As you may have seen in a previous post, the creator of scriptgenetics has been having some trouble keeping up with this blog. A couple of weeks ago, I reached to offer my services as a potential new mod for this blog, get through some of the asks and get the ball rolling again on answering some of your most burning genetics questions.
So, hi! I’m emdee! A genetics major bearing gifts of knowledge, willing to venture into the depths of my brain (and the internet) to provide you with the answers you are hunting for.
A couple of things about my own background, and the questions that I am going to be best equipped to answer:
Genetics is a far-reaching and widely varied field, and while I have plenty of thoughts on some areas, I am not an expert in all. I work in a genetics lab, so I can answer any and all questions about what it’s like to work in private industry and how modern labs function. My current job requires that I know a lot about heredity, genotyping, cell biology and molecular biology/genetics. I also have a background in physiology, biochemistry, and developmental biology.
“Hey emdee”, you might be thinking to yourself, “I came here to get answers, not get more questions. What does that all mean?”
Well, basically what it means is that I’m going to be very good at answering questions such as:
“I have X trait for a character in my story, and it’s a recessive trait. How hard is this to pass through a population?”
“Gene editing is super cool! If I have a creature that has been edited to have X trait, what’s the best way to do that? Can I make it so it doesn’t work perfectly?”
“Can a DNA test tell how closely related you are to someone?”
“Is CSI accurate when they talk about DNA sequencing? Can you actually put DNA in a machine and have it print out the sequence immediately?”
But I’m not going to be so great at:
“I have my characters/critters living in X environment. What sort of adaptations would you expect?”
I can make a very educated guess about that, but it’s certainly not my strong suit!
I am also going to be upfront with a few ground rules that apply to me as a mod:
I will always try to use the most respectful language possible. I believe that everything and everyone should approached with all the kindness that I possess, and if you believe that I haven’t done so, send me an ask about it. I would much rather that you approach me directly rather than hide your discomfort in the tags of a reblog or something similar.
I reserve the right to not answer an ask if I deem it inappropriate, or if it has decidedly exclusionary or hateful language.
I will not help you with homework questions. Quite honestly, chances are I won’t get to them in time (and I am very immune to “NEED RESPONSE QUICK” messages), and some of the questions asked do require research on my part to give the best answer, which takes time.
There are quite a few questions related to incest, even if it’s not direct. I will always tag this as “tw: incest” and “incest”, and will also tag “consanguinity” if it’s less of a direct question, and more along the lines of “how distantly do you have to be related before you aren’t related anymore”. I understand that this is a sensitive and taboo topic, and everyone deserves the right to control their internet experience.
I cannot diagnose any genetic disease. I am not a doctor, and I am definitely not your doctor. Everything answer I offer is purely hypothetical.
On that note, genetics is a field that is updating at a brutally fast pace. The answers I give are to the best of my knowledge, however, always take them with a grain of salt. Science is about progress, and there is definitely a chance that something I say will be outdated or proven incorrect.
Whew. Okay, that’s over. I’m not a huge fan of rules, but I think that these are some good and necessary ones.
I’m so excited to start on this blog with all of you! Send me your best questions and I will give you my best answers!
<3 emdee
P.S. I have queued up a few of the asks that were waiting already, just so we have some content to go off of. I’ll keep plugging away at those, but don’t worry! Send in new ones, and I’ll get a good mix of the old and new as we go.
