What I learnt For The Week 8: Badass Robo-Wolf, Pyrophobia, Hydranencephaly, Boanthropy, Flatworm regenerates.

Hello Buddies!! Welcome again to another exciting episode in the series of "What I Learnt For The Week"; as heralded by @mobbs; of whom I'm still grateful for the privilege to trail this path.

Over the period of last week (5th - 9th March), I made some amazing discoveries, of which I am going to select some random five (in no specific order) to represent what I learnt for each day of the week.

Ok buddies!! Let's go straight to the lesson learnt for the week.

Monday: Robo-wolf Fights farm intruders

Ok; just like my usual custom is to begin each episode with lesson from "robotics and machine", this episode would not be an exception.

We are aware of the waves of technological advancements that have found expression in this era, and the amazing potentials embedded in technology. Earlier last year, we read about the Robo-Rhino and how it is used to implement the fight against poaching in Africa; my Africa. But it seems that the idea of "Robo-animals" has gone a little more advanced. Now we will look at another brilliant idea that has been heralded; the "Robo-wolf".

But before I continue, I would like to present us a little YouTube Video clip of this amazing technology; maybe this would pique your interest to read on :D

Farmers around the City of Kisarazu; Japan, have been experiencing animals attacking their farmlands and eating up stuffs, which resulted in massive loss and poor yield. After many attempts to curb this menace, they finally beckoned on technology. And that was actually the idea behind the designing of the robotic wolf which was codenamed "Super monster wolf"

Here's a little tip for you before I continue: Wolves went officially extinct in Japan in the early 20th century.

Mechanisms of Super Monster Wolf

This robo-wolf is equipped with intrusion detection mechanisms which include: Infrared ray motion sensor, and motion detective LED-fitted eyes which has an effective coverage of 1km. Also, it is equipped with 18 different sounds, which includes; human voices, wolf growl, gunshot sounds to scare off intruders.

No wonder Samantha Cole has referred to this wolf as:

... demon from hell. - Cole

Did Someone ask about the price to acquire this "badass" wolf? Well, you can read more info here.

Tuesday: Pyrophobia (Fear of fire)

It is not really uncommon to be slightly scared of fire. But when this grows into an irrational and intense fear for fire, then this condition is called "pyrophobia"

[Image Source: Pexels. CC0 Licensed]

The term "pyrophobia" is derived from "pur" (the Greek term for fire") and of course "phobia" which means "fear of". To a considerably fair extent, it is actually healthy to be scared of fire, at least; that's one of the survival instincts embedded into us. But in the case of pyrophobia, the sufferer, more often than not, can not withstand controlled or small fire.

On an extreme case, even the smell of burning substance or even smoke can result to a severe panic attack. And most times, it can lead to compulsive and obsessive disorder in the sufferer's personality (the truth is, we encounter fire daily). Imagine when someone begins to regularly check the lantern, candle, or stove to see if the has caught fire.

Causes of pyrophobia

The causes are actually very simple to infer. Since the discovery of fire in the ancient times (I don't even know who discovered fire :D), people have used it for various purposes, but it has also been a powerful instrument of destruction.

I once read of a story of someone that lost his seven year old brother to wild fire. And also relating this to one of my relatives that also had a very nasty experience with fire. These kind of experiences can induce the fear of fire in people, which could grow and degenerate into a "two-headed-monster" kind of fear.

What are the symptoms?

• Tension and anxiety at the sight of fire, or even at the thought of fire.

• panic attack from sighting fire

• Extreme avoidance of anything that would ignite fire.

Does this have a cure? You can read more about pyrophobia here .

Wednesday: Hydranencephaly (No brain?)

Humans are born with brain right? Well, maybe not everyone though. Have you heard of a rare medical condition in which someone is born with missing part of the cerebral hemisphere? This is known as "hydranencephaly".

