Cloning from the grave

IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!

Okay, let me explain. This is my first reaction to reading about how scientists have made several clones of a mouse that had been frozen for 16 years. That’s right, scientists were able to clone an animal that had been dead for sixteen years.

Now, let’s look at this reasonably: out of over 1,100 attempts, only 7 clones came to fruition. It’s still impressive that this was at all possible, however.

My own thoughts are that this is amazing, and yet I’m a bit scared for our future. While a clone may be an exact genetic copy, it isn’t the same as the original as far as personality and thought go–they may have the same biological makeup, but they have different experiences who shape who they are. While I don’t want to get into a debate about nature vs. nurture, we cannot expect a clone to be exactly the same as its original. Both nature and nurture have an impact on how a person becomes who they are–certain people may be more susceptible to conditions such as depression from their genetic makeup, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they will be depressed.

Overall, this brings me to my personal stance on cloning: it is an amazing thing that scientists can do, but we really shouldn’t be trying to make cloning something accessible to everyone. I also think of what a human clone would have to go through, living their life under the metaphorical microscope of the scientific community. Come on, people–hasn’t science fiction taught us that creating a sentient being for the purpose of studying it always ends tragically?

At a certain point, I have to wonder when we are considered “playing God” in an extreme form. While modern medicine is a form of “playing God,” modern medicine merely preserves life, while cloning creates it. Where do you draw the line, and what is considered “too far”? In the end it comes down to personal taste, which is something that differs from person to person.

I’m reminded of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where Victor Frankenstein plays God and creates a “monster” from dead flesh. The monster is viewed with disgust (almost reminiscent of the uncanny valley hypothesis), and is cast out from society. The monster ultimately rebels, and the question is raised: even though we can, should we? The people treated Frankenstein’s monster with loathing, and as a result it grew to dislike humanity. Is this a realistic possibility that may result from cloning?

As I stated before, I believe cloning is amazing but should be limited to scientific research only. I can only hope I never live to see a day when we are so afraid of death, the most natural occurrence, that we clone ourselves to live forever.

Claiming money

I’ll be the first to admit that when I found out I had to take Texas State & Local Government, I was pretty pissed. It seemed like such a stupid class to be forced to take, and even worse that I needed it to graduate from an institution in Texas. Pretty lame, right?

Okay, so now I’m totally eating those words. I really enjoy that class–not just because my teacher is awesome, but also because I’m learning a lot of practical things about Texas Government that can come in handy.

This is one of those things. Did you know that if you check out the Comptroller’s website, you can go and look for unclaimed property? Yes, this means money. Some people are luckier than others and are owed $600+ by the government, and some end up with nothing. But it’s still fun to do. Turns out the Comptroller’s office owes my mom $37.99. The beauty of this is that no one knows to go look at the website, and after 10 years it becomes the state’s money. Genius.

Another fun thing you can do is go and search through a buttload of bills in the Texas legislature. It’s pretty fun. Did you know in the last legislative session, someone proposed to make the tarpon the official salt water fish of Texas? Like most proposed bills, it died in committee.

Money man wants you to get your unclaimed property.

Ardipithecus ramidus

Well, let me start this off by saying I haven’t done too much research on the recent Ardipithetcus ramidus announcement… I set the DVR to record the three hour Discovery Channel special and plan to sit down and watch it some time this week, at which point I’ll post about my thoughts. But my main reason for not going ape shit (excuse the pun) over Ardi is because it isn’t news to me.

My first thoughts upon hearing “Ardipithecus” were “Oh wow, they found another hominid in the genus to go along with Ardipithecus ramidus! COOL!”

… but then I looked and saw that the “new find” was Ardipithecus ramidus. This confused me, because I remember having to cram extinct hominid species for my Physical Anthropology final in May, and Ardipithecus ramidus was third on my chart of what species to remember (behind Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Orrorin tugenensis, respectively). I suppose this is one of those cases where the “big discovery” is of a species that the scientific community has generally considered a part of the hominid family tree for a while now.

So what I’ve gathered about our good friend “Ardi” from the New York Times article I linked above is this:
-The dental findings reveal her to have been more closely related to modern humans than the other species of modern apes. I’ll assume this also means she has the basic 2.1.2.3 dental formula of most hominids, but I’m not sure.

-She was a facultative biped, meaning she was capable of bipedalism but relied, for the most part, on a quadrupedal style of locomotion. The position of the foramen magnum seem to be similar to a modern human’s, so it is implied that perhaps bipedalism was possible but not the preferred style of locomotion. The pelvis is positioned so that bipedalism was possible, but she retained the opposable big toe, meaning she probably spent a fair amount of time in the trees. Lucy, who came roughly 1.1 million years later, was known to be a biped.

