Genetic Variation or Mutation is a widely popular concept within all age groups. Children and their obsession with the four lovable crime fighting turtles, men with their comic book collections stacked in the garage and the elderly with their medical concerns praying for a medical breakthrough that might cure their biological deterioration. All of the above have direct relations to the scientific study of the arrangement of chromosomes and the process of meosis that determines each individual's genetic constitution.
I recently watched "X-men, The Last Stand" when the small yet unignorable group of superhumans really got me thinking about evolution and the possibility of "normal" man or woman being displaced by a far more potent species. On further research I was suprised to discover that the process may have already begun.
Recently a young boy in Germany, almost 5 years old, was found to have a strange physical condition, and has become the first recorded case of Human Genetic Mutation. The child displayed extraordinary muscular growth that was noticed when the boy could eas
ily pick up a seven pound weight while the rest in his age group, fiddled with plastic alphabet blocks. Scientific Studies on the boy revealed that his DNA segment rejected the formation of myostatin, a protein that controls muscle development, leading to an uncontrollable and rapid muscle boost. Of course, there are concerns that the boy could face early health problems because of such an unadministered abnormality. At this point of reading the MSNBC article, I realized I was addicted and read several other articles on Chromosome Variations and the process of genetic transfer. Prophase, Metaphase, Meosis, Spindle fibres, DNA, haploid, diploid, Gamet, Mutagen, deleteion, inversion and mRNA later I was well equipped to understand the transfer process and realized how improbable my hopeful fascination for such powerful metahumans was because no variation within a particular species can result in a crossing over between any other species. Goodbye to the pizza eating turtles!
The Darwinian theory of Natural selection, better know as the survival of the fittest is still a seminal discovery, vastly used even metaphorically, but certains doubts about intraspecies evolution arose when I read this:
"Evolution requires billions of positive mutations in millions of different species of both plants and animals. Literally trillions of positive mutations would be required, and yet no one has been able to show one single, honest, convincing case. This completely extirpates the belief that evolution has happened by genetic mutation."
So how exactly did that single-celled micro oragnism come to be a complicatedly, intricate system of organs and nerves, that stands at the top of the evolution chain? Is Adam the only explanation for how we came to be? I refused to believe this, which once again threw me back to where i started.... Blind Belief!
The article talked about "Positive mutations" which are unheard of till date, but if every concept has a counterpart to balance life, the several negative mutations that plague medical research must hold hope for a gradual, yet plausible upgrade. Down syndrome, Limb distortion, brain malfunction, Cancer... all stem from an erroneous choromosome transfer. Reported cases flood in everyday from all over the world. So if the deletion in the genetic code by a mutagen could cause such a detrimal effect, perhaps the addition or inversion of a genetic code could equate Superman or Wolverine?
I do not stand alone with such faith. Fiction shares my newfound interest. MARVEL comics have relentlessly dished out characters beyond human science proving how hopeful the rest of the world is. In X-Men, they may have been a minority, analogous to the recent T.V Series "Heroes". They stand alone, afraid, divided and confused and yet, Mutants EXIST! The power in Imagination erases doubts that even science, the pinnacle of reason has failed to answer.
I recently watched "X-men, The Last Stand" when the small yet unignorable group of superhumans really got me thinking about evolution and the possibility of "normal" man or woman being displaced by a far more potent species. On further research I was suprised to discover that the process may have already begun.
Recently a young boy in Germany, almost 5 years old, was found to have a strange physical condition, and has become the first recorded case of Human Genetic Mutation. The child displayed extraordinary muscular growth that was noticed when the boy could eas
ily pick up a seven pound weight while the rest in his age group, fiddled with plastic alphabet blocks. Scientific Studies on the boy revealed that his DNA segment rejected the formation of myostatin, a protein that controls muscle development, leading to an uncontrollable and rapid muscle boost. Of course, there are concerns that the boy could face early health problems because of such an unadministered abnormality. At this point of reading the MSNBC article, I realized I was addicted and read several other articles on Chromosome Variations and the process of genetic transfer. Prophase, Metaphase, Meosis, Spindle fibres, DNA, haploid, diploid, Gamet, Mutagen, deleteion, inversion and mRNA later I was well equipped to understand the transfer process and realized how improbable my hopeful fascination for such powerful metahumans was because no variation within a particular species can result in a crossing over between any other species. Goodbye to the pizza eating turtles!The Darwinian theory of Natural selection, better know as the survival of the fittest is still a seminal discovery, vastly used even metaphorically, but certains doubts about intraspecies evolution arose when I read this:
"Evolution requires billions of positive mutations in millions of different species of both plants and animals. Literally trillions of positive mutations would be required, and yet no one has been able to show one single, honest, convincing case. This completely extirpates the belief that evolution has happened by genetic mutation."
So how exactly did that single-celled micro oragnism come to be a complicatedly, intricate system of organs and nerves, that stands at the top of the evolution chain? Is Adam the only explanation for how we came to be? I refused to believe this, which once again threw me back to where i started.... Blind Belief!
The article talked about "Positive mutations" which are unheard of till date, but if every concept has a counterpart to balance life, the several negative mutations that plague medical research must hold hope for a gradual, yet plausible upgrade. Down syndrome, Limb distortion, brain malfunction, Cancer... all stem from an erroneous choromosome transfer. Reported cases flood in everyday from all over the world. So if the deletion in the genetic code by a mutagen could cause such a detrimal effect, perhaps the addition or inversion of a genetic code could equate Superman or Wolverine?
I do not stand alone with such faith. Fiction shares my newfound interest. MARVEL comics have relentlessly dished out characters beyond human science proving how hopeful the rest of the world is. In X-Men, they may have been a minority, analogous to the recent T.V Series "Heroes". They stand alone, afraid, divided and confused and yet, Mutants EXIST! The power in Imagination erases doubts that even science, the pinnacle of reason has failed to answer.
1 comment:
Oye, damn good stuff! sounds like an entire hi-fi paper or science journal man! really cool... keep writing and spreading the knowledge among us lesser mortals! ta da!
Post a Comment