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Designer people: is technology making us less human?
Technological advances have benefitted humanity; we can all see how fitting prosthetic limbs to amputees can raise no moral objections. But how might we respond if designers invite us to upgrade to Arm 2.0 or Brain 4.0? Is there a point where technology transforms what it means to be human and should we be wary or embrace it? Speakers include Daisy Ginsberg, design fellow, Synthetic Aesthetics, Stanford University/University of Edinburgh; Professor Andy Miah, director, Creative Futures Research Centre, University of West Scotland; Marilyn Mond, emeritus professor of molecular embryology, University College London; Susana Soares, designer; senior lecturer, London Southbank University.Technological advances have benefitted humanity; we can all see how fitting prosthetic... more-
- worldwrite
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My DNA-tree-rrific tattoo design
First off, I wanted a sort of Tree of Life theme to fall in line with my murky worldview. The branches ended up looking like spreading blood vessels, but that was good, because they just reinforced the medical/science/biological look I was going for. I definitely wanted something science-y so I could send it to Carl Zimmer, author of Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed. That's why it has the DNA double helix as the tree trunk. And just for fun, we decided to add the wee Newton's apple (my first color!), which was not in the original design but drawn in freehand when the main work was completed.
http://www.metallomusikum.com/2012/04/my-dna-tree-rrific-tattoo-design.htmlFirst off, I wanted a sort of Tree of Life theme to fall in line with my murky... more-
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N.Y. Preschool Starts DNA Testing For Admission
For years, New York parents have been applying to preschools even before their youngsters are born. That's not new, but the approach one prestigious pre-school on the Upper West Side is.
At the Porsafillo Preschool Academy, all applicants must now submit a DNA analysis of their children.
The preschool is housed in a modern glass and steel building designed by IM Pei. It's situated in a leafy corner of the Upper West Side. On a recent afternoon, Headmaster Rebecca Unsinn showed off "Porsafillo Pre," as it's called.
"Over here, we have computer labs, C++ learning, which of course, as I'm sure you know, is a language of computers," she says. Wait, computer language? These preschoolers are learning C++?
"Oh, absolutely they are," Unsinn says. "And they're very good at it."
That's not the only language they're learning; all the children are also enrolled in a Mandarin Chinese immersion program.
More than 12,000 applications pour into Unsinn's office each fall. That's 12,000 hopefuls for just 32 spots a year. It makes Porsafillo Pre the most competitive preschool in the United States.
So in a bid to weed out the kids who have no chance, the school decided to require a DNA test for all applicants. Before she joined the school in 2009, Unsinn was a child neurologist. She was hired specifically to implement this new policy.
Her team is looking for genetic markers that indicate future excellence — things like intelligence, confidence and other leadership traits.
One expectant couple has gone to great lengths to get their future child a spot at Porsafillo.
At the New Amsterdam Memorial Hospital, Richard Tromper and Elizabeth Tauschen are ready for their test. Elizabeth is 24 weeks pregnant, and the couple is applying for admission to Porsafillo for the fall of 2015.
"I went to Princeton," Tromper says. "I was lucky, I mean, I got into Princeton, I worked hard. But if our child gets into this preschool, he or she IS going."
Porsafillo Pre is the express lane, the couple says, a one-way ticket to success.
From Tauschen's blood test, scientists will isolate her unborn baby's genetic makeup then pass their findings to the admissions office at Porsafillo. The school has an exclusive agreement with the hospital. Tauschen and Tromper are taken into a room beside the lab, the blood is drawn, and the vial is then escorted immediately into the lab. About a month later, results will be delivered to the school.
Some parents are already planning to take legal action against the school in the event their children are passed over for admission. A recent op-ed in the New York Times called the practice "ghoulish" and "unethical." Headmaster Unsinn dismisses the criticism.
"This is not unethical at all. If anything, it's extremely ethical. This is now no longer a subjective decision," she says. "This is a clinical test that can show us how a child will perform throughout its life."
The Porsafillo Academy will begin to accept applications under their new DNA policy today, April 1.
