quirk
a strange characteristic or habit
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
FASCINATING MEDICAL EXAMPLE:
About one person in 8,500 has a condition called situs inversus in which all the internal organs are located in mirror-image to the usual arrangement. People with situs inversus have their heart on the right and their liver on the left. The condition does not usually result in any medical problems.
No one knows why some people are internally flip-flopped, but recently scientists have discovered some clues.
In the earliest days of embryo development there is a critical period during which cilia (tiny beating hairs) cause a current to flow across the embryo. This current carries certain substances to one side more than the other, creating a left-right difference that becomes amplified into the left-right positions of the organs.
People with situs inversus may have a genetic QUIRK that reverses or removes that current.
About one person in 8,500 has a condition called situs inversus in which all the internal organs are located in mirror-image to the usual arrangement. People with situs inversus have their heart on the right and their liver on the left. The condition does not usually result in any medical problems.
No one knows why some people are internally flip-flopped, but recently scientists have discovered some clues.
In the earliest days of embryo development there is a critical period during which cilia (tiny beating hairs) cause a current to flow across the embryo. This current carries certain substances to one side more than the other, creating a left-right difference that becomes amplified into the left-right positions of the organs.
People with situs inversus may have a genetic QUIRK that reverses or removes that current.
Did you
know?
Synonyms:
aberration, caprice, characteristic, conceit, crotchet, eccentricity, equivocation, fancy, fetish, foible, habit, humor, idiosyncrasy, idée fixe, irregularity, kink, knack, mannerism, oddity, peculiarity, quibble, singularity, subterfuge, trait, turn, twist, vagary, whim, whimsy
aberration, caprice, characteristic, conceit, crotchet, eccentricity, equivocation, fancy, fetish, foible, habit, humor, idiosyncrasy, idée fixe, irregularity, kink, knack, mannerism, oddity, peculiarity, quibble, singularity, subterfuge, trait, turn, twist, vagary, whim, whimsy
