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quitealotofsodapop · 3 years

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MvA assorted headcanons

General:

So many years together has made the core monsters inseperable. If something affects one member, it affects the group.

All. The. Monsters. Are. Family.

It takes Susan a while to understand inside jokes and past incidents because of being the most recent addition.

There are Other anomalous creatures kept in Area 5X, but they are either non-sentient and/or are too dangerous to be kept around the more human-friendly monster group.

Area 5X is so gotdang big because they were expecting a lot more kaijus like Insecto to crop up. Sadly not many have surfaced to justify the space.

There’s a hangar in Area 5X full of wrecked UFOs. Some are spacecraft wreckage while others are stuff like weird meteors (Susan’s is in there), and at least one alien creature that got crystallised upon entering Earth’s atmosphere.

There’s significant difference in staff employed at different points throughout the past 50 years. There are far more women on the Area 5X worksheet than back in the 50s, and the guards are generally more sympathetic towards the monsters. Many modern staff members have been reprimanded or let go for failing to uphold secrecy, or for unnecessary cruelty towards the monsters.

Budget cuts were a legitmate concern up until the Battle of Golden Gate Bridge. The facility was far more barebones and sterile before the government had to formally recognise Area 5X’s importance. There have been a lot of redecorating at the facilty since the fat checks started coming in.

Putting individual characters under read due to length.

Susan:

Enjoys many hobbies considered stereotypically feminine; baking, sewing, cosmetics, etc...

Grandparents and extended family are farmers or are atleast connected to the business. Modesto is the agricultural centre of California after all. Her parents were the first of their generation to go against the mold and seek out white-collar careers.

Studied cosmetology in school and was working at a beauty salon to save up for her and Derek’s wedding.

Is very athletic and grew up doing a number of physical extracurriculars like cheerleading, dodgeball, and roller-derby.

Grew up being teased for being the shortest kid in her class/family. They still tease her for it.

Greatly fears causing collateral damage and/or harm to others through her size.

Has issues with anxiety, worsened only by her new job as “savior of earth”. She wishes for a confidant to tell her worries to.

Married life with Derek was doomed to fail. Susan had a plan in place for what came after the marriage, and focusing 100% on Derek’s career was not it. There’s also the line from Derek’s mother about Susan being “the weatherman’s wife”, implying that she was to be the homemaker and not have a career of her own. It’s possible that Susan was planning to settle down and have kids with Derek, but the lack of control she had in moving to Fresno implied that more was going on.

Is currently “taking a break” from love and dating, despite gaining many new admirers.

Tries her best to return to Modesto to visit her family and friends whenever possible, though work often keeps her away for weeks at a time.

If she retains her height-shifting abilities as in the series; Susan goes through really bad “growing” pains.

Link:

Was frozen in his relative late-teens during a cold snap. Got shifted around until he ended up somewhere in Greenland before being discovered by modern humans. Post-thaw he went a bit wild, swimming frantically back south to try and find his old enviroment.

Was one of many scrappy youngsters in his troop, with a number of adoptive parents. The strongest ruled the troop, and Link was fairly weak in comparision to the leaders. He had gotten into a fight the day of his freezing (over something silly in hindsight) and swam away to sulk. When he didn’t return after the cold snap - the troop accepted that he had likely died out on his own.

Likes to freak out humans by making up weird biology facts about his species and ones he’s fought against - like joking about laying eggs or having his tail dettach and regrow like a lizard. However there’s some things he has to ask about, because he doesn’t have medical knowledge or words to describe something.

A lot of his macho behavior came from imitating the guards who kept watch on him. 1950s violent military alpha males aren't a very good role model for someone who doesnt know what societal norms are yet. Link was a lot more insufferable back in the day but chilled out as he began interacting with other walks of life.

Has a high paternal instinct and immediately becomes softer around kids and smaller animals.

Has body language similar to a cat/alligator. Slaps his tail when angry or in deep thought. And yes; Link purrs/rumbles when happy.

Loves monster movies - especially the ones where the monsters “win”. He cried when he saw “Beauty and the Beast” and then immediately booed loudly when the Beast turned human.

Does Not Trust doctors or scientists due to bad past experiences. Will only go to Dr Cockroach and Monger if he ever gets hurt/ill. Gets stressed fast if he has to be in a waiting room or doctors office.

Link had no idea what gender indentities or orientations were until recently - he did come from a pre-human civilization that really didnt mind/care about the schemantics. It took him some time to wrap his head around it. He identifies himself as bisexual after much thought and many hours alone on the computer.

Don't press him about his body. He's built different from humans and cis people. He will punch anyone who doesnt respect his or anyone elses identity.

Has been in love before. It didn’t end well.

Will occasionally wear clothes, but finds it a challenge to find anything that fits him. Will give any shoes he finds to Dr Cockroach and BOB to eat.

The best driver/pilot out of all the monsters.

Dr Cockroach:

True name is Jaques-Yves Herbert. Prefers to just go by "Dr Cockroach" because he dislikes the association with his birth family.

Picks up human languages very easily, although not as quickly as he can understand animals.

Parents were a mixed scientist couple. His father was an aggressive “Strong British Man” that would beat him son down for not following orders or for not meeting his standards for a man. Dr C turned down both chances to attend his parents funerals.

This man isn’t straight. He probably uses old-fashioned slang when asked about romance such as; “I am Uranian” or “I wear a green carnation”. It took Susan a few times to realise what he meant, as she is used to a more open minded enviroment.

Got the idea of transforming into a cockroach from reading Franz Kafkas “The Metamorphosis” as a child. He sympathized with Gregor’s abusive situation, and began considering the possibilties of how one could survive better as a creature like a cockroach.

Studied in biology and entomology in the Uk before moving to the states to follow engineering. Obtained his degree in Dance as a “side gig” in University.

Has been barred from free access to the coffee maker/machine due to overnighters. Once stayed awake so long that he forgot the letter “R”.

Owned a terrarium of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches throughout college. He mourned each of them when his roommate’s iguana got into the tank.

Was a "beatnik" back in the day and still kinda is. Embraces and encourages modern counterculture as he himself was not given such acceptance in his youth. He has however shamefully eaten his old Lenny Bruce album.

Hasn’t actually aged physically since his transformation. He attributes this to the fact that certain athropods can’t age physically beyond maturity. Link is very jealous.

Has obtained more degrees while in captivity, as Monger allowed him access to research and learning materials. He has however had his allowances revoked for previous escape attempts/doomsday devices.

Does still enjoy human food, but the cockroach instinct of "eat detritus" tends to overrule his eating choices. Can’t cook either.

Ironically a terrible driver. The damages from previous drives has made Monger restrict him from operating even a razor scooter.

BOB:

Pretty much considers himself human. Was created by them, raised by one (Monger), and talks like one. Gets sad when he's reminded that no other humans are blue blobs like him.

Absorbed some dna from the scientists present at his "birth", leading to his eye, speech, and omnivorous diet.

Doesnt actually need to breathe (as he can just absorb oxygen through his mass) but the fact that humans Do means that BOB thinks he has to as well.

Shares some physical characteristics with tomatoes/nightshade plants, as he is technically half tomato. He refuses to eat tomatos for this very reason, considering it cannibalism.

Attracts garden pests looking for a tomato plant. This unwittingly makes BOB a pretty good bug zapper.

Still retains his "mental broadcast" ability from "BOB's Big Break" although at a more subtle level. He tends to parrot the things he accidentally "eavesdropped" on.

Is empathetic, and can tell when others aren't doing ok emotionally. Will flop down on someone who’s really sad to comfort them. No brain, only heart.

Best cook out of the monsters. If he doesn’t forget what he’s making at least.

"Whats a gender? Can I eat it?"

Insectosaurus:

Core body is that of a Japanese Silkmoth, although she ended up being spliced with other animals present on the island during her initial mutation; namely ants and ground squirrels.

Eats over a literal ton of mulberry leaves per day. Also enjoys oranges.

Secretly wishes to be more humanoid.

Was only able to pupate and transform due to physical trauma. It seems that her transformation was like a “power-up” that required her to be in geniune distress for it to activate.

First language is Japanese. She learned it from the intial recovery team, and later developed an understanding of English from years in Area 5X.

Goes into torpor in cold weather. Pretty much impossible to wake her up for missions during Winter, as she needs to “rev up” before becoming mobile.

Still very much Link’s best friend. Still enjoys sports, chicks, and beer.

Monger:

Full name is; Warren Rex Monger.

Is very protective of the monsters and will defend them to the death.

Pretty much raised BOB (as seen when BOB was a baby blob in “Night of the Living Carrots”), and considers him his “freaky gelatinous son”.

Has a reputation of being a “control-freak” due to his aggressive overseeing of the monsters’ containment. This toughness is partly because of incidents that occured without his knowledge. Lets just say some scientists have been wedgied/fired for running experiments on the monsters without Monger’s approval.

Has a very “Ron Swanson” emotional response and view of the world. Crying is acceptable only at funerals and at the Grand Canyon (if he hadn’t lost his tear ducts in the war).

Has been married multiple times. Will not confirm or deny if he is currently seeing anyone.

Invisible Man/TiM:

Legit got out but no one at Area 5X is sure how. He suffered a geniune medical emergency and disappeared after surgery. The other monsters were informed that he died from complications to deter them from getting escape ideas.

Is able to be detected in Infrared light. Dr Cockroach managed to rig up goggles to view TiM in case of injury and to foil pranks.

Was a scientist working on an invisibility potion for the military and used himself as a guinea pig. Hasn’t actually been able to replicate his results since - thinks the effect may have been caused by a genetic abnormality.

Dr Cockroach and him are massive rivals. Both actually met eachother pre-transformation through a CalTech expedition. This makes the pair one of few people that have seen the others human face.

Is 100% naked. Was forced to wear clothing once this was discovered.

A massive prankster and a cynic. Him and Link were a force to be reckoned with.

Has revisted the facility multiple times and has started a number of ghost stories.

Any additions are welcome! I proably have alot more to dump about. Might make one of the alien characters from the series

#monsters vs aliens #mva #susan murphy #ginormica #the missing link #dr cockroach #bob mva #general monger #the invisible man mva #insectosaurus #headcanons

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francisdominictan · 4 years

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________________________________________________________________ I always caught myself reading books about creatures of the unknown. It started probably when I was a young kid and would watch documentaries series about aliens, elemento, Bigfoot, and the likes.

Because of that I earned my fair shares of names and bullying in school due to my obsession. Like a good freshman I pushed up my glasses and disregarded it and moved onto college where I earned degree in Zoology and eventually masters and now PhD. Along the way I had discovered the things life had to offer; women, gym, sex, alcohols, and other things. Though, my first love was cryptozoology.

Together with famous scientists, zoologists, and marine biologists, we’re looking for new species and studying others of whom, we knew very little. I spent my late 20’s traveling around the globe. My colleagues and I found new insects, birds, reptiles, but none would fall into the strange or imaginary. In the scientific community, I made myself a name. I might find anything except Bigfoot, people liked to say. I enjoyed my little popularity.

I chose to work somewhere more conventional after those exciting years. As it was fun to create footprints around the world, I was sick of never being in one place over a couple of weeks. I would also like to spend more time to try to find these storied creatures than work on someone else's expedition.

I ended up teaching in the department of biology in a major state university in Northern part of Mindanao in the Philippines. I also started a club in cryptozoology that attracted a large number of students. I would take students to the alleged unearthly places, hot spots of unknown animals, and the likes with permission from the university. We always have a documentary of our trip; a blurred video and a grainy picture. It was enjoyable for the students and me. We never had any definitive information, but it helped them to think outside the box about what our world really is. My curiosity in it was a deep passion for trying to find the elusive that I want to witness.

Like I said before, my first love is cryptozoology until one foundation day of the University. I met Nap there. She was this beautiful brown haired woman about my age, who taught creative writing in the English department. I knew that I instantly fell for her. I'm not now the scrawny nerd from high school anymore. I was fit, effective in my profession, and not too bad looking (I told myself that, at least).I used a corny pickup to show myself. We've smiled, spoke the whole party and exchanged number, and the rest is history.

