“Chimpanzees Can’t Tell Us About Being Human” — But Must Love Dogs

Humans, we’re sometimes told, are simply (very) slightly modified apes.  After all, we share 98.8% of our genes with chimpanzees!

Well, perhaps.  Some labs put that figure at 96%, others at 95%, and some at only 85%.

Still, that’s a lot.  Isn’t it?

Maybe.  But, according to some sources, we also share 50-60% of our DNA with chickens and fruit flies, and perhaps even more than  60% with bananas.

By some measures, we have 90-95% of our DNA in common with laboratory mice, if not even 99%.

See:

“DNA: Comparing Humans and Chimps”

“How can we share 98% of our DNA with a chimp but only half with a parent?  Obviously percentage of shared DNA is being measured differently in these two instances, but could someone please explain how?”

“Chimps, Humans 96 Percent the Same, Gene Study Finds”

“How much DNA do humans share with lab mice?”

“How Genetically Related Are We to Bananas?”

Moreover, science indicates that “Dogs Understand Us Better Than Chimps Do,” and it turns out that chimpanzees are actually quite foreign to us:

“Chimpanzees Can’t Tell Us About Being Human”

It seems that DNA — even biology — isn’t everything.

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From a rather distinct angle, on dogs and how much they understand humans — in this case, human speech:

“Do dogs really, truly understand what we tell them?  Scientists trained some pups to endure MRIs to help find out”

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President Donald J. Trump may already have made America great again, but Africans and Asians are going to reap the benefits of this one:

“The Century’s Longest Lunar Eclipse Will Shroud the Moon This Month:  Including phases where the moon is partially masked, the event will last nearly four hours total”

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A new frontier is opening up in the search for extraterrestrial biology:

“Exomoons: on the hunt for distant worlds”

But, alas, even exomoons won’t save us.

Aieee!  Read this and despair:

“The galactic tide coming our way: The same force responsible for moving oceans will also rip our galaxy apart.”

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Finally, why, when I’m away from home, do I indicate where I’m posting from?  Three reasons, I suppose.  (1)  This blog serves as something of a journal for me.  (2)  I commonly receive notes from people — seriously, I received one just this past week, when I was already writing from Newport Beach! — telling me that I’m a believing Latter-day Saint only because I’m a provincial rube who knows nothing about life and thought and people beyond monolithically Mormon Utah.  Posting my location is a gently ironic way of making fun of such things.  (3)  There is a small group of commenters out there who appear to be infuriated at my doing so.  I don’t do it just irritate them, of course.  That would be quite unchristian.  But, then again, it’s a factor:  I get a kick out of their reaction.

Posted from Newport Beach, California