The X-Men. The Children of the Atom. Perhaps no other characters in comics are as rooted in a scientific concept. Evolutionary biologist Nathan H. Lents addresses how the X-gene might work, how non-mutant parents have mutant kids, what it really means to be the “next step in human evolution,” and just how removed from the rest of the population Marvel’s mutants really are.
Get Nathan’s book, Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes!
For more X-Men biology, check out AIPT’s giant assessment of all things mutant, right here!
On July 12, AIPT Science and the New York City Skeptics co-presented the first ever AIPT SciPhi-Fest, a virtual festival of science, philosophy, and philosophy of science, as seen through a pop culture lens. Subscribe to the New York City Skeptics YouTube channel to see videos of every talk, to be posted in the coming weeks!

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