genetics - Gizmodo

posts about #genetics more →
Scientists Mapping Out 10,000 Animal Genomes For "Genetic Zoo"
Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
IBM Examining Microchips Built On DNA "Origami" Nanostructures
Genome Sequencing Gets 99.9833% Price Cut
Craig Venter Claims Artificial Life Has Been Created
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Could Help Fight Malaria

Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.

Dsmvwl Admin Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

USB_Humping_Dog
11/04/09

In reply to Scientists Mapping Out 10,000 Animal Genomes For "Genetic Zoo"
How long before we can mix n' match chromosomes to make new animals?

I want a pet turducken. #10kgenomeproject
Reply

thechansen promoted this comment USB_Humping_Dog was starred USB_Humping_Dog was unstarred

thechansen
11/04/09

@USB_Humping_Dog: [www.metacafe.com] #10kgenomeproject
Reply

thechansen was starred thechansen was unstarred

thechansen
11/04/09

@thechansen: Hmm edit seems to be missing, but the link is SFW, and a Futurama reference to boot. #10kgenomeproject
Reply

thechansen was starred thechansen was unstarred

Soldier_CLE says DON'T STOP AT THE STAR! REVOKE THE WHOLE DAMN THING, OWEN!!!
11/04/09

In reply to Scientists Mapping Out 10,000 Animal Genomes For "Genetic Zoo"
Without making a Metal Gear Solid reference, I can see where opponents might see this as a potential tool to make newer weapons on the Nuclear Biological Chemical scale (NBC), but I think this is a good thing if we are going to see potential remedies for ailments past, present and future.

While some might see this as an opportunity to make a "Frankenstein" or "Test Tube Society", I also see this as a means to finally engineer out anything that might make us humans less suseptible to any disease threat that we have yett encounter (or close.)

The same might apply to the currently 9,999 other genomes. #10kgenomeproject
Reply

Scratic
11/04/09

In reply to Scientists Mapping Out 10,000 Animal Genomes For "Genetic Zoo"
I know that the cow was the first artiodactyla to have it's genome mapped. I also know that an artiodactyla is an even-toed ungulate, and that an ungulate is a hoofed mammal. I know these things because I heard them on NPR. I was listening to NPR because Matt Buchanan was on there one day, and I've been listening non-stop ever since, just hoping to hear his voice again. I like Matt. #10kgenomeproject
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment Scratic was starred Scratic was unstarred

Kaiser-Machead
11/04/09

In reply to Scientists Mapping Out 10,000 Animal Genomes For "Genetic Zoo"
"Daddy the giraffe chromosomes are so BBBBORING I wanna see the lion's!" #10kgenomeproject
Reply

Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred

PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
11/04/09

In reply to Scientists Mapping Out 10,000 Animal Genomes For "Genetic Zoo"
Besides learning how species will respond to things, I think it will also help us learn things about the human genome. We can identify traits within certain animals like better eyesight or increased resistance to some substance that can be beneficial for us to target within our own genome. #10kgenomeproject
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment

jjigen
10/03/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
we don't really need to live longer (at least in the developed countries); we already live too long. plus, think of the burden to tax payers of supporting all those elderly people. the retirement age will have to shift up; i don't really like the idea of remaining in the work force any longer.
Reply

Pope John Peeps II promoted this comment jjigen was starred jjigen was unstarred

Pope John Peeps II
10/03/09

@jjigen: The elderly wouldn't need so much support if they weren't so infirm. living 16 years longer isn't the good part. It's living 40 more healthy, productive, happy years.
Reply

Pope John Peeps II was starred

yogibimbi
10/02/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer

@Rosa Golijan: Oh, Rosa, the threat of a pizza shortage together with the mentioning of a diet has kept you from interpreting the quote correctly. What it says is, that the gene mimicks the effect of a calorie-restricted diet.

Which, imho, implies, that you can eat all the pizzas you want because the absence of the gene somehow takes care of that not affecting your aging process, which has been known to be positively influenced by calory-restricted diets otherwise.

However, I do caution against implementing such a pizza-diet. Since all we can see in your comments avatar is your hair (and that could also be used to conceal whatever you wish to conceal), who knows, maybe you already look like that picture, if not, the pizza-diet will take care of it:
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment Edited by yogibimbi at 10/02/09 11:44 PM yogibimbi was starred yogibimbi was unstarred

yogibimbi
10/02/09

@yogibimbi: now, giz, you cut off the stompers of the lovely lady in the photo... Which was the best part.

Anyway, kudos to the one who first guesses who is portrayed in the photo.
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment yogibimbi was starred yogibimbi was unstarred

Rosa Golijan
10/02/09

@yogibimbi: Have you seen the stuff I've eaten? It's a step beyond a pizza diet.

Anyway: Yes, you are very correct about the suppression of that gene mimicking the effects of starvation, but it's kinda tough to breed a gene out of humans at the moment so the drugs would be our only hope (or doom).
Reply

Edited by Rosa Golijan at 10/03/09 12:00 AM Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred

Rosa Golijan
10/03/09

@yogibimbi: The stompers are visible if you click on the picture and let the full image load.
Reply

Edited by Rosa Golijan at 10/03/09 12:01 AM Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred

yogibimbi
10/03/09

@Rosa Golijan: Oh, woman, you are disgusting! Biting into the holy tablet! Even if it were just chocolate. I am shocked beyond, well, being shocked.