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/01/149804404/n-y-preschool-starts-dna-testing-for-admissionFor years, New York parents have been applying to preschools even before their... more-
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Supreme Court Vacates Federal Circuit Decision Allowing Biotech Co. to Patent Human DNA
As a follow up to the Supreme Court’s March 20, landmark unanimous 9-0 decision in Mayo v. Prometheus, on Monday, March 26, the Supreme Court unsurprisingly vacated the Federal Circuit Court’s decision to allow a biotech company to patent human DNA in the case AMP v. Myriad Genetics. The case has been remanded back to the federal circuit and is to be decided in accordance with the “a newly discovered law of nature is itself unpatentable and the application of that newly discovered law is also normally unpatentable if the application merely relies upon elements already known in the art,” standard that was set out in Mayo v. Prometheus.
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Commentary from Professor Dennis Crouch:
The Supreme Court today [March 26] vacated the Federal Circuit's decision in AMP v. Myriad Genetics and has ordered the appellate court to reconsider the case in light of the recent Supreme Court decision in Mayo v. Prometheus. To be clear, the Supreme Court's move here is not a ruling on the merits but rather merely a recognition that the validity of Myriad's human gene patents may be impacted by the Mayo decision. I previously wrote that one reasoned result of the Mayo decision is that Myriad's claims directed toward isolated human DNA are now invalid.
Following Mayo, the court could logically find that the information in the DNA represents a law of nature, that the DNA itself is a natural phenomenon, that the isolation of the DNA simply employs an isolation process already well known and expected at the time of the invention, and ultimately that the isolated DNA is unpatentable because it effectively claims a law of nature or natural phenomenon. One distinguishing point is that Prometheus claimed a process while Myriad claims a composition of matter. As we have seen in recent cases, the Federal Circuit already largely rejects formalistic distinctions between process and composition claims. Here, that distinction is further minimized by the reality that the claimed DNA is functionally characterized by the already well known process of isolating human DNA.
Continued at:
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2012/03/gene-patents-amp-v-myriad-genetics. html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PatentlyO+%28Dennis+Crouch%27s+Patently-O%29
(Use Tiny URL to get to above link http://tinyurl.com/823b4dy)
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For more on the Court's ruling in Mayo v. Prometheus see the post:
http://current.com/technology/93717572_supreme-court-biotech-industry-cant-patent-a-newly-discovered-law-of-nature-and-its-appliction.htmAs a follow up to the Supreme Court’s March 20, landmark unanimous 9-0 decision... more-
- Dagum
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Supreme Court: Biotech Industry Can't Patent A Newly Discovered Law of Nature and its Appliction
Biotech industry scrambles. While not a party to the case, the ruling has potentially huge implications for biotech giant, Monsanto. The case Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. was decided Tuesday, March 20, 2012.
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Article By Dennis Crouch:
A unanimous (9–0) Supreme Court has held that the personalized medicine dosing process invented by Prometheus is not eligible for patent protection because the process is effectively an unpatentable law of nature. This decision reverses the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's holding that the claims were patentable because they included substantial physical limitations.
The Prometheus invention identifies a “relationships between concentrations of certain metabolites in the blood and the likelihood that a dosage of a thiopurine drug will prove [either] ineffective or cause harm. Claim 1, for example, states that if the levels of 6–TG in the blood (of a patient who has taken a dose of a thiopurine drug) exceed about 400 pmol per 8x10(8) red blood cells, then the administered dose is likely to produce toxic side effects.” In addition to claiming the boundaries between over and under dosage of thiopurine based upon measuring 6–TG in the blood, some of the Prometheus claims include additional limitations such as (1) administering thiopurine to a patient and (2) determining the blood level of 6–TG.
Law of Nature: In its decision, the Supreme Court first identified the correlation between 6–TG blood levels and over/under thiopurine dosage as an unpatentable law of nature.
The relation is a consequence of the ways in which thiopurine compounds are metabolized by the body—entirely natural processes. And so a patent that simply describes that relation sets forth a natural law.
As is usual in these cases, the Court referenced the groundbreaking discoveries by Einstein and Newton and noted that neither “E=mc²” nor the “law of gravity” would have been subject matter eligible. Taking that as a premise, the court jumped to the conclusion that, therefore, the discovery that the blood level of 6–TG in a human correlates with either an overdose or underdose of thiopurine is also subject matter ineligible.