We moved in together a few months after we began dating. We had many shared interests, but there were also many differences. She preferred to stay in, and I enjoyed the outside. She was more reserved and I was the extrovert. But we both liked a good book and wine. She’s also a writer who particularly likes to write about simulated creatures, which is why we clicked.

“Nap,” I said closing and setting aside her newest book as I lounged out on the sofa in our living room one night. “Did I already told you that you are an excellent writer?”

She was in our room folding the ‘fresh from the laundry’ clothes. “You already did. But I won’t mind if you tell me again,” she playfully responded.

“I’m wondering, where did you get your inspirations for these stories?”

She came towards me. I corrected my sitting and she sophistically took a seat to me. “I got them from my grandmother’s story.”

“Tell me more, please,” I said with agog evident on my face.

“With my cousins,” she began with a look of commemoration on her face, “Each summer, we would visit my grandmother in the Visayas. She was living in a Remote Village neighborhood. Many people haven't been there. It was a lovely town shaded by the dense canopies of the tree. Between the town and the nearest mountain, there was a large forest. Perhaps it was about a few hundred acres. Glassy lake, filled with fish and that emptied into a small river can be found at the base of the mountain. All children in the town would play in the wood, the river and the lake, yet past sunset was strictly forbidden. The town’s people, including my grandma, have strictly implemented this.”

“Continue,” I encouraged her with a smile.

“So my grandmother told me about the forest fairies and how they liked to trick people. They'd take me away forever if I disobeyed my elders. Such tales have always been disturbing to me. My parents didn't like that, but they agree that I should be inside before dark. The stories didn't get me too much worry, until one of the young boys I was playing with got missing in the woods. One night after a fight with his father, he ran away into the forest. They never found him, and the people of the town did not bother to look for him until after sunrise. I can't just believe that people would not go in the forest looking for the boy until it was sunrise, except that they all really believed in the fairies. My books contain fairies that are scary but are much better than those in the tales of my grandma. They never took people away.”

She raised her one eyebrow and asked, “It is your kind of thing, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked at her, frowning.

“You know… The unexplained creatures of the dark.” She looked at me with a smart-ass grin.

“Well, I heard and read about fairy folklore, but many cryptozoologists don't spend a long time on it. I never heard of a city that is fearful of fairies, particularly from an account on the first hand. Anything like that should be investigated.”

A vexatious grin stretching from ear to ear plastered on Nap’s face.” Very Good! My parents would like to meet you and I'd like you to meet them. When I was young, my grandmother died and my parents inherited the house. And a couple of years ago they retired. This summer, you can come with me and solve the fairy problem of the town.” She stood over me and gave me the puppy eyes to agree.

Like this, our summer plans were drawn up, and in early March, with Nap and a bag filled with my recording equipment, we booked a plane ride from Cagayan to Siquijor located in Central Visayas. Once there, we hired a rental car and drove into the forest mountains, which felt like hours. We left the winding road for an even hazardous two-lane mountain road. After 15 minutes, we reached at what looked like a ghost town. Several small businesses were shut down and looked like an unfinished hotel in the 1960s.

We pulled into the driveway of her parent a couple of minutes later. Her parent’s house was sitting in a few dozen houses on a short dead end road. The dark, majestic forest that she described to me lies behind her home. A majestic moon hidden by the cumulus cloud loomed in the distant background.

Her parents greeted us at the door with a smile. Nap kissed her mom and dad with excitement. I tried to cover my nerves and for the first time met my girlfriend's parents, shook their hands quickly and introduced myself as Francis, the man who was here to solve their fairy problem. Before saying through their teeth, they both smiled and paused, “Come now. The dinner is about ready.”

My awkward attempt to be funny seemed to be an outrage. Dinner went well and we spoke about our trip and what I've done at work. With our bellies full, Nap’s father invited me on to the rear porch for a beer.

"So you are a university professor of cryptozoology?” Nap’s father asked until he took a big swig of beer from his bottle.

"No, I'm teaching animal behavior and social interaction. I'd like to teach cryptozoology, but before I can, I need a written and approval of the curriculum." I sat in my porch chair and started enjoying my beer.

"I guess Nap told you a lot of insane fairy tales in our forests?" I took another sip from my bottle and looked at him and nodded a bit. "Everything’s real. Sounds dumb, but the whole thing is true. Those stories have been told by my wife, and I wouldn’t believe them if I had not seen a crazy thing or experienced that one night. Our neighbor's niece disappeared in that forest two summers ago.” He pointed at the wooden line right at the back of his yard and takes a second swig from his bottle.

“You want to see a magic trick?” He asked me excitedly.

"Um, sure," I said half waiting for him to take the coin out from behind my ear.

"Look at the back door. Today's sunrise is around 21:00. The lock will pop up around this time and it will swing open. No hands." He responds shaking his hands upward.

The courtyard of Nap’s parent was closed with one back door that leads directly into the forest. Some of the branches of the forest trees hang over the entrance. I didn't know how to take the statement from Nap’s dad. So I've been waiting. Behind the mountains, the sun slowly crept and the clock reached 21 pm.

As we sat silently in the back porch, I finished my beer. I was about to get up and let Nap’s father know it was the longer trick that I had ever been waiting for, the scraping sound caught my ear from the opposite side of the fence.

It started at the rear of the valley. It sounded like a child dragging a stick over his pickets while he was walking. Towards the gate the sound intensified. I concentrated on the gate and didn't pay attention to Nap and her mother, who had gone with us to the deck. The door latch went Ching and the gate slowly swayed as if softly pushed by an unseen force.

"No way," I murmured, as I started to walk away slowly from the deck to the back gate. I was pulled up on the deck by a powerful hand. I whipped my head around to see Nap’s father violently grab my wrist.

He said with a stern voice and look. "Don't go over there," he said.

Nap pulled me out of her dad. "Mom, dad… stop." She turned to me and said, "Tomorrow, I'm going to take you into the woods. It's all right. You are going to see.” She turned back into the house and graciously marched.

"All you want during the day, you can go into the forest, but once the sun sets you have to come back," Robert cut me off before I could go in. I stopped and looked at him. His face was genuinely anxious. Nap’s mother has the same look on her face.

I agreed and that, as Nap’s parents insist upon being away from the woods after darkness, I came inside feeling a little confused.

That evening Nap and I prepared for bed and she laid her head on my chest. I tried to work together if her family had really believed in "fairies" and if their facial concern was sincere earlier.

"Doesn’t your family really believe in the fairies?" I ask Nap.

She turned around and put up her head in front of me.” "It's humiliating, not because they really believe in this, but because they’re so strongly confident that the woods are a bad place. I would have run into the woods many times if I had been rebellious as a kid. When I was a child, they started to act as my grandmother. I don't know how the gate trick is done by my father, but it gets older. Two years ago he pulled it on me, saying it wasn't him.”

The more she spoke, the more annoyed Nap became. "Tomorrow, I will bring you to the woods. You’ll see. As a child, I used to play there. Nothing's wrong with it.

I firmly held her to my side, gently kissed her. "Ok, we'll go to have an adventure tomorrow." I said before dozing off

After breakfast Nap took me into the forest the next morning. She showed me everything she had been able to remember from her childhood. She showed me her favorite trails, which had slightly become overgrown. She showed me her favorite river spot and her favorite lake shore. Here and there, the lakeshore was littered with dead fish but oddly no trace of rotting fish.

An old foundation to a building that never began was on the lakeshore. Nap said in the 60's it was intended to be a lodge for tourists but it was never done. The crumbling foundation was covered in moss, and looked more than anything else like a pathetic version of Stonehenge.

It was about noon and we decided to go back into the woods to have some lunch at the house of her father. As we walked hand in hand through the woods on trails I was surprised she was still able to navigate memories from her childhood. I noticed the mahogany were almost all brown or brownish green. Their trunks were rather large, even swollen, as if they were stuffed with something, and most of the underbrush was dead or seemed as if it were dying.

Nap reported that the summer and spring of the last few years had been little rain. I thought it was odd that the forest was going to dry out but the river and the lake didn't seem to be at low levels.

Robert brought the subject of cryptozoology and my interest, “Have a chat with John Salon. He is town detective, who lives down a few streets. He is also the last of a tribe who lived here once. He's kind of an amateur historian for the region and has lots of stories to share about the woodland fairies. I'll call him and tell him that you're coming over. "Robert gave me his address and that afternoon, at Nap’s encouragement, I went to his house as Nap and her mother planned to go shopping in the next town.

I knocked on John’s door. The lock unlatched and the door slowly opened revealing an older man.

“Are you John?” I stick out my hand for handshake.” I’m Francis Tan and..-“

“You want to know about the fairies at the woods?” He said cutting me off. “Robert already told me about you. Please come in. I have only few hours before I need to head to work to cover a night shift.”

I walked into his house. It was huge and packed with mounted animals, fish and a number of what seemed to be memorabilia from farther south. He led me to his living room, and guided me to sit down. His living room walled by filing cabinets and bookshelves on all sides. There was no TV, and the most surfaces were caked with a thick layer of dust.

"So what can I tell you," said John, slowly taking a seat in the chair opposite me.

"Well, whatever you know about the forest, or the supposed forest monsters," I started. "I'm researching unknown beings, mythological creatures, or whatever you want to name them, and I'm familiar with folklore fairies, but I've never seen a whole town that seemed to fear these monsters."

For a moment, John leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, as if to recall his thoughts.

"My tribe was the first to settle that area, or rather my ancestors. We were once, as the oral tradition goes, a large and proud tribe that had great numbers in Siquijor long before the Spanish came. A harsh winter run and war with other tribes cut down our numbers and our enemies drove us out of our original land. We wandered around until we found the place. Cold, hungry and desperate for shelter, we felt blessed to have found a place with good hunting, the mountains to shelter us, and a river and lake to provide fresh water for us.”

I looked eagerly at him, as he took a little break to remember his words. He sat up in his chair, and leaned forward.

"Some strange creatures that lived here prevented us from entering the forest. My people would call them Engkantos. They said that they were here before, guarding the forest. The chief seeing his people starving and having no place to live struck a deal with the creatures from the forest. We could hunt fish, stay here and they'd protect us as long as we agreed to give them one of our own once every moon cycle.”

"Wait," I cut. "So ...... just like a sacrifice?”

"Yes" continued John. "We'd send one person into the forest each full moon. The cries will fill the sky of the night. It was a terrible thing but the chief made the offer for us to live and we stuck to it. Many years passed, as we lost ourselves one after another. Our numbers would gradually decrease over time, but those who remained had hunting food and fresh water.”

John got up from his seat and walked up to his bookshelf, pulling out a leather bound book, the edges were yellowed from age.

"This book," he said, "Contains all the stories about Engkantos that have been passed down to my tribe from generation to generation. When I was young, I had started writing them down before they all died. I'm the last one and I thought somebody could record it so others could know what we've been experiencing.”

"When the Spanish came into our land, it all changed. It was one man at first. He was an explorer. We didn't consider him a threat so we let him pass. However, he did find gold in the water and he told other people. Eventually many others turned up in the river looking for gold. They brought crucifix, meats, beads, and weaponry and taught us religions. They were willing to trade for small pieces of land so that they could prospect in here. We consented. The prospectors supplied us with new stuff and we were exchanging small parcels of land for them. The Spanish people cut down trees to make the clearing that now sits out of town. They constructed houses. They fished and hunted. Each full moon, we no longer sent one of our own to the forest.”

"So the sacrifices stopped because you got necessity from the settlers?" I asked. "What about the creatures that you deal with?”

"We lived alongside the Spanish in harmony," John began again. "There was rage among the Engkantos because we broke our deal. They'd watch us in the shadows, from the tree line. The extreme fury could be felt. One night, several prospectors who were fishing the lake in the forest came late. One of them was taken violently by the Engkantos upfront the others. Their screams had filled the air of the night. The survivors did flee and never came back. They left their possessions and even their money for they were so frightened. Those who had been past dark in the woods soon began to disappear. No trace was found.”

