Friday, December 18, 2015

"Frogs Surprisingly Like Humans, Genetically Speaking"

Livescience: African clawed frogs have more in common with humans than you might think, according to their newly sequenced genome, which shows a surprising number of commonalities with the human genome.

The frog in question is a slimy, rotund type scientifically named Xenopus tropicalis. This is the first time an amphibian genome has been sequenced, and scientists say it represents a big hop forward in understanding not just frogs but Earth's whole tree of life.

In fact, many of Earth's creatures are more similar to each other, genetically speaking, than you might guess just by looking at them...

The frogs' similarity to humans has come in handy before.

In the early 20th century biologists discovered that these frogs were unusually sensitive to human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone produced by pregnant women. The frogs gained popularity as a low-cost pregnancy test in the 1940s and 1950s. Doctors would inject a frog with a woman's urine, and if she was pregnant, the frog would ovulate and produce eggs in 8 to 10 hours.


7 comments:

bagoh20 said...

I wonder how they discovered that frog pregnancy test? Does a pregnant woman pee in the pond?

Chip Ahoy said...

There's a frog pregnancy test? *checks* Well I'll be hecked.

bagoh20 said...

Paaa!... Paaa! Elly Mae went a swimin in the pond yesterday, and this mornin' the whole pond is full of frog eggs.

Well, the next thing you know old Jed's a millionare...

ricpic said...

Pond talk: Do we really deserve to be injected with urine just because we're frogs? Ribbit....Ribbit....

chickelit said...

Was this frog kissing inspired by the "Sugar, Sugar" video I posted?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Noticed that.

rhhardin said...

No magic can turn a frog into a prince, a frog, that is, who had never been a prince. He can be given a prince's shape, that is all. He has the self-consciousness of a frog. The frog in him will, I imagine, keep trying to get out. There will be moments of embarrassment when he needs to speak, or when suddenly he tucks his legs under himself and leaps from the throne.

- Stanley Cavell