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2nd Jul 2006

Sex Chromosomes, Genetics and Food Webs


Phil Rosenberg

Chris Smith
X & Y Chromosomes

Breaking things down to the building blocks of life this week is Dr Mark Ross from the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, who discusses the evolution of sex chromosomes, genetics and genomes; Dr Michael Traugott from the University of Innsbruck describes a novel way of using genetics to find out who is eating whom in underground food webs; and Derek Thorne gets fruity with Lucy Wheatley extracting DNA from a kiwi...

 

Transcript
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News

 

Life on Other Planets Comes Closer To Home

The holy grail of finding extraterrestrial life has been the discovery of an Earth-sized planet with just the right temperature for liquid water to exist on the surface. However a new study has shown that we should actually be looking at moons rather than plan...

 

Magnet Knocks Migraines on The Head

Researchers in America at the Ohio State University Medical Centre, led by neurologist Yousef Mohammad, have found that a quick zap to the head with a magnet can stave off a migraine attack. Characteristically migraines usually begin with visual disturbances, known as an aura, during which sufferers...


Questions

 

Is there any scientific reason why a key suspended from a length of string held over food always seems to indicate correctly whether I can eat a particular food? If I eat anything containing MSG (monosodiumglutamate) in any form, I get a very severe migraine. If it rotates clockwise then the food is taboo, but if it rotates anticlockwise then the food is ok for me to eat. I really can't believe that this is true.


 

I tend to get awful headaches that fall under the migraine classification but I notice that they're weather related. Why is it that weather should have these effects?


 

How cold is it in outer space and how do you protect satellites from extreme cold?


 

Why do we assume that life on other planets would be a carbon-based Homo erectus type of being that breathes oxygen? Could it not breathe hydrogen or methane or be based on a different element?


 

If as a human I share 98% of my genes with a chimpanzee and 60% of my genes with a banana, how come I only share 50% of my genes with my own daughter?


 

Why do people go bald?


 

I'd like to hear about recessive genes and why they say that blondes and ginger people have more of these genes and will become extinct. Why will the genes only kick in now and not before and have there been genes in the past that have timed out? Is it possible for genes like green hair to start up and replace them?


 

Why is it, that despite all this talk of evolution going on, humans have not evolved for the last 4000 years?


 

Do scientists have any understanding of the mechanisms that skills, that animals such as humans, learn and pass to their offspring via their genetic code?




Kitchen Science

(c)  rosevita - morguefile
 

How to extract DNA from a kiwi fruit

You've heard about DNA, but have you ever seen any? This week Derek and Lucy extract DNA from Kiwi fruit using just simple kitchen items.


Fact or Fiction

The call of the humpback whale is louder than Concorde
TrueTrue
The longest python in captivity is 10 feet long
TrueTrue
A chicken can lay 1000 eggs during its lifetime
TrueTrue
If you fell down a long tunnel drilled through the earth - assuming terminal velocity of 200 kilometres per hour was maintained throughout the trip - it would take you over 2 days to reach the other side of the planet
TrueTrue
The average person in England can expect to live for 2.5 billion seconds
TrueTrue



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