John sat down and breathed deeply. "As people began to flee the woods after dark, they tried to trick people into going into the woods. During the night they would imitate the sounds of kids or loved ones. Anyone who enters into the woods would be taken. They took our tribe's three mothers once because the creatures were crying out on the forest line like children. The women fled to save the "babies" only to be killed. They only took one person at a time but began to take more as revenge.”

"They can imitate voices?" I asked.

"Yeah" he began as he rubbed his head. "They can use anybody's voice or sound so you’d be lured into the woods.”

"Why do people still live here, then?" I asked. "If it is cursed, why not leaved?”

“My people agreed to keep this place guarded and keep people from going here. They made a deal and broke it. But, regardless of what they did or said, the word still made it out about the fishing and hunting or gold in the river. People would come and they would vanish. A party heard about fishing, and tried to build a lodge on the shore on the lake. All are gone. We were trying to warn them but they were calling us crazy. This town and forest has only recently gone unnoticed by the outside. In the last 10 years there have been only a few disappearances.”

"I saw the foundation." I sat up in the chair as I got drawn more and more into his stories.

John got up and walked to one of his filing cabinets. He pulled a black binder full of paperwork.

"Here," he said with a motion to take the binder.

"What is it?" I asked him as I take the big binder.

"I am in charge of all the missing people’s cases. They're all here.”

"That’s crazy," I said while opening the binder.

"Many people say I'm a useless detective. I know what happened to those people, but you can't put it on an official report and still keep your job. If you look at the reports, the pattern is the same for everyone. All of those people were last seen in the forest before darkness.”

I finished my conversation with John, as he was about to get ready for work. He had been operating from two towns on a missing person case. He let me borrow the case binder and the book about the stories of his family.

The next day after taking Nap over to the next town for breakfast, I went door to door asking people what they knew about the creatures. Many hesitated to speak with me until I explained who I was, what I believed, and that I intended to study what was happening. I had been warmly welcomed into their homes.

People in the town had a vast array of stories. Tales ranged from family members vanishing to hearing odd voices at night, to seeing groups of travelers vanish without trace. Many were older tales of loved ones wandering late into the forest and failing to make it out before sunset. It seemed that everybody believed in the creatures that inhabited the forest, but no one had ever seen one. An older gentleman reported that his sister had gone on an afternoon walk into the forest and never returned. He could hear her voice calling from the woods to him every night, but he doesn't dare to enter. Eventually the voice stopped.

I devoted the rest of the afternoon to taking notes on all the missing people’s cases. I just stopped kissing Nap farewell, as she and her mother left to get chico fruits in the forest. In an hour, or two, she had expected to be home. I was comfortable with her leaving as it would have been many hours before the sun had gone down.

Every case had the same set of circumstances. No clear explanation was given as to why the people were missing. News clippings placed the blame on people getting lost in the vast outback, or on the likelihood that these people could run into wild animals.

I closed the binder full of cases and sat back in my seat in the living room, exhausted after all my note taking. I took a deep breath and stood up to collect the binder and book that John had let me borrow.

I finished collecting my stuff and walked to John’s house to return his articles. He was sitting at his front porch when I arrived, still in his police uniform with a beer.

I handed the book and binder to him, and took a seat next to him.

“What do they look like?” I asked.

"Who?” John answered sitting up a little straight as if shocked by my question.

"Engkantos or the fairies or whatever you want to call them. So what do they look like? I don't have any descriptions in the text you gave me." I stood up and looked at John with a stern look.

"It's a full moon tonight. In the last ten years just a few people were lost in the woods. They are mad. You can sense them in the current. I will be retiring in two years. I have spent my life trying to find those people that were missing. During day I’m in the forest. They are difficult to see. They are very slender and tall. You can see their outline amongst the trees if you look hard. It's very hard to figure out but hundreds of them are there. They're not going to move until dark but you can look among the tree line and see them standing still, even now.”

John pointed from to the woods that were across the road. I looked hard but in the fading light, I could see nothing but trees. I thanked him for his time and resources, and made my way back to the fading light of Nap’s parents ' house. The sun had set, and a cool breeze swept across the road and into the woods as if the forest itself were breathing in. I walked down the broken sidewalk looking into the dark trees to see if I could get a glimpse of what John had described. The moon was full and bright. With a slightly bluish hue, it seemed almost like day out. There was no echo. No crickets. No animals scratching. The night air was packed with just the wind and my footsteps.

"FRANCIS!!!!!"A scream of blood-curdling echoed just inside the line of the trees.

That voice. I knew that voice. It was from Nap. The hair on my neck was standing up straight. My heart started pounding with a violent fervor. Nap and her mother hadn't come back when I left. What if she did not make it from the woods? What if they hurt her? What if they had taken her?

"FRANCIS!!!!"The scream echoed again. This time it sounded as though she was in anguished agony.

I was twenty yards deep in the woods before realizing what I was doing. My eyes agitatedly scanned everywhere. "NAP!" I screamed. Only dead silence. The moon was so vivid that from the light shining through the tree branches I could make out almost everything. "NAP!”

I was breathing through my mouth. My breaths matched my heart's tempestuous pace. I stood in silence. I looked closely at the thick canopies before me. My vision spotted movement. I'm not alone. There was movement but I could not see exactly what it was. It didn't make any noise whatsoever and it seemed opaque, almost invisible. As if opaque forms melded into reality from nowhere.

They were the height of man. The skin was pale. Their legs, arms, and body structure were thin. Their skin looked dry and it was ridging like worms. A head was in the shape of large white sideways cones with no features but a small black hole in the forehead.

My muscles tensed as pure terror flows through me. I couldn't move. I was awestruck and was filled with terror. There were dozens of those things before me. They all looked the same appallingly. I wanted to run but I couldn't. One slowly moved toward me. It stopped 20 ft away from me. It was dead quiet. My heart shook so hard that I could hear it.

The hole at the front of his head was growing bigger as if something were pushing out of it. Like the peeling of a sausage casing this thing's skin pulled back and the head of a young woman seems to be out of the black.

My jaws dropped. I felt my heart was beating in my ears. Her hair looked black and greasy. Her eyes were ovals black. Her skin blenched. She stares at me. It felt like an eternity as I looked upon at this monstrosity. She opened her mouth.

"Francis," she spoke. I recognized that voice. It was Nap’s. Confusion took over. The woman head on this creature bent sideways in a horrible way while staring at me with a blank expression.

"Francis... Francis... Francis..." Nap’s voice echoed more frequently and more intensely. Then from her mouth burst an ear shattering maniacal laugh. My face was strewn with tears as my lips began to shake. It stopped. The woman's face split from jaw to forehead in half spreading from side to side as if it had been cut by, exposing a mass of razor-sharp teeth and flailing tentacles like tongues.

The creature shrieked. It was so high pitched and growling that it shook the forest and buzzed my ears. I fell on my back and for the first time since I saw the entity, I could now move. I amokly shuffled my legs backwards to propel me away from the entity. The creature fell to all fours, and then charged me as inhumanly as possible. I realized that there was no way I could get up and out run it in time. It was about to consume me. I put my hand up to cover my lip.

"No!" I cried as I looked away. Nothing. I didn’t feel any pain. There was no creature landed upon me.

"FRANCIS... MOM... DAD... NOOOO!!!!" It sounded like a scream from Nap, but this time it sounded like it came from her home's direction. I got up straight away trying to understand what was going on. The creatures had gone but something moved violently away from me in the underbrush, tearing up ground and shaking branches as it went.

"Ana, NO! “Another voice resounded. It was owned by Robert. I was still confused and afraid but I wasn't going to stay any longer in this woods. I raced to Nap’s parents’ house as fast as my legs could manage.

Robert restrained Ana who was sobbing in the backyards, "Let me go... Let me go..."

"She's already gone. They might also take you,' replied Robert, hugging his wife with all his might.

“What happened?” I commanded.

"Oh my God, Francis," said Robert in horror, turning to me. "Nap swore that she heard you scream in the woods, and ran after you. We tried to get her to stop."

In the distance, a cry of Nap’s agony rang out. My fear and the rush of adrenaline transformed into rage. They took my wife. Those hideous things took the woman I loved. I went to the garage without thought, and scooped up the gas can that Robert filled up earlier in the day. I searched the garage frenzied, and found a torch of propane on the shelf. I quickly made my way through their backyard to the tree line.

"Robert, hold this," I ordered while shoving the lighter propane into his arms.

I started to pour the gas on the trees carelessly, and the brush along the forest line.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

I looked at him dead in the eye and coldly stated, “Give me the torch. I'm taking the woods from them, if they want to take her.”

He gave the torch that I just forced him to hold reluctantly.

The woods were dry. The wind blew in through the forest. I opened the valve for propane, lit a torch and threw it into the brush. There was a towering hell ahead of me in seconds. Robert and Ana were stunned by what I had just done. The fire burned fast and moved faster. Soon the whole town stood on the road, watching the forest they knew about consumed by blaze. With rage in my eyes, I stood still between them.

Suddenly, horror and pain filled the air with inhuman shrieks. They were like a knife cutting other people's ears. The people of the town tightly held their ears to block the screams. Most ran home in terror or grabbed each other for protection.

The shouts resonated tumultuous as the fire burned until suddenly the shouts ceased and only the blaze could be heard.

The fire department was called by someone who warned the forest guards. They couldn't do anything. The fire spread so quickly that the whole forest was burnt to the ground before a plan was drawn up. I admitted that I was the one starting the fire and was arrested by the police that night.

With little or no human contact, I was in prison for three days. The police were going through the office in an uncomfortable way as though they had more work than they could handle. They ignored and only fed me and checking on me before night.

John was there to welcome me when I woke up in my jail cell on the third morning.

I said groggily, "Good morning."

He opened the cell. “You’re free to go, Francis.” He nods at me to follow him. “Come with me." I got up and did as he requested. "They found Nap."

"Is she all right? Is she hurt?" I asked delighted.

“She had some burns, cuts, bruises, suffered from some inhalation of smoke, and she seems to be in shock but is alive.”

“Thank God!” I shouted.

The car ride to the hospital was an hour or so. During our way over, John explained that I was now the least of the problems the town had to deal with. None of the town's houses got damaged. The wind blew the fire the opposite way. Search and rescue teams searched the forest at night and found Nap on the lake shore early in the morning. She was naked and shocked but alive.

The biggest problem the town had to tackle was the hundreds of skeletons discovered in the forest. They weren't scattered around like the victims of a forest fire. The burnt-out trunks of the narra trees contained dozens of skeletons, as if stuffed into the trees. John showed me a picture he'd taken at one of the scenes on his phone. The picture showed a tree trunk that looked bloated and had been burned out. Inside the bark you could clearly see a human skeleton contorted with the tree growing around it in horrible fashion. What appeared like wooden bark threads fused into the skeleton, as if they formed together. Some of the skeletons were identified as missing people in the woods in the 1900’s. Others had been estimated to be centuries old.

At the hospital, John dropped me off and I made my way to Nap’s room. Here were her parents. She was swollen and wounded but lying in her bed looking ahead, agape mouth, not blinking at all. She turned towards me slowly as I came in, not blinking. When our eyes met she started sobbing. I rushed to her, and warmly embraced her.

"They've took me," she said with heavy sobbing. "They ripped my clothes and tried to put me in there."

"Where?" I asked fighting off my own tears as I kept holding her closely.

"In the forest... In the trees," she said sobbing. "They feed the forest with us. The forest was dying and it starved to death.”

No other word was spoken. I just hugged her close, until she stopped sobbing.

With the forest gone, a development company bought all the land and turned it into homes. To my knowledge, no one has since disappeared. There are some rumors that the place is haunted and that odd voices and cries can still be heard at night.

