One of the blog readers sent me a link to the following video, which describes the dissection of a stone of alien origin. Pay attention to what you find inside it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot-_xTDJgVI
So what do we have here? A stone, which contains living and even bleeding tissue. She reminds me, more than anything, of the aliens from the Battlestar Galactica series, which combined artificial elements (metal and plastic) with organic elements such as flesh and blood. No wonder, therefore, that our first determination would be that this is a wonderful and strange creature, and perhaps even one that came from the stars.
The truth is no less wonderful, and reveals how biased our intuitions are according to the knowledge we possess. This is a real animal - although it must be admitted that it has a very limited ability to move - known under the scientific name Pyura chilensis. We'll call it 'chilensis' for short. The creature settles in its youth on a hard surface, and secretes around itself a 'tunic' - a cloak - which consists of molecules arranged with each other to form a hard layer similar to a real stone.
how does he eat Simple: it draws water into its body, filters the plankton and tiny sea creatures in the water and digests them in the primitive stomach it is endowed with. The filtered water is squirted out after eating. It is unable to move to catch prey, nor does it need to. It is even able to mate by releasing a cloud of seeds and eggs into the water. The eggs and seeds find each other in encounters of passionate love, and develop into tiny 'tadpoles' that swim in the sea until they find a hard surface to settle on... and God forbid.
The chelensis is a fascinating animal for three very different reasons.
He is an animal!
First, it challenges the definition of animals as it is known to most people. We are used to thinking of animals in terms of a cow, a bird or a fish: they have eyes, a mouth and limbs. Chilensis represents one of the earliest stages in animal evolution. It has not yet developed complex sensory organs, limbs or a well-defined mouth. But it certainly has elements that can also be found in more developed animals: a digestive system, a type of pharynx (pharynx) where the food is filtered and a reproductive system that will eventually develop into testicles and ovaries.
All these lead us to the conclusion that when we look at Chilensis, we are actually seeing one of our earliest cousins. We may not invite him to the seder night, but it is appropriate to at least acknowledge his existence.
He is disgusting!
The initial reaction of the people I let watch the video was one of disgust, then shock. The living tissue inside the 'stone' rejected them. The reason for this is that the chylensis tissue truly looks like living tissue, probably due to high concentrations of the rare element vanadium, which adds a bright red color to it and reminds us of bleeding human tissue.
After the disgust came the shock. Is the person who cuts the stone, like a person who finds a rabbit in the field - and immediately takes off its skin, just because he feels like it? Is this a reprehensible act? It is possible, but it is important to emphasize that chilensis is not endowed with a nervous system like humans. Judging by the nervous systems of other primitive creatures similar to him, he cannot boast of a real brain, but a large cluster of nerves that resides near the digestive system and supervises the secretion of digestive enzymes into the 'stomach'. This nerve cluster also monitors touch sensors, chemical sensors and light sensors that reside on the creature's surface. But how far can all these be compared with a real pain sensation? This is already a more open question. In any case, we can be sure that Chilensis does not have true self-awareness, the kind that depends (according to our best understanding) on the existence of a large and complex brain, containing various areas involved in the understanding that "I am me" and "I am in pain now".
Will he... still reach space?
Writer Larry Niven previously came up with a fascinating idea for interstellar travel. He imagined that there are trees that throughout their growth accumulate explosive substances in the roots of the trunk, and at some point (perhaps during a forest fire) these substances ignite and manage to cause a blow large enough to launch the tree out of the atmosphere. The organic missile travels in space, with the reproductive cells well protected within the thick shell. Only when the tree reaches a new and suitable planet will it begin to reproduce and populate the new planet with its offspring.
It's pretty clear that Chilensis has no way of taking off outside of our planet. It needs water to breathe and eat. However, there are other simple animals (tardigrades, for example) that are able to stay for long periods in outer space, in hibernation. I would like to think that one day we will find animals that create a thick shell around themselves - much thicker than that of the Chilensis - that will protect them from cosmic radiation and the vacuum of space. After that they will go into a delayed life of thousands and millions of years, and wait for the impact of the asteroid that will throw them out of the atmosphere and into the depths of outer space. There they will continue to move at their initial speed, until they reach a new planet containing water, and inhabit it.
As of today, we have no evidence of the existence of animals, or even bacteria, traveling between planets in this way. But if the bleeding stone teaches us one thing, it's that the world is much more wonderful than most of us think.
Structures that were discovered in a meteorite that reached the earth, and resemble bacteria in shape. As of today, there has been no confirmation of their identity, or that they came from a foreign source.
Link to a wider article on the chilensis
The source of the cover image: the photographer Klaus Peter in a photo contest.
