Charisma - Genes, majic, and chromosomes.

Chapt.8-Page 2
"Bye, bye, Yellow Brick Road"

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The great differences between the majik of olden times and the magic of this day and age, are twofold.

Firstly; the magic of superstition relied on communication with externalised, ephemeral spirits, of demons and gods; who never came when they were called.

Secondly; internalised 'magic' works.

I guess that this will be somewhat of a disappointment to anyone wishing to raise storms, blast their enemies, or turn tax-gatherers into toads; but it is a great boon for those who are more in touch with reality.

Donning this magic cloak is more than just a question of clicking your heels together and picturing yourself as the planet's gift to humanity. We have all seen the state of the planet as a result of mankind's penchant for tinkering with things they do not fully understand, and its reluctance to consider the long term consequences. Only junk food is dished up on demand.

The human genome has been four billion years in evolving, and is not something with which to play mindless games. We will get to where we are heading but first of we need to look at what we intend tinkering with.

When you understand a thing, you know what it is capable of.

A (very) Brief Summary of Genetics:

The Genome is the title of the complete set of instructions for the construction of a human being. The Genome resides within our cells. Each Genome consists of 23 Chromosomes. Each Chromosome holds several thousand Genes. Genes consist of 'useful' genes known as Exons (3%), and 'junk' genes, known as Introns (97%).

Whereas Exonsare the recipes by which we are formed, Introns are the remnants of genes that have outlived their purpose, relics of past battles with invading viruses AND retro viruses that are held dormant by a concerted effort on the part of 'useful' genes. These retro viruses are often reactivated when our immune system is suppressed.

Our genes are a written record of the millions of years of our evolution that must be the envy of paleontologists everywhere. In 1998, paleontologists unearthed a 360 million year old fossil of a four limbed fish that had fingered hands on each limb.

Examination of this and variant fossils demonstrated how the hand's digits had evolved from an arched fin. Their reconstruction of how the hand developed is identical to the manner that geneticists have found to be written into our own genetic code. The pattern was successful.

Each human contains around 1 million million cells.

With the exception of red blood cells and egg and sperm cells, every cell is a container for 2 full sets of the human genome. One set donated by each of our parents.

Children inherit one complete set from each parent, but each of these donated sets are a recombination (mixture) of the two sets each parent received from their parents.

Although there exist small variations, each set has the same ~70,000 genes strung out along our 23 Chromosomes.

Each separate chromosome holds strings of code that are the recipes for building a human being. The cyphers of this code consists of only 4 letters; A,C,G, & T. The letters stand for the chemicals Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine, & Thymine. Each letter is known as a Base. They are used to write strings of 3 letter words referred to as Codons.

A Codon looks like these samples:- AGC, CTA, TTC, CCC, TGT, etc.

This is your DNA. The rungs of the ladder-like double helix are the Bases, and the sides of the chains are composed of sugar and phosphates.

DNA is not the building block of life, it is the template for the building blocks. The building blocks are Proteins. We are built of proteins.

When it sets out to develop a human being, DNA acts like a software program that is capable of building a computer from raw materials.

Homeotic genes instruct which part of the genome is 'switched on' in accordance with each cells placement in the body. So an eye becomes an eye and a foot grows at the end of the leg.

Throughout our lives differing combinations of genes are switched on and off at varying times. A prime example of this happening is the onset of puberty when overt bodily changes occur as a response to these timed instructions.

At the heart of the Charisma Files is the knowledge that we can use our thoughts to switch on, and off, whole arrays and combinations of our genes, even rewriting the coded instructions. We are our own biochemists! Our genes constantly orchestrate the production of a range of chemicals that international drug companies can only manufacture in laboratories covering acres of land.

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