In my last blog post, 8 Inverted Isn’t 8, I looked at a gene abnormality in my family. In my family’s case the change of the chromosome could cause multiple defects throughout the body. It got me thinking about how our genes “make us who we are.” On top of that I watch too many crime shows (if you’re wondering, I like Criminal Minds). If you combine those two you have the following question: is killing genetic?

How can you tell a murderer from a normal person?

Many people have tried to deduce what traits killers share to try and get it down to a science.

A very famous Italian, Cesare Lombroso, also know as the father of modern criminology tried to deduce what makes a killer. Most of his theories shine in his works Criminal Man and Criminal Woman, the Prostitute and Normal Women. He believed that criminals were born to be just that. He would sit down and study hundreds of faces and characteristics of criminals to find connections. This is the guy who thought that criminals had big ears and hairy arms. Source. He is also the man who said killers were left handed and used the word ‘idiot.’ Source. Unfortunately most of his work has been discredited; however, he started the conversation about predispositions for killing.

What about your genes or biological factors?

In 1968 there was a spike of research about extra sex chromosomes. It was shown that 3% men in prison has an extra Y chromosome. Many people then believed that men who were XYY were more likely to kill. This was discredited due to the small percent of men it effected in prison. Source.

A new type of gene based criminology is springing up called neurocriminology. Adrian Raine, a professor at University of Pennsylvania, is leading the way with his work with criminals. He took brain scans of 42 of murders and compared them. He noticed a great number of criminals has a reduced prefrontal cortex. This is caused by abuse, lead exposure, alcoholic pregnancy, head trauma when the person is young that caused damage to it. Raine believes that killers are created through ½ genetics and ½ environmental factors. Source.

However, not all killers he studied had reduced prefrontal cortex activity. Some had a small amygdala, the part of the brain that is our remorse and conscience. Men with a reduced amygdala are 33.3% more likely to perform acts of violence. Source.

A study conducted by scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed with Raine’s results; except, this study linked psychopathy to a reduced amygdala. Source.

“Isn’t psychopathy a mental illness?”

Psychopathy is defined as “a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.” Source. Famous serial killer Ted Bundy suffered from psychopathy. Source. Yes it is a mental illness, but if you a smart person you can rationalize that a person who can’t feel remorse will have a smaller amygdala (part that feels remorse) which can be genetic.

The last bit of study to be shown involves the MAOA enzyme. One study conducted in 1993 Netherlands by Han Brunner, followed several men in a single family known for antisocial and aggressive behavior. Source.

It turns out the family was lacking what is called the “warrior gene” which is the gene that tells the body how much MAOA (regulator of neurotransmitted impulses) to make. Basically, with this gene men are more prone to violence if it is activated. As it turns out 30% of men have the warrior gene. Source.

Professor Jim Fallon (his TedTalk on this subject is linked to his name) elaborated on the studies findings “If you’ve the high-risk form of the gene and you were abused early on in life, your chances of a life of crime are much higher. If you have the high-risk gene but you weren’t abused, then there really wasn’t much risk. So just a gene by itself, the variant doesn’t really dramatically affect behaviour, but under certain environmental conditions there is a big difference.” Source.

So is this genetic?

I want to say yes but it isn’t 100% genetic. A lot of external factors, such as environment, play a huge role in your predisposition to violence.

One thing I’m curious about is whether or not there is a difference in the murderers with low activity in their prefrontal cortex versus killers with a small amygdala?

We won’t really know until more studies are done.

I’m talking chromosomes. As we all learned in middle/high school you are born with 46 chromosomes (23 from mom and 23 from dad). Those chromosomes make up who you are and what you’ll be. If you’re unlucky you’ll gain a chromosome that is a defect.

My dad and my sister both have inverted 8 chromosomes. That means their 8th chromosome is flipped in sequencing. I never really knew what that meant for them so this blog is going to explore the inverted 8 chromosome defect.

