The Darwin Awards Countdown to Extinction Part 4

Once the project was under way, the supervising engineer decided to pop along one afternoon and see how work was commencing. The tent covering the sewer was shaking and bulging oddly. He threw open the flaps and was presented with the unsavory sight of three men wrestling over the open manhole, covered in waste matter! Two were shouting at a third, who was unconscious, drenched in waste, and not breathing.

What was going on?

The civil engineer, trained in resuscitation techniques, began the unappealing process of clearing the unconscious man's airway. Fortunately at that point the man started breathing again and immediately vomited a stream of waste. The ambulance was summoned-and then it was time for 'splaining.

Remember the training course? Remember the expensive new gear? Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest decided that that was all too much effort. The sewer was so close to the surface, they figured that it would be easier to simply hang one of them head first with a torch to see the lay of the line. They held an arm-wrestling contest, and the loser was flipped upside down and lowered into the narrow manhole.

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Immediately he was overcome by the fumes and pa.s.sed out. With no shout to stop, Dumb and Dumber continued to lower Dumbest until he was immersed up to his shoulders in the pooling waste. After a minute or so with no response, they pulled him up and realized what had happened. They were both fighting to administer CPR when their supervisor arrived.

All four men received injections to ward off infection. Dumbest was kept in the hospital for further treatment. He developed a nasty mouth infection that caused him to lose teeth, but he survived. Denied Darwin Awards, the three men subsequently decided to try for a Stella Award3: Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest filed an insurance claim against their company for injury and trauma, as their shortcut was not specifically forbidden in the method statement! The company settled out of court.

Reference: Disillusioned engineer [image]

Reader Comments

"s.h.i.tty job."

"Even the best-trained people do stupid things."

"Pa.s.s this along to your crews, this is not not the correct way to inspect a sewage leakage!" the correct way to inspect a sewage leakage!"

"See what happens when you have an employee manual?"

"An unsavory example of sue-age."

DARWIN AWARD WINNER: MAN MEETS MANUREAt least the Dunkin' Donut man survived his disgusting dip. In a case of man-meets-manure, twenty-three-year-old Benjamin lost his life in 1999 in one of the most unappetizing manners possible when he careened into a 400,000-gallon tank of raw sewage. He was apparently driving too fast to make the sharp turn in front of the wastewater treatment plant, as his momentum carried him through a chain link fence, across an eas.e.m.e.nt, and past a low post-and-rail fence surrounding the tank of decomposing sewage. Divers located his body beside his Mazda pickup, at the bottom of the sixteen-foot-deep tank.Reference: Darwin Awards: Evolution in Action Darwin Awards: Evolution in Action (Plume, 2001) (Plume, 2001) [image]

At-Risk Survivor: Duct Don't Confirmed by Reliable Eyewitness Featuring work and gravity!

DECEMBER 2009, CANADA Lester4, a career fire-safety inspector, entered a building in downtown Alberta for its annual fire inspection. Although new to the building, Lester is not new to his job. With several degrees in Fire and Health Safety, and fluent in three languages, this all-around nice guy has expertly inspected buildings around the world for many years.

The structure he entered has a mechanical room in the bowels of the building, a "boiler room" with a vast air duct that feeds into the air filters. The duct itself is more than strong enough to support the weight of a man. Indeed, inspectors are required to climb onto the duct from a cat-walk on the floor above, in order to inspect one of the fire extinguishers.

Oh, the Darwin Awards that have resulted from time-saving shortcuts.

Lester had just inspected that very safety device and was standing on top of the air duct when he decided to save himself a few minutes of time. Oh, the Darwin Awards that have resulted from time-saving shortcuts. The nearby fire device was almost in range if he stretched!

