People Who Lost The Genetic Lottery
Reddit user G00dR1ddance asked: 'How did your genetics f'k you over?'
One of life's many challenges to being successful and happy is to work hard and stay focused on our respective goals.
There are many obstacles that can discourage us, but persistence and a drive to overcome can be rewarding.
Unfortunately, there are some things that are simply beyond our control, and it has nothing to do with fate.
It's the qualities we're either born with or without that can impede us or prevent us from ever achieving what can only be seen as a pipe dream.
Curious to hear examples of one of life's cruelties, Redditor G00dR1ddance asked:
"How did your genetics f'k you over?"
These Redditors were unhappy with appearances.
Uncooperative Vision
"Lazy eye, and a total lack of depth perception."
– Crow_of_Judgem3nt
"Same. Do you struggle with driving? I just moved to a big city and I can’t drive here bc navigating all the traffic is too hard with no depth perception. It’s so scary!"
– Subnautica24
The Worst Parts
"Moms Family: Perfect teeth, male baldness. Dad's family: Terrible teeth, perfect hairline."
"Me: Sh**ty teeth, bald before 25. My 2 brothers: Perfect Teeth, Perfect Hairline."
"Feels FN bad."
– Yogannath
"They should all chip in for a trip for you to Turkey for a cheap hair transplant and dental work."
– turboprop123
Made For Farming
"All 4 grandparents were farmers. I look like I was bred to farm and f**k to make more little farm workers. Broad shoulders, big boobs, no waist, no @ss worth mentioning, and thick legs. I just look like I was bred to work forever until I die. 120 years ago."
– bwvdub
Stop With The Flattery
"I too am sturdily built. I am not tall but I am muscular and broad with the big boobs and the broad hips and sturdy legs. I could carry very heavy sacks of feed from when I was very small. My family nickname was 'the forklift truck', so that's.. nice."
– LibraryOfFoxes
Room For More
"My mother’s OB said she had a pelvis ‘you could drive a bus through’. I was a natural breach birth and share those genetics. You could host the last supper on my a** and have room for plus ones."
– Elephant_axis
These Redditors are living on borrowed time.
Cardiovascular Health
"Bad heart. I'm the first male in at least 4 generations to make it to 40. And that's only because I was finally properly diagnosed and treated. I wouldn't have made it to 35 if I didn't find the right cardiologist."
– socteachpugdad
"Bum ticker - dad’s aorta exploded when I was 11 and my brother died from the second heart at 41. Just hoping to see my 60s."
– poontong
Being Kept At Bay
"I have a blood condition where I retain iron. It's slowly killing me. Destroyed my liver, pancreas, and led to a massive heart attack."
"Fortunately, I live in the 21st century where modern medicine can keep me going with...bleeding."
– Objective_Stick8335
"Sad Aspect" Of A Family
"Huntington's disease"
– alc1864
"My oldest uncle married a woman who had Huntington's, but they were very young and she wasn't symptomatic yet. In the 70s so no genetic testing or much public awareness. They had 5 daughters. My aunt and their eldest have long since passed away, and the remaining 4 are in various stages of the disease. It's always been a sad aspect of our family. A truly cruel disease."
– Wasyloosker12
BRCA Genes
"I’m BRCA2 positive, giving me roughly 74% chances of developing an incurable genetic breast cancer in my life. It also gives me about 22% of having an ovarian cancer."
"On the other side, double mastectomy lowers my chances to about 3%, but it should ideally be done before I reach 30. I will also need a hysterectomy in my 40s."
"I had 50/50 chance of getting the BRCA2 gene mutation so well, genetics did f'k me over!"
– PoutineMaker
Redditors share more of their crosses to bear in life after being blessed with these traits.
"I'm more attractive to mosquitoes than most people. If I'm out when mosquitoes are around, I end up covered in bites (which I'm also allergic to, so I end up with quarter sized welts that itch for daaaays after the fact)."
– p1013
It's sobering to realize the ailments your parents struggled with are starting to become our own to bear.
High blood pressure, arthritis, and predisposition to atherosclerosis are some of the undesirable parts of my family's genetic makeup that I never really thought about until I noticed how fatigued and in pain I've become with age.
Although I have so much gratitude for surviving every year I get to celebrate my birthday, getting old still sucks.
We can't all be so lucky. There are instances where our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were just more fortunate than us. Sometimes our DNA fails us, which sucks. But what can you do, right?
leclair63 asked: In what ways did you lose the genetic lottery?
