Of Solid and Obsolete – 3

By: Shahir Nazri

What defines us? Our gene, our appearances, or both? Or others perceptions? Or our actions? Or this, or that, or etc…?

1.      What determines stupidity? Let me rephrase the question: who is stupider, male or female? Think before you scroll (or just scroll, nobody is going to smack you).

The answer: MALE. Yes, you read that right. Don’t agree? Me too, but apparently someone has too much time on the internet to come up with this “solution”. Accept it, men are stupider than women. So say the latest post in BMJ.

"I've published a paper once..."

This so-called research (rubbish, and sexist, I say, on behalf of all men worldwide), studies the sex difference among the winners of Darwin Award over 20 year period.

Darwin Award, what a fancy name they give. It is like the Nobel Prize, except that it is given to idiot people who deserve to die. Or to put it in their own word, “…the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival.” (If you have a lot of time on your hand, or you had a bad day, or you just want to laugh at others’ stupidity, here is the site: http://darwinawards.com) (P/S: they just gave the title, but no award-giving ceremony is held annually)

Back to this “research” from BMJ. After they filtered out the unverified testimonies, they found that most of the winners are male, or accurately, 88.7% of the winners are males. What makes us males the winners in idiocy? Our lack of X-chromosome, or the Y-chromosome, or our ego to brag about something?

The responses to this article are just as interesting as the article. One respondent wrote that have it been women who are claimed to be stupid, the editorial won’t publish it on the ground of “sexism”. Another respondent states that the ratio of male-to-female winners of Carnegie Hero Award (http://carnegiehero.org) is somewhat similar (91.1% males), which makes us wonder, maybe males thoughtless acts (a.k.a stupidity) are just as beneficial as it is hazardous to mankind.

You can read more about this “research” here: The Darwin Awards: sex differences in idiotic behaviour 

2.      Chicken is wonderful. Slaughter one, and you can pretty much turn it into any delicacies you know, or you can make up your own recipes. With chicken, the possibilities are endless. An honourable mention: Kentucky Fried Chicken.

"I'm tasty and I know it"

But that is not our main topic here. Based on a recent article published by BMC genomics, there’s a mechanism that preserve avian karyotype along their lineage, making interchromosomal change rarely occur (huh?). To write that in a sentence that you and I can understand, they preserved most of the genomic structure from their dinosaur ancestors. And among all, the “chicken lineage appeared to have undergone the fewest changes compared to the dinosaur ancestor.” So brighten up, we’ve been eating “dinosaurs’ offspring” throughout our life.

...and he shall forever be known as "The Dino-Slayer"...

I guess this will take the hype away from the new remake of Jurassic Park. To read more (I suggest not, too hard to understand and you’ll feel like retard): Reconstructionof gross avian genome structure, organization and evolution suggests that thechicken lineage most closely resembles the dinosaur avian ancestor 

Ever wonder who or what defines you. Be it your gender or your gene, the possibilities are endless. Keep wondering.

Extra: here is the trailer of the new Jurassic World.