talk me dirty

The idea hinges on the fact that, to a surprising extent, lifeforms are a kind of fancy Lego, built from interchangeable parts. This is true at the genetic level: copy a gene from a jellyfish and put it into the genome of a rabbit, a mackerel, or an alfalfa plant, and the organism will incorporate the gene and make the jellyfish protein. But it is also true for cells. Let me give you an example. Read more