Through prenatal genetic testing, the doctors caught my sister’s abnormality and tested my parents for it. My dad carried the gene with him. At the time the doctors weren’t sure what exactly this meant because genetics hadn’t really dealt with it yet. When I kid I rationalized it as, the number 8 can be flipped upside down and look the same, so it is the same with a chromosome. It’s not. If you talked to or looked at my dad or sister you would think they were like everyone else. I thought the gene didn’t matter because I never saw a difference in them.

Remember in class how we talked about the women who smoked like a chimney and lived to 103, it was an anecdote unable to reject the null hypothesis. In this case the null hypothesis is that an inverted 8th chromosome does not affect a person, and my family’s anecdote can’t reject that. They are the exception.

What does the 8th chromosome do?

The 8th chromosome contains 146 million building blocks of your DNA. That number sounds astronomical, but compared to the rest of your DNA it only makes up about 5% of you. The 8th chromosome holds an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 genes; 700, of which, are suspected to be essential in making proteins for your body. Source. If you want to know some genes definitely related to the 8th chromosome click here.

The 8th chromosome is used to make many important mechanisms in the body. It forms a protein found in your neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, or the part of your body that sends chemical signals between nerves. Source. It also forms a part of the cone photoreceptor cyclic nucleotide-gated channel, which allows you to detect light. Source. It also makes proteins that hold blood cells together and are found in the brain and muscles. Source.

What does inversion mean and why does it happen?

Inversion doesn’t mean the whole thing is flipped upside down. It means that part of the chromosome was detached, flipped, then reinserted into the chromosome. Source.

Then there are a few ways that it can happen. You obviously have the parents being able to pass on a gene/chromosome directly; this is called translocation. Also, it is possible that a person could just so happen to be born with a genetic abnormality which can be influenced by mitosis, meiosis, maternal age and environmental surroundings. Source.

What does an inverted 8 do?

As is, the 8th chromosome is linked to some really nasty diseases and cancers with other abnormalities. The inverted 8 sufferers face many symptoms including: “severe intellectual disability, a thin or absent corpus callosum, weak muscle tone (hypotonia), abnormal curvature of the spine (scoliosis), and minor facial abnormalities. Some individuals with this condition may also have heart defects, underdeveloped kidneys, or eye abnormalities. Older individuals usually develop abnormal muscle stiffness (spasticity).” Source.

My sister suffers from scoliosis. My dad has spasticity in his right arm. Could it be linked or just coincidence?  

Not all people with the inverted 8 experience the same symptoms. It depends where on the chromosome and how much of it was inverted. People with the inverted 8p21 region on the chromosome are suspected to have more issues. Source.

In a recent study done by geneticists at the Università di Pavia, Italy, was done regarding the inverted duplication of chromosome 8 on the short arm. They look at regions 8p12 through 8p22. People with a change in the 8p21.1 area of the chromosome had an increase in GSR that resulted in “neonatal hypotonia, prominent forehead, large mouth with everted lower lip, abnormally shaped large ears, brain malformations and severe mental retardation.” Source.

What can we conclude?

We can conclude that my dad and sister most likely do not have an inversion of 8p21 which lowers their risk at major issues. However, looking at their scoliosis and spasticity, I believe those could be a connection to this chromosome. I would say my dad’s heart issues could be considered a symptom too, but that is nulled by his smoking habits that the doctors have diagnosed them as. I wonder if it’s possible that the chromosome makes it easier for him to have these problems from smoking.

I hope you learned something new from this, because it was an eye opener for me about my family.

You go out to get some food with your friends. Your best friend orders a basket of fries. They come out and they’re hot and greasy and basically perfect. She says you can have one and you do, but you can’t stop at just that one fry. You feel a need to keep eating more fries. Same thing happens with chips, pretzels, pizza, tater tots, M&Ms, basically any food that you like; one is just never enough.

Why?

Well neuroscientist Krzysztof Czaja, a professor at University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, did a study that showed it was because of the vagus nerve and bacteria in the gut.

He conducted the experiment on 50 rats. He then divided the rats into 2 groups. The first group received a balanced diet while the other received a diet with higher fat content. The mice were given an unlimited amount of food; meaning food was always readily available to them when they chose to eat.  He then followed the mice for 2 months so see the results. Source.