Additional Elements: The Supreme Court then considered the additional limitations and held them insufficient to transform the identified natural law into a patentable process. The opinion repeatedly and favorably cites Parker v. Flook, 437 U. S. 584 (1978) in finding that the physical and transformative elements of the invention were not “genuine applications of those laws[, but] rather .. drafting efforts designed to monopolize the correlations.” As to the claimed application of the law of nature, court here found it relevant and important that the additional steps were already known in the art.
Because methods for making such determinations were well known in the art, this step simply tells doctors to engage in well-understood, routine, conventional activity previously engaged in by scientists in the field. Such activity is normally not sufficient to transform an unpatentable law of nature into a patent-eligible application of such a law.
The conclusion here is that (1) a newly discovered law of nature is itself unpatentable and (2) the application of that newly discovered law is also normally unpatentable if the application merely relies upon elements already known in the art. To be clear, the court still maintains the law of Diehr that “an application of a law of nature or mathematical formula to a known structure or process may well be deserving of patent protection.” On the other hand, the “application” must be “significant,” not “too broadly preempt” use of the law, and include other elements that constitute an “inventive concept” that is significant and separate from the natural law itself. Of note, it is likely important that in this decision the court unfavorably cites the limitation of Flook found in Diehr that eligibility under § 101 “must be” based on claims “considered as a whole.”
Process and Presumption: In addition to the legal elements, the decision can be read to create a process for determining patent eligibility for patent claims that include a law of nature. The court wrote that the “additional features” that show an application of the law must “provide practical assurance that the [claimed] process is more than a drafting effort.” This language suggests that the burden will be on the patentee to prove that its limitations are more than patent attorney tricks.
Whither Myriad: Although no action has been taken yet, I presume that the Supreme Court will now vacate and remand the pending Myriad case with instructions to the Federal Circuit to reconsider its holding that isolated human DNA is patentable. ...
Continued at:
http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2012/03/mayo-v-prometheus-natural-process-known-elements-normally-no-patent. html
(use this TinyURL to get to the above link: http://tinyurl.com/7ktltyv )
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Read the opinion at:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-1150.pdfBiotech industry scrambles. While not a party to the case, the ruling has potentially... more-
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World's Smallest Dolphin "Imminently" Threatened As Fishing Nets Reduce Species to Just 55 Survivors
Mail Online...
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World's smallest dolphin to be extinct 'imminently' as fishing nets reduce species to just 55 survivors
By Tamara Cohen
PUBLISHED: 11:59 EST, 21 March 2012 | UPDATED: 14:29 EST, 21 March 2012
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PHOTO:
The Maui dolphin - the world's smallest - is under threat from fishing and just 55 individuals are left.
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The world’s smallest and rarest dolphins are facing ‘imminent’ extinction with just 55 individuals left, conservationists have warned.
Maui’s dolphins – which are classified as critically endangered - have seen their numbers halve in the last seven years alone, as dozens have been caught in fishing nets.
Only found on the west coast of New Zealand, there may be as little as 20 breeding females left, a new study has found.
Although part of the coast is protected from fishing, along most of it, trawling and vast fixed nets held in place by anchors have been blamed for killing the striking animals. The last corpse of a Maui dolphin – which grow to just 1.7metres long - was found last month.
Maui’s have a lifespan of around 20 years but only reach sexual maturity after around seven, and breed infrequently – around one calf every three years.
A new study carried out by University of Auckland, Oregon State University and the New Zealand Department of Conservation - using DNA samples - found the number of dolphins aged more than a year had plummeted from 111 when the last survey was carried out in 2004.
Dr Barbara Maas, a Cambridge University-trained zoologist who was not involved in the research, but has organised a petition to save the Maui’s which has gathered 10,000 signatures, told the Mail: ‘To have just 55 of these wonderful creatures left is beyond even our worst estimates.
‘Their extinction is really imminent now, within a few years. New Zealand is a civilised country, which markets itself as an unspoilt paradise. They must act before it is too late.’
