Prospects "Dust" Infection that REQUIRES Limb Severing

[00:00:00]Earth has been our home for quite a while, and there's always an interesting idea that pops up when we consider leaving it. What will we build? I really do wonder if it would cheapen the feeling of a planet, actually. I mean, if you think about it, all of human history is here on this planet.

[00:00:13]Everything we've built, everything in how we design our cities, all our wars and writings. It's an interesting idea, for sure, but I can tell you one thing that we would absolutely do. Helldive onto a planet and start cutting open creatures for resources. It's It's the human way, which brings us around to today's topic, Prospect. As humanity has reached the stars, the first thing we do is build crappy space junk vehicles and spread out amongst said stars. As a father and daughter go on a routine gathering operation, they would make planetfall, where they would realize there was more down there than they originally thought. However, the atmosphere is hostile, despite looking like Earth, and the creatures are odd.

[00:00:49]As they come across another group, this dude can't help himself but recreate The Last of Us. It is honestly bizarre at this point. Anyhow, it would result in the realization that they need to get off this rock together. As limbs are lost and father figures are abandoned, a question then emerges. Why exactly is the atmosphere so hostile, and what is making it invade our suits? Well, let's cover that and more as we discuss the pathophysiology of the Prospect spore and or pollen and or whatever it the dust, as it's called. We kick off today's story with the western music, but in space, as we look at a planet or maybe two of them, but a third? No, you're too greedy. A person uses a NASA-developed pen to write in space, as then she scribbles it out. Actually, which Fun fact for you, uh the millions of dollars by NASA to develop this pen that we use in space now was always dunked on because uh for some reason, I don't know, people were like, "Oh, the Russians used a pencil, and they're smarter for it." Except they weren't smarter for it. The graphite in the pencil would form dust that would then get into electrical components and short them out, and in some cases it's alleged to have started fires. So, yeah, all the hippies back in the '70s being like, "We're wasting money building these pins." Yeah, the pin was somewhat necessary, so you're dumb. Anyways, as Miss Sunshine then looks out at the planets annoyed, "Geez, with all that beauty and splendor of distant worlds, God, it's so irritating." She's sitting in the corner of the ship as someone then talks over the intercom. It's a rather large ship as we get prospect on this title card, which that's what we're watching. Crawling through a door, a guy is sitting in there as he told her not to leave, but she said she couldn't sleep. Space insomnia, it's a real thing. Low to zero gravity cause your brain to not fire correctly. Not to mention, your circadian rhythm would totally be shot out there. No sunrise, no sunset, just assumptions of time and keeping, I guess. So, doing something off camera that looks absolutely terrible from this angle. Oh, thank God, he was just charging his gun. She then gets the spear gun, I guess, together or whatever as uh it's later and she works on the headset. Broden puts some sort of stuff in his eyes and then he goes lay down and pass out, I suppose. And telling the girl she looks like her mom, well, she is 50% of it. Meiosis, as they say. Telling her about her mother and how her water broke way too early and they didn't expect her to actually come this early. She was born on Lao instead of Cambria, which I mean, based on personal experience, these planets sound like they really don't got anything on Earth, just kind of point that out. He then tells her it's not their home, but it is where they lived with her mom. He apologizes for not telling her as then he passes out. Attempting to wake him up, bro is out cold. Like, he literally says that statement and she's confused as to what he was supposed to tell her.

[00:03:23]Well, I assumed the whole thing was like, you know, where she was born, but apparently that's not what she thought it was. Anyways, as they stay above the planet, the alarm goes off and they get ready to go. Bro starts coughing, which I'm sure won't herald anything terrible later. Hey, it's future Roanoke here.

[00:03:37]No, it doesn't. Worse things happen, actually. Opening the flight book, they're there for three cycles only as then she sets her non-futuristic, but maybe 80s futuristic watch. Requesting release and then start their hell dive down towards the planet. Using the thrusters and break away from the mothership quickly as the piece of junk they are in suddenly can't handle the atmosphere. Also, I am live streaming for members. I did Helldivers last night. Thinking about playing in Shrouded tonight, which means nothing to you because that has already passed. And then also, we're going to play Subnautica 2 at some point. So, if you want to check it out, that's what I'm doing. Apparently, if you do it for members, it separates it from your normal content so that the AI algorithm does not blast you in the face with That's Okay, it was supposed to I can't necessarily say the word cuz then the word gets demonetized.

[00:04:21]The pellet dispenser. Why did I not just use that word? I made it even worse.

[00:04:24]Anyways, I don't know about this spaceship. We're just going to move on, but this thing literally looks like it's built out of scrap metal and gorilla tape, which is usually not what you want to re-enter atmosphere with. Deploying the shoots, they then survive their encounter with Newtonian physics as he uses the thrusters to slow their descent. Hitting hard, they have survived the landing as then bro pops some more celebratory nicotine gum and nothing else. Telling the girl to find out where they are, she then locates them as he tells her to suit up. Having burned out one of the gels, which means something I'm sure, they need to move now or they will be late. Entering the jungle area, what sort of fauna do you think are out here?

[00:04:58]Having watched this, prepare to be sorely disappointed in whatever your assumption is. Apparently, we found this planet during its Ordovician period because there is nothing out here. Like, this whole forest, there's just nothing here. Anyways, turning on the radios out there, which is probably something they should have checked before stepping out of the ship. She's then put in charge of navigation on an alien world she's never seen before while bro here mans the spear gun. I keep calling it a spear gun. I don't actually know what this thing is firing. It has to be some sort of projectile, but you have to wind it up like a generator, yet it appears to be shooting solid things. It's a rail gun. And why did I not Anyways, heading out further, they continue their trek as faint rustling can be heard. This is definitely an alien dinosaur situation.