The night of the fire, my camera was recording. I looked at the video once before deleting it. My voice can be heard in frightened tone calling Nap’s name. One can see Nap running into the woods calling for me. As she disappears beyond what the camera can see, there is a voice that giggles like a little child and then, in a raspy high voice, states, "We take." The brush all around is shifting quickly towards where Nap was last seen until her cries can be heard.

#@queenlupitajones #short story

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is6621 · 5 years

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Experience the Aftermath of Climate Change By: Emily Jennings

This past week, we learned about the trend of slacktivism. Our culture is experiencing an incline in political, social, and environmental participation online, but often our virtual conversations and content lead to little change in reality. I wanted to understand how technology can push passive users to active advocates. After hearing about non-profits using virtual reality (VR) at fundraisers, I explored the possibility of VR evoking long term change, specifically in terms of the climate change movement. I believe that VR can increase environmental consciousness and ultimately push viewers to make everyday decisions that will stimulate real change.

Why VR and Climate Change?

Climate Change has always seemed like a pressing issue. For almost four decades, major world leaders have tried working together to cut greenhouse gas emissions through different agreements. We have heard scientists recommend a sustainable amount of carbon production and predict the fallout if such recommendations are exceeded. Without fail, output has continued at a pace that accommodates consumer demands rather than environmental capacity. Most recently, experts have announced that our planet has entered into a state of “climate emergency”. Due to the fact that many of us have yet to experience the grave consequences of the climate crisis, many believe that this state of emergency is not that bad. Even though we can watch videos of the ice caps melting or read the list of extinct species, it is different to actually live within the aftermath. I think this is where the opportunity for VR arises. VR can effectively illustrate why climate experts are so concerned.

Case Study: Venice

This past summer, the Venice Biennale held an exhibition on sustainability. Among the many works of art, Rising, an art installation created by Marina Abramović, made a profound impact on viewers. The project uses VR in order to convey a sense of urgency with rising sea levels. In the simulation, audience members are placed in an empty warehouse. They look out to see an avatar of the artist. Suddenly water begins to quickly invade and fill the structure. The audience experiences the feeling of submersion while listening to the avatar scream for help. In a later scene, the audience is taken to the open sea. Standing in isolation on a raft, viewers can look out to see melting ice caps and thunderstorms. Abramović was able to depict a narrative of how climate change can infiltrate our everyday lives. The feelings and sensations that Abramović was able to create through VR are unforgettable.

This is Climate Change

The cost of traditional VR headsets limits the amount of people who can experience virtual climate change. Fortunately though, some directors are tailoring their content so that everyone can witness VR via their smartphone. Most recently, the series This is Climate Change was released on a smartphone application. This series is divided into four parts: “Melting Ice”, “Fire”, “Feast”, and “Famine”. One reviewer commented on the video entitled “Fire”, stating, “I felt heat rise from my pores as I was virtually engulfed in flames that went on to rage across forested terrain. I tried to turn away from the “heat” only to witness firefighters clearing brush from dangerous ridges…” I find it very interesting that even when the viewer wanted to look away from the flames she was introduced to a new subject. So often with the posts that we share, our opinions are limited to one perspective. VR gives us a 360° view to the issue at hand. It is also remarkable that the commentator was still captivated by the film even though she didn’t have the headset. This gives me hope that VR material is still effective even when it is seen on a smartphone.

Future of VR and the Future of our Planet

After researching the collaboration of VR and the climate change movement, I have no doubt that VR can be used as a tool for behavioral change. VR does not assert blame for the climate disaster, rather illustrates the reality of our situation. It appears that VR could bridge the disconnect between climate research and human behavior.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/05/climate-change-11-000-world-scientists-declare-climate-emergency/4168388002/

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/virtual-reality-secret-sauce-for-climate-action

https://sealevel.nasa.gov/news/106/scientific-reality-goes-virtual

https://qz.com/quartzy/1618684/at-venice-biennale-artists-use-vr-to-drive-home-climate-crisis/

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maggotsandcream · 5 years

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Wild Words part 3

It continues. This week has a lot more disturbing words by combination of me watching a lecture series on human behavior on youtube and listening to a bunch of podcasts about...unusual human behavior this week and humans are disturbing.

TW for disease, mental illness, death, sex, paraphilias, food

9/22/19

omphalitis- inflammation of the belly button

calendula- a genus of flowers used as an herb in cooking and herbalism

9/23/19

breakbone fever- dengue

miscegenation- marriage and/or sex between people of different races

gallinipper- big mosquito (usually refers to Psorophora ciliata); oddly this is possibly the first time I knew the scientific name for a species before the common name

9/24/19

arborization- the extensive branching of nerves, the development of that branching

a priori- supported by deduction but without having experienced it

engram- a physical unit of memory storage in the brain

pepita- hull-less pumpkin seed

panko- Japanese breadcrumb

blep- when a cat sticks it's tongue out cutely

9/25/19

prosody- the study of or the system of poem metrics

Wada test- medical test where half the brain gets anesthetized in order to determine which half includes the language area before surgery

tardive dyskinesia- a potential side effect of long term use of anti-psychotic meds which resembles Parkinson's

anhedonia- reduced capability to feel pleasure

apotemnophilia- aka body integrity disorder; a condition where someone intensely desires to have a limb removed

abasiophilia- a sexual fetish for people with physical disabilities

ubasute- a (possibly entirely mythical) type of human sacrifice where an elderly woman would be abandoned in the woods to die during famines in ancient Japan

9/26/19

tablescape- decorations arranged on a tabletop

wolpertinger- a creature in German folklore that's a mash-up of a bird, a rabbit, and a deer

saponin- a class of toxic chemicals produced by some plants that froth in water and are used in safe quantities in many products like cosmetics, food, and drugs

9/27/19

schizotypal personality disorder- a condition characterized by odd thought patterns, behaviors, speech, and withdrawal from relationships; sort of like schizophrenia-light

LATE- limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (darn did those scientists finagle that into a catchy acronym); a type of dementia that has symptoms almost identical to Alzheimer's but with a different cause

improved road- literally just a gravel road

reprobate- scoundrel

rhizosphere- layer of soil up top with roots, most microbes, etc.

hügelkultur- a method of fertilizing a garden where you bury large logs and debris underground

mellified man- a corpse mummified using honey, left for a hundred years and then broken up and sold to people to eat and rub on their wounds

#wild words

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freebiescosmos · 3 years

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Feeling bored?

Are you? I don't know if you are but if you definitely are bored then you are in the right place.

Are you feeling good because you don't have anything to do or anything to perform? Well, that is not only your problem as many as its problem if many during this covid pandemic. Yes, the covid pandemic had made people stay in their home in Quarantines due to which it is no and truthful for energetic activities to be performed. so it is natural to get bored.

However, if you are bored does not mean that you must be frustrated. chill guys, there are many ways from which you can remove your boredom. I sometimes get bored because of this pandemic so so today I am going to be talking about some of the facts from which your boredom might get remove and along with that, you will learn something new today.

Today I will be sharing some of the facts related to human body with you. If you already know these facts then congratulation, but if you don't you are welcome to read and you know the facts. I hope this text will make you active along enrich your knowledge. I know there are lots of ways to remove boredom. You can watch movies and read books you can listen to audiobooks you can listen and read various movie reviews. But today I will be sharing with you some of the interesting facts and I hope you will like them.

1. Intestine of our body is the solely organ with its personal working automomus nrevous system.

Your gastrointestinal system , which is made up of organs like your stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, small intestine, colon and rectum, is frequently referred to as the "second brain." It is called so because , it's the solely organ with its very own independent neural system, comprising a hundred million neurons embedded in the intestine wall. You can take neurons as the messengers of your nervous system. They transmit records to nerve cells, muscle tissues and gland cells in the course of your body.Isnt it great?? This "second brain" is so sturdy that it can proceed to feature even when the principal neural connection between your gastrointestinal device and the talent (called the vagus nerve) is severed. This capability that even even though your talent would not be capable to talk with your gut, neurons in your intestine wall would nonetheless be in a position to transmit the facts critical for your digestive tract to feature on its own.

2. Veins, capillaries and arteries could be stretch for greater than 60,000 miles if laid out flat.

When your coronary heart beats, it pumps blood via your circulatory device made up of blood vessels referred to as arteries, capillaries and veins. These blood vessels elevate blood to each section of your body: Arteries raise oxygenated blood away from the heart; veins elevate blood again to the coronary heart and capillaries join them together. If you had been to lay out the big community of blood vessels from an common baby stop to end, they would stretch for over 60,000 miles! In an common adult, they would stretch for nearly 100,000 miles! Your capillaries, which are your smallest blood vessels (measuring solely 5 micrometers in diameter), would make up almost eighty percentage of this length. In comparison, the Earth's circumference is about 25,000 miles. This skill the blood vessels from simply one individual should stretch round the Earth many times!

3. A normal Person loses 200 million pores and skin cells each and every hour, and these lifeless pores and skin cells can simply reduce air pollution significantly.

Your pores and skin grows fast. Like virtually fast. During a 24-hour period, you can lose up to 5 billion pores and skin cells (that's 9 zeros!) — about 200 million each hour. Your dermis (the pinnacle layer of your skin) is constantly working to exchange these misplaced pores and skin cells with new ones. In fact, ninety five percentage of the cells in your dermis work to make these new pores and skin cells. The different 5 percentage produce melanin, which offers skin its color. According to the American Chemical Society, these lifeless pores and skin cells are a massive contributor to residence dirt and can be beneficial. As your lifeless pores and skin cells fall off and accumulate round your domestic and office, they're additionally taking with them pores and skin oils such as ldl cholesterol and squalene. Studies have proven that squalene can minimize degrees of ozone – a detrimental pollutant that can irritate your eyes, nostril and throat and exacerbate bronchial asthma symptoms. In fact, the squalene in settled dirt can minimize ozone in indoor spaces, lowering indoor air pollution stages by way of up to 15 percent.

4. Your cornea is such a special part of your eye that has no blood vessels in it.

Your cornea is the obvious section of your eye that covers the scholar (the opening at the middle of your eye), the iris (the coloured phase of your eye) and the anterior chamber (the fluid-filled internal of your eye). The cornea's obvious nature approves mild to ignore onto the retina and then to the intelligence to procedure what you are seeing. What's fascinating is that the solely motive your cornea is obvious is that it is solely one of two tissues in your physique – the different being cartilage – that is totally free of blood vessels! Scientists have recognised for a whilst the cornea is obvious and free of blood vessels, however they should in no way provide an explanation for why till 2006. This protein can halt angiogenesis, or the boom of blood vessels. Without these giant quantities of VEGFR-3, our imaginative and prescient would be notably impaired. For instance, when the cornea is clouded by way of injury, contamination or peculiar blood vessel growth, your imaginative and prescient can be severely impacted, and blindness can occur. This discovery is promising for researchers searching to stop and treatment blinding eye illnesses and illnesses, such as cancer, due to the fact the introduction of the protein can be used therapeutically in different tissues.

5. Bacteria present in your intestine can affect your mood.

We already noted your intestine can do some surprisingly notable things, however did you be aware of it can additionally have an effect on your intellectual health? You have an colossal wide variety of micro organism in your intestine that are mutually referred to as your microbiome. This series of micro organism can have an effect on neural development, talent chemistry, emotional behaviors, ache grasp and stress.

Your intestine is sterile when you are born. Over time, your GI tract will improve a numerous colony of bacterial species, which can be influenced via your genetics and the micro organism in the surroundings you stay in. Your microbiome produces heaps of neurochemicals that your intelligence makes use of to alter learning, reminiscence and even your mood! In fact, your microbiome produces about ninety five percentage of your body's serotonin, the crucial hormone that stabilizes your mood, emotions of well-being and happiness. Serotonin additionally helps decrease depression, alter anxiety, preserve bone fitness and facilitate tactics such as sleeping, ingesting and digestion. And it is all feasible thanks to your gut!

