• Question: how would mapping out your DNA benefit your species and humans?

    Asked by am105 to Barbastelle Bat, Eurasian Otter, European Flat Oyster, Glow Worm, Lundy Cabbage, Scaly Cricket, Scottish Wildcat, Spot Fly, Strapwort on 8 Dec 2017.
    • Photo: Glow Worm

      Glow Worm answered on 8 Dec 2017:

      It would help us to find out how we are related to other firefly species and how much genetic diversity we have, which can be important in adapting to changes in the environment. Looking at the genes that make us glow may also be useful in medicine because some glowing genes from other species are already being used to light up cancer cells for example. And there may be other benefits that we won’t even know until we can read the genes. That’s what makes science so interesting: you don’t know what you’re going to discover until you look!

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