[00:05:40]Just kidding, that would be too cool.

[00:05:42]Finding humans have been out there prior, there were other dig sites, but apparently, these were all amateurs, unlike this guy who's hopped up on some sort of substance that we don't really know and is honestly looking a little cracked out. Anyways, also, finding humans on a planet you just happen to touch down in the middle of nowhere is some real Starfield nonsense, I'm just going to say. Like, oh, go liberate this abandoned facility on a planet apparently nobody has ever been on, yet you're going to find mercs there. Like, what was the deal with that? Now, let me go back to my superior three types of mission in a city grid in the middle of absolutely nowhere where I continue to hell dive and get blown up. Picking this spot, it's clear the guy who was there is in fact Dunzo. Cutting into something, he then pours water down its gullet as it also does something.

[00:06:25]SDIYBT'ing, he then pulls something out of it.

[00:06:28]Again, the process isn't explained. Asking if, you know, she wants to cut it, maybe she could learn. Looks like kind of an umbilical cord situation. Then going to slice it open, he then pours water on the innards of it and then peels it like an onion or a shrek. Going to slice it again, if the meat touches anything, the gym is then compromised and melted.

[00:06:45]Pulling the gym, it then uh is giving them apparently about 10,000. They They don't say 10,000 what, but they're going to pay back the loan. Which loan exactly? Also never explained. Just know there's 10,000 of it. There are more gyms though, and if they stay, they can actually pull gyms five times this size, and if they leave, they will never have this chance again. So, staying obviously, they're going to get 5 million. 5 million what? Hey, it doesn't matter. The girl wants to leave though, but bro's seeing allegedly dollar signs, and if they can land this properly, then they are set for life. Walking into the woods, he gets a radio call about two men approaching armed. Hearing them on the radio, the man then asks about his name, and his partner starts searching through all of his stuff. Asking Pablo Picasso here where he's from, it's only cuz I can't really remember what his name actually is, and then asking the old man how he got there, he asks, "Well, where's your ship?" Pulling what I can only imagine is an energy focuser, but actually I'm wrong, it's a railgun.

[00:07:36]He then tells him he is not here to prospect, but to harvest. Telling him about the Auralac, which are the gems, Picasso here is quite interested.

[00:07:45]Telling them that they can all take it for themselves. The dad says he won't tell him where his employers are, but he can take them to where the mother load is. Pedro Pascal, that's what his name is. God, that was bugging the crap out of me. Anyways, we get a real last of us situation on this planet later, but we'll see. Anyways, but I'm pretty sure you already get the idea. Agreeing to work together, there are three of them, so they'll split it in thirds. Not knowing the girl is over there, she then hears her old man talking about how, you know, you need to take them out, and he's just going to leave the rail gun right here. But there's only one shot per cap, so for the love of God, don't miss. Going to grab the force, I don't know, thrower at this point cuz it's a rail gun. She then locks and loads Bryce the Christ as then she goes to follow them. Trailing them, she hears them talk about the crew that they had when they arrived. They talk about the random group that is also with them as in the tables turn on the other two. Telling them to drop the packs there or to pop a squat. Asking if the plan is now off, Pops then puts the handheld to Pascal's dome as he's told it's a shame. They could have been rich together. Opening the case, lots of gems as both the old man and the other guy, who you never see his face or anything, he just kind of gets taken out, both light each other up like idiots as Pedro pulls his own handheld on the girl as then she runs and now it's just those two. I break in to ask, will this turn into an actual Last of Us where Pascal becomes a father figure and then they go on some wild crazy adventure to survive? Hmm, possibly. Checking on his partner who's Dunzo, Pedro who? I I wrote that wrong.

[00:09:07]Anyways, Pedro then pops a squat having survived as then he hears coughing and groaning. Basically, I forgot to add an R. Wow. I'm sure that Now, anyways, Hollywood. Approaching the old man, he then pops him a few times as the girl continues noping out of there. Hiding in the woods, she chills out as her radio crackles. I want you to notice, they tried to rob him earlier, right? Which kicked off this whole situation. There will be a mental gymnastics taking place that rivals the Olympics. It is wild.

[00:09:34]Checking the map, it says we're boned.

[00:09:36]Getting into her pod, she then takes off her helmet, obviously bringing in the whole alien ecosystem with her. Surely that's not going to be an issue. As then she gets the pod ready to head up and off this planet, just totally leaving her old man behind. As it begins smoking, yeah, that thing is toast.

[00:09:50]Getting out of it, she then looks around and decides to just listen to music with a dude who's on the loose out there. As she searches for food and uses her dad's super happy fun time pills, given he won't need them anymore. Chewing the nicotine gum, she's vibing as then she looks at her watch. With the trip over, she then packs her bag as she hears footsteps outside. See, maybe the trip may not have been all that necessary.

[00:10:10]You probably need to focus on the task at hand. Anyways, your old man gets taken out and your first thing to do is to just pop some gum and then get sent to the nth dimension with that one guy on the loose.

[00:10:19]Seems like a bit of poor planning there.

