Article by our guest writer M. Christian (from "Meine kleine fabrik"). M. Christian writes about odd, weird, and wonderful things - most of them are, just like life itself, as unexpected as possible
Real terror lurks in quiet darkness
As the archetypal bumper-sticker proclaims: "Being Paranoid Doesn't Mean that They Aren't Out to Get You." The world of the paranoiac is nothing but a teetering rock slide - impending destruction always hovering just a moment away. Some have suggested that a daily tablespoon full of this viewpoint can actually be a survival trait: In our capricious and elaborate world a certain degree of suspicion and caution will allow us to live to be frightened another day.
But the real terror is lurking just beyond that. As anyone who has studied nature can attest, the world and all its creatures (great as well as small) really are out to get us. Some of their attacks are easy to defend against, and we - in general - know how to survive them. Yet there are creatures on this globe that can snuff us out like a cheap candle in a stiff wind. - And I don't mean the cartoon ferocity of the lion, tiger, or bear who proclaim their dangerous potential with a growl, roar, or screech.
The deadliest (and easy to miss) critters lurk in dark silence, ready to strike with either the barest of warnings or none at all - and with absolutely fatal venom.
(original unknown)
Some you've heard about, and so sit there and scoff. Yeah, big deal: rattlesnake, cobra, black widow -- either you can hear them coming, avoid going to India, or simply not stick your hands into dark places. They are nothing but annoyances: fatal only to the truly stupid, or very sick. Dangerous, sure, but deadly to only Darwin Award winners. [I really like this.] But there are others, nasty little things as vicious and deadly as they are quiet and unassuming.
1. The Cone Snail: can kill you in less than 4 minutes
Say, for instance, you happen to be happily walking through the low surf merrily picking up and discarding shells, looking for just the right one to decorate your desk back at the office.
With no warning at all, however, you feel a sharp sting from one of those pretty shells -- a sting that quickly flares into a crawling agony. With that quick sting, the cone snail's barbed spear has insidiously injected you with one of the most potent neurotoxins in existence.
"The bright colors and patterns of cone snails are attractive to the eye, and therefore people sometimes pick up the live animals and hold them in their hand for a while." Meanwhile the snail may fire its harpoon, loaded with venom (the harpoon can penetrate gloves and even wetsuits)
Nerves short-circuited by this infinitesimally small amount of juice, in seconds the agony of where the stinger struck has faded into a heavy numbness. A relief, perhaps, but then it spreads and moments later the paralysis has seized the entire limb. Then the breathing troubles start ... and then, simply, your heart stops beating.
Yes, there are antivenoms available, but, frankly, with something that can kill in less than four minutes you'd have to carry it in your back pocket to survive. It wasn't just for their fondness for these pretty shells that lead the CIA to develop a weapon using this venom to dispatch enemies.
We'll be back to the ocean in a few paragraphs, but for the next dangerous denizen we have to visit the steaming Amazon:
That frog over there, for instance: that tiny, brilliantly colored tree frog. Doesn't he look like some kind of Faberge ornament, there against that vermilion leaf? Wouldn't such a natural jewel look just gorgeous in a terrarium back home?
Pick him and you'll be dead in a matter of minutes. One second frolicking in the undergrowth, the next spasming and foaming on the jungle floor. No stinger, no bite, no venom: just the shimmering slime covering his brilliant body.
The natives in these parts capture these poison arrow frogs (carefully) and coat their blowgun darts with that slime and knock full grown monkeys out of the trees with a single strike. (read about other poisonous frogs here).
"They are the only animal in the world known to be able to kill a human by touch alone. They can jump as far as 2 inches."
3. The lazy clown of the insect world.
Not a long distance from the deep green of the Amazon, but good enough to completely exhaust the heartiest of hikers, is southern Brazil. Since we’ve had a pretty good trek your first reaction might be to rest a bit, to brace yourself against, perhaps, a tree for support. So what if you happen to touch a certain hairy caterpillar. It’s just a caterpillar, right? The lazy clown of the insect world. One problem, though: the crushie happened to be a member of the lonomia family of moths.
The adult moth is just a moth, but the hairs of the caterpillar are juicy with nasty stuff, so nasty that dozens of people die every year from just touching them. By the way, it’s not a good way to go, either: their venom is a extremely powerful anticoagulant, death happening as the blood itself breaks down. Not fun. Very not fun.
Back in the windswept sea, sharks announce their presence with a steady da-dum, da-dum, da-dum of background music; rattlesnakes... well, they rattle; lions, and tigers, and bears as said roar and bellow. These dangers are loud, almost comical: they parade their danger. But as paranoiacs know, these are nothing but part of the grand deception: they make us believe that everything fatal comes with sirens of intent, or brilliant warning labels. The real monsters are more devious than that; they lurk on the other side of invisibility, never make a sound, and kill you faster than the sounding of that first note in a shark's theme song.
4. Beaked Sea Snake
Another creature of nightmares that doesn’t come with a theme song is a strange import to the world aquatica. When you think snake you usually think of dry land. But if you go paddling around the Persian Gulf (or coastal islands of India) keep a wary eye out for the gently undulating wave of Enhydrina Schistosa.
It might not look dangerous, if anything it just looks odd to see a snake swimming in the sea, but don’t let your fascination for a "creature of the dry that lives in the wet" hypnotize you into getting too close.
The Hook-nose (or beaked) sea snake, to use its less scientific name, has one of the most potent venomous known. How potent? Well, visualize 1.5 milligrams. Not easy, is it? Such a small amount. But that’s all the venom enhydrina needs to, well, leave you "swimming with the fishes", as the mob likes to say.
