thebedla
thebedla t1_issb0l8 wrote
Reply to TIL: Airplanes take off and land into the wind. They takeoff into the wind to reduce the groundspeed required to lift and land into it to reduce groundspeed when landing. by Key-Code-4296
Which is why aircraft carriers steam into the wind when launching and recovering aircraft. Adding the ship's speed and wind speed to "ground" speed makes takeoff shorter and effectively makes the landing strip longer.
thebedla t1_iss9djg wrote
Reply to comment by cowfudger in TIL that when a cat has a flat face (such as a Persian), that is actually a deformity. Breeders, however, are able to find ways of altering the cat’s genetics by choosing who they breed with. They do this because so many people gravitate to the smushed in face. by dioWjonathenL
Yup. What's a deformity and what's an advantageous trait is only situational. Is longer fur a deformity or an advantageous trait? Depends on the environment. Is no hair a deformity or an advantageous trait? Depends on the environment. Whatever helps your genes to spread better is advantageous by definition. Snubbed noses would be a disadvantage, but people killing puppies with normal snouts and keeping only those with snubbed noses makes it an evolutionary advantage.
thebedla t1_iss94d9 wrote
Reply to comment by WoodenSpearZ in TIL that when a cat has a flat face (such as a Persian), that is actually a deformity. Breeders, however, are able to find ways of altering the cat’s genetics by choosing who they breed with. They do this because so many people gravitate to the smushed in face. by dioWjonathenL
They do alter genetics just like in a lab, only with different means. The animals' genetic code is altered by selective breeding - only those whose genome expresses the desired characteristics are bred, which means their offspring carry that genetic information. The result is genetically no different from making that change with CRISPR, for example.
That being said, it's even worse than genegineering because you cannot precisely select which gene to target. You just breed dogs that look funny. And that means some traits are going to be reinforced involuntarily. This is why overbred dogs have other health problems unrelated to the actual physical traits being selected for.
thebedla t1_j5jjlho wrote
Reply to why do we not see the reappearance of extinct lifeforms anymore if evolution can retrace its step to redevelop it? by 0011000l
This has been observed, it's called iterative evolution or Lazarus taxon or Elvis taxon.
Note the rationale behind renaming Lazarus to Elvis is to allude to impersonators and clarify that it is not actually being reborn. Given how much genetic information there is, superficially "the same" species (such as the "re-evolved Aldabra rail) will still be different genetically.