Comments on: Rat sperm exposed to weightlessness still produces healthy rats

By: Dick Eagleson

Dick Eagleson — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 06:05:42 +0000

ken,

I think you need to back your twit filters off about half a turn. You’re getting false positives.

By: ken anthony

ken anthony — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 02:44:04 +0000

There’s nothing wrong with imagining things going wrong and no limit to the potential problems that could be identified that way. The problem is asserting a problem exist where it’s never been demonstrated, It’s not enough to provide an example under certain conditions when the same example can be shown where those conditions don’t exist. Sometimes the rewards are much greater than the risks. People are going to die. Progress requires it.

This in NO WAY recommends not taking precautions or doing research. But being paralyzed by imagined boogie men is just stupid and destroys growth.

By: PeterF

PeterF — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:36:21 +0000

The fragmentation automatically removes those sperm from the gene pool. usually only the most highly motile sperm are able to reach the egg first.

By: wayne

wayne — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:31:23 +0000

Mr. Z., — hhhmmm. Not sure about that last thought. Have not really pondered that too deeply. I am sure however, if you put boys & girls together, they inevitably do what boys & girls do.

Q: Is somebody breeding fruit-flies on the ISS?

Pivoting slightly, this brings to mind a fairly good SF tale of cloning vs. sexual reproduction in a post apocalyptic world.
“Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang”
Kate Wilhelm 1976
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Late_the_Sweet_Birds_Sang

(tangential references to ‘environmental collapse’ & the ‘impending Ice Age’ as well, but the story concentrates primarily on the interaction between the clones & those were are not cloned.)