Parsis, a small ethno-religious minority living in India and Pakistan, come from the same original group who landed in Sanjan, in present-day Gujarat, some 1200 years ago, researchers report1.
Scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, led by Kumarasamy Thangaraj, and colleagues from Estonia, United Kingdom and Pakistan have conducted the first extensive study on Parsis, a community that came to South Asia from Iran.
"Our results are consistent with the historically-recorded migration of the Parsi populations to South Asia in the 7th century and in agreement with their assimilation into the Indian sub-continent's population and cultural milieu "like sugar in milk," the authors report.
With only about 57,264 members, Parsis belong to one of the tiniest religious communities of India, whose fertility and mortality rates have steadily declined over the past century, thus making them vulnerable.
The researchers investigated whether the current Parsi people living in India and Pakistan are genetically related amongst themselves and with the present-day Iranian population, and if their genetic composition has been affected by the neighboring Indian and Pakistani populations.
The scientists analyzed 174 DNA samples from contemporary Indian and Pakistani Parsi populations. They also studied skeletal remains of Parsis excavated from the 'dokhama' (or ‘tower of silence’ where Parsis leave their dead bodies exposed to carrion birds) in Sanjan – the place of their initial settlement in Gujarat.
“We have done extensive analysis using mitochondrial, Y chromosomal and autosomal DNA markers to trace the origin of the Parsi population of the Indian subcontinent and found that they have genetically admixed with the Indian population about 1200 years ago, suggesting that the first Zoroastrian might have arrived India about the same time period,” Thangaraj said.
The study suggested that Parsis of India and Pakistan are from a common stock and collectively showed a significantly closer connection with West Eurasians (Iranians) than to their present geographic neighbours (Sindhis and Gujaratis).
"Our investigation has not only contributed substantial new data, but also provided comprehensive insight into the population structure of Parsis and their genetic links to Iranians and South Asians," the report says.
Villoo Patell, chairman of Bangalore-based Avesthagen Limited, which has an ongoing project on the disease profile of Parsis in India, feels that the sample size used in the study was small. She has expressed interest in extending this study to Avesthagen samples. "We need to see if we get similar results by studying the 4500 (Parsi) samples that we have at Avesthagen, using the same chip they have used."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awSUeoh4keg
High in the Indian Himalayas, a remote lake nestled in a snowy valley is strewn with hundreds of human skeletons.
Roopkund Lake is located 5,029 metres (16,500ft) above sea level at the bottom of a steep slope on Trisul, one of India's highest mountains, in the state of Uttarakhand.
The remains are strewn around and beneath the ice at the "lake of skeletons", discovered by a patrolling British forest ranger in 1942.
Depending on the season and weather, the lake, which remains frozen for most of the year, expands and shrinks. Only when the snow melts are the skeletons visible, sometimes with flesh attached and well preserved. To date, the skeletal remains of an estimated 600-800 people have been found here. In tourism promotions, the local government describes it as a "mystery lake".
For more than half-a-century anthropologists and scientists have studied the remains and puzzled over a host of questions.
Who were these people? When did they die? How did they die? Where did they come from?
One old theory associates the remains to an Indian king, his wife and their attendants, all of whom perished in a blizzard some 870 years ago.
Another suggests that some of the remains are of Indian soldiers who tried to invade Tibet in 1841, and were beaten back. More than 70 of them were then forced to find their way home over the Himalayas and died on the way.
Yet another assumes that this could have been a "cemetery" where victims of an epidemic were buried. In villages in the area, there's a popular folk song that talks about how Goddess Nanda Devi created a hail storm "as hard as iron" which killed people winding their way past the lake. India's second-highest mountain, Nanda Devi, is revered as a goddess.
Earlier studies of skeletons have found that most of the people who died were tall - "more than average stature". Most of them were middle-aged adults, aged between 35 and 40. There were no babies or children. Some of them were elderly women. All were of reasonably good health.
Also, it was generally assumed that the skeletons were of a single group of people who died all at once in a single catastrophic incident during the 9th Century.
The latest five-year-long study, involving 28 co-authors from 16 institutions based in India, US and Germany, found all these assumptions may not be true.
Scientists genetically analysed and carbon-dated the remains of 38 bodies, including 15 women, found at the lake - some of them date back to around 1,200 years.
They found that the dead were both genetically diverse and their deaths were separated in time by as much as 1,000 years.
