EARTH.COM
Every time we think we’re close to fully understanding the human body, something fresh and unexpected shows up. Recently, a team of researchers stumbled upon strange entities, or obelisks, living inside of human bodies that had escaped notice until now.
Their surprising presence challenges assumptions and raises pressing questions about what else might be lurking unseen inside us.
Hidden presence
These new visitors appear smaller than the viruses most people learn about in basic biology classes. Rather than behaving like familiar microbes, they introduce themselves as something different.
Their discovery came about when researchers began analyzing massive genetic libraries, searching for patterns that did not match any known organisms.
This unusual find was led by Nobel Prize winner in Medicine Andrew Fire, from Stanford University.
Calling them obelisks
What the researchers uncovered are entities they have chosen to call “obelisks.” They do not resemble typical life forms, and their name comes from their distinctive shape.
“The more we look, the crazier we see,” said Mark Peifer, a cell and developmental biologist at the University of North Carolina.
They resemble what scientists call viroids, which are infectious loops of RNA known for their effects on plants.
Obelisks share certain traits with these plant pathogens, yet they appear in human-associated bacteria.
According to Matthew Sullivan, an integrative biologist at Ohio State University, the health implications for humans remain unclear.
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