Last week I went to the cinema to watch what I thought was going to be one of the best movies of 2014: Noah. At the end, I was very disappointed. Aronofsky turned the original story - which spoke about redemption and the purification of a fallen world - into a tale of a man who becomes addicted to the task of saving the innocent, that is, the animals, and simply refuses to save mankind, whether they're worthy or not. Sensationalist scenes of animal and human slaughter were also a big part of the movie, and they made me feel sick and unworthy of God's mercy. If that's what the director was going for - making everyone feel horrible just because we're human -, than, by all means, mission accomplished!
     But what bothered me the most was the story of the fallen angels, who are called "the Watchers" in the movie. While they added a sensitive and sensible tone to the story and "showed a probable way of how the Ark was built", their whole story is wrong!
     You see, being a Catholic, I was taught that the first fallen angel was none other than Lucifer. But, since I haven't read the Holy Bible yet, I decided to learn a little more about this and other fallen angels.
     The texts tell us that Lucifer was the left, creative, hand of God, created in a perfect state (Ezekiel 28:12,15). And he remained perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him (verse 15b), when they say “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” Lucifer apparently became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power, and position that he began to desire for himself the honor and glory that belonged to God alone. The sin that corrupted Lucifer was self-generated pride. Apparently, this represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe—preceding the fall of the human Adam by an indeterminate time. Sin originated in the free will of Lucifer in which—with full understanding of the issues involved—he chose to rebel against the Creator. Than, this mighty angelic being was rightfully judged by God: “I threw you to the earth” (Ezekiel 28:18).
     In the movie, though, the fallen angels supposedly chose to fall, because they took pity on Adam and Eve and, because of that, God punished them turning their beautiful and perfect light forms into stone. [SPOILER ALERT] In the end, when the flood is beginning and humans are desperate to get in the Ark, the Watchers kill them and, because of it, they're forgiven by the Creator and allowed to return to the Heavens. That's a complete mess, if you ask me. But that's just my opinion. Did you watch Noah? If so, what did you think about it? Tell me in the comments!

~Ally

      If Leatherface had a mania for libraries and books in general, this would better explain the reason behind binding books with human flesh. But no, it had to be creepy humans! - I'm not complaining, I just like stranger and non-existing explanations.
     Harvard University made a nasty discovery: a few years ago, three separate books were found in Harvard University's library that had particularly strange-looking leather covers. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that the smooth binding was actually human flesh... And, in one case, skin allegedly harvested from a man who was flayed alive. Yaiks.
     As it turns out, the practice of using human skin to bind books was actually pretty popular during the 17th century (!). It's referred to as Anthropodermic bibliopegy and proved pretty common when it came to anatomical textbooks (there's a hidden pun there, see if you can find it!). Medical professionals would often use the flesh of cadavers they'd dissected during their research. "Let us not waste that corpse, says I!"
     Harvard's creepy books deal with Roman poetry, French philosophy,  and a treatise on medieval Spanish law for which the above mentioned flayed skin was supposedly used. The book, Practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias… has a very interesting inscription inside, check it out:

     "The book’s 794th and final page includes an inscription in purple cursive: ‘the bynding of this booke is all that remains of my dear friende Jonas Wright, who was flayed alive by the Wavuma on the Fourth Day of August, 1632. King Mbesa did give me the book, it being one of poore Jonas chiefe possessions, together with ample of his skin to bynd it. Requiescat in pace."

      Years later, the infamous "flayed skin book" had garnered so much attention on campus that Harvard went ahead and had the thing tested, concluding that it was likely a morbid 17th century joke. Despite the creepy inscription, their tests showed that the book's cover was actually made out of a mixture of "cattle and pig collagen". Hey, two genuine flesh-books out of three ain't bad.
      According to Director of University Libraries Sidney Verba '53, there are almost certainly more of the human flesh-books out there, but while it's possible to touch the two identified skin-books in Harvard's rare book room, the librarians aren't exactly fond of all the attention they've received lately. In fact, they've made it a point to downplay their ownership of the real flesh-bound books in favor of reminding the media that one of them is fake.

~Ally

     Unlike most animals, including humans, who have round pupils, the eyes of goats (toads, octopi and a few others too) tend to be horizontal and rectangular with rounded corners. This broadens the horizon that they see, enabling them to better spot predators.
     The "blind goat" frolic now seems very stupid. The goat knows you're there. And it's coming to get you.

~Ally

     According to historians, one of the precursors of April Fools' Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria (no pun intended - or is it?), which was held every March 25.
     The day of its celebration was the first after the vernal equinox, or the first day of the year which was longer than the night. The winter with its gloom had died, and the first day of a better season was spent in rejoicings. The manner of its celebration during the time of the republic is unknown, except that Valerius Maximus mentions games in honour of the mother of the gods.
      Respecting its celebration at the time of the empire, we learn from Herodian that, among other things, there was a solemn procession, in which the statue of the goddess was carried, and before this statue were carried the most costly specimens of template and works of art belonging either to wealthy Romans or to the emperors themselves.
     All kinds of games and amusements were allowed on this day; masquerades were the most prominent among them, and everyone might, in their disguises, imitate whomsoever he liked, even magistrates!

