The Wisdom of Science - Newly Discovered Parasite Named After Parasite-in-Chief.

[Lucille]

How apropos.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/politica...ered-parasite/

Scientists are among the most intelligent people on the planet. Of course, this does not always make them among the wisest. But today I offer an example that exemplifies the highest standards of both intelligence and wisdom.

Background

In biology/ecology, parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.

Unlike predators, parasites typically do not kill their host, are generally much smaller than their host, and will often live in or on their host for an extended period.

Parasites reduce host biological fitness by general or specialized pathology, such as parasitic castration and impairment of secondary sex characteristics, to the modification of host behavior. Parasites increase their own fitness by exploiting hosts for resources necessary for their survival, e.g. food, water, heat, habitat, and transmission.

The Discovery

Scientists like Barack Obama so much that they named a parasite after him….World, meet Baracktrema obamai, a deadly turtle pathogen named in honor of our current president.

Scientists and Social Awareness

Believe it or not, it's supposed to be a compliment.

To a scientist, maybe.

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...president.html

There Are Now Seven Species Named After President Obama

And two of them are parasites.

While naming a creature with the ability to kill innocent turtles after a sitting president might sound like the pinnacle of political passive-aggression, taxonomists say that having an organism named after you is actually quite a compliment. Famed naturalist David Attenborough, who had quite a few species named after him, once said that having a biologist name a new discovery after you is the “biggest of compliments that you could ask from any scientific community.”

That may be true, but it’s tough to consider the naming of slime-mold beetles after former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld an act of praise. The AP story also included the anecdote about a biologist naming another parasite species group “microphallus” … after her ex-husband.

But apparently this offering to Obama was done with good intentions, Platt told the Associated Press. B. obamai brings the total of organisms named after the president up to seven. Of course he’s still surpassed by Attenborough and Charles Darwin (perhaps unsurprisingly, there are hundreds of species named after him). Even Lady Gaga has a whooping 19 species of fern named after her.

In addition to the two parasites, Obama has loaned his name to a fish from Tennessee, an apparent appreciation of his commitment to conservation; an extinct lizard, for his impeccable teeth; and a bird and a trapdoor spider, both for no discernable reason. He’s also lent his name to a Californian lichen, named way back in 2008, “for the president's support of science and science education.”

[AZJoe]

[timosman]

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