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Scientists Using Melanin From Aborted Black Babies To Create Solar Cells: Are Living Blacks Next?

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by Monica Davis
 
In an frightening line of research on solar cells, scientists are examining the connection between melanin (skin pigmentation) and solar cell development.  Of course, it’s all clouded in jargon and officialese,  but the basic idea is this: the creation of a melanin-based solar cell. This means that the skin of African-Americans and black fetuses could be used as an element in solar cells.
 
According to a research paper:
we suggest that a class of  biological macromolecules called the melanins may be suitable replacements for the ruthenium complexes. They have strong, broad band absorption, are chemically and photochemically very stable, can be cheaply and easily synthesized, and are also bio-available and bio-compatible. We demonstrate a melanin-based regenerative solar cell, and discuss the key properties that are necessary for an effective broad band photon harvesting system.  READ MORE HERE
 
The scientists note further that they are exploring the possibilities of using bio-organic pigments (melanin) to 
…explore the possibilities of using bio-organic pigments with broad band light absorbing properties as the primary photon harvesting component. In this context, we will concentrate on a class of bio-macromolecules called the melanins, and will also highlight several other potential material. What will hopefully become clear during this discussion, is the need to understand the detailed photophysical and photochemical properties of these molecules, and how these properties relate to their chemical and electronic structure. 
It is also important to note that we will not deal in this chapter with the concept of creating 
artificial photosynthetic membranes by  immobilizing and assembling photofunctional 
molecules on various substrates – although this approach has  the potential to create direct 
 
Melanin, or skin pigment has a variety of properties, including lessening the toxic effect of heavy metals, protection against biological warfare attacks, and acting as a sunscreen.

In biological science melanin is known to possess a diverse set of roles and functions in a wide range of organisms. These include:

* Protection against biochemical attack: e.g. the smokeshield-like ink of the octopus, and the melanin-based protective colorings of bacteria and fungi which are capable of encapsulating and oxidizing invading organisms in a process known as melanization

* Mitigating chemical stresses associated with exposure to heavy metals and oxidizing agents.

* Acting as a natural sunscreen: shielding light-sensitive tissue from the potentially damaging effects of ultraviolet light. READMOREHERE

This pigment has many bio-chemical advantages, including the ability to convert light into heat (energy). :
If melanin can convert light into heat, could it not also transform UV radiation into other biologically/metabolically useful forms of energy? This may no seem so far fetched when one considers that even gamma radiation, which is highly toxic to most forms of life, is a source of sustenance for certain types of fungi and bacteria. READMOREHERE



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    Total 8 comments
    • el_jefe

      who cares? the biological material was going to be thrown out anyways. that is, if this article is even valid/true.

      • Mary777

        Given the way the scientific and medical community has treated black people, as a community, they should be concerned and care what happens to things that pertain them, even if it is from biological material that is designated as trash but then used in ‘studies’. People from every group have abortions and I’m sure if some Arabic lab in the Middle East was buying aborted fetuses of White females from Europe it would be a concern to Whites and there is not such a history of misuse and abuse of white females by Arabs as there is of black females (and black people, in general) by the White scientific community. People should care!

    • Anonymous

      Possibly the single most spectacularly deceptive headline I’ve ever read. Pure sensationalism at its very worst. Note that the original paper says melanin “can be cheaply and easily synthesized” in the 7th sentence of the abstract, lol. This “journalist” didn’t even bother reading the first paragraph!

      This fails science on so may levels. The author was far more concerned with getting views than being responsible or factual. This idea is absolutely ludicrous, and betrays an ignorance of chemistry, anatomy and physiology, biology, physics, and embryology.

      First, human skin is a poor source of melanin, regardless if that human is Black, White, or candy-striped. Melanin is not merely a skin pigment. It is found in hair, eyes, the inner ear, and the brain. Furthermore, it is found in all animals (mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, crustaceans, insects, etc.) as well as plants and protists. It would be far easier to obtain from a substance such a octopus ink or even pathogenic microbes. Harvesting melanin from human skin would be incredibly inefficient.

      Luckily, the melanin in question isn’t obtained naturally; it is synthesized (aka made in a lab), a fact that is repeated over and over in the scientific publication this half-assed article refers too (“synthetic dihydroxyindole eumelanin”).

