Darren Griffin, University of Kent and Peter Ellis, University of Kent

The Y chromosome may be a symbol of masculinity, but it is becoming increasingly clear that it is anything but strong and enduring. Although it carries the master switch gene, SRY, that determines whether an embryo will develop as male (XY) or female (XX), it contains very few other genes and is the only chromosome not necessary for life. Women, after all, manage just fine without one.

Whats more, the Y chromosome has degenerated rapidly, leaving females with two perfectly normal X chromosomes, but males with an X and a shrivelled Y. If the same rate of degeneration continues, the Y chromosome has just 4.6m years left before it disappears completely. This may sound like a long time, but it isnt when you consider that life has existed on Earth for 3.5 billion years.

The Y chromosome hasnt always been like this. If we rewind the clock to 166m years ago, to the very first mammals, the story was completely different. The early proto-Y chromosome was originally the same size as the X chromosome and contained all the same genes. However, Y chromosomes have a fundamental flaw. Unlike all other chromosomes, which we have two copies of in each of our cells, Y chromosomes are only ever present as a single copy, passed from fathers to their sons.

This means that genes on the Y chromosome cannot undergo genetic recombination, the shuffling of genes that occurs in each generation which helps to eliminate damaging gene mutations. Deprived of the benefits of recombination, Y chromosomal genes degenerate over time and are eventually lost from the genome.

...

Editor's Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published December 27, 2018.

Most people today live in a sea of radiofrequencies emitted from wireless technologies of all kinds, from routers to smartphones, tablets, baby monitors, TVs, appliances, smart meters and many more.

According to many experts, chronic, heavy exposure could have severe repercussions for our health, especially that of children, who are now exposed even before birth. Research also suggests interaction with social media, games and apps online produces a number of effects, both physical and psychological.

Heavy Use of Wireless Devices Changes Kids' Brain Structure

In the largest long-term study^1,2,3 of brain development and youth health in the U.S., the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study,⁴ reveals the brains of the most prolific users of electronic devices look different compared to those who use smartphones, tablets and video games less frequently.

In all, more than 11,000 children will be followed for a decade to assess how various childhood experiences and environments affect brain development and psychological health. As noted by the researchers,⁵ "The data will provide a resource of unprecedented scale and depth for studying typical and atypical development."

These preliminary findings, based on the brain scans of 4,500 9- to 10-year-olds, reveal children who use electronic devices for seven hours or more each day have premature thinning of the brain cortex, the outer brain layer that processes information from the five physical senses (taste, touch, sight, smell and sound).

The exact ramifications of this anomaly are still unknown. According to Dr. Gaya Dowling, a researcher with the National Institutes of Health, which is sponsoring the $300 million study, thinning of the cortex is thought to be part of the brain maturation process, so what these scans are showing is that this process is being sped up in children who get a lot of screen time⁶ (7-plus hours a day).

They cannot prove that the changes are definitively caused by the screen time, and the full effects won't be known until years from now, as the emotional and mental health outco...

Permanent irreversible Attatchment disorder
A lemonade stand at the Mexican Border
A traumatised disorganised old lady hoarder
The incriminating evidence on an old tape recorder

Elements of discontent shivering through a crowd
Firmaments of promises sent confirming love out loud
Innocents in recompense versus the indiscriminately Proud

Hallowed ground to walk a solemn pilgrimage
Mellowed kids found in a drugged up old orphanage
Shallow things in the ground as we discover archaeological heritage
Waiting for you to come around after the last disagreeable haemorrhage

Dont perpetuate the notions of those who deal in mis-truths
Allow the forward motion of the next generation of youths
Avoid the multi-syllabic commotions of the sub-cutaneous systematic word-sleuths
Explore the promotion of legislative proof

Pay no heed to aristocracy lest you kneel before the crown
Histories of greed and animosity as First Nation people frown
Enhance the seed of meritocracy and do not let democracy down
Per chance the need of mediocrity is allowing dreams of progression to literally drown

Distortions of perspective allowed too much time in publication
Abortions and incentives disavowed by politically un -objective legislation
Contortions of mis-directives allowed the resulting violent instigations
Act with caution around detectives when they amount their investigations

A conversation meant for only honest ears
An invitation sent to one who has accumulated the years of
Inclination that went to a pub to drink more beers
As the intimation to invent inclines financial systems into arrears

Sunlit afternoons upon a golden prairie
Unfit old cartoons before it all became too contrary
The stark hit of high noon when viewing something extraordinary
The slow wit of a tycoon holding onto his self proclamations of Legendary

A compromise of ethics for the sake of business running
An enterprise of genetics in the wake of scientific funding
A stealth disguise of frenetics formed by a hedonistic cunning
The wealth suprised by the systemics involved in the economic collapses that are coming

The concentric inheritly biased comparisons that we make
The eccentric numerical silence of a mathematicians answer to a Fake
The barbaric energetic violence of those who are only willing to take
Marie Antoinette on the day she proclaimed Let them eat cake!

A latent virus that is mutating just under the skin
A patient silence that is waiting for the other team to win
Egypt turned to the God Osiris as Cleopatra started to grin
A thief conspires to other liars as Frank Sinatra sips on gin

Confusion as the narrative gets told by a country pop star
Intrusion as the explanative gets old when self grandiosity is taken t...

Walking past a construction site and through
the creosote cloud of a childhood
shoe store, a kid embarrassed by the clerks
gift of a hard square of pink gum wrapped in
a Bazooka Joe comic meant for some
other kid now long gone, leaving the first
kid ashamed to be wanting more than new
shoes, wanting to find more than the broken
pots and untoothed combs buried under the
centuries of ash and mud of textbooks
or the National Geographic map
of Mars circa 1973 meant
for some other kid who is also me
sending letters to the Papaya King
asking of allergens to prepare
for some new kids birthday party.

****
Zak Mucha, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst in Chicago. He is the author of Emotional Abuse: A Manual for Self-Defense, a book of poetry Shadow Box, and the forthcoming Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis, and Street-Corner Social Work.

****

Back to Poetry Gallery

The post Bazooka Joe at the Shoe Store by Zak Mucha appeared first on Mad In America.