This time, the case faced huge difficulties from the beginning, which made everyone in the second operation team feel that they had no way to start.
The feeling of knowing clearly that there is something weird in this star map, but just not being able to find it, is very unpleasant.
As a last resort, the investigation process was temporarily stalled. He Wei and Zhang Dingshan once again tried to find clues through conventional means, such as looking for more methods that may cause psychological suggestion and hypnotic effects, or looking for anomalies in the CSK-9602 galaxy.
Although animal experiments have basically denied the possibility of psychological suggestion, there is still a very small probability after all - maybe there is really a method that can have psychological effects on different species at the same time?
There is no other investigation plan at the moment, so we can only try this first.
Lu Ming once again began to think for a long time. He was carefully sorting out everything about this incident, sorting out the entire incident, and thinking carefully about where there might be blind spots that he had neglected and forgotten.
He grabbed a piece of paper and picked up a pen with his other hand, writing and drawing on it subconsciously.
The first thing that appears is the line of characters CSK-9602. This represents the origin of all events.
Connected to CSK-9602 is the Mercury telescope. This is a tool for the human world to observe this galaxy.
After the Mercury telescope, there are the words "Star Map". After these two words, there is "eyes".
Eyes are the organs through which animals, including humans, perceive star charts.
After the eyes, there is the word brain.
Lu Ming was certain that if the so-called "spiritual pollution" and other mysterious explanations were excluded, then the madness of both humans and animals must be related to the brain.
Autopsy tests on those animals that went berserk found no abnormalities in their brains. But this cannot be 100% certain that there is really no abnormality. The reason is simple. The brain is too complex, and there are still too many unknowns for humans. Maybe the factors that lead to madness are hidden outside the known realm of mankind?
In this way, a chain is formed.
CSK-9602 - Mercury Telescope - Star Map - Eyes - Brain.
From the beginning to the end.
Lu Ming noticed that in this link, many elements were not passed smoothly. In other words, the only thing passed from beginning to end is only one element.
That's the message.
Information about the CSK-9602 galaxy.
In this chain, all elements except information are lost in the transmission process.
Then it can be determined that the madness of humans or animals must be related to information under the existing scientific framework, that is, after excluding elements that cannot be described by the scientific framework and belong to the so-called Cthulhu worldview.
After determining this premise, Lu Ming combined the existing clues and determined another premise.
The key factors that lead to the madness of organisms are hidden outside the known realm of mankind.
Moreover, the information from the CSK-9602 galaxy is directly related to this factor.
So, how are they delivered? How does some image information lead to that key factor appearing in the brain of an organism? ….
If such factors do exist, what are they? How does it work in the brain?
As he slowly thought about it, a conjecture gradually appeared in Lu Ming's mind.
This speculation is a bit shocking, and even seems a bit ridiculous. But at this moment, combining the existing clues and the real environment, this is almost the only possibility - at least the only possibility that Lu Ming can think of.
During the next regular meeting, Lu Ming made a request to Lu Qingliang.
"Help me find an expert on subviral factors and a laboratory of sufficient level, and then transport some animals that have gone completely crazy and let them search their brain tissue to see if they find anything. Yes. Okay, and then from Zhou Tianyang’s team
A little brain crest fluid was taken from the members, Luo Yang and Li Hu and sent for examination. "
"Subviral factor?"
Lu Qingliang frowned: "You can find them if you look for them. But why are you looking for them? Lu Ming, do you have any new ideas?"
Lu Ming nodded. He Wei and Zhang Dingshan also focused their attention.
"This is some information about subviral factors. Take a look at it first."
Lu Ming took out a piece of information and handed it to the other three people. The three of them took a look and roughly understood what the so-called subviral factors were.
The so-called subviral factors are protein structures that are smaller than viruses, do not even have DNA and RNA structures, and do not have the ability to replicate themselves.
The famous prion, which can cause diseases such as mad cow disease, scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and kuru disease that broke out among primitive cannibal tribes, is one of the subviral factors. The latest research has found that Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, etc. are also caused by mechanisms similar to subviral factors.
It is hard to say whether subviral factors represented by prions can actually be regarded as living things. To be more specific, it might be more accurate to think of them as objects somewhere between living and non-living things.
Their essence is actually a misfolding of biological proteins. That is to say, a protein that was originally good and had a certain function in the organism folded incorrectly due to the influence of certain factors, and prions were born.
They cannot even reproduce themselves. But another ability they possess is to achieve an effect similar to self-replication, and they have the ability to infect between different organisms.
The only currently generally accepted hypothesis for proteins is that prions can transform proteins that normally have an alpha helix-based structure into the same abnormal configuration, and are capable of producing protein aggregation due to their hydrophobic nature. ability. As a result, amyloid plaques accumulate outside nerve cells in the brain, leading to various diseases.
