The Weird Weaponized Animals of WWII

The escalation of World War II brought with it an arms race of epic proportions, with each side racing to develop various weapons technologies with which to more efficiently kill each other. This time of frantic weapons research brought about some of the most deadly weapons the world had ever seen, the atomic bomb perhaps being the most notable. Yet it seems that the human capacity for imagination knows no bounds, including in the realm of weapons of war.

While some engineers were designing newer and deadlier aircraft, bombs, missiles, or other mechanical means of devastation, still others worked in the shadows of secret labs perfecting ways to turn animals into weapons. The results, while by no means always successful, were some of the most bizarre attempts at weapons of war ever devised. Here we will look at some of the creative ways in which human beings attempted to harness animals for the purpose of waging war during the Second World War.

The role of genes & how they are influenced by our social life

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If you’ve bought into the simplified notion that genes are top-down bosses, issuing marching orders that your cells, body and brain merely obey, it’s time to rethink. Steve Cole first came to national attention with studies showing that HIV-positive gay men had lower survival rates if they were closeted. The real kicker: social stresses were depressing the mens’ viral resistance by affecting their genes. No, not the sequence of genes but their regulation – which genes are switched on and how much. In the succeeding years, Cole and fellow researchers have assembled an increasingly detailed portrait of our socially and psychologically responsive genome. Though scientists have long known that external inputs play a role in gene expression, the degree to which large numbers of genes are influenced on a moment-to-moment basis by our experiences – including our social life, our feelings and perceptions – is an important developing story.