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Could it be possible to genetically modify a human to give it Thanos-like resistance to physical attacks?So, you want to make yourself a Thanos, eh?Okay, but we will need supplies.A fully-staffed, ultramodern genetics facility in international waters, so we can dispense with any annoying regulationsMultiple sperm samples from Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson - stay with me; this is no junior high science fair project; sacrifices will be necessaryMultiple eggs from Lisa LeslieA suitable surrogate motherAll right, here goes.If you want to build a godlike mutant, you need to start with the right raw materials.Enter: DaddyHafþór Júlíus Björnsson[1][1][1][1] is an Icelandic professional strongman, actor, and former professional basketball player; you may know him as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane from the HBO series Game of Thrones. He is the current World's Strongest Man and is the first person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe's Strongest Man, and World's Strongest Man in the same calendar year. He has also won Europe's Strongest Man five times.He stands 6’ 9” and weighs over 400 lbs.===Next up – Mommy.Lisa Leslie[2][2][2][2] is a former American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA. She was a three-time MVP, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, and an eight-time WNBA All-Star. She has two championship rings and was the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.She stands 6’ 5” and weighs close to 200 pounds.Even if we stopped now, something tells me we would have an impressive specimen, but you asked for Thanos, so we need to press on, my comic book loving friend.Now, I happen to know Hafþór and Lisa are married – and not to each other. So, we will need to fertilize Lisa eggs with Hafþór’s sperm and implant the embryo into our surrogate mother. But, before we do so, I propose we take our little proto-Thanos over to the lab for upgrades.You may recall a while back when Chinese scientist, He Jiankui used the CRISPR gene-editing tool to alter the DNA of twin girls, so they were born resistant to HIV. We will be using the same technique to alter the genome of our Thanos Jr. embryo, but we will be making different adjustments. In other words, we’ll be identifying handy mutations and slipping them into TJ’s DNA before we implant him in the womb.Regulators and scientists from around the world condemned He Jiankui’s actions, calling his experiment unethical and unscientific (oh, ye of little vision) – hence, the need for our Thano-Genesis black site in international waters.Let the games begin!First hack: Bones - Despite being the hardest substance in the human body, bone is not invulnerable, unless you find yourself with an extremely rare mutation of the LRP5 gene. As luck would have it, a family in Connecticut carries a genetic mutation causing crazy-high bone density. They are easy to spot, as they have a deep and wide jaw. Remind you of anybody?Their bones are so strong none of them have ever broken one – none – car crashes, falls, whatever; they walk away. Focused on the spine, skull, and pelvis, this increased strength gives them the strongest known skeletons on Earth, and their genetic mutation maps to a single chromosomal segment in LRP5, making it an excellent target for CRISPR gene editing. Voila!So, we have unbreakable bones; how about we pack on a little extra muscle?Second hack: Muscles - Super strength is the quintessential super power, and Thanos looks jacked. Even with steroids, the average person cannot put up Thanos-level gains, but about 20 years ago, a decidedly above-average baby was born in Berlin. And, he gave us a conceivable way forward.At birth, the boy was extraordinarily muscular, with protruding muscles in his thighs and upper arms. Before he was 5-years-old, he could hold seven-pound weights with his arms extended. Try doing this yourself for a while to understand how amazing this kid was. He had muscles twice the size of other kids his age and half their body fat.DNA testing showed why: The boy had a genetic mutation which boosted muscle growth. The boy’s mutant DNA segment blocked production of a protein called myostatin which normally limits muscle growth. He was the first verified case, but others followed. Remember this kid?Liam Hoekstra[3][3][3][3] was able to do pull-ups, inverted sit-ups, Olympic-style iron crosses and more just months after birth. People like Hoekstra and the German super-baby have a genetic mutation in the gene MSTN. MSTN's job is to produce myostatin, which tells the body to stop creating new muscle when the time is right. Those who have the mutation typically have at least double the muscle of the average human and half the fat. That should do nicely.OK – unbreakable bones; super-jacked musculature; what is next?Third hack: Pain - Imagine being able to put your hand on a burning stove, cut yourself with a knife, or even break a bone without feeling any pain whatsoever. Fewer than 100 people have a rare genetic mutation that makes them able to do so, a condition called congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP).CIP stems from a mutation in the gene SCN11A. This mutation