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Dimitri Agamanolis]

This condition is almost basically congenital, and medically, does not have a definitive pre-dispossing factor. Though this has been linked by neuroscientists to some genetic conditions, also factors from the environment can be queried too, like; Drug intake of the mother during pregnancy, infection, and even radioactive expositions.

This condition should not be mistaken with "hydrocephalus" (accumulation and retention of massive amount of the cerebrospinal fluid in the interconnecting cavities of the brain). Also, this can present in form of "hemihydranencephaly" which occurs when part of the missing cerebral hemisphere is replaced with cerebrospinal fluid.

Like I said earlier, the immediate cause of hydranencephaly is relatively unknown, but some remote causes can be associated to this medical condition. These include, but not limited to; cocaine intake. Yes! you read correctly. Embryoes that are exposed to excessive amount of cocaine could develop with this condition.

Also; even though this condition is majorly congenital, some post-natal brain trauma could lead to this. For example; kids that experience severe meningitis, or infarction of the cerebrum could develop this; though very rare.

It is also worthy to note that hydranencephaly is not gender-sensitive; if affects both genders.

To know more about this hydranencephaly, its diagnosis and management, click here.

Thursday: Boanthropy (Are you a cattle?)

Alright, this is quite funny, but maybe after reading through, it may not be as funny as it appears. Boanthropy is a psychological delusional disorder in which someone believes his is a cattle. Now someone is saying "WTF"?

[Image Source: Flickr]

Have you ever heard the story of the Emir of Iran in the 10th century BC; Emir Majd al-Dawla? He was a very notable sufferer of this condition (apart from the biblical Nebuchadnezzar) which made him degenerate to the point of eating grasses.

Now this might sound weird, but even in this our contemporary world, there are some people who are actually obsessed about eating grasses; and this is one of the manifestations of boanthropy. Not only the affinity for grasses, the sufferers sometimes moo like cattle; that is actually on a very rare case.

Causes of Boanthropy

The cause of this condition is relatively unknown, but some has linked it to some supernatural belief, which does not cover the scope of observable science. Like the case of the aforementioned Emir Majd, it was recorded that he complained of having a dream in which a hostess led him by hand into a cowshed, after this encounter, he picked up this condition. But again, there is not much proof to ascertain the validity of this as cause of boanthropy.

But just like some other delusional disorders, this could also be linked to abnormalities in psychological orientation of the sufferers.

Treatment of boanthropy

As this condition is majorly psychological and delusional, psychotherapy would come in handy here. Also, the antidepressant therapy SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) has been green-lighted as being effective in the management of this condition.

To know more about boanthropy, click here.

Friday: Flatworms can regenerate when cut

Now this is sounding like these creatures are almost immortal at the edge of the knife, but that's the fact. And this has baffled scientists as to how flatworm does this.

[Image Source: Flickr]

Some other type of worms can actually regrow a head of tail when cut into two. But the case of flatworm is somewhat amazing, even when they are cut in pieces, they still find a way to turn themselves into full individual worms.

A very regenerative specie of Flatworm is the Schmidtea mediterranea (just like the name suggests, this is found in the mediterrenean coast). When this particular specie is cut from anywhere, it would regrow either a head or tail, depending on which portion was severed.

According to some researches done by scientists, it was discovered that when this worm is cut, it will send series of signals that would trigger the stemcells (and we know that the stemcells can grow into any organ of the body). The triggering of these stemcells is what actually leads to the regeneration of the severed body part.

The flatworms are, however, not the only creature to regenerate body parts. There are a host of many others, like; the squid can regrow tentacles, some lizards can regrow their tails when cut, starfish can regenerate its severed limbs. I can go on and one because the list is vast, but I'd just cut it off here.

You wanna know more about flatworm and its regenerative ability? Click here.

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Ok buddies, this is the summary of some of the lessons I learnt. And until I come your way again, don't stop learning. @samminator says so

Thanks for reading

References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5, Ref6, Ref7, Ref8, Ref9, Ref10

All Images are CC Licensed

gif by @foundation