Anatoxin-a is also known as Very Fast Death Factor. it is found in some forms of cyanobacteria (better known as blue green algae). More videos at www.periodicvideos.com/
When a chemical is so dangerous that the lecturer wears gloves to handle the sealed container that contains the inhibitor that contains the chemical.....
Defense in depth is an important concept in lab safety. When you're working with something seriously hazardous, better to have three layers of prevention than just one.
@@barberman1087 If by "harmless" you mean "so dangerous you want to wear gloves and eye protection when handling it in a sealed vial when it's in an inactive state"....sure, it's 'harmless.'
He’s got a great teaching style. Translating stuff into relatable analogies like “Pac-Man molecule” is a great and memorable way to remember how that aspect of neurology functions.
I just want to take a moment to thank whomever came up with the name "Very Fast Death Factor". It's people like you who inspire new generations of chemists!
What do you want to do when you grow up, Jenny? I wanna be a veterinarian! How about you, Billy? I wanna discover a new chemical and name it something fun, like "very fast death factor"!
"why's an algae gotta have that much power?" "It's not an alga, karl, it's a cyanobacterium, and-" "I mean what's it got against 350 people just havin' a swim?"
+FluffyJay1 Seriously. Go play ARAM and you run into kids that are "taking a break" from ranked and just screwing around. Like they came there to just stare at a screen for 30 minutes instead of play. Or the people that just won't talk, even if you're asking for help. Just a bunch of childish assholes. Not all of em, but too many.
+FfejTball That and even playing a single game of any MOBA is a major time investment(30 minutes to an hour at most). Their there to literally waste your time. I can understand if somebody isn't that great at the game, as long as their proactively trying to get better.
jadedandbitter When the people talking are being nothing but positive and ESPECIALLY when a person is asking for help, not talking absolutely can be toxic. Sorry, but you're wrong on this one.
ficolas2 and every other industrialized nation ha. We Americans are generally spied on in "secrecy" but it was wild going to England for the first time. Literally a CCTV camera on every corner, watching your every move. It was creepy for about 2 days & then you ignore it but I felt strange for those couple days. I'm in no way the paranoid type, btw. It's when you can see it that's a mind blow, as opposed to being told by leaks & strange wording in passed legislation.
Cabanator Land I also stop breathing automatically when I think it. Btw because of your comment, I now have to breath manually so MANUAL BREATHING ACTIVATED FOR YOU TO!!!! :)
Danny Lewis Undead zombies don't make much sense, once you die the neural signals in your brain cease, if they are able to function beyond this point they would be worthy of study, if they reanimate they would decompose while moving around, their muscles would deteriorate and they would be incapable of even the most simple of actions, they would also need to recreate some kind of memory to know how to function correctly, or they would just be vegetables.
I full on had no idea it contained toxins to begin with. I always thought it was just some form of natural waste that keeps water clean. I didn't think it'd be bad to swim near it or even worry about accidentally ingesting tiny amounts of it. Now I do 😳
@@dave93x Most algae species (and AFAIK, all mosses) are harmless and serve very important roles in the ecosystem, at least as important as plants. Cyanobacteria are the ones you need to worry about, and even most of those are harmless. Cyanobacteria are present in almost all bodies of water (including tap water), so you can't avoid being exposed to them. The danger is when they bloom. If the water is a weird color or there's a lot of slimy stuff on top, it's best to stay out of it. Otherwise, I think you'll be fine.
Moss is entirely different. Bacteria are single celled. Moss has a whole differentiated reproductive system, root like structures, etc... now you’re afraid of anything green low to the ground? 🤦♂️
Wow, no wonder I got so sick at times as a kid. We used to wade through stuff like that and sometimes encounter it swimming back in the 70s. Near an industrial plant. Turned out some of what we were in was overgrown neglected holding ponds. It was declared a super fund site in the 80s.
You guys should have a television channel! I could watch your show forever! always something interesting to learn, thanks to you all for sharing the wealth!
This is a wonderful series of videos. I always feel smarter after watching. These chemists seem empowered to pursue basic research for its own sake. This is a value that is less and less appreciated in modern times.
What do you want to do when you grow up, Billy? I wanna discover a new molecule and name it "very fast death factor"! That'll show those bullies who they shouldn't have messed with school! ... uh, I mean, I wanna be a fireman!
Probably the worst thing is when you start to overthink going to sleep then you try to forget and you think about it more as you stay awake and the cycle continues...