"It upends any explanations that involved a single catastrophic event that lead to their deaths," Eadaoin Harney, the lead author of the study, and a doctoral student at Harvard University, told me. "It is still not clear what happened at Roopkund Lake, but we can now be certain that the deaths of these individuals cannot be explained by a single event."
But more interestingly, the genetics study found the dead comprised a diverse people: one group of people had genetics similar to present-day people who live in South Asia, while the other "closely related" to people living in present-day Europe, particularly those living in the Greek island of Crete.
Also, the people who came from South Asia "do not appear to come from the same population".
"Some of them have ancestry that would be more common in groups from the north of the subcontinent, while others have ancestry that would be more common from more southern groups," says Ms Harney.
So did these diverse groups of people travel to the lake in smaller batches over a period of a few hundred years? Did some of them die during a single event?
No arms or weapons or trade goods were found at the site - the lake is not located on a trade route. Genetic studies found no evidence of the presence of any ancient bacterial pathogen that could provide disease as an explanation for the cause of deaths.
A pilgrimage that passes by the la...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aTXIwDYuhE
The current population of India is 1,414,829,432 as of Friday, January 27, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data.
India 2020 population is estimated at 1,380,004,385 people at mid year according to UN data.
India population is equivalent to 17.7% of the total world population.
India ranks number 2 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by population.
The population density in India is 464 per Km2 (1,202 people per mi2).
The total land area is 2,973,190 Km2 (1,147,955 sq. miles)
35.0 % of the population is urban (483,098,640 people in 2020)
The median age in India is 28.4 years.
India’s growth rate has declined significantly over the past few decades, attributed to growing urbanization, rising education levels, specifically among women, and increasing alleviation of poverty.
While India's population growth has slowed remarkably over the last few years, it's still growing faster than China and is expected to surpass China in population by 2026, when both will have about 1.46 billion people. After 2030, India is expected to be the most populous country in the world.
India is expected to reach its peak population of 1.65 billion people by 2060, after which it will begin to decrease. The number of children in India peaked over a decade ago and is now decreasing.
India Population Growth
The 2011 census was the second largest the world has ever seen - second only to China's census the previous year. It took place in two phases. The first phase, in April 2010, counted all of the buildings in India, and the second phase collected data about the people of India.
The census was a massive exercise, employing millions of Indians. The total cost of the census came to $439 million which was actually considerably cheaper per person than most censuses held around the world. The average census costs over $4 per person, whereas the census in India cost just $.50 per person.
The 2011 census was the fifteenth nationwide census carried out in India. The first was held in 1881, although it was not able to cover all of the British-held Indian territory.
India Population Projections
India's population continues to grow fairly steadily as the years progress. Most notably, the population is growing faster than China's. India is expected to surpass China as the world's most populous country around 2023, but like China, the growth is expected to stagnate and eventually decrease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95N5VL_-VqU
Over the last 100 years, studies have provided mixed results on the mortality and health of tall and short people. However, during the last 30 years, several researchers have found a negative correlation between greater height and longevity. Findings based on millions of deaths suggest that shorter, smaller bodies have lower death rates and fewer diet-related chronic diseases, especially past middle age.
Shorter people also appear to have longer average lifespans. Differences in longevity between the sexes is due to their height differences because men average about 8.0% taller than women and have a 7.9% lower life expectancy at birth. Animal experiments also show that smaller animals within the same species generally live longer.
The relation between height and health has become more important in recent years because rapid developments in genetic engineering will offer parents the opportunity to increase the heights of their children in the near future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_G97wyozQY
Your pet's health and longevity
The average lifespan of spayed and neutered cats and dogs is demonstrably longer than the lifespan of those not. A University of Georgia study, based on the medical records of more than 70,000 animal patients, found that the life expectancy of neutered male dogs was 13.8% longer and that of spayed female dogs was 26.3% longer. The average age of death of intact dogs was 7.9 years versus a significantly older 9.4 years for altered dogs.
Another study, conducted by Banfield Pet Hospitals on a database of 2.2 million dogs and 460,000 cats reflected similar findings, concluding that neutered male dogs lived 18% longer and spayed female dogs lived 23% longer. Spayed female cats in the study lived 39% longer and neutered male cats lived 62% longer.
The reduced lifespan of unaltered pets can, in part, be attributed to an increased urge to roam. Such roaming can expose them to fights with other animals, resulting in injuries and infections, trauma from vehicle strikes and other accidental mishaps.