A highly trained Fire and Safety Inspector-well, it's his or her job to know how to inspect a building safely. But sometimes the safe route is inconvenient inconvenient. Instead of traveling all the way back down to the bas.e.m.e.nt and climbing a ladder, Lester decided to A. climb down the side of the air duct, climb down the side of the air duct,B. in nearly complete darkness, in nearly complete darkness,C. despite being warned by his senior partner an hour earlier that he definitely should not climb on the ductwork. despite being warned by his senior partner an hour earlier that he definitely should not climb on the ductwork.

Halfway down, he misjudged his footing . . . and gravity performed its civic duty. Lester plummeted ten feet to the cement ground, landing in the carpentry shop adjacent to the boiler room and punching a hole through a tile ceiling in the process.

Sometimes the safe route is inconvenient.

Lester survived with two broken ankles, but easily could have impaled himself had he landed to either side-on the table saw or the tool bench.

Reference: D. Gustafson, First Aid Responder [image]

Reader Comment

"An Inconvenient Truth Route."

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SCIENCE INTERLUDE RNAI: INTERFERENCE BY MOTHER NATURE.

By Alison Davis

When was the last time you were happy about a flub-up?

In the unvarnished world of science, a wrong result can be the best thing that ever happened, but that success isn't always immediately obvious. Thus is the case for the discovery of the game-changing, paradigm-busting, gene-silencing process called RNA interference, or RNAi.

To be fair, RNAi isn't exactly new, and it wasn't just discovered. Like so many stories in science, the epic tale of RNAi is one of hard work, some blind luck, and a careful eye for the unexpected.

RNA Rules Thanks to the Human Genome Project and subsequent discoveries, DNA is a household name. Less famous, but also part of our genetic material, is RNA. You can't see either of these stringy molecules, even with a very powerful scope, but both consist of long chains of four molecular "letters" (GATC or GAUC) hooked together by sugar molecules.

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The notion that RNA is as important as DNA contradicts the traditional paradigm we are taught in school. But it's true! But it's true! RNA is headed for Warhol's fifteen minutes of fame. RNA is headed for Warhol's fifteen minutes of fame.New types of RNA seem to appear monthly: snRNA, piRNA, and many more; microRNAs are the powerful "transcription factors" of eighties' fame. Noncoding RNAs are about to turn the definition of a gene gene on its head! on its head!

Yet despite being made of similar ingredients, DNA and RNA are quite different. This is because DNA uses a different sugar than RNA (deoxyribose versus ribose) to join its alphabet. DNA is rigid and stable, double-stranded, and a.s.sumes a beautiful staircaselike structure. RNA is floppy and unstable, usually single-stranded, and sometimes tangles up into knots. These sister molecules have completely different personalities.

Researchers have known for decades that DNA stores our body plans-genetic information that is pa.s.sed on through generations. They thought that RNA was merely a middleman, helping translate the DNA into proteins that do most of the work in the body. (If DNA is the blueprint, proteins are both contractors and building materials.) But it is time for mighty DNA to move aside. Beginning with the discovery of RNAi, researchers now realize that RNA is at least as important as DNA, if not more so.

Running Interference RNAi is a natural gene-silencing process that has been preserved as a survival tool throughout billions of years of evolution. This gene-silencing effect was described decades ago-after a series of frustrating failed experiments-and today, at long last, its mechanism is known. RNAi brutally hijacks a special form of RNA RNAi brutally hijacks a special form of RNA that is doubled up, cleverly termed double-stranded RNA, and chops it into bits like a serial killer getting rid of a body! that is doubled up, cleverly termed double-stranded RNA, and chops it into bits like a serial killer getting rid of a body!

This is useful to the cell in many ways. For example, double-stranded RNA, otherwise rare, is a common component of many viruses. Virus-infected plants sense the wrongful presence of double-stranded RNA, and set RNAi in motion-recruiting a series of protein machines to interfere with the rogue invader's dastardly plans by slicing up its genes.