At the end of the experiment, he found that mice with the higher fat diet were 25% heavier than their counterparts. Czaja also noticed that the microbiome in the gut changed; this allowed some bacterias to grow while others diminished. This microbiome shift lead to damage to the vagus nerve, which is the mechanism that tells our bodies when to stop eating. Source.

Basically, fatty foods confuse your body as to when you’re full.

But wait, there’s more!

On the other hand, Tobias Hoch of Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg believes this conundrum is a correlation with hedonic hyperphagia (eating for pleasure).

He performed the study on 18 rats that were provided with standard pellets (food) and water at all times. He then had the rats receive 2 food options 3 times a day everyday. The food options are seen in the pie graphs. The results for food intake, energy and activity are shown in the bar graph. Source.

The results were, in plain english, when given a choice the rats chose the least health food option (potato chips), ate more of it and had more energy. Source

So do I eat more French Fries because of my vagus nerve or because of hedonic hyperphagia?

Honestly, we don’t know yet.

It is possible it is a combination of the 2; however there is not enough rejection of these hypotheses to give a singular answer. It’s possible that one of the studies could have gotten a false positive.

It seems that Czaja’s study seems more accurate, since he used a larger testing pool. Also he set the time period of the study for longer. His has a clear mechanism, while Hoch’s is more psychologically based and could be biased on preferences.

Until we know more, I guess you’ll just have to enjoy some more french fries

“What? Are you crazy? There’s two sides to a coin so you have 50/50 chance of it ending on either heads or tails.”

Yeah, yeah, okay cool it. I know we all grew up learning that if you flip a coin then you have an even chance of it landing on either side. So it’s kind of odd to think that isn’t totally true.

What do you mean?

Persi Diaconis, a math and statistics professor at Stanford, decided to put the idea of coin tosses to a test in his paper Dynamical Bias in the Coin Toss. The experiment was done using a mechanical spring that tossed the coins evenly in the air each time. Funny thing is with this machine they were able to make heads come up 100% of the time if the coin started on heads. Source.

Of course, no person can flip a coin perfectly so they came up with some pretty math-y looking theorems. Source.

They then put it to the test, they had the mechanism act more like a real flip. It didn’t come out 50/50 but it was close. It 51/49 with the higher probability going to the side of the coin that started up. Source.

That’s it? 51/49? That’s nothing!

I’m not done. There was another part of the test where coins were spun to see if it made a difference. Turns out it did, especially with pennies. If a penny is spun it is an 80% chance that the penny will land tails up. It’s because Lincoln’s head is heavier than the monument on the back. Source.

So what does spinning coins do with flipping coins?

Well the study didn’t look at the 3rd confounding variable.

Yes, if I flip a penny I have 51/49 chance of it ending up either way depending what side I started up. If I spin that same penny I have an 80% chance of it landing tails. What happens if I flip the penny and it spins on the ground before stopping?

I’d do that math but I’m not too great at it.

I hope you enjoyed this post and remember this when making a bet with a coin flip.

Now before you start on your internal racism rant, there are some studies behind this. So chill.

Why are we all here at Penn State? We want a degree to get a career, hopefully, one day. When you apply for a job you send in your pretty printed resume telling the company who you are and what you can do. But is the name at the top of that resume going to get or deny you a job?

A study done by The National Bureau of Economic Research says it does.  They conducted a large study where they responded to 1300 ads in the newspaper for similar jobs ranging from cashier to sales manager. They sent about a total of 5000 resumes; they sent in 4 resumes for each jobs. 2 of the resumes were higher quality and 2 were lower. From each quality, the resumes were the same, except they randomly assigned one white sounding name and one black sounding name in each category. Source.

The results were pretty racist, not going to lie. It took the white names on average 10 resumes sent before a call came. Meanwhile it took, African-American names around 15 tries.  The white names got 50% more calls. When looking at just the higher quality applications, the white names only go 30% more calls. Source.

ABC News conducted a smaller version of the study. They had six participants post 2 copies of their resumes on a popular job search site. One copy would have their actual ethnic sounding name while the second one would have a more white sounding name. Source.

