Supatra "Nat" Sasuphan, the world's hairiest child.
Scientists have discovered a genetic mutation responsible for a disorder that causes people to sprout thick hair on their faces and bodies.
Hypertrichosis, sometimes called “werewolf syndrome” is a very rare condition, with fewer than 100 cases documented worldwide. But researchers knew the disorder runs in families, and in 1995 they traced the approximate location of the mutation to a section of the X chromosome (one of the two sex chromosomes) in a Mexican family affected by hypertrichosis.
Men with the syndrome have hair covering their faces and eyelids, while women grow thick patches on their bodies. In March, a Thai girl with the condition got into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s hairiest child.
A man in China with congenital hypertrichosis helped researchers break the case. Xue Zhang, a professor of medical genetics at the Peking Union Medical College, tested the man and his family and found an extra chunk of genes on the X chromosome. The researchers then returned to the Mexican family and also found an extra gene chunk (which was different from that of the Chinese man) in the same location of their X chromosomes. [Top 10 Worst Hereditary Conditions]
The extra DNA may switch on a hair-growth gene nearby, resulting in runaway furriness. The best bet for a culprit, wrote study researcher Pragna Patel of the University of Southern California, is a gene called SOX3, which is known to play a role in hair growth.
“If in fact the inserted sequences turn on a gene that can trigger hair growth, it may hold promise for treating baldness or hirsutism [excessive hair growth] in the future, especially if we could engineer ways to achieve this with drugs or other means,” Patel said in a statement.
“In the 1920s, Germany had numerous ‘new animal psychologists’ who believed dogs were nearly as intelligent as humans, and capable of abstract thinking and communication,” Dr. Jan Bondeson told The Times of London.
“Part of the Nazi philosophy was that there was a strong bond between humans and nature — they believed a good Nazi should be an animal friend,” he said.
Several clever canines even managed to learn a few new tricks, Bondeson writes.
One dog, an Airdale terrier named Rolf, was able to tap out the alphabet with his paws and shared thoughts on religion. Another pooch, Don, spoke German and could bark, “Hungry! Give me cakes.”
Bondeson also writes that a dog was said to bark “Mein Fuhrer” when he heard the name Adolf Hitler.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — It sounds like a scene from a Poltergeist movie. A house in Massachusetts, getting ravaged by water from a leaky pipe, managed to call for help on its own.
Police got a 911 hang-up call Wednesday and when they called back they just got static.
So officers headed out, they made a forced entry and found a total mess.
Wood floors were buckled, ceilings were sagging, the basement was filled with five feet of water and potentially toxic mold was growing all over the place.
It appears the water short-circuited the phone system, triggering a 911 call.
This incredible video from CNN is an amazing story of not just what modern science is capable of, but also of the inspiring spirit of this young boy who dealt with cancer and overcame the odds by choosing this rare corrective surgery.
A woman has given birth to a baby girl with two heads in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
The conjoined twins, who share a single body, two arms and two legs, were born by Caesarean section last week, according to officials.
The sisters are believed to suffer from a condition known as dicephalic parapagus – an extremely unusual form of twin conjoinment where only a single body develops.
A woman has given birth to a baby girl with two heads in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
The conjoined twins, who share a single body, two arms and two legs, were born by Caesarean section last week, according to officials.
The sisters are believed to suffer from a condition known as dicephalic parapagus – an extremely unusual form of twin conjoinment where only a single body develops.
Rare condition: The two-head conjoined twin girls were born in a hospital in Suining city in southwest China's Sichuan province last week
Because they share the same body, it is not possible to separate dicephalic parapagus conjoined twins.
The birth of dicephalic parapagus conjoined twins – who develop after a fertilized egg cell fails to divide fully – is extremely rare, with most cases occurring in southwest Asia and Africa.
Intensive care: The twins will require around-the-clock attention
Sister act: Conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring once in 100,000 births, while the dicephalic parapagus form of the condition is almost unheard of
How about 26 gallons of it? One man did, at least for a little while. And that man was dressed in a cow costume.
In the category of You Can’t Make This Stuff Up If You Tried, the 18-year-old crawled into a Stafford, Va., Walmart on all fours, reported PotomacLocal.com.
After standing, he loaded about $92 worth of milk into a shopping cart and simply rolled the cart out of the without paying, police have confirmed to NBC Washington.
Police in Stafford County, Va., can't figure out what prompted a man to steal 26 gallons of milk while dressed in a cow costume.
He then attempted to give the milk away outside the store, and tried to flee the scene by skipping away, police said.
Jonathan Payton, 18, of North Stafford, Va., was given a summons and released at the scene.
George Pal's envisioning of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine from the 1960 film.
Hong Kong, China (CNN) – China has been cracking down on dissent of late, as the recent detainment of artist Ai Weiwei suggests.
But the latest guidance on television programming from the State Administration of Radio Film and Television in China borders on the surreal – or, rather, an attack against the surreal.
