Fun Facts! Mostly!

Have you ever heard of a narcotic called devil’s breath? Back in 2012, Vice released a documentary on a narcotic that was dubbed the most dangerous drug in the world, the drug in question is called scopolamine, also known as devil’s breath. Vice’s video series focused on how the narcotic was utilized in Colombian crime to render a victim unconscious mentally but not physically for around 24 hours. The series was quite informative but it failed to differentiate potential urban legends from fact and didn’t mention any of the other many uses of the chemical. Scopolamine is most commonly used as medication to treat motion sickness, postoperative nausea and vomiting, it also can be used to decrease saliva before surgery. It currently is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicine. It was originally used as an anesthetic in the early 1900s, around the same time it was to relive pain and induce amnesia during child birth when paired with morphine. Just like LSD, the effects of scopolamine were tested to be used at a potential truth serum for interrogations, but this study was dropped due to the side effects of the narcotic. Scopolamine has also become a standard drug for experimentally inducing cognitive defects in animals to further help scientific research. Despite being called the world’s most dangerous drug, it’s still got quite the few properties to it that need to be appreciated and shouldn’t be overlooked.

A little different from my past posts but it’s not like they’ve been all that consistent so far, I wanted to talk about how good of a movie Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs was. You may recognize this movie from it’s terrible marketing, the one that had an ad with a lean and an overweight version of the same girl looking at each other that said “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful?” As one would imagine, people did not take the ad well. The internet blew up and cancelled the movie well before it even got a chance, in reality the movie was nothing like what the ad suggested and instead about self love and acceptance. In an attempt to continue procrastinating homework, I opened Amazon Prime for the first time in months and recognized the movie. My expectations at the time were mostly six feet under but I decided to give it a shot regardless. I don’t wanna spoil it too much but it really was a fun movie to watch and scream at my television over. The overweight version of the girl in the ad is Snow White, she is on a quest to find her lost father. She stumbles across a magic pair of red shoes while sneaking into her evil stepmother’s place in pursuit any of clues, these shoes transform her into the lean version. Snow jumps on a magic broom stick and escapes before her stepmother can catch her but ends up crashing right in front of the seven dwarfs' house. The seven dwarfs in this movie are under a spell, they actually are a group of magical superheroes that messed up by judging a princess on her looks, mistaking her for a witch and attacking her. Prior to the spell they were all conventionally attractive and physically strong men, the spell turned them into short green dwarfs. The only way for them to break the spell is by getting a kiss from the most beautiful woman in the world. Of the seven, the one that got the most attention was a man named Merlon. I won’t go too much into the plot from now on but this movie’s character development was top tier. Snow White loved herself for who she was from the start regardless of if she was wearing the magic shoes or not, which I absolutely adored. Merlon went a long way though, he was a person who was judgmental on people’s appearances, including his own, he was willing to do anything to get out of this new body which he considered ugly. Throughout the movie he learns that his way of thinking must be wrong and it was really cool to watch, but I will admit that I did scream at the television for a good bit saying that everyone in the movie is an idiot except Snow. The animation was absolutely beautiful, like Disney level beautiful. Also some of the jokes were really funny, the magic mirror never failed to make me laugh. Overall I’d say please watch this movie. It’s so good, it’d give it a 10/10. It hasn’t even been two days yet I want to watch and scream at it again regardless. The marketing really screwed this movie over and it really is unfortunate.

Did you know the CIA preformed human experiments? The project was called MK-Ultra, it was active from 1953-1973. The aim of the experimentation was to identify the power of narcotics such as LSD and see how they could be used in integrations to weaken the individual and force them to confess through potential brainwashing and psychological torture. They wanted to know if they could make Soviet spies crack against their will and whether the Soviets could do the same to CIA operatives too. In order to preform these experiments, the CIA purchased the most of the world’s supply of LSD for around $240,000. The program engaged in many illegal activities, subjects were unwittingly tested on and numerous methods of torture were used to manipulate the subjects' mental states and brain functions.

Did you know there’s such thing as an immortal cell line? An immortalized cell line is a group of cells that due to mutation, have the ability to keep growing and reproducing for prolonged periods of time in vitro. Such immortal mutations can occur either naturally or be intentionally created for experimental purposes. They are vital tools when it comes to researching biochemistry and cell biology. An example of an immortal cell line is HeLa, they were originally cervical cancer cells taken from Henrietta Lacks in 1951. These cells are the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. Thanks to HeLa cells, Joe Hin Tjio and Albert Levan accidently discovered a method to stain and observe human chromosomes, they were the ones that discovered that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes instead of 24. 

How was LSD discovered? Lysergic acid diethylamide, more commonly known as LSD, was first made on November 16th, 1938. Albert Hoffman, a chemist based in Basel, Switzerland, was a part of a research program at Sandoz Laboratories that was looking for potential medical uses of a chemical called ergoline. He discovered the psychedelic properties of LSD when he accidentally ingested a small portion of the chemical, the first time it was ingested intentionally was on April 19th, 1943. After discovering this, Sandoz Laboratories started selling LSD and marketed it "as a cure for everything from schizophrenia to criminal behavior, 'sexual perversions,' and alcoholism." 

How do pitcher plants digest other organisms such as flies? A pitcher plant, also known as a pitfall trap, is a carnivorous plant that gets some of it’s essential nutrients from trapping and digesting small animals. A pitcher plant lures in it’s prey with it’s vividly colored and flower like exterior and nectar. Most species have a waxy layer which causes the prey to stumble and fall into the pitcher but some have other methods. The yellow pitcher plant has a chemical called coniine in it’s nectar, this chemical acts as a strong narcotic in insects, causing it to fall in. Once the prey falls into the pitcher it reaches a pool of digestive enzymes at the bottom. These enzymes break down the organism into an absorbable size.

What is Cinco de Mayo anyway? Not to be mistaken with Mexico’s Independence day, Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held in honor of the Mexican Army’s victory over the French Empire at the battle of Puebla in 1862. This victory boosted the Mexican Army’s confidence and morale but a year later the French defeated them at the Second Battle of Puebla, letting Mexico city fall into the hands of the foreign invaders. Despite all of this, Cinco de Mayo is actually more popularly celebrated in the United States than in Mexico. In the United States the holiday has become more associated around the celebration of Mexican-American culture. The celebrations seem to have started in California 1863 and picked up in popularity nationally in the 1980s due to advertisement campaigns by alcohol companies