Again some disappointing results. The white name resumes got downloaded on average 17% more. Also, most of the racist responses seemed to come from larger companies.

Why is this?

So we did the experiments and they seem pretty thorough to me.

What we don’t know is the mechanism that cause that. It is illegal for them to actually discriminate so we can rule out them doing it on purpose. I believe it is possible for it to be subconscious. As if we take stereotypes and connect them with less white names.

A Fortune 500 company recruiter said “It’s a choice [I] was trained to make: When representing certain companies, do not send black candidates. And on a résumé, a name may be the only cue of the applicant’s race.” Source.

It also might be that people are more comfortable with those of their own race. So if a higher percent of people are hiring are white they might feel more comfortable with other white people, as horrible as that sounds. Source.

So if I want a job I need to change my name?

No, I’m not saying change your name. Just know that your name could be keeping you from getting the most employment opportunities possible. If you’re genuinely concerned, the best thing you can do is try to get them so see past just a resume and meet with them. Also, if you can find a way to use your name to make you more memorable, you are more likely to be hired. Source.

Here’s an anecdote from a man who experienced this.

That’s all for now! Happy job hunting!

The 3rd Bascilica

I was lucky enough to Europe two summers ago. During that time we stopped in Lourdes, France. For those of you that don’t know, Lourdes is the birth place of St. Bernadette, home to the Grotto, the three basilicas and one of the most religious cities in the world. So it was pretty rad, not going to lie. While I was there we participated in a candle lit precession at the 3^rd basilica. We watched as thousands marched toward the towers and prayed and sang. It was breath taking. And horrible.

Horrible because of the hundreds of elderly, weak and paralyzed people, praying that God would help them. All I could think is how sadly beautiful it was. They believed so wholeheartedly that is precession, this holy water would cure them. Save them. While we were on tour the tour guide said there were 50 reported medical miracles because of the water from the Grotto (of course, I have to grab some for myself).

In class the other day we asked if prayer lowered mortality, fevers and hospital stays. So now I ask…

What about Holy Water?

Believe it or not, there is literally no studies done with holy water curing people. I looked in most major medical journals including BMJ, AMJ, NEJM, and many more.

WHAT?!?! Why is no one studying this??

I find it odd too. Well look at the facts. Millions of people use holy water every year. Yet there’s, as for mentioned, only 50 recorded cases of curing/miracles that we know of. Source. The only information we really have are the anecdotes of the people who were cured. Which you can’t use as scientific proof.

How could we even test that?

I’d suggest a double blind randomized control study. I would focus it on a more terminal or long lasting illness because that is what it is associated with. I’m going to suggest HIV.

So you’d a large random sample of HIV patients and divide them into four groups. Four comes from the following groups: bathing in holy water, bathing in placebo, drinking holy water, and placebo. Bathing and drinking are the most common forms of usage for holy water. Source.

Group A will receive holy water baths, while group B will receive baths in the placebo. Group C with get holy water to drink, group D will drink a placebo.

Until it is tested there is now way to know if holy water affects healing or curing process

Thanks for reading!! I hope you enjoyed the post and my pictures from the trip!

To survive we need Oxygen; however, could this super duper awesome chemical slowly be killing us from the inside?

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WHAT?!?!?!

Calm down. Let me explain.

The air we breath is made up of about 78% Nitrogen and 20.9% Oxygen. The last 1.1% is basically Argon, with a bit of Helium, Neon, and Carbon Dioxide. Ideally humans should only breathe air with 19.5% to 23.5% Oxygen content. Source.

If you breath air below the safe zone you will become mentally impaired for the time, you become physically exhausted and can lose consciousness. Air with 6% of oxygen or less you will die. Source. On the other hand, if you breathe air above the safe zone you are at risk of oxidized free radicals to attack your cells and tissues that appear as muscle twitches. If you experience long exposure, it can lead to death. Source.

Basically, earth is the perfect of balance of oxygen for humans to thrive. Cool.

So how is breathing going to kill me?

