This Cave Woman Writes

Have I mentioned how much I love 23andMe? Of course I have. I've written about my DNA tests so many times that people in cyberspace know intimate details about my body like that fact that I have an innie belly button and my eyes are brown. Having 'brown eyes' isn't exactly an intimate detail but not having a second toe longer than my big toe is and that's one of the useless facts that was revealed to me by me spitting in a little tube and sending it off for testing. I did this several years ago and they keep sending me new discoveries as the science keeps unlocking the mysteries of our genes. It's mind boggling to think about the improvements in our healthcare system when they are able to isolate the genes responsible for certain diseases. They'll be able to target and/or totally eradicate some major heartbreaking conditions. Of course, I might not live long enough to see it happen but my nieces and nephew will. It's not that far off.

This week 23andMe sent me new information about my Neanderthal gene variants. I have 32% more of them than their other customers. There are 7,462 Neanderthal traits in genome and I have 228 of them in my DNA. I've written before that on their website is a forum for customers and I found a thread about having a lot of Neanderthal genes where people were joking around about how they have to trim the hair on their toes or put Band-Aids on their knuckles from dragging them around. One woman confessed that once a month she wants to tear her husband’s arms off and suck the marrow out of his bones and now she knows why. All jokes aside, Neanderthal variants supposedly come into play with allergies and infertility issues which has my name written all over them.

How does one get Neanderthal markers in their genes? This is what 23andMe says about that: "Genetic variant that evolved in Neanderthals and came back into the human lineage when the two groups interbred. Because you inherit variants from both of your parents, you can have 0, 1, or 2 copies of the Neanderthal variant at each marker. We report your total number of Neanderthal variant copies, which is therefore a number between 0 and 7,462. However, nobody has all 7,462 — the most we've ever seen in a 23andMe customer is less than 500."

One of the newest things 23andMe reported about my Neanderthal genes is that I have one copy of the marker rs7169404 which is associated with not feeling 'hangry' when I'm hungry. I so must have gotten that one from my dad's genes because my mom definitely changed dispositions when she went without food. I also got two copies of rs3807714 regarding a preference for sweet vs salty foods. Thanks Mom and Dad. I get to blame you both for passing on our ancient ancestors lack of will power when it comes to sugary and gooey deserts. And the fact that I look at eating salads like as punishment for overeating sugary and gooey deserts? I get to blame my Neanderthal genes for not liking leafy greens. Picture me beating my fists on my chest and shouting out that I love a medium rare T-bone steak almost better than I used to love sex back in the days when I was having both. I love meat!

(At least I think I used the word "Sex" far enough into this post that the internet crawlers won't find it and spam me with advertisements. One that used to spam before I learned not to use the 'S' word in the title of my posts flooded my comment section for a cream to "enhance my sex life.)

Okay, time to change topics. What else did I do this week? I've been busy. Twice I took part in a letter writing campaign to get out the vote for Kamala Harris and our group of 12 (known) democrats here in the CCC are going keep doing two sessions a week through mid-October. I also went over to our sister campus to play Mahjong and to nail down details on a Mahjong tournament that was my brainchild to do. What a lot of work involved! More on that in a future post.

Also on the calendar this week was an infusion for my bones. That was different this time because I was the only woman there out of the 15 stations aka La-Z-Boys where we sit while hooked up with the IVs. The guy next to me was so young, cute and buff that my curiosity was peaked as to why he was there but he never woke up the entire time. First time in the ten years that I've been getting infusions that I've ever seen anyone sleeping. My younger self wanted to crawl up in his chair and spoon him. I usually pretend to read while people watching at the infusion center, looking for blog fodder but this time the book I grabbed at the last minute kept me reading. I take a book based on its weight rather than its content and I had picked a 140 page book off my shelf titled, A Guide for the Perplexed. Copyright 1977. It's filled with yellow highlighter and my handwritten notes in the margins but for the life of me I can't remember this philosophical book. But by the time my infusion was finished I concluded that I must have been a lot smarter back in the 1970s than I am now.©

Until Next Wednesday...

Photo credit: On the 3rd of August 1908, the 3 Bouyssonie brothers discovered the first complete skeleton of a Neanderthal man and the first burial site.  The remains were first studied by Marcellin Boule from the National Museum of Natural History; he described this man as the missing link between man and ape.