The Maui dolphin is now listed as 'critically endangered'
There were around 1,000 in the 1970s before commercial fishing took off in the area. Marine biologist Dr Rochelle Constantine, who worked on the study, told the New Zealand Daily Herald: ‘We are staring down the barrel of extinction of this sub-species.’
It comes just a month after a coalition of scientists and animal welfare groups came up with a dolphin ‘bill of rights’ they hope will be enshrined in law.
They believe the animals are so intelligent they should be thought of as ‘non-human persons’, allowing whalers to be classed as murderers, they told the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference in Vancouver.
Experts say it is still possible to save Maui’s by setting up a sanctuary and banning nets over a larger area of the coastline. The government has said it recognises the problem and will bring forward proposals at the end of May.
However charities fear more delays could be devastating for the much-loved creatures. Their plight recalls that of the Baiji dolphin in China, which was once numerous and known as the ‘goddess’ of the Yangtze river.
In 2006, an international group of marine scientists spent six week scouring the 1,700 mile river in search of the last survivor, as the population was decimated by fishing, transport and hydroelectric power on the river. They hoped to move it to safer waters and rebuild the population- but found nothing.
It was declared extinct, the first marine mammal to be wiped out for more than 50 years and the first recorded disappearance of a cetacean species due to human activity, the scientists said.
Maui's dolphin is now the rarest in the world. They are a subspecies of Hector’s dolphin which is also endangered.
Conservation groups have been calling for more protection of its habitat for more than 10 years, when a former Environment Minister of New Zealand accused fishermen – who must record any found dead in their nets – of lying about the scale of the problem.
A spokeswomen World Wildlife Fund said: ‘The Maui’s population has been declining since the 1970s, and protection measures introduced in 2008 have not succeeded in turning the situation around. It is a national tragedy that our critically endangered dolphins are still dying needlessly in fishing nets.
‘We need to act immediately to get nets out of the water, including harbors and estuaries, to protect these dolphins throughout their range.’
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.Mail Online... . World's smallest dolphin to be extinct... more-
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New Law Requires DNA Sample For Every Crime
March 15, 2012 CNN http://youtu.be/FHfWymBhWJU-
- Radical_Centrist
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First Gorilla Genome Map Offers Clues to Human Evolution
CNN...
First gorilla genome map offers clues to human evolution
By Matthew Knight, CNN
updated 12:17 PM EST, Thu March 8, 2012 | Filed under: Innovations
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scientists have completed the DNA map of an African western lowland gorilla
Research hopes to shed light on human evolution and biology
Western lowland gorilla population estimated to be 100-200,000 individuals in the wild
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(CNN) -- The first complete gorilla genome has been mapped by scientists giving fresh insights into our own origins.
Gorilla are the last of the genus of living great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans) to have their DNA decoded, offering new perspectives on their evolution and biology.
"The gorilla genome is important because it sheds light on the time when our ancestors diverged from our closest evolutionary cousins around six to 10 million years ago," says Aylwyn Scally, postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge and lead author of the report.
"It also lets us explore the similarities and differences between our genes and those of gorilla, the largest living primate," he added.
A team of researchers examined more than 11,000 genes in humans, chimpanzees and gorillas, looking for evolutionary clues.
Initial findings have revealed that 15% of the gorilla genome is closer to human DNA than to our nearest evolutionary relative, the chimpanzee.
Researchers found that genes relating to sensory perception, hearing and brain development showed "accelerated evolution" in all three, but particularly in humans and gorillas.
Having the entire length of the gorilla genome now means scientists can start to compare all the four great apes at every position on the genome, Scally says.
It forms the baseline, he says, from which to move forwards and really explore why and when our genes and those of the great apes diverged.
"Did it happen quite quickly or was it something that gradually happened? At the moment we don't know," he said.
"It could have been some climatic change that separated humans in the east of Africa from chimpanzees in the forest -- that's an idea some have floated. If we can see some imprint of it in the genome that would very, very useful information."
Scientists used the DNA of a female western lowland gorilla (called Kamilah) who resides at San Diego Zoo.
In the wild, it is the most widespread species of gorilla, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), with a estimated population of 100-200,000 individuals.