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If you look back, I talked about these free radicals that attack your insides.  Dr. Russell Blaylock says,  “about 95 percent of the oxygen that enters our cells goes to the mitochondria…but 3-5 percent of this oxygen escapes in the form of free radicals.” Source.

Free radicals are known to burn through DNA which can result in cancer. It hurts enzymes which are supposed to protect DNA from oxidization, but if they are oxidized it leaves the DNA unprotected. Free radicals can burn through cell membranes, called lipid peroxidation, which is linked to over 200 diseases (i.e. heart disease, Alzheimer’s, ALS, Parkinson’s, cancer,  etc.). Source It’s also suggested that these free radicals can cause aging, pain and death. Source.

I’m going to die because I breathe.

Again, calm down.

There are studies by Free Radical Theorists being done to see if using dietary and supplements can strengthen the body against these radicals. It’s believed that if we can stop these radicals, we can reduce some significant disease and possibly slow or stop aging. Source.

Oxygen can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

Check this cool, video for a fun in depth look at oxygen and its effects on the body!

When you’re in a relationship it’s all hearts and stars and rainbows. Eventually, that fades and your left with someone you love, but they can stress you out. Especially if you guys are long distance (aka me). People only ever talk about the happy effects of relationships; I was wondering if being in a relationship stresses people out.

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According to the Huffington Post, there are 2 significant points in a relationship that cause massive amounts of stress: 1) falling in love, 2) being engaged. Don’t those 2 sound like they should be the some of the best and happiest moments? That’s just what you thought.

Falling in Love

Early stages of falling in love is a wild time; there is intimacy with a new significant other. This intimacy leads to anxiety, fear, hormone and mood fluctuations. All of these together can put a lot of stress on a person. Source.

When you fall in love all at once your hormones make you feel euphoric, endangered, and exhausted. Let’s talk about those last two. You feel endangered because you have to push some parts of your life aside to make room for this new relationship. One of the scariest things we have to do is let down our guard an let them in. These cause anxieties and stress about whether we are wasting our time on the right person or are scared to risk trusting someone. Source.

As for exhausted, you’re exhausted because you wrap yourself up in the other person. Many people are excited to be out of the “honeymoon” phase so they can take some time to relax. That’s why some people try to rush into a relationship so it can be less stressful.  Source.

Put a Ring on it

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Being engaged sounds terrible. You are planning not just a wedding, but also a life together with someone else. Let’s not mention the whole “till death do us part,” thing. It seems a little intense for such a happy day.

Planning a wedding is insane. You need to call the caterer, the hall, a church, invitations, band or dj, and the list goes on forever. In 2010, a survey was done by The Knot about “Real Wedding.” It was reported that 50% of 19,000 brides were more stressed than they expected. Some reported spending 11 hours a week on wedding planning up to three months beforehand. Source. That is literally enough to drive me crazy just thinking about it.

Ah, “cold feet.” You leave someone at the alter because promising them forever is scaring you.  It happens to the best of us. President of Australian Association of Marriage Councilors says, “There’s so much social pressure [if you’re engaged] […] once they’ve declared they’re going to get married and made the very public acknowledgement of that intention… there’s pressure and build up.” Source. The whole waiting on average 14 months to get married can lead to a lot of pressure. You’re committing a life with someone.  Your anxiety goes into overdrive rethinking your decision.

Do relationships cause stress?

There is a definite correlations between relationships and stress, especially at the beginning and in the engagement. Could it be reversed that people who are easily stressed get into more relationships? Or a 3^rd variable. Maybe. But just going off of observation, it appears relationships cause stress.

I’m not saying don’t date that cute guy from Anatomy class. Just know if you have a large work load and have stress enough as is, do you really need a relationship in your life too?

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That’s all for now!

I don’t have a Netflix addiction; I just spend a lot of time avoiding homework (like these blog posts) on it. Currently I’m in the middle of Grey’s Anatomy. Season 6, Episode 4, so if you’re going to comment please no spoilers!

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In episode 24 of season 5, you witness Dr. Dixon go through a panic attack.  To calm her down she has Dr. Yang and Dr. Bailey hug her tightly. She explains that it decreases heart rate, metabolic functions and muscle tone. Basically, it calms her down. Source.