A contributor to the increased longevity of altered pets is their reduced risk of certain types of cancers. Intact female cats and dogs have a greater chance of developing pyometra (a potentially fatal uterine infection) and uterine, mammary gland and other cancers of the reproductive system. Neutering male pets eliminates their risk of testicular cancer and eliminates the possibility of developing benign prostatic hyperplasia which can affect the ability to defecate.
A handful of studies may appear to challenge the health benefits of widespread spaying/neutering of companion pets by raising concerns that these surgeries may predispose some altered dogs to certain orthopedic conditions and cancers. As a result, they have caused some pet owners to question altering their pets at an early age or altering them at all. However, on closer examination, the results of these studies pertain specifically to male dogs of certain giant breeds (dogs typically weighing 90-100 pounds or more) and their conclusions should not be generalized to other breeds of dogs, or to other species, including cats.
Studies on this subject are mostly retrospective in nature, meaning they are looking at existing research data. Therefore, while they evaluate for associations between a cause and an outcome, they cannot definitely establish causality. It's also important to understand that while a study can find something to be statistically significant, it does not always mean there is a clinically significant difference. While all study designs have benefits and challenges, there is a need for repeatable prospective studies (new research) done by a variety of researchers in various geographic locations and with significant sample sizes to provide stronger data in all aspects of this subject.
Weight gain after spay/neuter can occur in both dogs and cats because of decreased metabolism and maturation. It is important to monitor a pet's weight following surgery and adjust their diet appropriately with the help of a veterinarian to prevent weight gain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeYCWpq8yN8
What's the Difference Between Fertilized Eggs and Unfertilized Eggs?
The average consumer buying a carton of chicken eggs at the store or farmers market can’t tell the difference between a fertilized egg and an unfertilized egg from outside the shell. Chances are you’ve never eaten a fertilized egg, because nearly all eggs sold commercially are produced by hens that have not mated, says Lauren Cobey, media representative for the American Egg Board.
bacon eggs and coffee high protein breakfast header
The difference between fertilized and unfertilized eggs comes down to whether a rooster has been involved or not. Hens do not need a rooster to lay an egg; they do so (almost daily) on their own simply according to light patterns. However, if a rooster does mate with a hen, the eggs she produces are fertilized and, under the right incubation conditions, can bear chicks. No rooster means zero possibility of the egg ever becoming anything more than that.
When fertilized eggs are sold for consumption, there is no danger of eating a developing embryo, says Cobey, for a few reasons: All eggs sold in the United States as food must be refrigerated, a process that halts any growth inside the shell. Also, the interior of any egg intended to be sold as food must be inspected—accomplished by shining a bright light through the shell (called candling)—which highlights any irregularities, such as a developing chick. These regulations hold true whether the eggs are intended for a large chain like Safeway or for the farmers’ market. Eggs with irregularities never make it to retail and are destroyed (except for that one time).
Nutritionally, says Cobey, fertilized and unfertilized eggs are the same. They also taste the same, says Kathy Shea Mormino in her “Facts & Myths About Fertile Eggs” article on her blog, The Chicken Chick. Mormino is an attorney as well as a backyard-chicken keeper, advocate, and educator who’s appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and on local and national TV, radio, and podcasts.
If you find a blood spot inside an egg, it doesn’t mean that egg was fertile either, Mormino says. A blood vessel and rupture at any point in a hen’s reproductive system as a result of a vitamin A deficiency, genetics, or some random occurrence. People may think so because fertile eggs develop veins around day 4 of incubation, but it doesn’t look like a blood spot.
That said, if you’re still on board with eating eggs, we have some delicious (unfertilized) egg recipes you gotta try.
#Rooster #eggs #fertilizedchickeneggs #genetics #rooster #roostersreef
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNCU2VupliY
Breast augmentation, as we know it today, was not a common practice in ancient India. However, there were some references to breast augmentation procedures in ancient Indian texts, although they were not similar to modern-day breast augmentation surgeries.
In ancient India, the practice of breast augmentation was primarily related to the use of natural herbs and remedies. Many ancient texts discuss the use of certain plants and herbs that were believed to increase breast size or improve breast firmness. For example, the use of fenugreek seeds and fennel was recommended as a natural remedy for increasing breast size.
