The small farm across the street in my rural neighborhood houses about 11 horses. “About” because they are rescue horses, and the number seems to change with new colts added and the more mature horses moved to new owners. Anyway, the horses are there doing what horses do, eating, gathering around closely in cold weather, and occasionally running a bit. Beautiful animals. Very powerful. Maybe that’s the reason for mythical centaurs. But of course, they are also practical animals, providing both a means of transportation and a means of farming. If you want to see them in action, drive through Amish country, where horses drag plows. Or go to the American West, where horses are more efficient than ATVs because they don’t run out of gasoline in chasing down stray cattle over hundreds of square miles of wilderness. Yes, I like my truck with hundreds of horsepower, but it has limits that a single horse doesn’t have.
And now horses might play a role in fighting a pandemic. Scientists at the University of Costa Rica and elsewhere are developing horse antibodies that might protect humans against COVID-19. You can read about the research if you want, but suffice it for me to say that it seems to make sense because have been used to make anti-venoms that have saved many people bitten by snakes.*
I think what intrigues me is the connection between horses and humans. There’s the obvious: Both have four limbs and similar bones. Both have a head on one end and a butt on the other. Both have similar organs. There’s the less obvious: There’s the homologous relationship between cytochrome c in humans and horses. Horses’ cytochrome c is 88.5% that of humans. We’re related not only by general form but by molecular composition. Think about it. If you change that percentage by 11.5%, both organisms have the same cytochrome c. Are we really all centaurs?
But then, as cytochrome goes, we also bear a relationship to carp, which has 78.6% of the same protein; corn, too, which is 66.7% the same; and the lowly euglena, at 56.6%. In fact, we’re not unrelated in our cytochrome c to that of beer yeast—the reason for our fondness for the drink, no doubt: we’re family. But, as I often do, I digress.
That we can possibly benefit from our horse allies in our war against COVID-19 is a good thing. Making antibodies in horses and transferring them to humans is a cheaper alternative to the traditional medical approaches now in progress. According to Debbie Ponchner, reporting in Scientific American, Alberto Alape Giron, who is working on developing the antibodies at Clodomiro Picado Institute, “a vial of equine antibodies will cost $100 to produce, whereas a treatment with monoclonal antibodies could be 10 times more expensive.” In addition, “one 10-mL vial has about 80 times the quantity of antibodies you can find in 800 mL of convalescent plasma, which is the plasma donated by someone who has overcome an infection of SARS-CoV-2.”
Isn’t it interesting that we have a relationship with other life-forms yet we have so many perceived differences among our own species? Another species might be our salvation from a deadly disease while our own species daily finds ways to injure and kill. Centaurs, mythical as they are, combine humans and horses. Is there some hybrid that combines humans of diverse religious, political, and philosophical beliefs for the mutual benefit of all? Probably not. We can somehow combine horses and humans, but not humans and humans, at least not when it comes to beliefs held by those who see no underlying connections.
*Ponchner, Debbie. 17 Aug 2020. Scientific American/Medicine. Costa Rica Readies Horse Antibodies for Trials as an Inexpensive COVID-19 Therapy. Online at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/costa-rica-readies-horse-antibodies-for-trials-as-an-inexpensive-covid-19-therapy/ Accessed August 17, 2020
And now horses might play a role in fighting a pandemic. Scientists at the University of Costa Rica and elsewhere are developing horse antibodies that might protect humans against COVID-19. You can read about the research if you want, but suffice it for me to say that it seems to make sense because have been used to make anti-venoms that have saved many people bitten by snakes.*
I think what intrigues me is the connection between horses and humans. There’s the obvious: Both have four limbs and similar bones. Both have a head on one end and a butt on the other. Both have similar organs. There’s the less obvious: There’s the homologous relationship between cytochrome c in humans and horses. Horses’ cytochrome c is 88.5% that of humans. We’re related not only by general form but by molecular composition. Think about it. If you change that percentage by 11.5%, both organisms have the same cytochrome c. Are we really all centaurs?
But then, as cytochrome goes, we also bear a relationship to carp, which has 78.6% of the same protein; corn, too, which is 66.7% the same; and the lowly euglena, at 56.6%. In fact, we’re not unrelated in our cytochrome c to that of beer yeast—the reason for our fondness for the drink, no doubt: we’re family. But, as I often do, I digress.
That we can possibly benefit from our horse allies in our war against COVID-19 is a good thing. Making antibodies in horses and transferring them to humans is a cheaper alternative to the traditional medical approaches now in progress. According to Debbie Ponchner, reporting in Scientific American, Alberto Alape Giron, who is working on developing the antibodies at Clodomiro Picado Institute, “a vial of equine antibodies will cost $100 to produce, whereas a treatment with monoclonal antibodies could be 10 times more expensive.” In addition, “one 10-mL vial has about 80 times the quantity of antibodies you can find in 800 mL of convalescent plasma, which is the plasma donated by someone who has overcome an infection of SARS-CoV-2.”
Isn’t it interesting that we have a relationship with other life-forms yet we have so many perceived differences among our own species? Another species might be our salvation from a deadly disease while our own species daily finds ways to injure and kill. Centaurs, mythical as they are, combine humans and horses. Is there some hybrid that combines humans of diverse religious, political, and philosophical beliefs for the mutual benefit of all? Probably not. We can somehow combine horses and humans, but not humans and humans, at least not when it comes to beliefs held by those who see no underlying connections.
*Ponchner, Debbie. 17 Aug 2020. Scientific American/Medicine. Costa Rica Readies Horse Antibodies for Trials as an Inexpensive COVID-19 Therapy. Online at https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/costa-rica-readies-horse-antibodies-for-trials-as-an-inexpensive-covid-19-therapy/ Accessed August 17, 2020
RSS Feed