31 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Genetic Language is Abstract and Flexible
The awesome power that genetic engineering will
one day place in our hands was foreshadowed recently
by some experimenters at the University of Basel in
Switzerland. Walter Gehring and his students were
studying the effects of the eyeless gene in fruit flies. The
gene is called eyeless because its absence causes flies to
grow without eyes. The gene actually causes eyes to grow. Gehring and the students inserted the gene into
various tissues of embryonic flies, and the embryos
grew into flies ...16 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
DNA Divergence is in How You Count
It’s a common misconception that chimp DNA
differs from Homo sapiens sapiens genes by only a
single percent, but this number is apocryphal. In actuality,
the degree of similarity of human and chimp
genetic code depends mostly on how you count.
Since all complex organisms from Earth possess
great swaths of junk DNA inherited from a distant
common ancestor, there tends to be startling similarity
between many organisms. Sure, humans are like
chimps—but they’re also like flatworms and fruit...Folksonomies: dna genetic drift
Folksonomies: dna genetic drift
There's much more to the differences between Chimps and Humans than counting genes.
20 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Postmating Competition
Sexual selection doesn’t end with the sex act itself: males can continue
to compete even after mating. In many species, females mate with more
than one male over a short period of time. After a male inseminates a
female, how can he prevent other males from fertilizing her and stealing
his paternity? This postmating competition has produced some of the
most intriguing features built by sexual selection. Sometimes a male
hangs around after mating, guarding his female against other suitors.
Wh...Various evolutionary strategies males of different species keep a female from mating with other males after sex.