I'm reading about embryology at the moment - genetic switches and evo-devo.
Its all so complex and yet so astonishingly simple.
CAMELOT...! CAMELOT !!! CAMELOT !....... "It's only a model."
by snare&racket 13 Replies latest jw friends
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snare&racket
Awesome, what excellent bed time reading cofty lol. My dean is a leading embryologist in his field of embryology (yes people thats how much we know about what we know.... It helps me realise how dumb I am). A group of Muslims tried to convince him the Koran explains embryology in detail. He was too nice and said it was interesting, I facepalmed myself in his office as I saw the Muslim version of an Awake magazine adding his out of context quotes that very moment......
embryology is the window into our past..... All the genes we have collected from our animal ancestors are switched on or off or both during our embryological development. It is astounding. Our finger genes are switched on and our webbed hands are switched off and the cells between our digits die (apoptosis) and what was an amphibian like webbed water hand now plays piano..... Beautiful, simple, explainable, modifiable i.e. fixable (malformations) and a history book of our past genetic contributors.
interestingly, apoptosis (controlled cell death) is an essential tool for moulding us to our genes, the tissue between our fingers being killed to create them is a great example. Apoptosis going wrong is what causes cancer, I.e. no cell death = tumour. This along with the enzymes a tumor secretes to get access to the blood (MMP again a huge element in embryology) lead some people to believe that cancer isi an embryological mechanism out of control.
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cofty
Embryology is amazing. I am very jealous you get paid to learn that stuff!
I'm reading "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" by Sean B. Carroll - not to be confused with Sean M. Carroll the physicist.
Same Hox genes in humans and fruit flies - stunning.
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snare&racket
I guarantee you have a better knowledge than me in what you read and you get to choose what and when you read it. I have a shotgun with a pass mark written on it against my head with my overdraft ticking down by the second.........as I read every page.
I need to remember how lucky I am. The shotgun makes it hard though....