crisscrossing Science Episode 043: What Would You Do with Three Exes?

In this episode, Chris Gaiser (professor of biology at Linfield College) and Mike Crosser (professor of physics at Linfield College) discuss what happens when the wrong number of chromosomes are passed onto offspring. Nominally in humans, eggs and sperm will carry exactly 23 chromosomes each, which will then combine to form offspring with 46 chromosomes (half from the mother and half from the father). In rare situations, either 22 or 24 chromosomes will be passed onward, causing conditions such as Down syndrome and Turner syndrome. Gaiser and Crosser discuss how this happens and the results