~Ally

      ... And gone, apparently! Ever since last year - after a dreadful period of 4 years being afraid of the end of the Mayan calendar -, I became a little skeptic when it comes to the subject of apocalyptic calendar ends. So you can guess how surprised I was when I read somewhere that Ragnarök was scheduled for today. * Now I get it, it was a sort of an April's Fool day joke, but whatever*
    The sad truth is (because, let's face it, Ragnarök would be such a funnier and more exciting end than the one the Mayans predicted) that it was actually scheduled for February 22nd of this year, that is, more than a month ago! And how do I know this? Well, they even made a huge festival to celebrate it in York, England, called the Jorvik Viking Festival!
     The only Ragnarök that is being launched today is the game, Ragnarök Odyssey Ace.
    So much for my new hand made arrows and sharpened knives and swords. It's back to the drawing board, guys! And let's hope that next time someone warns us about a doomsday approaching, they'll be more clear about the precise date. You don't want to be caught with your armour down by a bunch of angry frost giants, do you?

~Ally

    There is a growing, but still controversial body of research that shows that all the exercise in the world won't protect your heart if you don't also eat well and, for some people, take drugs to overcome cardiovascular risk factors. Exercising too much may even raise the risk of developing clogged arteries, according to them.
     It's well established that moderate exercise has major benefits for heart health. When couch potatoes start moving, even by just walking three times a week, studies show that cardiovascular deaths drop by up to 25 percent and lifespans lengthen. Regular exercisers live an average of seven years longer than sedentary people. So the message is not that exercise is pointless. Instead, it's that you can't eat with abandon just because you're fit and slim. It may also be unwise to exercise with abandon, no matter what you eat.
     Exercise strengthens the heart, making it a more powerful pump and helping it become more efficient at turning oxygen into fuel. That kind of fitness boosts the chances of surviving heart attacks, illnesses and even car accidents. But working out does nothing to prevent the artery-clogging effects of eating a diet high in saturated fat, new studies suggest. That contradicts a long-held belief that athletics worked like a drug to protect the heart against atherosclerosis -- a build-up of plaque inside the arteries that can constrict blood flow and lead to heart attacks and strokes.

~Ally

     Would you eat lab-grown meat? The idea that once seemed impossible has become reality a while ago, which caused this question to be raised.
     I think it is a great solution for our current environmental problems (imagine: less cows, chickens and pigs = less methane [along with other pollutants] in the air = decrease in global warming + not killing animals, without needing to become a vegan!), but, on the other hand, I'm not sure which chemicals would be used in order to get this meat done, soooo... Let's say I'm a little concerned.
      But watch the video abobe, from the DIY channel, think about it, and tell me in the comments!

~Ally

     I got a little carried away yesterday when I wrote about our dear Smeagol and decided to find out if other people had used our favorite ringbearer in other media that not literary fiction. And turns out someone did!
     "Smeagol" is the name of a genus of sea slugs of the family of mollusks called Smeagolidae. They exist in New Zeeland and Australia. The first of the species was discovered in 1971 and in 1980 it was named Smeagol manneringi after you know who. F. M. Climo, who named the new order, family and species, wrote this in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology in 1980:
     “The genus takes its name from the pallid, sometimes subterranean Tolkien character Smeagol (whose alternative name is Gollum), a pitiable humanoid who ultimately played a very important role in saving ‘Middle earth’ from evil forces. The slug described below is far more significant, phylogenetically, than its drab exterior indicates – hence the analogy.”
     And if you think that that was the only biologic occurrence of Tolkien characters, you're wrong! Biologist Leigh Van Valen named 20 (!) fossil mammals he discovered after characters from Tolkien’s works. Among them are Bomburia, Mimatuta morgoth and Earendil, to name a few.
     So there you have it, fellow biologists, a new reason to discover species: to name them after your favorite literary characters!

~Ally

     Yup. Seriously. I mean, not exaaaaactly schizophrenic, but a bearer of schizoid personality disorder, according to a research by six medical students and a lecturer in old age psychiatrypublished in 2004 in the British Medical Journal.
     The article first examines Gollum’s mental state and notes that while “he shows no evidence of clinical depression, although he subjectively feels sad and is anxious to be reunited with his ‘precious’” there are ”features of dissociation”. They also note that he suffers from paranoia, especially when it comes to Sauron and Samwise Gamgee.
     The authors consider several possible diagnoses and begin with possible reasons to his physical symptoms. A brain tumor is seen as unlikely due to his longstanding symptoms. They go on to suggest that due to his limited diet he could suffer from B-12 deficiency, which can cause delusions as well as paranoia, and iron deficiency anaemia, causing loss of hair and weight. Wow, where's my B-12 supplement?!
     Finally, the authors note that Gollum does not fulfill the criteria for schizophrenia but that “he fulfils seven of the nine criteria for schizoid personality disorder (ICD F60.1), and, if we must label Gollum’s problems, we believe that this is the most likely diagnosis.” Poor Smeagol!
     .:. Oh, and a late Happy Tolkien Reading Day for all my precious readers!!! .:.

~Ally

     Don't start singing "Scar Tissue" yet. Although scars may seem at first like a reminder of something that hurted us in the past, subsaarian tribes have a different view of it.
   Through scarification, they mark their own bodies with symbolic drawings cut in the skin, to highlight important deeds in one's life or as body art (much like our tattoos). The process may begin in childhood and continue for life.
     If you want to know more about it, check out Eric Lafforgue's amazing photo series.

~Ally