Super Endurance! Finnish Olympic skiing champion Eero Mantyranta may have been the first Finnish sportsman to test positive for hormone doping (which was totes kosher back in the 1960s), but he probably didn't need to since he had genetic super endurance powers! Along with other members of his extended family, Mantyranta had a condition resulting from a mutation in the erythropoietin receptor gene, which resulted in the ability to carry 50 percent more oxygen in his bloodstream, a trait that is quite advantageous in endurance competition. Super Strength! When most people think of genetic disorders, they usually picture the ones that result in physical frailty. However, going by Shamalanian logic, there should also be genetic disorders from the other side of the bell curve that result in superhuman strength. And that seems to be the case with Michigan boy Liam Hoekstra. Liam has a rare genetic condition in which his body doesn't produce the protein myostatin, which inhibits muscle growth. Individuals or animals with this deficiency tend to have much larger muscles with little body fat; an inherent super strength! While Liam doesn't appear to boast any fantastical car-tossing strength, he is naturally stronger than all his peers without doing any training. The only downside to his condition is that he must eat more than his peers in order to "keep up" with his body. Eating That Which Should Not Be Eaten! Michel Lotito was a French "entertainer" known as Monsieur Mangetout or "Mr. Eats All." Thoughout his career, Michel consumed all manner of non-consumable objects made of glass, rubber, and metal (which he would often accompany by downing oil). One of his most impressive feats was consuming an entire Cessna 150 airplane, which he ate in small bits over the course of two years. There was a couple of things going on here: First, Michel appeared to suffer from a condition known as Pica, a disorder characterized by the appetite for non-consumable foods like dirt, rocks, and metals. But what makes Michel truly notable is the abnormally thick lining in his stomach and intestines that made it possible for him to eat sharp metal objects and consume toxic substances, which would have killed a lesser person. Ability to Eat Many Hot Dogs! Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi attributes some of his unique "ability" to the fact that his stomach sits far lower than that of the average human, thus giving it more room to expand upwards. When asked about his unnamed digestive "condition" during a 2012 AMA, Kobayashi said that "the stomach condition is true. I have been checked not on a serious level. I have had a camera put down in my stomach before. When they put it inside, just the camera touching the inside of my stomach stretched it and it surprised the doctors because of the elasticity." Hyper Photographic Memory! You may have difficulty remembering the exact details of the late-1970s TV sitcom Taxi, but actress Marilu Henner sure doesn't. And not just because it was her most notable role, but rather because she has a condition known as hyperthymesia, or the ability to recall every tiny, stupid detail from her life going back decades. Ev-er-y detail. Marilu is only one of 25 confirmed cases of hyperthymesia, which allows her to pinpoint the smallest details of her life on nearly any given day. She told ABC that rifling through her memory is similar to viewing "little videos moving simultaneously… When somebody gives me a date or a year or something, I see all these little movie montages, basically on a time continuum, and I’m scrolling through them and flashing through them." While some scientists theorize hyperthymesia is the result of an obsessive-compulsive need to constantly review (and therefore renew) one's memories, there is also a physiological link in which the temporal lobe and caudate nucleus of the brain are found to be enlarged in the afflicted. Super Flexibility! Even if you don't know the name Javier Botet, if you're a horror fan, the chances are you've seen his work. Javier was the emaciated creature at the end of the excellent Spanish horror film [REC] (better than its American remake Quarantine) and he was the titular character in the film Mama. As you see in the test footage above from Mama, while a lot can be done with makeup and CGI, it's no replacement for the spookiness that comes from someone with the ability to bend themselves in ungodly poses. Botet suffers from a genetic condition known as Marfan syndrome, which affects connective tissue throughout the body. People with Marfan tend to be unusually tall, with long limbs and fingers, and have "abnormal flexibility." Marfan is a spectrum disease, meaning that severe cases can lead to life-threatening defects in the heart and other organs. However, those with mild symptoms can live normal, full, healthy lives. Party Hard and Face No Physical Consequences! Why is Ozzy Osbourne still alive? And I ask this question as a fan of Oz. For someone who has, by his own admission, drank, smoked, popped, snorted, and injected copious amounts of substances over the years, why is Osbourne still around when so many similarly inclined musicians from the past are not? The answer may be due to his mutant superpowers for partying! Really. Back in 2010, Ozzy had his genome sequenced and researchers said they found several gene variants "never seen before." They are, perhaps unsurprisingly, found in regions of the genome associated with alcoholism and how the body absorbs methamphetamines and other recreational drugs. Unbelievably Sexy Hollywood Eyelashes! Elizabeth Taylor: Actress, Icon, Mutant. Taylor "suffered" from a rare condition known as distichia, in which the eyelashes arise from an abnormal spot on the eyelid. In Taylor's case, she actually boasted a double-set of eyelashes, which only helped draw attention to her famous "violet" eyes. Distichia can cause medical issues in some people, by which the eye is being constantly brushed against the lashes. However, in Taylor's case, it only led to fame and fortune. No Need For Sleep! You've always heard that you need eight hours of sleep a night. And that's good advice—for most people. After conducting genetic tests on sleep-test participants, University of California, San Francisco researchers were able to locate a mother and daughter who share an abnormal copy of a gene known as DEC2, which affects the circadian rhythm. The result is they are "short sleepers" who need far less sleep than the average person, a genetic disposition that may affect as much as 5 percent of the population. A Six-Finger Sinker Former MLB relief pitcher Antonio Alfonseca was known for his killer sinker. While this pitch was surely the result of years of practice and perfection, it's difficult to conclude that it wasn't also at least partially due to the sixth finger on his throwing hand. Alfonseca was born with a rare genetic condition known as polydactyly, which results in extra fingers or toes. In fact "El Pulpo" (or "The Octopus," as he has been known)—has an additional extremity on each hand and foot. While it's debatable if the extra finger (which is more like a nubbin on the side of his hand than a full-functional digit) actually helped his pitching, it's hard to imagine that it had no effect. Unbreakable Bones Members of an unnamed Connecticut family were found to "suffer" from a genetically linked condition, which resulted in significantly stronger and denser bones. Additionally, the bones appeared to be resistant to age-related wear, a sort of anti-osteoporosis. Disease Resistance In the late 1970s, the virus that would later be known as HIV ravaged the gay community. But one man managed to never get sick even as boyfriends and acquaintances around him fell to the then-mysterious ailment. Stephen Crohn was found to have a "delta 32 mutation," which protected his CD4 white blood cells from HIV. Due to this small genetic change (which otherwise had no apparent effects), Crohn was completely immune to HIV. Within any disease outbreak, a few individuals in a population are always found to be immune for one reason or another, and these cases help scientists describe the disease and devise treatments. Leave No Fingerprints Dubbed "immigration delay disease," adermatoglyphia is a genetic condition that leaves the "afflicted" without fingerprints. The trait came to light when a Swiss woman was not able to enter the United States because of her condition (all non-residents are required by law to be fingerprinted). Aside from the frustrations that come with dealing with various local bureaucracies (and newer fingerprint tech), this rare condition would certainly be considered a super power to any would-be criminals. Source
