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What are the Variables?
The next time you plan to poison those voles digging up your garden, just remember that their families will probably miss them.Recent studies conducted on voles by the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University and the Atlanta-based Center for Behavioral Neuroscience indicate that certain genetic material once thought to be relatively inert actually contributes to how the animals function as parents and in a social group.
The thing is, nobody even knew to look at these things years ago
It's not that we didn't know about the other material -- for years the non-DNA material in the cell was just thought to be junk. Only recently, however, has it dawned on scientist the cruel truth -- they may have been looking in the wrong place all along.
While traditionally we have learned that your DNA "programs" you for whoever you are, now it looks like these other materials may have a larger role. This is still being debated (check out one of the recent Scientific American articles for more information), but the implications could be profound.
To fix something, whether it's a computer, a biological system, or a business program, you've got to know what the important variables are. It makes me wonder: 20 years from now, what's the "new" thing going to be then?
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