[00:10:21]Pulling the force multiplier, she then charges up the clip as a latch then opens. Firing a shot into him, it does seemingly nothing as he pulls the handheld away from her. Which, nice aiming. If you hit him in the head, this would have been totally fine. Asking her for a field kit, she then grabs the handheld as he asks if she's going to shoot. Now get this crap, right? He says technically he took out her old man. Oh, yes, you did. Telling him he's going to fly her to a shipping lane, she says it's a good deal. Asking for the kit again, he then cleans and dresses his wounds before popping biofoam stuff into it. Telling her the offer is generous, but he doesn't have a ship due to the absence of the Orlac. The crew exchanged shots and some words, and now the ship is gone. Basically, that's what stranded him. Asking her if the Merks and the Queen's layer are actually real, he says now he knows. He will play the prospector and they will approach the Merks together. Telling her that her dad was stealing his entire harvest that he worked for as well. A man apparently is lives and thrives off of his own work.

[00:11:16]So really, you know, that's why I had to take out your dad. But you were doing the same thing as well there, Pedro.

[00:11:22]Like the exact same thing actually. This dude's demeanor makes no sense to me.

[00:11:26]Which is You know what? It's time for me to break in. Legitimately, what is this dude's deal? Clearly he has no qualms about doming an injured man who clearly has offspring on the planet, right? I get the whole theft thing, but you were literally doing the same thing to them.

[00:11:38]Then later, he becomes Mr. Morality, which I'm fairly certain actually was just him straight-up lying. As a character, I think my brain feels like this is a character you're forced to like as long as you don't think too much about the fact that the dude is actually very terrible. He's just really good at talking and making people get confused as to what his intentions are. I mean, it's not like he's completely irredeemable in some ways, but again, at the beginning, absolute chode. All right. So, back to the deal of a lifetime. Telling him she will do an even split, he agrees, and then they both head out. Asking her what her real name is, she doesn't answer. Asking her to see the map, she declines. Now, this is going to be a fun trip. Telling Pascal to stop talking about her father, he asks again, "What is your name?"

[00:12:17]Holding his arm, they then check the suit saturation as the bio foam appears to be just melting off, exposing him to the wonders of the atmosphere.

[00:12:24]Continuing to talk to whatever this girl's name is, they get wrapped around a tree as he says she's going to have to trust him at some point. Yes, but why?

[00:12:32]Continuing to not trust him, which is absolutely the move, she then asks, "What's wrong with him?" as he sits down. But, they are kind of running out of time to get off this rock, and he tells her to keep it low as they could be surrounded. Telling her to drop it and put her hands above her head, they are indeed allegedly surrounded, except not really. Looking back at his arm, he tells her that the bite still has venom and some of the planet's dust has found its way into his suit. Nothing quite like a foreign planet's spores and pollen. I mean, we've been on Earth forever, and every spring this planet still has plants that mess me up. This is literally one of those situations where an allergy issue wasn't enough to take out somebody in our species for the most part, so our biology just said, "Eh, good enough." And we just really never learned to effectively deal with pollen. Simply amazing. So, saying that they need to trade for medical supplies, they then make their way through before finding a small group standing there.

[00:13:20]Asking what they want, he's there for medical supplies as there are basically people with access to what he calls the juice, telling her no throwers. They then agree. See, everything that has a normal name that has another name. Why is it called throwers instead of a rail gun? I have no idea. So, dropping the weapon off, they hide it and then head in. Entering the tent, the son plays a musical instrument, which I'm not going to lie to you, this thing sounds like absolute crap. Like I don't know what this thing is or why it's even considered an instrument over like a noise maker like nails on the chalkboard, but it takes no skill to use this thing. It's basically just a jack-in-the-box that bro winds up. Like they're like, "Wow, you're really talented." Yeah, real talent here. Given the situation the fact that I suppose Pedro here, you know, he kind of needs some medical supplies. He's going to just butter them up and tell them why.

[00:14:04]He's like, "Yeah, that was beautiful."

[00:14:06]Yeah, whatever you say, Pascali.

[00:14:08]Anyways, being handed back some black sludge, Pascal then drinks it as it cleanses the dust. How exactly? Well, we'll have to figure that one out.

[00:14:15]Thanking them, he then asks for more as he says he is prepared to compensate.

[00:14:19]Giving him the offer, Pascal then opens the box as they want to trade for the female youngling. Asking what they need her for, they apparently have lost their mother as they he's like, "Yeah, we need people to, you know, take over that role." As then he puts like, "Oh, it's creepy stuff. Got you." As then she does the smart thing and bolts before tripping just outside. Being chased by this dude's son who's an absolute nerd, she cuts his oxygen. That 100% the move.

[00:14:43]As then she can hear yelling from the tent as then she runs deeper into the woods. Checking the compass, she then hides as gurgling noises can be heard.

[00:14:49]Brandishing the handheld, it's just the ground plants, probably what's putting out all these planetary dust spores, I imagine. Coughing, I would have to assume that her own suit is not doing so hot. So, pretty big particles though, so I feel like an N95 mask would suffice.

[00:15:01]And hearing hello on the radio, she finds a tent. Opening it, the handheld's immediately grabbed and apparently it was Pascal's tent. Telling her to take her helmet off, the air is allegedly clean as then he tosses her some food.

[00:15:11]There are cases of food in there, which also I don't know if I would be trusting Broham about the air. He's already infected. That could just be the alien spores being like, "Yes, uh add to the pile, I guess." So, grabbing the handheld again, he says he needs her help. He botched the excision and he might lose the arm. Might being the most hopeful of outcomes because that thing is definitely coming off. She then asks if he was going to give her to them as he's like, "No. Of course not." Remains to be seen. Dude lies about probably everything. So, I would just assume he's just picking the best answer. So, the arm healer 9000 has two levels of intensity. Two for flesh, four for bone.

[00:15:47]Healing is doing a lot of lifting in that statement as he says he won't feel a thing. Telling her, "Yeah, keep going.

