Was reading about microchips that are designed to allow a few mistakes (known as 'Sloppy Chips'), and pondering equivalent kinds of 'coding' errors and entropy in biological systems. Can a fair comparison be made between the two? [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Jun 5, 2012 - 4 answers

Looking for an awesome primer on genetics! It should start somewhere around the highschool level, and continue through to some college-level material. Bonus points if it touches on some recent developments and research. Oh! And readability is key. [more inside]
posted by Afroblanco on Jan 13, 2012 - 5 answers

Which X Chromosome did I inherit from my mother? [more inside]
posted by brownrd on Aug 27, 2011 - 12 answers

Questions about biology, genes, humans and apes, courtesy of the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. SPOILERS WITHIN. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Aug 19, 2011 - 8 answers

How common is human chimerism of the sort described in this Boing Boing post? What implications does the existence of chimerism have for DNA testing, especially with respect to the criminal justice system? Does it pose a practical limit on the usefulness of DNA evidence, or just a theoretical one? Has chimerism come up in any cases, or been considered as a problem in legal scholarship?
posted by gerryblog on Mar 23, 2011 - 15 answers

Trying to find an NPR program about an eccentric pioneer of genetics who insisted on black laboratories? [more inside]
posted by brownbat on Feb 12, 2011 - 5 answers

How do I go about learning how DNA sequencing works? [more inside]
posted by doriancarey on Nov 9, 2010 - 7 answers

Scientific History Filter / Native German Speaker Filter. What did Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's 1985 exclamation, "Das war ja toll!" mean? [more inside]
posted by kisch mokusch on Feb 25, 2008 - 11 answers

How do cells form various shapes? [more inside]
posted by delmoi on Jul 13, 2005 - 10 answers

Multiregional or Out of Africa?
posted by four panels on Oct 28, 2004 - 13 answers

Can fish interbreed like dogs? My SO and I have been talking about dogs lately so the mixed-breed thing has been a regular topic of conversation. Last night we were at a Thai restaurant with a large fish tank and some gigantic fish. Too big for the tank, in my opinion. And that got me to wondering....can different kinds of fish, genetically speaking, be bred with each other? Even if they wouldn't do it on their own (mating rituals, etc.), could they do it with a scientists help?
posted by jaded on Feb 24, 2004 - 8 answers