Scientists Use Gene Editing To Make Monkey Brains More Human And We've All Seen This Movie Before
According to China Daily, a joint research group from China and the United States recently published a paper in the National Science Review on their findings from using gene-editing techniques to make rhesus macaques with a human gene related to brain development.
The result was macaques with better short-term memory and faster response times, but slower brain development.
The gene in question, MCPH1, affects fetal brain development in humans and relates to brain size.
To have the human gene affect the monkeys, researchers exposed the embryos to viruses containing the gene.
The New York Post cited Bing Su, geneticist at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, led the study as commenting:
"This was the first attempt to understand the evolution of human cognition using a transgenic monkey model."
When you compare humans to primates, our brains take much longer to develop. This leads to our prolonged childhoods, which are quite unique among animals.
Though the development of the brain in the genetically altered monkeys took longer, their brains were no bigger than usual.
Genetically altering monkeys with human DNA has led to significant backlash from the greater scientific community.
James Sikela, from the University of Colorado, stated:
"The use of transgenic monkeys to study human genes linked to brain evolution is a very risky road to take."
"It is a classic slippery slope issue and one that we can expect to recur as this type of research is pursued."
Jacqueline Glover, also of the University of Colorado, commented on how the public will likely see the study:
"You just go to the Planet of the Apes immediately in the popular imagination."
"To humanize them is to cause harm. Where would they live and what would they do? Do not create a being that can't have a meaningful life in any context."
And Planet of the Apes was exactly where some people went on Twitter when learning of the study.
Others commented on the ethical implications.
Animal experimentation is already a hotly debated issue in the scientific community. Experiments that involve exposing animals to human genes are even more so.
Making animals more human seems like a recipe for potential disaster.
Some of us have less hair than others. Some of us have asthma or nerve problems. Some of us have bad knees. Cancer might be likelier in our families, perhaps other diseases, too.
Today's burning question came from Redditor onionslut, who asked the following question: "How did you lose the genetic lottery?"
Let's count the ways.
"My father's family..."
My father's family has early onset dementia, my mother's family all live to be 100.
So I'm destined to lose my mind at 50, and spend the next half century wondering were I left it.
"Some people..."
Absolutely sh*tty teeth. Some people don't have to wear braces. It was crucial for me to wear them but my parents weren't educated enough on the matter to make me wear them. So now, at 28 i've had more teeth surgeries than i can count, finally have them straight but the price and the pain i had to endure for them is 20 times more than i would have 20 years ago.
"Both my grandfathers..."
Both my grandfathers dropped dead at age 59.
Both from cerebral hemorrhages.
I have high blood pressure.
I'll turn 52 this summer.
Tic, toc.
"Twin Gets Nothing..."
Twin Gets Nothing, I Get:
•Colour Blindness
•3rd-Generation Acne
•HyperMobility
•Muscle Spasms
•Creaking Bones
•4th-Generation Early Arthritis
"Look back over old family photos..."
Severe acne.
Looking back over old family photos, it seems to be a common feature. At least it'll clear up at some point.
"On my mom's side..."
On my mom's side, all my uncles were bald at 20 but have killer facial hair.
On my dad's side, they can't grow beards but have full heads of hair until old age.
I'm both bald and beardless at 21.
"My parents divorced..."
My parents divorced when I was 2. They both remarried and had more kids. My mom had 3 more, my dad had 2 more. I'm the only one who has to wear glasses. Neither of my parents nor their parents have ever had them.
I can't see my own goddamned face in the bathroom mirror without glasses.
"My younger brother..."
Unibrow. My younger brother has thin half-eyebrows. Me (F) has one long, thick and bushy brow that goes from one hairline clear across to the other.
That rat bastard brother is also nearly completely hairless on his arms and legs. And blond.
That f*cker.
"Thanks Dad!"
I sneeze 1-2 times whenever I walk outside on a sunny day, just like my Dad.
Also depression. Thanks Dad!
"It's kinda weird..."
Psoriasis all over my torso/legs/scalp.
It's kinda weird to bring it up on a first date as well, so I got ghosted an awful lot before finally getting it under control.
"It's cool tho..."
5'2 manlet thanks to mom and dad being 5'2. Meanwhile all the rest of the men in family on both sides (uncles and cousins) somehow managed to be 5'10 or taller by 18.
It's cool tho cuz its 2019 and I got internet.
"My brother won."
Both of my parents are/were good-looking people. Both are/were charming and people are drawn to them. My brother is the same way. He's tall, has a nice smile, long black hair and everyone comments on his beautiful eyes.
