1Junk DNA
8% of our DNA consists of remnants of ancient viruses, and another 40% is made up of repetitive strings of genetic letters that are also thought to have that origin.
2. Darwinian theory has no explanation for why a species with mating rituals do not completely lose all-male genetic variants since females are only attracted to certain specific male characteristics. This is known as the Lek paradox.
3. Lactose tolerance is a genetic mutation where a cytosine (C) nucleotide in a person's DNA is replaced with thymine (T) nucleotide which allows them to digest milk.
4. Danny DeVito’s height is the result of Fairbank’s Disease, a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth.
5. In 1990, Dr. Mary-Claire King discovered the human gene BRCA1 which is linked to breast cancer. Soon after, Myriad Genetics cloned and patented it. She was sent a cease-and-desist letter to stop researching it. Finally, in 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled that human genes cannot be patented.
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6X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism
X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism is an adult-onset genetic movement disorder that affects individuals who descend from the Philippine Island of Panay. It is a neurodegenerative disease that evolves over many years, resulting in significant disability and a shortened life span.
7. Random testing has shown that far more British people carry the Mad Cow Disease prion than have shown symptoms, which is roughly 1 in 2000. The absence of symptoms is thought to be linked to genetics.
8. Snatiation is a genetically-transmitted condition in which people sneeze after eating a meal and becoming full.
9. Color blindness is carried on the "X" chromosome. Since women have two of them, they won't be colorblind as often as men who only have one.
10. Every fetus is a female in the uterus until receiving the “Y” chromosome. If the sperm has a Y chromosome, your baby will be a boy. If it has an X chromosome, the baby will be a girl. If it is a boy, in the further stages of fetal development, when the testosterone kicks in, the cells begin to change in the genitals, but the nipples remain. That's why men have nipples.
11Chances of Being You
The chances of you being you, taking into account eggs, sperm, ancestry, etc., is equivalent to 2 million people each rolling a trillion-sided die, and each person rolling precisely the same number (approximately 1 in 10^2,685,000).
12. Alana Saarinen is a girl with 3 biological parents. Alana’s nuclear DNA is from her mother and father, with mitochondrial DNA from another woman. This procedure has now been banned due to safety and ethical concerns.
13. Ectopia Cordis is a rare genetic defect that develops in fetuses in utero. Their chest wall doesn't form correctly. It also doesn't fuse as it normally would. This prevents the heart from developing where it should, leaving it defenseless and exposed. 90% of babies don't survive.
14. 50-60% of drug addiction risk is genetically inherited.
15. The Y chromosome has been degenerating over the past 300 million years of its existence, and might one day go extinct. The male gender, however, probably won't.
16Candle Fumes Harm
Exposure to particles from burning candles causes greater damage than the same dose of diesel exhaust fumes. Effects included lung inflammation and toxicity, arteriosclerosis, and aging effects on chromosomes in the lungs and spleen.
17. One of the leading hypotheses on why asbestos causes cancer is that it’s extremely thin fibers get physically tangled in your chromosomes, leading to strand breaks and mutations.
18. Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome causes a person with XY chromosomes externally to develop to be identical to XX girls/women. A vagina is present but no uterus. It is often undetected until a lack of first menstruation is noted.
19. While female X chromosomes get mixed and reshuffled, Y chromosomes get passed down untouched, resulting in the grandfather, father, and son having identical Y chromosomes.
20. In 1962, scientists discovered a limit to how many times human cells can divide before they become exhausted. They also discovered telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes and prevent them from fraying. Telomeres shorten each time a cell divides and when they get short enough, a cell stops dividing.
21Miscarriages
About 55% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, most often before a woman misses a menstrual period or even knows she is pregnant. More than 80% of miscarriages occur within the first three months of pregnancy. This is mostly caused by chromosomal abnormalities.
22. ‘Happy Puppet’ syndrome or Angelman Syndrome causes patients to flap their hands uncontrollably and laugh. It is now known to be a genetic disorder resulting from a mutation on chromosome 15. Though the sufferers have a happy demeanor and have easily excitable personality, it is a debilitating disease with symptoms such as microcephaly, seizures and motor problems.
23. A young man named Brenden Adams has a unique disorder of the 12th chromosome causing uncontrollable growth during his teenage years and making him grow to 7'8" by the age of 18.
24. In 1994, scientists were able to isolate a specific mutation of the breast cancer gene BRCA2 after mapping the genome of the entire population of Iceland (just under 335,000 citizens).
25. There is a mutation in the HTR2B gene called "the violent gene" that’s exclusive to Finnish men which makes them way more violent and aggressive than others when intoxicated.
