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Scientists Map DNA of Rhesus Monkeys
KingKong writes "Scientists have unraveled the DNA of another of our primate relatives, this time a monkey named the rhesus macaque — and the work has far more immediate impact than just to study evolution. These fuzzy animals are key to testing the safety of many medicines, and understanding such diseases as AIDS, and the new research will help scientists finally be sure when they're a good stand-in for humans. 'Having a third primate will allow scientists to compare the three genomes, with an added emphasis on singling out the genes possessed by humans alone. The end goal is to reconstruct the history of every single one of the approximately 20,000 genes, to determine when they first appeared in history, and in what species. All of this requires an extraordinary amount of information.'"
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Their next feat will be to DNA map Michael Jackson, in an attempt to find out his origin. This will prove whether Michael is IN FACT a human. The problem lies within finding Michael, though DNA has been found on several African children.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
have we already mapped the differentiation between individuals in our own species?
say, 10 male, 10 female, those with a preponderance of posts on slashdot vs those who do not?
I would imagine that this would be necessary to prevent false impressions.
0xB315AA8D852DCD3F3DCA578FD2E0BF88
Unfortunately this is about the Rhesus Macaque. Not the Crab-eating Macaque. Or we'd finally understand how Maggie makes her picks!
Like we really evolved from *monkeys*.
Pffft.
Well, at least not chocolate and peanut butter monkeys!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
What will these creationists do as science and facts continue to pile up?
:-) But in actuality it will probably all be pretty mundane :-/
And what will mankind do if they find that humans were manipulated at some point rather than having a slow progressive evolution? Then the argument would be God vs. Alien intervention.
This could be fun!
... towards discovering and isolating the 'poop flinging' and 'knob fiddling' gene in monkey. At last we'll be able to breed special monkeys for use in family friendly zoos.
I wouldn't doubt that we somehow evolved from crap-slinging, organ-grinding, spider monkeys. My 2 year old reminds me of it every day.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
I'm always hearing how they are the best human analog. Anyone sequencing porky?
Please tell me this research isn't being done at Fort Wyvern
... to eat a Rhesus.
Wait, we're children of God? I thought Jesus was the only son of God. Does that make Jesus my brother?
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
There's no right way to eat a Rhesus
There's hope for anti-chair drugs at last! ::ducks::
"I wouldn't doubt that we somehow evolved from crap-slinging, organ-grinding, spider monkeys."
Of course, silly. This is the basis of modern government.
I realize you're probably joking, but I'd like to make it clear that "related to" != "evolved from." Saying that we evolved from some species just because we are related to it would be like suggesting that your aunt gave birth to you.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
I had always wondered what's inside those little chocolaty candies, but always hated to ask.
I realize you're probably joking, but I'd like to make it clear that "related to" != "evolved from." Saying that we evolved from some species just because we are related to it would be like suggesting that your aunt gave birth to you.
Excellent analogy. I hope you don't mind if I extend it one step further by saying it would be more like cousin gave birth to you, since both we and modern monkeys are of the same evolutionary generation.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Looks like Jesse Jackson got mod points today.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Aren't Rhesus Monkeys the kind with peanut butter in the middle? (You know, instead of chocolate.)
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
do monkeys taste like men?
Gay zoophiles, please chime in.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
You mean I have holy DNA?
George Allen would be proud.
It depends on how you read the joke.
It could have been innocently based on monkeys, which would just make it a poor joke, or... it could have been purposely calling those women basketball players monkeys, which is a very hurtful racist comment.
Clearly, we're the work of His Noodlyness. Do you think it's coincidental that our DNA looks like this? Don't ever question our Durum Deity again, or you will surely boil in the eternal Pot o' Haggis! Ramen.
The view was horrible and the smell was even worse; Julie severely regretted becoming a proctologist.
Sounds like your 2 year old is not very advanced. By the time each of my kids reached two, they were already building and disassembling duplos (Bigger toddler Legos).
..that the project was called Rhesus Pieces.
Damn, you're right! It is possible for your aunt to have given birth to you if your father slept with his sister. She'd be your mother AND your aunt. I hadn't thought of that.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
If you're interested in the nitty-gritty details, go to http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/macaque/ . The entire special issue, including the research articles, is free for all.
And if you're not into reading scientific papers, there is an "interactive poster" with videos for the common man.
