Genetic Make up for Platypuses...

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

We make our students -- pre-freshmen, have an "Ethics Court" trial whether to clone dinosaurs like Jurassic Park... Do you know that in the book, the code listed in as Dino code is pBR322!!!

At any rate, we make the students serve on the pro side vs. the con side of the issue and present their "cases". Welp, after speaking to my husband about the issue, who is overwhelmingly on the con side, pointed out, once you make like a brontosaurus--who's gonna clean up the poop? Most the students never thought of that issue--so they all voted not make real-time sized dinos...

As for the other things, no my hunny has ever heard of a viper fish... He probably has, but, he into the NBA finals...

I think there are a few sharks that go below depths to feed. There is this one that has a shorter fractional shortening--the Z lines are closer to each other with a few more mitochondria powering the muscles in the Alaskan waters... I imagine that great whites go low depths or the swim far? And the whale sharks--just saw 4 of them up close and personal at the Georgia Aquarium, can go similar depths to some real mammalian whales.

By the time we're able to create dinosaurs, if that ever happens, I'll be long gone...I'm sure. Cloning mega dinos would be so cool. I wouldn't worry about the feces, because it could be used as fertilizer. When dinos were here, the feces were broken down after time just like any other waste from animals.

I'm going out of town this weekend to a field museum. I'm really excited. The last time I was there they had a full size T-Rex fossil. When I took a look at the real head, I was so amazed. It was huge, and the teeth had to be well over 6 inches long. The presentation was really good, and they said that paleontologist believe that the T-Rex spent a lot of it's time with it's body parallel to the ground. I loved Jurassic Park, but I hardly think a real T-Rex could have kept up with a Jeep. I guess that was to make the movie more exciting. It's pretty easy to tell how fast they could have traveled based on animal body forms today. They weren't that fast. Then again I could be wrong, I wasn't around when they were here. Oh, and I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit on our solar system and beyond too.

Another good DNA fictional movie was "The Fly". The computer got confused and fused a fly's DNA with a man's DNA. Of course that would never happen. Though biologist are now deciphering the DNA record to locate the instructions that make the different species of flies, it's so different in humans, because the protein coding stretches of DNA make up a very small amount of our genome, so our genes are really like little islands of information.

When your husband isn't watching the NBA, a great DVD to pick up is Creatures of the Abyss. I think that's the name. I'll have to double check though.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

By the time we're able to create dinosaurs, if that ever happens, I'll be long gone...I'm sure. Cloning mega dinos would be so cool. I wouldn't worry about the feces, because it could be used as fertilizer. When dinos were here, the feces were broken down after time just like any other waste from animals.

I'm going out of town this weekend to a field museum. I'm really excited. The last time I was there they had a full size T-Rex fossil. When I took a look at the real head, I was so amazed. It was huge, and the teeth had to be well over 6 inches long. The presentation was really good, and they said that paleontologist believe that the T-Rex spent a lot of it's time with it's body parallel to the ground. I loved Jurassic Park, but I hardly think a real T-Rex could have kept up with a Jeep. I guess that was to make the movie more exciting. It's pretty easy to tell how fast they could have traveled based on animal body forms today. They weren't that fast. Then again I could be wrong, I wasn't around when they were here. Oh, and I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit on our solar system and beyond too.

Another good DNA fictional movie was "The Fly". The computer got confused and fused a fly's DNA with a man's DNA. Of course that would never happen. Though biologist are now deciphering the DNA record to locate the instructions that make the different species of flies, it's so different in humans, because the protein coding stretches of DNA make up a very small amount of our genome, so our genes are really like little islands of information.

When your husband isn't watching the NBA, a great DVD to pick up is Creatures of the Abyss. I think that's the name. I'll have to double check though.

Have fun in Chicago? The Field Museum--right? A good book to read is also the "Island of Dr. Moreau"-- The movies sucked. Altered States is a weird one, too... And don't forget to READ "Brave New World"--the TV movie did a good attempt but missed things--like the Social Darwinism that was going on at the time of the book's initial publication...

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Have fun in Chicago? The Field Museum--right? A good book to read is also the "Island of Dr. Moreau"-- The movies sucked. Altered States is a weird one, too... And don't forget to READ "Brave New World"--the TV movie did a good attempt but missed things--like the Social Darwinism that was going on at the time of the book's initial publication...

Yep! lol

That's where I'm going this weekend. I'm already packed. When I come back, I'll look at the books you've mentioned.

Chat with ya Monday.

[honeychile]

Our dog is a Bichon Frise. There's always been some skepticism about their genetic makeup, and so a geneticist is trying to prove exactly what it is (water or other spaniel, poodle, etc). I haven't had the time to really read what all is involved, but I'll keep you all posted!

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Our dog is a Bichon Frise. There's always been some skepticism about their genetic makeup, and so a geneticist is trying to prove exactly what it is (water or other spaniel, poodle, etc). I haven't had the time to really read what all is involved, but I'll keep you all posted!

How much did you pay? The scientists generally do Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLP) analysis. They have known markers of various breed of dogs that the scientists can tell one breed versus another.

We had to do this with the "GMO mice" we had and used Charles River Labs. It was called microsatellite markers. Other ways are through SNP analysis and haplotype analysis. Says nothing of phenotype...

Based on how much you all paid, is the type of analysis the scientist did.

If you want me to give you a read, I can review the data as you get it. PM me if you want to know more.

[honeychile]

The scientist is so happy to have volunteers, it's free! I only have to pay for a personal copy of the analysis (under $10).

There is a whole new field of genealogy that combines genealogy with DNA. If you've ever heard of Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (yes, she married someone with the same last name), she's the standard bearer. She traced both her and her husband's lineage to a small town in Slovakia, where they found four main families of Smolenyaks. Somehow, she got a company to sponsor her, and she tested all of them. It turned out that there were only three branches of Smolenyaks, and the fourth were step-children/ancestors. This was about four years ago, so I'm going to hear her lecture in a few weeks, and hope there's an update.

Speaking about dinosaurs, if you're ever in Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum has an amazing display! Off the top of my head, there's a complete T-Rex, an apotosaurus (sp), a stegasaurus, and two others, and several smaller incomplete ones. I think every kid in the surrounding counties have seen them on one field trip or another!