[00:15:51]I don't feel this at all. Uh, just, you know, keep cutting until you hit bone."

[00:15:54]Basically, he has to lose the arm.

[00:15:56]Crashing out over this, it makes sense cuz it seems rather horrific. And then smelling bacon, she continues taking off his arm. Well, it's the future. He could probably just grow a new one at some point, I imagine. So, using the foam, they then seal up the new arm hole as he remarks how calm she is. Apparently, her past, like they would cut out the organs of some giant animal and she'd be sent inside of it to get the eggs out of it.

[00:16:16]So, this isn't the first gross thing that she's done. Well, now Bros found pretty much his primary arm. And then moving through the woods once more, he asks where she's from as then they talk about something called Streamer Girl.

[00:16:27]She's writing a book about it from memory as so then she can read it.

[00:16:30]Telling Pascal, maybe uh, had she focused on her skills, her dad wouldn't have been done so. I mean, maybe, maybe not, but skills are great, but they can't outskill a bullet. I think I think it's pretty fast. So, telling Pascal her name is C. Currently, we have seen no other animals out there. I just want to point that out. Odd. Approaching the merc camp, they then light some fires and chill out. As one guy waste ammo blowing up things moving towards the camp, they draw the force multipliers on them and are disarmed. Walking past whatever that guy is doing in the box, Pascal then says they're here for the dig as one woman interrupts him with loud music as then she talks to another guy. The music stops as they are told they're late. Meanwhile, the red suit woman, who was not a dude, who was actually a woman, interrupts again and starts firing while they're in mid conversation. Like, I know they're trying to make her seem unstable and like anything can happen, but honestly, if I was a leader of a merc band, I would just find that like reality I'm experiencing when I'm negotiating a deal and then an interruption to be highly annoying. Asking for a ride up to the freighter after they're done, they disagree as the woman then starts speaking another language. They're told to get digging if they want to keep their pay and the girl alive. I really don't know what red suit's problem is.

[00:17:36]Honestly, weird or being weird for the sake of being weird, I think, but telling them they're getting a ton of pay, you know, to go, I guess. They agree to bring them up as red suit then talks to Pascal telling them let's get rich. They then passed by that one guy who has pat been powdered pink. Seems like he's being executed and they really don't care. Finding the eggs, seemingly they ate one of the merc's arm, so then they called in somebody else to finish the work. It is a very particular process disabling the creature. Pascal then enters it and then pulls out the guts. Who was the first one to discover this anyhow? No idea. Cutting it open with the non-dominant hand and then peel it open, but he ends up destroying the gym because it is a very very delicate process. And uh his non-dominant arm is not as delicate. Going after the next, he then ruins it as then they ask if he can actually do this. The girl says, "I'm going to try and maybe I can get it done." Mainly because she has two arms and realizing they can't dig because she messes it up, too. They then fire a shot into the merc leader's leg as they take him out and then the others come running. Holding up their arms, red suit then plays music and seeing the guys just sitting there. Honestly, I don't like Mr. McFriendly here who's been with C, but red suit takes the absolute crown in terms of wow. I really wish this person weren't in this movie right now.

[00:18:48]So, seeing team lead has an injury then then throws something to take them out rather than just, I don't know, firing what they have in their hands as then they escape, but they're able to get to the tree line and fire on the others.

[00:18:57]Hiding in the tree, that stupid music starts playing again and then telling him she can be the distraction, he can go to take out that idiot blasting music like a total tool. As you can tell, not a huge fan of this one. As she then starts running, red jumpsuit apparatus opens up on her as Pascal gets stabbed and then he starts stabbing red suit in the neck. Yeah, you and your stupid music as well. Having taken her out, Pascal is quite injured. Yeah, just cut off that part of his body, too, I suppose. And then telling her she can make it to the ship if she leaves now. I mean, why not just biofoam him, right?

[00:19:27]Taking the handheld, she then runs off, leaving him behind as Oh, snap. Second red jumpsuit apparatus shows up as Pink Man somehow got out of his cage and then goes and starts attacking, taking him out. How did he escape the box? I don't know. It never shows it. So, returning to Pascal, she cleans his wound, as then she biofoams him. Returning to the ship, Pink Man is just sitting there breathing the atmosphere, which is a bit odd.

[00:19:48]Maybe he's a local. And then moving past him, they just kind of let him go or yeah, go to the ship. You're good to go.

[00:19:54]Taking off, they leave Trauma Planet behind as then they head back to the mothership. And thus concludes Prospect.

[00:20:00]Humanity in other worlds is something that we arguably need to get to and get to it soon if at all possible. The reality is as long as we remain a one-planet species, all it really takes is for one large enough asteroid, one fluctuation of the sun and its sunspots, or possibly even a small rogue planet just flying by. And that's it. Humanity goes extinct. And I, for one, seeing as we're the alpha chads that we actually are, would not like that to happen. And for that to become a reality, we need to continue developing the ability to not only get off this planet because our current methods, while doable, are really not the most effective way of doing it. You can kind of think of like space elevators, which requires materials we haven't invented yet, to be used. Also, space elevators sound horrifying. Regular elevators are just bad enough. But this is also going to require us to like effectively achieve FTL travel, or at least figure out if the warp is actually real or not.

[00:20:48]Because for us to successfully colonize other worlds and even just planets within our own solar system, ironically, light speed just isn't fast enough.

