man who was killed by the man-made version of the virus [LINK 3].
When anthrax spores are made, they can be stored for considerable periods of time. If the spores have lodged in the lungs and have caused an infection, nine out of ten patients die. That's how deadly anthrax is. During the 70's, the World Health Organization estimated that if 50kg of anthrax be released from an aircraft over an urban population of 5 million, there would be more than 250,000 cases of the disease. Another report in 1993 estimated that releasing a cloud of 100kg of spores upwind of Washington DC could cause between 130,000 and 3 million deaths. We should really hope that bio-terrorists don't use it as a destructive weapon against the world.
8. Swine Flu
The swine flu became a big threat to the public when it was discovered in humans. During that time when people got infected by it, many had thought that the virus was probably a natural influenza. Now researchers had proven that there’s no evidence of the Swine flu (H1N1) to have reasserted naturally [LINK 4]. According to experts, the swine flu that was exposed to the public of Mexico in 2009 could not have occurred naturally. Swine flu can be artificially engineered in laboratories by bio-terrorists, and this could be the reason why the swine flu pandemic was regarded as “man-made”. Some bio-terrorism experts still think that the swine flu was an intentional epidemic, and if so, more proof is all we need. Scientists claimed that the swine flu pandemic may have been caused by an accidental leak from a laboratory in 1977 [LINK 5]. So far, there is more evidence of the swine flu being a "man-made pandemic", but everybody is not yet convinced that it probably escaped the laboratory. And even if the swine flu was not intentionally made as a bio-weapon, why did they make laboratory experiments on the virus in the first place if they knew the risk of a man-made pandemic? That’s just another question that they'll probably answer with another convincing claim.
7. Yersinia Pestis
Yersinia Pestis is a bacterium that is behind "The Black Death" plague that swept through Europe six centuries ago. The plague caused up to 50 million deaths (half of Europe's population during that time) [LINK 6]. The Black Death occurred naturally because there was no sophisticated technology for bio-engineering in the 14th century. Now that we do have that technology in the 21st century, a team of German, Canadian and US Scientists had recreated the plague [LINK 7]. They have extracted dried blood from the teeth of a few of the 14th century victims exhumed from a London graveyard. They used new techniques of modern disease strains to extract the plague's DNA from the teeth and re-created the new version. Although the scientists say that even if the bug escapes the lab it won't be a bigger threat as it was six centuries ago, it can still be used as a bio-weapon by bio-terrorists [LINK 8]. But the scientists claim that the disease's spread would be prevented because we now live in a world that is different from medieval Europe. This makes us wonder why they failed to prevent the deaths caused by other man-made viruses and diseases that have also escaped military laboratories in the past.
6. H5N1 Flu Virus
In 2011, a deadly flu virus with the potential to kill up to half the world's population was announced to be created. The virus is an avian H5N1 bird flu that was genetically altered to become more contagious. Now it is able to transmit from human to human. The virus was created by Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Fouchier presented his work to the public at an influenza conference [LINK 9], but academics and bioterrorism experts argued whether to publish the recipe. They argued that releasing such information could provide any bio-terrorist with a ready recipe they can use to kill millions [LINK 10]. Some experts say such work should have not been done in the first place [lINK 13]. But other researchers said the experiment on the virus is crucial for understanding the public health risk posed viruses circulating in birds. They also believe that the knowledge gained will be vital for the development of vaccines and drugs. What made the virus creation more dangerous is the fact that it was made in a University Lab, instead of a military facility. The world could face the worst nightmare if it escapes the laboratory. The H5N1 has killed hundreds of millions of birds since 1996. Now that the flu is transmissible to humans, you can just imagine what will happen if this goes into a global pandemic. It is scary from different angles. If a scientist wants information about a particular virus to have the vaccines and therateutics in place, such knowledge is needed. The real worry only comes in from a bio-security perspective.
