Re: [asa] another physics question-information

> > "This holds even though there is no more information in
> > a thousand copies of a document than in one."

Actually, having two identical copies of a gene may result in
overproduction of the product. The total genome would be different,
and thus exact duplication within the genome (as opposed to normal
copying followed by cell division) is new information. I'm just back
from a departmental talk that mentioned a strong correlation between
too many copies of a particular gene and some aspects of autism. Not
all duplications have that effect-microsatellites vary greatly in copy
number without any known impact.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.