Links of the day

Links of the day

1. Somatic mutations make twins’ brain less similar. A new study indicates that one of the reasons that even identical twins differ in their development and how they turn out is maybe because of post-conception mutations in their somatic cells. Random mutations happen when your cells divide. A study comparing mutations in identical twins found about 1,000 point mutations (a change in one letter of the DNA code) in one twin not present in the other and two to three copy number variants (mutations that delete or duplicate larger chunks of the chromosome) present only in one twin. Anytime a cell acquires a mutation, all of its daughter cells will then have the same mutation. This could explain why diseases which are highly heritable, such as schizophrenia, do not always manifest in both twins — the explanation could be that one twin acquired a mutation for schizophrenia after conception.

2. RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000. In case you didn’t already know, the music industry is run by immoral thiefs who get rich by exploiting artists.

3. The Backfire Effect. When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.

4. The first non-human meat farmers. Preliminary observations may indicate the first discovery of a non-human animal that has domesticated another species, herds that animal, and uses it for meat!

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