5. H7N9 Flu Virus
H7N9 is an avian influenza that has been detected in birds in the past. As was the case with the H5N1 influenza strains before it was mutated, the natural occurring H7N9 is also not easily transmittable between humans. But Ron Fouchier – the scientist behind a proposal made in 2011 to create the H5N1 that is easily transmittable between humans, had similar plans for the new H7N9 [LINK 11]. Mr. Fouchier and his colleagues stated that they have gained knowledge on the studies made on the H5N1. They are certain that mutating the H5N1 has contributed to their understanding of host adaptation by influenza viruses, including the development of vaccines and improved surveillance. However, some professors in the department of medicine criticized the idea. They said that Fouchier and his colleagues can't do surveillance, nor do they work on vaccine development. Two years after Fouchier and his team's controversial experiments on the H5N1, they haven't contributed to any improvement in the ability to control a pandemic. "They also haven't shown how to develop a better vaccine," say's the critics from the Department of Medicine. But despite the criticism, Ron and his team made a point that the risk of a pandemic caused by an influenza virus exists in nature. If the virus mutates naturally to become easily transmittable between humans and no research on the virus has been done, it might be too late to counter any resistance it has gathered along the way. Their proposal letter pointed out that some H7N9 patients being treated with the primary virus anti-measures had already developed a resistance to those measures. Just like the H5N1, it is possible for the H7N9 to be developed by terrorists and used as a bio-weapon. There was no case of any human infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus until 2 family related individuals were reported to have been infected by it in Eastern China, March, 2013. Since then, the virus has killed over 40 people and sickened a 100 more. And now that the H7N9 was mutated and already had infected and killed people in China, there were accusations being made that it was released by the U.S government as a biological warfare attack against China [LINK 12].
4. Ebola
At first, there were only uncertain claims that the Ebola virus was created by the US military. Now it is finally a reality that Ebola is, indeed, a man-made virus. The fact that the Ebola virus escaped the laboratory is the reason why it is still being argued whether it was created with intentions of using it as a bio-weapon. And because Ebola can indeed be used as a biological weapon [LINK 14], developing it was truly a risk. Just like Aids, the Ebola virus did not originate from monkeys left alone in the wild; they were bio-engineered in military American laboratories. Evidence revealed in Dr. Leonard Horowitz book published in 1996 concluded that the viruses – Ebola and Aids, which now threaten humanity's survival, evolved from early cancer vaccine experiments in which top military pharmaceutical scientists infected monkeys with viral genes from other animals [LINK 15]. The reason why these viruses evolved during those experiments is because those contaminated monkeys were used in the development of preventive vaccines later tested on humans. Evidence that these viruses evolved naturally is minimal and circumstantial.
3. Inhalation Botulism
Inhalation Botulism is a man-made form of a disease that results from inhaling aerosolized Botulinum toxin [LINK 16]. The toxin is among the most poisonous substances known to humans. It is considered a major biological threat because it is easy to make and very deadly. However, three forms of naturally occurring botulism affecting humans do exist, which is by food-borne, wound, and intestinal. Injecting just 2 billionth of a gram of the substance is enough to kill an adult. Currently, there are eight stereotypes of the toxin: A, B, C1, C2, D, E, F, G and H. They are all produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum which can damage the human body by blocking acetylcholine – a neurotransmitter that leads to muscle paralysis. Many scientists believe that the toxin can be used as a bio-weapon [LINK 17]. This is why this genetic sequence has been kept hidden from public database over security concerns.
2. Sarin
Sarin is a human-made chemical warfare agent classified as a nerve agent [LINK 18]. It is colorless, odorless, and has no flavor. It was developed in Germany, 1938, by researchers at IG Farben for use as a pesticide. Just like tabun, people can be exposed to sarin by inhaling air that contains it, including through skin contact and eye contact. Exposure to sarin also causes symptoms similar to those produced by tabun. When sarin vapour is released into the air, it sinks in low-lying areas or toward the bottom of the ground. It was used in two bio-terrorist attacks in Japan, 1994 and 1995 [LINK 19]. The 1995 attack was made by the Aum Shinrikyo sect that killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000 people on the Tokyo subway [LINK 20]. We can just imagine the number of deaths it would cause if released from an aircraft above a highly populated area.
1. HIV/Aids
When the HIV was discovered, many researchers tried to figure out whether it is a man-made virus or a natural pathogen. As I have mentioned in item number 4 of this list, the first researcher who concluded that Aids, including Ebola, were bioengineered in laboratories was Dr. Horowitz. And that was in 1996. Today it is finally revealed that a scientist named Robert Gallo is the one who invented Aids. Gallo was also the man who proved that HIV causes Aids; he then developed the test that safeguards the world's blood supply against the disease. But Robert Gallo also had a long squabble with another team of scientists from France led by Luc Montagnier, over who really discovered the HI virus [LINK 21]. The credit of the HIV discovery was later given to Robert Gallo, who has also generated more than $1 billion in private-sector revenues with all of his discoveries.
