Горизонт N6/835

RUSSIAN DENVER / HORIZON
N05/834 от 02.05.2016 e-mail: info@gorizont.com Simply the best
10
tons) heads from their quarry.
Theorists have suggested everything
from log rollers to extraterrestrial
help for the task, but in
2012, California State University
Long Beach archaeologist Carl
Lipo proved that all that was
needed is hemp rope.
By attaching three hemp ropes
to the statue and having a team of
18 people rock it back and forth
until it «walked,» Lipo and his
team were able to move the hunk
of stone 328 feet (100 meters) in
less than an hour, they reported
in the Journal of Archaeological
Science. Easter Islanders would
have had woody shrubs similar
to marijuana plants to use
in making rope, the researchers
argued.
3. Hemp versus pot
What’s the difference between
hemp and pot, anyway?
A single genetic switch. In 2011,
researchers from the University
of Saskatchewan announced that
they’d discovered the genetic alteration
that allows psychoactive
cannabis plants (Cannabis sativa)
to give users a high (as compared
to industrial hemp plants,
which are no fun for smoking).
Industrial hemp plants are
the same species as marijuana
plants, but they don’t produce a
substance called tetrahydrocannabinolic
acid (THCA). This is
the precursor to tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), the psychoactive
ingredient in pot. Hemp plants
fail to produce this substance because
they lack a gene that makes
an enzyme to produce THCA,
according to University of Saskatchewan
biochemist Jon Page.
In contrast, marijuana plants
do produce THCA but don’t create
much of a substance called
cannabidiolic acid (CBDA),
which occurs in abundance in
hemp but competes with THCA
for raw materials. Thus, hemp is
rich in nonpsychoactive CBDA,
while marijuana is chock full of
mind-bending THC.
by Charles Q. Choi
4. Gender-bender
Smoking up could be a very
different experience for men
and women, according to a
2014 study in the journal Drug
and Alcohol Dependence. In
research on rats, Washington
State University psychologist Rebecca
Craft found that females
were more sensitive to cannabis’
painkilling qualities, but they
were also more likely to develop
a tolerance for the drug, which
could contribute to negative side
effects and dependence on marijuana.
The female rats’ higher levels
of the hormone estrogen seem to
play a role in these sex-specific
effects. Female rats are more sensitive
to the effects of cannabis at
ovulation, when estrogen levels
are highest, Craft said in a statement.
5. Pot for your pets?
People have used medicinal
marijuana to ease everything
from glaucoma to the side effects
of chemotherapy. So why
shouldn’t man’s best friend give
medicinal pot a shot?
Pet owners are already using
marijuana medicinally to help
their suffering cats and dogs, according
to a 2013 article in the
Journal of the American Veterinary
Medical Association. Most
of the time, animals that ingest
pot get over the effects within a
few hours, veterinarians say. But
in large quantities, pot can be
deadly to animals.
6. Does your heart hate pot?
Most of the debate about the
health effects of marijuana centers
on the brain changes that
may come with using the drug,
such as the drug’s association
with an increased risk of developing
schizophrenia and other
psychotic disorders. But could
smoking a bowl mess with your
heart, too?
In an April 2014 study, researchers
combed through
2,000 cases of medical complications
from marijuana in
France and found that 2 percent
involved heart problems, including
nine fatal heart attacks. The
study wasn’t designed to determine
why pot use might occasionally
lead to heart problems,
but previous research has found
that marijuana can increase
heart rate and blood pressure,
which could tip a vulnerable individual
over into heart attack
territory.
«The perception is that marijuana
is a magical drug, that it’s
totally safe, and we can use it
in medical treatment. What we
don’t know about are the negative
effects, the potential harms,»
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist
at Lenox Hill Hospital in
New York who was not involved
in the study, told Live Science at
the time.
7. Naming traditions
A wine lover might choose
between a pinot noir, a sangiovese
and a viognier to go with
dinner. A pot connoisseur, on
the other hand, could choose
between strains with names like
«purple haze,» «chocolope» and
«green crack.»
Bizarre names are a timehonored
tradition among pot
growers, going back at least to
the 1970s, when strains such
as «Maui Waui» (from Hawaii,
naturally) came onto the scene.
Why such goofy names? Well,
one reason might be the process
behind the naming decisions.
