FACTS ABOUT DNA THAT WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF
Added on: 20th Aug 2016
BDELLOID ROTIFERS ARE MICROSCOPIC CREATURES
THAT HAVE BEEN EXCLUSIVELY FEMALE FOR OVER
80 MILLION YEARS. THEY REPRODUCE BY STEALING
THE DNA OF OTHER ANIMALS
IF YOU WERE TO TYPE 1 WORD PER SECOND EVERY
DAY FOR 8 HOURS, IT WOULD TAKE YOU 50 YEARS
TO TYPE OUT THE HUMAN GENOME
INSTEAD OF VENOM, BRACONID WASPS INJECT THEIR
VICTIMS WITH A VIRUS THAT SUPPRESSES THE
VICTIM'S IMMUNE SYSTEM AND ALLOWS THE WASP'S
PARASITIC LARVAE TO GROW WITHIN THE VICTIM.
SCIENTISTS FOUND THAT THIS VIRUS IS UNLIKE ANY
OTHER VIRUS ON EARTH. IT IS OVER 100 MILLION
YEARS OLD AND APPARENTLY ASSIMILATED ITSELF
INTO THE VERY DNA OF THE WASP
IF YOU EVER HAVE A BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT,
THE DNA IN YOUR BLOOD CAN INCLUDE THAT OF
YOUR DONOR (WHICH HAS LED TO FALSE ARRESTS
IN THE PAST)
SIBLINGS SHARE 50% OF THEIR GENES, AS DO
PARENTS AND CHILDREN
DNA IS DAMAGED NEARLY 1 MILLION TIMES PER DAY…IN
EVERY SINGLE CELL OF YOUR BODY. FORTUNATELY,
YOUR BODY HAS AN ELABORATE SYSTEM OF REPAIRING
IT. IF IT DIDN'T, THIS WOULD LEAD TO CANCER OR
CELL DEATH
WHEN IT COMES TO INVERTEBRATES, MUD WORMS ARE
OUR CLOSEST RELATIVES (WE HAVE MORE DNA IN
COMMON WITH THEM THAN WE DO WITH
COCKROACHES OR EVEN AN OCTOPUS)
ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS, FOUR FAMILIES IN
ICELAND HAVE DNA ONLY FOUND IN NATIVE AMERICANS.
THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THE VIKINGS
BROUGHT A NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN BACK TO
EUROPE NEARLY 1,000 YEARS AGO
THERE IS A HARD DRIVE ON THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION CALLED THE "IMMORTALITY DRIVE".
IT CONTAINS THE DNA OF PEOPLE LIKE LANCE
ARMSTRONG AND STEPHEN HAWKING IN CASE OF
A WORLD WIDE CATASTROPHE
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