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March 4 - March 18, 2020
The development of the hindbrain is controlled by a set of pattern-generating Hox genes with a very ancient pedigree – versions of these genes are also present in the fruit fly, with which we share a common ancestor going back some 800 million years.
I'll never look at a fruit fly in the same way again.
In fact, it’s not possible to draw a clear line between genetic and environmental influences on development and the structure and function of the body. Fairly recent research has revealed that some environmental influences work via the genes, which become chemically modified so that their function is altered. It’s also recently been discovered that these modifications to genes can be inherited along with the genes themselves. The study of these changes is called epigenetics (not to be confused with the concept of embryological development involving complex tissues differentiating out of
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Nature vs nurture
As an embryo, as a growing child, and even as an adult, the form and function of your body isn’t exclusively determined by your DNA. What this means is that the shape of your skeleton, and in fact, of your whole body, is not just a product of your genes, it’s also a product of how you use your body: a product of your behaviour. Your genes set parameters within which the shape of your body can change.
Genes + real time influences
The fracture patterns on the obsidian points mean that they were travelling at around 1000 metres per second on impact, which means they were probably javelin tips.
Unlikely
