Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Unusual Genetic Traits

A health teacher at our school was doing a short unit on genetics with her students. Part of the unit was a survey of the more obvious physical traits that are inherited. This survey asked students to go around the room and look for peers who had certain traits, and then ask them if their mother, father, or grandparents had the traits as well. A grid was provided for students to record the collected information. Some of the traits included dimples, curly hair, blue eyes, a cleft chin, and the "Hitchhikers' Thumb."

Another trait that teacher meant to mention was the "Vulcan Signal" from Star Trek. You know this one, it's the "live long and prosper" hand sign. However, the teacher must have been in a big hurry because when she typed up the paper she made a slight error. She swapped a second v for the c in the word "Vulcan" to create the heretofore unknown "Vulvan Signal" from Star Trek. This may help to explain why Captain Kirk was always so distracted by all those alien ladies! Luckily, this was a 6th grade class, so not that many students noticed. However, if any 8th-graders happen to get hold of that paper...

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