The majority are found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, west Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola.
It's cousin, the eastern lowland gorilla is less prevalent (fewer than 20,000 individuals) and can only be found in the rainforests of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, says WWF.
The research is published in the science journal Nature.
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PHOTO (ABOVE):
The complete DNA of a female western lowland gorilla called Kamilah (left) has been mapped by scientists, completing the set of genomes for all great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans).
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.CNN... First gorilla genome map offers clues to human evolution By Matthew... more-
- EthicalVegan
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Humans and Gorillas Closer Than Thought, Genome Sequence Says
Gorillas have been portrayed as militaristic bullies in the Planet of the Apes movies and as “highly social gentle giants” by researcher Dian Fossey.
Now scientists say they’re closer genetically to humans than they once thought.
Sequencing the genome of a female western lowland gorilla named Kamilah determined that most gorilla DNA is similar or identical to those of humans, despite the 10 million-year gap since the two species split off, according to a report today in the journal Nature.
In 30 percent of the genome, the study determined that gorillas are closer to humans and chimpanzees than the latter two are to each other. It’s a finding that may help scientists track changes in how the species have responded over time to shared genetic characteristics, including diseases, the researchers said.
“If we can understand why they’re harmful in humans but not in gorillas, that would have useful medical implications,” said Chris Tyler-Smith, head of the human evolution team at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England.
Gorillas are the last of the great ape genus to have their genome sequenced, the investigators said. The group saw changes in genes involved in sperm production and in the formation of keratin proteins in the skin.
Additionally, gene variants that in humans cause genetic disease don’t seem to affect gorillas similarly, said Tyler- Smith, one of the study’s authors.
Dementia Gene
One of the genes, PGRN, has a mutation that causes frontotemporal dementia in humans. Another, called TCAP, a human variant that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart muscle thickens, makes it hard for blood to leave the heart.
Both humans and gorillas have accelerated evolution in genes associated with hearing, suggesting that the changes aren’t related to speech, Tyler-Smith said.
Because gorillas live in groups with one male and many females, there isn’t a lot of sperm competition, so many genes involved in sperm formation are either inactive or decreased in numbers in gorillas. And a gene called EVTL, which contributes to keratin formation in the skin, is evolving very rapidly in gorillas, who walk using knuckles that are padded with keratin.
Humans overall are still closer to chimpanzees in 70 percent of the genome, said study author Aylwyn Scally, a postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Ape Separation
“When we look at human evolution, there’s an emphasis on chimpanzees because they’re closer, and other great apes get overlooked,” said Tara Stoinski, chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, based in Atlanta.
“This lets us understand the relationships further back in our ancestry,” Stoinski, who wasn’t involved in the research, said in a telephone interview.
Human beings separated from chimpanzees 6 million years ago, and from gorillas about 10 million years ago, according to the report in Nature.
About half a million years ago, gorillas split into two species, the eastern gorilla, featured in Dian Fossey’s book, “Gorillas in the Mist,” and the western gorilla, whose genome sequence was published today.
Fossey was inspired by Jane Goodall’s work with chimpanzees and established a research center called Karisoke, in Rwanda. She knuckle-walked with the gorillas, habituating them to her presence so she could study them. Later, she tried to protect them from poachers after Digit, a gorilla she was especially close to, was killed in 1977. In 1983, she published “Gorillas in the Mist,” a description of her time with the gorillas that underscored conservation. Fossey was murdered in 1985, and buried next to Digit.
Koko the Gorilla
Koko the gorilla, who “speaks” using sign language, is a western lowland gorilla; her relationship with a pet cat was featured in the book “Koko’s Kitten.” Francine Patterson, a scientist who taught a modified form of sign language to the gorilla named Koko, portrayed the relationship between the gorilla and a housecat in the book.
Since the latest species split, eastern and western gorillas appear to have continued exchanging genetic information through sexual liaisons, researcher has suggested.
In the future, the scientists plan to look at the eastern gorillas, which have been studied more extensively in the field than western gorillas, Tyler-Smith said. Both species live in Africa, separated by the Congo River. The western gorillas are critically endangered, threatened by Ebola and being eaten by humans as meat; eastern gorillas are endangered, Stoinski said.
