PEOPLE: M & M’s

M & M’s have been coming up quite a bit in my life lately. I’m not sure why, and if there’s a purpose to it, I don’t have time to philosophically figure it out. Anyway, this bit of trivia is not just a boredom-filler post; honest to God, it’s important to me. On one of the leftover from Halloween M & M baggies there’s “Billy’s Science Facts” and the first one I noticed and read was that 85% of the population can curl their tongue into a U. This ability is caused by a dominant gene if you can do it, recessive if you can’t. Why this struck me is that starting with my older sister way back when, and continuing throughout my life whenever the opportunity arose, I have been teased about not being able to curl my tongue. While not a major factor in warping my psyche, it has made me feel inadequate upon occasion. Now I find out that I’m in the elite 15% of the population who cannot curl their tongue. Can’t tell you what a boost to my self esteem this is. Further research on more scientifically oriented websites disputes the 85/15% estimate, but who would you believe? The relatively new internet system or a candy that’s been around for over half a century?