[00:20:56]Well, I guess for our own solar system it is, but, you know, for other things like other solar systems, it's going to take a while. But there are issues that we will have to contend with in order to get out into space, and it goes beyond just our ability to get there. Look no further than the wall of fire that apparently lies just outside the heliosphere. Granted, it's the sun smashing into a bunch of cosmic radiation, which is going to create heat. So, maybe if we leave, we kind of need to leave out the back door rather than the front door. So, it might work a little better rather than just hitting a wall of literal fire. But, also we need to look at our own biology, which is what concerns this section that we're talking about. Welcome to the science portion. Again, I have no idea why I started saying that. It's a while back.

[00:21:35]I just started doing it. It is what it is. The reality of the human form is that we are unfortunately extremely fragile. Our bodies are not great at handling radiation or space in the slightest, which I just lied to you actually because if you do look at our biology, isn't it strange that something as foreign and alien to us as space we can exist in. The reality is if you take your inner ears for a moment, these have existed on a planet under our feet.

[00:21:58]Well, the planet is, not our ears.

[00:22:00]Hopefully, your ears aren't under your feet. But, with gravity pulling us in the same direction since the drop. The semicircular canals housing the vestibular system is what gives us our sense of balance. The feeling that we are moving around in our environment, that our eyes know where to look and how to look based on the information they are receiving from these systems. With the system malfunctioning, this creates extreme vertigo. Have you ever had a vertigo attack? Well, I have. When I was working in the lab a few years ago, I was hunched over a lot. This put pressure on my cervical vertebrae without me really, you know, realizing it.

[00:22:32]So, I just kind of tensed up my neck muscles to compensate and due to the prolonged forward head posture, this would create problems. Over time, this triggered that attack. The world instantly started spinning. I couldn't stand, got extremely sick to my stomach due to the dizziness, and legitimately I thought I was dying. Zero out of 10 experience. Some would claim -5 out of 10 experience. Interestingly though, I remember noting that my eyes were not able to focus on one area. They kept darting back and forth completely against my will able them. My body was looking for information on where it was and how to rebalance itself. It was really strange and honestly terrifying.

[00:23:07]I went home and laid on the ground for like 4 hours after that.

[00:23:11]Anyways, the point of that story is that this system was messed up just by me working in a vent hood and leaning forward for too long. Now take astronauts. The sensation of them falling is because technically they are.

[00:23:22]They're simply falling around the planet and this gives them the near weightlessness or it is weightlessness because of this. If they were far enough away from Earth, there would still be no gravity in which they could orient to either. The fact that the vestibular system does not immediately go absolutely haywire and induce extreme vertigo in every single human that goes up is actually a miracle in and of itself. Along with that, our neurons continue to fire correctly and other neurons and the receptors being able to receive that information appropriately, our blood continuing to pump without just backfilling in the heart, essentially our body's able to operate at all in this environment means that I'm going to call it right now. The stars are humanity's and our biology is compatible at least enough with spaceflight. So, A's C's get degrees basically. But we are meant to spread beyond Earth with this information. But to do so again, there are some constraints because while it would be quite cool to just be able to exist everywhere, there are issues of incompatible biology and also limiting factors of our own biology besides just dealing with the ability to get up there in the first place. Also, I feel I should bring this up as someone will, astronauts do still get vertigo in space from time to time.

[00:24:32]Some won't be able to overcome it on Earth and when it's induced, they're typically cut from the program after that. Some are able to overcome and then head to space.

[00:24:40]It's just the proclivities of our body make kind of some more people sensitive than others to these changes. But moving on. So, Rowan Oak, what biological constraints I can hear you saying? Well, there is the ever classic and ever present need apparently for us to be exposed to at least some parasites here on Earth. It appears, horrifically enough, that the specific parasites on this world our bodies have adapted to by literally just not dealing with it.

[00:25:06]Pretty hilarious, and it makes sense if you do think about it. If you take our evolution on this rock, according to theory of evolution, we have been here for more than a hot minute. As a result, many of us have received infections from everything under the sun. In fact, there isn't a person alive who's never been sick, and there are plenty of dead people who were sick as well. It's just they unfortunately got taken out by it.

[00:25:27]But because of this, depending on the infection itself, different responses will be mounted. When it comes to parasites in particular, the typical response is going to involve several immune cells in order to attempt to provide an effective resistance. It's important to remember that parasites come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're tiny little plasmatic chodes that invade your feet through an open wound on your foot. Uh sometimes they're 38-year-old offspring that still lives in their basement telling you that moderating r/ I don't know, Pokémon is a job.

[00:25:58]But typically, the main coordinators for a parasitic infection are cells such as eosinophils, mast cells, basophils, and helper T cells, which come in the type 2 variety. I'll give you a quick and dirty on most of these, but the eosinophils are the main ones which I want to discuss as they directly relate to today's topic. Trust me, we are going to talk about Jewel's infection here momentarily. So when you are infected by a parasite, the type 2 helper T cells will release cytokines, which will alert the rest of the immune system that we have a bit of a problem here. The cytokines in particular related to the parasites are IL-4, 5, and 13. As the immune system becomes alerted to the fact that something is here that is not supposed to be stealing nutrition, the B cells will then begin producing specific antibodies that will bind to parasites.

[00:26:42]This antibody is known as IgE antibodies. At the same time, these will also bind to mast cells and basophils, causing them to react more strongly when coming into contact with the parasite.

[00:26:52]It appears at this point that everything is going swimmingly for the most part.

[00:26:56]Mast cells and basophils should not be confused with macrophages, however, their purpose is not to eat the parasite, but instead straight-up blast inflammatory responses that makes it more and more hostile to the parasite making it question if it is the right home for it. It will release histamines that inflame the surrounding tissue as well as leukotrienes and prostaglandins or glandins. I'm not sure why I said glandins. Anyways, weird names I know, but basically their purpose will cause smooth muscle contractions. Why is that important? Well, let's say that they're in your intestines. Your digestive tract is just one long tube of smooth muscle.

