71–80 of 118 posts
I've always thought of DNA as mere "data". "This goes here, that goes there", etc. And I've always wondered how such a relatively small amount of data could describe the massive complexity of a full-size organism. But this makes it sound like DNA is data the way Lisp is data: it can contain procedures and transformations and meta-statements about itself, and even mutate during the course of being interpreted. That wo…
Another fascinating fact is that about 20% of cancers are directly caused by viruses -- they push the cells they infect to be more cancer-like. The famous example is HPV, but there are many more.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In addition, only retroviruses are capable of altering DNA in such a manner. The common cold is not a retrovirus.
Sometimes it is, it depends on the virus causing it.
> Even after recovering from an infection there will always be a piece of that virus encoded within your DNA. I did a little research and this appears to be almost completely false . This sentence makes it sound like every time you get a cold, your body's DNA is permanently altered. Which would be insane if true. The reality is that this insane outcome is incredibly rare, but nevertheless has happened enough times ov…
Here is a review (nearly twenty years old from when the human genome was first sequenced) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC138943/
First: Genome cannot physically contain a bio-virus, so this must be genetic code, acting as a "computer virus"
Second: Oh they're talking about viral genome embedded in human genome. Got it.
Third: But wait, bio-virus genome embedded in human genome does not by-definition imply that there is something wrong with that human genome. It could just be an innocuous part of the viral genome.
Fourth: Parts of human genome that could act as "computer virus" (i.e., be malicious to the human), and parts of human genome that come from a bio-virus may have some overlap. But you could have two other options too: (a) part of human genome that is malicious but not from a bio-viral source, (b) part of human genome that is from a bio-virus but is not malicious.
> Even after recovering from an infection there will always be a piece of that virus encoded within your DNA. I did a little research and this appears to be almost completely false . This sentence makes it sound like every time you get a cold, your body's DNA is permanently altered. Which would be insane if true. The reality is that this insane outcome is incredibly rare, but nevertheless has happened enough times ov…
> Viruses [...]have circadian rhythms like all living things. > circadian adj. of, relating to, or showing rhythmic behaviour with a period of 24 hours; especially of a biological process No, they don't. And the rest of the paragraph is equally goofy.
> Even after recovering from an infection there will always be a piece of that virus encoded within your DNA. I did a little research and this appears to be almost completely false . This sentence makes it sound like every time you get a cold, your body's DNA is permanently altered. Which would be insane if true. The reality is that this insane outcome is incredibly rare, but nevertheless has happened enough times ov…
yes. that is completely false. now I'm doubting the whole article.
There was an interesting article a while back on them playing a part in schizophrenia. "The Insanity Virus" https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-insanity-virus
What a great read! I find it so crazy that after decades of thinking that there's all this "junk DNA" in us, it turns out that it may serve a purpose after all, even if that purpose is malicious.
And the most fascinated fact is that, despite of all these intruders and mutators, living organisms are damn stable and pretty effective devices.
Now I’m more convinced Evolution might be driven by viruses