Kangaroo bacteria fight cancer
*article pulled from ‘Stories of Australian Science’

Australia’s iconic kangaroo may hold the secret for the war on cancer. Assoc. Prof. Ming Wei from the Griffith Institute of Health and Medical Research is using commensal bacteria found in kangaroos to develop anti-cancer agents that are expected to be effective in combating solid tumours, which account for up to 90 percent of cancers.

The bacteria’s spore, injected into blood, can seek out a tumour mass and release special enzymes which soften the tumour. Ming says conventional therapies were unable to penetrate solid tumour mass, thus having a low success rate. “In the labs, we train the bacteria, so they develop their innate ability to colonise tumours, digesting them, and stimulating the body’s natural immune system,” he says. “The bacteria don’t need oxygen to multiply and they grow much faster than the tumour.”

Ming says the bacteria were also present in humans and soil but when in kangaroos they contained more protein-digesting enzymes. The theory was tested on tumours in mice, with a 30 to 45 per cent success rate. Clinical trials are expected to start in two years, where this novel approach will be applied together with anti-inflammatory therapy for best results.

I bet you didn’t know…..

Turtles can recognize faces. They are one of the few reptiles that can be trained to do “tricks”.

The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight.

Ferrets sleep for about 20 hours a day.

All elephants walk on tip-toe, because the back portion of their foot is made up of all fat and no bone.

Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostates.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Armadillos can walk underwater.

Starfish don’t have brains.

When a giraffe’s baby is born it falls from a height of six feet, normally without being hurt.

The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can’t retract it’s claws.

The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.

The placement of a donkey’s eyes in its’ heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cows’ knees can’t bend properly to walk back down.

Americans spend more annually on cat food than on baby food.

Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day.

A zebra is white with black stripes.

A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.

A kangaroo can’t jump unless its tail is touching the ground.

A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

A cat uses his whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.

Giraffes have no vocal cords.

On a large sea otter, there are approximately 650,000 hairs per square inch.

Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed, and continue living.

To escape the grip of a crocodile’s jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs– it will let you go instantly… (ya think?)

Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex.