140th. st.
Sometimes things don't make sense.
You know Wolbachia? Of course you do, but I'll refresh your memory; Wolbachia is this crazy parasite in most worms and lice out there. There are literally trillions of species of insects out there that are completely, 100% infected with Wolbachia.
And when I say infected, I mean totally infected. The species with Wolbachia literally cannot live without the little parasite creeping in them. Listen, here's what it does. Inside whichever bug it's in, it'll go into the genes of the unborn larva and make it so the yet-to-be-born bug is, well, born with Wolbachia. It's passed maternally, mother-to-mother, but also paternally, by way of, again, gene screwery, to make it so that the males can't produce offspring unless they mate with another infected female. If they try to mate with a healthy buggie, their offspring will be mutated and die.
It gets better. If you try to 'cure' a bug with Wolbachia of the Wolbachia, say, like, a filarial worm with antibiotics, the filarial worm can't reproduce. That's right, without the Wolbachia in its system, filarial worms become completely barren and impotent.
Speaking of filarial worms. It's all right and good that Wolbachia's safe and snug in the worm, but what's the point if all it does is sit there? Here's the part that doesn't make sense. If a filarial worm bites you, the Wolbachia, of course, transfers into your system by way of the filarial worm eggs released along with it, into your bloodstream. For some reason, they go straight to your eyes.
Fortunately for you, the eggs, when hatched, don't attack your eyes. Unfortunately, they set off a red light for your immune system, causing your very own immune system to attack your eyes, and you go blind.
Why does Wolbachia do this? The jury's still out on that one. But it proves that some things in the vastness of nature, science and bad karma don't... always make sense. And that I should probably stop worrying about them.
You know Wolbachia? Of course you do, but I'll refresh your memory; Wolbachia is this crazy parasite in most worms and lice out there. There are literally trillions of species of insects out there that are completely, 100% infected with Wolbachia.
And when I say infected, I mean totally infected. The species with Wolbachia literally cannot live without the little parasite creeping in them. Listen, here's what it does. Inside whichever bug it's in, it'll go into the genes of the unborn larva and make it so the yet-to-be-born bug is, well, born with Wolbachia. It's passed maternally, mother-to-mother, but also paternally, by way of, again, gene screwery, to make it so that the males can't produce offspring unless they mate with another infected female. If they try to mate with a healthy buggie, their offspring will be mutated and die.
It gets better. If you try to 'cure' a bug with Wolbachia of the Wolbachia, say, like, a filarial worm with antibiotics, the filarial worm can't reproduce. That's right, without the Wolbachia in its system, filarial worms become completely barren and impotent.
Speaking of filarial worms. It's all right and good that Wolbachia's safe and snug in the worm, but what's the point if all it does is sit there? Here's the part that doesn't make sense. If a filarial worm bites you, the Wolbachia, of course, transfers into your system by way of the filarial worm eggs released along with it, into your bloodstream. For some reason, they go straight to your eyes.
Fortunately for you, the eggs, when hatched, don't attack your eyes. Unfortunately, they set off a red light for your immune system, causing your very own immune system to attack your eyes, and you go blind.
Why does Wolbachia do this? The jury's still out on that one. But it proves that some things in the vastness of nature, science and bad karma don't... always make sense. And that I should probably stop worrying about them.