Insistence of Vision by David Brin Page B

methylated nucleic bases. Darwin would have quickly rewarded individuals who pared it all down. Just enough to do the task at hand, and little more. Redundancy is blessed, but efficiency is divine.
    Eventually, we found out that much of the “junk” was actually quite important. Sequences that served a vital function, regulating when a gene would turn on to make its protein, and when it should stop. Regulation turned out to take up heaps of DNA. And much of the rest appeared to be recent infestations from viruses – a creepy thing to think about, but of no interest to me.
    For a while, some folks thought we had the answer to the “junk DNA problem.”
    Only, vast stretches remained mysterious. Void of any known purpose, they didn’t seem to do anything at all. And they were much too big to be just punctuation or spacers or structural elements. The junk theory came back as colleagues called those big, mystery patches meaningless relics...
    ... till George Stimson and I made our announcement.
    Fish are fish are funny folk,
    They never laugh and never joke.
    When mating, there is no romance,
    Just a throng, a whirling dance.
    Then commence...
    ...the winnowings –
    Ten billion sperm, ten million eggs,
    Produce a hundred thousand larvae,
    Hundreds survive, become fish,
    For maybe two to start it over.
    CBC - The Q: Welcome back, I’m Sandra Oh and this is the Q, coming to you live and in 4-D from the Great Plains Theater in Winnipeg. We’ll get back to tonight’s fantastic noppop group, The Floss Eaters – yes, let it out for them! Only now let’s all calm down and welcome onstage our special guests. Give a warm welcome to Manitoba’s brightest science stars – Beverly Wang and George Stimson.
    Professor George Stimson: Thank you Sandra.
    Professor Beverly Wang: Yes, it’s good to be on your lively show. My, that last song was... Can-Do Invigo-Rating.
    Sandra: Ha ha! Totally with-it. You’ve won the crowd over, Madame Professor. It’s not grampa’s rock’n’roll, eh? Now hush you folks in the seats. We only have Bev and Geo for a few minutes before they must go back to changing our world. So let me start with Beverly, on behalf of folks here and in our audience around the globe. We’ve all been amazed by the success you both sparked in re-growing individual organs and body parts, giving hope to millions. Is it true that you’ve also done it yourselves?
    BW: Yes, I have a new kidney and liver, grown in a vat from my own cells. I was offered regular transplants – they found a match. But it seemed more honest and true to use our methods myself. As one of the first volunteers. So far, the new parts have taken hold perfectly.
    Sandra: And you, George?
    GS: My own grafts were less ambitious... mostly to deal with widespread arthritis. Joint and tendons. Reinforcement and replacement.
    Sandra: How’d that go?
    GS: Shall I juggle for you?
    Sandra Hey now, doc, those water bottles are... wow! That’s some talent. Let’s hear it for Circus Stimson!
    GS: Well, I used to show off in college... it’s been years... oops!
    Sandra: No sweat, we’ll clean it up. That’s an impressive demonstration of restored youth and zest! Still, we’re always wondering on the Q... what’s next? What’s beyond grow-your-own-organs? I have to tell you we hear rumors that you’ve got something even bigger brewing. Called the Caterpillar Cure?
    GS: Well now, Sandra, that’s not a name we use. It arose when we described taking a deathly ill test subject and wrapping or encasing the whole body in a protective layer –
    Sandra: A cocoon!
    GS: Hm, well yes. In a sense. We then trigger processes that have long lain dormant in the mammalian tool kit. We’ve become quite adept at extrapolating and filling in lost or missing elements. Whereupon we give the body every chance to repair or regrow or even replace its own component parts without surgical intervention, in a way that’s wholly... or mostly... natural.
    Sandra: Wow... I mean,