Friday, November 30, 2007

Post Titled: Hegdehog.
I am hardly awake at work yet when I read this article in SLATE and then this pops up towards the end:

"Fetuses exposed in utero to the products of cigarette smoking showed a depressed function of a gene named desert hedgehog...The hedgehog genes play an important role in directing the development of body structures. They got their nickname because mutant forms of them cause fruit flies to grow up short and hairy. One of the most important of them, the Sonic hedgehog gene, got the rest of his name, in a bit of whimsy, from the video game character. Some clinicians are troubled by humorous or eccentric names. They worry that the frivolity will offend patients with serious illnesses caused by abnormalities in these genes."

Nope. that is not real. can't be.

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