Prions are more stable than ordinary proteins and cannot be disinfected and infective by ordinary physical or chemical methods. Boiling water at 130 degrees Celsius for four to five hours in a pressure cooker cannot denature the protein.
"Prions? Lu Ming, you are saying that it may be because some subviral particles similar to prions appear in the bodies of those 'crazy' people or animals, leading to their madness? But their brain tissue is clearly It’s normal.”….
He Wei was a little confused.
Lu Ming said: "It doesn't have to be prions. I'm just making an analogy to illustrate the possibility. Perhaps that kind of pathogenic factor is more primitive, smaller, and harder to detect than prions? And, they Maybe it acts on a more subtle and basic structural level of the brain. Those brain tissues only look normal on the surface, but are actually completely infected?"
At this stage, this possibility cannot be ruled out. But it just cannot be ruled out.
"Okay." He Wei still seemed a little reluctant to accept this hypothesis: "So, what is its transmission route? After looking at the high-definition star map of the CSK-9602 galaxy, this will appear in your head, Hmm, subviral factors?”
"Why not?"
Lu Ming asked back: "We all know that people feel light through their eyes and generate corresponding memories in their heads. Memory is stored in the form of brain synapses, and the connection strength and electrochemical properties of synapses are essentially proteins. Modification. That is, it is feasible to change the structure of the brain through light. Since it is possible, why can't this change happen to lead to certain changes in the protein, so as to generate a subviral factor similar to a prion? "
He Wei was speechless. Although Lu Ming's conjecture was slightly absurd, he had to admit that this possibility did exist.
Zhang Dingshan tapped the table lightly: "In this case, according to your guess, the whole thing happened like this: the CSK-9602 galaxy happened to have a certain specific appearance, and this appearance was photographed by the Mercury telescope. Photo. This photo has the ability to stimulate the brain of an organism and cause it to produce sub-viruses.
The ability of the factor leads to the madness of living organisms, right? "
Lu Ming nodded: "This is the only explanation."
Lu Qingliang murmured: "Then what is this? A...pathogen that can be spread through light?"
This is indeed incredible. However, there are many incredible things in this world.
In some inactivated vaccines, there is a very small chance that fragments of broken viral DNA may happen to be combined into a complete DNA sequence due to shaking during transportation, and thus have the ability to replicate themselves and cause infection, he said. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's resurrection. What's so incomprehensible about a pathogenic body that's born by inducing protein misfolding in the brain through light?
"This can also explain why low-resolution star charts cannot cause organisms to go crazy, but high-resolution star charts can cause madness. Also, the longer you look at the star chart, the deeper the degree of madness. This can also be explained by the fact that all organisms that have seen the star map have shown a strong desire to continue viewing it."
Low-resolution star maps don't contain enough information to induce misfolding of proteins in the brain.
The longer you look, you can compare it to the degree of radiation exposure. Obviously, the longer the exposure to radiation, the greater the impact on the body. Put here, the longer you look at it, the more protein misfolding occurs in your brain.
It's easy to explain why all the organisms involved in the experiment felt a strong desire to continue watching. It's nothing more than the subtle structure of the brain being changed. ….
At this moment, Zhang Dingshan, He Wei, and Lu Qingliang discovered that Lu Ming's slightly absurd conjecture was completely consistent with the existing clues. At least logically speaking, this conjecture is perfectly consistent and does not contain any contradictions.
"Now, as long as we find the pathogenic body that may exist in the brains of crazy creatures, all of this can be explained."
Lu Ming emphasized his tone: "An explanation within the existing scientific framework. Not an explanation based on the Cthulhu worldview."
Lu Ming admitted that the Cthulhu worldview does have a unique appeal. If he treats it as a literary and artistic work, he is also very interested in trying it and getting in touch with it. But he has always resented attempts to explain the real world in terms of the Cthulhu worldview.
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Reason, so like the truth.
Frankly speaking, apart from this conjecture, several members of the second operation team did not even believe that there were any other conjectures that could achieve this.
In this situation full of expectations, after opening the emails from the two laboratories, several people immediately felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured down their heads, and the little expectation in their hearts was instantly extinguished.
"...According to the above research methods, we have not detected the presence of any unknown subviral factors in the specimens."
There are no subviral factors. There are no prions. There are no unknown pathogens that could cause animals to go berserk.
Lu Ming couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Is such a logically perfect conjecture just a conjecture?
If it is a laboratory conclusion, it may be wrong. However, the current report was produced independently by two laboratories. This basically eliminates the possibility of errors.
Of course, this report cannot completely deny the possibility that "there is a certain pathogenic agent, and the pathogenic agent is stimulated by external light." After all, there is also a pathogenic agent that is smaller than the subviral agent and has a more special structure. There may be something that is harder to detect, but the probability of this conjecture being true has been greatly reduced. .
Nebula falls into misty rain