decreases the amount of sodium in the body's cells, which is key to alerting your brain to pain, as nerve cells use sodium to decide when to send a pain signal. With the mutant gene lowering sodium levels, nerve cells never have enough to send those signals, making the body completely immune to pain.So, where are we? Our Thanos Jr. is now a giant unbreakable strongman who feels no pain. Not a bad start, but we need more.Fourth hack: Speed - All of us have a gene called ACTN3[4][4][4][4], but variants of the gene lead to different abilities. Fast-twitch muscle fibers contract rapidly giving bursts of force (e.g., for sprinting). Researchers think alpha-actinin, a protein in skeletal muscle cells, helps make or stabilize these fast twitching fibers.Regular (non-Thanos-type) people have a variant of ACTN3, leaving them precious little working alpha-actinin. But, top sprinters, weight lifters, and other power athletes have another variant, so they can make the proteins necessary for superhuman bursts of speed and power. Please and thank you.Super-speed: CHECK!Ok. We have size, strength, speed, and immunity to pain. Sounds superhero-like to me. But, wait, I hear you saying.The mighty Thor (witty heart-throb to millions) is one of Thanos’ opponents, and Thor is rather a fan of weaponized lightning. No human could withstand such a high-voltage onslaught.Fear not, my canon-quoting comrade. I come prepared.How about for the fifth hack, we throw in a little: Shock-Proof Skin? Yeah, I said shock-proof.Slavisa “The Battery Man” Pajkic[5][5][5][5] has a genetic mutation which means he has no sweat or salivary glands, and since these glands are absent, his body can resist electricity. Pajkic has been known to withstand voltages as high as 20,000 volts.For perspective, most people would be severely injured and burned by 50 volts. A quick calculation suggests, on the resistance to electricity front, our little Thanos Jr. has the power of 400 regular men – not too shabby.Sorry Thor fans – the light show is over.I imagine about now, Marvel fans and contrarians in the Quora Universe are concocting all sorts of alternative strategies to defeat Thanos Jr. He is too strong, too big, too fast, and too tough to beat. What to do, what to do.How about a stealth attack? Maybe, just hang around acting casual, and wait for him to get thirsty. Then dump a bunch of arsenic into his goblet when he looks the other way.Well, my old lacy friends, I admire your heart, but His Bigness saw you coming.BONUS hack: Resistance to Poisoning - An entire community of people in a small town in Argentina have inherited a genetic mutation making them resistant to arsenic poisoning. They all have the gene AS3MT[6][6][6][6], which helps them flush out toxins much faster than the average person. The village of 6,000 people can survive after consuming more than 80 times the amount of arsenic needed to kill an average person.But you need not look only to Argentine villagers for such anomalies. Researchers analyzing Ozzy Osbourne’s genetic code have discovered a staggering number of mutant genes (wait, there’s more)… having to do with the way the body breaks down alcohol and various other chemicals.For instance, a mutation of the ADH4 gene gives him increased proteins to remove alcohol and other toxins from the body, which helps explain Osbourne’s continued existence despite the swimming pools of alcohol, cocaine, morphine, sleeping pills, cough syrup, LSD, and Rohypnol he has guzzled over the years. So, at the risk of slurring Thanos Jr.’s speech a little, we should pop those mutations in as well.Finally, for BONUS hack #2, a special treat.I thought, if we went to all the trouble of building an off-shore lab, figuring out how to ask Hafþór for a sperm sample without ending up… well, who knows whatthen we might as well go the extra mile and make our creation look the part too.Avenger fans will no doubt have noticed Thanos has an interesting complexion – like he might be cold all the time. You know what I mean.What, nobody wants to say it?Fine… the guy is purple. And, if we want to go all the way, we need to make Thanos Jr. purple too.What?! Surely, no gene hack exists for that, you say.I would not bring you this far just to let you down.BONUS hack #2 – Trademark Thanos Skin.It turns out, the Fugates – a family who lived by themselves in the Kentucky hills for over 100 years all had such skin, resulting from a rare genetic blood disorder (methemoglobinemia), which produces abnormally high methemoglobin — a form of hemoglobin.Hemoglobin is the molecule in red blood cells which distributes oxygen to the body. In methemoglobinemia, the hemoglobin cannot release enough oxygen, so people with the disorder have chocolate-colored blood and purple skin.Regular people have less than one percent methemoglobin in their blood. At levels between 10 and 20 percent, however, Thanos Jr. will develop purple skin without any other symptoms.There you have it: a seven-foot-tall, 400+ pound, beast – impervious to pain, poison, and lightning, too fast to catch, and too purple to ignore.Happy birthday, little fella.EDIT: Wow! My first 3K Upvoted Answer. Thanks Quora! