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The Role of Retroviruses in Human Evolution
mhackarbie writes "The current edition of the New Yorker magazine has up a story about endogenous retroviruses in the genomes of humans and other species. Although researchers have known about such non-functional retroviral 'fossils' in the human genome for some time, the large amount of recent genomic data underscores just how pervasive they are, in a compelling tale that involves humans, their primate cousins, and a variety of viral invaders. Some researchers are even bringing back non-functional viral remnants from the dead by fixing their broken genes."
First Infection
Zombie viruses, huh? Now might be a good time to take stock in really tiny shotguns.
You're right, we should never research diseases. We might infect ourselves with them.
karma: ouch!
See the thing about retroviruses is that once they work their way into the genome, they begin to do wack things. They predispose the person to wear bell bottom geans, listen to funk music, wear tube socks, and any number of out of fashion things. They begin to force the person to speak in archaic manners, eg "Thou hast been up intowards my grill!" So I think it's safe to say that we need to eliminate retroviruses as a mechanism of mutation. There comes a time to let certain things go.
But only after we find a way to shrink Simon Pegg small enough to use them!
Either way, lawyers die, which shows there is no downside meddling in genetic engineering.
What if Tetris was invented by Nazis?
Why, its a plan that is almost entirely without a drawback, as far as I can see..
"A nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it." - Churchill
Umbrella Corporation unavailable for comment.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Is this a bad time to point out that you may just have missed a comma? :P
-:sigma.SB
WARN
THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM
Some people take offense at implying their ancestry is of apes, imagine now that it's actually a hodgepodge from all sorts of animals like ducks and sea cucumbers. . .
Not if you've seen some of my dates [drum hit].
Table-ized A.I.