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by pcr_teacher (#42923953) Attached to: French Police Unsure Which Twin To Charge In Sexual Assaults

Two words:
1) somatic mutations: http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/somatic-mosaicism-and-chromosomal-disorders-867

2) mosiacs: http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/science/2368/chimeras_and_mosaics.html

Mutations happen all through the life of an organism. If that mutation happens in a germ cell (sperm or egg) the mutation is passed down to every cell in the next generation. However, if the mutation occurs in a somatic cell (non-germ cell), then when this cell divides (during growth) all the resulting cells carry the mutation.

In chimera (similar, but slightly different) you can have a person with one blue eye and one brown eye.

Comment: Re:just google it (Score 2) 293

by pcr_teacher (#42631441) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Anti-Theft Devices For Luggage?




Battery life is an issue...

Comment: Re:That would be awesome (Score 1) 312

by pcr_teacher (#34895758) Attached to: Extinct Mammoth, Coming To a Zoo Near You

They are already working on creating Pleistocene park using animals similar to the extinct mega-fauna herbivores.

The idea is that mammoths damaged the lichen and mosses of the tundra, thus allowing grass to grow, drying out the soil, preventing the permafrost from forming,

The permafrost locks up nutrients for the plants and animals and forms a high albedo surface that doesn't warm up quickly in springtime.

The scape marks on the bottom of the mammoth tusks indicates that they probably scraped the snow off the grass in winter, allowing other smaller herbivores to find food and survive winter.

The change from tundra to grassland has the potential to have huge climatic effects
  and help prevent a huge release of methane (a much worse greenhouse gas than CO2).

Recreating the Pleistocene grasslands is not a silly, flippant or ill-considered idea
