Another thing was - I'm vaguely recalling this - that a lot of DNA in the
human genome is from viruses that have attached to it in the dim past,
raising the question(s) how do they know and what then is human?

I don't mean to beat this to death, because Nick and Rob have already
answered, but boy. If you wanted to start writing thrillers with conspiracy
theories you wouldnt have to go much further than a DNA lab.

K Barrett

"al" wrote in message news:i_x2h.5189$Z66.2452@trnddc07...
I saw a TV show on my new 60" HD TV about a census of marine micro
organisms that is currently underway.

They are using cutting edge genetic sequencing tools to count new micro
organisms in sea water. They collect the water, strain it through ever
finer filters to collect a gooey glob of micro organisms and then they
extract their DNA by slicing it into tiny nucleotide bits, then they
replicate these bits, then they REASSEMBLE them back into complete
genomes....and out of this gene puree and reassembly process comes
something a computer program can use to count the number of unique
organisms that were in the sea water sample BEFORE they were chopped to
bits.

One of the remarkable things they have discovered, other than the Amazing
and unpredictably large number of new species at the microscopic level
are lots of gene groups with interesting mutations on gene groups which
they already know are used by these organisms to do things like turn light
into energy, break down oily carbon compounds, enhance immunity to cold,
etc.

It is just scary what bags of genes called 'humans' can infer about
themselves based on what is literally a sampling of their gene pool.



wrote in message
oups.com...
K Barrett wrote:
Nothing makes you feel older than finding out everyting you were taught
isn't true anymore.

It's even worse when it's your job. Research that required three years
of late nights in the lab when I was a grad student now takes about 15
minutes on the computer. Many of the techniques that I learned are
completely obsolete, and it has been less than ten years since I
defended my dissertation.

Nick