The famous philanthropist Oprah has advised thousands of women across the globe on how to find ' the one '. But Oprah never mentioned the good genes hypothesis. The good genes hypothesis was originally proposed in the 1980s and propagates the idea that observed mates are selected by their ability to pass on genes that increase reproductive success. How might it work? An organisms phenotype is determined by its genotype. Meaning your body observable properties (organs, tissues and cells) are determined by their genes. Therefore if your face is asymmetrical then more mutations have arisen, making you a sub-optional candidate compared to a more symmetrical competitor, who is less prone to mutations. Many psychology studies have shown that greater symmetry has a relationship with attractiveness. Is the good genes theory well supported or true? Whilst it is an appealing hypothesis, a recent study with almost 5000 participants with varying degrees of facial symmetry fou...
The sun emits ultraviolet light radiation which is the component of sunlight that is able to damage skin. Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between 10 to 400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light but longer than X-rays. To put nanometers into perspective - A human hair is around 75,000 nanometers in diameter. There are sub-types of UV which define the wavelength size: Ultraviolet A - UVA - 400–315 nanometers Ultraviolet B - UVB - 315–280 nanometers Ultraviolet C - UVC - 280–100 nanometers Interestingly UVB is essential to synthesize Vitamin D. UV light is able to damage DNA. This results with humans cells (typically skin cells) to attempt to repair themselves. As a result sometimes genetic mutations arise - some of which give the cell the ability to divide more frequently (cancer). The process of UV damage is shown in the image below. Although advertises I'm sure would love you to believe that Vitamin D should always be gained from th...
Viroids have 'no protein coating' as opposed to 'protein coating'. A protein coating would make it a virus, however we are talking about a Viroid and therefore it is single stranded RNA with no protein coating. As far as we know, DNA Viroids do not exist. But this is an advancing field of research and it depends on what you mean by DNA. The general different types of genetic material include - but are not limited to: Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), Single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). There is more information on Classes I and II DNA viruses here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21523/ If there were no DNA viruses without a protein coating - what is the reason? Viroids only infect plant cells. It may be that Viroids route of entry via microscopic junctions between plant cells (Plasmodesmata) are only large enough to fit single stranded genetic material.
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