"The snake is also eaten as meat by Hong Kong and Singapore fishermen and locals alike"
5. Stone Fish waits for you to step on it
But it’s not time to leave the sea quite yet. There are two nasty things in the blue depths you should spend many a sleepless night frightened of. For the big one you’ll have to wait a bit, for the one right below it in terrifying lethality you just have to watch your step when you’re walking along the bottom of the ocean.
Like all monsters it hides, camouflaging itself among the rocks on the bottom. It’s what’s called an ambush predator: a critter that waits until something juicy walks, or swims, by. But what it could do to you requires no motion at all. All the stone fish has to do is just sit there on the bottom and wait for you to innocently step on it.
That’s all it takes: the spines on the fish’s back are like a parade of loaded hypodermic needles, each one carrying enough bad stuff to kill even a buff diver in a matter of minutes. But death is not really the worst.
The pain from a stone fish’s sting is said to be so horrible that sufferers have begged to have the pricked limb amputate rather than live with it for another moment. In a word: Ouch!.
6. Box Jellyfish should really be called the "coffin" jellyfish
Cone shells, snakes, and caterpillars can be avoided, brilliant frogs warn of their fatality, and I’ve already warned you about the stone fish, but this last terror does not roar or display its danger at all. Let's take one final swim, shall we, this time off the coast of Australia? Incredible blue waters, shimmering sandy beaches, shrimps on the barbie... Skin divers rave about the Australian coast … those, that is, who never let their guard down for an instant.
Paddling in the crystal sea, enjoying the cool waters, the warm sun, it's easy to miss this monster, especially as it's almost as clear as the ocean. Chironex fleckeri doesn't sound terrifying, does it?
Chironex fleckeri: a tiny jellyfish found off the coast of Australia and southeastern Asia. Only about sixteen inches long, it has four eye-clusters with twenty-four eyes, its tentacles carry thousands of nematocysts, microscopic stingers activated not by ill-will but by a simple brush against shell, or skin. Do this and they fire, injecting anyone and anything with the most powerful neurotoxin known.
- Broken tentacles remain active until broken down by time and even dried tentacles can be reactivated if wet; - Box jellyfish are not actually jellyfish at all; they are the Cubozoans; - Grows to about the size of a human head, and has tentacles up to three meters long;
As you can see on the top left of the image below, it's pretty hard to notice Chironex Fleckeri in the wild:
Stories abound of swimmers leaping from the cool Australian seas, skin blistered and torn from thousands of these tiny stingers, the venom scalding their bodies and plunging them into agonizing shock. The sting of a chironex fleckeri, also called the sea wasp, has been described by experts as horrifying torment.
Luckily it doesn't last long. Take that to heart dear, innocent reader, as you dog paddle through the ocean, walk on the beach, or trek through the forest. Safe in your ignorance that the world doesn't hide terrifying, hideous deaths. The hideous agony of sea wasp's sting doesn't last long.
Not long at all. In fact, the burning pain is over in just about the time it will take you to read this last paragraph (and you don't have to be a phenomenally slow reader), not even enough time to reach shore and call for help. Maybe as the venom works itself into your system, causing your nervous system to collapse, you'll realize that paranoiacs are right: that there really are dangerous things out there, things that'll kill you by pure reflex, by just crossing their paths. Thirty seconds isn't a long time, not long at all. But sometimes life, and death, lessons can come in very short periods.
Article by our guest writer M. Christian (from "Meine kleine fabrik"). M. Christian writes about odd, weird, and wonderful things - most of them are, just like life itself, as unexpected as possible
hey anonymous, that wikipedia link doesn't make the irukandji sound particularly dangerous.
Irukandji syndrome is produced by a very small amount of venom and includes severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, and a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure.
Certainly not pleasant, but not exactly in the same league as "dead in 30 seconds."
Irukandji is a nasty little bugger. wikipedia doesn't make it sound like much but the discovery channel did. there was a show where these two researchers were trying to capture one and they got stung. the guy suffered immense pain for two days. his colleague for 2 weeks.
so "severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, and a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure."
may not sound like much but you might wish you were dead after the 3rd day. in fact the guy mentioned some other jellyfish he wished he was working with "with [somthing] the pain goes away in 30 minutes or you die" then he alluded to doing research on elephants instead. because their big and dont sting :)
needles to say next time the went Irukandji hunting they were wearing full protection.
The non-plus-ultra is "Clostridium botulinum" - a small bacterium producing a really insane poison called botulin toxin (also known as botox...) during the cell division. Between 50pg/kg and 3ng/kg are needed to kill someone (!!). In my opinion, THAT is impressive.
Each cone snail has about 100 different variations of its venom. There is no antivenom to its sting. Several victims have survived though with immediate and constant pressure on the wound site and then mechanical ventilation. The risks of getting snuffed by one of these creatures is exceedingly small. Small as they are they can still be made non-existent, which is just what I'm will be doing by never going to their habitat.
Lesson one: don't go swimming (period). Lesson two: don't turn an article in without having your copy editor look at it first (sigh). Of course it's supposed to be "its."
These are all scary creatures, but they seldom kill that many people (a few dozen here or there). How about the most deadly animal of all? It is pretty small.
Great writing but fatalities from many of these are very rare. Some are easily defended against also. Thin fabric like panty hose or a thin lycra jelly-suit are enough to defend against nematocysts firing, or look into Safe-Sea Sunscreens, that can also protect you. You'll find bottles of vinegar lining Aussie beaches and lifeguard stations, which is sufficient in most cases.
