Heterosis

people just don't get it.

Cross is just hybridization, hybrid vigor.

It's not what they think.

The names don't mean anything.

It's a scary thing.

Lee was reading my mind.

Hybrid vigor, the bad and the good enhances everything.

Yes.

There's actually a proper genetics term for mixed breeds are strong.

It's called hybrid vigor in textbooks, heterosis.

And large studies comparing purebred and mixed breed dogs have shown that this old saying is backed up by some pretty cold, hard numbers.

Cold, hard numbers.

Fertility, litter size, offspring survival, stress tolerance, immune function.

This is the phenomenon agriculture has known for a century.

Hybrid vigor.

Cross two distinct lines of corn, chickens, cattle, pigs, and the first generation, the F1, grows faster, yields more, resists disease better than either parent.

That changes how stubborn problems get treated.

Which reminds me of Denise Caruso and her Hybrid Vigor Institute.

Hybrid vigor, as in biology.

Cross two strains, and you get something stronger.

Yep.

That's carrying one mindset into a totally different lab.

Right.

Not a leap so much as proof of concept for hybrid vigor.