The practice of Ayurveda, which is an ancient Indian system of medicine, also includes several herbal remedies and massage techniques that were believed to improve breast size and shape. One such technique involved massaging the breasts with herbal oils and powders to improve blood circulation and promote breast tissue growth.
It is important to note that breast augmentation procedures in ancient India were primarily focused on promoting overall health and well-being, rather than cosmetic reasons. The emphasis was on achieving balance and harmony in the body, rather than changing one's appearance.
In fact, in ancient India, there was little emphasis on physical appearance or beauty as we understand it today. The ancient Indian society placed a higher value on inner beauty and spiritual development, rather than external appearance.
Therefore, it is unlikely that breast augmentation procedures in the modern sense were performed in ancient India. While natural remedies and techniques were used to promote breast health and wellness, they were not used for cosmetic purposes. It is also important to note that the practice of cosmetic surgery as we know it today did not exist in ancient India, and it was not until the modern era that breast augmentation surgeries became common.
In conclusion, while there are references to breast augmentation procedures in ancient Indian texts, they were primarily focused on natural remedies and techniques for improving breast health and wellness. The emphasis was on achieving balance and harmony in the body, rather than changing one's appearance. The practice of cosmetic surgery as we know it today did not exist in ancient India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTPk5Jh5w3E
Haplogroups and Geographic Origins
The results of haplogroup analyses revealed that MRCAs of 302 Jats in our dataset belonged to nine different haplogroups—E, G, H, I, J, L, Q, R, and T—with nine different geographic origins.
Haplogroup L (36.8%)
This is the largest haplogroup in the Jat sample population. It is present in the Indian population at an overall frequency of about 7–15%. Genetic studies suggest that this may be one of the original haplogroups of the creators of Indus Valley Civilization. It has a frequency of about 28% in western Pakistan and Baluchistan, from where the agricultural creators of this civilization emerged. The origins of this haplogroup can be traced to the rugged and mountainous Pamir Knot region in Tajikistan.
#Jatt #Jat #Jaat #Jutt #Jutes #Sikh #Haplogroup #genetics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnhSpLRK6SM
The Jats represent a large ethnic community that has inhabited the northwest region of India and Pakistan for several thousand years. It is estimated the community has a population of over 123 million people. Many historians and academics have asserted that the Jats are descendants of Aryans, Scythians, or other ancient people that arrived and lived in northern India at one time. Essentially, the specific origin of these people has remained a matter of contention for a long time. This study demonstrated that the origins of Jats can be clarified by identifying their Y-chromosome haplogroups and tracing their genetic markers on the Y-DNA haplogroup tree. A sample of 302 Y-chromosome haplotypes of Jats in India and Pakistan was analyzed. The results showed that the sample population had several different lines of ancestry and emerged from at least nine different geographical regions of the world. It also became evident that the Jats did not have a unique set of genes, but shared an underlying genetic unity with several other ethnic communities in the Indian subcontinent. A startling new assessment of the genetic ancient origins of these people was revealed with DNA science.
Source:
Y-STR Haplogroup Diversity in the Jat Population Reveals Several Different Ancient Origins https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00121/full
#Jatt #Jat #Jaat #Jutt #Jutes #Sikh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hkcy39iLzY
Things are awkward in the avian locker room. While waterfowl like ducks can proudly strut their stuff, the rooster—that emblem of virility—probably keeps a towel wrapped firmly around his waist. Unlike the rooster’s well-endowed aquatic counterparts, he has a ridiculously small penis.
Given the chicken’s agricultural importance, scientists long knew that, like 97% of bird species, roosters didn’t have a significant penis—at least, not one large enough to deliver semen deep inside a female’s reproductive tract. And a new study published today in Current Biology found that the activity of a single gene is enough to literally dis-member a chicken’s penis during embryonic development.
Martin Cohn, a biologist at the University of Florida, and colleagues tried to solve the mystery of the missing chicken penises by studying the embryonic development of chickens and comparing it to the development of waterfowl, emus and crocodiles. Previous research had focused on the growth and development of mammalian penises, and Cohn believed that the same genes might be at work in our feathered friends.
The researchers focused in on bone morphogenic protein 4 (Bmp4), which other studies had shown to be active in early embryonic development in a variety of species. Very early in development, the male genitalia of both chickens and ducks looks similar—both species form a small bump called a genital tubercle from which the penis forms. But whereas the duck phallus continues growing after day 9 of development, researchers discovered, the chicken phallus stops growing and then begins to shrink.