On April 1984, Robert Gallo also filed a United States patent application for inventing the HI virus [LINK 21]. But it all started in 1975 when Gallo isolated a retrovirus from human leukemia cells. He then faced humiliation when presenting his discovery at a Virus-Cancer program's yearly conference. Other scientists tested the virus and realized that it is a mixture of contaminating retroviruses from woolly monkeys, gibbon apes, and baboons. Robert tried to save his reputation, claiming that perhaps one of the monkey viruses caused the human leukemia. But unfortunately, his speculation did not convince anyone. I suppose this is the reason why Aids was thought to have originated from monkeys.
In 1980, Robert Gallo was finally credited for discovering the first human retrovirus – HTLV-I. But he didn't stop there with the HTLV-I; he isolated a second one in 1982, which was then called the HTL-V II. In 1984, he finally presented the world with the third one – called HTLV-III, which was renamed the "HI virus" or "HIV". But some medical masterminds still call it the HIV virus – maybe they think that the "V" probably stands for Voodoo.
Thursday, 2 April 2015
10 Animals With Amazing Electrical Abilities
We all know that electricity is a source of energy, but not all of us know that there are animals out there in the wild that have electrical abilities. If you’re one of those people who thought that humans were the first to generate electricity, you were definitely wrong. If you also think that there is no way that an animal can produce powerful electrical currents with its organs, you are also wrong. On this list there are ten animals with fascinating electrical abilities. Some have a special need for electricity, some are attracted to electricity, and some have also helped us humans to come up with new solutions for generating electricity. Most of the animals on this list live in the water; some are insects, and they all have one thing in common – their amazing electrical abilities.
10. The Elephant-nose fish
Elephantnose fishes are very smart, and they also have an incredible ability of being able to produce electricity. They have an amazing ability to navigate in total darkness, especially to find food. No matter how dark it is at night, the elephantnose can perceive and analyze different objects and hindrances in size and structure. They are a freshwater species that inherit the river basins in West Africa, and that is because they prefer to swim among slow moving waters in large rivers. Their bodies are dark brown in color, slim and also compressed. Every elephantnose has a long chin barbel, suggesting the origin of its name. They also have sensory receptors that are electrical, and therefore called electric sensory receptors. They use the sensory receptors to hunt for worms and insects, usually at night. In the nose of the fish there are more than 500 specialized electrical sensory cells that are able to detect small changes in the electrical field in its surroundings. The electric receptors are distributed throughout the ventral and dorsal regions of its body. These sensors in its nose can detect electrical fields caused by potential prey, especially aquatic insects that hide under the surface on the ground of a pond or river. When the elephantnose hunt for its prey on the surface or ground of the river, it's like when a geologist searches for minerals with a metal detector. They also have an electric organ located in the base of their tails that produce a low level of an electric discharge.
9. Electric Rays
All Electric Ray species are best known for their highly specialized electrogenic organs – which are generally kidney-shaped. These organs have fascinating electrical abilities that are composed of stacks of 500 to 1 000 striated muscle plaques that have been modified from the gill musculature. The head and upper body of many ray species form a flattened disc, with large pectoral fins creating a large skirt around the edge. On either side of the head is where the kidney-shaped electrogenic organs are located, visible externally as protuberances around the level of the eyes, which are responsible for generating electrical shocks. These electrical organs can deliver a powerful electrical shock, which can be employed in defense when threatened. The voltage potential recorded from different electric rays is not similar. Some ray's electric shock potential has been measured at as little as 8 to 37 volts, others can reach the voltage power of up to 220 volts. The Pacific Torpedo Ray generates two distinct types of electrical pulse – one for warning predators – and the other for stunning prey with powerful blasts. Electric Rays were also used by ancient Greeks as a kind of anaesthetic – the electricity supposedly numbing the pain of operations and childbirths.
8. Oriental Hornets
Hornets have been counted along with some of the deadliest insects in the world because of their highly toxic stings. Today these insects are not only recognized for their deadly aspects. Another significant discovery revealed that these insects are also the most competent solar power experts. They had solar cells long before Homo Sapiens first walked on earth.
