Happy Atheist Forum

For the first, I knew that it was neither scurvy nor rickets. I had heard of both the others, and now that I think of it, I knew that kuru was essentially "mad human disease" caused by ingesting prions from brain tissue. In this case a result of cannibalism. I usually dive into the quiz fairly early in the morning--sometimes my brain hasn't quite got up to speed, as was the case here. Not recalling that fact, it was a toss-up between kuru and beriberi and luck wasn't with me.

One of the main reasons I do this quiz is to explore bits of information I don't have. As it turns out, also occasionally to revisit information. I now know that the word beriberi comes from Sinhalese (language of Sri Lanka) and historically the disease is endemic to Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. A diet with a dearth of meat or the right veg is the cause.

I knew that Mariner missions went to Venus, Mercury, and Mars, but am not au courant on the destinations of each mission. I guessed Venus, which was incorrect.

For the drugs, again I blame the hour--I knew that heroin was originally supposed to be a way to counter morphine addiction, but it didn't come to me in the moment and I chose heroin. Heh. Actually never bothered with the stuff. It killed several of my friends and acquaintances and that was enough to keep me away. Besides, I had tried opium a few times and found it uninteresting. That may partly be genetic. Several members of my family have found that opiates do not have the desired effect on them--nearly useless as a pain killer, for instance.

I knew something of the history of berkelium, and though I must have come across Claude Bernard in at least one history of science, did not recall anything about him. Now have done some reading about him. One of the first great scientists in the field of physiology--I'm ashamed I had forgotten any knowledge I may have had about him. Apparently referred to by some colleagues as a "great priest of atheism."  May have to add him to the HAF user ranks somewhere.  :)