Staining of the chicken genital tubercle revealed increased cell death. Cohn and colleagues then measured the expression of Bmp4 along with several related genes. In the developing chick, the researchers found high levels of Bmp4 expression along the length of the tubercle. In ducks, Bmp4 was only active at the base of the tubercle.
When the researchers inhibited Bmp4 expression in the developing chicken phallus, the tubercle didn’t disappear like in normal development—it kept developing, like in a duck. And when Cohn and colleagues switched on this gene in ducks, the tubercle cells began to commit suicide similar to what happens in chickens. Further genetic analysis showed that phallic Bmp4 activation evolved in chickens only after they split from waterfowl. These results fit in with a variety of other studies that show Bmp4 plays a crucial role in the evolution and diversification of birds, as it has been shown to affect beak size, feathers and toothlessness.
So, if roosters don’t have a penis, how do chickens have sex? (I’m told inquiring minds want to know). They use what’s called the “cloacal kiss,” where male and female chickens press the openings of their cloacas together and the sperm transfer happens. Sounds foreign to us mammalian types, maybe – but it’s a system that’s been working for birds for millions of years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_Ni2Q3IWw
Study shows Roma descended from Indian ‘untouchables’
It’s a tale of centuries of oppression and survival against the odds. A new study by Indian and Estonian geneticists suggests what historians have long argued – that Europe’s Roma gypsies are descended from dalits or low caste ‘untouchables’ who left north-west India 1,000 years ago.
A team headed by Dr Toomas Kivisild, a Cambridge University expert on human evolutionary genetics, has pinpointed the region and social group from which Europe’s 10 million Roma are descended.
Working with scientists from Hyderabad's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and geneticists in Estonia and Switzerland, the study, published in the December edition of the journal Nature, examined the genetic fingerprint of 10,000 samples from members of 214 different Indian ethnic groups.
The samples were analysed for matches with a South Asian Y chromosome type known as ‘haplogroup H1a1a-M82’. The chromosome type is passed through male bloodlines and was compared with samples from Roma men in Europe.
Matches were found throughout the Indian sub-continent, but the closest – those with the least genetic variation – were clustered in areas of north-west India dominated by the region’s ‘doma’ – the low-caste dalits or untouchables who usually perform the dirtiest jobs and have, for centuries, suffered from persecution and discrimination.
The findings lead the team to believe that Europe’s Roma gypsies began their migration from India as early as the 11th century, after being promised a promotion in caste status to fight in a war in what is now Punjab.
Historical studies have also suggested migrations beginning as early as between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.
Later moves westwards may have been prompted by the rise of Islam in the Indian sub-continent from which the Hindu Roma sought to flee.
The fall of Hindu kingdoms in what is today Pakistan increased the exodus to Europe and North Africa, Kivisild’s team believes.
The study, Kivisild told Nature, provided "evidence for the further interpretation of history of what kind of processes were triggering these movements".
The findings add further evidence to linguistic studies and Roma folklore. Roma language is related to Sanskrit and even their name is understood to be derived from Doma, which means ‘man’. Pronounced with the tongue curling off the roof of the mouth for the ‘d’, in Europe Doma became Roma.
The spread of Roma gypsies throughout Europe, Russia and North Africa has long been associated with periodic pogroms and widespread, chronic discrimination.
The name given to the Roma by most European languages – Tzigane in French, Zigeuner in German and Tsigan in Russian – is thought to relate to Atsingani, a heretical sect in Byzantium associated with ‘untouchables’ to which Roma were ascribed.
In Britain, where they were first noted as horse traders and blacksmiths in the 16th century, the Roma are known as gypsies because they trace their roots back to Egypt, although the connection with India is also acknowledged.
#gypsy #India #rajasthan #gypsies #gypsy #romany #nationality #ancientindia #ancient #Gypsy #Roma #history #Hitler #tribes #populationgenetics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gCexFBl28
Just like most of the students I took a spring break. This time visited California..
So in just few days I will resume making new videos and meanwhile do not forget to check "community tab" where I post daily popular science articles and tests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-eSsJMLhE4
The roots of Dalit oppression go back to the origins of the caste system in Hindu religion. The philosophy of caste is contained in the Manusmriti, a sacred Hindu text dating from the second century BCE. ‘Untouchable’ outcast communities were forbidden to join in the religious and social life of the community and were confined to menial tasks that were viewed as polluting, such as animal slaughter and leatherworking.
