User:Ted Longstaffe/Questions - Stupid and/or Miscellaneous
Following are some questions that I would really like answers for. As for whether these topics (when answered sufficiently) can be turned into normal Wikipedia articles down the road - we'll see. I am of the opinion that no question is stupid, though I am a little leery of saying this (it sounds too much like a challenge). Anyways, on with the questions:
- Shouldn't the saying "You'll be the first to know" actually be "You'll be the second to know". Usually I'll find out before you do and therefore I will know first.
- Umbilical cord (how did early humans sever it and clamp segment near belly button)
--- They probably just bit it off. -Juuitchan
- That's what dogs and cats do at least. I'm sure others are similar.
Or did the baby just drag the placenta around until it naturally came off. This could be a deal-breaker on the theory of evolution. What about non-humans?
- How do biologists know what is actually "junk" DNA?
- That's pretty simple: we've already broken the code for how sequences of nucleotides are decoded to build proteins, and how protein expression is tuened on and off. "Junk" DNA is simply all the nucleotides that don't fit into that program, and so don't ever code for proteins. It's like spotting a long string of random letters inside a book--it's pretty easy to tell the difference between meaningful English words and random letters.
- Does cloning result in shortened telomeres? And if so, does this result in premature aging?
- Under present technology, yes and yes, though the latter isn't as simple as "aging"--some things look like premature aging and some don't. There's more to aging than ust telomeres, though they are clearly important.
- If cloning results in shortened telomeres, how does the human reproductive system generate chromosome copies without shortened telomeres?
- The enzyme "telomerase" builds new, long telomeres in egg and sperm cells.
- If the reproductive system creates eggs and sperm with the same chromosomes that the adult has (what else would happen?), why in families with a large number of kids do we not end up with "clones"?
- Chance. Eggs and sperm only have half the DNA of the parent who produces them, and which allele of each pair goes into the gamete is more or less random. There are so many thousands of loci that might have one allele or the other, that the odds of an identical egg meeting an identical sperm in a family are essentially zero--unless a single couple could manage to have billions of children. Of course, if a single zygote spits /after/ conception, then you do get clones--otherwise known as identical twins.
- How would evolution explain the creation of viruses and prions?
- How could it not? I'm not even sure I understand the question. But if a certain pattern of proteins causes itself to be reproduced under certain conditions, how could it do anything but reproduce and evolve over time?
- How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?
- Am I just confused, or is this in the article space? If so, should it be moved somewhere else? (Sorry, a boring question, I know...) -- Oliver PEREIRA 03:04 Jan 19, 2003 (UTC)