Interfere is too gentle a term since RNAi works through a molecular machine, descriptively named is too gentle a term since RNAi works through a molecular machine, descriptively named dicer, dicer, that cleaves double-stranded RNA into much smaller pieces. Those broken fragments are worse than useless to the virus, because they stick to other viral RNAs, gumming up their ability to schedule production time on protein-making ribosome factories. that cleaves double-stranded RNA into much smaller pieces. Those broken fragments are worse than useless to the virus, because they stick to other viral RNAs, gumming up their ability to schedule production time on protein-making ribosome factories.

RNAi dicer dicer destroys viral RNA; no RNA means no new viruses and a healthy plant. destroys viral RNA; no RNA means no new viruses and a healthy plant.

Today, researchers have unearthed RNAi in virtually every organism, from plants to pandas to people The payoff is a revolution in medical research, leading the way to cures and treatments for a wide range of troublesome diseases.

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Tough Tobacco and the Petunia Boondoggle The RNAi epic begins in 1928 with, of all things, tobacco.

As published in the wildly popular Journal of Agricultural Research Journal of Agricultural Research , a scientist who infected a tobacco seedling with the deadly tobacco ring-spot virus didn't succeed in knocking it off (and this was years before we knew the evils of smoking). Try as he might, this researcher could not kill the plant with a supposedly deadly virus. Repeated infections had only a minuscule effect, shriveling the plant's bottom leaves. Wha . . . ? Why was it stubbornly thriving? What was protecting this tough tobacco? , a scientist who infected a tobacco seedling with the deadly tobacco ring-spot virus didn't succeed in knocking it off (and this was years before we knew the evils of smoking). Try as he might, this researcher could not kill the plant with a supposedly deadly virus. Repeated infections had only a minuscule effect, shriveling the plant's bottom leaves. Wha . . . ? Why was it stubbornly thriving? What was protecting this tough tobacco?

Fast-forward more than a half century and now the patient is a petunia. The protagonists are two plant researchers aiming to beef up the petunia's drab purpleness by giving it a scientific booster shot of color. In molecular-speak, they were supplementing the purple petunia with an additional pigmentation gene.

Well, it didn't work out. Adding this "purpling gene" did not beef up the petunia's purpleness. Instead the puzzled plant scientists discovered that more is less less, and their gene-gineered petunia flowers were plain-Jane white, or at best, splotchy. The h.e.l.l . . . ? Why are the petunias white? What a boondoggle!5 Oblivious to the commercial windfall of dye-ready petunias, the curious researchers plodded on, searching fruitlessly for a reason behind this perplexing failure.

Smashed Dogma?

The frustrating dilemma in both instances was that the results seemingly violated scientific dogma, firmly established before we were born!

Math-religion guru Gregor Mendel worked alone in his bucolic monastery, making history with simple equipment available to any 1800s gardener. Mendel deciphered the rules for how genes from two pea parents combine, then transmit traits to their offspring. Today, Mendelian genetics explain why your hair is as frizzy and unruly as your mother's and her father's.

Mendel's laws form the basis of modern genetics and are the motive behind today's $40 billion biotech industry. But the petunia just didn't fit. The experimental results did not follow Mendel's laws. Oh no-sies! Talk about a fast track to career failure.

But it was not quite as intractible as an NP-Complete problem.6 The answer arrived, although it took its own sweet time. This time, it is the 1990s and a new set of researchers are focused on the age-old mystery, "How do genes drive muscle development in roundworms as they grow in a petri dish?" The answer arrived, although it took its own sweet time. This time, it is the 1990s and a new set of researchers are focused on the age-old mystery, "How do genes drive muscle development in roundworms as they grow in a petri dish?"

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The worm scientists' plan was to use a biotech trick to wipe out a particular worm muscle gene and witness what happens to the worms without that gene. But the scientists ran into a snag. Results were the opposite of expected! Adding a "control blank" (RNA that was supposed supposed to do nothing) also wiped out the gene. Arghhh. What in tarnation was going on? to do nothing) also wiped out the gene. Arghhh. What in tarnation was going on?

