The Best Shape for a Parasite Egg

We continue.  In Parasitology, one of the things that you need to be able to do is distinguish them by their eggs.  Sometimes, this is easier than other times.  Because sometimes, the eggs look identical to all the other eggs.  But, some of the eggs are very distinguished--and this makes it possible for me to have a favorite.

Trichuris trichuri (aka whipworms)



Someday, this little baby on the left will hatch and grow up, and burrow his way into people's rectums and cecums and cause the elastic tissue to break down, causing something known as prolapsed rectum (only look it up if you have a strong stomach), and the urge to use the bathroom every minute of every day.  But, for now.  Look at him.  He's a very cute little baby.  With those little bipolar plugs, not only is he easy to spot, but he's just darn cute.  Not as cute as my nephews, but I'm not a whipworm, so I probably should find babies of my species cuter than those of another, coupled with the fact that I have to think of my nephews as the most adorable things on earth.  At least until I have children.

Despite whippie's evil potential, he is cute right now.

Comments

Amy R said…
Hannah, I'm shaking my head right now. Sometimes you are humorous, but also really weird.
December 13, 2012 at 2:58 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over-analyzing Disney Movies: The Little Mermaid--Why Eric is White.

Image
I have recently noticed a trend of just purely over-analyzing Disney movies.  In this category, I also include the fascination with photoshopping Disney characters to swap genders, races, or eras, as well as making princesses have "realistic" body shapes (which is something I could write a whole other post about, and it wouldn't be pretty.  Spoiler alert:  I find it to be one of the most unempowering trends of recent years).  However, I sometimes wonder at how much people are reading into Disney movies.  Today, I'm going to over-analyze their over-analysis. I recently read that the fact that Eric is a white prince is a representation of how we white-wash racial expectations for our children.  I'm not even sure what that sentence means.  It seems to have a lot of buzz words.  But I'm going to show you today, using evidence from the film, why Prince Eric is, in fact, the correct color. (I will, however, say that Eric is the only Disney prince who legitimatel
Read more

Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!

James Joyce is my kind of guy. He made puzzles that I like to think are just for me. He was a great lover of languages, and he is sometimes called the father of a literary technique called polyglotism. This is when you insert other languages in there. Just 'cuz. So, in James Joyce's wonderful story, "Eveline" there is a phrase that nobody knows what it is. Even to this day. "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" Many people believe it to be corrupted Irish Gaelic. Needing a break from homework, I have approached this by taking the words and then transliterating them into Irish Gaelic, trying to create Irish Gaelic that would be spoken by someone of this status in this time in Ireland. Nationalist, but not educated enough to actually understand all the ins and outs of the language. I came up with two possible phrases that I find very probable. And I'm not pretending to solve the mystery. If Joyce experts over the years have not discovered the mean
Read more

What does it mean to be a Russell?

Image
As many know, most European families (not all, but most) have a coat of arms, a crest, a motto, all that good stuff. So, I decided to look a bit into what being a Russell means. And maybe I'll do the same for Hatches, because I am a Hatch too. The last name Russell is Scottish and means "Red-headed" and derives from the Norman name of Roussel. The Russells are a well-respected Highland Scot clan, complete with Scottish crest and tartan: The motto on the crest "virtus sine macula" means "Virtue without blemish." As Scotland incorporated more and more into England, the Russells became nobility in that world as well, and were thus presented with a coat of arms: And yes, the motto written on that one is "che sara sara." You've got to admit, that's pretty gosh-darn cool. It really does mean "Whatever will be, will be." And in honor of that:
Read more