I think I'm just rationalizing myself back into the water for this year's diving season. :(
This is just FUD. It scares Yankee tourists away from coming to Australia. I can't remember the last time any of these critters actually managed to kill someone.
And for some reason the funnelweb spider, the salt water croc and the great white shark are left off the list. These do kill people. The crocs usually get some drunken swimmer every year. And because of the murky water - you don't see them coming.
But far more deadly - especially in usa - people with cars, guns and/or alcohol. And for a nice slow death - you can't go past cigarettes and high calorie fast food.
Forget the critters -- something like MRSA can be much, much worse, often fatal, always messy, and easy to pick up these days. Variations such as pneumonic MRSA are terrifying....
Australia is home to loads of poisonous things. However, the death rate there is extremely low (as in 1 or 2 every year). Due to their comprehensive knowledge of the poisons, and prompt medical attention. In the toxicology world, Chironex is generally thought of as more dangerous than the Irukanji - just because severe poisoning from the Irukanji is very rare. Blue ringed octopi are not always toxic, they absorb their toxin from prey/water. In general, CPR will save a person bitten by a B.R.O.
I've worked with most of these animals before and they aren't all lethal. A stonefish will hurt an incredible amount if you step on it and you will probably wish you were dead but unless you get an infection in the wound I wouldn't chisel out a tombstone any time soon. The Stonefish venom is a type of toxin that will simply break down under high temperatures, so throw that foot in some hot water and you will be fine (very sore but fine).
Box jellyfish are in the same boat. If you get stung on the arm or leg you will be in mind numbing pain but you probably won't die. Get stung around the torso and you are in big trouble though. Stop the sting and remove the tentacles all you need to do is cover the area in vinegar (which is at most affected beaches) and do CPR if they happen to stop breathing. But the vast majority of stings are not that bad (I have been stung dozens of times).
All said and done though, if you follow the warnings and listen to what locals say you won't get hurt. It is rare to die from these things but if you insist on frolicking in the water in the middle of summer on a beach that has a closed sign on it don't be surprised if you end up having an extremely painful holiday experience.
"But far more deadly - especially in usa - people with cars, guns and/or alcohol. And for a nice slow death - you can't go past cigarettes and high calorie fast food."
I like how everyone is bitching about this persons post.
Complaining about spelling and such? Come ON get a frakkin life...
And hey, just because they dont cause MANY deaths, does not mean a person is safe from them. Just cause there is vinigar and lifeguards on the beaches, does not mean you wont die from it.
And what you dont know can kill you. Just because YOU know about these critters, does NOT mean everyone else knows. Most people ouside of Australia dont know that the Platypus is venomous.
I myself would rather have something like this posted, and be scared, than go hiking in the amazon and suddenly feel sick and find myself convulsing and dying and not even know why.
fun article, reasonably well written, but as elmark's already hinted a trifle sensationalist.
eg, sea snakes do possess a dreadful venom, but their fangs are located at the back of their mouths, so it's very difficult for them to get a grip on humans sufficiently to deliver a fatal dose. the webs between your fingers and toes, or your earlobes, are about the only place they can do it. they're not particularly aggressive critters, either.
Hmm... wondering about the people who were nasty about pronouns but didn't notice the following:
"...as viscous and deadly as they are quiet and unassuming..." - should be "vicious," unless you're referring to their ability to run in your car's engine; and "...knock full grown monkey's out of the trees..." should be "monkeys" without the apostrophe.
Other than those (and I'm just a wee bit picky when it comes to language), a fine article. Thanks!
To Anonymous: no need to be nasty, not everybody's a pedant!
Those Soviet workers are all the same person, no? Am I exceptionally observant, or am I thick and that's an obvious joke to everyone else, or am I completely insane?
The model of Buckingham Palace mentioned is almost certainly Queen Mary's Dolls House, in Windsor Castle: http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4488.asp Genuinely amazing.
The Phasr(pdf) is not quite "in use now", as it's an Air Force Research Lab development project.
Prototypes exist and have been tested, but I'm aware of no evidence that it's been deployed - but I wouldn't be surprised if it was soon, as civilian equivalents are supposedly available now.
"Tremble" does not have the sense of "Be afraid". It simply means "aspen" in French and is probably just an indication of the tree species along a forested path.
I'm also wondering why they use the French name 'Jean' for the pope, while the man actually was Polish (which would make something like Johannus), while he was in fumction in Rome (Giovanni) and the money value is in english Pound (John).
One of my friends has the pink magic 8-ball Jesus. It makes for much late-night amusement-- when asked "should we make cookies tonight?" it responded with "hallelujah!"
I'm surprised no one's sent you these sculptures, which were in a window display of a local bookstore. I could only find these two links to pictures of them -- one was just taken with a cellphone camera, the other has been Photoshopped. But you get the idea.
Priceless, if horrifying. Incidentally, the "white bloaty things" I figured out: they're those weird beanbag bookmarks for putting in your bible, I guess so you won't lose your place while you're genuflecting.
And the "Gay black Jewish klansmen for peace" was an idea conceived by Julian Thomas Reid, who lives, oddly, not farm from Smyrna, Georgia but was, in fact, in no way involved. Loved the purple robes with green stars of David!
Julian, by the way, is not black or gay; just Jewish.
The video with the masked soldier where is mortar explode is realy not funny. If a saw a video on YouTube of a soldier from my country die because of a faulty equipement, and categorize as funny, I would not be happy.
Anonymous: That video of a jihaddi terrorist getting offed by his own shell was hilarious.
I thank god that he got himself killed in such a stupid and amusing fashion before he had a chance to murder innocent Iraqis, or kill any of our own soldiers there.
