Altered Inheritance

Altered Inheritance PDF Author: Françoise Baylis
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674976711
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
With the advent of CRISPR gene-editing technology, designer babies have become a reality. Françoise Baylis insists that scientists alone cannot decide the terms of this new era in human evolution. Members of the public, with diverse interests and perspectives, must have a role in determining our future as a species.

Altered Inheritance

Altered Inheritance PDF Author: Françoise Baylis
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674976711
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
With the advent of CRISPR gene-editing technology, designer babies have become a reality. Françoise Baylis insists that scientists alone cannot decide the terms of this new era in human evolution. Members of the public, with diverse interests and perspectives, must have a role in determining our future as a species.

A Troublesome Inheritance

A Troublesome Inheritance PDF Author: Nicholas Wade
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698163796
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Drawing on startling new evidence from the mapping of the genome, an explosive new account of the genetic basis of race and its role in the human story Fewer ideas have been more toxic or harmful than the idea of the biological reality of race, and with it the idea that humans of different races are biologically different from one another. For this understandable reason, the idea has been banished from polite academic conversation. Arguing that race is more than just a social construct can get a scholar run out of town, or at least off campus, on a rail. Human evolution, the consensus view insists, ended in prehistory. Inconveniently, as Nicholas Wade argues in A Troublesome Inheritance, the consensus view cannot be right. And in fact, we know that populations have changed in the past few thousand years—to be lactose tolerant, for example, and to survive at high altitudes. Race is not a bright-line distinction; by definition it means that the more human populations are kept apart, the more they evolve their own distinct traits under the selective pressure known as Darwinian evolution. For many thousands of years, most human populations stayed where they were and grew distinct, not just in outward appearance but in deeper senses as well. Wade, the longtime journalist covering genetic advances for The New York Times, draws widely on the work of scientists who have made crucial breakthroughs in establishing the reality of recent human evolution. The most provocative claims in this book involve the genetic basis of human social habits. What we might call middle-class social traits—thrift, docility, nonviolence—have been slowly but surely inculcated genetically within agrarian societies, Wade argues. These “values” obviously had a strong cultural component, but Wade points to evidence that agrarian societies evolved away from hunter-gatherer societies in some crucial respects. Also controversial are his findings regarding the genetic basis of traits we associate with intelligence, such as literacy and numeracy, in certain ethnic populations, including the Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews. Wade believes deeply in the fundamental equality of all human peoples. He also believes that science is best served by pursuing the truth without fear, and if his mission to arrive at a coherent summa of what the new genetic science does and does not tell us about race and human history leads straight into a minefield, then so be it. This will not be the last word on the subject, but it will begin a powerful and overdue conversation.

The Genetics of Obesity

The Genetics of Obesity PDF Author: Claude Bouchard
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9780849348808
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive compilation of the evidence available regarding the role of genetic differences in the etiology of human obesities and their health and metabolic implications. It also identifies the most promising research areas, methods, and strategies for use in future efforts to understand the genetic basis of obesities and their consequences on human health. Leading researchers in their respective fields present contributed chapters on such topics as etiology and the prevalence of obesities, nongenetic determinants of obesity and fat topography, and animal models and molecular biological technology used to delineate the genetic basis of human obesities. A major portion of the book is devoted to human genetic research and clinical observations encompassing adoption studies, twin studies, family studies, single gene effects, temporal trends and etiology heterogeneity, energy intake and food preference, energy expenditure, and susceptibility to metabolic derangements in the obese state. Future directions of research in the field are covered in the book as well.

Mixed Messages

Mixed Messages PDF Author: Robert A. Paul
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022624105X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
As social and symbolic animals—animals with language and systems of signs—humans are informed by two different kinds of heritage, one biological, the other cultural. Scholars have tended to study our genetic and symbolic lineages separately, but in recent years some have begun to explore them together, offering a “dual inheritance theory.” In this book, Robert A. Paul offers an entirely new and original consideration of our dual inheritance to date, going deep inside an extensive ethnographic record to outline a fascinating relationship between our genetic codes and symbolic systems. Examining a wide array of cultures, Paul reveals how the inherent tensions between these two modes of transmission generate many of the features of human society, such as marriage rules, initiation rituals, gender asymmetry, and sexual symbolism. Exploring differences in the requirements, range, and agendas of genetic and symbolic reproduction, he shows that a properly conceived dual inheritance model does a better job of accounting for the distinctive character of actual human societies than either evolutionary or socio-cultural construction theories can do alone. Ultimately this book offers a powerful call for a synthesis of the traditions inspired by Darwin, Durkheim, and Freud—one that is critically necessary if we are to advance our understanding of human social life.