It turns out that the hornets have evolved ingenious adaptations to harvest sunlight. Oriental Hornets have solar cells built into their exoskeleton. Most of their cuticle on their exoskeleton is brown, but a few sections are yellow. Both the brown and yellow pigments are involved in mopping up energy, which are made up of many layers laid on top of each other – 30 in the brown, and 15 in the yellow. The brown areas contain a pigment that is also found in humans that is called melanin, while the yellow areas contain xanthopterin. The brown cuticle is also covered with astonishing brown grooves that split the light absorbed from the sun into diverging beams. While the brown splits the light, the yellow converts it into electricity.
The xanthopterin and grooves in the brown brands cuticle and pinhole depressions makes electricity from sun rays. Although it's not completely understood exactly how hornets use this electricity, one possibility is that they might harness the electricity to power enzymes in the yellow cuticle. Alternatively, this electricity also might help keep hornets at a comfortable temperature, including giving the hornets' wing muscles an extra jolt of energy. During the summer months, hornets are mostly active at noon, when the heat is high and ultraviolet radiation is at its strongest. This unusual behavior of being active afternoon made scientists curious because other insects are more active in the early part of the day. It now makes sense why they leave their nests when the sun hot, it is because of their ingenious adaptations to harvest sunlight.
7. Stargazer
Stargazers live at the bottom of deep, open waters. They are found mostly in lower Chesapeake Bay, but sometimes they travel to the upper Bay in autumn. They have a moderately speckled elongate, flattened body with a large head. They are well-adapted to life under the sand. Their pectoral fins act as shovels, which enables them to bury themselves in the sand in a matter of seconds. There are two different species stargazers, which is the Northern stargazer and the Southern stargazer. Both these species have a special talent of creating an electrical current from a specialized organ located behind the eyes. This organ can deliver an electric charge of up to 50 volts that stuns and confuses its prey and also ward off predators. They hunt by burying themselves in the sand with their eyes and mouths sticking out just enough to search for prey. Once they see something tasty swim by, they can quickly capture their prey or use their large mouths to create a vacuum to suck its prey. Their ability to deliver an electric shock is usually used for defense.
6. Knifefish
Knifefishes are fascinating aquarium specimens. Their bodies are long, tapered, and compressed, with a continually moving fin on their underside. They are found in two groups. The largest group is the gymnotiformes – the ones known as electric fishes. The other group of the knifefishes are members of the notopteridae family, which belong to the Orsteogrossiformes order. Unlike some electrical fishes that generate enough voltage to stun prey, the knifefish uses its electric field as a sixth sense – to navigate its surroundings, communicate and hunt for prey. Its electrical ability helps it to hunt because it can detect prey animals.
Electric knifeshes have tuberous electroreceptor organs specialized for detecting modulations of the high-frequency self-generated electric field. They also have ampullary organs specialized for detecting low-frequency electric field arising from external sources such as bioelectric fields generated by other aquatic organisms. Another third electrical organ is the mechanosensory lateral line system. All these three electrical organs can provide information that may aid the fish when hunting for prey at night or in muddy water. Knifefishes can also scan prey animals across their sensory array before intercepting it with the mouth.
5. Bees
Honeybees have many amazing and interesting facts about them. Another amazing ability of the "honeybee" was discovered recently, revealing that they have a special electrical ability that enables them to sense or detect other electrical signals made by plants. Flowers give out electrical signals to attract bees to their pollen, with their voltage changing consistently to warn others when their nectar is low. Differences in electrical charges allow flowers and bees to communicate. Plants emit weak electric fields and are usually charged negatively. Bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air, and they are also able to tell the differences between floral electric fields.
4. Asian Super ants
A species of Asian ants (Lasius neglectus) that was first seen in Budapest 20 years ago has an attraction to electricity. They are naturally drawn to electrical currents, but this attraction that they have to electricity is also fatal because they can cause blackouts and fires. Their compulsion to follow electricity is stronger than their need for food or drink. They were also recorded sighting in the UK in 2009, although they were spotted in Germany, Poland, Spain, and Hungary.
The Asian super-ant can form huge colonies with nests stretching over up to a hectare. They look just the same as the common garden ant, but there will be ten to a hundred times as many of them. It is still unclear exactly what do they do with electricity as they are drawn or attracted to electrical circuitries. Surely there must be important for them to be attracted to electricity just like other ant species that are attracted to food or drink.