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it.Footnotes[1] Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson - Wikipedia[1] Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson - Wikipedia[1] Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson - Wikipedia[1] Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson - Wikipedia[2] Lisa Leslie - Wikipedia[2] Lisa Leslie - Wikipedia[2] Lisa Leslie - Wikipedia[2] Lisa Leslie - Wikipedia[3] Liam Hoekstra - Super Strength - Superhuman (kid) 31 - Real life Superhumans[3] Liam Hoekstra - Super Strength - Superhuman (kid) 31 - Real life Superhumans[3] Liam Hoekstra - Super Strength - Superhuman (kid) 31 - Real life Superhumans[3] Liam Hoekstra - Super Strength - Superhuman (kid) 31 - Real life Superhumans[4] The evolution of ACTN3: The discovery of the sprint gene[4] The evolution of ACTN3: The discovery of the sprint gene[4] The evolution of ACTN3: The discovery of the sprint gene[4] The evolution of ACTN3: The discovery of the sprint gene[5] Slavisa Pajkic - Electric Man ( aka The Battery Man ) - Superhuman 46 - Real life Superhumans[5] Slavisa Pajkic - Electric Man ( aka The Battery Man ) - Superhuman 46 - Real life Superhumans[5] Slavisa Pajkic - Electric Man ( aka The Battery Man ) - Superhuman 46 - Real life Superhumans[5] Slavisa Pajkic - Electric Man ( aka The Battery Man ) - Superhuman 46 - Real life Superhumans[6] AS3MT arsenite methyltransferase [Homo sapiens (human)][6] AS3MT arsenite methyltransferase [Homo sapiens (human)][6] AS3MT arsenite methyltransferase [Homo sapiens (human)][6] AS3MT arsenite methyltransferase [Homo sapiens (human)]

I’m going to try to cover a few different angles in this answer:What is (and isn’t) happening with oil prices right nowWhat the next few months might look likeWhat all this means in economic termsAs preface, my standing here is seven years of living and working in Alberta. While I’ve had just one oilfield client, most of my other Albertan clients operated in a world dominated by downstream effects from said sector, which necessitated me learning a thing or two about it.That said, this is an enormously complex subject, and I’m not an energy analyst. As such, I’ve done my best to be clear about what I know vs. what I suspect. (As ever, my cash-for-corrections policy applies to all that follows.)Ok, diving in.I. Oil Prices TodayLots of buzz today about negative oil prices. To take one particularly dramatic screencap (h/t Chris Hua):But while these numbers make for remarkable headlines and watercooler discussions, they’re not quite what they appear (as Chris knows, to be clear).The skinny version:Lots of people who don’t want to actually buy oil still like to trade it. (This could be for speculation, as part of a hedge, or for other more arcane reasons.)The largest US market for oil futures is the NYMEX (part of the CME Group).Their oil futures benchmark is the WTI (a grade of oil that reflects a historically popular crude output from Texas).TheIr standard WTI futures contract is an obligation to take possession of 1,000 barrels of WTI-grade oil within a given month at a pre-agreed price.All WTI futures settle in Cushing, Oklahoma. (That is, if you purchase a WTI futures contract and hold it to maturity, you have to arrange to actually receive 1,000 barrels of physical crude from Cushing by x date.)Since lots of investors have no desire for the physical product, they traditionally roll their futures forward by selling one month’s contract(s) a day or two prior to maturity and then using said money to buy new ones.Usually this works fine, as someone in the supply chain will just buy those contracts for something close to the day’s spot price.In normal times this is an exceedingly mundane bit of the world’s financial plumbing. But then COVID-19 fell upon us and times were no longer normal. In just two months global oil demand dropped by 20%-30% (sources vary, and none can really be considered authoritative given the complexity of the calculation).While this sort of demand drop has happened to other industries too, the oil economy has some weird quirks:It can be prohibitively expensive to shut down production. Some machinery and infrastructure just isn’t designed to be turned off, or to run below certain thresholds.There’s an impenetrable thicket of contracts across the supply chain. For example, a given producer may have minimum volume obligations to a given pipeline that come with onerous penalties if unmet. Plus there’s an even deeper thicket of insurance claims / swaps.The upshot is that producers will sometimes keep the pumps going despite significant losses so as to avoid even larger losses.Historically, global demand has kept prices from actually going negative. If prices slumped too far buyers would just throw the oil in storage and wait.The trouble is that said system wasn’t built for a black swan event like COVID. We’ve never had this much of a supply/demand mismatch before, and global storage is now rapidly approaching capacity.This has had nasty effects on prices.As for today’s madness, it happens that April 21st is the maturity date for May WTI futures (the CLK20 batch).Why this matters:Imagine you’re a typical trader. You buy futures as a hedge or whatever. But you have no means of ever taking a physical delivery. You’d have to hire some company to retrieve and sell/store the oil on your