1) Because a virus put it there. I'm no expert on the matter, but from my knowledge genetic engineering is usually done by isolating a desirable gene, replicating it in bacteria (or virus), then having a virus with the gene insert it into the target cell. Which then develops to a full blown organism with the new gene, hopefully. Of course, it's possible that the virus could have put other junk in there. I would like to point out that detecting viral DNA in any organism is by itself no cause for alarm. Hell, our own genomes are chalked full of garbage that viruses put there. Since that garbage doesn't really affect our survival or ability to reproduce, it hasn't been 'weeded' out. Same with plants.
2)That is unknown, though unlikely on purpose. For one thing, genetic modification isn't an exact science. It is possible that the gene in question had nothing to do with a lab; Monsanto's crops come from controlled strains. As we know quite well, if there's a big genetic change in a population when it's bottlenecking, it could easily spread throughout the entire population, and retroviruses are capable of (and often do) inserting extra sequences in the genome. It probably was accidental lab contamination, or a bad reverse transcription that added more than the scientists expected.
3) Now this is getting closer to the disciple I study and work for. First off, there is no table of contents in a cell that tells you what genes are present. And there is no label on a gene that says what it is, what it does, or even if it does something useful. Now, to put it into perspective, maize (corn) has about ~32,000 genes. All full of nothing but A's, C's, T's, and G's. So it's not something you can tell a couple interns to read through and report back if something doesn't look right. So this is a job for computer programs. That can run for up to days to finish. And require trained workers to both know to look for it, as well as actually look for it. Hence stuff like this is *very* *very* *VERY* easy to slip under the radar.
[/astroturf]
Not that I'm saying Monsanto is a nice hippy company with the well-being of society as its bottom line.
There are people who's job is to think and work with these kind of problems. And some of them get paid nauseatingly large amounts of money. And anyways, since when is being inquisitive and analytical a bad thing?
Heh, reminds me of a clip from "Triumph of the Nerds" where one of the personal computer pioneers admitted to getting involved because they were too naive to see how crazy it was. Now look where we are.
IIRC Atheism plus is an actual thing that distinguishes itself from . . . uh . . . regular atheism. (Little known fact: the next iteration is Atheism++, which is the predecessor to Dennis Ritchie's C). There's a bunch of drama involved in the atheist/skeptic community involving them, but what good is a community if there isn't a bunch of petty drama?:P
I agree. Especially Windows 7, it's fantastic. If Microsoft keeps up the good work, they'll eventually catch up to being even more that a dust mite on Linux's boots.:P
In my experience, there's been a huge push for bioinformatics because the demand is fairly high. I'm planning on going the bioinformatics/biomathematics route myself, and I doubt there will be a bubble. Mostly because the #1 way to turn a sparkly-eyed undergrad off is with a heavy dose of mathematics.:P
Not to mention life choices != the gene pool. If you make a choice that greatly increases your chances at removal from the gene pool, that does not mean you are removing a set of genes responsible for the lack of survival until reproduction.
tl;dr: Grandparent doesn't understand natural selection, in addition to being a pretentious prick.
Yeah, terrorism is supposed to inspire terror. It's kinda in the bloody name. While concerning, my imagination fails to give me goosebumps with this news.
We are both a republic and a democracy; they are far from mutually exclusive terms. Republic governments have representatives on behalf of the people (or at least pretend to), Democratic governments have their citizens vote on government matters. Our form of government has citizens vote in local, state, and national elections for representatives of the people, hence being both. A direct democracy is a particular case of democracy where the citizens are the government themselves, thus a case of a democracy that is not a republic. A government that has representatives of the people but the people have no say in the matter is a non-democratic republic.
You don't really see pure republics or pure democracies in large, modern, 'free' western governments.
Slashdot Mirror
1) Because a virus put it there. I'm no expert on the matter, but from my knowledge genetic engineering is usually done by isolating a desirable gene, replicating it in bacteria (or virus), then having a virus with the gene insert it into the target cell. Which then develops to a full blown organism with the new gene, hopefully. Of course, it's possible that the virus could have put other junk in there. I would like to point out that detecting viral DNA in any organism is by itself no cause for alarm. Hell, our own genomes are chalked full of garbage that viruses put there. Since that garbage doesn't really affect our survival or ability to reproduce, it hasn't been 'weeded' out. Same with plants.