3. The Electric Catfish
The Electric Catfish is another fish that has fascinating electrical abilities. They are nocturnal (night) animals because their most active hours are just after sunset. They live in shallow water, with a muddy and sandy bottom neighboring rocking areas. The catfish has an ability to create an electrical charge of up to 350 volts. It uses this voltage to stun or paralyze its prey and its attackers in order to avoid conflict and to keep it from getting injured. The electrical charge is produced by organs in the skin of the fish, and the fatty layers of flesh below the charge insulate the fish so it doesn't electrocute itself. It is safe to keep it as a pet because its electric charge cannot kill a human, but the shocks do sting. An adult catfish can severely injure its caretaker if not handled properly. Its electrical properties are enough to kill or wound just about any aquarium fish, that's why they cannot have any mates when kept in tanks. In the wild, the catfish can grow up to 39 inches (99cm) in length. Its body is one big electrical current, with the head serving as the negative pole and the tale as a positive pole. This species is also very sensitive to the earth's magnetic fields. In captivity, it responds to magnetic currents generated several hours before an impending earthquake.
2. Chickens
I know you might be surprised or wondering how is it that chickens have electrical abilities that you have never heard of. Chickens obviously don't have electric organs or electrical abilities built in their delicious bodies, but they are able to produce a source of electricity. Chicken's waste/manure can be used in generating power. The fact that the waste material digested in their intestines produces electricity, means that they do have an ability to create electricity. Chicken dung was first used to produce methane gas, but manufacturers turned to more advanced solutions by utilizing it to generate electricity. In 2008, the Dutch agriculture minister Gerda Verburg announced a groundbreaking development for the field as she unveiled the world's largest biomas power plant to run exclusively on poultry manure. They converted roughly 400,000 tons of chicken manure into energy annually, generating more than 270 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This power generation method is still being used even today.
1. Electric Eels
Electric Eels are famous freshwater predators that can generate an enormous electrical charge to stun prey and persuade other predators. Their bodies have electric organs with about 6000 specialized cells called electrolytes. These cells located in the tail of the fish are lined up like batteries in a flashlight. Each and every single cell generates only about 0.15 volts. In total, all those six thousand cells make one giant battery that can generate up to 600 volts of electric charge/shock.
The reason why I have put electric eels on the number one spot of this list is because there's no other animal that is able to generate powerful electrical currents like them. The electric eel has 50 times the shocking power of a car battery, and that is because a standard car battery has only 12 volts of electrical current. Its electrical charge is also 5 times the power of a standard US wall socket. In humans, multiple shocks from an electric eel can cause respiratory or heart-failure. However, the jolts can incapacitate the fish and crustaceans that are the electric eel prey. Some people have been known to drown in shallow water after a stunning jolt from an electric eel. Like other electrical fishes that I covered on this list, the electric eel also uses electricity for sensing prey. Their electrical ability also helps them to navigate in the water because they have poor eyesight. They have long, cylindrical bodies and flattened heads and are generally dark green or greyish on top with yellowish coloring underneath. In size, electric eels can reach six feet (2 metres) in length and weigh nearly 12 pounds (20 kg). The shock of an electric eel has also been known to knock a horse off its feet.
10. The Elephant-nose fish
Elephantnose fishes are very smart, and they also have an incredible ability of being able to produce electricity. They have an amazing ability to navigate in total darkness, especially to find food. No matter how dark it is at night, the elephantnose can perceive and analyze different objects and hindrances in size and structure. They are a freshwater species that inherit the river basins in West Africa, and that is because they prefer to swim among slow moving waters in large rivers. Their bodies are dark brown in color, slim and also compressed. Every elephantnose has a long chin barbel, suggesting the origin of its name. They also have sensory receptors that are electrical, and therefore called electric sensory receptors. They use the sensory receptors to hunt for worms and insects, usually at night. In the nose of the fish there are more than 500 specialized electrical sensory cells that are able to detect small changes in the electrical field in its surroundings. The electric receptors are distributed throughout the ventral and dorsal regions of its body. These sensors in its nose can detect electrical fields caused by potential prey, especially aquatic insects that hide under the surface on the ground of a pond or river. When the elephantnose hunt for its prey on the surface or ground of the river, it's like when a geologist searches for minerals with a metal detector. They also have an electric organ located in the base of their tails that produce a low level of an electric discharge.