Heritable Human Genome Editing

Heritable Human Genome Editing PDF Author: The Royal Society
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309671132
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing. From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.

The Human Inheritance

The Human Inheritance PDF Author: Bryan Sykes
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198502746
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Very little excites human curiosity quite so much as contemplating human origins. More than any other branch of science, evolution - and human evolution in particular - is fraught with controversy. Working from what is essentially the same data, schools of opinion have come to diametrically opposed conclusions. Are we adapted Neanderthals, or a new species altogether which wiped them out? Did the first Americans enter the continent 30,000 or 12,000 years ago? Did the Polynesians sail against wind and current to an unknown fate, or were they just blown across from South America while out fishing? Why do we speak different languages? Is it because language traces our biological history, or are the two things completely unrelated? Evolution, because it deals with a past that can never conclusively be known, was once ideal material for perpetual debate. Enter genetics with a completely new source of objective data. Surely these old questions would soon be settled one way or another. Or would they? Bryan Sykes brings together a world-class set of contributors to debate these questions. The result is eight lively essays, each of which offers a different opinion about what the links between genes, language, and the archaeological record can tell us about human evolution - and indeed, whether they can tell us anything conclusive at all. This stimulating and challenging book poses more questions than it offers answers, eschews jargon, and pursues controversy. Guaranteed to fascinate anyone who has ever wondered how the fossil record, the incredible diversity of human language, and our genetic inheritance might combine to give a glimpse of human origins. Edited by Bryan Sykes, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. Publisher's note.

Scientific Frontiers in Developmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment

Scientific Frontiers in Developmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309070864
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Scientific Frontiers in Developmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment reviews advances made during the last 10-15 years in fields such as developmental biology, molecular biology, and genetics. It describes a novel approach for how these advances might be used in combination with existing methodologies to further the understanding of mechanisms of developmental toxicity, to improve the assessment of chemicals for their ability to cause developmental toxicity, and to improve risk assessment for developmental defects. For example, based on the recent advances, even the smallest, simplest laboratory animals such as the fruit fly, roundworm, and zebrafish might be able to serve as developmental toxicological models for human biological systems. Use of such organisms might allow for rapid and inexpensive testing of large numbers of chemicals for their potential to cause developmental toxicity; presently, there are little or no developmental toxicity data available for the majority of natural and manufactured chemicals in use. This new approach to developmental toxicology and risk assessment will require simultaneous research on several fronts by experts from multiple scientific disciplines, including developmental toxicologists, developmental biologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians.

An Introduction to Human Molecular Genetics

An Introduction to Human Molecular Genetics PDF Author: Jack J. Pasternak
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 047171917X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description
An Introduction to Human Molecular Genetics Second Edition Jack J. Pasternak The Second Edition of this internationally acclaimed text expandsits coverage of the molecular genetics of inherited human diseaseswith the latest research findings and discoveries. Using a unique,systems-based approach, the text offers readers a thoroughexplanation of the gene discovery process and how defective genesare linked to inherited disease states in major organ and tissuesystems. All the latest developments in functional genomics,proteomics, and microarray technology have been thoroughlyincorporated into the text. The first part of the text introduces readers to the fundamentalsof cytogenetics and Mendelian genetics. Next, techniques andstrategies for gene manipulation, mapping, and isolation areexamined. Readers will particularly appreciate the text'sexceptionally thorough and clear explanation of genetic mapping.The final part features unique coverage of the molecular geneticsof distinct biological systems, covering muscle, neurological, eye,cancer, and mitochondrial disorders. Throughout the text, helpfulfigures and diagrams illustrate and clarify complex material. Readers familiar with the first edition will recognize the text'ssame lucid and engaging style, and will find a wealth of new andexpanded material that brings them fully up to date with a currentunderstanding of the field, including: * New chapters on complex genetic disorders, genomic imprinting,and human population genetics * Expanded and fully revised section on clinical genetics, coveringdiagnostic testing, molecular screening, and varioustreatments This text is targeted at upper-level undergraduate students,graduate students, and medical students. It is also an excellentreference for researchers and physicians who need a clinicallyrelevant reference for the molecular genetics of inherited humandiseases.

Human Inheritance

Human Inheritance PDF Author: T. Morgan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Heredity, Human
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description


Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century

Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Bernd Gausemeier
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317319206
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
The essays in this collection examine how human heredity was understood between the end of the First World War and the early 1970s. The contributors explore the interaction of science, medicine and society in determining how heredity was viewed across the world during the politically turbulent years of the twentieth century.