Though I wither, your work is begun

[sovay]

spatch sent me this tweet from the artist of My Life as a Background Slytherin which basically describes my relationship to the news at the moment. I have nevetheless a couple of items that I like:

DNA analysis of horse sacrifices from Scythian burial mounds proves that in addition to being serious riders, archers, metalworkers and tattoo artists, the Scythians were serious horse breeders. "Many, although not all, of the horses possessed genes associated with racing speed that are found in today's thoroughbreds. The genes also showed a variety of colorings—cream, black, spotted, bay and chestnut." It is notable that the Scythian horses were not at all inbred; somehow despite reading an inordinate amount of Marguerite Henry as a child, I had missed the degree to which modern horses are. I look forward to the follow-up paper on genetic diversity.

DNA analysis of bone and teeth fragments from the disastrous Franklin expedition suggests that some of the crew of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were genetically female, "which is surprising since the crew was reported as all male." They might still have been, of course, however they were assigned at birth. Or they might not. Either way, I wish I knew those stories. With any luck, someone will work to write them.

So, yeah. Science.

I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the apartment, in which endeavor I was joined by Rob. For one brief shining moment, not everything is covered in cat hair. (Hestia and Autolycus are already doing their best to reassert the status quo.) We got out of the house in the evening, walked to Davis, had dinner at Punjabi Grill, ran errands, walked circuitously home. I ate ice cream. I am thinking of watching a movie. The fact that I am not already collapsed and/or asleep suggests I might be getting better. Fingers crossed!

Comments

[sovay]

Aren't all modern thoroughbreds, at least in the English-speaking world, descended from three Arab horses?

They are—the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian—and I knew that, partly because of Marguerite Henry, but the article made it sound like a species-wide issue:

"Unlike modern horses, the Scythian horses' DNA showed no signs of inbreeding. 'This is extremely surprising in horses,' Dr. Orlando said.

"The Y chromosome tells the genetic story of males of a species. The mitochondria—energy factories within cells—contains DNA passed down only from mothers. In modern horses, the Y chromosomes in stallions are almost identical, reflecting the breeding technique of using a single stallion with desired characteristics to father many offspring.

"That indicates that the Scythians maintained the natural herd structure of horses, Dr. Orlando said. He said additional studies had revealed when and where the genetic diversity of stallions crashed later, but he would not say publicly until he finished the scientific paper that laid out the answer."

And that's what I was surprised by.