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BIOLOGICAL OBSCURITIES

Added on: 22nd May 2016

 

PETO’S PARADOX

Cancer

Humans are prone to cancer…this is not a secret, However

larger mammals, like whales, are no were near as prone to

cancer as humans are. If cancer is essentially a negative

outcome lottery at cell levels, and larger organisms have

more cells, and thus more potentially cancerous cell divisions,

one would expect larger organisms to be more predisposed

to cancer. But this is not the case.

 

 

BLUE WHALE’S SEXUAL LIFE

Blue Whale

Speaking of larger mammals, little is known about how Blue whales

mate. You would think that it would be easy to witness the “act”

of such a large animal, but the fact remains that Blue whales

mating has never been recorded. Fun bonus fact: Humpback

whales (which are closely related to Blue whales) are known to

engage in what scientists refer to as “simultaneous

intromission” AKA, threesome.

 

 

THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION

Cambrian Explosion

What was the cause of the apparent rapid diversification of

multicellular life around the beginning of the Cambrian period,

resulting in the emergence of almost all modern animal phyla?

It’s a highly debated topic but no solid concrete answer

exists as of yet.

 

 

KORARCHAEOTA METABOLIC PROCESSES

Bacteria

Korarchaeota constitute a recent kingdom of Archaea containing

single cell micro-organisms only found in high temperature

hydrothermal environments. Little is known about these species

including how their metabolic processes take place.

 

 

BASKING SHARK’S REPRODUCTION MECHANISM

Basking Shark

Basking shark females appear to only have one functioning

ovary-the right one to be exact. This is unique among

sharks and the reason is unknown.

 

 

ARTHROPOD HEAD PROBLEM

The arthropod head problem is popularly known as the “endless dispute”

referring to its seemingly intractable nature. While the dispute has

historically centred on the exact make-up of the insect head, it has

been widened to include other living arthropods such as the

crustaceans and chelicerates. Although some progress has been

made during the past few years, the precise nature of especially

the labrum and the pre-oral region of arthropods remain

highly controversial.

 

 

BIOLOGICAL AGING

Aging

There are a number of hypotheses as to why we age and eventually

die but as we mentioned, it’s all hypothesis with no real

solid explanations in sight.

 

 

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

Origin of life

And of course number one is the biggest mystery of them all,

the origin of life! Despite all the gigantic scientific and

technological advances of the past couple of centuries we still

don’t know exactly how and when life on Earth originated.

 


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