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"@ Canthros: Culturally benighted 1950's America was, to a kid born
in 1938, living on a farm in Kansas, and surviving what passed for
popular culture during that (Honestly, really, by the Great Harry, I
was there!) utterly benighted era."
"@ taxbaby
bivalves are phylum Mollusca, Class Pelycopoda
Snails and slugs are Mollusca, Gasteropoda
Molluscs also include the Cephalopoda; Octopi, Squid, Nautiloids, extinct Ammonoids."
"The conservation of genetic capabilities, once they have been
incorporated into an organism's genome, is supported by the ability of
the genome to switch particlular genes on and off."
"@ marvolvox & DocGratis: I beg you, and all, not to discount
gene expression, that is the turning (switching) on and off of genes
regulating the development of organisms - in this case the bony plates
on the sticklebacks.
Whether or not mutation is required for such switching to occur may
vary with the trait being expressed."
"Intelligence variations at the individual level within a
population's statistical range are likely not determined by genetic,
but by epigenetic and environmental factors.
Those may have the effect of shifting the range of intelligence for
groups subject to environmental influences (including culture), up or
down depending on the character fo the influences.
The idea that the average intelligence of human populations is
decreasing, while largely dependent on the definition of and measures
used to determine "intelligence", is generally not supported by good
evidence.
What may be the case is that the types of mental processing needed
to support passing of cultural artifact from one human generation to
another are becoming more prevalent and efficient, while the types
needed for individually determined and motivated de novo, creative,
problem solving -based on interaction with natural environments - are
being selected out of the race.
Whether this has long term benefits for the survival of our selfish
genes is open to question."
"Oh for pete's sake, make my teet grind and head explode whyntcha?
We don't know how HOX regulates body pattern, and we're going to
design an organism?"
"I did the "download this Open Biohacking Kit from Sourceforge" and am not too pleased with the result.
The DL relies on mirrors, and is not protected with even simple file
size checks, let alone CRC or more adequate tests of file validity (to
ensure no malware or other file corruption occurs in the archive
package)."
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