[00:27:30]That's how your body sends what you eat directly to the sewers. By increasing this contraction, you will expel, hopefully, more of the parasite giving your body a better chance at getting it under control. And along with this, cytokine production is also increased, which will continually alert the immune system that there is still something present here. But, they will communicate with one cell in particular, and that is there to counter most parasites. The eosinophils basically have the biggest beef imaginable with just the helminth population of parasites. They love killing them. They are the barbarians of the immune system. So, as the parasite just straight-up exists in your body, they will begin covering this parasite with anti Well, your body will, and that's the immune system covering it with antibodies. Now, this is fantastic usually, but sometimes parasites can actually shed their outer linings, which in turn gets rid of the antibodies. But, usually, these antibodies will slow and immobilize helminths. If the parasite is small enough, macrophages will come in and then eat the parasite releasing lytic material onto it much like they would do with a bacterial cell or a virus, which then can destroy it.

[00:28:31]Parasites, though, are usually not very small, and this is why an eosinophil actually exists. As it attaches to these antibodies, it will have its almonds activated to the 10th degree in response to recognizing what it is attached to.

[00:28:44]At this point, it will release highly toxic proteins through a process called degranulation. Basically, it just drops a ton of cytotoxic material directly onto the parasite and the surrounding area, which sounds bad, and it is, but this is a situation where you have like Lord Farquaad saying, "Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make." These proteins come in all shapes and sizes. Major basic protein, eosinophilic cationic protein, eosinophils peroxidase, which is going to induce oxidative stress, as well as eosinophil-derived neurotoxin. That's right. You have the ability to produce a neurotoxin. Pretty uh metal, I'm not going to lie to you. And it's also just interesting in of itself, given that these are just floating around in your body right now. But its purpose is to react with the parasite's outer membrane and straight-up lyse it. Well, that's the best outcome anyways. Usually, it'll just damage or weaken the parasite, which in turn can cause it to die later, or at least allow other immunological functions to further injure it, which may result in its death. Most interestingly, I think the oxidative stress is kind of odd. As I mentioned earlier, the reactive oxygen species, or ROS, can not only stress the parasite out, but it's also going to make it use its own energy stores to get rid of it, or at least neutralize it, but it will also alert more immune cells to join in on the fight. If it's just a one-on-one fight, the eosinophils are typically successful if the parasite is small enough, as long as they are not around things like the nervous system, because the nervous system actually is the immune privileged site, which is why Naegleria fowleri, which is a brain-eating amoeba, is such a just absolute douche to deal with. Because what it does is it goes up into the brain, and then your neutrophils kind of get involved, and they try to stop it. A lot of times they are not successful.

[00:30:22]And I know Kurz Gesagt put out a video saying that antibodies aren't successful at neutralizing it either, but uh I think kind of what they're forgetting, and this may be because they're not based in the US, and I know they're using scientific literature, but there are a ton of brain-eating parasites in the soils, in the waters, in in everything. Even if you drink tap water, you're still getting exposed to these.

[00:30:43]So, the amount of exposure level that just exists to humanity and just the fact that we only get like four cases a year in the US typically around summer is nothing short of like there has to be something else going on besides just oh yeah, you weren't exposed enough, right?

[00:31:01]And also if you look into the people who typically will have this issue, they're not from the areas where they get exposed. So, like you have people who are like from Maine who then come down to the Southeast or something, they jump in the water, they get water blasted up into their nose, and then they end up unfortunately succumbing because of Naegleria fowleri. And the point is is that this is just my layman's perspective on it as a biologist, but they were not exposed long-term to Naegleria fowleri through their immune systems being exposed obviously from their digestive tract to this parasite, and that made them more susceptible than usual. Because otherwise, if antibodies did nothing to stop Naegleria fowleri, the amount of infections we should have would be astronomically higher. So, again, it's just one of those things I think we need more studies to be done on it to actually understand it. It's just such a rare infection that we just don't have enough information on it. But anyways, where was I? Yeah, okay. So, nervous system like the brain in particular, immune privileged site. But if it's much larger, several eosinophils will attach to it and just keep dumping this material onto its body. It's like storming Area 51, they can't take us all out with the eosinophils Naruto running at the parasite. Now, it's not all conquering and destruction, however.

[00:32:13]Parasites want to live as well, and they have become exceedingly good at pulling this off. Again, there was the mention of just shedding the outer lining, but they can also straight up trick your body. If you look at the immune function to deal with a parasite, you need everyone reacting and inflammation increasing. Parasites will release their own molecules that push the body actually towards repair response instead, which cuts off the attack response. They will start trying to induce a function of kind of just getting the regulatory T cells to start activating, which essentially pump the brakes on immune responses. And this is how your body will prevent inflammation from building up too much. And this is important to remember, your body actually controls the immune response and other responses because it cannot just have you going nuclear every single time you get a cold. Along with this, parasites will release their own anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10 and TGF TGIF. TGF beta. Anyways, IL-10 suppresses inflammatory immune cells from being activated and beta inhibits aggressive T cell responses.

[00:33:15]And this is the most interesting of the responses, which we will get to here in a second. So, the second most interesting response is they typically will manipulate dendritic cells and macrophages entirely, interrupting their responses, pushing the rest of the immune system to attack the parasites.