The human genome sequence was declared complete in 2003, the chimpanzee in 2005, and the orangutan in 2011.Gorillas have been portrayed as militaristic bullies in the Planet of the Apes movies... more-
- Vierotchka
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McDonalds Restaurants to Spray Robbers With "Synthetic DNA"
McDonald’s restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee.
The spray, which remains on the suspect’s skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain’s busiest NSW stores, including those at Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Lidcome, Kingsford and Wollongong, reported The Daily Telegraph.
If the SelectaDNA "forensic marking" spray proves successful in apprehending bandits, McDonald’s will introduce the system across all its 780 Australian outlets.
Developed in the United Kingdom by a police officer and a chemist, the spray has been used by McDonald’s outlets in Britain and Europe.
Each outlet keeps the details of its distribution a close secret, but one McDonald’s restaurant in The Netherlands installed above the main door an orange device which was electronically linked to a panic alarm system. Staff could activate the device in an emergency.
"Once there has been a security breach, the hi-tech spray unit will douse fleeing robbers with an invisible, synthetic DNA solution," McDonald’s Australia’s chief restaurant support officer, Jackie McArthur, said.
"The solution is invisible to the naked eye and unique to each location. It stays on clothing for up to six months and on skin for up to two weeks."
Using a UVA light, police can see the markings left by the system and link the offender back to the scene.
The spray contains a synthetic DNA strand composed of 60 variable chromosomes, said SelectaDNA director David Morrissey....
Continued at:
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=18179McDonald’s restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected... more-
- Dagum
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Reality TV: Making You Feel Superior Every Day
"Truthiness" is defined as, “a truth that a person claims to know intuitively from the gut or because it feels right without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.” Based on that definition “reality” television stretches that broad definition to something closer to "realitiness" – “the relative reality based on colorful characters and stupid premises without regard for the relative reality of either.”"Truthiness" is defined as, “a truth that a person claims to know... more-
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The next generation of GMOs could be especially dangerous
Did a recent scientific study just change the way we should think about the safety of genetically modified foods? According to Ari Levaux at the Atlantic, the answer is a resounding yes.
The study in question, performed by researchers at China’s Nanjing University and published in the journal Cell Research, found that a form of genetic material — called microRNA — from conventional rice survived the human digestive process and proceeded to affect cholesterol function in humans.
Levaux argues that this new study “reveals a pathway by which genetically modified (GM) foods might influence human health” which should cause us to completely revisit the question of GM crops’ safety. And he’s right to be alarmed, just a little off on the reasoning.
Let’s take a closer look at how this study applies to current GM technology, shall we?
I would argue that several studies have already suggested that existing GM foods might present a health risk. For example, this study in The International Journal of Biological Sciences found evidence that Monsanto’s Bt corn causes organ damage in lab animals. Then there’s this one which showed that GM soybeans can alter mice on the cellular level — an indication that genetically modified material survives digestion and is active in animals that consume it.
Of course, advocates of genetically modified foods will observe that the phenomenon of genetic transfer through consumption applies to all plants and that GM foods are therefore “substantially equivalent” to non-GM foods. As Levaux explains at length, this concept of substantial equivalence has been used by the biotech industry as well as our government to push GM foods through safety testing with minimal scrutiny. What’s Monsanto’s defense of all this? On its website, the company claims:
There is no need to test the safety of DNA introduced into GM crops. DNA (and resulting RNA) is present in almost all foods … DNA is non-toxic and the presence of DNA, in and of itself, presents no hazard … So long as the introduced protein is determined to be safe, food from GM crops determined to be substantially equivalent is not expected to pose any health risks.
So the fact that the Chinese team found active genetic material going from plants to humans isn’t really new and doesn’t really change what we know about how existing genetically engineered crops might affect us.
But what is new — and what Levaux missed — is that the Chinese study happens to involve exactly the kind of genetic matrieral — microRNA — that biotech companies hope to use in their next generation of genetically modified foods.
