A curious word ‘meiosis’, and I wonder just when it
was appropriated by scientists for use in that connection. My Oxford
dictionary gives only the rhetorical meaning ie a verbal understatement for
effect, as in ‘250 species of birds would be a fair number to see in the
ACT in one year’. My Macquarie gives the scientific meaning first
but then, as a secondary meaning, ‘litotes’, that being a
subspecies of meiosis using the negative, as in ‘210 species of birds
wouldn’t be a bad total to have recorded in the ACT in the 9 months
to the end of September’. Mind you, most contributions to this
chatline tend to the non-meiotic.
I wonder whether the scientists liked the sound of the word and borrowed
it from the rhetoricians or adopted it directly from the Greek for ‘lessening’
or ‘diminution’. If American, they would surely have gone for
‘downsizing’. I would have loved to hear: ‘With
that new manager there’s going to a bit of meiosis around here over the
next few months’. Inevitably the media will get in on
it: ‘Rudd to go semi-meiotic with Aussie troops in Iraq’.
From: Philip Veerman
[
Sent: Friday, 5 October 2007 10:09 PM
To: Peter Milburn;
Subject: [canberrabirds] Woodswallow DNA similarity
Good
point and there is a lot of similarity between the DNA of people (or any
mammal) and gum trees or grass or fungi etc too. I vaguely remember
something about 20 to 30%. Not surprisingly, as the processes of many
biological functions, such as the running of our genetic systems (meiosis &
mitosis etc) and many very basic biochemical processes are still similar and
common to all multicellular life. But that is getting a bit off the topic of
Canberra birds.
Geoffrey recalled Leo Joseph's presentation in which he
showed that on DNA analysis the two species [White-browed and Masked
Woodswallow] were almost identical, the difference being the gene (or whatever)
that is responsible for the plumage differences.
To put this similarity in context I would like to add that
the human genome is 99% identical to that of the chimpanzee and
bonobo. I will leave it to others to ponder what the differences might
be..........
--
Dr P.J. Milburn
Technical Specialist
ANU ACRF Biomolecular Resource Facility
John Curtin School of Medical Research
Australian National University
GPO Box 334
Canberra ACT 0200
'Phone +61 2 6125 4326
FAX +61 2 6125 9533
