Doesn't Cambode Well
While the bald eagle may have flirted with extinction in the late 20th century, Americans could at least take comfort in knowing that our national symbol did, at one point, exist. Not so for Cambodia, suggests a new study. According to a paper published in the Journal of Zoology, Cambodia's national animal—a wild ox called a "kouprey"—not only went extinct long ago, but was probably never even a unique species. Researchers compared mitochondrial DNA from the kouprey—an animal first shot in 1937 and displayed by the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology in 1940—with mitochondrial DNA from the wild ox known as the "banteng."
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They found that the DNA was incredibly similar and concluded that the kouprey was most likely a domestic animal gone wild—a hybrid of two domestic ox species such as the mainland banteng and the zebubut not a species of its own. The kouprey has been the national animal of Cambodia since 1960, and while there is no official word on a new symbol, my money's on the gryphon.
A Lunatic Fringe By Any Other Name...
"I'm sorry, sir, but there's a deleterious mutation in your Indian hedgehog."
"Impossible! Prashant is as prickly as ever!"
Not long ago, this sad conversation could have taken place between an embarrassed doctor and a confused patient, who is unaware that he has a problem with a gene that plays a role in bone growth. But now the Human Genome Organisation Gene Nomenclature Committee has decided to rename ten bizarre genes, including Indian hedgehog, radical fringe, and lunatic fringe. Most of the genes were initially found in fruit flies, and drosophila researchers are notorious for giving genes amusing names. But when researchers discovered the human equivalents of these genes, they transferred the gene names. While noting that a fly has a "problematic lunatic fringe" might give scientists kicks, it's less amusing when actual people have skeletal-developmental defects. So the researchers have decided to call the human genes only by their initials, and if human equivalents are found for other funky fruit fly genes, like headcase or mothers against decapentaplegia, they'll be given new names. Still, if Castro had a problem with his radical fringe, it might be just a little funny.
Sexagenarian Race
In Nazi Germany, SS commander and eugenicist Heinrich Himmler created a Lebensborn, or Fountian of Life, program, through which he is believed to have encouraged mating of SS men with "racially pure" Aryan ladies and kidnapped children who appeared to have desired physical traits. He set up facilities where the kids could be raised, with the hope that they would grow up to constitute a master race that would rule the world. To put it mildly, Himmler's hypothesis, such as it was, was not confirmed. Last week, the Lebensborn children, most of whom are now in their 60s, gathered for mutual support and therapy. Not only do they look like a pretty average hodgepodge of aging people, but they also tend to have serious emotional issues and are now speaking out about their pasts. You see, people, this is why we have ethics committees. You must, a) debrief all of your subjects and b) not try to create a master race.