behalf, which would be an expensive hassle.So you go to sell your maturing contracts on the open market as per usual, except this time global demand is plummeting and storage anywhere near Cushing is suddenly nigh impossible to come by.You didn’t buy an oil option. You bought an oil contract. Meaning you must take possession of the underlying or NYMEX is going to penalize you harshly. And once you have said oil you’re subject to government regulations re: storage and disposal. You can’t just burn or dump it.So buyers look around and say “sure we’ll take your contract off your hands — if you pay us enough”.You don’t care for this. But you have no real alternatives. Thus you pay up.Basically what we saw today was a classic squeeze. It isn’t that oil suddenly lost all value to end consumers. It’s just a weird season in a complex global market wherein settlement day came at a very bad time for lots of contract-holders in a specific region. WTI traders expected business as normal. But the business had changed and they were caught off guard.In contrast, here are the current prices for NYMEX-WTI futures settling in future months:Certainly not great. (WTI was around $50 USD before the COVID crisis began.)But are those left-column prices actually going to hold when future contracts come due? That’s a many-many-billions-of-dollars question.II. Oil Prices This YearOversimplifying a bit, there are four basic inputs to the price of oil-derived fuels:Getting them out of the groundGetting them to a refineryRefining / packagingTransporting them to an end userAs it happens, these costs are very uneven.Take Alberta:Most of our oil/gas comes from wells that require complicated and energy-intensive extractionLabor costs here are substantial (most rig folk do 12 hour shifts for 10-14 days straight, often in remote/inhospitable places, for which they need to be generously compensated)Alberta is landlocked, meaning our exports need to travel great distances by train/pipeline to get to a port/refineryMost of our oil products are “heavy” and require above-average refiningPutting this together, we understand why WCS (Western Canadian Select) trades at a steep discount to WTI. Even in good times this was often a $20/bbl USD delta.So what happens when WTI approaches $0?(We’ll get to an actual answer in a minute. For now you get the rhetorical point.)Anyway, as to the macro/global situation:The three largest oil producers today are the US (18m barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (12m bpd), and Russia (11m bpd). (These numbers shift, so don’t take them as ultra-precise. But for easy math we can use 100m bpd as our baseline for global output, which is fairly close to actual.)Per above, these countries have very different cost structures.Saudi Arabia has everything easy (trivial extraction, cheapish migrant labor, nearby/domestic refineries, central location for exporting, etc)The US has trickier extraction and much higher labor/regulatory costsWhile Russia has better labor costs than the US in general, most of their oil is in remote/frozen SiberiaAs global demand has dropped, said countries have been uncooperative as far as agreeing on both production cuts and price stabilizationThe Saudis agreed to a production cut with OPEC+, then started offering heavy discounts immediately thereafter (while they need prices to rebound eventually to make their national budget work, they’re rich enough to be patient)Russia has low debt, lots of foreign reserves, and very strong geopolitical incentives to see oil ecosystems in US/Canada collapseMost producers in the US will need government intervention to avoid bankruptcy (while breakeven numbers vary by region/type, it seems that sustained WTI pricing under $40/bbl would wipe out a huge chunk of the industry within the year)In a world where demand stays 20% below baseline for even a few more months, the US and Canada are in deep trouble. That’s because Russia and the Saudis can pretend at diplomacy by agreeing to concessions that don’t actually change the core dynamic all that much. Say they confer with a few neighbors and bring joint production down from ~30m bpd to ~23m bpd. This would still only be equal to roughly a third of the theoretical oversupply, thus still allowing buyers enormous leverage, thus still keeping prices perilously low.Can Trump and OPEC+ work something out? It’s possible. Every nation has its pressure points. But given how most in OPEC+ would benefit from permanent damage to US/CAD production capacity, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which they don’t distract/delay. (Bear in mind that the US is in an election year, and Canada currently has a vulnerable minority government. These are not ideal bargaining positions.)That all said, what’s going to happen in a month when the next set of futures contracts approaches settlement? Will much have changed?Maybe more countries do open back up. But even raising global demand to say 85% of baseline wouldn’t quite solve the problem. Pricing won’t recover until demand actually meets reduced production. There’s a chasm to close there right now.The storage situation isn’t likely to improve. The glut is just too large. All the tankers in the world have a joint capacity of something like 200–250m barrels (‘Unprecedented levels’ of floating storage, but where next for the tanker market?). But most still have deliveries to do, and the current surplus is quickly filling all available containers. What happened in Oklahoma will happen in more places.So maybe those June WTI futures do close at $20 or higher. It’s possible. But even that price would be something close to a death knell for many US/CAN producers. And that would still require a lot of things going very right.