What Blew YOUR Mind in 2010?

Please - post the story, info, research or whatever that blew your mind in 2010.

I have to go with prions (of course). …Prions are proteins that misfold, become infectious and cause diseases like Mad Cow, Alzheimer's and Huntingtons. Serious bad guys. But they can be good guys too. Either way, prion science is upending all kinds of scientific dogma.

In 2010, researchers proved that prions can mutate and adapt to their host environment - they change to survive, and learn to infect whatever kind of cell is around wherever they end up.

Unheard of, and scary when you think about it. BUT.

Prions also act as stepping stones in evolution. …When the effect of prion infection is beneficial to the host, the effect can be passed on to the offspring - the adaptive trait is integrated into the host's DNA!!!

It's all mind-blowing scientific heresy.

1. Prions Mutate and Adapt to Host Environment

…prions, bits of infectious protein that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease," have the ability to adapt to survive in a new host environment.

…"We found that when a particular prion strain is transferred from brain cells to a different cell line, its properties gradually change, giving rise to a variant strain that is better adapted to this new cellular environment," said Charles Weissmann, M.D., Ph.D., the head of Scripps Florida's Department of Infectology, who led the study. "If those same prions are subsequently transferred to another cell line, they change again, adapting to these new host cells. And if returned to the brain, the prions gradually regain their original properties. We found physical evidence that, at least in one case, the fold of the prion changed when its properties changed."

…The new study suggests that prion populations constitute a "quasi-species" similar in nature to RNA viruses and retroviruses, such as flu viruses and HIV.

"The fact that they behave like viruses doesn't mean they're anything like a virus," he said. "A bicycle is like a car in that it gets you from one place to the other, but they're not the same. The end effect is the same, however. Prions and viruses are both able to change their structure to survive."

2. Prions act as stepping stones in evolution

…scientists have discovered that misfolded proteins (are) …helping cells navigate the dicey current of natural selection by expressing a variety of hidden genetic traits.

…when it misfolds into a prion conformation, Sup35 gets sloppy, and the cell reads beyond the stop codons, translating genetic information that previously had been dormant. As a result, the cell's phenotype changes.

And here's where evolution comes in.

On those rare occasions when, due to a particular environment, the altered properties of the cell provide it with a survival advantage, the cell passes that trait on to its progeny. …when the daughter cells are mated and genetic reassortment takes place, they can subsequently pass along this same trait without the prion. That is, the trait becomes fixed in the cell's lineage and no longer depends on the prion state.

The prion thus appears to function as an evolutionary stepping stone, affording the population of cells a chance to survive in a new environment where they need a different phenotype until they can acquire the genetic changes that produce the same effect.

So where's the conspiracy?

Well, this stuff blows a lot of "genetics dogma" right out of the water. Forget "superior bloodlines" and "survival of the fittest." Take a step back from your Darwin fan club, and take another look at LaMarck.

There was, and still is, a conspiracy to suppress this and other research that legitimately questions old-school "genetics dogma." Theories of evolution, 'disease theory' and assumptions about appropriate treatments all need re-evaluation.

The main perpetrators of this suppression are the Eugenicists AKA Geneticists who set policies for health care, insurance, and the like - those who push the "overpopulation" agenda, and who rationalize stomping all over their "inferiors" as justified by their own innate "superiority."

www.rawstory.com...

"Corn byproduct fructose literally fuels cancer cell growth, study finds"

reply to post by soficrow


This:

Naza Bomb the Moon

Maybe in the next 40 years Nasa find water there AGAIN, and again, and again.

S/F.

reply to post by soficrow

What Blew YOUR Mind in 2010?

Why ATS of course.....
This is my first year and the collective info and opinion here have shattered a paradigm or two.

As far as incidents, I would say the development of synthetic life forms:

Scientists have created the world's first synthetic life form in a landmark experiment that paves the way for designer organisms that are built rather than evolved.

Craig Venter, the pioneering US geneticist behind the experiment, said the achievement heralds the dawn of a new era in which new life is made to benefit humanity, starting with bacteria that churn out biofuels, soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and even manufacture vaccines.

However critics, including some religious groups, condemned the work, with one organisation warning that artificial organisms could escape into the wild and cause environmental havoc or be turned into biological weapons. Others said Venter was playing God.

www.guardian.co.uk...

This is powerful stuff that comes with a whole new way of thinking about things. It blew my mind not so much by it's advent, but more by contemplating what this means, both positively and negatively, and how it will shape our future.

Peace,
spec
ETA: and the conspiracy side, well the subject itself is a potential host for a plethora of conspiracy directions. I mean these are new life forms which is a trip in itself, but to think of their evolution and potential cross breeding with the natural world, or being used for self modification technology for people wanting to exceed their natural abilities, or genuine Data like cybernetic humans.....this pandora's box is a deep one, but since it is now open, I can only hope it holds as much or more benefit than detriment.

reply to post by xavi1000


How cunningly TPTB have made inroads into infiltrating and influencing the views of alternative media

Thank you all. Excellent contributions!