Yale+Jeong

** Week 1: Introduction ** Would it be nice if we lost our arm, we can grow it back? Would it be nice if our body possesses an ability to help survive and live in dangerous situation? If yes, you probably love to be in the Marvel Universe or in any fictions. In the past, human ancestors evolved many new traits to survive in their environments. Since we Homo sapiens seem like we are good enough comparing to our ancestors long time a go, that doesn't mean that evolution stops there. There can be ways to promote human evolution whether by transformation, re-coding the DNA, cross-species or more. Those ideas exist in fictions and they have some creative promises for the benefits of humans. ** Re-coding the DNA may enable humans to live longer and stronger ** You are probably wondering, "What does Wolverine has to do with this?". Wolverine is a mutant. Not only he possess strong metal claws, but also he possess a healing factor. Many villains have tried to defeat this beloved mutant but can never kill him. His healing factor is an evolutionary advantage for mutants like him because he will never die, and he can grow very old and still fights like a maniac. Would it be nice if scientists could figure out a way to mimic Wolverine's healing factor to use it to those poor patients who are either amputated, injured, or suffering from STDs or cancer? Probably we would.
 * Re-coding DNA for Human Evolution **


 * How can we make a serum or some sort for a human to live like wolverine?**

1. Wolverine's body never gets weak no matter how old he is. This means he may have telomeres to prevent aging unlike humans. In humans like us, the end of the DNA has no base pairs for the DNA polymerase to attach to. DNA polymerase can only bind new nucleotides in DNA only in a 3'-5' direction. In the lagging strand of the DNA, RNA primase adds RNA nucleotides for DNA to bind to so it can add new DNA nucleotides. If there is no RNA for DNA poly to bind to, then the DNA poly cannot add new nucleotides. Because of this, the end of the DNA deteriorates. Every time DNA replicates, it gets shorter and shorter until it deteriorates the most important part of our genes which causes our body to become weak and frail. We could find a way to obtain those long lasting telomeres and give it to humans so they can live longer.

2. We could re-code the human DNA maybe with the process of transformation to enable the body to self-heal faster. For healing, we need our body cells to rapidly go under mitosis. We could re-code the gene for DNA replication and protein assembly to make it run faster, or get a gene of interest from another animal which I will talk about later. That gene can be put in a plasmid and run some test in bacteria so we can later do human trials f successful. If successful, the plasmid can then be injected into our body cells and we could gain rapid healing abilities in less than 5 seconds.

** We could re-code the human DNA for survival purpos **** e ** This may be a bad example because this Extremis virus was made by an domestic terrorist organization. However, this fictional virus does possess potential for human benefits. This virus in the movie was another attempt in making a super-soldier serum, kinda like the original formula that made Captain America like the bulky, frisbee player we know today. Like Wolverine, the virus enables the user to possess a healing factor, strength, stamina and durability. A pyrotechnic ability was the trait the user use for battle, like breathing fire and melting anything with bare hands without burning your clothes. Although this virus does seem beneficial for humans, the serum is unstable and it could cause the user to explode in 3000 Celsius if the user is unable to regulate his internal body temperature. Science fails 99% anyway, not everything goes the way we want it to be.


 * How does this virus work in the human body?**

According to Aldrich Killian, co-developer for the virus, he said, "Extremis targets the brain in here(what looks like an empty hole), and what that tells us is that our body is meant to evolve." So the virus can re-code the genes for our brain to send out hormones to signal our cells to undergo mitosis faster than before. The virus could even change the muscle and nerve cells to perform out of the g0 phase and undergo mitosis.


 * How can this be a evolutionary advantage for humans?**

Scientist could make a virus much like extremis, except for the fire-ability because there is no scientific explanation for that part. If we could make a virus like extremis, it can enable humans to self-heal himself/herself very easily, and enable humans to have stronger stamina and strength. All these useful traits can save a human life and we could survive even the toughest conditions in the future. Perhaps a 6th mass extinction, who knows? What I know though is those evolved humans could survive like those extremis soldiers, unless they encounter a repulsor blast to the face.

** Cross-Species genetics...Is it possible? ** Going back to the transformation lab, we take the gene of interest, fluorescent green and anti-bacteria resistant gene, and put it in a plasmid. E-coli bacteria takes this plasmid and uses this plasmid for beneficial purposes. We could do the same thing for humans. If you have seen The Amazing Spider-Man, you will remember that the cross-species genetics was mentioned and was very crucial to the story. Cross-species genetics is the study when an trait from an animal can be passed to another. In the movie, Dr. Curt Connors wanted to make a serum using lizard DNA to regrow his arm. He does regrow his arm but ended up turning into a monstrous human lizard, that lizard part is u nnecessary to explain but what is important is that Dr. Connors grew his arm back using reptilian DNA. One animal in particular is being studied right now by researchers, probably trying to use cross-species genetics. The zebra fish is a tropical minnow fish that is an important vertebrate organism in scientific research. Why is that so? Because it is notable for having regenerative abilities. If we manage to obtain the gene of interest in a zebrafish and give it to a woman with cancer, she could potentially heal herself and survive.

