Tag: genome
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The Link Between Genetic Paucity and Extinction
Consider the dodo. When I asked a bunch of my friends on social media to contemplate it, the conversation ranged from ‘we can extract DNA from museum specimens? Cool! Bring back the dodo!” to “I hear dodos didn’t actually taste that good. Anyone have a recipe?” Which is a testament to human nature and the level…
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Spidersilk
I read a pair of articles this week about spiders, their genes, venom, and silk. It was a fascinating glimpse into the little creatures I already am fascinated with. I had no idea how complex the arachnid genome is, much more than a human’s. And untangling that genetic riddle could lead to advances in textiles,…