The Cellar Image of the Day

Quote:

Abrus seed pod: "one of the components of this seed is one of the most toxic substances in nature. If it reach the blood, a few micrograms (1/1000000 g) is enough to die. It is similar to ricin (from castor oil plant) used to kill a soviet spy in London by an umbrella.

I never get how 1/1000000 g of something can kill you! What is that, one atom per 100 million cells??

Quote:

The toxin present in Abrus precatorius is a close relative to ricin called abrin. It is a dimer consisting of two protein subunits, termed A and B. The B chain facillitates abrin's entry into a cell by bonding to certain transport proteins on cell membranes, which then transport the toxin into the cell. Once inside the cell, the A chain prevents protein synthesis by inactivating the 26S subunit of the ribosome. One molecule of abrin will inactivate up to 1,500 ribosomes per second. Symptoms are identical to those of ricin, except that the fatal dose of ricin is approximately 75 times greater than the fatal dose of abrin. Abrin can kill with a circulating amount of less than 3 μg (micrograms).

The seeds of Abrus precatorius are much valued in native jewelry for their bright coloration. The third of the bean with the hilum (attachment scar) is black, while the rest is bright red, suggesting a ladybug. Jewelry-making with jequirity seeds is dangerous, and there have been cases of death by a finger-prick while boring the seeds for beadwork. However, it has long been a symbol of love in China.

god - allah - zeus - jehova - brahman- evolution ... whathever it is
- she or he or it is definitly the greatest designer ever !

I also love the design of poisonous frogs or snails.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electrophile

Assuming 100 trillion cells are in your body, one micrograms of albin is about 500 molecules per cell. And because it's an enzyme, it is not used up when it stops the ribosome. So once inside a cell, one molecule could kill that cell.

Quote:

Flourocarbons in the ozone layer
First the water and the wildlife go
Pretty soon there's not a creature stirring
'Cept the robots at the dynamo

And its worse when i try to remember
When i think about then and now
I'd rather see it on the news at eleven
Sit back and watch it run straight down

Run straight down
Run straight down
I can see it with my eyes closed
Run straight down.

Damm, and I thought this was about French Airplanes that were behind production.

That's very cool, monster. You're like Giger O'Keeffe, all makin' crazy vagina-faced aliens.

yeah, I wondered how long.....

I noticed the similarity on the first day I worked on it, which frankly made it feel a little weird as I smoothed the edges and formed the "tail" bit.

Say, isn't Spuck a euphemism for a masturabatory ejaculation? that might explain it.

(If it isn't it should be... nothing personal against SPUCK the dwellar, it just sounds like a good name for that....)

I gotta say, that's a great job of photoshopping, but I'm with Spuck. I think vaginas are much cuter than that.

thank you

I'm still all happy about it, I have it on the wall where I can see it from here

It's ceramic, monster?

do the eyes come out? is it about 5" across?

oh, and what Flint said.

It is ceramic. one eye might come out if you tried really hard, but they're built in. but still loose. I posted more details in the ceramics thread, but had to post here too because this IOTD inspired me

it's more like 12" across.

I love that, monster. Seems like you could use it to serve tortilla chips to guests or something....and then they would look down and realize they were being poisoned!

I put the eye in, then worked the pod closed around it while the clay way still wet. the eyes were leather-hard by then, the sockets wetter. I had to drill holes in the back of the eyes so they wouldn't explode.