Top 10 Worst Pandemics

May 20, 2009 · Filed in List All, Health · 4 Comments 

The death toll from it has yet to reach 100, but an outbreak of swine flu has gotten huge amounts of attention in the media in recent weeks. Even though regular flu viruses have killed thousands in that time, swine flu is all over the news because of worry that it could escalate into a pandemic, which is an outbreak of infectious disease across a large geographical area. There are countless instances of mass pandemics in history, and some have even been powerful enough to topple governments and nearly wipe out whole civilizations. Chances are that swine flu will run its course and soon be forgotten, but here are 10 examples of diseases that have made a huge mark on history.

10. The Plague Of Athens

plague-of-athens

The Plague of Athens was an epidemic that broke out in Greece during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC. Historians have been unable to agree on exactly what the plague was, with typhoid, smallpox, and measles all being considered, but it is most commonly considered to have been a form of the bubonic plague. The disease started when the inhabitants of Athens retreated behind the city-state’s walls for protection from the approaching Spartan army. The cramped quarters inevitably became a breeding ground for the plague, which is said to have killed one in three of the city-state’s inhabitants, including its leader, Pericles.

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Top 10 Reasons to Love Viruses

May 12, 2009 · Filed in List All, Health, Nature · 5 Comments 

Viruses can often be seen in a very poor light, but they aren’t all bad. In fact, we humans probably wouldn’t exist without viruses. Author Michael Brooks writes about the upside of sharing the planet with these ruthless killer machines. Here are the top 10 reasons to love viruses. Ah-Choo!

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10. The virus gave us complex life

Evolution’s greatest innovation – the cell nucleus – is thought to have come from a virus (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/305/5685/766). The cell nucleus and a virus are packaged DNA encased in a protein coating. In some relatively simple organisms, such as red algae, the nucleus can move between cells in a manner that suggests the mechanisms of viral infection. While bacteria package their DNA in circular chromosomes, cell nuclei and viruses use linear packages. The evidence is not yet conclusive, but extremely suggestive. And if an opportunistic virus had one day infected a bacterium and taken control rather than destroyed it, it would certainly have outcompeted anything in the neighborhood.

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Top 10 Most Useless Body Parts

December 7, 2008 · Filed in List All, Bizarre, Health, Medical · 12 Comments 

As humans, we have evolved errr… changed over time. Because of the complexity of our bodies, certain organs and parts seem to become less and less needed over time. Whether you’re some big fan of evolution or you’re completely against it, there are parts of the human body that are no longer needed to live or survive. While they may have been necessary to live in the past, in today’s world, there are many different body parts that we just don’t need! Here is a list of the top 10 body parts that are completely useless.

10. Plica semilunaris

Better known as your third eyelid, or maybe not, this organ in our bodies is just one of the many parts that we don’t need. If you pull up on each of your eyelids, the plica semilunaris will be exposed. This part of the eye is known to produce “sleep,” or that weird crust you have in your eyes when you wake up. Thank you plica semilunaris. How could we live without waking up with weird stuff in our eyes?

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Top 10 Worst Unhealthy Fad Diets

October 8, 2008 · Filed in List All, Food & Drink, Health · 9 Comments 

Fad diets try to offer a quick fix for fast weight loss, and, even if they work, the result is short-term and the pounds come bouncing back. The biggest problem with unhealthy fad diets is that you shouldn’t stay on any of them for extended periods of time because they are generally unbalanced nutritionally. Many fad diets don’t work at all, and some can be dangerous because they’re based on bad or strange ideas, like “The Sleeping Beauty Diet” where you knock yourself out for several days at a time with sedatives.

10. The Pasta Chocolate Diet

Am I dreaming? Pasta AND chocolate? You know the old saying: “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is” and that’s the case here. You can’t drink anything but water, and the only chocolate you get is up to 1-ounce at the end of the day as an evening snack along with some popcorn, but you do get to eat pasta for lunch and dinner. Prohibited foods include sugar, alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, tea, nuts, all junk food imaginable except for popcorn, fried foods, dairy products, salt, and red meat. Do you know how small one ounce of chocolate is? Is it really worth it to not have a steak every once in a while? Most real diets encourage you to have some red meat prepared in a healthy way. This diet offers major food restrictions with a reward of 1 ounce of chocolate each night along with the absence of some very important nutrients.