Regarding "Coffee cups and t-shirts Do they sell these in stores?"
They do sell that coffee cup (and I own one). It's called "Mr P series". You can get it and some other great products at http://www.gdp.com.sg/Category.asp?CID=11
These pictures remind me a lot of Armenia's neighbor, Georgia. And the distinctive dome-cross architecture of the churches in the photos is the same as found in old and new Georgian churches. example: Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Sorry raphtee you are mistaken, the Armenians were indeed the first nation to become Christians in 301. In 2001 Canada post issued a commemorative stamp in this honour...check out the history pages...Google search Gregory the Illuminator, very interesting historical facts :) Breathtaking pics by the way!
Thank you for collecting and sharing these wonderful pictures of the land of my ancestors. My Armenian mother was born in Iran and raised in France, living 60 years in Denmark now. The rest of my family is mostly in California.
If the temple at the beginning of the article was built over 2000 years ago it could not have been paid for by Nero. Nero was emperor of Rome from 54 AD to 68 AD. Also, if Nero did pay for it, or it was built approximately 2000 years ago, that would firmly make it Roman, not Greek.
Awesome -- thanks for the link to my airline certificate article! They're one of those things that I had never known existed until one showed up in my hands...and then I HAD to find out more about them.
They had those nap stations at Macworld Expo in San Francisco in January. While you were inside you could listen to a nap soundtrack generated by the Pzizz software:
What a waste of money. God put all we need to know about the Cosmos into His holy book. Here at Creationism Labs, we seek the Truth in our own way. We hurl King James Bibles together at great speed, smashing them into tiny bits of paper which we paste together to form new Divine Revelations.
21st century boring you? Want a way to walk with dinosaurs that isn’t sitting really close to the TV to watch an unrealistic 3D diplodocus eat leaves? You need a holiday in time, or dinoworld
Tick, tick, tick… tick
1.5 million years since fire was lit, 35,000 years after the birth of art, 16,000 years from the first mappings of stars and 600 years since the blueprints of the helicopter were drawn. We sit here thinking, “Y’know the 21st century could have been a bit more, well, silvery.” Aside from those metal toasters that’ll burn a farmyard animal into your bread and those credit cards with one of the corners cut off a bit. The 21st century has had:
No proper Robots. My house isn’t doing stuff for me when I go to work so when I get back it’s like a new house and the kitchens in the bathroom. Cars and skateboards don’t hover. We can’t holiday in space and the so called information super highway is still not bypassing my brain with an LCD screen in my eye and USB ports in my tippy toes.
AHHhhhh, yet as a time traveller you can go to the future where these things should have occurred with a few other things that you probably didn’t think about; like a chocolate bar called waffpinuts. A wafer, pineapple and nuts bar wrapped in Kevlar.
Then, go back in time to tell all those people on Tomorrows World that hoodwinked our innocent child eyes, “Hey hey, perm-head, that ain't going to happen you pre-foetus futurist fuck.” And they’d have to believe your aggressive preaching cos you’d bring an almanac from 2008 with all the sports results and next weeks Eastenders from UK-GOLD, so there.
Well This Time Travel is meant for atomic particles. If you are actually planning to travel and forget about the urban time then plan your trip for free at my blog.
CERN invented the web, not the internet. I'll try to explain the difference without geeking out too much.
The web is the to-level user interface - you just point and click to get around. It's very user friendly, but the real work is done by the internet.
Let me make an analogy. It's a lot like the relation between the user interface (UI) and the operating system (OS) on your computer. The OS does the real work, but is difficult for non-experts to use directly. (think of DOS or UNIX) The UI lives on top of the OS and lets you do things by pointing and clicking. (Think of Windows) That's what makes computers useable by everyone.
So if the web is the UI, then the internet is the OS.
It's more than a minor nit. Saying CERN invented the net is like saying Henry Ford invented roads. When someone says something this far off base, I have to wonder about whatever else they've written, too.
The pictures are pretty awesome though.
Claiming 1/3 of the net's traffic routes through CERN is also just wrong; most net traffic does not leave its country of origin. It's like saying 1/3 of all car traffic goes through I-95. (akb427)
Hope it doesn't blow up the whole planet... No one knows. Anyway I will try to be on vacations far away when they flip the switch. What we know is that the risk is there. I heard many times that they were planning to "observe the big bang". Might not be the same scale etc... but, if you ask me, what they are doing is totally irresponsible. They never mentionned anything concerning the risks, I'm a bit worried...
Awe inspiring and yet frightening at the same time. Could be a way to join general relativity and quantum mechanics and finally provide us a TOE. I want proof there are more than three spatial dimensions; the fourth being time.
I know perfectly well that my comment is comparing apples and oranges, or perhaps apples and kiwi fruit, but...any scientist who really knows will say that the human brain makes this collider thingee look like a paper airplane next to the space shuttle.
Remember, while this machine is impressive, it took the human brain to conceive the theories behind the technology, design it, manufacture the components, and assemble it. Now THAT's impressive! (Yeah, I know...as I wrote first, the brain is flesh and blood and this thing is mechanical...or whatever it is. But it's still man's work. But the brain...that's a masterpiece conceived and created by God.) Marvelous, marvelous.
First of all I'd like to know how the heck they designed this in the first place. How do they know how they need to design all those intricate little parts when most people don't know how to program their VCR?
Second, this seems dangerous as hell. If it destroys the planet then odviously we're too stupid and careless to be worthy of life and deserve our destruction. But piss on those scientists who just have to KNOW what happens when you recreate the conditions of the big bang.