I'm hideously ugly and people tend to hate me for no reason.
My brother won. He looks like some sort of Viking god. I look like a grumpy hobbit who has too many second breakfasts.
And a thousand tiny things..."
Let me count the ways...
I have a chronic blood sugar disorder (reactive hypoglycemia, not diabetes)
My skin actively tries to revolt, it's so sensitive
My vision is absolutely terrible, I'm considered legally blind without my contacts/glasses
And a thousand tiny things that don't matter alone but all together make my body an absolute bitch to deal with on most days.
"I've got crippling anxiety..."
I've got crippling anxiety, which runs on my dad's side. Neither of my siblings have issues with anxiety.
Also, my boobs started majorly sagging as soon as they grew in, which seems to be common with the women on my mom's side.
"I have really long toes..."
I have really long toes, like realy long toes. I can pick up an apple with one foot.
This creeps my wife out to no end and she demands I wear socks to bed. Also as a side note my 3 daughters also have really long toes witch I find weird considering they look like clones of my wife otherwise.
"My family..."
My family has a history of kidney failure on one end and severe mental illness on the other.
"I seemingly won..."
I seemingly won the genetic lottery. I'm 6'5 and highly athletic, like measuring in the top 15% of athletes at the NFL combine athletic. My downfall you ask? Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It caused me to have multiple ligament and labral tears, joint pain, and fascia tears. All of which raised massive red flags to scouts and prevented me from becoming a successful enough college athlete to take the next step to professional athlete.
"My father never..."
My father never grew a full set of adult teeth and still has some of his baby teeth in his late 50s as a result. I'm pretty sure I inherited the same issue from him. In addition, two of my adult teeth were growing in sideways and I had to have their growth corrected via surgery when I was fifteen.
"I have two..."
I have two genetic autoimmune disorders. Also IBS. And couple of mental issues, which luckily with medication is under control.
"I have extra ribs..."
I have extra ribs which makes it harder to lean sideways or touch my toes. Basically I'm even less flexible than I would have otherwise been.
With a name like Conan O'Brien, it's not exactly a surprise that he's Irish. It helps that the comedian and talk show host brings up his heritage often.
In an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan talks about just how Irish he is.
Conan O'Brien's DNA Test Stunned His Doctor www.youtube.com
In the clip above, Conan tells Colbert about his doctor administering a genetic ancestry test.
"He took a DNA sample and I left. Two weeks later he called me up.
"And he said, 'I have never ever ever had a DNA result like this before and I've been doing this for ten years.' I said, 'What is it?'
"He said, 'You are 100% Irish.'"
It's official. Conan O'Brien is the only true Irishman.
Conan continued, explaining his conversation with his doctor.
"I have never seen a 100% anything. I've been doing this a lot. I've done it with lots of people. I've seen 93.5, I've seen 96.1, I've seen 97.
No one is 100% Irish,"
Conan explained.
"If you go to Ireland… and you get their DNA samples, you will find that the most Irish-looking people are like 86 percent, 94 percent Irish.
The Lucky Charms leprechaun, true fact, 11 percent Spanish."
This is all very impressive sounding, but we have to ask, what does it mean to be 100% of something?
Conan had the same question.
"I didn't know what to make of this. I said, 'What does it mean?'
He said, 'What does it mean? It means you're inbred.'
And he said it just like that!"
I guess that's still impressive, but in a completely different way now.
"Anyone else think back to the time when Johnny Knoxville told Conan that his lineage also had some inbreeding, when they were watching this?"
Conan continues in the clip to explain it's because when his ancestors came over during the mid-1800s, they stayed together in the same community. He jokes that his wife being only half Irish makes him a rebel.
It also explains his abnormal body, he jokes.
"I think that is the biggest applause I've ever seen on Colbert. Stephen even commented how the people love Conan." - wikimandia
"Conan is simply the best" - hunkieboi88
"Did Steve add anything to this clip? It was all Conan" -DigbickMcBalls
The story comes at a time when we're re-examining the relationship the general populace has with DNA testing.
For starters, the accuracy of the consumer tests has been called into question. Instances of non-human DNA have been purposely sent to labs for testing and found the company performing the test doesn't even notice.
Additionally, the question of privacy is becoming a common talking point. After it was announced that police used genetic testing with a public database to catch the Golden State Killer, people became worried about the ethical implications.
By taking a DNA test, you could be implicating yourself or a family member in a crime. Combined with the potential for inaccuracies, it has legal experts questioning the practice.