We can make plants pass out—with the same drugs that mysteriously knock us out
Just like humans, plants can succumb to the effects of general anesthetic drugs [open, DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcx155], researchers report this week in the Annals of Botany. The finding is striking for a variety of reasons—there's the pesky fact that plants lack a central nervous system, for one thing. But, perhaps more noteworthy is that scientists still aren't sure how general anesthetics work on humans—let alone plants. Despite that, doctors have been using the drugs daily for more than a century to knock people out and avert pain during surgeries and other medical procedures. Yet the drugs' exact effects on our body's cells and electrical signals remain elusive.
The authors of the new study, led by Italian and German plant biologists, suggest that plants could help us—once and for all—figure out the drugs' mechanism of action. Moreover, the researchers are hopeful that after that's sorted out, plants could be a useful tool to study and develop new anesthetic drugs. "As plants in general, and the model plant [Arabidopsis] thaliana in particular, are suitable to experimental manipulation (they do not run away) and allow easy electrical recordings, we propose them as ideal model objects to study anaesthesia and to serve as a suitable test system for human anaesthesia," they conclude.
For the study, Stefano Mancuso of the University of Florence and František Baluška of the University of Bonn, along with colleagues, rounded up a variety of plants known for their movement. This includes the famous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipulaI) and the creeping herb Mimosa pudica (sometimes called a shy plant), whose leaves fold inward when touched. The researchers also gathered carnivorous sundew plants (Drosera capensis), which have vibrant, sticky tentacles that bend to ensnare prey. Last, the researchers looked at growing pea tendrils, which twirl around as they grow upward.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19 2017, @01:57PM (1 child)
With money to make selling nearly-useless drugs, what's to stop them?
Drug companies do know the natural cures, but they keep those under wraps and kill (or destroy the reputation of) anyone who finds out or develops them.
The way to make more (illegitimate) money is to keep people hooked to drugs that do not work, increase suffering and destroy animal and plant life and the natural ecosystems.
An example is Noel Edmonds, the man who cured his cancer using an electromagnetic system instead of radioactive chemotherapy (which does not work).
The world needs to come together and stop these jews.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 19 2017, @07:09PM
Just don't commit fraud by lying about what illnesses it will cure and you can sell anything you want.