RNAi

Today, we learned about RNAi. The "i" stands for "interference."

Austin believes that one day, we could send genetic recipes to stop the growth gene when humans are around the age of 2. This could be a way for humanity to survive a burgeoning population. If humans are small, they will need less air to breathe, and less food to eat. They will continue to develop muscle strength and gain knowledge as they get older.

Austin suggested that about 50 of these smaller humans could live in our house, compared to 5 (or 6, or 7, or 10) now. We laughed about this, because we actually did have 10 people living in our house for a 3-week period, several years ago. And that was before Aaron was born!

I asked Austin if we could use RNAi to make humans more intelligent. He said, with complete confidence, "No, the only way to get smarter is to keep gaining knowledge as we get older."

Here's a segment from the video we watched today. I just love all the DVDs we ordered from HHMI. They were all free, and all the material has been entertaining and engaging for everyone. We've watched the DVDs on Evolution, Obesity and part of the RNA DVD.