2)That is unknown, though unlikely on purpose. For one thing, genetic modification isn't an exact science. It is possible that the gene in question had nothing to do with a lab; Monsanto's crops come from controlled strains. As we know quite well, if there's a big genetic change in a population when it's bottlenecking, it could easily spread throughout the entire population, and retroviruses are capable of (and often do) inserting extra sequences in the genome. It probably was accidental lab contamination, or a bad reverse transcription that added more than the scientists expected.
3) Now this is getting closer to the disciple I study and work for. First off, there is no table of contents in a cell that tells you what genes are present. And there is no label on a gene that says what it is, what it does, or even if it does something useful. Now, to put it into perspective, maize (corn) has about ~32,000 genes. All full of nothing but A's, C's, T's, and G's. So it's not something you can tell a couple interns to read through and report back if something doesn't look right. So this is a job for computer programs. That can run for up to days to finish. And require trained workers to both know to look for it, as well as actually look for it. Hence stuff like this is *very* *very* *VERY* easy to slip under the radar.
[/astroturf]
Not that I'm saying Monsanto is a nice hippy company with the well-being of society as its bottom line.
There are people who's job is to think and work with these kind of problems. And some of them get paid nauseatingly large amounts of money. And anyways, since when is being inquisitive and analytical a bad thing?
Surely they can't be talking about our gen-gen-generation?
I don't know, I forgot the ending of the movie . . .
Now this will just make describing the differences between java and javascript even more painful . . . :P
Heh, reminds me of a clip from "Triumph of the Nerds" where one of the personal computer pioneers admitted to getting involved because they were too naive to see how crazy it was. Now look where we are.
Incorrect . . . the schools actually respect their property. :P
Slightly to the left, until I see the doctor again.
Two wrongs do not make a right (except when near space-time singularities).
Where can I find the specifications and parts to make it? Can the hardware be made open source?
Hardware stress tests? :P
No, the device does not violate conservation of energy.
Anyways, nice technology. I hope this really works; so much awesome technology seems to go out as a puff of vaporware.
To be fair, nukes don't so much sink ships as move the surrounding ocean above them.
Apple fans would probably prefer objective atheism
IIRC Atheism plus is an actual thing that distinguishes itself from . . . uh . . . regular atheism. (Little known fact: the next iteration is Atheism++, which is the predecessor to Dennis Ritchie's C). There's a bunch of drama involved in the atheist/skeptic community involving them, but what good is a community if there isn't a bunch of petty drama? :P
No worries, though. Ultimately, life will fix the problem.
Usually not too soon after graduation. There's something humbling about filing dozens of job applications only to get one or no offers. :P
Use unsigned long long for version tracking. :P
I agree. Especially Windows 7, it's fantastic. If Microsoft keeps up the good work, they'll eventually catch up to being even more that a dust mite on Linux's boots. :P
Emacs.
Important rule to learn about developing software: Never assume it will be used correctly. :P
Yet another believer in the big lie that earthquakes don't cause fracking. :P
In my experience, there's been a huge push for bioinformatics because the demand is fairly high. I'm planning on going the bioinformatics/biomathematics route myself, and I doubt there will be a bubble. Mostly because the #1 way to turn a sparkly-eyed undergrad off is with a heavy dose of mathematics. :P
Not to mention life choices != the gene pool. If you make a choice that greatly increases your chances at removal from the gene pool, that does not mean you are removing a set of genes responsible for the lack of survival until reproduction.
tl;dr: Grandparent doesn't understand natural selection, in addition to being a pretentious prick.
Yeah, terrorism is supposed to inspire terror. It's kinda in the bloody name. While concerning, my imagination fails to give me goosebumps with this news.
We are both a republic and a democracy; they are far from mutually exclusive terms. Republic governments have representatives on behalf of the people (or at least pretend to), Democratic governments have their citizens vote on government matters. Our form of government has citizens vote in local, state, and national elections for representatives of the people, hence being both. A direct democracy is a particular case of democracy where the citizens are the government themselves, thus a case of a democracy that is not a republic. A government that has representatives of the people but the people have no say in the matter is a non-democratic republic.
You don't really see pure republics or pure democracies in large, modern, 'free' western governments.