6. Your brain gets shrinked duration the time of pregnancy.

This reality gives an absolutely new that means to the time period "pregnancy brain." A 2017 find out about posted in the journal Nature Neuroscience printed pregnant girls trip rate reductions in cortical thickness and floor region in sections of the intelligence referred to as gray matter. This loss of gray count number particularly happens in the cerebral cortex, in particular in areas that impact social cognition, the place we method people's emotions and nonverbal signals. Rather than having a terrible effect, this loss of extent improves the brain's capability to procedure social conditions extra efficiently, mainly when decoding babies' wants and emotions.

The find out about observed the Genius goes via these changes, which are concept to be evolutionary, at some stage in pregnancy to decorate emotion and facial recognition, promote mother-infant bonding, facilitate a mother's capability to apprehend the wants of her toddler and extra rapidly manner social stimuli that may also pose a practicable hazard to her child

Felt better? If yes, don't forget to comment down which fact you liked the most. I told you facts can also remove bordem.I hope you are energized and active. So, meet you in the next article. Till then, have a great day. Bye

#Facts

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carrowbrown · 6 years

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DBZ Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or anything related to it. All the content in this story is written purely for fun. Please enjoy. ----

Chapter One: I was serious three planets ago.

The bug-eyed created pointed one of its fingers to the screen. "So what about this planet?"

Captian Taiji walked over, his serpent-like tail slithering on the floor behind him as he peered at the monitor of the helm officer. His talon flicked through the details of the planet that were collected from a probe that had come a few weeks prior to their arrival.

"Low population for a planet that size," he mused. "Am I reading these scans correctly? Plenty of water and vegetation, but low life forms?"

"The researchers think there was a recent war of sorts. You can see it in the craters all over the surface, but," the helm officer brought up another close screen of the craters, "if you look closely, you can see that they aren't the result of meteorites." He leaned back to look at the captain. "You think the population is open to trading?"

The captain frown, his attention fixed on the display of the blue planet. "Wasn't there something about this planet in the galaxy logs? The name seems familiar."

"Perhaps." The helm officer flew across the console keys, pulling up the galactic records. After skimming through the scrolling text, he pointed a finger to one line. "It says that Lord Freeza and his father were killed here by a Sayjin."

The captain's scaly browns went up. "That's right. I remember those reports. A Sayjin… That's interesting. Any active tags to show they're still there?"

"No, I double checked." The humanoid-insect leaned back in his chair. "Unless they learned how to deactivate them."

"Shame. Who knew how much they'd be needed after they were eradicated. We're lucky we found the one we did." He studied the planet display again, his tail flicking to and fro as he stared in silence. "Prepare for entry. We'll open for trade and see what we can find out. If we're lucky, maybe the Sayjin did some repopulation activities."

The helm officer chuckled, the sound coming out in a series of clicks and hisses. "Of course." He turned and punched in codes as the lights on the ship changed from their calming blue to green: the color to let the crew know to prepare for landing.

* * * * *

Five years.

Five years since the androids were destroyed. Five nice, peaceful, years humans used to up the pieces and put their lives back together. Sure, there had been hard times in some places with food shortages or small domestics, but they weren't that urgent in the large scheme of things. Bulma herself was content with the current state of things. Could they be better? Of course. Would they? In time.

Between her and Trunks efforts, life returned to a sibilance of normalcy. A slow return, but steady. Thanks to Capsule Corporation technology, getting supplies and much-needed rations to different people around the world made relief work for more deprived areas possible. People still flinched when a shadow passed overhead, but the children that were running about didn't have such reactions. They were growing up in better times and that was all that mattered to the blue haired scientist.

Bulma leaned back in her office chair, rubbing her eyes with a sigh. A look at the clock showed she'd been there for the better part of six hours. As if by magic, the moment she saw the time her stomach growled.

I'm turning into my father, she mused, standing and walking out of the office. Days would pass and he'd forget to feed himself if it wasn't for mother.

It made her sad to think of her parents, gone now. So many of those on earth were lacking parents or key family members. Her heart went out to Chichi, living with her father in the middle of the woods with her husband and son gone. Bulma felt lucky in that, she still had her son.

Walking into the kitchen, a bright yellow post-it note stuck to the coffee maker caught her attention. She picked it up, looking at the small and neat handwriting of her son.

Hi mom. Looked like you were in the zone. I left you some breakfast. Going to Pepper City to see about fixing a generator. Back for dinner. Trunks.

"Such a good boy." She smiled at the note, placing it on the table before opening the fridge to see what creation Trucks had left her. Bright and gifted he was, he still has single-man habits when it came to the concept of foods. Nachos for dinner, beans on toast, and take-out where Trucks' idea of 'making dinner.' Bulma spotted the left-over pizza and felt her stomach growl.

Putting it into the microwave, she mused over the change of her son. Since his return, Trunks spent more time taking care of her than her taking care of him. It never reached a fussy level, but she noted how close he stayed to home.

He never elaborated about his time in the past. When he did speak about it, it was too cut and dry. Too technical. Like a lab report. Something had happened that shook him, but hell if she could guess what it was. She hoped one day Trunks would be willing to share it with her.

"Maybe one day," she said, speaking herself. "You definitely picked up some of your father's manors."

Bulma hoped that Vegeta had been a good father figure for Trunks… or at least what he thought was a good one. Placing a hand over her heart, she mentally pushed away the pangs of loneliness. Whoever had said time heals all wounds never loved a Sayjin Prince. Vegeta hadn't been the greatest of lovers, but he'd been perfect for her. Equal in ego, wit, power—in their own ways—and passion.

The beeping brought her out of her thoughts and she looked back to the microwave—

—it was still cooking.

The beeping happened again and she looked up to find one of the droids she made was floating overhead while flashing at her. She blinked at it, completely taken by surprised by it. She'd made it over thirty years ago when the first Sayjin had landed on earth.

She'd made it to give warning before there was another landing.

Snapping out of her daze she punched a button on the droid and pulled it down to look at the screen on it. The image showed a ship that was slowly lowering into the atmosphere. It wasn't like one of the pods that she'd seen and much larger than the Namek ship she'd piloted. There were what she suspected to be weapons on the ship, but they were pointed up and away from the surface of the earth.

For now.

Oh please, kami, Bulma thought. Let this be a peaceful group.

She rushed out of the kitchen and do her speeder, her food in the microwave forgotten. Punching in the coordinates for the estimated landing site, Bulma guided the speeder up and let the navigation take over. She wasn't sure how much good she could do, but given she was one of the few people with experience in speaking to alien species, she wanted to do what she could with this new and unknown group.

And it would be a lie to say she wasn't a little excited about it.

* * * * *

The crew scurried about the ship like an ant colony. The security prepped and handed out ki-blaster to those venturing outside. By the main door, a group of environmental scientist in light blue bodysuits checked, rechecked, and triple checked the readings of the planet's atmosphere.

"It's safe," one said, over the ship intercom. "You can breathe the air. I don't recommend drinking the water or eating anything until we have it tested. No telling what's developed on this planet."

"Understood. At least we don't have to greet them wearing the suits," said the captain. "Landing crew ready?"

"Yes, sir." The helm officer looked at his screen and tilted his head at the monitor. "There is a message from engineering about one of the turbo engines."

The captain grimaced at the announcement. "Stall for me. I want to stretch my legs a bit before having to deal with the head engineer." He wanted to step outside and breath in planet-created air and bath in the warmth of a sun. All the crew did.

"Yes, sir," The officer said as he turned his attention back to his own monitor.

Rolling his shoulders, the Captain went back to his chair to pluck his modest officer jacket up and worked it on. He took a moment to smooth it out, attempting to be as presentable as possible. Often these visits went well, but normally they were planets that were used to outside visitors. If records were correct, the only real outside visitors this sphere had gotten were Sayjins and that was not always the best introduction to life in space. He nodded to two others on the ship, his second in command and communication officer.

Most planets understood Galatic Common.

The trio made their way towards the entrance of the ship where three security officers stood waiting for them. At the sign of the three officers, they straightened to attention and saluted.

"At ease," the captain said. Once the men relaxed, he added, "I want this to be a peaceful mission. We don't know the culture, the customs, or even if they speak Galactic Common. For all we know, we've landed on a holy area and started a war. So," he gave each crew member in front of him a look, "best behavior. We want to trade and stay planetside for as long as the welcome lasts."

They all answered with a curt nod.

The computer by the door beeped, a computerized voice saying, "Door opening. Please watch your step."

The captain pulled in a breath and released it. "Let's make friends."

The computer unlatched all the safeties as the first whoosh of fresh air rushed into the ship. Security took the lead and once the all-clear sounded on the displayed of his scouter.

Taiji stepped out, barely suppressing a groan as natural warmth touched his scaly skin. His head tilted back and eyes closed and he soaked in the feel of the air all around him. He'd spent too long under a sun-lamp and not enough time in the sun.

"Captian," one of the security men said, "something's coming."

Looking around, Taiji picked out a growing dot in the distance. He watched it, assuming it to be a vessel of sorts. "No sudden moves. Let's see what happens."

They watched the large Capsule Corps car slow and coming to a stop several yards from them. A female shaped figure stepped out and stood there. She didn't move or speak. Instead, the creature did the same thing they were doing.

Watching.

Before he could take a step toward the figure, the second in command nudged him and jerked his head down the way they had come. The captain looked back to the figure marching over to him down the corridor and visibly cringed.

Apparently, the helm officer couldn't stall for very long. But seeing the look on his chief engineer's face, Taiji wouldn't have been able to either. Horrific storm clouds looked cuddly next to the promise in those dark eyes.

In truth, her appearance was cousin to the female that awaiting outside with only a few differences in her build. Sturdy and made for a warmer climate. Her hair was black and matted even though it was tightly braided in a bun. She wore engineer coveralls with easy to see patches and stains on it from oil and who knew what else. Her face was a little messy from smearing oil across it, but other than that, one would say the female was pretty indeed.

"Captain," The female said, speaking in her native language. It was a composition of clicks, low single syllables, that all merged together into something musical. "I would really like it if you would listen to me."

"I always listen to you, Veta," Taiji said in Galactic Common, trying to keep his tone light. "Now is not th-"

She cut him off. "You don't. Because if you did listen to me three planets ago, we could have actual turbo coils and not the makeshift ones I've made from the buffer panels." The female jerked a thumb towards the front of the ship. "Now we can't leave."

That got the Captain's attention and he frowned at Veta. "What do you mean we can't leave?"

"I mean we are stuck here," she said, pointing a finger to the ground, "until I can make actual replacement coils. Or buy them. The material I was using wasn't meant to transmit the type of energy that the engine needs to function. It was just a bandage over a wound. We're lucky the ship didn't explode on entry." She stopped to peek outside the door and nodded at the scenery. "At least we landed on a nice planet and not a piece of shit."

Taiji frowned, staring hard at his engineer. "How long would it take you to fix it?"

Veta shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know. Depends if I can find what I need on this planet or not. Could be a few weeks or a few months."

Buju spoke up, speaking in Veta's native tongue, though it lacked the musical quality, "You can't be serious."

Taiji's chief leveled a glare at the communications officer. "I was serious three planets ago."

The two looked at each other for a long moment while the others around them watched nervously. The Captain sighed in defeat and rubbed his three eyes. "Fix what you can, and I will see what can be done about obtaining the materials you need."

"Thanks." She gave him a curt nod and walked off back to the engine room, a monkey-like tail swayed in time with her walk.

Taiji pulled in a breath and released it. "One step at a time."

Looking back out to the female figure that was standing before the ship, the Captain recomposed himself before walking towards her. His second in command and communication officer came with him with a much heavier air about them than they'd originally had. The Captain kept himself looking has unintimidating as he could while walking over to the native who did not seem overly alarmed by his being there. A curious thing.

Once he was close enough, he bowed his head in what he hoped would be a respectful gesture here. "My name is Captain Taiji. We come to you in peace and in need. I'm afraid we're stranded here."

* * * * *

Author note: Hey all! If you made here, then I hoped you like the start of what I've done so far. I haven't written fanfiction in a long time and I wanted to pick this story up again. If you like it, let me know! Feedback is always welcomed-motivating-and appreciated.

