Filed under: Discover, Faith healing, Flu, Health, Pandemic, Psychic abilities, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
As I mention in the post below, one of the technical weaknesses of the novel is in the biology behind Ling’s genetic make-up and what happens when people come in contact with the alien artifact.
[Spoilers ahead].
This is largely due to my own lack of a solid background in biology, so I would not be in the slightest bit surprised to discover that I made some errors in the ‘explanation’ in the book about how genetic manipulation was used to reach back into the human genome’s history and pull out some traits which are no longer apparent in modern humans.
Then again, such things as residual genetic coding manifesting in oddball body structures are not really that rare, as this recent article in Discover demonstrates. From the article:
Nearly a century and a quarter after Darwin’s death, science still can’t offer a full explanation for why one outdated anatomic trait lingers in the gene pool and another goes. Modern genomics research has revealed that our DNA carries broken genes for things that seem as though they might be useful, like odor receptors for a bloodhound’s sense of smell or enzymes that once enabled us to make our own vitamin C. In a few million years, humans may very well have shed a few more odd features.
In reading this article yesterday, I was surprised not by the amount of useless genetic information remains in our genome, but just how prevalent the actual expression of such material is in humans. There are substantial variations in the human body in terms of who has what kinds of left-over ‘useless’ body parts:
PLANTARIS MUSCLE
Often mistaken for a nerve by freshman medical students, the muscle was useful to other primates for grasping with their feet. It has disappeared altogether in 9 percent of the population.
THIRTEENTH RIB
Our closest cousins, chimpanzees and gorillas, have an extra set of ribs. Most of us have 12, but 8 percent of adults have the extras.
***
PYRAMIDALIS MUSCLE
More than 20 percent of us lack this tiny, triangular pouchlike muscle that attaches to the pubic bone. It may be a relic from pouched marsupials.
A personal aside: I was born with an extra toe (complete with additional metatarsal structures) on my left foot. This was likely due to some small hiccup in my embryonic development rather than either a mutation or the expression of residual genetic material. Nonetheless, it still gets interest from any doctor, and was one of the reasons for my assumption that there is greater ‘uniformity’ between human body structures that there actually is.
So, when you read that part of the book, cut me a little slack - maybe there really is something lurking in the “junk” of our DNA which would allow for Ling’s psychic abilities…something which the artifact could ‘activate’, allowing humankind to have the ability for psychic/faith healing.
Jim Downey