[EDIT: Some eight hours after first writing this, June WTI futures are down from 21.36 to 14.87. July’s are also down over $4. The only good news is that May’s numbers are now positive again, if barely. About $3 /bbl right now. We’ll see where they end up when the contracts close out for the month at 2:30pm ET today.]III. Likely FalloutI’m going to focus mainly on Alberta/Canada, as it’s the market I understand best.Some baseline context:The oil/gas industry here contributes something like $20bn CAD a year to provincial/federal coffers via royalties and taxes. (This doesn’t include income taxes on ~500k workers. More here: What Canada's energy sector paid governments from 2000 to 2018.)The high average pay from said jobs circulates everywhere in Alberta. It’s what makes the larger provincial economy sustainable. And high income-tax receipts from Alberta are also central to inter-provincial transfer schemes / federal budget balancing.Alberta set up a rainy day wealth fund decades ago. But this was severely mismanaged, and only had $18 billion CAD in it as of Dec 2019. (In contrast, Norway’s equivalent had well over $1 trillion USD when this crisis started, despite roughly half the daily production in recent years.)Alberta’s economy never quite recovered from the 2014 oil crash. Unemployment when I moved here in 2012 was a little over 4% (more or less full employment). Just before COVID started it was 7.2% (and about triple that for young men, who are historically the province’s top earners).Keeping that in mind, here are the underlying assumptions behind Alberta’s 2020–2021 budget (which had already been revised downward before COVID began):Translating this:The province was expecting some $4.3bn CAD in oil royalties (gas is an aside here).That number was based on ~3.7m bpd output at an average price of $51.20 CAD /bbl and a $.76 USD exchange rate.(Note: The price for CLS crude is different than for WCS bitumen. And even those are just two rough categories that don’t cover the full range of export grades. But the budget didn’t get more specific, so I won’t here either.)Anyway, comparing to current numbers:WCS is currently trading at $4.23 USD / $6 CAD. That’s about 12% of expected.Our dollar is down to $0.71 USD.Production is currently ~90% of baseline, and will likely fall to 50-60%.Oh, and unemployment in Alberta is projected to soon hit 25%.Oh, and capex investment (which creates jobs and obligates producers to stick around for future decades) is rapidly drying up.Oh, and many of the production facilities going offline now can only be brought back online at tremendous costs. So the choice is between managing that and eating the ongoing losses as WCS falls towards $0 (or perhaps even to negative levels).Put another way, Alberta is fucked. Our lack of diversification caught up to us, and even extraordinary intervention by the federal government (likely a necessity) won’t fully curtail the generational damage being inflicted.While the prognosis may not be quite as dire for Texas or Oklahoma or the Dakotas (I really don’t know), all oil-dependent economies are facing the same general reckoning. Even if demand/prices recover by next year, the damage will have been done.Hence why I’m sympathetic to protestors who want to re-open the global economy. I don’t think the science checks out. Based on what we know today, letting the curve go unmanaged seems likely to cause more net carnage than a well-considered shutdown. But I can appreciate that this is not enormously comforting to people watching what was already a bad situation descend into something from which there can be no easy return.Edit/Update January 2021Coming back here some nine months later to make two notes:Bloomberg published an interesting backgrounder on some (likely legal) trading shenanigans that played into just how aggressive the prices went at settlement in April.The global lockdowns in the spring lifted much faster than most feared, allowing oil demand to recover to something close to baseline before any kind of catastrophic damage was done to this part of the economy. We should be very thankful for that, while also appropriately alarmed at what would happen if a worse pandemic hit. (Not to trivialize COVID, which is a serious disease brought on by a serious virus, but this was not the big one. And as far as stress tests go, what we learned is that the system can handle huge swings that go on for a month or two. But should we ever be in a position where the world couldn’t restart again that quickly, lots of these markets are going to break in weird ways.)