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10 “Popular” Poisons

September 24, 2008 · Filed in List All, Bizarre, Crime, Health, Medical · 7 Comments 

It used to be that poisoning was the murder method of choice for those cunning villains who wanted to “get away with it.”  However, following advances in forensic science, poisoning no longer allows murderers any anonymity.  Nowadays, the use of poison is so easily detectable it is comparable to the murderer writing a confession.  “And, to think, I could have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those pesky CSI investigators.”

10. Castor Bean

Castor Bean Plant
Castor Bean Plant

When you consider that castor oil is used as a food additive in candy and chocolate, it’s disconcerting to discover that the fruit of that plant, the castor bean contains a supertoxic level of the poison ricin.  As little as one bean, well chewed, could prove fatal.  However, according to figures from the American Association of Poison Control Centres (AAPC) only two Castor Bean fatalities were recorded in the period from 1999 to 2004.

VERDICT: Flava Beans or Castor Beans?  Perhaps it would be best to just go for a meal with Dr Hannibal Lecter.

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Top 10 Researchers who Experimented on Themselves

August 10, 2008 · Filed in List All, Bizarre, Health, History, Medical, People · 6 Comments 

Being a scientist, doctor or a researcher takes dedication and a sometimes a thirst for knowledge…at any price. These ten researchers took the ultimate challenge and tested their theories on themselves, sometimes with fatal results. Here are the top 10 researchers who used themselves as lab rats.

10. Jonas Salk (b. 1914 d. 1995)

Known universally for his 1952 breakthrough in polio vaccination (released to the public in 1955), Salk was a truly altruistic researcher who genuinely worked toward the betterment of mankind. After successful inoculations with monkeys, Salk tested his polio vaccine on himself, his wife, and even his children. When asked who owned the patent to the vaccination, Salk was astonished at the idea that anyone would want to make a profit off of a much-needed cure. Today in the United States, Albert Sabin’s oral polio vaccination is used exclusively.

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Top 10 Infectious Diseases

July 24, 2008 · Filed in List All, Bizarre, Health, Medical · 11 Comments 

Warning: Some of the images and video may be disturbing. The common cold has no cure. Scientists have been trying for centuries to find the cure, which would undoubtedly make our lives easier. However, the common cold has nothing on these 10 infectious diseases. The diseases are, for lack of a better word, so viral that there is a high percentage chance that you will die from the complications. Some of these diseases have vaccinations, some have preventive measures while others are simply deadly with little chance of survival. To be included on this list, the virus has to have been a major cause of death in history with ranking based on fatality rates and impact worldwide. However, if a disease has been contained it will be lower on the list.

10. Smallpox

Smallpox

This variola virus had many forms and continues to be a required vaccination for many countries. Smallpox in its worse forms - hemorrhagic and flat – had the highest fatality rates with only a 10 percent or less chance of survival. Fortunately this disease has been the only one on this list to be completely eradicated from nature since it is only contagious through humans.
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Top 10 Most Crippling Phobias

July 11, 2008 · Filed in List All, Bizarre, Health · 38 Comments 

Everyone fears something. Whether it’s a child fearing the boogey man (bogyphobia) or even fear of the number 13 (triskadekaphobia). These two seem potentially unfounded fears, though there are real people who are particularly afraid of them. Certainly fears are crippling to the person with the phobia; however, there are also some potentially crippling fears that could halt someone in their tracks on a daily basis. To be included on this list, the reason for the phobia has to be something that a person can encounter every day. Don’t be afraid, read on. And if you have any top 10 lists, please submit them to TopTenz.net

10. Chronophobia

The fear of clocks might easily be overcome; however, the alternate definition of chronophobia is the fear of time. Time surrounds us, it binds us – sorry, Star Wars moment there. If a person were to rid herself of all reminders of time such as clocks that would be one thing. But fear has a way of creeping up on someone. As soon as she thought about the fact that time is slipping away, perhaps their sanity might as well. Photo by Perpetually.

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