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| Thread: Mutations |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 · «PREV |
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Celfious
Promising
Legendary Hero
From earth
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posted May 15, 2009 12:51 AM |
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Edited by Celfious at 00:51, 15 May 2009.
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sith_of_ziost
Promising
Supreme Hero
Scouting the Multiverse
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posted May 15, 2009 03:34 AM |
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Mutation is such a stereotyped category that it is subject to any number of interpretations to its meaning. I believe that mutation does not occur in any particular order, although some can be predicted and prevented through prenatal genetic manipulation, but assuming that is ethical, mutation comes out of desperation. I'd like to believe that mutation is not as spontaneous as everyone is willing to believe.
@winterfate: I can tell you have some experience in this matter  Yes, inter-breeding results in mutation because its a new process that is bound to cause hybrid results and even a few random traits. Just like a camel, if you had to live in a desert, you like mutating into a camel, so that its not so deadly. If I am not mistaken, Darwin had the idea that mutation is out desperation. The strong will continue to be strong, while the weak continue to become stronger. Evolution is a curious process. After all, its the center of cryptozoology. Evolution produced unlikely creatures that defy human acceptance.
@mamga - I think that dominant and recessive traits are predetermined in the gene sequencing, if i'm not mistaken. That's how we can predict so much now when it comes to prenatal traits.
Mutation, as winterfate stated, relies on a certain criteria of stimuli. Being cut by a knife won't harden your skin, but being the denizen of a gamma-soaked region may mutate your genes to adapt. Thats the true power of mutation: to challenge Darwin.
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Steel Yourself for War
Next Set: Mirrodin
Beseiged
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xerox
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
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posted May 15, 2009 10:00 AM |
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Lol that picture was released like last year
I believe they said that it was a dog or something in the end.
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Over himself, over his own
body and
mind, the individual is
sovereign.
- John Stuart Mill
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RTI
Adventuring Hero
Now known as Rarensu
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posted May 15, 2009 10:14 AM |
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Mutations don't really work the way most people think.
Mutations are almost never permanent. The chance that a piece of DNA will be accidentally copied, deleted, or moved is quite high over its lifetime. However, most of these errors are picked up by the automatic DNA repair enzymes and corrected. Some bacteria have such powerful DNA repair systems that even while living inside a nuclear reactor their chromosomes remain uncompromised. The idea that mutations are the driving force of new genetics is speculative. Living organisms resist mutation quite effectively.
Despite this, successful Mutations are actually fairly common; humans have thousands of them during a lifetime. The thing is, the mutation only affects the cell that it happened in; the rest of the body is unchanged. If the cell dies, oh well. If that mutation results in a useful new superhero gene, too bad, because you only have 1 superhero cell, and unless it was the one sperm cell out of trillions that will become your son, the mutation dies when you do. In order for a mutation to affect the entire body, and to be inherited by children, it has to happen during a very narrow window when the embryo is still 1 cell big.
Those rare mutations that occur during this critical window are almost always fatal. Sometimes the organism will survive, but be at an obvious disadvantage; for example, no legs, or a "Fail" immune system. Genetics is a very delicate system; genes interact with each other in complicated ways. By changing one, you affect not only its performance but also the performance of a number of other related genes. Balance must be maintained or the cell begins behaving erratically; for example, if it divides too often as a result of this imbalance, we call that "cancer".
Even these mutations which fail to disadvantage the host are not, in reality, new genes. They are simply variations of old genes. Would you like red hair, or blond? It's the same gene: it goes on the same place in the chromosome, and performs the same function, just differently. The probability that a gene for one thing would suddenly become a gene for something unrelated is quite remote, considering that it would have to be structured completely differently and need to be located in a different spot on the chromosome. Even if it happened that this new gene was useful in some way, the loss of the old gene would probably be fatal and so defeat the purpose.
Finally, even if the mutation isn't caught by the repair systems, happens during the critical window, isn't fatal or crippling, and results in a new type of gene, then this organism would be the first a NEW SPECIES. However, it would also be the only one of its species, so there would be nothing for it to mate with, and it would eventually become the last member of an extinct species with a very short history.
In conclusion, Mutation as the driving force of adaptation is a joke.
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Sincerely,
A Proponent of Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, and Courtesy.
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TheDeath
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
with serious business
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posted May 16, 2009 03:43 AM |
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Quote:
for example, if it divides too often as a result of this imbalance, we call that "cancer".
I thought cancer would happen because some cells would have a different (erroneous) DNA and if they could multiply fast enough, they would start to 'fight' with the others instead of cooperating (or rather, imbalance like you said, this is cause different DNA = conflict of cell interest ).
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In conclusion, Mutation as the driving force of adaptation is a joke.
Hulk?
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The above post is subject to SIRIOUSness.
No jokes were harmed during the making of this signature.
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Mytical
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Chaos seeking Harmony
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posted May 16, 2009 07:02 AM |
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When people first start growing in the womb, it was once suggested (havn't kept up if this is a current theory) that they go through millions of years of evolution in a short span. During this time, they litterally can turn out any number of ways. So having a physical attribute different then somebody else does not make one a mutant.
Are Albino's mutants? While they are certainly 'different', when you compair me to somebody born in Ireland I might be considered a 'mutant' also. Maybe one day we will look past petty things like physical differences and realise we are all the same where it counts. 
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Message received.
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Celfious
Promising
Legendary Hero
From earth
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posted May 16, 2009 07:24 AM |
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Lol that picture was released like last year
I believe they said that it was a dog or something in the end.
um, that's a pic of the first found monster, which is what experts know it as, a monster. Theres a video of the second one found which was actually found at night, the film makers used a flashlight, I have not looked for pics of the new one.
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What are you up to
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted May 16, 2009 07:53 AM |
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Are Albino's mutants? While they are certainly 'different', when you compair me to somebody born in Ireland I might be considered a 'mutant' also. Maybe one day we will look past petty things like physical differences and realise we are all the same where it counts.
Albinos have a genetic "defect" which prevents their bodies from producing melanin. This is a rare inherited trait. It's different from someone in Ireland who is just pale because of the geographical exposure to small amounts of sunlight. There are a number of known mutations which can result in this condition.
Does that make them mutants? Well, I think in the pop-culture use of the word, a mutant is something that has undergone some gross physical change due to alterations at the genetic level that happen after birth. Scientifically the word has a very specific meaning that really doesn't have much to do with this pop-culture usage. Also keep in mind that not all physical deformities are due to mutation.
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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RTI
Adventuring Hero
Now known as Rarensu
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posted May 16, 2009 09:51 AM |
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Edited by RTI at 09:56, 16 May 2009.
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Maybe one day we will look past petty things like physical differences and realise we are all the same where it counts.
Maybe one day we will look past petty things like physical similarities and realize we are all different where it counts.
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Also keep in mind that not all physical deformities are due to mutation.
For example, fetal alcohol syndrome and got-run-over-by-a-car syndrome.
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Sincerely,
A Proponent of Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, and Courtesy.
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(ok compliments of celfious :/ 
