Biology: The Wildest Science

[unspeakablehorror]

Biology is the wildest science because it doesn't really have normal rules. Anything that you're told always happens is generally an extreme oversimplification. Every level of the tree of life has undergone revision, including the largest level, the domains, since the entire domain of archea wasn't added until 1977. Genes can undergo what's called horizontal gene transfer so that, say, one bacterium that's passing by can just transfer some genes to another bacterium. Genes can switch on and off traits based not only on life events of a lifeform, but the life events of its parents or other ancestors. The mitochondria in the cells of our body contain their own genes, which we only inherit from our mothers -- except when we also inherit mitochondrial genes from our father. The human genome contains 8% viral DNA. Biology is full of surprises.