Gar are Ancient, and Slow to Change

[FishnDave]

What gar have done for millions of years could help us strengthen/repair human DNA.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/meet-the-new-king-of-the-living-fossils/ar-BB1jnAvN?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=74e2bd0433824b08bc205899c57349b4&ei=21

 

[jdmidwest]

The MSN article was hard to read in my browser, it highlighted the talking points and blacked out the main text.  Each highlight text brought up the many articles it gleaned info from.

But, straining the eyes to read, the just of the matter is that gar DNA does not mutate very fast.  Our cells replicate, depending on the part of the body and type of cell, at very fast rates.  All it takes is one little glitch in the code, and poof, its cancer.

The cells of the mouth multiply at very fast rates.  That is why when you burn a tongue with hot food or damage tissue any other way, it heals itself without any issues.  But, if something screws up the process, it goes the wrong way and develops a new tumorous cell and forms a cancer.  Then the new mutated cell replicates at the same rate as the original and becomes agressive taking over the others in the area.

Lucky for me, radiation took advantage of that fast replication in a target area and killed off all replicating cells.  And the good ones too.  Then the body took over and healed itself back to the normal state.

If we could ever go back in time and re create a human that has genetic tissue that is similar to the gar and its replication factors, it would be a big win.  But, as an advanced species, warm blooded mammals, I doubt it could really ever happen.

Good article.  Proves that latest and greatest is not always best to survive.