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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byve3oat ( 884827 ) writes:
What is happening might be (and probably is) a natural process of evolution, but it is certainly NOT due to polar bears who are "rewiring their own genetics". The headline of this article and certain statements within the article are extreme examples of the anthropomorphication that occurs today in the popular media and in pieces written by people who don't understand that most things happen in the universe without any "wilful action" by anyone or anything. It's all just because of the Laws of Physics, as
byErrol backfiring ( 1280012 ) writes:
Actually, some of it just might be going on.
First, "Genetics" is a bit of an undefined term. There are Genes, which code for actions (in fact proteins to be made which perform actions), and transcription factors which guide when these genes are read and therefore activated.
For example, polar bears might make more stress hormones due to the heat, which might activate some genes which would otherwise not be active.
Apart from that, re-shuffling DNA [wikipedia.org] does occur in some cases. In humans, this is one of the things that enable the immune system to react to new hazardous substances.
If you are interested, Professor Robert Sapolsky has a great introduction to genetics (part 4 and 5) as part of his college in behavioural biology [youtube.com].
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