«So many times, we’ve finally
got to the end of a strain, and we
have it right there and it’s done,
and we’re like, ‘What do we call
it?’» one of the co-owners of
Amsterdam’s DNA Genetics, a
cannabis seed bank, told the LA
Times in July 2014. «And we sit
there, and we call all our friends
and smoke. That’s a brainstorm
session.»
8. It’s in the air
There are certain places where
a haze of pot smoke is to be expected:
Grateful Dead concerts,
for example, or marijuana legalization
rallies. But on the streets
of Rome?
Yes, according to a 2012 study
done in Italy, trace amounts of
marijuana are wafting through
the air around the Colosseum
and the Pantheon, as well as in
seven other Italian cities. Researchers
examined the air of
Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan,
Naples, Palermo, Turin and Verona
for psychotropic substances,
including cocaine, marijuana,
nicotine and caffeine. The scientists
found all of these substances
in all eight cities, with Turin having
the highest total concentrations
and Florence and Bologna
having the highest concentrations
of pot.
But even in Florence and
Bologna, tourists don’t need to
worry about a contact high while
taking in the sights. The levels of
marijuana and other substances
were far too low to affect human
health– but researchers said they
hope the findings can inform
drug policy by helping to estimate
drug consumption in each
city.
9. Baby soap oops
In an unusual case, a hospital
in North Carolina noticed an
uptick in the number of newborns
who were testing positive
for marijuana in their urine, a
finding that can suggest that
mom has been smoking and can
lead to social services getting involved.
But it turns out that these
babies weren’t suffering from pot
exposure. They were just soapy.
An investigation of the positive
tests found that ingredients
in several common baby soaps
can cause a false positive on
marijuana urine tests, researchers
reported in 2012. The soaps,
including formulas from Johnson
& Johnson, CVS and Aveeno,
don’t contain pot, nor do the
get infants high. A more sensitive
test can show that the initial
screening results were false positives,
researchers reported in the
journal Clinical Biochemistry.
10. Pot isn’t necessarily
green
Here’s a bummer for the
Mystical Experiences Open a ‘Door of Perception’ in the Brain
For Jordan Grafman, it was
just a split-second vision.
«About 15 years ago, my mom
died,» Grafman told Live Science.
«I was walking down the
street to catch the bus at about
5 a.m., and I looked down the
street and saw who I thought
was my mom, although my
mom had been dead for a week.
I looked back, and whatever was
there was gone.»
That momentary flicker in
perception intrigued Grafman,
who is a cognitive neuroscientist
and the director of brain injury
eco-conscious: Pot isn’t all that
«green.» The energy needed to
produce 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram)
of marijuana indoors is equivalent
to that needed to drive
across the country five times in
a car that gets 44 miles to the
gallon, according to a 2011 report
by a researcher at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory.
All those grow lights suck up a
lot of electricity.
Growing plants outdoors
could lessen marijuana’s carbon
footprint, but year-round
demand for the drug means
that industrial growers keep
their plants in warehouses and
greenhouses. Innovations such
as greenhouses equipped with
low-energy LED lights could
help make pot greener, but like
any large-scale agriculture, marijuana
growing will require largescale
energy.
11. Pot versus owls?
Outdoor grow operations
have their downsides, too–
particularly illegal plots of pot
plants. Endangered spotted
owls in California’s Mendocino
County are threatened by the rat
poison put out by people who
grow pot illegally on isolated
stretches of public land. In 2012,
two spotted owls found dead
in Mendocino County tested
positive for rat poison, as did
the bodies of 85 percent of dead
mammals called fishers.
The people who harvest illegal
pot can find themselves
with health problems, too. In
June 2013, hospital workers in
Albania reported a cluster of
marijuana-related illnesses, with
more than 700 patients treated
at one village. Workers near the
village of Lazarat who had prolonged
skin contact with cannabis
plants during harvesting and
packing developed symptoms
such as vomiting, stomach pain
and irregular heartbeats, according
to Reuters. Half of Albania’s
marijuana is grown illegally in
the region.
research at the Rehabilitation Institute
of Chicago.
«That, to me, was a mystical
experience,» Grafman said. «As
a scientist who has seen something
that, to me, seemed mystical,
I’m interested in figuring out
what happened to my brain.»
Now, Grafman and his colleagues
have pinpointed some
of the brain processes that lead
to such transcendent moments.