The introduction of Islam to India from about the thirteenth century CE led to widespread conversions by many low-caste and ‘untouchable’ groups, and by the mid-nineteenth century about one quarter of the population was Muslim.
During the struggle for Indian independence two different approaches emerged for the improvement of the situation of the people now known as Dalits. The first was led by Mahatma Gandhi, who believed in raising the status of Dalit people (or, as he preferred to call them, Harijans) while retaining elements of the traditional caste system but removing the degrading stigma and manifestations of ‘untouchability’. The other approach was led by Dr Ambedkar, a lawyer and himself an ‘untouchable’, who believed that only by destroying the caste system could ‘untouchability’ be destroyed. Ambedkar became the chief spokesperson for those ‘untouchables’ who demanded separate legal and constitutional recognition similar in status to that accorded to Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. However, this was opposed by Gandhi and Ambedkar eventually gave up the demand. After rejecting Hindu values, in 1956 he converted to Buddhism and was later followed by a large number of converts.
After independence, the Indian Constitution abolished ‘untouchability’ in law. Today Dalit politics largely centres around the just dispensation of the affirmative action benefits (in employment, education and electoral representation) granted to them under the Constitution. However, the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955/1976 and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, both derived from the Constitution, remain largely ineffective in their implementation. Many reasons lie behind this, including a lack of political will on the part of both central and state governments, a lack of commitment of upper-caste and class bureaucrats to social justice, the absence of broad-based rights groups to monitor the implementation process, and a lack of statutory power on the part of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Commission (Mandal Commission) to directly punish the perpetrators of crimes against Dalits. Affirmative government action, with regard to Dalits, is all directed at amelioration of their economic status, without liberating them from the dehumanizing effects of caste and ‘untouchability’. Caste and poverty are inseparably joined together and are at the root of the Dalit socioeconomic predicament.
A telling example of the social exclusion that Dalits suffer even in the face of a large-scale natural disaster was witnessed in the immediate aftermath of the 26 December 2004 Tsunami. The Tsunami brought a substantial amount of devastation for the Dalits of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is estimated that well over 10,000 died while 650,000 were displaced. In the aftermath of the Tsunami, the Dalits of Tamil Nadu were made to suffer from worst forms of discrimination and humiliation. Dalits were excluded from making use of (and in some cases even entering into) makeshift relief camps; the ‘untouchablity’ syndrome dominated Hindu upper–caste mentality even at this time of natural catastrophe. The limited shelter that was provided to Dalits was close to what are regarded as less desirable areas, for example near graveyards or garbage dumps lacking in proper sanitation or other facilities. In these shelters there was no regular supply of water. After the Tsunami, several international agencies donated large portable water-tanks for the general con...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuvF8xIblYg
The 'bizarre' plan to turn Hitler into a woman
Could British spies have saved everyone the trouble of killing the Nazi leader... by slipping estrogen into his soup?
Though the Allies considered some highly inventive schemes to beat Adolf Hitler, few are more "bizarre" than an alleged plot to make the Fuhrer lose interest in world domination by secretly drugging him with female sex hormones. Cardiff University professor Brian Ford says he uncovered the plan while reviewing recently declassified documents for his new book, Secret Weapons: Technology, Science, And The Race To Win World War II. Three key questions:
How was the plan supposed to work?
British spies figured that if they could lace Hitler's food with estrogen, over time he would become less cruel and aggressive, Ford says. The idea was to "feminize" Hitler, and make him behave more like his sister, Paula, a "mild-mannered secretary." The Brits were encouraged by then-recent research into the effects of sex hormones in therapy. "There were agents who would be able to get it into his food," Ford says, as quoted by The Telegraph. "It would have been entirely possible."
Why didn't they just poison him?
Hitler used food tasters, so any substance designed to kill him might have provoked a reaction in his tasters. Estrogen, which is tasteless and affects subjects gradually, was thought to be less detectible.
Did anyone try to put this plan into action?
