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Chimera Twins Story
skelley writes "Below is an audio link on this morning's story on NPR about Chimera twins, or people with two sets of DNA.
It turns out that every once in a while a set of fraternal twin eggs merge into one embryo. The resulting person has two sets of DNA.
The story says it is possible for a Chimera to have different sets of DNA in different body parts. This can cause complication for body identification, DNA typing for organ transplants, crime investigation, etc.
Researchers have no idea how common this is, but suppose that it is a reasonable percentage of all fraternal twin pregnancies, which would mean millions worldwide.
No text version. NPR often doesn't publish one.
"
so now when your liver commits a crime, it can be convicted seperately?
I would like to be able to decide which of the two sets of DNA are set as 'active' at a given time. That would be nice for things like murdering my wife and whoever she is sleeping with outside of our house, and then getting away with the crime.
If the DNA don't fit.. well.. uhh.. ahh shit.
"My evil twin brother did it. Honest."
This is perfect for /. It's impossible to RTFA
Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!
No text version. NPR often doesn't publish one.
Oh ho ho, methinks they'll change their mind very shortly.
One of the X chromosomes is mostly disabled a little bit past conception (after the cells have divided a good amount though). However, which one is disabled is random at this time, which means different regions of the body derived from the original cell will have different X chromosomes disabled (into what's called a Barr body). This is all very screwy which is why females are very screwy.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
O.J. is INNOCENT! It was my.... uhh.... other DNA...
Check out our infosecurity industry blog: http://securitymusings.com/
...but do they have +2 attack strength?
Ah, computer dating -- it's like pimping, but you rarely have to use the phrase "upside your head" -- Bender
It's just his white Chimera brother finally coming out after all these years.
Am I the only one who read the title and thought, "Finally! All this messing with genes has produced something useful, a fire-breathing Chimera with a lion's head and a goat's body"? On a more serious note, the nature article in a similiar vein is here.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Cool! I found a picture of those striped mice. Some more pictures:
Closeup before eyes are formed.
In-vitro development in the lab.
Displaying remarkable inteligence as they swarm and are about to devour their much-bigger and unsuspecting prey (apparently striped mice are carnivorous)
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
Probably it was just a joke. The statement: "Thank god I'm an atheist" implies that the person believes in god.
Then again, maybe its because he is an atheist and wants people to be aware that there are differing viewpoints. A great many Christians in the US seem to think that everyone else in the country is also a Christian. Stating that you're an atheist is similar to driving around with a Jesus fish on your car.
And, just as an FYI, warning an atheist about hell has about as much effect as telling the average adult that if they misbehave, Santa won't bring them any presents. In other words, none.
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo