h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anybody know what effect uranium of isotopes U253 would have on the mutation rate of a prokaryote(sp?) cell? I would assume it would greatly accelerate it....

I'm having a 'back of an envelope' arguement with somebody about a bacterium I know nothing about and my only hope lies here....

Hmm...

Example of a Prokaryte = E-Coli
Example of the use of U235 = Atom Bomb




Dunno about your arguement - but it seems a pretty drastic way of getting rid of stomach ache!

It does greatly increase mutation rate. Eventually, I would imagine, that the survivors would find themselves becoming more resistant to the radiation. Until later...
BCNU - Crescent

I was arguing with a creationist....you know the type...

She invented a beetle that spat venom that it itself was not immune to arguing that it had a special lining on the inside of its throat to protect it. Both, apparently, had to work at the same time and thus be no room for small steps, rubbishing evolution. While I could probably have thought up some steps, she went on to name the beetle Sphex Ichneumona - thats a hymenopteran digger wasp to you or I.

"You made that up didn't you"

"No I didn't - it's true"

You get the idea....

She eventually conceded and told me a story about a prokaryote whos genome overlapped with another bacteriums. Again there are no small steps - and presumably, it doesn't exist. Also, she argued, there hasn't been enough time even if you set a higher mutation rate than average.

To get round this, I told her that her imaginary bacterium evolved in the Oklo Reactor in Gabon, France which is a natural nuclear reactor, rich in Uranium and bumping up the mutation rate