No. It was just one of the many "hare-brained" schemes Ford details in his book. Other strategies: Dropping glue on Nazi troops to stick them to the ground, disguising bombs in tins of fruit imported to Germany, and dropping boxes of poisonous snakes on German soldiers. In Ford's opinion, the "nuttiest" of all was a 10-foot-tall wheel packed with 400 lbs of explosives — called the Great Panjandrum — that was to be used in an assault on the Normandy coast. That one was built and tested at a cost of $1 million in today's dollars, but it didn't work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy1q9BAsypU
The sexuality of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, has long been a matter of historical and scholarly debate, as well as speculation and rumour. There is evidence that he had relationships with a number of women during his lifetime, as well as evidence of his antipathy to homosexuality, and no evidence of homosexual encounters. His name has been linked to a number of possible female lovers, two of whom committed suicide. A third died of complications eight years after a suicide attempt, and a fourth also attempted suicide.
Adolf Hitler created a public image of a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the governance of Nazi Germany. His relationship with Eva Braun, which lasted nearly 14 years, was hidden from the public and all but his inner circle. Braun biographer Heike Görtemaker notes that the couple enjoyed a normal sex life. Hitler and Braun married in late April 1945, less than 40 hours before committing suicide together.
Two wartime reports by the Allies attempted to analyse Hitler psychologically. A 1943 report by Walter C. Langer for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) describes Hitler as having repressed homosexual tendencies and opined that he was an impotent coprophile. Psychologist Henry Murray wrote a separate psychoanalytical report for the OSS in 1943 that drew similar conclusions. Otto Strasser, one of Hitler's opponents in the Nazi Party, also told his post-war interrogators a similar story. British historian Sir Ian Kershaw describes Strasser's statement as "anti-Hitler propaganda".
In research following Hitler's death, a variety of claims have been made about Hitler's sexual orientation: that he was gay, bisexual, or asexual. Conclusive evidence is lacking, but most historians believe he was heterosexual. There is at least one claim that Hitler had an illegitimate child (named Jean-Marie Loret) with one of his lovers. Mainstream historians, such as Kershaw, dismiss this as unlikely or impossible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FzKGXtnRFE
GMOs are not believed to have any impact on honey bee populations.
The sudden and widespread disappearances of adult honey bees from hives, termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), became a national concern more than 10 years ago. Claims have been circulated that GMO crops somehow harm bees, but this is one of the myths about GMOs that have been refuted by the mainstream scientific community.
Scientists and regulators recognize the bee populations may be challenged by a number of factors including pests and parasites, microbial disease, inadequate diet and loss of genetic diversity.
The insecticidal proteins produced by the currently available insect-resistant crops are derived from a common soil bacterium and all of the proteins used in insect-resistant GM plants are tested for toxicity to honey bees. None of these proteins have provided any evidence of harm in either short or long term testing with both adult and larval honey bees.
If a variety of factors are impacting bee health, could GMOs be one of them? Bee Ambassador for Bayer Chris Sansone, who has more than 30 years of experience as a professor and extension specialist at Texas A&M University, points to several scientific studies indicating this is not the case. He notes that “genetically modified plants and their impact on honey bees have been widely studied and the results indicate that GM plants are not harmful to bees.”
As for butterflies, there are a variety of factors impacting monarch butterfly populations, such as deforestation, parasitism and ebbing populations of their host milkweed plants. A 2019 paper shows that GMOs are not the main culprit in any monarch butterfly decline.
There are claims that GMOs and herbicides (more specifically a herbicide called glyphosate) are contributing to the decline in milkweed – a primary food source for monarch larvae (caterpillars)— and that the butterflies have been harmed by eating pollen from GM Bt corn. GMO Answers experts address both of these claims.
Dr. Andrew Kniss, associate professor of weed ecology and management at the University of Wyoming, explains why the cause for the milkweed decline is a complex issue, concluding that while herbicides may have played a role in the decline of species like milkweed, “the research does suggest that there are more important factors than herbicides responsible for the decline of native plant species near crop fields, including milkweeds.” This study he points to was conducted by USDA-ARS and Penn State scientists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Xrpr4Bhu8
What are you going to learn today can really break your brain...
This is a 1914 map of Europe. You see that there is no Poland here - it is part of the Russian Empire at that time .. Just like Finland, Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states that are not on this map ..
Germany and Russia have a common border of about 2,000 kilometers. The whole of Europe is smaller than a small European part of Russia..
You are also well aware of the symbols of the USSR - the star hammer and sickle - as well as the symbols of Germany - the swastika ..
Many of you think that Hitler took this symbol in 1924 from the culture of India or the Turkish excavations of Schleiman..
Oh no, look at these Russian money of 1916 - the swastika is clearly visible on them - and not on one banknote, but on all banknotes of different denominations ..