Hugs and Hormones

When you hug someone your body releases oxytocin (also known as the “cuddle hormone”). It’s the warm and fuzzies you experience during your embrace. Source. Oxytocin is known to lower stress hormones, reduces blood pressure, increase in pain tolerance and quickens the healing process. Source. Hugs also stimulate the release of dopamine, which an endorphin linked to happiness. You also feel a rush of serotonin, which is linked with feelings of importance. Source.

Reduced blood pressure heart rate

Just by touching someone, your Pacinian corpuscles (pressure receptors) are turned on. These receptors send a signal to your vegus nerve, which then send the signal to lower your blood pressure. Source. As for your heart rate, the University of North Carolina conducted an experiment. The results show that people who didn’t have contact with their partners had a faster heart rate (10 beats per minutes) compared to those who did (5 beats per minute). Source.

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Psychological Benefits

Physical affection helps alleviate stress and anxiety, even if only for a brief moment. Source. As mentioned before, hugs release oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin. These 3 are endorphins that lead to happiness and feelings of security and trust. Source. There is also a correlation between hugging and less worry over existential crises. In this case, hugging, not even a person necessarily (like a teddy bear), can alleviated fear. Source. Researcher Sander Kool says, “interpersonal touch is such a powerful mechanism that even objects that simulate touch by another person may help to instill in people a sense of existential significance.” Source.

So…?

So, what you need to do is go out and hug someone. Preferably someone you know, because according the University of Vienna, hugging someone out of politeness if you don’t know them that well can have the opposite effect. Source

Now here’s the catch: if you want it to be a good hug you have to do it for 20 seconds. Source.

That’s all for now. So go have fun and hug someone.

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“Choices from whom you date, marry and mate to how much money, friends and happiness you acquire often swivel on life-altering decisions made within fractions of a second,” says Dr. Steven Dayan. Source.

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You know when you meet someone and you just know. They’re perfect. You guys have chemistry. It’s a natural attraction between two people. But why? Why do we find these people attractive and appealing? There are many scientific answers as to what causes us to have this attraction. Chemistry is all about the 5 main senses.

Sight or Flight

When you first see someone you look for your preferences, which can vary as to your background. You look for indicators as to their reproductive benefits. Source.

Women with a more feminine face (i.e. thinner eyebrows, a softer jaw line, etc) are ones that received the most sex hormones during puberty; the same is true for men and testosterone. Society’s consensus is that these faces are the most appealing, and it’s because we believe if we reproduce with them, our children will be better off. Source.

Once you’ve spotted someone appealing, you move closer so your other senses can get a turn.

Love at first smell

No, I’m not talking about that guy in your Italian class whose cologne is to die for. Your nose smells a lot more than that. It’s called pheromones. Pheromones are what tells us certain physiological characteristics and even can cause by the person smelling them. Source.

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According to research, women who are ovulating produce more copulins, aka a man attracting scent. Now the really cool thing is if a guy smells these pheromones, he’ll give off androstenone, which repels non-ovulating women. Source.

Dr. Laura Berman says, “”There is a difference between love and chemistry. Take a really good whiff of him without cologne when he’s relatively clean. If that smell turns you on, that’s a really good cue of chemistry.” Source.

Music to my ears

Little did you know, you’re attraction to someone can also be based on your voice.

Dr. David Feinberg ran some experiments using prerecorded men and women’s voices, and showed the recordings to an audience to see if voices could be used to determine attractiveness. Men usually selected a higher pitch breathier female voice, saying it was “sexier,” “younger,” and “more feminine.” Women tend to prefer a lower pitch voice saying it was “stronger,” “bigger,” and “more masculine.” Your voice pitch depends on how many sex hormones you received during puberty. Source.

Hugs…

“Touch is crucial for romance.” Touch can change a person’s opinion on any subject. People who receive a warm touch are more likely to see the world as positive and happy. While people who endure little or a cold touch seem to be more negative and close minded. Source.

