From real mermaids to the elephant man here are the weirdest human mutations. \rbr\rbrSubscribe to Science N 60 \rbr\rbr6.\rbrEpidermodysplasia Verruciformis or the tree man illness is charerized by the formation of horn like\rbrstructures on the skin and warts the take up an overwhelming amount of surface area on the body. The\rbrskin on the hands and feet becomes tough and thick turning a brown or yellow color resembling\rbrbranches of a tree. Several types of HPV contribute towards this condition, but HPV 5 and HPV 8 are the\rbrones that are most often associated with the mutation. Unfortunately, with tree man illness even when\rbrthe warts are surgically removed that isnt a guarantee that they wont return. In the case of one man,\rbrDede Koswara, who had 95 percent of his warts removed in 2008 only for them to resurface soon after.\rbrEven if one cant be completely cured, after several treatments the warts have been shown to at least\rbrgrow back smaller each time.\rbr\rbr5.\rbrSirenomelia, the proper name for the better known Mermaid Syndrome, is the mutation that causes\rbrinfants to be born with what looks like a mermaid tail. In the womb the legs start to rotate and are fused\rbrtogether due to only developing a single artery that cannot produce the blood flow needed to form the\rbrlower body completely. In the 19th century the afflicted fetuses were preserved in jars and displayed for\rbrpeople in freak shows as mermaid children. Its an extremely rare condition and only affects 1 in\rbr100,000 babies, but it is much more likely to occur in identical twins. Those born with Sirenomelia\rbrusually die within a few a days of being born and those who do survive dont live a very long life.\rbr\rbr4.\rbrProgeria is the genetic mutation that causes accelerated aging in children. Its a rare condition caused by\rbra mutation in the gene named LMNA. The children usually all display very similar chareristics, they\rbrlose body fat and hair. When they are born the babies look healthy and normal until around 18-24\rbrmonths when the mutation starts to accelerate and becomes visible through their appearance. Sadly\rbrchildren with Progeria tend to die at an average age of 14 due to heart disease.\rbr\rbr3.\rbrNot all mutations are visible on the outside nor are they all a hindrance to everyday life. The children of\rbrthe Moken people, located off the coasts of Thailand and Myanmar, have developed the ability to see\rbrclearly underwater in depths up to 75 feet. The mutation of their eyes is ually the ability for the eye\rbrmuscles to change the shape of the lens to increase light refrion, leading to underwater vision. This\rbrevolved ability allows them to scope out tiny brown clams deep underwater even while they look\rbrindistinguishable amongst the tiny brown rocks near them. Something thats hard for others to do even\rbrwhile wearing goggles. These sea-gypsies dominate the water!\rbr\rbr2.\rbrProteus syndrome or elephant man syndrome causes the overgrowth of body parts in a asymmetrical\rbrfashion. It varies from person to person and can affect any part of the body. At the age of 6-18 months\rbrthe growths can start to occur and get more severe with age. Proteus syndrome can even cause\rbrneurological abnormalities that lead to seizures and vision loss, but also affect the person on an\rbrintellectual level. The Elephant Man athe brought to the light the real life man, Joseph Carey\rbrMerrick, who had Proteus syndrome and was a freak in the Victorian times. He was put on display for\rbrpeople to gawk at and weird theories as to why he was born the was he was started to bloom. One\rbrfarfetched claim was that his mother was frightened by an elephant and that must be the reason.\rbr\rbr1.\rbrCyclopia is the birth defect whose name was inspired by the Cyclopes giants in Greek mythology. The\rbrcondition causes a single eye that is located where the base of the nose usually takes its place. The nose\rbrcan be absent or can be located above the eye in the form of a proboscis. Only one of the two eye\rbrsockets that we are normally born with forms which gives them their unique appearance. All of the\rbrcauses leading to children being born with Cyclopia come from a unusually high presence of toxins in the\rbrbody of the mother. The toxins in the body that cause the mutation could be from alcoholism, diabetes,\rbrand even from ingesting a toxic weed known as Corn Lily during pregnancy. Cyclopia is a fatal condition\rbrdue to the underdeveloped facial features and other deformities to the heart and vital organs.