9. Electric Rays
All Electric Ray species are best known for their highly specialized electrogenic organs – which are generally kidney-shaped. These organs have fascinating electrical abilities that are composed of stacks of 500 to 1 000 striated muscle plaques that have been modified from the gill musculature. The head and upper body of many ray species form a flattened disc, with large pectoral fins creating a large skirt around the edge. On either side of the head is where the kidney-shaped electrogenic organs are located, visible externally as protuberances around the level of the eyes, which are responsible for generating electrical shocks. These electrical organs can deliver a powerful electrical shock, which can be employed in defense when threatened. The voltage potential recorded from different electric rays is not similar. Some ray's electric shock potential has been measured at as little as 8 to 37 volts, others can reach the voltage power of up to 220 volts. The Pacific Torpedo Ray generates two distinct types of electrical pulse – one for warning predators – and the other for stunning prey with powerful blasts. Electric Rays were also used by ancient Greeks as a kind of anaesthetic – the electricity supposedly numbing the pain of operations and childbirths.
8. Oriental Hornets
Hornets have been counted along with some of the deadliest insects in the world because of their highly toxic stings. Today these insects are not only recognized for their deadly aspects. Another significant discovery revealed that these insects are also the most competent solar power experts. They had solar cells long before Homo Sapiens first walked on earth.
It turns out that the hornets have evolved ingenious adaptations to harvest sunlight. Oriental Hornets have solar cells built into their exoskeleton. Most of their cuticle on their exoskeleton is brown, but a few sections are yellow. Both the brown and yellow pigments are involved in mopping up energy, which are made up of many layers laid on top of each other – 30 in the brown, and 15 in the yellow. The brown areas contain a pigment that is also found in humans that is called melanin, while the yellow areas contain xanthopterin. The brown cuticle is also covered with astonishing brown grooves that split the light absorbed from the sun into diverging beams. While the brown splits the light, the yellow converts it into electricity.
The xanthopterin and grooves in the brown brands cuticle and pinhole depressions makes electricity from sun rays. Although it's not completely understood exactly how hornets use this electricity, one possibility is that they might harness the electricity to power enzymes in the yellow cuticle. Alternatively, this electricity also might help keep hornets at a comfortable temperature, including giving the hornets' wing muscles an extra jolt of energy. During the summer months, hornets are mostly active at noon, when the heat is high and ultraviolet radiation is at its strongest. This unusual behavior of being active afternoon made scientists curious because other insects are more active in the early part of the day. It now makes sense why they leave their nests when the sun hot, it is because of their ingenious adaptations to harvest sunlight.
7. Stargazer
Stargazers live at the bottom of deep, open waters. They are found mostly in lower Chesapeake Bay, but sometimes they travel to the upper Bay in autumn. They have a moderately speckled elongate, flattened body with a large head. They are well-adapted to life under the sand. Their pectoral fins act as shovels, which enables them to bury themselves in the sand in a matter of seconds. There are two different species stargazers, which is the Northern stargazer and the Southern stargazer. Both these species have a special talent of creating an electrical current from a specialized organ located behind the eyes. This organ can deliver an electric charge of up to 50 volts that stuns and confuses its prey and also ward off predators. They hunt by burying themselves in the sand with their eyes and mouths sticking out just enough to search for prey. Once they see something tasty swim by, they can quickly capture their prey or use their large mouths to create a vacuum to suck its prey. Their ability to deliver an electric shock is usually used for defense.
6. Knifefish
Knifefishes are fascinating aquarium specimens. Their bodies are long, tapered, and compressed, with a continually moving fin on their underside. They are found in two groups. The largest group is the gymnotiformes – the ones known as electric fishes. The other group of the knifefishes are members of the notopteridae family, which belong to the Orsteogrossiformes order. Unlike some electrical fishes that generate enough voltage to stun prey, the knifefish uses its electric field as a sixth sense – to navigate its surroundings, communicate and hunt for prey. Its electrical ability helps it to hunt because it can detect prey animals.
Electric knifeshes have tuberous electroreceptor organs specialized for detecting modulations of the high-frequency self-generated electric field. They also have ampullary organs specialized for detecting low-frequency electric field arising from external sources such as bioelectric fields generated by other aquatic organisms. Another third electrical organ is the mechanosensory lateral line system. All these three electrical organs can provide information that may aid the fish when hunting for prey at night or in muddy water. Knifefishes can also scan prey animals across their sensory array before intercepting it with the mouth.