Amazing facts about skin:# Skin Facts 1: Why different races have different skin colors?The fact is almost millions of years ago,all the human race were black in color, residing in tropical regions near equator. Black skin color denotes higher concentration of melanin (black pigment) under the skin which gives protection from harmful sun rays. As people started migrating towards the cooler northern regions, the requirement of sun protection decreased and hence skin produced lesser melanin and hence white complexion. Therefore races residing in tropical climate are darker complexioned and those in cooler regions are fair because of natural adaptation of the skin to the environmental conditions.# Skin Facts 2: It would take a 100 generation for a race to change its skin colorIf a black race shifts to a cooler climate or a white race person shifts to a tropical climate, it would take them 100 generations to change their color to adapt to the local environment. So if a black shifts to Arctic, after a 100 generation his family would be as white as snow…..# Skin Facts 3 : Why women are fairer than men in all races?Did you notice that too?? The science behind this hypothesizes that since women need more calcium and Vitamin D than men to help them tide through pregnancy, lactation and menopause, they were made light skinned. Its so because light skin absorbs more sunlight than dark skin. More sunlight leads to more Vitamin D production and in turn more calcium absorption…. Many a times I think that nature is brilliant….What do you say??# Skin Facts 4: Stay a little dirty to be healthyA shocker again? This is a famous “hygiene hypothesis” which says that exposure to harmless pathogens (bacteria, viruses, dust particles) in the early years of life is good for the bodies immunity. It helps in strengthening our immune system and reduces the chances of allergy and asthma. This is the reason why the incidence of asthma and allergy is on a rise in urban population compared to rural ones, cause in the cities we are more particular about our hygiene and cleanliness compared to rural population. It is also said that since we had joint families in past, there were too many children under one roof and there was a high chance of cross over infection….this made the immunity of kids robust.Now with nuclear families and lesser kids, the rate of transfer of harmless infection has decreased and hence our immunity is not as strong as older days. So let your child play with little dirt…let him soil his hands..It will help him grow better both physically and mentally.# Skin Facts 5: You have at least a 1000 bacterial species on your skin at any given time.Don’t feel dirty….we have millions of “good bacteria” residing on our skin. They are an important part of skin defense against other harmful pathogens…So let them live happily on you and they will be your faithful protector.# Skin Facts 6: You shed off your skin every 28 daysSounds weird?? “We never see our skin shedding”….. That’s because our skin does not change its cover in entirety like snakes but we do shed our skin cells, at least 30,000-40,000 cells every minute. Shocked?? These cells are so microscopic that its hard to see them shed but its said that much of the dust in your house is because of these dead cells. Our skin cell has a life span of 28 days, they grow, age and die in 28 days and get replaced by new cells. So technically we have new skin every month!!# Skin Facts 7: Like fingerprints, you have unique tongue prints tooIt can be a creative idea for the next James Bond Movie Like we have a unique fingerprint, we also have unique tongue print Did you know there are few families in the world, whose members don’t have fingerprints at all….they have a condition called adermatoglyphia. Till 2001 only 5 such families had been reported in our medical literature. They have no other disorder apart from no fingerprints….although in some other medical conditions like Naegeli’s syndrome, the fingerprints are absent, but they also have many other disorders besides fingerprint loss. Want to write a new mystery novel…go for this idea!!# Skin Facts 8: Goose bumps are actually muscle contractions.Our hair is attached with a single muscle to the skin. Whenever we are in a very cold environment or we have some strong emotional feeling, this muscle contracts and pulls the hair which appears straight and taut.Source: Dr Arpita's Skin DiaryImage source : GoogleThanks :)EDIT : ohoooooo….wwwooooowwww..My First answer with 1K upvotes……Thanks a lot…EDIT 2: Many people asked about fact 3 , so i searched about it :As far back as the 1960s, the biochemist W. Farnsworth Loomis had suggested that skin color is determined by the body's need for vitamin D. The vitamin helps the body absorb calcium and deposit it in bones, an essential function, particularly in fast-growing embryos. (The need for vitamin D during pregnancy may explain why women around the globe tend to have lighter skin than men.) Unlike folate, vitamin D depends on ultraviolet light for its production in the body. Loomis believed that people who live in the north, where daylight is weakest, evolved fair skin to help absorb more ultraviolet light and that people in the tropics evolved dark skin to block the light, keeping the body from overdosing on vitamin D, which can be toxic at high concentrations.For more knowledge : Evolution : Library : The Biology of Skin Color : Black and White - PBSPBS: Public Broadcasting Service>wgbh>library>text_pop