I would rather trace the path of the left laryngeal nerve to the development of the embryo, than to an evolutionary throwback. Those that have a problem with the design of the body, ought to try and do better, or is that too much to ask? For the moment, mine works fine (bad design or not), so I'll stick to what I've got. Junk bonds, junk DNA, it's a misnomer whichever way you look at it.
Posts by Vidqun
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37Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Vidqun
Snare, wondered where you were? Sorry to disappoint, but the appendix is a very useful little appendage. I still have mine, and I will hold onto it until it goes wrong. Vestigial/junk, same difference, very short-sighted, for later one must eat one's words.
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Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Vidqun
In the Natural History Museum is displayed the growth rings of a Sequoia. The growth rings indicate time, going back thousands of years = dendronchronology. Major events in the tree's life, e.g., fires, volcanic eruptions, droughts, drastic climate change, etc. are noticible in the growth rings. Now scientists predict that all those changes would be transcribed in the DNA, from there DNA cell memory, assisting future generations to adapt. The fact that not all of the information in the DNA has been translated, should make one wary of calling it junk.
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Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Vidqun
Transposons or “jumping genes”, earlier viewed as "junk":
Later researchers have found similar results—that TEs can influence gene transcription—in other species, such as fruit flies, morning glory flowers, and (vindicating McClintock's suspicions) maize (Slotkin & Martienssen, 2007). Moreover, in primates, scientists have identified a SINE known as Alu that seems to play an important role in gene regulation and evolution. These new discoveries are prompting scientists to think twice about dismissing such a large portion of the genome as nothing but "junk."
Recently scientists have established that the older the man, the greater the chance that his children will be born with abnormalities. So, some of his gene sequences are skipped, creating mutated strands. Contrary to de novo mutations which occur during cell division, inherited gene mutations are transferred at an equal rate by the father and mother, are more common and thus more commonly responsible for disease. Scientists believe that both inherited and new mutations are responsible for diseases like autism and schizophrenia, but have not worked out the ratio of blame. On the positive side, de novo gene mutations are a necessary element, allowing us to adapt to our changing environment.
In some cases DNA sequences are duplicated, e.g. men with XYY chromosomes. So letters to the code are constantly being added or subtracted. Certainly, similar processes would be taking place in the DNA of trees and plants.
Your arrogant (but very humorous and crude) scientist will obviously not benefit from above mentioned research, because he has made his mind up that all inactive DNA ("the white stuff") is junk. By the way, the coding of proteins by m-RNA is a separate process. Because m-RNA doesn't use the "white bits," (e.g., transposons or "jumping genes") does that mean it should all be classified as junk? I call it bad science.
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Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Vidqun
Here's a Time-article on Junk DNA which is not junk at all:
Junk DNA — Not So Useless After All
Researchers report on a new revelation about the human genome: it’s full of active, functioning DNA, and it's a lot more complex than we ever thought
Junk. Barren. Non-functioning. Dark matter. That’s how scientists had described the 98% of human genome that lies between our 21,000 genes, ever since our DNA was first sequenced about a decade ago. The disappointment in those descriptors was intentional and palpable.
It had been believed that the human genome — the underpinnings of the blueprint for the talking, empire-building, socially evolved species that we are — would be stuffed with sophisticated genes, coding for critical proteins of unparalleled complexity. But when all was said and done, and the Human Genome Project finally determined the entire sequence of our DNA in 2001, researchers found that the 3 billion base pairs that comprised our mere 21,000 genes made up a paltry 2% of the entire genome. The rest, geneticists acknowledged with unconcealed embarrassment, was an apparent biological wasteland.
But it turns out they were wrong. In an impressive series of more than 30 papers published in several journals, including Nature, Genome Research, Genome Biology, Science and Cell, scientists now report that these vast stretches of seeming “junk” DNA are actually the seat of crucial gene-controlling activity — changes that contribute to hundreds of common diseases. The new data come from the Encyclopaedia of DNA Elements project, or ENCODE, a $123 million endeavor begun by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) in 2003, which includes 442 scientists in 32 labs around the world.