[00:33:30]So, if you interrupt it, it's no longer getting pit like attacked. Basically, the parasite talks to your body on a cellular basis and starts convincing some of your cells that it being there isn't so bad, which horribly, it's kind of right. Now, this specific function of it releasing anti-inflammatory proteins is actually important for us colonizing other worlds. The problem with going to Mars or the moon or any of these places is that any generation born there will not have the exposure to parasites here on Earth. Instead, it will actually have to be supplemented to the body itself through some other means, potentially even like a vaccine of sorts because if it's not there, if you were born on the moon and then had kids on the moon and they had kids on the moon, they try to go to Earth, the atmosphere is literally going to be as poisonous to them as basically what Joel's experiencing if he was to breathe on that planet. So, the idea behind this is that we are actually already kind of seeing this. Now, I'm not pro-parasite by any stretch of the imagination. It is simply an issue that our bodies have learned to adapt to, which is the presence of the parasitic infection. What we have seen in first world countries is that inflammation responses like foods or other things known as allergic reactions, they're skyrocketing and they're getting worse.

[00:34:39]We typically do not have exposure to parasites and if we do, they are usually cured quite quickly and for good reasons. So, really it becomes about balancing how we are going to calm our immune system with outside influence that is unfortunately already a requirement for our bodies. Like it's not something that's like, well, we could just ignore it. No, like we have to do this. But that's okay because we also have to eat, and we have to drink water, and we have to get enough sun, and we have to eat nutrients. It's just a system what we have to manage. Now, what does this have to do with Prospect?

[00:35:08]What we are dealing with on this moon is something like into a parasitic infection. However, the infection point is different. We know that on the moon the atmosphere itself is absolutely inundated with what is known as dust.

[00:35:19]This dust is much like the South during pine pollen season. Literally large clouds of pine pollen will be swept through turning everything highlighter yellow and green. I don't know if you know this, but this is no exaggeration.

[00:35:32]Literal green clouds down here during late February to early April. It's absolutely wild to see. No point in cleaning your car because it's going to turn green 3 seconds later. It is the way of things wherever there are pine trees, I'm pretty sure. Now, on this moon, it's the same premise. However, it seems that an extremely successful form of what I assume to be a fungi with kind of more animalistic characteristics is the best way to say it, produces this dust. Given how far it spreads and how it appears to be in multiple biomes, I would then kind of see it likely that it's pretty much all across the planet producing these spores and dust. Now, to the locals, much like humanity being on Earth and getting used to the pollen here for the most part, I mean ragweed still beats the holy hell out of me on a regular basis, the natives of this moon are actually somewhat immune or just in general not having issues like humanity does. And that's why I think Pinkman may have actually been a native there potentially. However, no information is really given on him, so So, just purely speculation. However, with Joel, we see what the effects are on a regular person with a different infection point.

[00:36:31]Typically, because of his request for the medical attention with this like black sludge, it seems like standard infection vector would be inhalation.

[00:36:39]It's hard to know exactly what this atmosphere is composed of. For instance, how much oxygen, nitrogen, or trace gases, but I would have to assume that if the atmosphere itself was conducive for humanity, we would really only need a filter to get the spores out of the air instead of an entire suit. However, it appears that is not the case. So, it may be that the atmosphere itself is just not compatible with the human respiratory system or our meat suits in general. Anyhow, given that the spores are everywhere, they would then enter the lungs where they would settle into the alveolar sacs of the lungs. Now, typically, your macrophages would be patrolling your lungs, which in this case, if they happen upon regular spores or pollen or anything else from Earth, they will in turn engulf it and eradicate it by destroying it through melting it. However, we can actively see that the spores are massive because we can see them in the air. Breathing these in may be too large for macrophages to deal with, and so they are in turn overwhelmed. And this would be a rather devastating hit to the immunological functioning because if your lungs are able to be colonized by spores, this is almost certainly a death sentence. We actually see this happen in people who never treat their HIV. Once it progresses to AIDS, typically, their immune systems are dismantled to the point that even opportunistic fungal infections that usually had no chance of taking up residence in the lung will do so in their chest. Something their bodies should be able to easily overcome, but now they lack the ability to properly deal with it, and so they succumb to being infected. As the spore continues to build up, oxygen exchange becomes more and more difficult as the person would essentially suffocate.

[00:38:08]This, however, does not happen to old Pascal here. Instead, his infection point is much more alarming as it shows how powerless the immune system actually is in dealing with these spores. First off, getting hit by a railgun round, not fun, I imagine. The biofoam exists to seal up the wound, applying internal pressure, but what I find interesting about the spores is that it appears to actually be at least somewhat caustic.

[00:38:31]This also is probably why you don't want to breathe it in, as there is likely some sort of strong acid or base associated with it. So, where did I get that line of thought? Well, given if they mess up and actually slice the meat too close to the gym, it literally melts it. This is what I imagine is being released into the atmosphere as well.

