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The Y chromosome is a never-ending source of fascination particularly to men because it bears genes that determine maleness & make sperm. It’s also small & seriously weird; it carries few genes and is full of junk DNA that makes it horrendous to sequence.  The sex of human & other mammal babies is decided by a male-determining gene on the Y chromosome. But the human Y chromosome is degenerating and may disappear in a few million years, leading to our extinction unless we evolve a new sex gene. However two branches of rodents have already lost their Y chromosome and have survived successfully. In humans, as in other mammals, females have two X chromosomes and males have a single X and a puny little chromosome called Y. The names have nothing to do with their shape; the X stood for “unknown”. The X contains about 900 genes that do all sorts of jobs unrelated to sex. But the Y contains few genes (about 55) and a lot of non-coding DNA – simple repetitive DNA that doesn’t se...

  Macaque was first discovered in China in 2015, its existence was not known in India before this . It is only now that Indian scientists have discovered its presence in the remote Anjaw district in central Arunachal Pradesh.  That is barely 200 km aerial distance from where it was first spotted in China in Modog in Southeastern Tibet.  The latest discovery, takes India’s mammal count to 438.  Both the Arunachal macaque as well as the White Cheeked Macaque exist in the same biodiversity hotspot in the eastern Himalayas.  While the Macaque was first discovered in China in 2015, its existence was not known in India before this . It is only now that Indian scientists have discovered its presence in the remote Anjaw district in central Arunachal Pradesh.  That is barely 200 km aerial distance from where it was first spotted in China in Modog in Southeastern Tibet.  The latest discovery, takes India’s mammal count to 438.  Both the Arunachal macaque ...