#fanfic #fanfiction #dbz #dragonballz #trunks #oc

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scootoaster · 4 years

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Did humans truly domesticate dogs? Canine history is more of a mystery than you think.

Dogs have a unique drive to bond, even with members of another species. Finnigan, the pet goldendoodle, is one of millions of examples in the US. (The Voorhes/)

A black-and-white Boston terrier named Chevy, as sleek and dapper as a seal in a tuxedo, trots crisply into the soundproof testing room. His jaunty confidence will fade quickly as a team of researchers subjects him to a series of psychological experiments that will daunt, dismay, and ultimately baffle him. Poor Chevy is about to be gaslit for the sake of science.

This spiffy little terrier is volunteer number one on day number one of an ambitious project launched by Harvard University evolutionary neuroscientist Erin Hecht to answer basic questions about what dogs do and why they do it. She plans to collect data on the psychology and behavior of hundreds of them across all breeds over many years: how easily they make friends, how well they behave, how they feel about vacuum cleaners. Four video cameras document Chevy’s reactions to an experimenter’s precisely scripted maneuvers. From a reception room next door, the rest of Hecht’s team watches through a one-way mirror.

After some preliminary scratches and pats, Harvard undergraduate Hanna McCuistion gives Chevy a few treats, then places the next one under a glass jar. He sniffs eagerly at it, then gazes beseechingly at her, cocking his head back and forth, turning up his dials to maximum cute. A classic move, Hecht explains: Faced with a difficult situation, a dog quickly turns to a human for help. After 20 seconds, McCuistion lifts the jar for him, and he gobbles up the snack.

A few more simple tests, then she ushers Chevy into a large wire cage and leaves him alone in the room. He fidgets and softly whimpers. Experimenter two, Stacy Jo, soon enters, but she turns away, facing the wall for a few long moments while Chevy stares fixedly at her back. Without making eye contact or speaking, she approaches his cage and sits precisely 1 foot in front of the door, eyes on his chest. Chevy stands stock-still, ears perked, trembling slightly. Nonscientifically speaking, this dog is completely weirded out. From the other side of the mirror, the scene is both agonizing and hilarious, like the world’s most awkward date. Heroically, Jo keeps a straight face.

The data from these tests—plus DNA samples—will ultimately give Hecht new hints about what changed in dogs after their wild leap into tameness. Biologically, they are almost all wolf; technically, they’re the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris, but they are fundamentally different from their forebears. You can hand-raise a wild animal to be tame, and that individual might be gentle and mild-mannered. But domestication is a different story. For dogs and other animals who live with us, tolerance and trust are engraved in their genes and in their brains.

Hecht’s study is a way to get insight into the broader subject of how neural matter evolves under strong environmental pressures—in this case, the very peculiar circumstances of living with, depending on, and loving another species. “I’m interested in dogs, both for the sake of dogs, and for what we can learn about humans,” she says. “But more generally, dogs are a great way to understand basic processes about how brains evolve.”

She is among a wave of investigators puzzling out exactly how these furballs got to be our face-licking, tail-wagging, number-one fans. We prefer to think that humans wrote the story of domestication: Some galaxy-brain hunter-gatherer kidnapped a wolf puppy, then shaped a new species as a prey-sniffing partner, watchdog, and companion. But increasingly, most researchers think that dogs were the original authors of this tale. Long ago, some wolves hitched their destiny to ours, launching an extraordinary love affair that forever entangled both our fates.

Though archaeology can help us pin down the when and where of dog domestication (current thinking is that it happened at least 15,000 years ago in Europe, Asia, or both), bones are mostly silent on the how and the why of this story. By studying other canids like foxes and wolves, and by analyzing dog genes, behavior, and brains—their sweet, friendly, trusting brains—researchers are developing new ideas about how the big bad wolf became the dear little dog. Some argue that their social intelligence is what makes them extraordinary; others point to their devotion, that deep soulful craving for humans.

As the first domesticated species, dogs are also a model for how other mammals—including us—got that way. Scientists see in their genes and minds hints about our own unusually tolerant nature. During much of the human journey from just another primate to world-conquering hominid, our four-legged pals have been right by our side. They are our familiar, our echo, our shadow, and as we now look more closely into their eyes, we can glimpse a new image of ourselves.

Dogs just <i>get</i> us, without any teaching, looking to us to help solve their problems. (The Voorhes/)

One night in 2011, Hecht and her miniature Australian shepherd, Lefty, were on the couch watching TV when a show came on about the legendary Belyaev foxes. Dmitry Belyaev was a Soviet geneticist in the early 1950s, a time when Moscow suppressed genetic research as a product of the imperialist West.

Unable to study his chosen field openly, Belyaev hit upon an ingenious plan. He could experimentally tame foxes raised for their coats. Since animals kept by humans tend to reproduce more frequently, officially he’d be accelerating Soviet fur production. But the project would sneak in some science. His theory was that just by breeding for tameness, what’s now called the “domestication syndrome” would emerge: more-juvenile behavior, and physical changes like white splotches on the belly and face, floppy ears, shorter snouts, and smaller teeth.

The research got going in earnest in 1959 in Siberia. Belyaev’s partners selected animals that were simultaneously less fearful and less aggressive (these traits typically go hand in hand), then crossed them. Just four generations later, in 1963, when collaborator Lyudmila Trut approached a fox cage, one of the kits wagged its tail at her. By 1965, a few juveniles were rolling on their backs and whimpering for attention, just like puppies. The researchers also kept a population of randomly bred control animals, and later, a strain of extremely fearful, combative ones. This landmark study continues to this day.

Hecht already knew this history. But the show sparked a realization: Nobody had analyzed the foxes’ brains. Usually, humans breed goats or sheep or other domesticated animals for many traits, including temperament, size, and coat color, all of which might leave inadvertent marks on the mind. But differences between tame and regular fox noggins could be due only to selection on behavior—what Belyaev and Trut did. They’d stand out like a beacon, illuminating exactly which circuits or new neurochemistry turned a cringing, snarling little vixen into a sweetie. And they’d point the way to a deeper understanding of how evolution can remold a mind.

“On the one hand, there’s the basic question of how brains evolve,” Hecht says. “And the more specific question, which is: What are the neural correlates of domestication? Surprisingly, we don’t know.” At least not yet.

Whatever she found could also provide insight into a few emerging theories. One, articulated in 2005 by anthropologist Brian Hare and psychologist Michael Tomasello, proposes that back in the day, some unusually plucky wolves began hanging around humans to scrounge for scraps, giving rise to a less timid subpopulation. Without fear holding them back, these proto-pooches could repurpose their existing social skills to understand and communicate with us. They self-domesticated. That’s the essence of a dog, Hare and Tomasello argue: reduced fearfulness enabling advanced social cognition, that uncanny ability to read our minds. They called the idea “the domestication hypothesis.”

The proof is that pups just get us, without any teaching. Chimpanzees, for instance, struggle to follow a pointing gesture, but most mutts understand it right away. That thing Chevy did—looking to McCuistion to solve his problem—is another example. He intuitively knew how to ask for help.

In the sulci and peduncles of fox brains, Hecht might see signs of whether this theory or others hit the mark. She emailed Trut, who sent a few dozen specimens from recent generations of the Russian foxes, and used MRI to measure the relative size and shape of various structures in their brains.

Hecht saw changes in the parts of the limbic system and prefrontal cortex involved in emotions and social behavior. These data could support the “domestication hypothesis” but don’t rule out other competing ideas either. This initial finding mostly confirms that the brain regions you’d expect to be different are, in fact, different. So, for a finer-grained picture, Harvard postdoc Christina Rogers Flattery is adding another dimension to the analysis, shaving the fox brains into tissue-thin slices and staining them with a dye that reveals their neurochemistry. She’s looking at the pathways of neurons that make the neurohormone vasopressin and at a serotonin subsystem, both of which are linked to aggression. She’s also investigating cells that make oxytocin, which promotes social bonding. There are many possible neural modifications that could lead to tame behavior, such as the boosting of circuits involved in social bonding, or the tamping down of systems that trigger violent attacks. By weaving together Flattery’s investigation with brain scanning, plus genetic insights from a third collaborator, geneticist Anna Kukekova at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the group might identify a Grand Unified Brain Theory of Tameness—or at least its neural-circuit diagram.

To gain the trust of humans, dogs may have learned to become experts at conflict management over time. (The Voorhes/)

As Chevy responds to his prompts, he’s representing not just himself, but also his breed. While we all have the sense that pit bulls and Pekingese and Irish wolfhounds have distinct personalities and skills, Hecht hopes to pin down those differences. It’s yet another way to explore how selective pressure—in this case, kennel-club propagation—shapes a brain. In a recent paper, Hecht analyzed MRI scans from 33 breeds, finding that, for instance, a Weimaraner’s noggin has extra terrain devoted to visual processing, and that of a basset hound is primed to analyze smells.

In that same paper, Hecht also looked at a Boston terrier’s brain, which was loaded up with networks related to social activity. Chevy seems to be no exception. Tests all done and DNA sample collected, he bursts into the waiting room, zipping around to greet each person individually, a tiny whirlwind of bliss and joy.

As the little guy gazes into each human’s eyes, little bursts of oxytocin likely erupt in his brain (and in each of our heads as well), findings from a 2015 study suggest. The hormone promotes bonding, which might be why canines are so good as therapy or emotional-support animals for people who have survived trauma.

This swirl of friend-making ecstasy has inspired a rival origin theory that focuses on feelings rather than cognition: “their hearts, not their smarts,” in the words of Clive Wynne, behavioral scientist at Arizona State University. With collaborators Nicole Dorey and Monique Udell at the University of Florida and Oregon State University, respectively, Wynne proposes that the essence of dog identity has to do with emotional connections—love, to use a word rare in science. “It’s kind of obvious, in a sense,” Wynne says. “They’re amazingly affectionate. It’s just been avoided, in part, because it doesn’t sound serious enough to be a topic of investigation.”

The researchers happened upon this line of inquiry in 2008, when they set out to establish further proof for the “domestication hypothesis.” But their head-to-head study of dogs and wolves found quite the opposite. Well-socialized wolves from a research institute in Indiana easily followed human pointing gestures, while some shelter dogs who’d had little contact with people did not. (Later studies showed that coyotes and even some hand-reared bats can do it too.)

Another surprise came from a simple test measuring the amount of time each canid hangs around a familiar person. Dogs stick close; wolves—even friendly hand-raised ones—don’t. Dogs, they reasoned, have a unique drive to bond, even with members of another species. Every pup is born with the capacity, including some 750 million stray “village dogs” worldwide. Incidentally, that ability to form interspecies bonds also explains why livestock breeds can be so vigilant guarding sheep or ducks.

More recently, Princeton University evolutionary biologist Bridgett vonHoldt discovered what might be the root of this affection. In the DNA of dogs, she and her team found a marker of evolutionary pressure on chromosome 6. In humans, equivalent mutations cause Williams-Beuren syndrome, a developmental disorder that leads to indiscriminate friendliness, or hypersociability. “I like to think that, in a very positive, adoring fashion, maybe dogs have the canine version of the syndrome,” she says. Here too the change initially arose in them, rather than through something we humans intentionally did.

Exactly how a few gene changes could transform a canid or a human into everyone’s BFF is unclear, and for unknown reasons, the tendency is stronger in some dogs—cough, Labrador retrievers—than others. In one of Hecht’s tests, known as the “empathy task,” experimenter McCuistion pretends to smash her thumb with a hammer, yelping as if in pain. Some animal subjects leap into the person’s lap, licking the faux wound. Chevy pretty much ignores her.

Nonetheless, studies of different kinds of canines raised under identical conditions hint that neither hypersociability nor social-cognition theories like the “domestication hypothesis” answer every question. Starting a decade ago, teams at the Stockholm University and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna’s Wolf Science Center began raising groups of dogs and wolves in the lab. In their first months, both sets of puppies are with people 24 hours a day; after that, the animals live in packs with extensive human companionship.

