UFO's and other creatures...

[Dennis Lowe]

To carry on from the ideas of Geoff Freed, his latest research is 'why do we have so much redundant DNA?'
The standard theory is that it is old news from our past evolution, his theory is that it has yet to be activated and that we are living in that evolutionary stage right now.
Again the standard theory of evolution is of a slow process but people are coming round the idea of changes being made over decades not centuries.

[Dutch90]

The standard theory is that it is old news from our past evolution, his theory is that it has yet to be activated and that we are living in that evolutionary stage right now.

Is there proof of that though? If not, it's really more a hypothisis than anything else. Also, I don't see how one could test this particular theory.

Again the standard theory of evolution is of a slow process but people are coming round the idea of changes being made over decades not centuries.

Are they? I've never heard of it myself, and the general consensus does seem to favor Darwinian natural selection fueled by random genetic mutations.

As for humans being an experiment of some other advanced lifeform... well, that's just bollocks.

I'm inclined to agree, but consider that humans, an advanced lifeform, basically created the killer bee in a crossbreeding experiment! Really, the story of its origin reads like the plot of a 50s horror film! http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/kbees.html

Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) -- also called Africanized bees or killer bees -- are descendants of southern African bees imported in 1956 by Brazilian scientists attempting to breed a honey bee better adapted to the South American tropics.

When some of these bees escaped quarantine in 1957, they began breeding with local Brazilian honey bees, quickly multiplying and extended their range throughout South and Central America at a rate greater than 200 miles per year. In the past decade, AHB began invading North America.

Africanized bees acquired the name killer bees because they will viciously attack people and animals who unwittingly stray into their territory, often resulting in serious injury or death.

My point is that there's actually a precedent for advanced lifeforms creating new lifeforms through experimentation. Doesn't lend much credence to the suggestion that we're some alien experiment run amok, but it does show that it's not fabricated out of thin air - it has a basis in real life.

[BlackWatch]

Sure it's possible we're some test-tube experiment... but not bloody likely.

It's also possible I'll get to shag Megan Fox... but not bloody likely either. Unfortunately.

[Dutch90]

Sure it's possible we're some test-tube experiment... but not bloody likely.

Indeed.

It's also possible I'll get to shag Megan Fox... but not bloody likely either. Unfortunately.

At least it's more likely than humans being alien test tube experiments. Always think positive

[BlackWatch]

At least it's more likely than humams being alien test tube experiments.

Well, that's something, I suppose!

Not that it's really an ambition of mine...

[deezelboy]

Are they? I've never heard of it myself, and the general consensus does seem to favor Darwinian natural selection fueled by random genetic mutations.

There's a fair amount of horizontal transfer going on in animals - transposons hitch a ride on a virus and start dumping their DNA into another species' genome.  Presumably this leads to lots of mutations happening very quickly.  In a wonderful turn of phrase, the species jumping kind have been labelled space invaders.

To give an example of the speed of transposon's through populations, there's a family of transposons, called P elements, in Drosophila melanogaster, a fruit fly. It seems they first appeared in the species in the middle of the 20th Century.  They've now spread through every population of the species.

[Neltharion]

Doesn't this spare DNA also occur in chickens, going back to the turning a Chicken into a Dinosaur thing.

Well it at least sounds similar to that. Where chemicals released at certain times stop genes from activating thus stopping teeth, tails and arms growing.

I am probably wrong but that sounds like excess DNA to me.

[deezelboy]

Dunno if I'm on the same track as you, but...

My understanding is that in 'junk' DNA, there are a lot of old genes - psuedogenes - that don't work because they've been partially written over by random mutations, transposons and the like.  'Repair' the psuedogenes, and you should get genes that the organism had previously lost.  Is that the same thing you're talking about?

[Dutch90]

There's a fair amount of horizontal transfer going on in animals - transposons hitch a ride on a virus and start dumping their DNA into another species' genome.  Presumably this leads to lots of mutations happening very quickly.  In a wonderful turn of phrase, the species jumping kind have been labelled space invaders.

To give an example of the speed of transposon's through populations, there's a family of transposons, called P elements, in Drosophila melanogaster, a fruit fly. It seems they first appeared in the species in the middle of the 20th Century.  They've now spread through every population of the species.

That actually reminds me of the Alien's "stolen DNA blueprint"..... 

[Dutch90]

Regarding my UFO sighting last month, I'm now pretty sure I know what it was: a paper lantern. They're originally from Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean; we Northwest Europeans aren't really used to them, although they do sell them here apparently. A UFO sighting in another city turned out to have been caused by some of these things floating around:





The one I saw didn't have that fiery tail though. Other than that: the paper body would explain why it looked like a glowing orb instead flickering flames being visible - the paper would obscure the flames but filter through their light. Paper lanterns just float in the air, carried by the wind, which would explain the slow speed of my "UFO". Also, its relatively low altitude (200 m, I guess) makes it likely it was a paper lantern. UFO's, as described by those who see them, are usually much higher, not far below the height of passing airplanes.

So I guess I've just debunked my own sighting

[Dark Star]

  Well thats interesting. Isnt that some kind of fire hazard if it catches on fire and lands in the wood or something?

[Neltharion]

They generally don't catch fire, I have released several, the fire goes out and the paper floats away.

[CompanyMan]

That is a good Dutch90, this is what WE want you believe! Save me to visit you and talk to you about what you seen, or " though " you seen.

[Dutch90]

You're not one of us, you're not a believer. You're a fucking Company Man!

[BlackWatch]

You're not one of us, you're not a believer. You're a fucking Company Man!

(+) for the reference!