Genetic Ridiculousity

There's a reason that I haven't had any formal biology training since high school.  It's mostly cuz biology (or more specifically genetics) blows my freaking mind.  I heard a statistic a while ago (and similar things since) that all humans are something like 95% genetically identical.  (Initially, that sounds way too high, but if you think about it all humans (with rare exceptions) have the same number of internal organs located in approximately the same place doing the same job.  So, 95% doesn't really sound that far out of whack to me....)  So, whenever I do read something related to this field, it's generally some anomaly.  Thing is, if only one case is found, they won't give the condition a name.  It's when there are several of these cases that they'll start to name it.

So, if you take a look around, there are so many crazy genetic conditions that I am frankly dumbfounded that humans, as a whole, are able to continue as a species.  From things like Polycystic Kidney Disease to Progeria to a hundred other crazy ways that our genes have gotten together and just said - you know what?  Let's tweak things and see what happens.

Why I am bringing this up now?  Well, I was reading a potty training book last night (yeah - it's getting to be about that time...) and there was a section on medical problems that could hamper the process.  So, I stumbled on a condition called "Hypospadias".  Now, you may wonder why I didn't just through a Wikipedia link in there like I did with the other conditions that I've listed.  It's cuz I wanted to give you a warning.  The Wikipedia link to this condition's description has a picture, and it is very much not safe for work.  So, if you are so inclined, take a look at the link here.

Now, for all of you who didn't click the link (and still consider me a friend), Hypospadias is a condition where the hole of the penis is not on the tip, but on the underside.  Let me repeat that so that you can fully appreciate the situation.  For some reason, the genes decided that it would be jim dandy to have the hole for the penis not at the end, which has a proven track record, but somewhere underneath.

"But Phil how common could this really be?" I know that at least some of your are saying.  The book that I read said 1 on 250.  So, that means that in Raleigh, which is where I live, there are about 405,000 people.  Let's say that roughly half of them are men, which leaves about 202,500 men.  So, if 1 in 250 of them have Hypospadias, that means that 810 people running around the city have this condition.  How did I not know about this?

I work in Quality Assurance, and I'm just saying that if I were to let this go out the door this I think that I may be written up.  So, God or nature or genetics or whoever is in charge of this, I just think that you should really figure this out, cuz it is blowing my mind.

(As a standard disclaimer, I'm not saying that people with any of the above listed conditions are bad or anything.  I'm more commenting on how there are a shit load of different ways that you can be messed with before you are even born.)

Now, I am fully waiting for someone who actually knows what they are talking about to come in here and tell me what for.  Someone who may have the word "genetic" on their business card?   (hint, hint.  :-) )