Chapter 4 - Fate
Ridley basically says that we have genes to cause diseases, and we only get them because the genes aren't working correctly. The gene that lies on chromosome 4 is very special because it is associated with the Huntington's chorea. Mutated versions of genes cause that, while a complete lack of gens cause Wolf- Hirschhorn. It is considered fate to whether you get the disease or not. Either you have the Huntington's mutation and will get the diseases or not. There is no theory or prophet to tell when a persons life may end. Huntington's disease leaves a fifty percent chance to the offspring as how Ridley mentioned Nancy Wexler writing a story about a woman in the Lake Maracaibo study. Nancy Wexler wanted to find the gene to this disease because she wanted to find a cure for it, unfortunately when she took the test, she found out she was diagnosed.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Genome - Entry 6
Chapter 11 - Personality
Ridley begins the chapter talking about a protein called the dopamine receptor. He mentions that dopamine is a neurotransmitter which causes their own neuron to discharge an electrical signal from it's own. D4DR gene identifies neurons as members of the brain's dopamine-mediated pathways. Dopamine is considered a motivational chemical for the brain. It is also said that people with more D4DR genes don't have the adventurous approach to things like people with shorter D4DR genes. Hamer mentions that serotonin is considered the punishment chemical for the brain which causes anxiety & depression. Personality is the thing that varies people to the way they respond to social stimuli mediated through neurotransmitters.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Ridley begins the chapter talking about a protein called the dopamine receptor. He mentions that dopamine is a neurotransmitter which causes their own neuron to discharge an electrical signal from it's own. D4DR gene identifies neurons as members of the brain's dopamine-mediated pathways. Dopamine is considered a motivational chemical for the brain. It is also said that people with more D4DR genes don't have the adventurous approach to things like people with shorter D4DR genes. Hamer mentions that serotonin is considered the punishment chemical for the brain which causes anxiety & depression. Personality is the thing that varies people to the way they respond to social stimuli mediated through neurotransmitters.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Genome - Entry 5
Chapter 12 - Self Assembly
Ridley starts off the chapter talking about the analogies that we use like how our eyes are considered as a camera, and how our heart is like a pump. Two scientists working in Germany named Jani Nusslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus that tried to find as many mutant flies as possible. They would dose their flies with chemicals that would cause mutation and bred them. The mutated flies came out in separate groups with some only having wings, or only limbs. If you move a hedgehog-expressing piece of tissue int the anterior half of the wing, the fly would come out as if it has mirrored the front to the back. Hox and hedgehog genes aren't the only genes that can control development, in fact, there are many more genes that can do the same.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Ridley starts off the chapter talking about the analogies that we use like how our eyes are considered as a camera, and how our heart is like a pump. Two scientists working in Germany named Jani Nusslein-Volhard and Eric Wieschaus that tried to find as many mutant flies as possible. They would dose their flies with chemicals that would cause mutation and bred them. The mutated flies came out in separate groups with some only having wings, or only limbs. If you move a hedgehog-expressing piece of tissue int the anterior half of the wing, the fly would come out as if it has mirrored the front to the back. Hox and hedgehog genes aren't the only genes that can control development, in fact, there are many more genes that can do the same.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Genome - Entry 4
Chapter 15 - Sex
Ridley introduces this chapter by mentioning a five-year-old girl who has a rare inherited disease called Prader-Willi syndrome. The Prader-Willi syndrome has many symptoms like having small hands and feel or mildly mentally retarded. In the late 1980s there were two scientists who tried to have a mouse with only one parent, but failed because the method they used did not help develop the embryo. Ridley mentions that diseases " do not always result from a mutation in one of these genes but from an accident of a different kind." The placenta is an organ that a father's gene would not trust the mother's genes t make and then the cerebral cortex is the organ that is the other way around. Ridley then continued to talk about a boy who got a circumcision, but went wrong and changed the boy into a girl by castration. The boy grew up thinking he was a girl until his parents told him the truth.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Ridley introduces this chapter by mentioning a five-year-old girl who has a rare inherited disease called Prader-Willi syndrome. The Prader-Willi syndrome has many symptoms like having small hands and feel or mildly mentally retarded. In the late 1980s there were two scientists who tried to have a mouse with only one parent, but failed because the method they used did not help develop the embryo. Ridley mentions that diseases " do not always result from a mutation in one of these genes but from an accident of a different kind." The placenta is an organ that a father's gene would not trust the mother's genes t make and then the cerebral cortex is the organ that is the other way around. Ridley then continued to talk about a boy who got a circumcision, but went wrong and changed the boy into a girl by castration. The boy grew up thinking he was a girl until his parents told him the truth.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Genome - Entry 3
