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We’re All Mutants
Yes. You. Me. Everyone.
A 2012 study showed that out of a sample of 179 people…well…they all had disease-causing mutations. All of them. And a lot of them. Thankfully, our genome has lots of backup mechanisms and most people who have a disease-causing mutation don’t get the disease.
Some of us, of course, have more obvious mutations, which might be terrible (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome comes to mind), beneficial (such as a Finnish endurance skier who’s blood carried so much more oxygen he was accused of doping) or benign (Hi!).
How Mutations Happen
Life works on DNA and RNA, and DNA is constantly being copied and recopied.
When multicellular animals engage in sexual reproduction (being specific here because some species can reproduce asexually either as a regular thing or as a backup method), an egg combines with a sperm. Each of these cells contains a single strand of DNA, which come together to make the typical double strand.
The process of creating the sex cells and the combining them gives an opportunity for a copying error to happen. This is a good thing because it’s how evolution and adaptation happen.
For example, mammals typically lose the ability to digest milk at a point after birth. Babies stop making lactase, which allows them to digest…