These experiments indicate that dogs aren’t just wolves with better social skills. For one thing, hand-raised wolves are quite affable; they happily greet their caretakers and will go for walks on a lead. In 2020, the Stockholm team noted, to their surprise, that a few of their puppies intuitively comprehend “fetch” gestures, just like dogs do.

In fact, research out of the Wolf Science Center has found that in some situations, these wild animals are actually more tolerant than dogs: Given food to share, dogs keep their distance from one another. Wolves bicker and snarl at first, then eat peacefully side by side. In one study, pairs of wolves or dogs must cooperate to retrieve a piece of meat; wolves work together effectively, but dogs were “abysmally bad,” says investigator Sarah Marshall-Pescini. When she tested wolf-human and dog-human cooperation partners, the pattern became clearer. Wolves aren’t afraid to take the lead, while dogs hang back and wait for a human to make the first move.

These unexpected findings led Marshall-Pescini toward yet a third theory of self-domestication: Maybe the shift wasn’t a new social skill or expression of love, but rather a novel conflict-management strategy. Humans probably would’ve killed bold, assertive wolves as a threat. But they might have tolerated deferential, avoidant proto-dogs skulking around the camp, hoping for a handout. (Aggressive varieties are probably a recent phenomenon, the result of dog fanciers in the 18th and 19th centuries who created nearly all modern breeds.)

Her group is looking at village dogs to understand more about canine social structure and how they respond to humans. Compared with our pets, these free-ranging animals are probably far more similar to the early dogs that were their long-ago ancestors—some friendly, some shy, all of them in an uneasy, ambivalent relationship with the hairless apes they rely on to survive.

Lurking around the edges of this research, like some wolf sneaking beyond the campfire, is the idea that we too may have domesticated ourselves. That’s one reason Hecht hopes to find a signature of tameness; if she does, she can look for the same pattern in the brains of house cats as compared with wild ones, and in our gray matter in contrast to apes. Anthropologist Hare’s version of this account of human origins, “survival of the friendliest,” posits that just like dogs, we became more trusting and tolerant of one another in our long-ago past, which in turn allowed us to develop superskills in communication—language is one obvious example.

The notion of human self-domestication has bumped around at least since Darwin’s time, but today there’s actually evidence, points out primatologist Richard Wrangham of Harvard’s Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. In addition to our unusual (for primates) tolerance of strangers and our long adolescence, we show some of the physical traits associated with domestication syndrome. Compared with our hominid relatives, we have shortened faces and smaller teeth. In 2014, Wrangham and collaborators even proposed a possible biological mechanism in neural crest cells, which help shape many of those body parts during embryonic development. The implication, as implausible as it might seem in these times, is that our species evolved to get along peaceably with one another.

In December 2019, a European group found that the gene BAZ1B, located in the Williams-Beuren region, influences facial shape by directing such cells. It could explain part of the human self-domestication story, Wrangham says.

Back in Hecht’s lab, a new volunteer named Coda runs through his tests. (Coincidentally, he’s also a Boston terrier.) For one task, McCuistion places a treat on the floor, says, “No! Don’t take it!” and then closes her eyes. Dogs know what eyes closed means, so at this point, most snatch the treat. Not Coda. As his owner points out, he’s always a very good boy. He sneaks a look at it, licks his lips, then stares glumly into space, waiting, deferring, and avoiding conflict, as is his dogly destiny.

Over on the other side of the one-way mirror, the humans are entirely absorbed in this drama. “Goooood boy,” someone says. Even after McCuistion finally gives him permission to eat the snack, he still stands there looking sadly at her. A chorus erupts in the waiting room: “C’mon, Coda, take it!” We can all see his desire, feel his restraint. It’s enough to make you wonder who, exactly, evolved to read whose mind.

To look upon a dog, even through a one-way mirror, is to look upon our own species as well—what it takes to live in harmony, to understand one another, to replace fear and aggression with love and loyalty. Perhaps that is why dogs are so thoroughly delightful. They are a living reminder of a better version of ourselves. His afternoon of psychological prodding over, Coda takes the treat and shakes himself. His owner comes into the room, and he leaps up onto her lap, panting happily, staring deep into her eyes as she looks directly into his.

This story appears in the Spring 2020, Origins issue of Popular Science.

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gethealthy18-blog · 4 years

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33 True Facts About Love

New Post has been published on https://healingawerness.com/getting-healthy/getting-healthy-women/33-true-facts-about-love/

33 True Facts About Love

33 True Facts About Love Harini Natarajan Hyderabd040-395603080 December 23, 2019

When you stop to think about love, you most probably picture couples cuddling, holding hands, or simply walking off into the sunset together. In fact, you may picture yourself falling in love with that special someone of your dreams. You may even have a list of things you want in your perfect partner. What’s interesting is that there are a lot of biological factors that occur during “falling in love.” In today’s era, love is overly romanticized. Hence, you most probably aren’t aware of these scientific/true facts about love.

Falling in love can be exciting. The sky is bluer. Colors look brighter. Obstacles vanish. The whole world seems to be a more beautiful place because of the new-found love. Although all of this is true, it is also true that some of those feelings are occurring because of chemicals released in the brain. Although the science of falling in love isn’t very romantic, it is actually quite fascinating. Let’s take a look at these lesser-known facts about love that prove that love is no lesser than a super.

33 Love Facts That Will Amaze You

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1. Love Facilitates A Longer Life

Along with love and marriage comes a longer life. According to a study that was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, married individuals were 58% less likely to die over an 8-year period, compared to the ones who never got married (1).

2. Love And Lust Affect Different Areas Of The Brain

One-night stands do not automatically result in a fairy tale romance. Studies show that being in love activates those regions in the brain that are connected to empathy (2). However, lust is connected to different areas of the brain – mainly those associated with motivation and reward.

3. Red Roses Are The Official Flowers Of Love

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Have you ever thought why roses are the chosen flowers for lovers? That’s because roses are considered the absolute favorite of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

4. Love Really Makes You Do Crazy Things

Like making scenes, escaping from jail to see the person you love, or just acting plain silly. Do you know what happened to Joseph Andrew Dekenipp, who was a prisoner in Arizona? He broke out of jail just so he could meet his girlfriend for Valentine’s Day.

5. The World’s Longest Marriage Was For 86 Years

If you often complain that true love doesn’t exist, just look up Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher. This couple holds the record for the longest marriage in history, having been married for a staggering 86 years, 290 days.

6. Love Makes You More Empathetic And In Tune With Your Emotions

When you find the one who makes you strive to be the best version of yourself, your brain also responds accordingly. According to a study published in Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, a science journal, the social connection that comes with being in a happy relationship activates those parts of the brain that are responsible for emotional processing and selflessness (3).

7. Love Develops In Phases

Anyone who’s ever experienced love knows that it develops in phases. It increases in intensity gradually. It begins with an obsession that gradually mellows out into a more mature and understanding love.

8. Love Lowers Your Blood Pressure

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Those who have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, know of its association with everything from stroke to heart disease. Fortunately, according to a study published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine, being happily married can lead to lowered blood pressure (4). Go and kiss your partner for keeping you healthy!

9. Love Helps You Heal Faster

Having your hubby by your side when you are injured or sick doesn’t just get you emotional support. When partners share a close bond, injuries heal way faster when compared to those who are in an openly aggressive relationship with each other.

10. Men Fall In Love Faster Than Women

A study published in The Journal of Social Psychology states that men take the first step when they fall in love (5). They are mostly the ones who say “I love you” first in a relationship. This may be because females are more scared of being heartbroken.

11. Being In Love Reduces Headache Frequency By Half

If you have chronic headaches and have never found something to ease the pain, love might be what you have been looking for.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that 50% of participants having a headache reported their pain to be cut in half after around four hours when they were administered a nasal spray with a dose of oxytocin, the love hormone (6). An additional 27% stated that there was no pain at all after the same duration.

12. Love And Laughter Go Together

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If you want to be closer to your partner, watch a new comedy series together. In a study published in Personal Relationships, researchers stated that couples who laughed together were more satisfied in their relationship and more supportive of each other when compared to those who were sharing a serious relationship (7).

13. Long Distance Can Strengthen A Relationship

People often say that long distance relationships can’t and don’t work, but research says otherwise. According to a study published in the Journal of Communication, long-distance relationships are not only as successful as regular relationships, but they are also better at building trust between partners (8).

14. Being In A Relationship Can Shape Your Personality In A Positive Way

Pessimistic people are known to change for the better when they find a little bit of love in their life. A study published in the Journal of Personality observed 245 young couples for around nine months (9). The scientists found that neurotic partners in a relationship became more self-confident and optimistic, thanks to all the positive experiences and emotions that come with being in a relationship.

15. Love Can Ease Chronic Pain

Love isn’t going to replace modern medicine any time soon. However, it can come in handy if you ever experience serious pain. In a study conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine, researchers found that the warm and fuzzy feeling that love creates has the same response in the brain as strong painkillers do (10).

16. Cuddling Is Actually Good For You

There’s a good reason that couples love those snuggle sessions so much. Cuddling triggers the release of oxytocin, the happiness hormone, that betters your mood and increases your feeling of well-being. This phenomenon is so well-known that oxytocin is actually referred to as the “love hormone” or the “cuddling hormone.”

17. Love Is Chemically Addictive

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Romantic love is a very powerful addiction. This is because the hormones that your brain releases when you fall in love or are in love are euphoric. In fact, you may get so high that it can make you feel addicted to love as well as to the person you are in love with.

18. Love Is The Number One Reason Why People Get Married

More than 60% of the world’s population cited love as the reason they got married. The rest stated that financial stability was also an important factor.

19. The Heartbeats Of Couples Synchronize

When you and your partner gaze into each other’s eyes, what’s really happening is that your heart rates are syncing up. This has been stated by scientists at the University of California (11). The researchers have found that the couple’s heart rates were almost identical. This may be because of the strong link between couples on both physical and emotional levels.

20. Animals Commit To Monogamous Relationships As Well

Humans are not the only species in the animal kingdom that have monogamous relationships. Wolves, seahorses, beavers, otters, and barn owls are just a few of the other species that mate for life.

21. Hugging Your Partner Can Be An Instant Stress Reliever

Feeling extremely stressed? Hug it out with your lover. According to a study conducted by the University of North Carolina, psychiatrists found that when couples hugged, they had increased levels of oxytocin in their bodies (12). As mentioned before, oxytocin lowers stress levels and boosts mood. If you are having a rough day, doctors prescribe a long, tight hug!

22. Falling In Love Feels Like Being On Drugs

According to a study, that feeling of joy and euphoria you experience when you fall in love is essentially the same feeling that drug users experience (13). Both incidents trigger the release of hormones like adrenaline, dopamine, and oxytocin, giving you a real high.

23. It Can Only Take Up To 4 Minutes To Feel Attracted To Someone

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If you wish to make a good impression on a person, you only have about 4 minutes to do so. It is believed that it has more to do with the tone and speed of your voice and your body language than what you actually say.

24. Both Guys And Girls Must Have Required Testosterone Levels For Sexual Attraction

Yes, even girls have small amounts of testosterone in their bodies. Testosterone is responsible for creating desire as well as aggressive behavior – which actually pushes the person to pursue the object of this desire.

25. Being In Love Has Neurological Effects Same As That Of Cocaine

Being in love is almost like taking a dose of cocaine. Both experiences affect the brain in a similar way and trigger a similar sensation. Researchers have found that being in love can result in the production of several euphoria-inducing chemicals, which stimulate 12 areas of the human brain at the same time (14).

26. Couples Who Are Very Similar To Each Other Are Not Likely To Last

As everyone knows, opposites attract. Research also proves that this is at least partially true. Partners who are too similar or too different don’t last very long. There must be similarities, but there also have to be differences so that the two of you can learn from one another.