      Second, melanin development in human skin doesn’t work this way. Melanin is not some static substance. It is produced by cells called malanocytes via a process called melanogenesis. Basically, an enzyme called tyrosinase acts as a catalyst for melanin production when an amino acid called tyrosine is oxidized. This is what happens when a cut potato turns brown. ALL HUMANS HAVE MELANIN (unless they have certain forms of albinism). How dark a person’s skin is does not depend on the size or quantity of their melanocytes, but how active those cells are. Remember, this is controlled by hormones, and the genetic differences are related to the production of the hormones, enzymes, and amino acids involved, not the melanin itself. So, there is a basal level of melanin and a potential level of activated melanin production (the oxidation of existing melanin e.g. suntanning), determined via stimulation by melanocrotins. Once made, the melanin is delivered to the keratinocytes in the stratum germinativum of the epidermis via melanosomes. So, how, exactly, would they farm melanin from humans?

      Third, have you ever seen a newborn baby? Notice that Black babies are generally born much lighter than their actual eventual pigmentation? Fetuses are TRANSPARENT in the womb until week 21 – 23, which is after the vast majority of abortions take place.

      So, it is not only unnecessary to obtain melanin from aborted fetuses, it is virtually impossible to do so and completely impractical.

      • Mary777

        You accuse the writer of the article of being misleading and then use as the basis for your accusation something the author does not say. NO WHERE in the headline or in the article does the author state that it will be the SKIN cells of aborted black fetuses that will be used by scientists. If you are going to ‘argue’ with someone, and write such a long drawn-out one, the least you can do is have as your point of argument something that the other person has stated.

        • Isome

          Anonymous specifically and repeatedly referred to the misleading and sensationalistic headline. It reads: Scientists Using Melanin From Aborted Black Babies To Create Solar Cells: Are Living Blacks Next?

          CLEARLY the headline says that the skin of aborted Black fetuses is currently being used, and implies, and expects the reader to infer, that the possibility of the skin of living Black people could be used.

          Again, in multiple places in the sources provided by the author, it talks about a synthesized/synthetic form of melanin being easy to develop.

    • Some Guy

      This article incredibly retarded. I’ve seen retarded posts, but this one is industrial-strength retarded. There’s enough stupidity in this post to meet your daily dose for the next thousand years.

      Forget ethics. Scientists won’t harvest melanin from aborted fetuses simple because it’s not economical.

      There are plenty of other cheaper sources of melanin. For example, human or animal hair could easily be used. Going to a barber shop is much easier than going to an abortion clinic. Melanin is present naturally in many fungi. Kilograms of melanin-producing fungi can be grown overnight in a hay-infused broth. Melanin could also be synthesized industrially from tyrosine, through oxidation and polymerization reactions.

      My point is, melanin is cheaper than dirt. If you wanted mud, would you dig some up from your backyard, or would you break into Buckingham palace and dig in the Queen’s garden?

      There is no cabal of evil scientists who want to steal the souls of aborted babies. Take your meds and get some sleep.

    • mhotep

      This is a hoax. It is perpetrated by people seeking to distract from the fact that melanin the aromatic biopolymer and organic semiconductor that makes people black is worth $300 a gram more than gold.

      Statements like “can be cheaply and easily synthesized” show the writer has not even researched the sources to verify their claims. If that statement were true melanin would not be worth $300 a gram more than gold.

      http://keyamsha.com/2016/01/05/384-50-per-gram/

      The whole first paragraph contains not a single verifiable fact. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.

      “In an frightening line of research on solar cells, scientists are examining the connection between melanin (skin pigmentation) and solar cell development.”

      Who is it frightening of it? Melanin has been researched for several hundred years. Marcello Malpighi first looked at melanin in the 1600s. Until just over 150 years ago it was believed that melanin was dried blood. That is why it was referred to as “rete mucosum.” Dr. Peter Proctor and Dr. John McGuiness manufactured the melanin bistable switch in the early 1970s with melanin from melanoma patients as part of their research at the M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas.

      “Of course, it’s all clouded in jargon and officialese, but the basic idea is this: the creation of a melanin-based solar cell. This means that the skin of African-Americans and black fetuses could be used as an element in solar cells.”

      Now let’s get this straight: BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT THE ONLY SOURCE OF MELANIN!!!

      Melanin is all around us. The primary source for melanin is the ink from sepia officinalis, the common cuttlefish. Melanin is in crows, it is in Angus Cattle, it is in crickets, it is in black cats…the sources are too numerous to mention. So why is the author here focusing on aborted black babies????

    • 2QIK4U

      Black lives matter?

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