… and kisses

Ah kisses. That moment when your lips touch and you make your final decision to date or dump.

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Let’s say the first kiss is perfect, and you are happy. Your body floods with norepinephrine. Norepinephrine causes your pulse to increase, pupils to dilate, glucose is released (for energy). It also causes tunnel vision, losing track of time and increased memory. Thus why, people usually remember their first kiss. Source.

Let’s say the first kiss was a flop. 66% of women will dump a guy if the first kiss was unimpressive. Source. It’s the one time all of your senses are fully engaged on the one person, it the kiss that cements your attraction.

I know it’s sad to think that all of our attraction is so chemical based, but now that you know you can fully enjoy knowing that your whole body is working together to find your perfect match.

Check our this Ted ED video for more info!

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Sounds crazy right? Yes I understand how baby is made, but science is changing the game.

How does it work?

With recent discoveries, it is now possible for 2 women or 2 men to have a child without a person of the opposite sex. Source. This happens by one parent donating bone marrow that is turned into artificial sperm. Source.  The other parent donates an egg that is later inserted into a womb and grown into a child. “Any babies born from the process would be female and genetically identical to their mother.” Source.

What would happen if we had a women donate her own bone marrow and egg?

The idea that women could have a child without anyone else. So, I pose the question, how would this affect the child, if successful? Obviously there are no previous cases so, it’s all speculations and drawing parallels.

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The closest thing we have to this is if a brother and a sister had a child. Siblings (excluding twins) on average share half of their DNA. Source. Since that happens it is possible that they are carriers of a recessive gene. If two carriers, in this case the siblings, get together, it is possiblethat they give the child their two recessive carrying genes causing the child to be diseased. Source. Geneticist, Colleen Brady, has a very well explained example of this:

“Say their dad {…} is a carrier for a harmful disease such as cystic fibrosis (CF). So dad has one broken copy of CFTR, the CF gene. This means that the brother and sister have a 25% chance of both also being carriers.

If the brother and sister are both carriers and have a child together, then each of their children would have a 1 in 4 chance of ending up with CF by getting a disease copy of CFTR from each parent. So the odds of this brother and sister having a child with the disease is (1/4)(1/4) or 1 in 16.

Now imagine that dad is a carrier but that his kids go on to have children with unrelated people. What are the odds that these grandkids will have CF? Around 1 in 240.” Source.

So we understand that if the gamete donors (siblings) share half of their genetics then the child will likely be impaired. That’s not the case though. If a woman donated both parts, the genetic DNA would be exactly the same. I believe there are 2 possibilities: 1. the child comes out majorly impaired, 2. the child is an exact duplicate of the mother (kind of like a clone).

How can we know?

Currently there are no studies on if having a child without another person is possible. If they were to conduct an experiment I believe they should begin on animals. I believe they should begin with mice as they did in past experience using 2 subjects to donate their gametes. After the mice are born they should be tested to see if they could function as normal; also, look for any abnormalities or disabilities.

Should that go well I believe, instead of jumping right to humans we should try it on apes. Why? As most of us learned in high school biology, the egg cell has 23 chromosomes and the sperm cells have 23 chromosomes. Math tells us that 23+23=46 chromosomes in a zygote. While mice’s chromosome number (forty) is close to that of humans, apes have 42 chromosomes in a zygote and are also more genetically similar to humans. Source.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P5aWR2M7dAg/maxresdefault.jpg

I’d suggest a chimpanzee because they are the most like humans; 98.2% of their DNA is shared between chimps and humans. Source. After birth you’d have to study the animal for any diseases or mental defects. Should all be successful after multiple trials, I believe it would be time to test it on a human subject.

Until then, we need two parents to have a child.

**Any medical terms, undefined in the post are linked to a website with the official definition**

Hi, I’m Cali Wojciechowski. I’m a freshman here and I’m majoring in Public Relations

1. I am taking this course because I was required a science gen ed and all the other ones seemed horrid (that and they said I couldn’t take chem)

2. I’m not a science major because, as much as I may like it, I love communications more.

for a link check out this fun Buzzfeed video that also has some science