[DannyTN]

then it again proves that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs."

When was the first time?

If these "genetic switches" exist, then it is likely that "genetic switch" and the genetic code for chicken existed in the dinosaur too.

Which would mean that the chicken DNA is not an "evolutionary product" but rather a selection of genetic potential that already existed from the beginning.

[muawiyah]

Look, I've already sidetracked to that old dinosaur Teddy Kennedy, we sure don't wanna' be talking about evolution in the same breath ~ maybe devolution ~

But, if you insist, all mammals have the same genes, all birds have the same genes, there are differences. There are some differences in the number of genes ~ but the big differences arise from methylation ~ it can turn on, or turn off, whole banks of genes.

We don't know yet all the causes of methylation, or who/what/which/where controls it. Maybe there's a super computer in your genome somewhere and it does the deed ~

The basic idea is that we are all made out of the same stuff, but there are differences. That's why your liver will taste just like a chicken liver, but the gizzard is gonna' be different ~ 'cause you don't have one!