From the website
"In the 13 April 2007 issue, Science unveils the genome sequence of one of biology's most important model organisms -- the rhesus macaque monkey (Macaca mulatta). In Science, a Research Article and four Reports, as well as two News stories, detail the biomedical and evolutionary insights gained from the macaque genome, only the third primate genome to be completed after human and chimpanzee. Online, an interactive poster enhanced with images, discussions, and videos explores the significance of the rhesus macaque and its draft genome sequence to studies of primate biology and evolution. Accompanying the online feature is an educational resource for high school biology teachers, which includes teacher background information, a lesson plan, and student worksheet."
(sorry if this has already been mentioned. I checked but didn't see it)
That sort of thinking is what makes these retarded publicity stunts of Jackson's work in the first place. I wonder if people will ever stop being so sensitive to words that don't mean much?
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
What do you call a trash bag full of mutilated laboratory monkeys? Rhesus Pieces.
"This brings us much closer to understanding what makes us human," said Richard Gibbs, the project leader and director of Baylor's Human Genome Sequencing Center.
No scientific effort will ever differentiate the basic category of "human", much less tell us "what it means". From the perspective of DNA, we're simply a biological continuum with animals, and no further objective conclusions will be forthcoming on this question.
The basic ability to formulate this necessary distinction is based purely in metaphysics.
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
If they don't mean anything, then stop using them.
Monkey DNA is nice, but wake me when they genetically engineer one with four asses.
/southpark
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
We, as Atheists, affirm that once life appeared as a very basic form of joint C-H-O-N molecules. From that on, evolution. We don't know yet all the steps in that evolution, but we are sure that once life on earth didn't exist, then a very basic form appeared just because the environment caused those chemical reactions, and that those very basic forms of life somehow evolved into us, into monkeys, into birds ... We may not know the specifics, but we know THAT. And we are also sure that, because of this, at some point of evolution the chimp and what we currently are come from the same specimen. We just don't know how far away it is in this tree. It might be some close mammal that we both came from, or maybe our common origin was far away as the form of some primitive unicellular algae.
OTH, religious persons say that some magnificent form of superior being designed us all. At the same time.
So, we say that we and monkeys evolved from a common hominid somewhere in between the beginning of earth and Fri Apr 13 21:20:36 2007.
And we both are wright. We evolved from monkeys. They didn't =).
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
Once scientists code the DNA of Arachis hypogaea and Theobroma cacao then we can begin our genetic experiments and give birth to the Reeses Monkey!
Yum!
scientists have finally found all the Rhesus Pieces?
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
We, as Atheists, affirm that once life appeared as a very basic form of joint C-H-O-N molecules...
:-) It's like the time I asked Descartes if he could prove MY existence. He started by saying, "Well, I don't think..." and vanished.
Why must you be an Atheist to believe in evolution? Who am I, as a Christian, to say that God didn't create the creatures of the world via evolution, or the universe via the big bang? All I can be sure of is that I don't know much of anything beyond my own existence, and even then I sometimes have my doubts.
I guess my only point is that don't assume you have to be an Atheist to believe in evolution. Personally, I don't see Creationism (ID) and Evolution as mutually exclusive.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Took 'em long enough. I've been unraveling DNA from macaque since puberty.
crap.
Well, he was putting blocks and such together way before he was 2... now he's moved on to puzzles and such.... BUT, his Monkey side comes about when he climbs on the counters and tries running around without his undies on. His sister just turned 1 and was walking when she was 8 months old (he didn't till he was 1.) She's a bit more civilized though... more like an orangutan. BUT, they still remind me of monkeys.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
Wait, that's what zoophile means?! I just thought it meant you like Zoos a lot! Oh shit, I need to cancel some magazine subscriptions before they arrive!
...a DNA map of the Rhesus peanut butter cup (Tell me im not the only one thinking this)
It doesn't even have to be incestuous, the father could just be a bit of a cad(or even had legitimate relationships with a pair of sisters).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Of course, and deoxyribonucleic acid doesn't really exist. It's clearly a figment of our overactive imagination when observing samples. Even if it did exist, any similarities between its structure in humans and other primates is strictly to be ignored - lest we anger an invisible, omnipotent parental figure whose existence is impossible to prove. How very, very foolish we must be.
Great, now we have "my kids are smarter than yours" trolls. Just what Slashdot needed.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
see topic
There's a fairly visible line between "not much" and "nothing" that you seem to have missed. In any case, no. I'll say whatever the hell I like. Welcome to freedom of speech. When we've encoded your freedom to not be offended, that's when I'll toe your line.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
I suppose you find nothing wrong with calling black people ni**ers either. Just because it isn't illegal, doesn't mean you should be doing it. Have a little consideration for other people. Do you really want every little part of life to be based on laws?