New guidelines issued on March 31 discourages plot lines that contain elements of “fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking.”
“The government says … TV dramas shouldn’t have characters that travel back in time and rewrite history. They say this goes against Chinese heritage,” reports CNN’s Eunice Yoon. “They also say that myth, superstitions and reincarnation are all questionable.”
The Chinese censors seem to be especially sensitive these days. But for the television and film industry, such strictures would seem to eliminate any Chinese version of “Star Trek,” “The X-Files,” “Quantum Leap” or “Dr. Who.” And does that mean rebroadcast of huge Hollywood moneymakers like “Back to the Future” and the “Terminator” series are now forbidden?
I’m not one to subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I gotta admit, after watching the videos below, it really makes you wonder if these reporters could actually be affected by some outside force trying to control their brains. And now Judge Judy too? The number of on-air presenters that have been affected by this ramnbling iish really make statrte to wondfg err whtt giraffe meant for same fluffy mirror to feel wooden feather dropping, Yo-Yo Ma?
A bizarre spate of television presenters dissolving into on-air gibberish has sparked claims that the U.S. military could be to blame.
In four high-profile cases, the latest involving fast-talking Judge Judy, the presenters have started off speaking properly but have then descended into undecipherable nonsense – looking confused and unstable.
The frequency of the ‘attacks’ – and the fact that recorded examples of the mental meltdowns have been popular on websites – has led to conspiracy theorists pointing the finger at shadowy government experiments.
A popular theory being circulated online blames the U.S. Military’s supposed research into using microwaves as a mind control weapon.
America has never admitted conducting such research but proponents say the effects – produced by microwave signals stimulating the brain with fake images and voices – exactly mimic those displayed in the recent on-air breakdowns.
As to why the Pentagon might be targeting U.S. television presenters, the microwave theorists are less clear.
The phenomenon, which has provided internet video sites with some of the oddest footage for months, has now claimed one of America’s most highly paid broadcasters.
Judith Sheindlin, the fast-talking judge on Judge Judy, was taken to hospital on Wednesday after she began speaking a nonsensical string of words during a live recording of her courtroom TV show.
Latest victim: Judge Judy Sheindlin had to stop her courtroom TV show on Wednesday after descending into nonsensical language
Studio insiders said Sheindlin, who earns £28 million a year for a show that is the most watched programme on American daytime TV, was sitting on camera and ‘started saying things that didn’t make any sense’.
Sheindlin then announced she needed to stop as she didn’t feel well and asked a crew member to call an ambulance.
The 68-year-old lawyer was released from hospital the following day but a spokesman said medical tests had not revealed what caused her garbled speech and double vision.
Her verbal breakdown is the fourth such recent case and the odd coincidence has prompted feverish speculation over the cause.
No video has been released of the Judge Judy incident but footage of the other three has rapidly gone viral on the internet.
Targeted? Serene Branson's garbled Grammys report became an internet sensation, while WISCTV's Sarah Carlson suffered a similar meltdown in January
The first victim was Serene Branson, a Los Angeles reporter for CBS, who delivered a completely incoherent piece to camera on the Grammy music awards last month.
The presenter was unable to get out her words and continued to struggle to speak for around 10 seconds outside the Staples Centre before producers cut to a video.
She said later: ‘My head was definitely pounding and I was very uncomfortable, and I knew something wasn’t right. I was terrified and confused.’
Her doctor later said she had suffered a complex migraine whose symptoms mimic a stroke.
Over the border: Mark McAllister, of Canadian Global Toronto News, soldiered on with his report on Libya, despite his words being unintelligible
Her case was followed by a Canadian news reporter whose report on his country’s contribution to the military campaign in Libya suddenly collapsed into gibberish.
Mark McAllister of Global Toronto News told viewers that the Canadian defence minister had confirmed that ‘more than sifty four 18 fighter jets are spending about as much as 20 and ready to assist 600 hundred, hundred deployed over the an-amount needed’.
His piece-to-camera went on to become even more odd before he signed off.
His employers later confirmed there had been no problem with the autocue but McAllister had also suffered from a migraine.
In January, Sarah Carlson of WISC-TV in Wisconsin was also struck. She started out fine in her report on Wisconsin’s challenge to Barack Obama’s health care reforms, but it soon became apparent that she was having trouble forming words and the camera switched to a startled-looking co-presenter.
Last year the internet was abuzz with reports coming out of both Paris and Birmingham concerning simultaneous fatal car crashes that involved very mysterious circumstances, including “dematerializing occupants,” a cover-up by the police, and speculation of UFO involvement and even time travel(!).
Now this YouTube video appeared on March 6th, with an accompanying email written to Lon Strickland of the Phantoms and Monsters blog:
Since the story behind this is very sketchy (and a little confusing), I will compile all the info I can find and make a cohesive story about what this all could be about. Check back soon…
