Category: Genetics
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New genes! New inventions! So?! (Me!)
Thanks to the marine worm Platynereis dumerilii, an animal whose genes have evolved very slowly, scientists have shown that while haemoglobin appeared independently in several species, it actually descends from a single gene transmitted to all by their last common ancestor. (1) Things discovered. Only because they would anyway be. By someone else. In the…
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Genes editing. Humans dying.
As public interest and expanded research in human genome editing grows, many questions remain about ethical, legal and social implications of the technology. People who are seriously ill may overestimate the benefits of early clinical trials while underestimating the risks. This makes properly understanding informed consent, the full knowledge of risks and benefits of treatments,…
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Just… because!
It can be hard to dispute the common adage 'survival of the fittest'. After all, 'most of the genes in the genome are there because they're doing something good,' says a researcher. But, she says, 'others are just there because they've figured out a way to be there.' (1) We tend to find reasons for…
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Just… because!
It can be hard to dispute the common adage 'survival of the fittest'. After all, 'most of the genes in the genome are there because they're doing something good,' says a researcher. But, she says, 'others are just there because they've figured out a way to be there.' (1) We tend to find reasons for…
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Genes. Not important.
One of the great puzzles of evolutional biology is what induced certain living creatures to abandon solitary existence in favor of living in collaborative societies, as seen in the case of ants and other social, colony-forming insects. A major characteristic of so-called eusocial species is the division of labor between queens that lay eggs and…
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