27. Heartbreak Is Real

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There is evidence that severe traumatizing events, such as a divorce, death of a loved one, break-up, physical separation, cheating, or betrayal, can cause real physical pain in the area of the heart. This condition is known as Broken Heart Syndrome (15).

Intense emotional distress triggers the brain to release certain chemicals that weaken one’s heart, leading to shortness of breath and chest aches. The condition is so intense that it is often misdiagnosed as a heart attack. It affects women more often than men.

28. People Who Are In Love Have Chemical Reactions Similar To People With OCD

People in the early stages of love have lower levels of the hormone serotonin, which is directly associated with feelings of well-being and happiness. They also have higher levels of cortisol, which is associated with stress. This is very similar to those people who have OCD or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

This explains why we don’t behave like ourselves when we fall for someone. It works the other way as well – people who have lower levels of serotonin tend to fall in love and get involved in sexual relationships quicker than others.

29. Butterflies In The Stomach Are Real – They Are Caused By Adrenaline

When you fall in love with someone, you can feel the butterflies dancing, flying, and fooling around in your tummy every time you see your special someone. They are caused due to adrenaline, which is released in your body as a flight or fight response.

30. Dilated Pupils Show That You Are Attracted To Someone

Darwin has stated that pupils expand during heightened focus and attention. This is true indeed, as this mostly occurs when people gaze at a beloved one or an object of desire, even if it is only a video or a picture. Moreover, people who have dilated pupils look more attractive to others as well.

31. People Are Attracted To Those With A Different Immune System

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If this isn’t weird, we don’t know what is. This was observed during a study run by Claude Wedekind of the University of Switzerland. He had female test subjects smell worn T-shirts of men (16). They consistently preferred the smell of those men’s shirts whose immune systems were different than their own.

32. Some People Can’t Feel Love

Some people who claim never to have fallen in love or felt romantic love are affected by a condition called hypopituitarism, which is a rare disease that doesn’t allow people to feel the high of love.

33. Your Body Has A “Vein Of Love”

Why are engagement rings worn on the fourth finger of the left hand? That is because the ancient Greeks believed that that finger has the vena amoris, or the “vein of love,” that connects straight to the heart. So romantic!

Love and attraction are complex things and, at times, frankly weird. It can be difficult to navigate through the early feelings, so why not jump in totally and experience the high? When looking objectively at your love life, note the things you dislike, make plans to change them, and move forward. You have only got a single chance to live life on your own terms. You already have everything you need to achieve complete happiness and love in your life, so don’t be afraid of it. You just need to reach out and grab it. All the best!

16 sources

Stylecraze has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

Cohabitation and U.S. Adult Mortality: An Examination by Gender and Race, Journal of Marriage and Family, Semantic Scholar. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7cce/ccabae943fe2d4822891b0f865f72981f924.pdf

The neurobiological link between compassion and love, Medical Science, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3524717/

The neural correlates of social connection. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24984693

Is There Something Unique about Marriage? The Relative Impact of Marital Status, Relationship Quality, and Network Social Support on Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Mental Health, Annals of Behavior Medicine, ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5504344_Is_There_Something_Unique_about_Marriage_The_Relative_Impact_of_Marital_Status_Relationship_Quality_and_Network_Social_Support_on_Ambulatory_Blood_Pressure_and_Mental_Health

Women and Men in Love: Who Really Feels It and Says It First? The Journal of Social Psychology, Taylor and Francis Online. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2010.522626

Oxytocin and Migraine Headache, Headache, The Journal of Head and Face Pain, Wiley Online Library. https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/head.13082

Putting Laughter in Context: Shared Laughter as Behavioral Indicator of Relationship Well-Being, Personal Relationships, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4779443/

Absence Makes the Communication Grow Fonder: Geographic Separation, Interpersonal Media, and Intimacy in Dating Relationships, Journal of Communication, Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jcom.12029

Recent Decreases in Specific Interpretation Biases Predict Decreases in Neuroticism: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study With Young Adult Couples, Journal of Personality, Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jopy.12102

Viewing Pictures of a Romantic Partner Reduces Experimental Pain: Involvement of Neural Reward Systems, PLOS One. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0013309

Assessing cross-partner associations in physiological responses via coupled oscillator models, Emotion, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21910541

Oxytocin and Social Bonds: The Role of Oxytocin in Perceptions of Romantic Partners’ Bonding Behavior, Psychological Science, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5734372/

Addicted to love: What is love addiction and when should it be treated?, Philosophy, psychiatry, & psychology, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5378292/

Neuroimaging of Love: fMRI Meta‐Analysis Evidence toward New Perspectives in Sexual Medicine, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.01999.

‘Broken-heart syndrome’… Be aware.., Indian Journal of Anesthesia, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4800929/

MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans, The Royal Society. http://www.coherer.org/pub/mhc.pdf

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The most terrifying sequence of 'Blue Planet II,' the bobbit worm, airs this weekend

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Each episode of BBC America’s Planet Earth: Blue Planet II takes viewers through a myriad of emotions, and this Saturday’s installment, “Coral Reefs,” is no different. There’s joy (adolescent bottlenose dolphins playing a game with broken pieces of coral in the Red Sea), and there’s wonder (an octopus and a grouper buddy up to hunt more effectively in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef). But there’s also stress. Prepare yourselves for the bobbit.

As narrator Sir David Attenborough explains, it’s “a giant carnivorous worm with jaws as sharp as daggers” that burrows in the sand and waits (like the creatures in Tremors) to pop up and snatch unsuspecting fish. You’ll have to tune in Feb. 3 to see the full sequence, which begins with a meter-long bobbit (yes, named after those Bobbits) doing some night stalking that flat-out traumatized U.K. viewers when the episode aired in Britain last November. When our sneak peek picks up, it’s dawn, and the tiny foraging bream fish that were such easy prey in the dark now have the advantage since they can spot the bobbit. In fact, they actually join together to blow away the sand and expose it — at least temporarily. Warning: this clip will make you jump (wait for it).

“Reefs are the cities of the sea. They occupy such a tiny part of the ocean floor, yet house a quarter of all [ocean] species. They really are these vibrant metropolises, and, like in any city, around every corner there could be great opportunity, but there also could be great danger,” episode producer Jonathan Smith tells Yahoo Entertainment. He knew about the bobbit’s hunting technique, but what persuaded him to include it in the episode was a conversation with a scientist, Jose Lachat, who told him he’d also observed bream mobbing a bobbit to reveal its hiding place. “That was the ultimate for me. I’ve heard people explaining this story and they’re giving a spoiler alert,” Smith says. “There are so many twists and turns through it that it’s the perfect story.”

Say hello to the bobbit – a metre-long worm with jaws as sharp as daggers#BluePlanet2 pic.twitter.com/Oj8oYLdQSM

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) November 12, 2017

What he loves most about the sequence, really, is that it actually turned out to be (near) impossible to film. “We’d been sent pictures of bobbits at night, hunting, with normal light on them, and they seemed fine. We got there and then [cameraman Hugh Miller] found a good bobbit worm, set up his studio, went down at night — bear in mind he’s like a meter away from this bobbit worm, sitting there and waiting — but the bobbit was too scared to do anything under the white light,” Smith says. “Luckily, he has been the only person in the world to have built an infrared lighting system for underwater. The problem with infrared underwater is that it attenuates incredibly quickly through the water column, so you just lose it, so you can’t really light much of an area. But he’d found a slightly different wavelength that enabled him to film at night in complete darkness, but still be able to capture imagery on this camera. And it just so happened he had taken that out to test it in the field. So suddenly everything changed: we went, ‘This is how we have to do the bobbit,’ and that’s why the bobbit sequence is the color that it is. It actually, I think, really gives that added element of horror to it. Hugh, creative genius, managed to capture and give an incredibly unique insight into this dark world of the reef.”

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Smith loves another of his favorite sequences — clown fish on the more barren outskirts of reef city pushing objects toward their anemone, to give the female something solid to lay her eggs on — because it seemed impossible when he first heard about it. At the beginning of production, he reached out to Roger Munns, a cameraman based in Borneo who’s spent decades filming and learning about the reefs there, to ask for the best stories he’s heard. “He was saying a couple of stories, and then he said, ‘But you know what, I’ve heard about this story over 10 years ago, where there’s a clown fish that will go out and collect things and push them to its anemone.’ And I thought, ‘Wow, this sounds like a brilliant story,’ but he had never seen it. We couldn’t find any pictures of it. There’s certainly no video of it. But it seemed so intriguing, we had to try and find out more,” Smith says.

The series’ researchers dug in and found one mention of the behavior from the late 1970s, but that was it. “So again, we reached out to the world, and there was a scientist in Papua New Guinea — you kind of feel like Sherlock Holmes when you think about the incredible size of this stuff,” Smith says with a laugh. “But he told us this extraordinary story. He’d been studying these clown fish in Papua New Guinea and measuring how many eggs that they make. In order to do this, he would take them this lovely shiny tile, something nice and solid and perfect, exactly what he figured they’d need. He went down to one family of clown fish, and — it’s so strange — they had tucked into their anemone a baby doll arm that had obviously drifted by somehow. And so he goes, ‘Okay, it’s a bit of rubbish,’ and he picked that out and discarded it, and then just put it to the side of the reef because he wanted whatever’s been living on it to still be okay. Then he put his tile under the anemone. When he came back a few days or a week later, expecting to find this tile covered in clown fish eggs, instead the tile was three meters away from the anemone. It had been completely shoved out. And sitting back under the anemone was the baby doll’s arm, covered in clown fish eggs. He sent us these pictures, so that was another part of why we thought, ‘Right, this certainly happened, so now we’ve just got to find the right clown fish and we’ve just got to sit there and wait and watch.'”

And that’s exactly what he and Munns did in Borneo — for probably about 100 hours, Smith estimates, before they finally started getting shots of the clown fish investigating and trying to move various objects that came nearby. Did the men ever think about giving up? “There are so, so many times, obviously, where you’re sitting there and thinking, ‘How are we ever going to manage it?’ And it’s even more so when you go into something slightly blind,” Smith says. “You know that logic tells you it should happen, but having never seen any film of it you’ve still got that slight [feeling of], ‘Are we completely wasting our time?’ But all of that makes the moment when it happens even more amazing.”

Marbled grouper make their move to mate, with grey reef sharks waiting to strike (GIF: BBC America)

Another high-risk sequence, which is featured in the “making of” segment at the end of the episode: marbled groupers waiting en masse for the precise moment they’ll swim upwards, females dropping eggs and males releasing sperm, in the hopes of giving their fertilized eggs a chance to be swept out with the tide. Why is it so dramatic? The hundreds of hungry grey reef sharks waiting above to swarm the groupers, and also because the groupers only spawn once a year, and the event lasts for just an hour — not great odds for a camera crew.

“If I know that in my hour-long film I can give you maybe 10 stories that describe what the coral reefs of our planet are, then I need to really pick and choose those stories carefully,” Smith says. “And there’s a couple of parts of this story that I really felt we needed to know to understand the bigger picture of the reef. And one of them is the fact that almost every animal on the reef has the same basic mating strategy, which is to get their eggs as far away from the reef as they can. And it kind of doesn’t make sense, because actually, out there away from the reef is the big blue world with little nutrients and little to offer, whereas the reef is this vibrant metropolis. But [it’s about] making it to the top of the reef city — we have to rise to the top — and if you’re a little baby, you’re a little egg, you can’t do that yet. You’re not ready. And ultimately, it’s because the reef is so competitive that everything throws its young away — but then they come and they resettle. And in that going and drifting and then resettling, that enables reefs to colonize new worlds, and ultimately gives us some hope in this changing world that reefs [which are being bleached by rising temperatures] can keep continuing into the future, because of this ability to adapt, which is all driven by the competition and the need to get to the top of the reef city. So I wanted to share that element. And then I thought, ‘Right, what’s the most amazing way we can possibly show that?’ And we thought 30,000 grouper, caught in the seabed of a channel in French Polynesia that’s patrolled by 500 grey reef sharks. That to me was a story that we had to try and do.”

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America.

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