Irish giant's dike

Ireland's giant dike is considered as a natural wonder of the world. "Giant's Road" is a famous tourist attraction in Northern Ireland, which is listed as a world natural heritage by UNESCO. Legend has it that in ancient times, Irish giants wanted to duel with Scottish giants, so they dug stone pillars, filled the seabed and paved the causeway to Scotland. After the causeway was destroyed, only a little remains remained.

The legend of the Irish giant

The origin of the name of this road is related to giants. According to the folklore in Northern Ireland, Giant's Road is the commander-in-chief of the Irish King's army. The giant specially built it to welcome his beloved girl. It is said that the giant's manpower is infinite. Once in a fight with a Scottish giant, he picked up a stone and threw it at his fleeing opponent. The stone fell into the sea and became today's giant island.

Later, he fell in love with the giant girl who lived in Inner hebrides. In order to be with his beloved girl, he dug stone pillars to fill the bottom of the sea and paved a tunnel leading to Nekhbridi. Later, the tunnel was destroyed, leaving only ruins. This is the road of giants that we see now.

The cause of the giant road

Although the legend is romantic, the journey of the giant road has nothing to do with the giant. The real cause was later discovered by geologists.

Giant's Road is actually a kind of natural basalt. Volcanoes are very active from Inner hebrides to eastern Northern Ireland. At present, the lava plateaus in Ireland and Scotland were formed by large-scale lava flows at that time, forming thick basalt lava.

It gushes from cracks in the earth's crust and flows to the sea like a river. When it meets seawater, it cools rapidly and becomes solid basalt. In the process of magma solidification, it burst and formed a regular column. After thousands of years of erosion and weathering, it finally formed this appearance.

The mystery of gigantism

There is indeed a famous giant in history. However, since the legendary giant does not exist, how did this become a giant? Is he the only giant?

Born in Northern Ireland, he is said to be 8 feet tall and has been active on the stage. He often shows his talents in London and appears as a giant.

Later, he became famous and was loved and welcomed by the king, queen and Duke of Devonshire at that time. Interestingly, Ireland has not only seen this famous giant, but also a giant road, which is a famous tourist attraction.

He died young at the age of 22 because he had a bad habit of drinking. Maybe he knows he is special and will attract others' attention. Before he died, he left instructions to bury his body at sea, because he wanted to ensure that it would not be owned by surgeons and scientists, but the king's surgeons had already had this idea.

When his funeral was held in a bar, he bribed the keeper of the body and secretly took it out of the coffin. Although this move was not very noble, it was because of Dr. Hunter that the secret of the Irish giant was slowly revealed.

A surgeon studied his skeletal remains and found that the pituitary fossa in the skull was enlarged, which may be the cause of his gigantism!

His bones are now in the Hunter Museum at the Royal College of Medicine in London. Later, British and German scientists extracted DNA from two teeth of the Irish giant for new research. Modern researchers measured his bones and showed that he was 7 feet tall.

In DNA, scientists found that the protein gene of aromatic hydrocarbon interaction has a mutation, which will lead to the growth of pituitary adenoma at the bottom of brain and abnormal growth of body tissues. Like gigantism or acromegaly. Such symptoms include thickening of skin layer, growth of hands and feet, facial features distortion, excessive growth of body organs and so on. By analyzing DNA, scientists also concluded that all people with trans-protein mutations in aromatic hydrocarbons have a common ancestor.

Calculations show that the gene mutation occurred many years ago, and there are still 200 to 300 people carrying the mutant gene today. The physical development caused by this gene mutation is uncontrollable.

This giant gene still exists widely in Northern Ireland and many families.

The greatest significance of this study is that clinical applied scientists will try their best to track those who carry genetic mutations and cure them before they form gigantism. Out of respect for him, some scholars once launched a movement to hold the funeral he wanted for the Irish giant who made great contributions to science. However, this proposal has been opposed by many scientists, who believe that these remains are more valuable for research in the future.