Linda, her Mom, and a Jolly Old Elf
This will
serve as my Christmas Letter. I am
living in The Willows, a posh “retirement
facility” that features all the amenities, including hundreds of old ladies to
have dinner with! I am holding up okay
in most regards, although inexorably time is having its way. I miss family and friends a lot, and am
pleased as punch for visits. And, of
course, I daily anathematize whatever or Whoever took Linda away from me so
early and in such an unnecessarily cruel manner. But, what the hell? I still look forward to at least another year
of blogging, chatting and snoozing in my recliner. I hope you all have a good 2020.
So, to make
this blog worthwhile, I am going to toss in some science. As you all know, we all are merely mock-ups of
the ideal creature coded in our genes.
Evolution is supposed to work by eliminating useless and/or inadaptive
genetic mutations. Now, humans and
rodents are both mammals, but our “lines” split at least 50 million years ago,
hence our genomes are markedly dissimilar.
However, we have a number of genes in common. These are termed ultra conserved genes, and
the supposition is that they perform some functions that are absolutely essential. “But what or which” always has been the
question. Now it appears that some smart
people at Fred Hutch have provided an answer, using CRISPR gene editing
technology. There answer, summarized
below, is interesting and understandable.
Read it yourself, with another cup of egg nog.
No comments:
Post a Comment