Meiosis

Empirical, based on observation and experiment, not on theory.

Meiotic, serving to bring out a person's latent ideas to clear consciousness.

Ontology, department of metaphysics concerned with the essence of things as being, abstract.

But books and bravado can only take you so far.

28, and 66, so they could never produce viable offspring, just one of the many reasons why we'll never have real-life turtle ducks.

But how do our bodies, and for that matter, ducks, turtles, and everything else that reproduces sexually, make cells with half the normal number of chromosomes? Well, to get our gametes game on, we've got to wrench those homologous pairs apart in a process called meiosis.

While similar to the process of mitosis, Meiosis is a double round of cell division that produces four new haploid cells after each cycle.

It starts with a special reproductive cell called a germ cell.

The germ cell hangs out in the gonads, making one copy of each of its chromosomes.

But if you also stock Cool Ranch Doritos, salt and vinegar chips, and Fuego Takis for good measure, you appeal to broader tastes, and it's more likely that your store stays in business.

There's a similar evolutionary strategy going on with genetically unique offspring.

Meiosis mixes and splits DNA, making gametes that are ready to combine chromosomes with other gametes.