Third, who gives a damn other than the physicists and scientists? Seriously, more than half the planet doesn't have access to clean drinking water. With all the problems in the world, all the new technologies that could benefit ALL of mankind some enormous amount of money has been spent but will it end poverty? Will it put food on starving people's tables? Will it end wars, solve transportation problems, create economic bliss?
If you asked me I think the eye opening stuff that this experiment will produce will only be interesting and beneficial to less than 1% of the global population. But hey, at least the contractors who worked on this made some good money doing it!
Just to clarify, folks: There won't be any human-sized time-travellers stepping out of thin air at CERN when this things switches on... *Unless* the visitors have developed a completely different method of getting here.
What the LHC *might* do is create something a bit like a tiny test-loop of scalextric track in time, that proves the principle of someday being able to build a full sized motorway. That doesn't mean a bus full of tourists will suddenly appear on top of it. (And if it did, they'd break it! =:o} )
...And to the anonymous fearmongers: The scale of risks are pretty much proportional to amounts of energy involved. Think of the scale of accident that occurs when people drive at 80mph rather than at 40mph: Twice the speed, gives four times the kinetic energy; give four times the destruction when you crash.
Yes, the LHC will be accelerating protons to vast energies... *relative to the size of a proton*, which is incredibly tiny! They aren't going to destroy the planet. If they seriously booboo, they *might* trash some part of the collider which will cost megabucks to fix, but that's it.
Lots more gorgeous photos of the Large Hadron Collider, and an explanation in non-geek language of why it's so cool, on National Geographic magazine's story, "The God Particle": http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text
"more than half the planet doesn't have access to clean drinking water. With all the problems in the world, all the new technologies that could benefit ALL of mankind some enormous amount of money has been spent but will it end poverty? Will it put food on starving people's tables? Will it end wars, solve transportation problems, create economic bliss?"
This reminds me of the apochryphal story of Michael Faraday demonstrating one of his electromagnetic devices for a visiting politician: the official supposedly asked him what possible use the device could be put to. Faraday's reply: "Someday, you may be able to tax it."
What purpose did electricity come to serve? How many ways has it ended up ameliorating the ills of mankind? If we hold to the sentiment stated above, no one would ever have had the opportunity to find out.
We don't know what lies behind a closed door, we must open it to see: perhaps to find riches enough for all, or nothing.
If we establish a world where no one is allowed to take risks in order to learn, we should not be surprised to see poverty increase, not decrease.
Awe inspiring and yet frightening at the same time. Could be a way to join general relativity and quantum mechanics and finally provide us a TOE. I want proof there are more than three spatial dimensions; the fourth being time."
You should check out Richard C. Hoagland and torsion physics. Build on the original Maxwellian physics (before a student of his rewrote his theories to 'clear them up'. Look at Maxwell's first or second editions...).
Better spent money than any cathedral or church. Religion-based thinking never solved/discovered anything, it has only caused many years of slowing down technological advancements and caused humans to fight for thousands of years for a cause nobody can specify/prove/show...
Everybody has the right to believe what they want.
I say "let's drop religious cults once and for all", there MIGHT be something out there, but if we're gonna discuss about it we won't find it. Less talk more action!
We should invest a LOT more in (Space) exploration because that's where all the answers lye, not in books written (and constantly adapted) hundreds/thousands of years ago by some men who wanted to have more power/money.
I think lots of religious people would end up in "hell" (if there even is one) because they speak "in the name of God/Allah".
Would you like it if I speak in YOUR name? You don't know who/what your "God" is, so you shouldn't tell others how to worship "Him/Her/It"! You might upset this force.
If we non-indoctrinated people want to investigate through empirical research in stead of mindless swallowing ancient-old mombo-jambo, let us do so.
Why haven't we found evidence of life in space yet? Because most intelligent species are too curious for their own good: They build a Large Hadron Collider, are surprised when it creates a black hole, and the last word they utter as their planet disappears is "oops."
Fucking complex. It could and it could not work...time, time travel... something that can not be understood completely. It would be way to easy to "fuck things up." Believing it could be done, and maybe this is it?
I don't think that they'll screw this up or destroy the planet blah blah like everyone's crying about. its CERN for christ's sake. these guys are probably 100 times smarter than anyone reading this article.
If somebody invest such amount of money ho probably expects to get something out of is investment - in other word - Would you invest your many without a real possibility of getting profits?
Re time travel: may I remind you of the very convincing logic argument by Larry Niven that the only stable state is a universe where time travel isn't possible. :-)
Interesting story on a structure that has huge implications. And thank you for posting all the pics; they really help in giving a proper sense of scale.
Well as time can say, there are still peoples that don't have good insight about too many things in this world, for then to say the dumbest thing should check their mouth at the door, because every things have a point of view and sure enough we have the one's that don't have the wisdom's that give us, shame on you for being dead in the brain.
And about God, don't you think that the knowledge that he is giving us would help man kind along with the wisdoms that we have get. Why would he not help his peoples to learn the true, you have seen it in the book,it call the Bible: The of God.
God put all we need to know about the Cosmos into His holy book. If that was true, we never would have to seek answers to our questions. If we were content with holy books, we never would enjoy the miracles of electricy (light, internet etc.) and optics (TV etc.); heck, we would still be living in tribes, hunting and foraging for our survivals. Population: a few thousands, since we wouldn't be able to effectively defend ourselves against predators of the era.
God (in whatever form) gave us our talents and he would not like us wasting them, would he now?
