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Facts about DNA

Facts about DNA

Fact no. 1 DNA of prominent people such as physicist Stephen Hawking, centerfold Jo Garcia, pro cyclist Lance Armstrong and comedian Stephen Colbert has been loaded onto an “immortality Drive” aboard the International Space Station orbiting around the earth.

Fact no. 2 In Germany, a DNA mistake created an imaginary serial killer, also known as the “Phantom of Heilbronn”, because due to a cotton swab contamination, the results of the DNA analyses came out wrong. Thus, while a single woman was suspected for all the crimes, the actual culprits were ignored completely, the investigators chasing a ghost.

Fact no. 3 You have probably heard of animals with highly extended life spans, such as lobsters, fish, tortoise species, etc. The science dealing with this aspect of ageing, senescence, is trying to understand the process of these animals’ DNA and the alterations or mutations it suffers, causing a much slower breakdown during replication. This DNA modification is called negligible senescence. When this problem will be fully understood, scientists will be able to alter our DNAs and significantly expand our life-spans.

Fact no. 4 DNA testing on cheetahs revealed that the examples of this species are almost identical to one another. There is no determined caused, but it is believed that about 10,000 years ago, due to various reasons, the cheetah population was reduced to 7 individuals. Fortunately, they have managed to breed and multiply, nevertheless, there were consequences that made them extremely prone to disease.

Fact no. 5 Vast and complex DNA testing in Iceland proves that Vikings reached the American continents centuries before Columbus, also bringing back at least one female Native American. The proof is a genetic variant common only to Native American and East Asian blood.

Fact no. 6 Just like mules are inbred from donkeys and horses, it may also be possible to breed a humanzee, given the human and chimpanzee DNA is so similar (chimpanzees have to extra chromosomes). Scientifically speaking, it is thought possible to interbreed our species with the chimpanzees’, under the right circumstances.

Fact no. 7 DNA can be considered the largest digital storage media in the world. This conclusion was reached in the 1980s, when a group of Harvard researchers attempted and succeeded to store the equivalent of 700 terabytes if date on one gram of DNA. In the end, the whole human knowledge and creation of the world and universe could be stored in closet, in terms of space.

Fact no. 8 Scientists have proved that it is possible for a sole human being to possess two sets of DNA. This is possible in the case of twins, more exactly, in the case of a pregnancy, when one of the twins completely absorbs the other, the latter being not even detected. The new born baby might thus have two distinct sets of DNA, one of its own and the other belonging to the assimilated twin, this abnormality being called “Chimerism” after the Greek mythical creature, the chimera, a mix between lion, serpent and a goat.

Fact no. 9 People who were exposed to the 1955 nuclear bombing, have traces of carbon -14 in their DNAs. Although not observable in any way, this aspect was used to conduct certain medical experiments, like the measuring and analyzing of the heart cells’ replication rate.

Fact no. 10 DNA evidence has proved that the Homo Sapiens interbred with the Neanderthals some thousands of years ago, when meeting in the Middle East when first leaving Africa. This also proves the migratory traits of humans, besides their complex genetic inheritance. 

 

 

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