Science wants to find way to help people to cure cancer, replace lost limbs, and etc. to benefit our lives. Something fictional like re-coding DNA, mutants, super-soldier virus, and cross-species can lead a long way to benefit us.

** Week 2: Flaws ** Science fails 99% of times. something complicating as re-coding the human genome is not surprising to encounter failures.

For making a healing factor like Wolverine's it could lead to dangerous consequences when it comes to curing cancer. ** Do you know this guy? ** You don't? He's a iconic character in comic book history! Anyway his name is Wade Wilson aka Deadpool. This guy is a perfect example when it comes to science failures. First, a little backstory. Wilson was a military soldier who was then kicked out because of his bad behavior. Wilson later knew that he was diagnosed with cancer and the Weapon X program offered him a cure. The cure was made by the scientists who managed to harvest wolverine's healing. Wilson then became an artificial created mutant, with a healing factor more powerful than Wolverine's. He is able to regrow limbs, tissues, and even survive being decapitated. However, the healing factor super-charged his cancer, leaving his whole body skin to form a massive scar tissue. This is why he wears his mask mostly 24/7. His cancer also affect his brain; this is why Deadpool have a very unusual, crazy, rated-R behavior in comics. So does it make sense? In order to make a serum of some sort for rapid healing, the cells must go under mitosis very quickly. Cancer are cells undergoing mitosis non-stop. If the cancer cells are affected by the healing serum, it would cause those cancer cells to grow rapidly and never stop, either killing the user or maybe survive but end up looking like a monster like Deadpool for the rest of his/her life. Would making artificial mutants work? Probably not, unless we can find a way to stop cancer from being affected by the serum. M**aking some sort of super-soldier formula could not only result in a science problems but also in a political.** Who knows if the user could go mad? With all the healing, strength, and durability, at least one human being could be irresponsible with the gift. Maybe there will be a government take-down with those super-enhanced humans like what Killian planned in Iron Man 3. Also, what would happen if our version of extremis falls into the hands of our enemy? This will be like the nuclear-war rivalry all over again. Countries will invest so much money in making this virus that could re-code human DNA to make then powerful and it could result in devastating casualties for both sides. **In science, the virus idea may fail because of two reasons** 1. This is the same as the Deadpool situation. Any disease supercharged by the re-coding sequence may result in killing lives rather than saving lives 2. What if our body accidentally makes a mistake while healing? If I was playing with hawkeye's bow and arrow and somehow took an arrow to the knee, would my body accidentally regenerate nerve cells on my wound instead of skin cells? If I cut my arm, would I grow a leg instead of a arm? The body has to be quick to respond to a severe situation to make sure the user does not bleed to death while a new limb is growing. It could be possible to accidentally grow something else. **Cross species genetics using animals could not only result in failures, but it could cause a speciation in the human race.** If we use animal genes to improve our DNA, would it cause us to express animal traits just like Lizard or Green Goblin in the new spider-man movie? There will probably be consequences if out race were able to make the cross-species serum and end up turning into monsters. What I want from the human race is not to be speciated or separated from each other. What I want is for all humans to evolve together and not have anybody left behind if a sixth mass extinction strikes or etc. However, if we do end up separated from humans with mutant abilities because of the serum to humans who had not taken the serum, there may not be a speciation in the human race.

One important reason why; if the evolved mutants are able to mate with humans, then there is no speciation and we do not need to modify the cladograms.

** Week 3: Solutions ** So we know the problems we will face when we start trying to re-code the human DNA. We need to think of some solutions to counter-attack those problems For using the process of transformation with a plasmid with a gene of interest, we need to find a cure for cancer so we can harness that into DNA. Some types of cancer can be cured. Like, Testicular cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and many cases of leukaemia can be cured with special treatments, mostly radiation therapy and chemotherapy. If we can use the therapy to make a gene tat can perform the same activity, we are closer to develop mutants with transformation. For our extremis virus, we can do the same thing but instead of using transformation to do the work for us, we can create a retrovirus so the gene for healing abilities, muscular strength and stamina will stay inside the host forever. We can use many different types of animal genes that can help us to re-code the Human DNA for rapid healing. This guy here is the Axolotl Salamander. I'm pretty sure you have seen him before. What is interesting about him is not because of his awesome head but his healing factor. This animal is the Deadpool in the animal kingdom. Unlike other regenerative animals, this salamander can regrow limbs in a matter of weeks. Wolverine cannot do that but Deadpool can, that is why in the comics Deadpool can even survive decapitation. What is also interesting is that the stem cells use for the salamander's regenerative abilities are not embryonic stem cells but adult stem cells. Our stem cells are in the bone marrow, making red blood cells, our immune cells but not nerve cells, muscle cells, and etc, when we turn into adults. This salamander have stem cells that can regrow parts of the body in weeks, something we humans cannot do. If we can harness the gene and use it for cross-species genetics, we may have humans who can successfully cure all types of diseases and wounds in seconds. As long as cross-species genetics do not interfere with human sexual pressure, the human species will not be speciated and all will survive incase of some disaster.