Something puzzling me regarding testing of evolution

Wowbagger said:
That's true.

Though, technically, I was talking about not using DNA fragments.

Basically: Inferring what the DNA would be like from any other properties of the cells that we can determine.

A cell would be a like a crumb of the cake, representing, to a certain degree, various factors that apply to the whole life-form.
I acknowledge that cells do differentiate more than typical cake crumbs - However, I suppose certain properties would remain consistent throughout.

I suspect that explaining why this form of cloning would be next-to-impossible would be very instructive to the questions posed in this thread.
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More like a recipe... From the picture of a cake...
 
little grey rabbit said:
IIRC, the samples consist of skins preserved in alcohol. It is conceivable that using new sequencing technology an entire genome could be constructed from this material - despite degradation in DNA (conceivable, I am not sure if it is really possible).
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I believe they also have acess to a couple of preserved fetus as well

Then all we need to do is wait until technology has progressed to create chromosomes from pure sequence data alone and a method to insert these chromosomes into an egg. The 2nd is conceivable; the 1st will involve unforeseeable giant leaps in technology.
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Which was my point to the OP - He was discussing bringing creatures back from fossils, I suggested to him that even with first generation genetic material we have completely failed to do it
 
little grey rabbit said:
Then all we need to do is wait until technology has progressed to create chromosomes from pure sequence data alone and a method to insert these chromosomes into an egg. The 2nd is conceivable; the 1st will involve unforeseeable giant leaps in technology.
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Meh; not that big a deal actually.
You isolate the chromosomes from a conveniently close specie and start replacing the genes by recombination.
That'd get you pretty close from the species you are targeting.

Obviously, you'd cut corner by conserving as much material as possible, quite a few genes would be 'meh, close enough'.

We are talking about a 1000 genes on the bigger chromosomes, if you divide up one chromosome per researcher, with the ones one the smallest chromosome moving when one is done, the project could probably be achieved within a few years...

Don't get me wrong, it would be a considerable amount of work, but doing some chromosomal plastic surgery to transform one species into another seems to be within the realm of our technical know-how even now...
 
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Pantaz said:
Well, there are some egg-laying mammals, such as the PlatypusWP, but I don't know if a live-birthing creature could/would change.
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It's quite possible, I would judge. Marsupials are halfway there with their tiny joeys (or you could say, they are half a step behind placentals). If a marsupial species took the next half-step (back) of actually expelling the fertilized egg and nursing it in a pouch, that would be the re-invention of oviparity. It might be tricky to come up with circumstances where that would be a more desirable trait than life birth, however.
 
Apologies to all posters for my stupidness and arrogant outbursts, i had a bit too much to drink last night. I'm sure there was some idea in all that mess...
 
Sunstar said:
Apologies to all posters for my stupidness and arrogant outbursts, i had a bit too much to drink last night. I'm sure there was some idea in all that mess...
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Oddly, drinking hadn't occurred to me.

Anyway, you've made amends and I should as well.

I'm sorry I was terminally snarky.
 
Elizabeth I said:
No, but I think I drove through there once. No, twice.

ETA: Why Hogtown?
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That's the name of a little village that eventually got swallowed up by the city of Gainesville, and which lends its name to Hogtown Creek.

(Like Athens, GA, Gainesville is a major college town in the middle of a heavily agricultural area.)

The reason I asked is that I only knew of River's siblings' names because I lived there and so did they, and I didn't know that folks outside of that area were familiar with the wider family.
 
Piggy said:
That's the name of a little village that eventually got swallowed up by the city of Gainesville, and which lends its name to Hogtown Creek.

(Like Athens, GA, Gainesville is a major college town in the middle of a heavily agricultural area.)

The reason I asked is that I only knew of River's siblings' names because I lived there and so did they, and I didn't know that folks outside of that area were familiar with the wider family.
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Well, Joaquín is making something of a name for himself as an actor now (Walk the Line, Signs, Gladiator.) I first heard about the other siblings in some profile of River when he began to receive recognition.

So can you explain Joaquín's name? It sounds like his parents were smoking dope when they named the other kids but straight when it came to Joaquín or possibly the other way around.

(Ah, I see that Joaquín's IMDB bio says he called himself Leaf for a while to conform to the names of his older brother and sister River and Rain, so Leaf was not yet another unfortunately named child [although according to IMDB there were two more sisters named Liberty and Summer.] The bio also says he was born in Puerto Rico while his parents were missionaries there, so I guess that sort of explains his name but still I'm not sure why the parents didn't go with something like Playa [Beach], Mar [Ocean/Sea], Arbol [Tree], or Montaña [Mountain], given the trend with the other children.)
 
Complexity said:
Oddly, drinking hadn't occurred to me.

Anyway, you've made amends and I should as well.

I'm sorry I was terminally snarky.
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No it is ok i don't blame you. I did come across as a bit of an ******** there. Words do matter.
 
It's funny how my OP turned into Joaquin Phoenix. I don't have a beard or wear sunglasses indoors.

So why did i choose this nic? It wasn't a conscious decision, i just kind of meumonically created it out of a lazy mind in a sort of "aha" way. My actual name is David.

I did once know a guy called "sonny blue albert smith-dance". I am guessing his parents liked The Godfather film while reading sex manuals and having fetishes for cowboy hats. I don't know where the telekineses or ESP or yoga or tree hugging comes in there though.
 
McHrozni said:
Depending on what the word "devolves" means. Some organisms grew into simpler forms than their ancestors as time passed.

McHrozni
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Which depends in turn on what the word, "simpler" means. Some apparently 'simple' organisms have thousands more genes than apparently 'complex' organisms.
 
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