Now, I need something to calm me down. Where was my bar of white chocolate stored away for emergencies?
Reply

yogibimbi was starred yogibimbi was unstarred

Bokusatsu_Tenshi
10/02/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
Diet of near starvation huh?
Reply

Bokusatsu_Tenshi was starred Bokusatsu_Tenshi was unstarred

Lucas Cantor
10/02/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
Shouldn't that be "has one FEWER genes?" Screw it. I give up.
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment Lucas Cantor was starred Lucas Cantor was unstarred

Rosa Golijan
10/03/09

@Lucas Cantor: Don't give up. I'm happy to see corrections/elaborations/extra info/etc from commenters.

Before the post went up, there was some discussion about the whole "one fewer' vs "one less" issue. It was settled on "one less," but if you have a better explanation of which should be used, please share.
Reply

Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred

silverdee
10/03/09

@Rosa Golijan: I'd venture a guess that it depends on the focus you want to give the sentence. "one fewer" would suggest you don't know the total amount of genes present and "one less" would suggest that you do.
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment silverdee was starred silverdee was unstarred

Rosa Golijan
10/03/09

@silverdee: Other way around, no? Or am I completely misreading that?

"If it is countable use fewer, if it isn’t use less."
Reply

Edited by Rosa Golijan at 10/03/09 10:37 AM Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred

Gann
10/05/09

@Rosa Golijan: The use of 'one' implies that it is countable. Neither 'fewer' nor 'less' implies that the total number is known. 'less' does hint at a value judgment other than the purely numerical one of 'fewer'.
Reply

Gann was starred Gann was unstarred

OsoOto
10/02/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
Now, can someone tell me why my battery can't live 20% longer?
Reply

OsoOto was starred OsoOto was unstarred

deanbmmv
10/02/09

@OsoOto: Batteries aren't powered by mice?
Reply

spannu promoted this comment deanbmmv was starred deanbmmv was unstarred

spannu
10/02/09

@deanbmmv: Do you believe everything The Man tells you? Next you're going to tell us that those fancy moving pictures aren't actually painted in real time by elves behind the glass.
Reply

spannu was starred spannu was unstarred

deanbmmv
10/02/09

@spannu: We don't live on the Discworld you know. No matter how cool that would be.
Reply

deanbmmv was starred deanbmmv was unstarred

ACEACEACE
10/02/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
Yeah, who would want to live longer as an old decrepid person...?
Reply

ACEACEACE was starred ACEACEACE was unstarred

Daniel Grinton
10/02/09

@ACEACEACE: "they've enabled it to suffer fewer age related ailments"

If you bothered to read the article, you'd see the mice were hardly "decrepid"(sic)
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment Daniel Grinton was starred Daniel Grinton was unstarred

kyle4
10/02/09

In reply to Mighty Mouse Has One Less Gene, Lives 20% Longer
I wouldn't want to live past 100 anyway. "Hey, guess what, we found out a way for you to be in a wheelchair longer." Unless it makes me twenty for sixteen extra years, no thanks.
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment kyle4 was starred kyle4 was unstarred

Rosa Golijan
10/02/09

@kyle4: It also reduces age related ailments allowing for stronger bones, better balance, strength, and coordination.

You'd still be an old person, but you'd be a much healthier old person.
Reply

Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred

Immolo
10/02/09

@Rosa Golijan: According to Technology Review " While male knockout mice did not have extended lifespans, they did have the same array of health benefits as females."
Reply

Rosa Golijan promoted this comment Immolo was starred Immolo was unstarred

Rosa Golijan
10/03/09

@Immolo: Oh! Nice! Thanks for the info.
Reply

Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred

FriarNurgle
08/16/09

In reply to IBM Examining Microchips Built On DNA "Origami" Nanostructures
IT'S PEOPLE!!!
Reply

FriarNurgle was starred FriarNurgle was unstarred

weshirecat tells it in the form of a question?
08/17/09

@FriarNurgle: Actually it's worse than that, I remember when this announcement first came out at IBM a while back. Apparently this works best with chicken herpes DNA for some reason. I can't imagine the looks this scientist got when he said: Hey guys! lets try it with chicken herpes!
Reply

Margatron promoted this comment

Margatron
08/17/09

@weshirecat tells it in the form of a question?: Brings a whole new meaning to "sharing data".
Reply

Margatron was starred Margatron was unstarred

Curves
08/16/09

In reply to IBM Examining Microchips Built On DNA "Origami" Nanostructures
Makes sense to use structures that are already proven in nature, but at the same time it gives me the skynet creeps.
Reply

Curves was starred Curves was unstarred

met2art
08/16/09

In reply to IBM Examining Microchips Built On DNA "Origami" Nanostructures
So, in the future maybe you could have computers built from celebrity DNA?

An Angelina Jolie DNA system looks great, and works well for networking to foreign systems, but keeps attaching them to its own network. And the mobile Megan Fox DNA system, popular with teen guys, but has horrible thumb controls. And the Tara Reid or Paris Hilton DNA systems... they look nice, great at networking, and they are cheap, but they constantly crash and have a horrible affinity for animated gifs and flashy icons.
Reply

Curves promoted this comment met2art was starred met2art was unstarred

Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

Gizmodo Team

SUBSCRIBE TO Gizmodo

Login

Reset Password

Register

Submit Your Comment