This time, perseverance paid off. A series of carefully planned tests explained the impossible result and finally unveiled the workings-mechanism, gears, and cogs-of gene silencing. It was RNAi. It was RNAi. Earning the 2006 n.o.bel Prize for their work, Dr. Andrew Z. Fire and Dr. Craig C. Mello revealed that RNA itself, folded into a double-stranded knot, was the trigger for RNAi to shut down specific genes. Earning the 2006 n.o.bel Prize for their work, Dr. Andrew Z. Fire and Dr. Craig C. Mello revealed that RNA itself, folded into a double-stranded knot, was the trigger for RNAi to shut down specific genes.

Now it all made sense.

RNAi to the Rescue: Making Sense of Petunias In the Case of The Purple Petunia, the purple pigment gene would would have obeyed Mendel's rules, but that gene was being ignored: Its RNA messenger had been have obeyed Mendel's rules, but that gene was being ignored: Its RNA messenger had been chopped into bits chopped into bits by RNAi. In the Case of The Virus-Resistant Tobacco, RNAi by RNAi. In the Case of The Virus-Resistant Tobacco, RNAi diced up diced up the menacing ring-spot virus, a virus that otherwise would have stunted and killed the plant. the menacing ring-spot virus, a virus that otherwise would have stunted and killed the plant.

Molecular biologists are now convinced that RNAi protects things that can't run away, like a tobacco plant. But they are less clear on the biological reasons for RNAi to exist in mammals, including us. One theory-backed by a mounting a.r.s.enal of evidence-is that RNAi serves as guardian of our genome by restricting the philandering of traveling viruses and other mobile segments of DNA that might go cavorting from one place to another. Genes in the wrong place create big messes-including many diseases-and RNAi may be our body's way of keeping things tidy.

RNAi: Guardian of Our Genome RNAi: The gene broom, sweeping away suspicious fragments of RNA.

Imagine! What might RNAi be enlisted to do?

Imagine how many wonderful things we can do with a tool that destroys target genes!

Scientists are learning to use RNAi as a tool to eliminate the genes we dread, in tumors, diseased cells, HIV infections, and so forth. Imagine RNAi used as a specific and safe natural pesticide! Imagine custom RNAi sprays that eradicate crop infections slaughter mosquitoes, or make tastier lettuce! And admit it, couldn't lettuce use a tasty-spray?

Maybe it's time to revisit the purple petunia.

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REFERENCES:.

D. Baulcombe, "RNA silencing in plants (Review)," Nature Nature 431 (2004), 356 -363. 431 (2004), 356 -363.

National Inst.i.tute of General Medical Science, "RNA interference fact sheet," http://www.nigms.nih.gov/News/Extras/RNAi/factsheet.htm.

G. L. Sen and H. M. Blau, "A brief history of RNAi: The silence of the genes (Review)," FASEB FASEB 9 (2006), 1293 -1299. 9 (2006), 1293 -1299.

The 2006 n.o.bel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, "Advanced information, RNA Interference," http://n.o.belprize.org/n.o.bel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2006/adv.html.

CHAPTER 8.

PRIVATE PARTS: CAUGHT WITH THEIR PANTS DOWN.

"A friend told me, when I get depressed, just look up the Darwin Awards and I will feel better. Boy was he right!"

Placing one's privates in predicaments is a common fast track to a Darwin Award. We lead off with two stories regarding scatology, follow up with two rare "living winners," and end with four suspicious s.e.x acts. Darwin delivers well-deserved kudos to the creatively kinky!

Dying to Go * Short Circuit * m.u.f.fled Explosion * Bitter Biter Bit a Nitwit * Bench Press * Pipe Cleaner * Single Bud Vase * Battered Sausages

Also see Tennessee Pee, p. 184, and Rub the Mint, p. 199.

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Darwin Award Winner: Dying to Go Confirmed by Darwin Featuring urine, alcohol, and falling!