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Vampires and werewolves. Truth versus fiction. This new exhibition looks at how the legends of these two monsters continue to hold our imagination. But there is truth in the myths. From mythology to modern literature. From mosquitos to cancer research, university scientists and scholars show give you answers... In the Blood.
Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammatory responses throughout the body. This inflammation can trigger a cascade of changes that can damage multiple organ systems, causing them to fail. Dr. Dimitri Pappas, is one of the lead researchers working to identify sepsis faster and better treat this life threatening condition.
A microfluidic device created by Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University, Siva Vanapalli, may be the future of cancer diagnosis. Vanapalli and other researchers from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) are developing devices with the aim of diagnosing cancer from a single drop of blood.
Professor Steve Presley of Texas Tech's Department of Environmental Toxicology studies ways to develop preventive measures against vector-borne and infectious diseases, such as the Zika virus. Professor Presley recently provided testimony to several federal committees investigating the potential impact of Zika in America. The Biological Threat Research Laboratory in Texas Tech's Institute of Environmental and Human Health is the only facility in West Texas equipped to test for a variety of highly infectious diseases and where samples of the infected mosquitoes can be kept.
Trace the roots of vampire and werewolf myths, and follow the stories through to the early Victorian fiction writers who were the instigators of the popular craze for these monsters.
Recent work conducted in Dr. Phillips' laboratory has provided a new understanding of how vampire bats evolved. By comparing the proteins in the saliva of vampire bats, insect-eating bats, and medicinal leeches, Dr. Phillips has shown that many of the salivary proteins important for blood-feeding, such as anticoagulants, are found in both vampire bat and leech saliva. One of the remarkable aspects of this discovery is that the evolutionary lineages that led to vampire bats and leeches diverged more than 500 million years ago, during a period of rapid origination of animal diversity known as the Cambrian Explosion.
Batty Facts
The prevailing mythology of vampires as known in the Western World has its origins in Eastern Europe where folklore held that some people would return from the dead (revenants) and cause sickness and ill luck for the village. This mythology became ever-more infused with the notion of draining the life force—blood—from victims. Victorian fiction such as the famous novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) expended the audience for these stories. Subsequently, popular culture adopted the vampire into books, film and television.
See Vampires Powers
Barry Lopez is an Oregon based author and a Visiting Distinguished Scholar at Texas Tech University, the first person to be awarded this title in 2003. He is an author of fiction and non-fiction works, including Of Wolves and Men (1978) that was a National Book Award finalist. An archive of his manuscripts has been established at Texas Tech Libraries.
More about Barry Lopez
Like the vampire, the werewolf has evolved. Many cultures have stories of shapeshifting, where humans can transform into animals. Wolves are just one of the animals that can be the avatar. Witches in Europe were believed to be associated with wolves. The fact that wolves were a dangerous predator across much of the Northern Hemisphere made them a natural receptacle for stories of dark magic and horror.
Werewolves in film
Whether your interest is natural history, folklore and mythology, or historical and contemporary films, In the Blood has something for you to get your teeth into.
May 22, 2023