[00:38:47]Not to mention the Merc earlier was talking about how it melted one of their arms. So, uh yeah, that's what's floating around. Not enough to melt the suits, but possibly if water becomes involved, it either steals a hydrogen, releasing O2 into the environment and then turning into an acid, or if it's going to turn into a base, then it's going to cleave off one of the oxygens through some sort of chemical reaction to create OH, which I am pretty sure I remember college chemistry being that that's yeah, the addition of a hydrogen creates an acid, OH creates a base. You know what? The I can always look in to see if I was correct on that. Haha. The hydroxide ion is the cornerstone of base chemistry. That's right. I remember chemistry. Anyhow, so what happens to Mr. Taken out in The Last of Us 2 in the most stupid way possible? Well, after the biofoam was broken down by the spores, the issue is they have now gained access to not only his suit, but also the wound, which has water. It's a slow process, but once entering the wound, the spores have officially colonized his body. The reason the black sludge doesn't work after he drinks it is because it is typically used for infections involving the lungs to neutralize the acid. It's likely that the black coloring is going to come from charcoal compounds that absorb it. Along with that, antifungal treatments reside within this drink, which will then kill the fungus. However, given it's in a wound and not the lungs, this means the charcoal never neutralizes the acids or strong bases, and in turn, the antifungal treatment never makes it in high enough quantities to the the point, which is a problem. So, how's it able to sidestep all of this though? Well, the more interesting thing that Joel does is mention how he botched his excision when him and Miss Sunshine are in the tent.

[00:40:26]Given what we are seeing with him, it's clear he is feverish. He is sweating and his eyes are sunken in. This is a strong immune response clearly being displayed and he is just shy of a cytokine storm very likely. Which what is a cytokine storm? It's when your body realizes the news is up, the jig is out. That doesn't make any Totally watch that song.

[00:40:45]Anyways, basically the body's realizing it's losing the fight and it starts releasing like releasing all the cytokines it has, which basically causes you to flatline because it's trying to take out the infection. It's not good.

[00:40:57]It's kind of one of those things that's like, thanks body. And then You know that video of a bunch of buffalo getting attacked by wolves and like one buffalo is getting bogged down and then the other runs up and just knocks it down. It's kind of like that's what your immune system is doing to yourself. Anyway, so his body is absolutely panicking as the eosinophils are not equipped to deal with this infection. Likely he's throwing everything he has at the spores, but the acid or base compound that they produce may just literally be killing any cell that gets close enough as it continues to break down other cells for nutrition.

[00:41:28]And remember, this is a spore, a reproductive structure. Because of this, it may quite literally be forming one of these creatures in his arm. As his body continues to try and fight it, the eosinophils try to attach, but they're melted in the process. The parasite spore never really puts out a calming effect on the body to latch onto. So, more and more signals are sent to ramp up inflammatory molecules. At some point, it likely makes it to the lymphatic system of Joel. And this is the most dangerous aspect of this infection and it does exist in real life. And this is known as lymphangitis.

[00:42:00]This is when a pathogen enters the lymphatic system and will begin creeping towards the trunk of your body. And this will present as a tender red line, which if you ever see this in your own body, like your arm or your leg, your neck, which would that's really bad, you need to go to the hospital immediately.

[00:42:16]Basically, once that red line enters your chest and gets to your heart, it is very likely going to induce cardiac arrest. The thing to remember is it usually takes a few days to do so, so you do have time, but it is not something you should ignore. It's like being bit by a rabid raccoon or something. You don't just hang around and see what happens. So, anyways, Mr. Anxiety Handholding was likely experiencing this same issue. As he noticed it, it would uh basically trigger panic in him, which he would try to cut out the infection, but what he likely did was not get deep enough into the tissue because it would be quite painful. So, instead, what was more of a controlled loss of ground in his arm, now exposed the whole area like the muscle, bone, and skin to the parasitic spores deeper in his body. Once the bone became infected, there was no saving that arm. He was basically boned, you could say, which would require the actual removal of that arm. The guy who almost got knocked out by Green Goblin that one time for touching his wife essentially has an issue of a spreading infection. I would have to hypothesize that given the need or the need of a suit and the actual behavior of melting gems, I mean, that means once the meat is breached, that spore is super acidic or extremely basic. Once coming into contact with water on the body or in the body, it is corrosive as well as infectious. And once the bio-foam was melted, there was no cure for him and instead, the loss of the arm was irreversible once he botched that excision. Now, here's what I do want to talk about for a second. What about when he gets shot in the stomach? I mean, unless that bio-foam is straight up just completely getting rid of spores, I think dude is done. I I don't think he's going to survive this, but anyways, ultimately, this is just simply an ecosystem that humanity is not designed to exist in long term unless you just straight up build air scrubbers. But, that would require terraforming and given humanity is still raiding these places and not really establishing permanent residence, it seems like we are only just recently, relatively spacefaring in this area. But anyhow, I hope you enjoyed learning about parasites today. And if you did enjoy, then please leave a like and a comment.

[00:44:14]As I have maintained since like I learned about this in June, YouTube switched to an AI algorithm in May. And now it only reads likes and comments as any form of metric. Uh so, those help.

[00:44:25]I'll drop my Twitter, Discord, Patreon, Roanoke Tales, which is actually taking off, you should go check it out, and Instagram links down in the description where you can see me take out a wall that I'm pretty sure isn't load-bearing.

[00:44:36]I don't think it's a load-bearing wall.

[00:44:38]Uh we're going to find out. Anyway, speaking of patrons, I'd like to thank mine real quick. At the astronaut tier, we have Army and Teacher. Thank you guys for your awesome continued support. At the astrophysicist tier, we have Desk Dancer, Robotron Supreme, and Eddie the Inky. Thank you guys also. And at the scientist tier, we have Chad of Chads, Metric System, Invictus Echo, Official Text, and SSJ4 Lotus and Gina Elaine.

[00:44:58]Thank you guys as well. And the rest of my patrons, I really do appreciate y'all's support. It keeps things running around here. It keeps the kitties fed.

[00:45:03]And that means they're not eating me, which means I can make more content, which is perfect. I better never fall down those stairs. They will eat me.

[00:45:09]Anyways, so thank you. All right, that's going to do it for me. I hope everyone enjoyed, and we'll see y'all in the next one.