Who lives near a volcano ?

Volcanoes are the most hottest spots on the planets. A person being several meters away from a volcano can get blisters on their and hands and exposed skin, Which doesn't feel good.

But who do you think, Yet again managed to live and thrive near this dangerous crater being home to boiling lava and volcanic ash ? You guessed it. Microorganisms flourish in such hot spots.

In the year 1980, Bacteria were discovered who can live in heat exceeding the boiling point of water ! The bacteria that live in extreme temperatures are called as extremophiles

Marine biologists sent a probe with a camera down below the coast of Hawaii to observe the underwater volcanic, Loihi, And to find out, If life did exist at such extreme temperatures. And what they found was astonishing.

They saw so many microorganisms, Little fish and the most surprising of them all was SHARKS !!!

The temperature of a volcano is 1200 degrees centigrade.

And somehow, These basic and single celled organisms with basic functions can survive there ! Their very nature is beautiful. And also Sharks, That have adapted to such heat !

Thanks to scientists who have worked day and night to educate the world about these mythical creatures !

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The science behind aging

All humans age. You might define aging as grey hair, Weak body and wrinkled skin. But, In the words of science, Aging is the state at which cells cannot divide any further. The process behind aging is quite interesting.

A regular human cell divides 50 times before it dies. The DNA in our cells are packaged in chromosomes, Each of them have two protective regions at the extremes known as Telomeres,

They shorten every time the cell replicates. When Telomeres become too short, The cells stop dividing and eventually die.

So far discovered, Aging can be slowed down by maintaining a good balanced diet, Exercise and Medicine. 

Scientists have started to have a look at the idea of Cell repair using nanobots and gene replacements.

But until then, Our Biological clock is set and we all are destined to age and die.

Before that,

Follow my blog Bio Geek and comment !

Let us all age together being Bio Geeks !

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The Megalodon

' Megalodon ' which means big tooth is an extinct, flesh eating shark species. The magnificent Shark had roamed our waters nearly 2.3 billion years ago. It's scientific name being Carcharodon Megalodon belongs to a truly unique genus.

This beast grew nearly 60 feet in length, It weighed up to a staggering 63500 kg to 90000 kg. The Megalodon preyed on Whales, Sea lions and other mammals for food. Megalodons had an estimated lifespan of only 30 - 40 human years. It has about 276 teeth, with the largest verifiable tooth to be 20 cm. It swims with a speed of 20 mph. 

Around 2.6 billion years ago, Because of the lack of food due to significant pressure and climatic changes, This shark became extinct. This beast needed a lot of food to survive, Scientists say that it required 1133 kg of food a day!

How can we be sure that the Megalodon is extinct ? The Great White lurked around when the Megalodon flourished. There have been talks and few sightings, But we can never been sure.

With only 5% of the waters explored, There is a good chance that this vicious beast is still preying on food in the remaining 95% waters,

We might just find this supposedly prehistoric giant in the blue.

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The Ebola Virus

The History of the Ebola virus goes way back to the 1970's. In southern Africa, An eleven month old boy had died of an odd disease, Soon the whole family had died too. In about a month's time, There were a handful of deaths caused by Ebola

They soon came to a conclusion that Ebola had originated from Bats. The reason behind the name ‘Ebola’?. It is because of the river originated in that place named ‘ Ebola’ Hence the name.

Ebola is very clever, it enters the body through mucus glands in our body like eyes,nose and mouth. It also enters through ruptures and breaks on the skin.Once it’s entered,It travels through the blood stream to various parts of the body. It enters the cell and produces RNA copies of it and sends it to the nucleus and the cell makes more and more of the Ebola viruses. The immune system once again send antibodies, but the cells that are supposed to help the body fight the bacteria, Helps the virus.

 Also the virus orders the cells to produce more and more of Cytokine which is used to communicate between cells.As more and more production of Cytokin and viruses increases the Cells burst and cause internal bleeding which gives the patient high blood pressure and temperature. One by one all of the organs like the liver, spleen and lymph nodes start to shut down.

Blood Pressure.

If you'd line up all the blood vessels in your body, they'll be about 95,000 km long which pumps about 7500 liters of blood a day. Well, there is the same 5 to 6 liters recycled everyday. All the blood exerts pressure on the walls of the muscular vessels, that is called blood pressure. There are 2 types.

The pressure is at its highest during Systole, where the heart contracts to pump blood. And its at the lowest at Diastolic Pressure, where there are gaps between the heart's pumping time.

Blood Pressure increases due to thickening of Blood, this is usually because of a high salt diet. It's also because of the fight or flight response, as the body releases hormones into the blood. More thicker the blood gets, more force has to be given to pump the blood, so the heart pumps harder.

Why you ask, Is Blood Pressure dangerous? Because the more harder the heart beats, there is more pressure on the walls of the vessels, And sometimes the walls get small tears which eventually swell up to form plaques.

And the things that respond to the Plaques are white blood cells in the blood. The white blood cells collect around the plaques, But even if one of the plaques break, Within minutes, A blood clot forms around it, completely blocking blood flow. That will cause a heart attack.

Dangerously clogged blood Vessels can be re-opened by a procedure called ANGIOPLASTY, In which doctors send in a deflated ballon in the place of the blockage and inflate it to free the blockage or they place a metal or polymer stent to keep the vessel open.

Now you know what Blood Pressure means !

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