Cathisophobia Fear of Sitting

Cathisophobia (sometimes spelled with a ‘k’) is a terror of sitting down.

This disorder can be sparked off by a particularly nasty case of hemorrhoids but in some serious cases it can be due to physical abuse relating to sitting on sharp or painful objects.

Sometimes, the sitting fear is due to some punishment in the school days, or it may be an indication of some other phobia like sitting in front of elite and influential people.

Cathisophobia is characterized by sweating, heavy or short breathe, and anxiety.

The Baby Crustacean With No Adult Form Mystery Solve

Cerataspis monstrosa was the name given to a species of crustacean discovered 180 years ago. It’s only ever been found as larvae in the guts of fish that have eaten it.

No adult version was ever identified, leaving scientists understandably curious. Once again, DNA analysis has been the key to unlocking this mystery.

Professor Keith Crandall at George Washington University did a DNA analysis of the creature, dubbed “monster larva” due to its unusual appearance.

He found that it’s actually the larval form of what we thought was an entirely different species, Plesiopenaeus armatus.

Scientists missed the connection because the adult form, a deep-water shrimp, looks completely different from its younger self.

Specimens were also hard to come by because it lives deep in the Atlantic.

Professor Crandall put his ability to solve this nearly 200-year-old mystery down to a combination of luck in finding the right specimens and new techniques that have been developed in the last 10 years.

Agyrophobia Fear of Crossing the Street

Agyrophobics have a fear of crossing streets, highways and other thoroughfares, or a fear of thoroughfares themselves.

This, of course, makes it very difficult to live comfortably in a city.

The word comes from the Greek gyrus which means turning or whirling as the phobic avoids the whirl of traffic.

The phobia covers several categories, wherein sufferers may fear wide roads specifically down to suburban single lane streets, and can also include fearing jaywalking or crossing anywhere on a street, even a designated intersection.

This phobia is considered independent from the fear of cars.

Mysteries Of The Falkland Islands Wolf

The Falkland Islands wolf, hunted to extinction in 1876, was the only mammal living on the Falkland Islands when they were discovered by explorers in the 17th century.

They were amazingly tame and earned a species name meaning “stupid dog of the south.” Its presence on the islands confused naturalists, including Charles Darwin, who wondered how it ended up being the only land mammal so far from the mainland.

A study published in Nature has solved this mystery. Scientists previously believed the wolf diverged from its mainland relatives around 330,000 years ago.

Analyzing DNA from an extinct relative has now shown it only diverged around 16,000 years ago, a glacial period when an ice bridge to the islands from Argentina could easily have existed.