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notapantsday193 karma

The donor's*. Everyone who has received an organ or tissue transplant, is a chimera, meaning they have cells (and DNA) from two different organisms.

It's also been discovered that during pregnancy, some of the fetus' cells become part of the mother's body. So basically, every mother is also a chimera.

And of course we carry all kinds of foreign DNA from bacteria and other microorganisms with us.

*technically, the hair itself does not contain DNA, but the bulb does. So you can't extract regular DNA from clipped hair, only from hair that has fallen out.

notapantsday137 karma

I'm a big fan of metamizole.

Here in Germany, it may be the most used painkiller in hospitals and also one of the most prescribed drugs overall. It's just as strong as some opioids while having no risk of addiction. It can also be combined with relatively weak opioids like tramadol for a synergistic effect that is significantly stronger than the single substances. Tramadol is less prone to cause addiction than most other opioids.

But most countries (including the US), have completely banned metamizole. There is one side effect that is very rare, but also very dangerous (agranulocytosis). Studies examining how often this side effect actually occurs show very different results. So Americans call Germans insane for using metamizole at all, while we Germans have decades of experience with it and don't see agranulocytosis as a major problem.

There is no other drug that can replace opiates and prevent addiction like metamizole can. I think this is worth a lot and should not be underestimated.

notapantsday95 karma

The one I get allocated to for the day is random but sometimes dependent on the route.

But do you always make it back home in the evening or could you find out in the morning that you'll be spending the night in Paris, Frankfurt or Milan?

notapantsday30 karma

Tramadol is also addictive, and withdrawal can definitely suck, but it's still generally considered less addictive than most other opiates. See this study or this WHO report (page 19), for example.

It's not "better". It's just "not quite as bad".

notapantsday4 karma

There's only really one place where the record gets broken at the moment anyway - and that's Berlin.

As someone who doesn't know much about marathons, why is that? Are runners just able to run more efficiently on German soil?