-She was probably not capable of brachiation, meaning she probably lacked the structure of the collar bone that modern brachiators and semi-brachiators have.

Overall, I’m excited to watch the special, even if I’ve read it tends to drag a bit. I’ll hopefully be able to report back positive reviews sometime later in the week.

Ardipithecus ramidus (“Ardi,” left), alongside Australopithecus afarensis (“Lucy”)

Sea boogers?

How is humanity as we know it going to end? Well, I didn’t picture it this way, but kudos to those of you guessed that the ocean would produce giant gobs of mucus that would kill the fish and probably be harmful to humans.

No, really, I’m serious.

While my initial reaction is to act twelve and say “AHAHAHA SEA BOOGERS!!,” this is a bit frightening. These giant blobs of mucus harbor tons of bacteria, apparently including E. coli, which are capable of killing even large fish that get stuck in these giant mucus blobs. Most humans would have the common sense to avoid getting near these things, but there’s probably some idiot (that isn’t a scientist) who would try to get too close to this and would find some ill effects.

My thoughts? Awesome from a scientific point of view in that the ocean has been creating giant boogers clumps of mucus; horrifying from a scientific point of view that considers what they could be capable of.

I personally had my money on “blowing ourselves up,” but I suppose “smothered by sea boogers” is fine too.

Bird moves faster than human sight

A while back I came across this YouTube video that features a bird which moves faster than the human eye can process. For those of you too lazy to click the link, here’s the video embedded for your viewing pleasure:

This is awesome. Thanks to the wonders of technology, we are finally able to capture the movement of these birds that our own eyes cannot see. And, of course, the moonwalking part is pretty cool… it may not be as good as being shagged by a rare parrot, but it’s still quite interesting.

Half green, half red apple discovered

Originally posted at anthropologist.moonfruit.com

Recently a farmer found that one of his apples was half green, half red. I thought this was fascinating. My first thought was that it seemed a lot like gynandromorphy (which I hope to do a post on at some point!), but I’m not familiar with sex chromosomes in plants, so I’m not sure. However, apparently “Jim Arbury, fruit superintendent at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, said it was probably the ‘result of a random genetic mutation’.”

My biggest question is who tasted these mutated apples in previous discoveries? I’d feel like a real jerk if I went and ate part of a scientific study. Then again, I suppose some people will do (or eat?) anything “in the name of science!”

Rat-eating plant discovered in Philippines

Originally posted at anthropologist.moonfruit.com

For all of you botany enthusiasts, in August a new carnivorous plant was discovered in the Philippines–one that is capable of eating not only insects, but also rodents. I find this fascinating, even if my first reaction is to cuddle my guinea pigs in honor of their fallen Rodentia brethren.

Perhaps I seem like an idiot, but I find it mind boggling that an organism that doesn’t have a brain is capable of eating a rat. It seems so foreign to me.

We live in a spectacular world, my dear readers.

The beast itself, digesting a rat.

An Evolution Simulation

Originally posted at anthropologist.moonfruit.com

Someone I know directed me toward this nifty application you can download. Gene Pool (Swimbots) is an application where you are given a giant pool (see what they did there?) of these little creatures that have two goals in life:

1. Eat
2. Breed

You essentially get to “play God” and act as natural selection, choosing what type of Swimbots are most attractive to others, how fast the food population regenerates itself, etc. A dominant species becomes apparent pretty quickly. If it gets boring, switch up the factors acting against the Swimbots–make their food supply run low, change who they’re sexually attracted to, and how much food they need. I found this unbelievably entertaining and spent something like an hour playing around with them (yes, I am clearly a nerd). My population’s trends in dominance went something like this:

1. Lime green Swimbots become dominant quite quickly.
2. After about half an hour, red/pink become the dominant species.
3. Soon after, white and pale blue take over.
4. The pale blue begin to die and start mating with the lime green.
5. Lime green start to rise in number after two or three generations.
6. Red/pink take over again.

It’s a pale blue invasion!

You can also control what you’re watching, with filters such as “most prolific,” “mutual love,” and “oldest virgin.” Granted, watching the “mutual love” filter made me feel like I was watching some bizarre fetish porn, but nonetheless they are worth checking out. Some of the Swimbots are quite good at their life goals, and at one point I had a “most prolific” Swimbot who had produced 19 offspring.This is definitely worth a try, and it’s a fantastic time waster. To all of you putting off doing your work at the office (I’m looking at you, Dad), this simulation is for you.

Enjoy!