Werewolf syndrome genes unravelled
All those bearded ladies out there can rest easy - scientists have pinpointed the gene for making women overly hirsute.
Science Now reports a Chinese study has been looking into the disorder snappily-called congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis, also known as 'werewolf syndrome'.
It's a very rare condition, but it does get passed down the generations. And it's not just women who are affected.
Sufferers of either sex develop excessive dark hair across their bodies and faces, and could also develop a broad, flat nose, large ears, a large mouth, and thick lips, and, occasionally, an enlarged head and jaw.
Boffins found three afflicted families in China, with a total of 16 members who agreed to take part in the study.
It was found a short section of chromosome 17 was the cause. A mutation produces too much of a hair-growing protein, resulting in furry folk.
Actually I used to be a werewold, but I'm alright nowooooooooo!!
Sorry, it's the only joke I know.
Weird Science Factoid: You can convert graphite into diamond by applying a temperature of 3,000 degrees Celsius and pressure of 100,000 of our atmosphere. See, another plan to beat the credit crunch! Now where are all my pencils...
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
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I have read about this Werewolf Syndrome in the newspaper.
I was amazed to know such a thing.
I think scientist can get to a solution for this syndrome...
Nice post..
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This is something new to me. I thought that these were only possible in scifi movies. I do hope they find a cure for this though.
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It's a very rare condition, but it does get passed down the generations. And it's not just women who are affected.
It's hard for me to believe that somewhere in the Earth are people who are ill with this.But I read in example of essay that they are.Scary times.