5. Bees
Honeybees have many amazing and interesting facts about them. Another amazing ability of the "honeybee" was discovered recently, revealing that they have a special electrical ability that enables them to sense or detect other electrical signals made by plants. Flowers give out electrical signals to attract bees to their pollen, with their voltage changing consistently to warn others when their nectar is low. Differences in electrical charges allow flowers and bees to communicate. Plants emit weak electric fields and are usually charged negatively. Bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air, and they are also able to tell the differences between floral electric fields.
4. Asian Super ants
A species of Asian ants (Lasius neglectus) that was first seen in Budapest 20 years ago has an attraction to electricity. They are naturally drawn to electrical currents, but this attraction that they have to electricity is also fatal because they can cause blackouts and fires. Their compulsion to follow electricity is stronger than their need for food or drink. They were also recorded sighting in the UK in 2009, although they were spotted in Germany, Poland, Spain, and Hungary.
The Asian super-ant can form huge colonies with nests stretching over up to a hectare. They look just the same as the common garden ant, but there will be ten to a hundred times as many of them. It is still unclear exactly what do they do with electricity as they are drawn or attracted to electrical circuitries. Surely there must be important for them to be attracted to electricity just like other ant species that are attracted to food or drink.
3. The Electric Catfish
The Electric Catfish is another fish that has fascinating electrical abilities. They are nocturnal (night) animals because their most active hours are just after sunset. They live in shallow water, with a muddy and sandy bottom neighboring rocking areas. The catfish has an ability to create an electrical charge of up to 350 volts. It uses this voltage to stun or paralyze its prey and its attackers in order to avoid conflict and to keep it from getting injured. The electrical charge is produced by organs in the skin of the fish, and the fatty layers of flesh below the charge insulate the fish so it doesn't electrocute itself. It is safe to keep it as a pet because its electric charge cannot kill a human, but the shocks do sting. An adult catfish can severely injure its caretaker if not handled properly. Its electrical properties are enough to kill or wound just about any aquarium fish, that's why they cannot have any mates when kept in tanks. In the wild, the catfish can grow up to 39 inches (99cm) in length. Its body is one big electrical current, with the head serving as the negative pole and the tale as a positive pole. This species is also very sensitive to the earth's magnetic fields. In captivity, it responds to magnetic currents generated several hours before an impending earthquake.
2. Chickens
I know you might be surprised or wondering how is it that chickens have electrical abilities that you have never heard of. Chickens obviously don't have electric organs or electrical abilities built in their delicious bodies, but they are able to produce a source of electricity. Chicken's waste/manure can be used in generating power. The fact that the waste material digested in their intestines produces electricity, means that they do have an ability to create electricity. Chicken dung was first used to produce methane gas, but manufacturers turned to more advanced solutions by utilizing it to generate electricity. In 2008, the Dutch agriculture minister Gerda Verburg announced a groundbreaking development for the field as she unveiled the world's largest biomas power plant to run exclusively on poultry manure. They converted roughly 400,000 tons of chicken manure into energy annually, generating more than 270 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This power generation method is still being used even today.
1. Electric Eels
Electric Eels are famous freshwater predators that can generate an enormous electrical charge to stun prey and persuade other predators. Their bodies have electric organs with about 6000 specialized cells called electrolytes. These cells located in the tail of the fish are lined up like batteries in a flashlight. Each and every single cell generates only about 0.15 volts. In total, all those six thousand cells make one giant battery that can generate up to 600 volts of electric charge/shock.
The reason why I have put electric eels on the number one spot of this list is because there's no other animal that is able to generate powerful electrical currents like them. The electric eel has 50 times the shocking power of a car battery, and that is because a standard car battery has only 12 volts of electrical current. Its electrical charge is also 5 times the power of a standard US wall socket. In humans, multiple shocks from an electric eel can cause respiratory or heart-failure. However, the jolts can incapacitate the fish and crustaceans that are the electric eel prey. Some people have been known to drown in shallow water after a stunning jolt from an electric eel. Like other electrical fishes that I covered on this list, the electric eel also uses electricity for sensing prey. Their electrical ability also helps them to navigate in the water because they have poor eyesight. They have long, cylindrical bodies and flattened heads and are generally dark green or greyish on top with yellowish coloring underneath. In size, electric eels can reach six feet (2 metres) in length and weigh nearly 12 pounds (20 kg). The shock of an electric eel has also been known to knock a horse off its feet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)