• Question: Is there a chemical that can cause animals to mutate into strange creatures From Zak

    Asked by Sammy, Zak to Anais, katy, Lauren, Richard, Stuart on 10 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Lauren Laing

      Lauren Laing answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      Not exactly into strange creatures, but chemicals can alter the DNA of an animal. There are called mutagens. A large number of chemicals may interact directly with DNA, examples include nitrous acid, ethylnitrosourea, and Benzene.

    • Photo: Richard Friend

      Richard Friend answered on 11 Mar 2016:

      Not that I’ve heard of. What can happen though is some chemicals can affect DNA so that when an animal goes to reproduce, mutations occur in the offspring. These are usually pretty bad though, nothing like a third eye or anything!

    • Photo: Stuart Atkinson

      Stuart Atkinson answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      No, nothing that would given them some kind of X-men powers. Mutations can either affect the actual creature, and may cause ill health, or they may be passed on to offspring and cause birth defects.

      I think blinky the fish on The Simpsons is probably something that never happens!

    • Photo: Anais Kahve

      Anais Kahve answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Not that I know of! In humans, if a mutation is not fixed then it can cause diseases. For example, a change in a cell’s DNA can alter the composition of a particular protein which can affect the function of that proteins which in turn can affect the function of a cell. Over time, if enough mutations occur that are not fixed, then changes to an organ or can organism can occur. This is evolution. Over time, I am sure that humans will change in how we look as our environment changes. Who knows, with global warming we may not have any hair left on our heads because it might be disadvantageous to us in the heat!

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