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Mr_C
Reckoner
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 Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: No sex for 40 million years O_o |
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Yes, I just used Moloth's emoticon in a thread subject! I win!
Oh, yeah...here's the link: link
| Quote: | One microscopic organism has thrived despite remaining celibate for tens of millions of years thanks to a neat evolutionary trick, researchers said.
Asexual reproduction has allowed duplicate gene copies of the single-celled creatures -- called bdelloid rotifers -- to become different over time.
This gives the rotifers a wider pool of genes to help them adapt and survive, the researchers said in the journal Science.
"It is like having a bigger tool kit," Alan Tunnacliffe, a molecular biologist at the University of Cambridge, said in a telephone interview. "You can do the same job but better."
Other researchers had shown the translucent, waterborne creatures could survive for 40 million years without sexual relations.
The question, Tunnacliffe said, was how the creatures found in pools of water accomplished this feat without the gene-swapping made possible by sexual reproduction.
"Sexual reproduction is supposed to be a good thing in evolution," he said on Thursday.
"So when you come across an organism like the bdelloid, which hasn't engaged in sexual reproduction for tens of millions of years, you begin to question why sex is important."
Every species of plant and animal that reproduces sexually has pairs of genes nearly identical to each other, with one of each pair coming from the mother and father.
These creatures get around that problem with the evolutionary trick that allows their genes to drift apart and evolve on their own, Tunnacliffe said, after using molecular cloning techniques.
"No sex means the genes can evolve in different directions," he said. "It is like you have a bigger gene pool to select from for different functions in evolution."
The theory of natural selection says sex mixes up the genes to cope with unexpected changes in a treacherous world.
Some genetic changes are good and boost survival, for example against new strains of disease, but others lead to conditions like cystic fibrosis in humans.
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Nimitz
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| Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | No sex for 40 million years O_o |
And I thought I had is rough! |
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h-bar
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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| That is certainly interesting. Of course the advantage of sexual reproduction is not gene swapping by itself but recombination of successful genes - those that have thrived and that often for generations. It lets you run natural selection as a massively parallel process, so to say. |
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Azrael
Celestial Teapotist
Joined: 23 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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When I saw the title I thought you were going to talk about your sex life.
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BarkAtTheMoon
O Captain, my Captain
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:36 am Post subject: Re: No sex for 40 million years O_o |
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| Mr_C wrote: |
Other researchers had shown the translucent, waterborne creatures could survive for 40 million years without sexual relations.
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Just because you could, doesn't mean you should.
[quote[
"So when you come across an organism like the bdelloid, which hasn't engaged in sexual reproduction for tens of millions of years, you begin to question why sex is important."
[/quote]
...Says a guy who hasn't gotten laid recently.
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Moloth
Fateless
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:38 am Post subject: |
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well, have you SEEN a bdelloid rotifer? i wouldn;t want to fuck one, either!
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Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total |
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baddogma
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:55 am Post subject: |
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I'm SO buying a tshirt with "bdelloid (married)" on it!!!
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Vyrian
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| Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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If the church really wants to stop people from having sex, they should promote bdelloid. Of course, they'd still have to find a way to get themselves to stop fiddling at the altar.
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greyghost
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Joined: 19 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Vyrian wrote: | | If the church really wants to stop people from having sex, they should promote bdelloid. Of course, they'd still have to find a way to get themselves to stop fiddling at the altar. |
That, and explain how an organism can be over 40 million years old, on an earth that is suppose to be 6 thousand.
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Moloth
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| Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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Question:
if the Church teaches abstinence to prevent unwanted pregnancy (instead of using contraceptive and condoms), why didn't that work for Mary?
I mean... thats like... their poster girl, and her abstinence was a TOTAL failure.
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Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total |
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Nimitz
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| Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Mary was a raped! |
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