Researchers Name New Parasite after Barrack Obama
I assume you, like me, regularly peruse the Journal of Parisitology (for the centerfolds). If you missed the latest issue, a researcher named Thomas R. Platt has named a new parasite Baracktrema obamai. When I read the headline I assumed that Platt knew enough about politicians to start naming useless bloodsuckers after them, but it turns out he meant it as a compliment. Platt is Obama’s fifth cousin, twice removed, and said Baracktrema obamai reminds him of our president: “It’s long. It’s thin. And it’s cool as hell.” I looked into this, and apparently there are hundreds of organisms named after famous people.They range from Steven Colbert, to Hitler, to (for some reason) Art Garfunkle. For years I’ve maintained the only things I would ever want named after me are a playground or a battleship. But I think I’d also be cool with becoming the namesake for a subspecies of monkey. As in, “That Heatonmonkey stole my camera!”
