Posts Tagged ‘genetics’

Asexual, Tough-as-Hulk Animals Withstand Hulk-Level Radiation

The microscopic bdelloid rotifer—best known as an all-females species that hasn’t had sex for 100 million years—has thwarted the attempts of Eugene Gladyshev and Matthew Meselson to mutate their genes with blasts of gamma radiation. Although the radiation shattered their genomes—it was a far higher dose than had ever been tolerated by an animal to date—the plucky, resourceful gals sewed their chromosomes back together and not only survived the blasts but continued to reproduce.

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Popularity: 24% [?]

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March 25th, 2008 by Lizzie Buchen in Health & Medicine, Living World | 3 Comments »

DNA Cops Crack Down on Flower Theft and Other High Crimes

Don’t carry salmon around if something doesn’t feel right. Never lie to a girl to get her number. And if you’re riding a horse in the street, make sure you’re not doing it “furiously.” These rules seem ludicrous, inane, and irrelevant—and they are—but in the UK, breaking any of them is enough to get your genetic information stored in the the national DNA database—for life.

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Popularity: 14% [?]

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March 4th, 2008 by Lizzie Buchen in Health & Medicine | 3 Comments »