Probably it is because it is not a specific enough tratment to just inject the thing and hope for the best. The compound will evenly target all the nerves closest to the blood vessels nearby and big neuron conglomerates will get less affected. Basically you already have paralyzed arms and legs but for the brain the dose is still not enough to do much. And if you give a big enough dose then there will at least be a need to ventilate your patient's lungs externally untill he recovers and who knows what other complication may arise with the heart or hormone controlled functions. For the idea to work you would need the compoud to be dissolved and very slowly released inside the brain tissue itself providing a controlled gradient of exposure, but this is obviously not practical if at all possible. It is still worth a try anyway though. That is if you are not the labrat destined to test the treatment of course.
I love how super toxic stuff always ends up being able to cure some disease... XD (I'm ignorant about this kind of stuff, I'm sure that's not always the case).
@@Stettafire I would imagine its because these toxins are able to find their way directly into the nervous system, neural pathways, and other hard to reach places where synthetics would take too much research to develop. I do believe I read one time about parts of or componets of poisons and toxins being used as a delivery componet. Sometimes the after product of these original molecules are unrecognizable.
No, the “PAC-MAN” enzymatic proteins are necessary and beneficial. They break down the neurotransmitter proteins that would otherwise just hang around and accumulate in the synapses, leading to continual disinhibition of the post-synaptic neurons, which locks the skeletal muscles into continual flexion, effectively paralyzing the muscles. These muscles include the diaphragm and intercostals that control breathing. In effect, the neurotoxin inoculated person cannot breathe out. And, yes, Sarin is one of numerous neurotoxins that act specifically to suppress the activity of the “PAC-MAN” enzyme, causing the aforementioned buildup of of neurotransmitters in the synapses.
If the substance being shown is inactive why not just fill the vessel with flour and save the cost altogether, at least it'll be usable for a hopefully delicious cake in future :)
No I'm pretty sure he's referring to Northwest Ohio. We had a crisis a few years back before the Flint thing was popular with the media where a cyanobacteria Bloom threatened the entire water supply of the Northwestern part of the state a few years back.
snorksonforks I don't think reuptake inhibitors and neurotoxins are mutually exclusive? And now that I've watched the fully video, it kinda fits the definition of a reuptake inhibitor pretty well, considering it's inhibiting the reuptake of the neurotransmitters.
snorksonforks "But its not inhibiting reuptake .. its (inhibiting) any uptake of any transmission" It blocks the molecules from reuptaking the neurotransmitters. Regardless of whether it causes death or not, it's also a reuptake inhibitor.
Sounds like an acetylcholine esterase inhibitor. Those are nasty, to say the least, but can be extremely useful. See organophosphate pesticides, paralyzing type anesthesia, and the like.
And something I only noticed now, after someone +1d my comment making me come back, "dem inhibitors of the selective kinds. Try not to get any near you" Like Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors? One of the most popular kinds of anti-depressant?
For reference, the disease isn't caused by excess neurotransmitter breakdown, but inadequate responses. By blocking breakdown and prolonging the time that the neurotransmitter can accumulate you're compensating for the reduced primary signal by amplifying the effect that the remaining signal has.
Could be used for heart surgery. Shutdown the system in a controlled manner. Makes me think of those little frogs that can be frozen for years and come back to life. If this molecule can stop nervous system, maybe it can be studied and reverse engineered to re stimulate the synapse.
It's amazing what these elements and molecules can do, science has always been a matter that interests me... Well chemistry anyways, great vids they r super interesting👍
@SidtheKid That's true, but to be fair, most chemicals that could be manipulated to serve some unconventional yet useful purpose are already available to the public in some form or another. Unless they're creating isotopes or something crazy for a chemical reaction I'm sure it's something any average person could do with proper instruction and supply. The chemist makes the lab, the lab doesn't make the chemist. Although, forensics could probably figure out that, based on the nature of the crime, the verdict would need to have some serious understanding of what they're doing which I suppose _could_ narrow down the suspects by quite a bit... Either way, an entire hit TV series already validates this guy's statement for us, lol.
That was lazy writing. If he was really a brilliant chemist he would have chosen Suxamethonium chloride. It's fast acting, just like this toxin, but it breaks down into compounds which are already present in the body, rendering it virtually untraceable.
As a healthcare proffesional, I support the idea behind this research. I have taken care of couple patients with Alziemers, which I know not that much, but that was enough to show me the real picture of patient's mental and physical health more than even textbooks provided back in university. But that said no one can ignore the lethal potential of this molecule. I know we use hundreds and thousands of these death molecules everyday to deal with some of the most common and deadly diseases around the globe and we loose lots of people because of very very minor errors occured when administered to them. Sometimes long lasting damage done by these molecules is worse than the disease itself.
