Today’s post is brought to you by the Letter X.
Remember last week how I wrote about my advanced evidence class? I believe I expressed my particular dislike for the prep work, followed by the delight I take in snarky vindication in class. Well. I forgot to mention that ever week, one person is not given an assignment. That person is referred to as the X person. (or ex-person. I’ve never seen it in writing. Hopefully it’s the former.) I was the X-woman on Tuesday. What an effing let down.
In other Marvel-ous news, fish are mutating to cope with our horrific pollutions! Evidently, according NPR (Yes, I do get all my news from NPR and the New York Times. Judge me and move on.) a small cod called a tomcod has been evolving since the 1970’s to resist PCBs and dioxin! The other fish in the GE’s old dumping grounds in New Jersey have been getting liver tumors since the 80’s – except the Tomcod. A group of tomcod had a genetic variation that resisted the chemicals, and now that small group has become the dominant one.
They kind of take the fun out of things by specifically stating the fish aren’t mutants – the pollutants apparently just gave one genetic group an advantage over the rest. I, however, can’t help thinking of them with little capes, primary-colored leggings and masks, zipping around the rivers of New York and New Jersey, fighting bad guys and occasionally each other.
Source: Christopher Joyce, Pollution Drove Fish to Evolution