Leave your narrow mind behind; if you do not like the science, do not butt into it.
ok, it sucks that this has to be done...repeating: david bryden was being sarcastic. any person who commented on him by slamming religion, nice try, but you're a twat. smashing king james bibles together then re-arranging the tiny bits of paper to come up with new stuff is not *actually* a part of any christian belief system, as much as it makes sense to believe so. why don't you find something useful to do, like turn yourself into mulch. then you can help out the guy concerned with food distribution throughout the world by growing some out of your arse. seriously.
If mankind were to focus our efforts as a whole to carrying every single person who can't feed themselves, there would be ZERO progress.
The fact that most of the world lives in comfort (at least by the standard of being hungry) is a testament to the power of progress. If we spent all our time trying to get food to every hut and village that for whatever reason (be it their government, refusing to move, or refusing to adapt to a new world), then those of us who are pushing forward would never make progress.
Screw them. There I said it and I'm not ashamed of it. It is not the fault of those who are progressing our world that every last person isn't being carried along the way... there are so many billions that ARE being carried that it outweighs it a thousand times.
If the discovery of the telephone was replaced with a tribe being fed for a year would it have been worth it? What of the countless people who have been born since then (and possible due to) that invention? The changes to our world and improvements has saved/produced more lives then that tribe ever would have, and they're productive lives.
Fault does NOT lie on the men and women of progress to drag along every member of society, it falls on both those people and their rulers. Look into the corruption and ass-hattery of some of these poor peoples countrys. Blame them, not the people who are trying to improve the world, and to hell to you for being so simple minded
Human Kind had a choice. To remain as organic beings - simple and cooperative or to become distinct evolved processes of thought. Without bodies. There was a point of divination in this work of fiction and it occured ,... AT THE BEGINNING
Nice pictures, but who’s going to benefit from all of this, really?, if you ask me the one that was on the right track many years ago was Nikola Tesla, with his later experiments and vision of a future with free endless energy for everybody, as soon as they knew there wasn’t going to be any profit, they buried Tesla and his projects. Tesla’s theories were fascinating, based on frequencies, he also though about time travel, and there are some documents around that prove his success, on the matter. they were safe and worked, doesn’t any of you wonder why no one has publicly develop Tesla’s latest inventions? or have they done it sneakingly, like with his development of the “death ray”, (HAARP) but with a different purpose. This CERN’s project sounds to me like a fifty-fifty an enormous risk based on one theory, and becomes quite scary when the one pushing the buttons doesn’t even know what’s going to happen. one way or another is a good thing to read peoples reactions to something like this, so thanks to every one.
As peter said, who gives a damn other than the physicists and scientists? Seriously, more than half the planet doesn't have access to clean drinking water. With all the problems in the world, all the new technologies that could benefit ALL of mankind some enormous amount of money has been spent but will it end poverty? Will it put food on starving people's tables? Will it end wars, solve transportation problems, create economic bliss?
If you asked me I think the eye opening stuff that this experiment will produce will only be interesting and beneficial to less than 1% of the global population. But hey, at least the contractors who worked on this made some good money doing it!
This is my response to science vs. religion debate. I think, the bible is not really about the cosmos! God didn't inspire the bible to explain everything we need to know about science. That argument is irrational and absurd.
Assuming the bible is true, and I think it is: the bible was created for a specific purpose. Mainly to justify Jehovah's right to rule (God's sovereignty). There are some side points as well. But, from front to back, it has a genuine theme. It tells us who God is, what he is like, and how to walk with him. It explains God's guidelines and regulations. It explains why things are so bad, and finally, it details God's plan to fix things; ultimately setting them right.
In a nutshell, the bible can be defined as follows. It introduces us to God, tells us about him, tells us what's wrong with the world, what God did to fix things, who God sent to fix them, and what we must do to be fixed.
The bible is basically a textbook for living properly. Or more appropriately, how to live in harmony with God. It has little to do with anything else. God created everything complex for a reason. Without complexity what fun would life be? It gives us more to learn. The bible says there is no limit to God's knowledge, so it would be impossible to tell us everything in one book. It only told us what was necessary. He knew good and well we'd figure out lots of other things on our own. That's what science is for.
Albert Einstein said it best.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
So when Einstein said "science is lame without religion and religion is blind without science" he was really saying...
"Science is lame without the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world, and the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world is blind without science."
CERNs web site states that we have not been destroyed by effects of cosmic rays and micro black holes will evaporate.
However, cosmic rays travel too fast to be captured by Earths gravity, and Hawking Radiation is disputed and contradicts Einsteins highly successful relativity theory. Collider particles smash head on like a car collision and can be captured by Earths gravity, and relativity predicts micro black holes will not decay (Hawking called Einstein doubly wrong, yet it is Einstein who is repeatedly found to have been correct in his theories). There is currently no reasonable proof of LHC safety, LSAG (LHC Safety Assessment Group) has been trying for months to prove safety without success. I hold the minority opinion that it may not be possible because it may in fact not be safe.
Cosmic Rays from the legal complaint.
any such novel particle created in nature by cosmic ray impacts would be left with a velocity at nearly the speed of light, relative to earth. At such speeds, . . . , is believed by most theorists to simply pass harmlessly through our planet with nary an impact, safely exiting on the other side. . . . Conversely, any such novel particle that might be created at the LHC would be at slow speed relative to earth, a goodly percentage would then be captured by earths gravity, and could possibly grow larger [accrete matter] with disastrous consequences of the earth turning into a large black hole.
If this thing is so safe, why arent CERN scientists allowed to express any personal fears they might have about this Collider?
Alleged in the legal action: Chief Scientific Officer, Mr. Engelen passed an internal memorandum to workers at CERN, asking them, regardless of personal opinion, to affirm in all interviews that there were no risks involved in the experiments, changing the previous assertion of minimal risk.
