Why is this guy smiling? Maybe because he almost never gets a cold.
The Week reported new research that shows alligators have "super immune systems that ward off virtually every virus and bacteria, and scientists are now trying to figure out their secret, to create treatments that could be used by humans." In a test of exposing alligator and human blood to 23 types of bacteria, the alligator blood killed all 23, while human blood only blocked 8.
Why would the lowly alligator have such special defenses? Well, the Challenge Dividend of course. According to Lancia Darville, a researcher at LSU:
"Alligators tend to get into tussles and fights. They have torn limbs and scratches that are exposed to all of this bacteria in the water, yet they are never infected."
In other words, millions of years of tussling in a bacterial soup has pressured alligators to evolve to the point that they have these super immune systems. Challenge leads to improvement, and survival.
And for humans, the challenge to cure disease and save lives leads researchers like Darville to seek innovative solutions through the study of alligator blood.
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