The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales Of Love, War, And Genius, As Written By Our Genetic Code - Plot & Excerpts
Scientists performed the first DNA hybridization experiments in the 1980s by mixing chimp, gorilla, and human DNA in a hot, steamy bath. When things cooled down, human DNA stuck to chimp DNA more readily than it did to gorilla DNA. QED. should always have fewer mutations: This isn’t the place to even attempt to resolve this debate, but the scientists who first proposed the interbreeding theory have of course tried to counterrefute this supposed refutation. And the original scientists do have a point: in their paper announcing the theory way back in 2006, they actually anticipated this criticism about the X looking more uniform because of sperm production rates. Specifically, they noted that while X chromosomes should indeed look more alike for that reason, the X chromosomes they studied looked even more alike than this scenario could account for. Naturally, the refuting scientists are busy countering the counterrefutations. It’s all very technical and a bit arcane, but exciting, given the stakes… The Times story: In addition to its salacious details, the Times story also included this bizarre—and bizarrely egalitarian—quote: one scientist was convinced “that if the orang[utan] be hybridized with the yellow race, the gorilla with the black race, and the chimpanzees with the white race, all three hybrids will reproduce themselves.”
What do You think about The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales Of Love, War, And Genius, As Written By Our Genetic Code?