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Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Vidqun
Quite a few studies have indicated that "memory" is retained by genes and is then passed on to their offspring. Here’s a few thoughts from an article published in the journal Science. They worked with genetic switches:
Epigenetics concerns the inheritance of gene expression through the passing on of DNA. A chemical tag, known as an epigenetic mark, is attached to DNA that subsequently tells a cell to use or ignore a particular gene. The most common of these marks is known as a methyl group, an alkyl derived from methane. When it binds itself to DNA, by a process called methylation, it prevents protein from being added to the gene, and as a result, turns it off. Epigenetic marks are usually erased between each generation due to the way in which primordial gene cells (PGCs, precursors to sperm and eggs) restructure the genetic information ready for the next generation.
The Cambridge study, led by Jamie Hackett, discovered how the methylation marks were erased by the PGCs, resetting them for the next generation. As the PGCs divided, they broke down the methylation marks and diluted them with each divide. The study claims that such an understanding of epigenetic resetting "could be exploited to deal with adult diseases linked with an accumulation of aberrant epigenetic marks, such as cancers, or in 'rejuvenating' aged cells."
This is important because aberrant methylation could accumulate at genes during a lifetime in response to environmental factors, such as chemical exposure or nutrition, and can cause abnormal use of genes, leading to disease. If these marks are then inherited by offspring, their genes could also be affected.
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37
Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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Vidqun
Cofty, interesting articles. I personally don't like the term "junk" DNA. It's called "junk" because we don't know why it's there. Is this not a case of DNA cell memory? Trees have longer lifespans than humans, so it woud make sense that more information is stored in their genomes.
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....and the deaf will hear again!
by snare&racket inthe moment a 39-year-old deaf woman hears someone for the first time, thanks to cochlear implants......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ueo9itfxic.
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enough said..
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Vidqun
It took an engineer to design the implants, a factory to build them. It took a surgeon and his team to put the electrodes in exactly the right place. So what do we have here? Design, dare I say a creator? All of this will not happen by chance, not in a millions years!
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Finally free of JWs!
by Julia Orwell inwe moved house and no active jw knows we live there.
it's in another congregation territory too so when they finally come knocking, they won't know i'm a dirty apostate when i tell them to put me on the do not call list.
problem is, the local discount supermarket across the highway is frequented by jws from my previous previous congregation!.
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Vidqun
You and hubby are an inspiration to us all. Good on you mate!
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What do you think happens when we die?? Is there a heaven, for instance....
by quellycatface inalways wanted to ask you guys this question..
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Vidqun
Quellycatface, here’s my take on it, for what it’s worth. Don't know whether you watched Dr. Oz recently when he did his show on out-of-body-experiences? All those he interviewed had similar experiences. Pleasant thoughts, out-of-body senstation (watching yourself from afar), tunnel, bright light, etc. Researchers ascribe these sensations to a lack of oxygen as the brain is starting to die. But they emphasize that not all parts of the brain die immediately. Some last longer than others. They tested whether these people, e.g., those that had cardiac arrest on the operating table, have a real out-of-body experience by putting a picture of someone famous on top of the surgical lights. No one reported the picture, so they concluded that it was not a real out-of-body experience, but only the sensation of an out-of-body experience.
I compared above to what the Bible had to say:
Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the [true] God who gave it. (Ecc 12:7 NWT)
And during that time your people will escape, every one who is found written down in the book. (Dan 12:1 NWT)
And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness work that they used to have. (Rev 6:9 NWT)
For here I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart. (Isa 65:17 NWT)
So, for God to be able to resurrect you, he needs a back-up of you (as you regularly need to back-up the work on your computer in case of a hard disc failure). In the Bible, death is compared to sleep. When you sleep, your brain does a back-up of your day’s activities and thoughts. As the Creator he would have access to your back-up. When you die, a back-up is made of your life and personality. This back-up he then transfers and stores in heaven. If you die a horrible death and your brain is damaged, he takes the previous night’s back-up. In that case you will not remember how you died. That part is not recorded in the back-up.
This is what I believe in a nutshell. This I will continue to believe until I am proven wrong, which won't happen in my lifetime...