Learn Something Every Day

Comment by Brett (Guest)

Brett (Guest) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:48:14 +0000

Did the person who wrote this article also write the script to "Signs"?

Sending 'water allergic aliens' to a water-based planet to harvest the bodies of a water-based species.

Luckily, they must have checked the weather report to make sure it didn't rain during their invasion...that could have dampened some spirits.

Or maybe instead of investing so much time into cloaking devices for their spaceships, they could have spent a little more R & D on rain jackets...

I know I've discussed this before...but it's worth mentioning again. The people need to know! Pssshhh...alergic to water....

Comment by Noelle (Guest)

Noelle (Guest) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:43:08 +0000

It's true Ken, here is the article of a girl in Australia who has it and her story from a UK newspaper: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

Learn Something Every Day

Ken — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:33:55 +0000

It's possible to be allergic to water. Sort of. Maybe.

Specifically, there's a very rare condition called aquagenic urticaria (water-related hives) that causes a person's skin to react to water with rashes and blisters.

Supposedly, there was a famous case of this some years ago, where a girl named Heidi Falconer was diagnosed with the problem; she had to be treated with a Swedish foam product that created a waterproof barrier for her skin, so she could do everyday things like taking a shower.

This smells a lot like an urban legend, and there's very little reliable medical information on this condition out there on teh Internets. So I'm not really sure how real this all is. "Aquagenic urticaria" is more of a symptom description than an actual disease, and some suspect that hypersensitivity to chlorine is a more likely cause of the problem than water itself. Also, it doesn't appear to be a histamine reaction, like most allergies. So "allergic to water" might be stretching the truth a little bit.