[video=youtube;HCXqKEs68Xk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXqKEs68Xk&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXqKEs68Xk&feature=related[/video]
None of this is that uncommon. Transmolecular Corp. used radioactive scorpion venom as a cancer therapy. I remember a company in Utah called Cognetix that made several drugs derived from sea snails and I know of another company that uses a chemotoxin derived from a sea slug. There are some crazy cool molecules in nature (and editorially, this is one of the reasons that biodiversity is important.)
/Sarcasm Quick wipe out all of these ticks! We're on a mission from god/evolution to wipe out all life on Earth! Look just because we're heading toward a brick wall at 150mph is no reason to hit the brakes, maybe god WANTS us to smash into that wall... /Sarcasm This is precisely why I think it's a pretty big freaking deal that we are wiping out species left and right. This is a profound example of why, even from a purely human centric viewpoint, we need to quit annihilating healthy ecosystems because they can yield medicines for us. DNA is the rarest thing in the Universe that we know of. We have great diversity here on Earth, but are wiping out species for ever. If we don't wise up soon, even if we somehow survive and get off the planet, we will greatly regret the loss of this vast DNA ecyclopedia and all it's potential biotech applications. It's just plain idiocy to waste this incredible resource. We know there are most minerals out in the asteroid fields, water too can be found off planet, gases such as oxygen exist in frozen and gaseous forms. However, thus far in all our exploration of the cosmos we have found life nowhere else. It's madness to continue to wipe it out down here so we can have our big macs and early death by heart attack.
PETA is a loathsome organization. While I feel there is some merit to rights for animals and that factory farming is inhumane and dangerous to us due to being a virus/bacteria breeding ground, I think PETA is a proto-facist organization. The founder is just plain nuts and they represent the worst sort of ideological mindset that uses ends justifies means mentality. I'm a staunch environmentalist but PETA is a ship of fools at best and a breeding ground for the kind of lefties that actually DO behave like Nazi's.
In before the Obama administration takes credit for this. In all seriousness, this is great news. I always find this stuff fascinating.