The swastika is a traditional decoration of the Aryan culture of Russia - as well as India .. It's funny when a non-Aryan country steals symbols from an Aryan country and declares itself an Aryan country - it's not surprising that Germany lost the war ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1f75p9qnGw
The caste system has existed in some form in India for at least 3,000 years. It is a social hierarchy passed down through families, and it can dictate the professions a person can work in as well as aspects of their social lives, including whom they can marry. While the caste system originally was for Hindus, nearly all Indians today identify with a caste, regardless of their religion.
The survey finds that three-in-ten Indians (30%) identify themselves as members of General Category castes, a broad grouping at the top of India’s caste system that includes numerous hierarchies and sub-hierarchies. The highest caste within the General Category is Brahmin, historically the priests and other religious leaders who also served as educators. Just 4% of Indians today identify as Brahmin.
Most Indians say they are outside this General Category group, describing themselves as members of Scheduled Castes (often known as Dalits, or historically by the pejorative term “untouchables”), Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes (including a small percentage who say they are part of Most Backward Classes).
Hindus mirror the general public in their caste composition. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of Buddhists say they are Dalits, while about three-quarters of Jains identify as members of General Category castes. Muslims and Sikhs – like Jains – are more likely than Hindus to belong to General Category castes. And about a quarter of Christians belong to Scheduled Tribes, a far larger share than among any other religious community.
Caste segregation remains prevalent in India. For example, a substantial share of Brahmins say they would not be willing to accept a person who belongs to a Scheduled Caste as a neighbor. But most Indians do not feel there is a lot of caste discrimination in the country, and two-thirds of those who identify with Scheduled Castes or Tribes say there is not widespread discrimination against their respective groups. This feeling may reflect personal experience: 82% of Indians say they have not personally faced discrimination based on their caste in the year prior to taking the survey.
Still, Indians conduct their social lives largely within caste hierarchies. A majority of Indians say that their close friends are mostly members of their own caste, including roughly one-quarter (24%) who say all their close friends are from their caste. And most people say it is very important to stop both men and women in their community from marrying into other castes, although this view varies widely by region. For example, roughly eight-in-ten Indians in the Central region (82%) say it is very important to stop inter-caste marriages for men, compared with just 35% in the South who feel strongly about stopping such marriages.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b45HCQ-gmME
New Orleans is a Louisiana city on the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of Mexico. Nicknamed the "Big Easy," it's known for its round-the-clock nightlife, vibrant live-music scene and spicy, singular cuisine reflecting its history as a melting pot of French, African and American cultures.
New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music, Creole cuisine, unique dialects, and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter, known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street. The city has been described as the "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. Additionally, New Orleans has increasingly been known as "Hollywood South" due to its prominent role in the film industry and in pop culture.
Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before becoming part of the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. New Orleans in 1840 was the third most populous city in the United States, and it was the largest city in the American South from the Antebellum era until after World War II. The city has historically been very vulnerable to flooding, due to its high rainfall, low lying elevation, poor natural drainage, and proximity to multiple bodies of water. State and federal authorities have installed a complex system of levees and drainage pumps in an effort to protect the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBPa2JmMhxg
Colorimetric stains
There are numerous DNA stains that mark DNA with a visible blue compound (e.g. FlashBlue, CarolinaBLU, Fast Blast). Colorimetric stains are more affordable than fluorescent stains and technically do not require a transilluminator (although a white light illuminator is recommended for easy viewing). However, colorimetric DNA stains come with a few major disadvantages.
First, colorimetric stains are less sensitive and cannot detect lower concentrations of DNA reliably. This makes them suitable only for some educational uses but not for most real-world lab applications. Second, colorimetric stains involve extra steps and do not allow students to see their results immediately after a gel electrophoresis run. Gels need to be soaked in blue DNA stains and then rinsed, with the staining and destaining process taking at least 15 minutes and up to overnight. The stains are also somewhat messy and can leave blue residue on surfaces.
Fluorescent DNA stains are worth the increased cost. They are sensitive enough to ensure that students can visualize their DNA samples, even when the concentration is low. Plus, class time is precious and avoiding the soaking and rinsing steps means students get more time to devote to more meaningful educational activities. You can even buy convenient all-in-one tabs that contain agarose, buffer, and fluorescent DNA stain to make casting gels a breeze!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4uMraOt2hM