Chapter 6 - Intelligence
Ridley introduces the chapter by first mentioning that "GENES ARE NOT THERE TO CAUSE DISEASES" and then eventually talking about how a gene for intelligence has been found. Robert Plomin has been researching, and found a group of gifted teenagers. It was proven that the smarter teenagers have a different DNA sequence than a normal teenager. There are two sides on where intelligence comes from, either nature or nurture. I go on the nature side because i believe that people are born with intelligence inside them, they grow up to learn how to use intelligence, but they are born with it. The intelligence gene they found is very big, it contains 7,473 in total and the sense-containing message spreads over 98,000 letters of the genome.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Ridley introduces the chapter by first mentioning that "GENES ARE NOT THERE TO CAUSE DISEASES" and then eventually talking about how a gene for intelligence has been found. Robert Plomin has been researching, and found a group of gifted teenagers. It was proven that the smarter teenagers have a different DNA sequence than a normal teenager. There are two sides on where intelligence comes from, either nature or nurture. I go on the nature side because i believe that people are born with intelligence inside them, they grow up to learn how to use intelligence, but they are born with it. The intelligence gene they found is very big, it contains 7,473 in total and the sense-containing message spreads over 98,000 letters of the genome.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Genome - Entry 2
Chapter 9 - Disease
Ridley introduces this chapter by mentioning the different blood types like A, B, AB, and O. He explains how A and B can provide blood for AB, but AB cannot provide blood for A or B. He also mentions that O is a universal donor for any blood type. A and B type of bloods have difference in their genes, where the letters are ordered differently. Ridley explains how the people who have AB blood type are more healthy and to be AB, they have to be offspring of A and B bloody type. So it is suggested for an AA to mate with a BB to have AB healthy children. Ridley talks about a experiment with wearing and smelling a t-shirt with no perfume or deodorant for 2 days, and ranking them by the attractiveness of the smell. There will always be change, and nothing stays the same.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Ridley introduces this chapter by mentioning the different blood types like A, B, AB, and O. He explains how A and B can provide blood for AB, but AB cannot provide blood for A or B. He also mentions that O is a universal donor for any blood type. A and B type of bloods have difference in their genes, where the letters are ordered differently. Ridley explains how the people who have AB blood type are more healthy and to be AB, they have to be offspring of A and B bloody type. So it is suggested for an AA to mate with a BB to have AB healthy children. Ridley talks about a experiment with wearing and smelling a t-shirt with no perfume or deodorant for 2 days, and ranking them by the attractiveness of the smell. There will always be change, and nothing stays the same.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Genome - Entry 1
Chapter 7 - Instinct
Ridley describes some examples of how instinct is like for animals, and how humans don't NEED to rely on instincts, but instead we learn. Chomsky studied the way human beings spoke, and came to a conclusion that there are similarities to all languages that bore witness to a universal human grammar. Ridley discusses how we can change a statement in English by just changing one word to the front, making it a question. There are particular parts in the brain that can cause one to lose the knowledge of how to use sentences that are grammatically correct. English is something we can learn by reading books, but the environment allows us to improve our English. All human beings have instinct, but that doesn't mean that it is developed equally. There are many people who are more advanced than others who could just be slower in learning grammar.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Ridley describes some examples of how instinct is like for animals, and how humans don't NEED to rely on instincts, but instead we learn. Chomsky studied the way human beings spoke, and came to a conclusion that there are similarities to all languages that bore witness to a universal human grammar. Ridley discusses how we can change a statement in English by just changing one word to the front, making it a question. There are particular parts in the brain that can cause one to lose the knowledge of how to use sentences that are grammatically correct. English is something we can learn by reading books, but the environment allows us to improve our English. All human beings have instinct, but that doesn't mean that it is developed equally. There are many people who are more advanced than others who could just be slower in learning grammar.
Citation:
Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)