Auburngirl05

I totally agree with you that it's because they have shorter lives, I wasn't implying that sexuality and IQ are related, I was just using that as an example of how developmental timing is different. On a slightly different train of thought, has anyone seen reports on that scientist that raised an ape infant (I think it was a chimp but I can't remember) that was the same age as his own child, and treated them as much the same as possible, and compared the developmental results? I can't remember his name, but it was a pretty interesting project.

Dogs are also sexually mature by six months of age. You can't really compare developmental milestones between (unclosely related) species like that.

I don't think dominant genes necessarily lead to more "fit" phenotypes. Polydactyly and several types of dwarfism result from dominant genes.

This month's "Natural History" magazine has a feature article on Titan and the exploratory missions to it, it's definitely worth reading, astronomy isn't really "my thing" but I still enjoyed the article and got a lot out of it.

Welcome to the boards, it's nice to meet you.

Sorry to sort of change the subject, I'm going to stay out of the discussion on vestigial organs and address the dinosaur connection mentioned earlier in the thread... Actually the dinosaurs were a huge evolutionary success, they not only existed but also dominated their ecosystems for about 200 million years, which is pretty darn successful, especially considering the 1)amount of things humans have managed to screw up during our relatively brief career as a species and 2) the fact that mammals were unable to gain ground as anything more significant than a shrew-type creature until something (still a controversy as to the exact "something") came in and wiped out all of the non-avian dinos for us.

There have been cases reported of people being born with an elongated coccyx: basically, a tail. Not a long fluffy thing, of course, and nothing with any extra function, but I'm pretty sure that it's not unheard of in the medical field. You might try Googling it and see what you come up with.

Unless I'm misunderstanding your question, I would assume one gram of anything weighs one gram...

In this region (Southern border of Tennessee) we usually get two or three snows a year, most of the time it's under an inch at a time and melts within a day or so...but even that is enough to shut down most schools, businesses, etc (no joke), because we have no snow-moving equipment whatsoever, it's not worth spending the money on for a couple of days a year... It was a big adjustment when we moved here from Kansas, especially since we lived in Germany prior to that!

The cells spend the majority of their time in Interphase, it's divided into a couple of phases itself, and there are checkpoints that function to make sure the cell has duplicated enough material before it begins mitosis. This site gives a pretty good overview, there are tons of online tutorials, too, when I was cramming for the AP Bio test this past spring I found some good ones using a basic Google search. http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/aa071300a.htm

http://www.sparknotes.com is a pretty good resource for just about every subject, I've used it for English and Calculus, it's definitely worth checking out for physics and Chem.

I just got in from seeing "National Treasure." I enjoyed it, it reminded me a lot of The DaVinci Code.. Some of the answers to the chain of clues the character follows were a little predictable, especially if you know anything about the Templars and/or Freemasons, but it's definitely worth seeing if anyone needs something to do this weekend.

I just got in from seeing "National Treasure." I enjoyed it, it reminded me a lot of The DaVinci Code.. Some of the answers to the chain of clues the character follows were a little predictable, especially if you know anything about the Templars and/or Freemasons, but it's definitely worth seeing if anyone needs something to do this weekend.

I totally agree, I have a friend whose mother really struggled on deciding whether or not to continue a pregnancy after the amniocentesis showed it was a Down's baby, and she did decide to keep the baby, and now they are so incredibly glad. He is one of the most inspiring people I've ever met, you can't help but love him.

I totally agree, I have a friend whose mother really struggled on deciding whether or not to continue a pregnancy after the amniocentesis showed it was a Down's baby, and she did decide to keep the baby, and now they are so incredibly glad. He is one of the most inspiring people I've ever met, you can't help but love him.

When in doubt, try "Talk Origins." http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB301.html

When in doubt, try "Talk Origins." http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB301.html

I think there is a similar situation with the Liger/Tigon hybrids, one is supposedly more fertile although I can't remember which. Genetics is definitely fascinating. It would be interesting to see a study that did investigate the father's age and effect on nondisjunction rates, for comparative data on the effect of aging mothers...and I agree, the stats on those DS women that indicate incest are definitely disturbing, my mother works at a sexual assault crisis center and the number of cases she sees as a result of mentally disabled people being taken advantage of is really disheartening...

I think there is a similar situation with the Liger/Tigon hybrids, one is supposedly more fertile although I can't remember which. Genetics is definitely fascinating. It would be interesting to see a study that did investigate the father's age and effect on nondisjunction rates, for comparative data on the effect of aging mothers...and I agree, the stats on those DS women that indicate incest are definitely disturbing, my mother works at a sexual assault crisis center and the number of cases she sees as a result of mentally disabled people being taken advantage of is really disheartening...

Low sperm count reduces fertility but doesn't necessarily mean infertility. And I definitely agree with you about the Tony Randall thing.

Low sperm count reduces fertility but doesn't necessarily mean infertility. And I definitely agree with you about the Tony Randall thing.

Elderly men do have a low sperm count, which affects fertility but low fertility rate isn't related to the nondisjunction, the sperm that they DO have is constantly being produced/replenished, in contrast to the eggs a woman has had since birth. I had always heard that people with Down's were sterile also, although I could be wrong. Some descriptions of the disorder mention reduced development of secondary sexual characteristics.

Elderly men do have a low sperm count, which affects fertility but low fertility rate isn't related to the nondisjunction, the sperm that they DO have is constantly being produced/replenished, in contrast to the eggs a woman has had since birth. I had always heard that people with Down's were sterile also, although I could be wrong. Some descriptions of the disorder mention reduced development of secondary sexual characteristics.

There IS an allele for albinism, it's recessive, so the disease is expressed when a person inherits a recessive allele from each parent (usually the parents were each heterozygous and didn't realize they carried the gene). This is a classic case of an inherited disorder and shows the contrast between a "normal" inherited disease and a chromosomal malfunction like Down's. Skye made a good point about inheriting factors that increase disjunction rates, I hadn't thought about that, although it doesn't qualify as inheriting the disease, I would see how it could raise the incidence...but it's a good point I hadn't thought of before. And I don't know the answer about the elderly father, although men produce sperm throughout their lives, so an old man wouldn't necessarily have "old sperm", while a woman has already produced her lifetime supply of eggs by the time she's born.

There IS an allele for albinism, it's recessive, so the disease is expressed when a person inherits a recessive allele from each parent (usually the parents were each heterozygous and didn't realize they carried the gene). This is a classic case of an inherited disorder and shows the contrast between a "normal" inherited disease and a chromosomal malfunction like Down's. Skye made a good point about inheriting factors that increase disjunction rates, I hadn't thought about that, although it doesn't qualify as inheriting the disease, I would see how it could raise the incidence...but it's a good point I hadn't thought of before. And I don't know the answer about the elderly father, although men produce sperm throughout their lives, so an old man wouldn't necessarily have "old sperm", while a woman has already produced her lifetime supply of eggs by the time she's born.