26 תגובות
Hey
Of course a man comes and just cuts a living thing with a knife. And it seems normal to everyone.
People are disgusted by the video or anyone who supports the murder of defenseless and innocent creatures.
All you see here is a thug abusing a living and helpless creature. Neither science nor shoes.
Please take down this unnecessary article that only brings down the dignity of the site.
Indeed vandalism is not related to a moral question but only to the violence that the individual exerts towards his environment. "Vandalism" is violence against the inanimate, "abuse" is violence against the living. In any case it is unnecessary.
And as for meat, as I said, it is under supervision. Whether it suits you or not, I am not the address and the world is not perfect. This is still not a reason to upload abuse videos to the network or to produce them at all.
'Vandalism' has nothing to do with the moral question of causing unnecessary suffering. Even when my child spills food over his rocking chair, it bothers me…
And regarding the consumption of meat, when you consume chicken, is it really that important to you how much the feathers have ruffled? What is the size of the cages, etc.? Yes?..
R,
The connection between abuse and vandalism is the violence towards the environment you live in, and it doesn't really matter if you smashed a shop window for fun, beat a child or trampled a cylindrus or a flower.
Regarding meat consumption, people consume meat. that's how it is. If "on the way" an animal was abused, it is not okay, that is why there are laws and regulations and supervision by the Ministry of Agriculture. That's why there are charges against abusers.
Assaf, compare abuse and vandalism? It's hard for me to get to the bottom of your point.. The comparison to plants is correct, it's just that it's not clear to me how you can 'abuse' plants..
And speaking of hypocrisy: indeed, to eat a chicken cutlet that comes from abused birds is to encourage abuse.. Even if you eat it at a festive and civilized meal, but what can you do, that's the custom..
Roy, something is wrong with me.
Are you saying the red tissue color is due to vanadium? So how do people eat it?
And regarding the matter of the "stone", it may look hard from the outside like a stone, but really when the people touched it it moved easily and looked quite soft, not to mention that they were easily cut with a knife.
ר
Why legitimize abuse? Even the trees don't have a real brain, neither do the flowers in your garden, so is it possible to abuse and corrupt them for pleasure? ZA You divide the world into those who have brains, so they should be pitied, and those who don't (including objects) then they are allowed to be disturbed? And when will the disturbed stop? From our experience, such people enjoy the very abuse and only build themselves assumptions over time for the next abuse of a more advanced creature. Did you enjoy the video?
Assaf, this thing has no real brain so get over your disgust instinct and move on. .
spring
It's a shame you don't differentiate between killing for eating, which is short, quick and under supervision, and the abuse and killing for pleasure, of an animal found on the beach. The laughter you heard in the video, you will not hear in the slaughterhouse.
It is no more (and no less) alive than the chicken from which the schnitzel that many of us eat is made (and let's take the analogy a little further, lettuce is also a living creature) so as long as one calls for the cessation of eating and certainly of animals, any other call is unfortunately hypocritical.
Not to the point, it is highly recommended to download the video from the site, it is a living creature, it does not transmit a particularly educational message.
Schechhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrsh
Too bad they cut the poor thing, animal abuse. disgusting.
A common abuse video...no more "dissection" than a bunch of kids "dissecting" a cat. The forgiving attitude certainly encourages the abuse of more advanced animals. The laughs in the background are shocking, it would be better to find another video or delete the soundtrack.
Have you ever heard of corals?
The way of reproduction of this "creature" is the same as the way of reproduction of other corals...
Reminds a bit of passion fruit
And like everything related to humans, we also eat them. Goes well with rice and salad probably. in Chile.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2012/06/21/pyura-chilensis-the-closest-thing-to-getting-blood-from-a-stone/
Very interesting, although they did abuse him a bit.
By the way, it seems that the link to the article is not working
Even if the theory of the spread of life in space is correct there is no doubt that it is not made by complex life. All creatures on earth have a common DNA, even plants have a common denominator of about 30% with humans, so everything was created from a very, very primitive ancestor, probably not even a living thing, maybe just an organic molecule.
What nonsense, a stone... It is so similar to other marine creatures that anyone who has ever dived into coral reefs has seen many like them scattered on the bottom, at the beginning of the video you see him lightly pressing the creature and you see how flexible it is and far from being hard like a stone. The outer surface doesn't really resemble stone either... In short, people with a lot of imagination.
From now on it is impossible to register a city in the land that this stone is still!
Adults who act like retarded children. "Here is a living creature, where we will cut it and stand on it"
Did they learn anything from this other than to satisfy their curiosity at the expense of live production?
It's really irrelevant if he feels pain or not. Just a matter of paying respect to something that nature took several years to produce.
It's Horrible
Stunning!