Slashdot ran a blurb about an article in Science magazine titled “Viral Fossil Brought Back to Life.” So yeah, I just had to read it…
So, in the blurb (very easy to read…don’t be put off by science-i-ness…), the researchers in France essentially took DNA common to humans that they knew to be viral in origin. For those that don’t know, some viruses act by “implanting” themselves in our genome so they can get their proteins produced by our own cells. So, it stands to reason that over the years, we’ve picked up a few fragments in our own genome from a variety of viruses.
Well, this group found a viral section of our genome, “repaired” it by comparing the same sequence amongst many people to compare them and see which parts are most common, and then generated the genome. How cool is that!??! Not only are there ancient viruses in our DNA, but we can re-activate them!!!
For anyone that still had doubts on evolution…I trust they are dashed aside… 😛
But maybe God put those viruses there in order to test our faith!
…since God is an 8-year-old who likes to “tease us” by hiding virus DNA in our genomes, or leaving dinosaur bones all over the place…or the rest of geologic time, for that matter?
I think not… 😛
(…the “8-year-old” part I paraphrased from Steve…I can’t take credit…).