FACTS ABOUT DNA THAT WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF

BDELLOID ROTIFERS ARE MICROSCOPIC CREATURES

THAT HAVE BEEN EXCLUSIVELY FEMALE FOR OVER

80 MILLION YEARS. THEY REPRODUCE BY STEALING

THE DNA OF OTHER ANIMALS

IF YOU WERE TO TYPE 1 WORD PER SECOND EVERY

DAY FOR 8 HOURS, IT WOULD TAKE YOU 50 YEARS

TO TYPE OUT THE HUMAN GENOME

INSTEAD OF VENOM, BRACONID WASPS INJECT THEIR

VICTIMS WITH A VIRUS THAT SUPPRESSES THE

VICTIM'S IMMUNE SYSTEM AND ALLOWS THE WASP'S

PARASITIC LARVAE TO GROW WITHIN THE VICTIM.

SCIENTISTS FOUND THAT THIS VIRUS IS UNLIKE ANY

OTHER VIRUS ON EARTH. IT IS OVER 100 MILLION

YEARS OLD AND APPARENTLY ASSIMILATED ITSELF

INTO THE VERY DNA OF THE WASP

IF YOU EVER HAVE A BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT,

THE DNA IN YOUR BLOOD CAN INCLUDE THAT OF

YOUR DONOR (WHICH HAS LED TO FALSE ARRESTS

IN THE PAST)

SIBLINGS SHARE 50% OF THEIR GENES, AS DO

PARENTS AND CHILDREN

DNA IS DAMAGED NEARLY 1 MILLION TIMES PER DAY…IN

EVERY SINGLE CELL OF YOUR BODY. FORTUNATELY,

YOUR BODY HAS AN ELABORATE SYSTEM OF REPAIRING

IT. IF IT DIDN'T, THIS WOULD LEAD TO CANCER OR

CELL DEATH

WHEN IT COMES TO INVERTEBRATES, MUD WORMS ARE

OUR CLOSEST RELATIVES (WE HAVE MORE DNA IN

COMMON WITH THEM THAN WE DO WITH

COCKROACHES OR EVEN AN OCTOPUS)

ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS, FOUR FAMILIES IN

ICELAND HAVE DNA ONLY FOUND IN NATIVE AMERICANS.

THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THE VIKINGS

BROUGHT A NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN BACK TO

EUROPE NEARLY 1,000 YEARS AGO

THERE IS A HARD DRIVE ON THE INTERNATIONAL

SPACE STATION CALLED THE "IMMORTALITY DRIVE".

IT CONTAINS THE DNA OF PEOPLE LIKE LANCE

ARMSTRONG AND STEPHEN HAWKING IN CASE OF

A WORLD WIDE CATASTROPHE