The number of genes predicted for the Caenorhabditis elegans genome is remarkably high: approximately 20,000, if both protein-coding and RNA-coding genes are counted. This article discusses possible explanations for such a high value.

(Here’s a clue: We share 21 percent of our DNA with a roundworm).

Its genome contains a mere 97 million DNA base pairs, compared to more than three billion for Homo sapiens. But people have a surprising amount in common with this worm, which lives out its life rarely observed in the soil of temperate regions.

That’s right, 60% of the DNA code of fruit flies and humans is identical. That means that most human genes and insect genes are the same and function very similarly. Chrysochroa fulgidissima, or the “Tamamushi” beetle, has more in common with humans than you might think. Image by Brian Adler.

chimpanzees

A new survey has found that 22 per cent of men could defeat a chimp in combat, with a similar number backing themselves to come out on top while wrestling lethal king cobras. Experts say males would stand little chance against chimpanzees, which are four times stronger than humans because of their denser muscle fibre.

Chimps are far stronger than we are. Slate writes: A chimpanzee had, pound for pound, as much as twice the strength of a human when it came to pulling weights. The apes beat us in leg strength, too, despite our reliance on our legs for locomotion.

Humans may have big, bulbous brains, but when it comes to pure muscle power, we’re often considered the weakest of the great apes. Even chimpanzees, who are significantly smaller than us, exhibit levels of strength that are practically super-human by our standards.

We humans may be weaklings by nature. Humans appear to have evolved puny muscles even faster than they grew big brains, according to a new metabolic study that pitted people against chimps and monkeys in contests of strength.

Humans are believed to be predisposed to develop muscle density as early humans depended on muscle structures to hunt and survive. Modern man’s need for muscle is not as dire, but muscle development is still just as rapid if not faster due to new muscle building techniques and knowledge of the human body.

From a biological perspective, there is no such thing as devolution. All changes in the gene frequencies of populations–and quite often in the traits those genes influence–are by definition evolutionary changes. Unfortunately, anthropocentric thinking is at the root of many common misconceptions in biology.