Wasn't sure to put it in here or the Music/Box Office, so opted for GD
I’ve lately become fascinated by Genetics and the possibilities for us as humans as well as for many other species.
I know relatively little about Genetics, but after reading and watching a few documentaries on the subject, I have learned some very interesting things. Some maybe a little far fetched, but none the less fascinating.
Fluorescent Mice Herald Gene-Transfer Breakthrough
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/01/0111_020111genmice.html
By using an innocuous virus derived from HIV, scientists at the California Institute of Technology have developed a new way of giving animals genes from other organisms to produce specific traits.
Animals that have been "engineered" to acquire certain medical conditions, for example, serve as good surrogates for studying human diseases and testing potential treatments and cures. In the future, cows might be given genes that enable them to produce milk containing therapeutic human proteins, or there may be transgenic chickens that can produce eggs low in cholesterol.
Discovery Channel Dinosaurs Return to Life
Mar 23, 7:00 pm
A favourite documentary of mine that reveals information about the birds we have today.
It is believed that all birds originated from dinosaurs, and as the years have gone on, millions and millions of years the birds have evolved into something not reminiscent of their original form.
They have discovered that within the genes of birds, Chickens, Emus for example, millions of years old gene information has been switched off and forgotten.
Scientists however have been discovering ways of re-triggering these traits to bring them back.
In the documentary they take a chicken and switch on a part of their DNA so that they grow teeth similar to that of a Crocodile
Not only that, but they can also switch off or on the growth of Scaly skin or grow feathers where they have skin normally.
They believe that enabling the genes that have been switched off will allow us to regress a bird back to it’s original form, ultimately back to the Dinosaur age.
Emu’s are the perfect host for such experimentation as they claim that they are the closest to that of a Velociraptor.
1 – To maybe inform people who might be interested in such topics
2 – To try and find other documentaries or websites with information on Genetics.
If you know of anything; documentaries, websites, books that offer a glimpse into new and exciting things for the future then please list them here.
Also, does anybody know if the program that was on Tuesday about the discovery of the planet similar to Earth will be repeated?
Other interesting things I have learnt from various documentaries:
1 – Jupiter is the most important planet to Earth. It is our bodyguard. Without it, Earth would not exist. It also has Rings similar to that of Saturn.
2 – Dolphins have arms when they are in the Womb - http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/whales/hind_limb_buds/ (Similar to the DNA Regress topic of above)
3 – Dinosaurs were made extinct by a 6mile asteroid hitting earth with an explosion the force of 100 million, million TNT. Evidence of this found in Mexico - http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/yucatan.html at an Impact crater only found recently.
So it leads me onto asking another question : Which documentaries have blown you away with the information they contain?
If you can list names or topics featured in them then it would be great.
I’ve lately become fascinated by Genetics and the possibilities for us as humans as well as for many other species.
I know relatively little about Genetics, but after reading and watching a few documentaries on the subject, I have learned some very interesting things. Some maybe a little far fetched, but none the less fascinating.
Fluorescent Mice Herald Gene-Transfer Breakthrough
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/01/0111_020111genmice.html
By using an innocuous virus derived from HIV, scientists at the California Institute of Technology have developed a new way of giving animals genes from other organisms to produce specific traits.
Animals that have been "engineered" to acquire certain medical conditions, for example, serve as good surrogates for studying human diseases and testing potential treatments and cures. In the future, cows might be given genes that enable them to produce milk containing therapeutic human proteins, or there may be transgenic chickens that can produce eggs low in cholesterol.
Discovery Channel Dinosaurs Return to Life
Mar 23, 7:00 pm
A favourite documentary of mine that reveals information about the birds we have today.
It is believed that all birds originated from dinosaurs, and as the years have gone on, millions and millions of years the birds have evolved into something not reminiscent of their original form.
They have discovered that within the genes of birds, Chickens, Emus for example, millions of years old gene information has been switched off and forgotten.
Scientists however have been discovering ways of re-triggering these traits to bring them back.
In the documentary they take a chicken and switch on a part of their DNA so that they grow teeth similar to that of a Crocodile
Not only that, but they can also switch off or on the growth of Scaly skin or grow feathers where they have skin normally.
They believe that enabling the genes that have been switched off will allow us to regress a bird back to it’s original form, ultimately back to the Dinosaur age.
Emu’s are the perfect host for such experimentation as they claim that they are the closest to that of a Velociraptor.
I guess the reason for me posting this is for 2 reasons:
1 – To maybe inform people who might be interested in such topics
2 – To try and find other documentaries or websites with information on Genetics.
If you know of anything; documentaries, websites, books that offer a glimpse into new and exciting things for the future then please list them here.
Also, does anybody know if the program that was on Tuesday about the discovery of the planet similar to Earth will be repeated?
Other interesting things I have learnt from various documentaries:
1 – Jupiter is the most important planet to Earth. It is our bodyguard. Without it, Earth would not exist. It also has Rings similar to that of Saturn.
2 – Dolphins have arms when they are in the Womb - http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/whales/hind_limb_buds/ (Similar to the DNA Regress topic of above)
3 – Dinosaurs were made extinct by a 6mile asteroid hitting earth with an explosion the force of 100 million, million TNT. Evidence of this found in Mexico - http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/yucatan.html at an Impact crater only found recently.
So it leads me onto asking another question : Which documentaries have blown you away with the information they contain?
If you can list names or topics featured in them then it would be great.
