Thursday, May 14, 2009

when there is no room left in hell!

Parasitic flies turn fire ants into zombies!



The tool is the tiny phorid fly, native to a region of South America where the fire ants in Texas originated. Researchers have learned that there are as many as 23 phorid species along with pathogens that attack fire ants to keep their population and movements under control.

The flies "dive-bomb" the fire ants and lay eggs. The maggot that hatches inside the ant eats away at the brain, and the ant starts exhibiting what some might say is zombie-like behavior.

"At some point, the ant gets up and starts wandering," said Rob Plowes, a research associate at UT.

he maggot eventually migrates into the ant's head, but Plowes said he "wouldn't use the word 'control' to describe what is happening. There is no brain left in the ant, and the ant just starts wandering aimlessly. This wandering stage goes on for about two weeks."

About a month after the egg is laid, the ant's head falls off and the fly emerges ready to attack any foraging ants away from the mound and lay eggs.

Plowes said fire ants are "very aware" of these tiny flies, and it only takes a few to cause the ants to modify their behavior.

"Just one or two flies can control movement or above-ground activity," Plowes said. "It's kind of like a medieval activity where you're putting a castle under siege."

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090512/sc_mcclatchy/3231765?fark

Saturday, May 9, 2009

get your ass to mars!

labor and delivery took two weeks!

A PLUMBER reeled in agony as his stomach ruptured — and the embryonic remains of his TWIN spilled out.



The lumpy mass forced its way out after lying inside Gavin Hyatt’s abdomen since he was born 30 years ago.

GP Dr Joe Santos said: “It was like something from Alien. I didn’t believe Gavin when he said something was coming out of his belly button until I saw him.”

Medics said the growth was a parasitic twin — Gavin’s identical brother who died in the womb early in their mum’s pregnancy.

The 4cm foetus then became embedded in Gavin’s tissue and stayed in his stomach for the next 30 years.

He revealed: “At first I thought I had been stung by something due to the burning pain in my belly button."

“But there was no sign of anything on the skin. Then I felt a large lump just above my navel, which was so painful that I nearly passed out.

“There was a red patch around the area which was hot to the touch. Dr Santos felt it and said it was a hernia.”

But he felt a stabbing pain near his belly button.

Lifting his shirt, he saw that he was bleeding as the lump pushed through his skin.

Dr Santos was shocked at the sight of what came out.

‘I have amputated limbs and done all sorts, but I have never seen anything like this in my life.’

"I have him in a jar at home and I call him little Gav. I haven’t told many people. I feel like a bit of a freak.”

source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2420523.ece?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

Sunday, May 3, 2009

children of the night!

shit starts today, check it the fuck out!



Experience Bram Stoker's Dracula in a new way -- in real time. Dracula is an epistolary novel (a novel written as a series of letters or diary entries,) and this blog will publish each diary entry on the day that it was written by the narrator so that the audience may experience the drama as the characters would have.

read it here: http://dracula-feed.blogspot.com/