Leave the insects! Dreams from alligator DNA – the future! ● Neanderthals ate crabs in Portugal! So? ● Extinct variants of the coronavirus have been found in the US, but not in humans

Leave the insects! Dreams from alligator DNA – the future!

A team of geneticists from Auburn University, USA has finally announced what we’ve all been waiting for! Namely, that he managed to genetically modify farm catfish by injecting them with alligator DNA. Now those dreams can’t wait to hit the records of consumers, Americans for now.

Why do scientists do this? Well, they say the demand for farmed catfish is growing in the US. So large that it accounts for more than 50% of the total demand for fish. The problem is that tank-raised catfish are more susceptible to disease than wild ones, given the lack of space, the speed at which disease spreads, increasing resistance to antibiotics, and more.

In fact, say American researchers, about 45% of farmed catfish die from infectious diseases. In order to avoid such economic losses, as I have already said, specialists have created a new species of catfish with alligator eyelashes, which is much more sustainable. To do this, they, that is, scientists, used cathelicidin – a peptide that is contained in the intestines of alligators and helps the body fight diseases more effectively.

The first data show that the survival rate of new sleepers is two to five times higher than that of others. It is true that this has affected their reproductive process to some extent, but the main thing is that they are alive. And not only are they alive, but they can’t wait to jump into hot American oil. Maybe with us sometime?

Neanderthals ate crabs in Portugal! So?

About 30 kilometers south of Lisbon, there is a cave known to prehistoric people, the Gruta de Figueira Brava, named after her. It is known that since the 1980s, since the first archaeological research in the area, the cave has offered many evidences of some stages of Neanderthal habitation, with a large number of stones, with even more evidence of the consumption of numerous animal species, including cannibalism. Very good!

A recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archeology tells us that Neanderthals, who lived in a cave on the Atlantic coast, pioneered the art of catching crabs, but above all, cooking and eating them. Iberian researchers, led by the Spaniard João Zillao, also claim that these crustaceans are rich in Omega-3 and other vitamins, as if the Neanderthal at the time thought only about consuming Omega-3.

The problem with this research is not necessarily that it finds hot water. Eating crabs is attested as far back as 800,000 years ago, in Homo erectus, so it wasn’t some big Neanderthal invention. Then the fact that Neanderthals in the south of France for many years showed the inner ear lesions typical of divers should give a hint to those who are still surprised by the news that they also ate seafood. Out of hunger, they ate anything, whether it was between us, a fact proven and proven by hundreds of archaeological sites throughout Eurasia.

The big problem with this study, as I said, is that it appeared once with the same information and the same author at the top of the list, João Zillao, exactly three years ago. The only difference is that later science appeared. And so the authors and science journalists retreated that, oh, what a super diet the Neanderthals had, let’s say they discovered intergalactic flight.

How difficult was it to collect the crustaceans, which were barely crawling on the shore or in shallow water, by the horse’s muzzle, so that the Neanderthal could take them and put them on the coals? Finally.

Their luck, those who keep coming up with this heated soup and information that has been smoked for decades from a scientific point of view, is that the world quickly forgets. In fact, it is difficult to perceive and quickly forgotten. Therefore, some authors allow themselves to look surprised when they come with data from the time of Pazvante, but nicely dressed in modern clothes.

Extinct variants of the coronavirus have been discovered in the US, but not in humans

The SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants have not been detected in humans for some time. This does not mean that I got rid of them. Not almost! This is according to a recent study published in the journal PNAS.

In particular, the virus appears to be thriving in New York state, not in humans, but in the white-tailed deer (Odoicoleus virginianus) population. In addition, the virus has adapted and undergone several mutations. So, wild areas simply became an unexpected reservoir for as yet unknown variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Over two years, researchers analyzed about 5,462 deer samples and even found more than 80 mutations of the virus. Mutations that allowed him to make the transition to wild animals, especially in his three most famous forms: Alpha, Beta, and Delta.

Currently, the virus is known to spread rapidly among deer. There is even a documented case of a human catching the virus from a deer. Experts do not yet know, or are afraid to say, whether the virus will be able to enter humans as easily as it has in the past in its new forms. Now, frankly, given that a wild virus has officially reached humans for the first time, the outlook isn’t exactly rosy.

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