(Statisticians generally consider minimal risk as 1-10%).
hat's what they said about nuclear energy guys, and look where that got us in the early days... I've read about this thing before, about 4 years ago when they hadn't started building the physical tunnel yet. All I can remember from that is the same thing I'm thinking now; Is it really worth risking the planet to "see if we can do it"? in this case time travel, which, don't get me wrong, is an incredible concept to ponder over over a blunt with your mates, but not to test out on our already teetering ecology.
The problem is that this is a man made machine and therefore prone to errors, and there is no 'dev box' to run a dry test run of this thing to see if it works, not least of which is that it is based on THEORY in newly entered scientific territory. The next point of contention i have is that, being humans, we tend to like power but are notoriously crap at wielding it with any sort of decorum or aplomb. Following on from that is the fact that this thing is designed to have more gravity than a black hole and more heat than the fuggen sun chaps!!! Furthermore, what of the potential social and civil implication of leaving a bunch of emotionally devoid morally bankrupt global megalomaniacs to their devices with a machine that can bend space and time? Think of all the downright dastardly stuff our honorable world leaders have committed behind our back, or more accurately, right under our ignorant noses.
All i have to say to whoever is behind this?
"Nice idea but go test out your toys on Mars, if you've truly even been there, assholes..."
Maybe this is where all black holes come from. Each civilization crawls up out of the goo, acquires a bunch of knowledge and resources then goes Poof - black hole - galaxy forms around it.
"doesn’t any of you wonder why no one has publicly develop Tesla’s latest inventions?"
Most likely because he went a little crazy in his later years and started calling relativity hogwash while touting his own theories about dynamic gravity.
"not least of which is that it is based on THEORY in newly entered scientific territory"
Well done. You've identified the purpose of science. Testing and hopefully confirmation of a theory through experimentation
"Nice idea but go test out your toys on Mars, if you've truly even been there, assholes..."
As if we need to waste another couple of billion dollars moving that big thing out onto another planet, let alone the risks of sending people to mars
Isn't if there was a functional time machine built any time in the future we would be seeing people from the future? perhaps that explains the pyramids and the hospitals full of crazies though.
The 'invention of the internet' thing is a bit dubious to me, because if I recall the basic Internet protocols were actually a DARPA/ARPA (name changes based on era, it's been alternately called the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the less militaristic Advanced Research Project Agency).
As to the black holes. People get really scared when they're mentioned, but in reality the dominant force of a microscopic black hole is not gravity. In addition black holes emit energy in the form of Hawking radiation. Any black hole that size would literally evaporate before it could aggregate enough matter to form a self-sustaining singularity. Very much faster.
There seems to be a lot of fear mongering going on on this board. Does anyone actually have an idea of the risks involved (statistics), and might I add that the fear of blowing up the world has never stopped experiments in the past. Hydrogen bomb, anyone?
It's a whiz-bang experiment, with a downside that could really suck
This is a quote from an article by Graham (Graham Phillips is the presenter of ABC TV's Catalyst and a former astrophysicist) in The Age in Australia published on the 13. April 2008.
Graham Phillips introduces the article with: 'WILL the world end later this year? In mid-August, in a chamber deep underneath the Swiss-French border, physicists will switch on a machine that might produce the first man-made black holes. Normally only found in outer space, these high-gravity objects have a reputation for devouring all matter in their vicinity — and they only stop when the food runs out. Could the Earth's first black hole also end up being its last, after it sucks in the chamber, the physicists, and the entire planet?'
It won't create a black hole that can devour the Earth. The experiment was already done. It followed Steven Hawking's Radiation, where a black hole can basically evaporate.
And for time travel... it's only into the future. Sorry guys. Thats how relativity works. Travelling at near-light speeds allow you to time travel basically... which is only possible at the sub-atomic scale in this particle accelerator - smaller than an atom.
This is a time machine and it works. 2008 is the earliest year we can return to because there is no way to go back any further, because the machine did not function until it was turned on. I know because it was 2013 and I finally about to bone my girlfriend, but then we saw that there was this black hole, and then she said that there was no-way.
"QUANTUM SHOT" #394
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29 Comments:
You forgot another Australian jellyfish that is even more dangerous than a chironex. That would be the Irukandji.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_jellyfish
Fantastic post! Excellent writing - nearly scared me to death!
hey "swimming with the fishes" doesn't sound too bad, but how about "sleeping with the fishes" ;)
hey anonymous, that wikipedia link doesn't make the irukandji sound particularly dangerous.
Irukandji syndrome is produced by a very small amount of venom and includes severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, and a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure.
Certainly not pleasant, but not exactly in the same league as "dead in 30 seconds."
Wow, those frogs have fantastic colours!
Long time reader - first time commenter. One of the best articles that I've read here. Crisp writing and some very good snaps.
Irukandji is a nasty little bugger. wikipedia doesn't make it sound like much but the discovery channel did. there was a show where these two researchers were trying to capture one and they got stung. the guy suffered immense pain for two days. his colleague for 2 weeks.
so "severe pains at various parts of the body (typically excruciating muscle cramps in the arms and legs, severe pain in the back and kidneys, and a burning sensation of the skin and face), headaches, nausea, restlessness, sweating, vomiting, high heart rate and blood pressure."
may not sound like much but you might wish you were dead after the 3rd day. in fact the guy mentioned some other jellyfish he wished he was working with "with [somthing] the pain goes away in 30 minutes or you die" then he alluded to doing research on elephants instead. because their big and dont sting :)
needles to say next time the went Irukandji hunting they were wearing full protection.
