Bee
Andrew Lin stops time for a moment with this great picture of a bee in flight.
Ready for some gratuitous science? Order Hymenoptera contains ALL of the stinging insects: ants, wasps, and bees. Other insects may bite or pinch, and many have venom, but Hymenoptera contains all of the ones that inject venom with a stinger.
(I guess scorpions also inject venom with a stinger, but ah-ha! They are not insects!)
The next bit surprised me, though: ants, wasps and bees all have completely different venoms. Bees inject a peptide molecule containing 26 amino acids. It’s a complicated molecule, but it’s very pretty in its own right. Check it out: it’s called melittin. The molecule is even shaped kind of like a stinger….
Melitten, like acetylcholine in wasp venom, is a neurotransmitter agent. It’s not a neurotoxin; its doesn’t poison or damage nerves. What it does is cause pain receptors to fire uncontrollably. This part of the venom is literally liquid pain. Bees and wasps also inject copious amounts of histamine. That part of the venom is literally liquid allergic reaction.
You know antihistamines? Histamine is the stuff that antihistamines fight. When you get around something that causes allergies, your body produces histamine which causes flushing, swelling and itching. Antihistamines prevent the production of histamines, which in turn makes life bearable for people with hayfever like me. When a bee or wasp stings you, it injects histamine directly into the skin, causing an immediate allergic response.
Great photo, Andrew. Thanks!
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
tceisele said,
August 19, 2008 @ 7:43 am
I like the bit in the page about mellitin where they talk about its antimicrobial properties, with the strong hint that somebody thinks it would be good for treating, say, Lyme Disease. I can see it now:
Doctor: I’ve got this new treatment I want to try, it’s just a simple injection.
Lyme Disease Patient: Ok, I guess so. Will it hurt?
D: (as the needle goes in and the plunger goes down) Oh, yes. Yes indeed.
LDP: YEEEEAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOP! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
D: Oh, don’t be such a baby. Do you want to be cured or don’t you?
LDP: (unprintable profanity, maybe attempted murder)
Sometimes, the treatment really is worse than the disease.
Erin said,
August 19, 2008 @ 10:24 am
I would just like to say that SCIENCE! is never gratuitous.
Thanks for the great pic, Andrew!