Genetics

Just a wild thought. Are the miraculous cures that we occasionally hear about actually a result of stem cells within the body being triggered into action because of the attitude of the afflicted? Believing that a divine power is listening to your needs, thinking that the body has the power (mind over matter) to fix itself or a combination of treatment with a positive attitude might be all it takes for the stem cells in your body to do some extraordinary repair work.

Ok this is going to sound like a really basic question, but what is an allele? I know the dictionary definition is "the different types of a gene" eg. A,B,O for blood types, but is it also the two halves of a gene? If it isn't, what do you call those two halves? (aka complete this sentence everyone has two ___ for each gene, you get one ___ from your mother and one ___ from your father.

This is not a question on the technical engineering feat to repopulate the world. What I'm curious is this: what is the minimum number of people required to repopulate/create a healthy, genetically diverse community? That is, the offspring will not have negative characteristics that would otherwise compromise normal meiosis (abortion, retardation, mutations, etc.), and the community could thus genetically constitute itself, without any external people? I recall hearing lots of silly debates about Adam and Eve, incest, a Slider's episode (a female world where men were in short suppy->sex farms) and a Star Trek episode (season 3, with Pulaski, they found a clone…

Is it possible for a mating between a person with black hair and a person with blonde hair to create offspring with blonde hair? I know hair color inheritance is influence by multiple genes, but how exactly does it work? Is it dominance/ressesive inheritance or additive?

If it's on this site, I can't find it... I've heard that in order for a species to survive, it needs (I believe these were the numbers I heard, I don't swear to their correctness) 13 females and 7 males. (This obviously says that Adam & Eve and Noah's Arc didn't happen.) Can someone explain it to me, or point me to a place where it can be explained? My guess was that (if 1male and 1female), that since everyone has the same genes, eveyone's features would be based off of two possible aspects. eg, mother's eyes or father's eyes. There are no other genetic possibilities. It's probably over my head, but could someone try anyway? Thanks much.

Hello! As most of you know by now, I am highly uneducated but extremely talented when it comes to creativity(I think I have an enlarged part of my brain that does Holistic and Spatial things). I have an idea for how to evolve things at a fast rate so to create a SUPER RACE. This would allow a evolutionary breakthrough. Okay here is the idea. I was reading in my biology book and I found out about conjugation. I know most of you have large reservoirs of information in your head, but it does little good if you cannot use any of it. Anyway, I was thinking, what if we took a bunch of human cells from different people, then we took some genes from a micro-…

Stem Cells - pretty big topic in the media today. What is the future of stem cells? Does anyone have some really interesting and useful links to sites about stem cells? Or do you have any views you'd like to share? Or is anyone able to give me a descpription of stem cells and the issues surrounding them, themselves?! Thanks, Jess

Right i'm not so big in genetics but me and a few friends are making a robot which will be controlled by "genes" which are lines of code for it to display responses to stimuli etc. etc. there will be roughly 500(it can vary) of these per robot out of a selection of 2000 (thats all we can think of at the moment) and since we know nothing of biology we thought we would come here to ask, What determines if a gene is passed on during sexual reproduction? Is there a reason for it or is it just random?

hello everybody! what does ORF means? i am stucked at this word, so hope for replies! thanks a bunch!

Let's say I wanted to test for gene activation at home using DIY kit! Is it impossible because the equipment costs millions? Even if it does cost millions how does that equipment work? What can I get started on this subject?

The manipulation of an organism's genetic material.Work of this nature is usually performed with bacteria and Viruses and involves the addition of new genes to the chromosome complement or the replacement of certain genes by other gene.Genetic Engineering is used to take genes and segments of DNA from one species and put them on other species.

I dunno, if this post has been placed anywhere else on this website yet, as, as is clear from the fact that I am a "Lepton" (btw that is jks ppl!), I am very new to this site! The question I am putting forward is, do people agree that there is a gene that predisposes people / men to homosexuality? All thoughts welcome, I will post my own ideas, once other people start putting forward their respose! I did read an article about a theory that the supposed gene also allows women to have more children ... as if there were a gene, the question is: surely homosexuality should have died out by now?

I have seen all those 'heterosexual' men discussing so-called 'homosexuality' and its causes throwing all kinds of statements, abandoning the board when engaged in a discussion on this question? It quite exposes them --- rather the whole heterosexual society. So here is my challenge to all of you that are part of this heterosexual social order --- and this includes homosexuals, feminists etc. What do you think causes heterosexuality?

Hey guys, I was wondering if DNA can survive through intense heat, more specifically a fire, thanks!

can anyone please help me out... I need to know how deafness is inherited. specifically, what causes the disorder on a dna level? also, what type of mutation it is (chromosomal or point mutation) I look at google, but there are so many causes for deafness, I couldn't find on that seemed to work. thanks a bunch, jose

O is the blood type of around about 47% of caucasians. O is also recessive. That struck me as a high figure for a recessive gene. Also AB is at 5%, that struck me as low. What causes this? I asked my lecturer and he hummed and haaahd, and said it was "a result of the inherent strength of type O". (In other words he didn't know.) Cheers.

Just wondering if there is a difference between mitosis and meioses when viewed through a slide? Where will I see the difference? Would it be in Meiosis I with the elongated prophase I, where the difference will occur? What will I see in the leptotene, zygotene, pachytene, diplotene, and diakinesis will be more noticeable? (By the way these are part of Meiosis I) And what is the difference, on a visual base when viewing the difference of Meiosis I and Meiosis II?

Is it possible to combine another persons genetics with your own? If so, what would the results be? would you start to look like them and take on their characteristics?

I am doing a project on the mid phalangeal hair in humans. I need to collect a load of data on the prescence of this hair. If you have the spare time, could you please contribute! It will only take about 30seconds... What you need to do is look at your hands, and see if you have a prescence of hair in the middle part of your fingers (not including thumbs) I Have shown a picture on where to look. If you have a prescence of hair here, Even ONE hair- Means that you have the allele. Please include your first name, age and whether the hair is absent or present. Thankyou

I am trying to understand how different ethnicities keep on increasing in height very gradually. Many sites like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height, account the height increase on nutrition. But if it is just nutrition why is it taking ethnicites so many decades to grow, instead of one or two? And why haven't countries with sufficient nutrition, such as the netherlands, stopped growing? Also, if they are continously growing, does that mean their progenitors had a very high genetic height potential, or are the people somehow surpassing their genetic potential? It's even reported that the Japanese will surpass average american height in 20 years. What i…

Just an unusual question, but does anyone think it is currently possible, with today's modern technology, to accurately combine the genes of a human with an animal, say a wolf, to create a totally unique, new species of creature, with the attributes of both species? In this case, added strength, problem solving skills, the unique appearance of a wolf, as well as the added benefit of the increased senses? Just a question, but a damn good one, don't you think?

What are the currrent theories on what causes differentiation?

Every race has a different setup than every other race of human. Different races have different resistances and weaknesses to disease. Every race has a different adaption to their environment. The cure for a disease to a person of one race might differ for another. My solution is this: mate caucasion, african, asian, indonesian, etc etc, until you have one race, develope that race. Develope medicine around that race, solve everyone elses problems! Sorry if this has a few holes in it but just something off the top of my head. Any comments welcome.

I heard that that your hair comes from you mother's father, is there any truth to that? (please say yes!)

some people just lie down and start snoring instantaneosly,within almost no time and some people keep tossing on their bed and have to wait for 30 min -1hr! my father sleeps instantaneosly.....and so does my sister a friend of mine also sleeps inst. and so does his mother.. conclusion ---it is transmitted from one parent to the child of opposite sex. any observations and conclusions?