The non-plus-ultra is "Clostridium botulinum" - a small bacterium producing a really insane poison called botulin toxin (also known as botox...) during the cell division.
Between 50pg/kg and 3ng/kg are needed to kill someone (!!). In my opinion, THAT is impressive.
Each cone snail has about 100 different variations of its venom. There is no antivenom to its sting. Several victims have survived though with immediate and constant pressure on the wound site and then mechanical ventilation. The risks of getting snuffed by one of these creatures is exceedingly small. Small as they are they can still be made non-existent, which is just what I'm will be doing by never going to their habitat.
"to use it’s less scientific name,"
Oh please. Learn to spell simple pronouns.
Lesson one: don't go swimming (period). Lesson two: don't turn an article in without having your copy editor look at it first (sigh). Of course it's supposed to be "its."
even though the box jellyfish is deadly there is another jellyfish that is deadlier. it is called the Irukandji and can kill a man in 3 minutes.
What about the blue-ringed octopus? It's pretty dangerous too. From Wikipedia:
"The blue-ringed octopus is the size of a golf ball, but its venom is powerful enough to kill humans. There is no known antidote."
I am going to lock myself at home and never go out again
These are all scary creatures, but they seldom kill that many people (a few dozen here or there). How about the most deadly animal of all? It is pretty small.
Great writing but fatalities from many of these are very rare. Some are easily defended against also. Thin fabric like panty hose or a thin lycra jelly-suit are enough to defend against nematocysts firing, or look into Safe-Sea Sunscreens, that can also protect you. You'll find bottles of vinegar lining Aussie beaches and lifeguard stations, which is sufficient in most cases.
I think I'm just rationalizing myself back into the water for this year's diving season. :(
-R
The frogs can jump up to 2 inches? That's not very scary.
This is just FUD. It scares Yankee tourists away from coming to Australia. I can't remember the last time any of these critters actually managed to kill someone.
And for some reason the funnelweb spider, the salt water croc and the great white shark are left off the list. These do kill people. The crocs usually get some drunken swimmer every year. And because of the murky water - you don't see them coming.
But far more deadly - especially in usa - people with cars, guns and/or alcohol. And for a nice slow death - you can't go past cigarettes and high calorie fast food.
Forget the critters -- something like MRSA can be much, much worse, often fatal, always messy, and easy to pick up these days. Variations such as pneumonic MRSA are terrifying....
Australia is home to loads of poisonous things. However, the death rate there is extremely low (as in 1 or 2 every year). Due to their comprehensive knowledge of the poisons, and prompt medical attention. In the toxicology world, Chironex is generally thought of as more dangerous than the Irukanji - just because severe poisoning from the Irukanji is very rare. Blue ringed octopi are not always toxic, they absorb their toxin from prey/water. In general, CPR will save a person bitten by a B.R.O.
Chuck Norris could kick the livin'shit right outta those critters without even dilating a nostril and then chop them up to eat in his salad...
I've worked with most of these animals before and they aren't all lethal. A stonefish will hurt an incredible amount if you step on it and you will probably wish you were dead but unless you get an infection in the wound I wouldn't chisel out a tombstone any time soon. The Stonefish venom is a type of toxin that will simply break down under high temperatures, so throw that foot in some hot water and you will be fine (very sore but fine).
Box jellyfish are in the same boat. If you get stung on the arm or leg you will be in mind numbing pain but you probably won't die. Get stung around the torso and you are in big trouble though. Stop the sting and remove the tentacles all you need to do is cover the area in vinegar (which is at most affected beaches) and do CPR if they happen to stop breathing. But the vast majority of stings are not that bad (I have been stung dozens of times).
All said and done though, if you follow the warnings and listen to what locals say you won't get hurt. It is rare to die from these things but if you insist on frolicking in the water in the middle of summer on a beach that has a closed sign on it don't be surprised if you end up having an extremely painful holiday experience.
Thank you Elmark - most fascinating comment.
"But far more deadly - especially in usa - people with cars, guns and/or alcohol. And for a nice slow death - you can't go past cigarettes and high calorie fast food."
Who ever wrote this is a douche nozzle
"Oh please. Learn to spell simple pronouns."
Okay...
"simple pronouns"
How's that?
I like how everyone is bitching about this persons post.
Complaining about spelling and such? Come ON get a frakkin life...
And hey, just because they dont cause MANY deaths, does not mean a person is safe from them. Just cause there is vinigar and lifeguards on the beaches, does not mean you wont die from it.
And what you dont know can kill you. Just because YOU know about these critters, does NOT mean everyone else knows. Most people ouside of Australia dont know that the Platypus is venomous.
I myself would rather have something like this posted, and be scared, than go hiking in the amazon and suddenly feel sick and find myself convulsing and dying and not even know why.
What's that frog in the Amazon that makes you hallucinate?
fun article, reasonably well written, but as elmark's already hinted a trifle sensationalist.
eg, sea snakes do possess a dreadful venom, but their fangs are located at the back of their mouths, so it's very difficult for them to get a grip on humans sufficiently to deliver a fatal dose. the webs between your fingers and toes, or your earlobes, are about the only place they can do it. they're not particularly aggressive critters, either.
Hmm... wondering about the people who were nasty about pronouns but didn't notice the following:
"...as viscous and deadly as they are quiet and unassuming..." - should be "vicious," unless you're referring to their ability to run in your car's engine; and "...knock full grown monkey's out of the trees..." should be "monkeys" without the apostrophe.
Other than those (and I'm just a wee bit picky when it comes to language), a fine article. Thanks!
To Anonymous: no need to be nasty, not everybody's a pedant!
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