The Rhesus monkey is close enough to our genetic makeup to help us research many diseases. But of course, the closer its DNA, the more helpful it would be. I wonder how much temptation there is to start modifying Rhesus monkey DNA to be closer to our own. How much human DNA can you splice in there before you have something that is in effect human? What do you have if it's only half human?
This could become rather weird.
'I realize you're probably joking, but I'd like to make it clear that "related to" != "evolved from." Saying that we evolved from some species just because we are related to it would be like suggesting that your aunt gave birth to you.'
Technically you are right. It only means you shared a common ancestor. Just as you shared a common ancestor with your aunt.
Just because your father has a child with your aunt, that doesn't make your aunt your mum. She's still only your aunt. She just happens to be the mother of your half-sibling.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
I don't think we really need to explain the obvious to each other, but given the correct sequence of relationships, she could very easily be your step mom.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
And when they mapped these monkeys, they discovered it was Africa. Right?
I wish I was stupid too.
The rhesus monkey torture kit.
(monkey not included).
What do you mean evolved FROM monkeys? Some of us are quite happy to stay up here on the tree.
You need more psychedelic art in your life. rhesusmonkey.deviantart.com
I feel like death on a soda cracker.
I feel like death on a soda cracker.
scientists patent DNA of Rhesus monkey, news at 11..
If you look at chimps and monkeys, you'll see rape, murder, infantcide, war, and so on. Evolution-haters would tell you that you see the same things in humanity because we teach evolution, but I think it's because we don't think enough about evolution. We have to realize the inherently savage nature of our lineage and face that, and only then can we recognize that we have to be alert to the same impulses in ourselves.
Look at the Zimbardo prison experiments, the Milgram experiments, and even Abu Ghraib--people show the darkest side of their nature precisely because we deny that it is there. If you look at apes/monkeys and concede that we're related then it's obvious that the nature component is there, and only by acknowledging the link and facing up to it can we overcome it. And overcoming it isn't a one-step process--it's a state of alertness to the darker side of our nature, the side we see the other primates living out. They have our opposable thumbs, but not our cerebral cortices. We have at least the capacity to overcome it, if we can just develop the honesty to admit our lineage and weaknesses.
"What it means to be human" may be an insoluble question, but only by asking who we are can we begin to ask who we want to be.
There's no right way to eat a rhesus
Legos my arse, fuckwad. You're in no position to call anyone retarded.
One day I'm going to draw a diagram and work out if this song makes sense:
Oh, many, many years ago
When I was twenty-three
I was married to a widow
Who was pretty as can be
This widow had a grown-up daughter
Who had hair of red
My father fell in love with her
And soon the two were wed
This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life
For my daughter was my mother
'Cause she was my father's wife
To complicate the matter
Though it really brought me joy
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy
This little baby then became
A brother-in-law to Dad
And so became my uncle
Though it made me very sad
For if he was my uncle
Then that also made him brother
Of the widow's grown-up daughter
WHo of course is my step-mother
Chorus
I'm my own grandpa
I'm my own grandpa
It sounds funny I know
But it really is so
Oh, I'm my own grandpa
My father's wife then had a son
Who kept them on the run
And he became my grandchild
For he was my daughter's son
My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue
Because although she is my wife
She's my grandmother too
Now if my wife is my grandmother
Then I'm her grandchild
And every time I think of it
It nearly drives me wild
For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw
As husband of my grandma
I am my own grandpa
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
Heretic! The form of DNA is a pious homage to the bespirallated horn of Her
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
Who the hell modded this up? Yes, we most certainly will be able to scientifically differentiate "human" from "other animals". There are many unique specific traits to humans, and those are all encoded in our DNA. We can already do DNA tests to find out of a sample is human or not using features unique to human DNA.
hmmm good thing we didn't then eh... not any modern version of a monkey in any case... our ancestors split from the modern monkey 10s of millions of years ago, so no we did not evolve from monkeys, though we do have a common ancestor with the great apes way way back 7 million years: Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Here's the timeline if you want to see where we split from monkeys... circa 35 MYA.
OT rant:
OH and birth control, preferably through properly timed intercourse, is a much better version of abortion if you don't want children... and marriage is a religious sacrament between a man and a woman for the creation of a familial bond in anticipation of having children... so gay couples who aren't going to adopt or have children via surrogates don't need it, neither do straight couples who don't plan to stay together for more than 5 years. You want a tax break, buy a house. You want non-tax related marriage rights... sign a contract that gives you those rights without the religious ceremony.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
That doesn't really count. We're talking about genetics, not social constructs.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death