Today’s GMOs are almost entirely based on adding new genes to crops like corn, soy, and cotton in order to alter the way the plants function. And even then new functions are mostly limited to making plants either able to tolerate herbicides or to produce their own. But if biotechnology companies are successful in their efforts, there may soon be genetically modified foods that use microRNA — simply put, snippets of RNA whose potency were only discovered around a decade ago — to target, and block the function of specific genes in pests.
Thus the news that plant microRNA can survive digestion and affect human systems brings into question the wisdom of pursuing this kind of technology in food.
As explained to me by Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists and expert in genetically modified foods, microRNA technology is an area that biotech companies are actively pursuing. Monsanto itself has a whole web page devoted to the technology, which they call RNA interference.
Gurian-Sherman notes that the Chinese study — though requiring confirmation and follow-up research — raises “an initial red flag.” It calls into question “any general statement that [microRNA] technology would be inherently safe,” he adds.
He observes that humans and insects share a surprising amount of DNA material — evolution favors reusing and recycling genes even among creatures as different as insects and humans. If this research bears out, then it’s entirely possible that microRNA meant to target a specific insect gene will also have an effect — possibly unpredictable — in humans. This is especially true because, for technology like this to work as a pesticide, the microRNA must be present in high levels in the plant, which makes it even more likely the genetic material will make it all the way into the human gut.
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UPDATE: Dr. Michael Hansen, Senior Scientist at Consumers Union wrote to me after this post was published with an important point about the significance of the Chinese study. While he agreed that the main implications relate to the possible risk from microRNA-based GM foods, he also felt that this study did make a new and somewhat startling finding regarding how plant genetic material affects humans. As he put it, the study “showed that the miRNA not only survived digestion [in humans] but also was taken up and moved to other parts of the body where a specific impact was noted. The studies you cited — from Seralini’s lab and Malatesta’s lab — only show that GE crops can have an adverse effect on animals.”
more at the linkDid a recent scientific study just change the way we should think about the safety of... more-
- JanforGore
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- 4 months ago
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GM Crops - Contamination without Representation
If Oregon allows GM sugar beets to be deregulated, we may not stand a chance against full federal deregulation of all GM crops.
(SALEM, Ore.) - A public hearing is being held in Corvallis, Oregon this Thursday, November 17th to determine if Genetically Modified sugar beets will be deregulated in Oregon.
Meanwhile, the public comment period maybe just a local distraction giving way to full federal deregulation without any representation of organic and conventional crop farmers.
Let us not forget that the U.S House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture held a formal hearing on Genetically Modified (GM) Alfalfa on Jan 20, 2011.
The hearing corresponded with an open 30-day comment period, designed to provide relevant testimony with regard to deregulation of Genetically Modified Alfalfa.
The democratic process neglected to include a single organic or conventional farming representative. Throughout the two hour hearing various legislators publicly humiliated the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsak for even suggesting any compromise through talks with the organic and conventional communities. They all but ordered him to stand down his conversations with anyone but pro-GM enthusiasts (1:43:16).
Representatives left no seed unturned in honor of their allegiance to biotech crops and complete penetration into all foreign and domestic markets. In fact, Minnesota's Representative Collin Peterson referred to organic producers and consumers as "our opponents"[1](12:29).
Vilsak, even with his ties to Monsanto, was attempting negotiation with "so called Option 3" containing a minimal stop gap as an alternative to absolute contamination of organic and conventional alfalfa. In essence, planting barriers would have been implemented to maintain protective measures for the integrity of all seed varieties. Legislators blatantly mocked him and even pulled rank, saying that the Secretary of Agriculture does not have the authority to do anything but fully deregulate the crop without further ado. (35:38, 1:25:50, 1:29:15, 2:18:47)
It can be noted that Vilsak testified no less than three times that we were in the midst of the 30 day comment period, and in his opinion, the talks among all sides were providing necessary elements worthy of analysis for all agricultural markets concerned. (29:00, 1:44:00, 1:51:54)
The theme of the hearing centered around the economic burden of GM farmers if full deregulation didn’t go forth immediately (1:44:00). It was insisted by every representative that their loyalties were to the biotech community and that full deregulation was unquestionable without consideration for any form of barrier to protect other crops from cross contamination.
In regard to preservation of non GM crops, Texas Representative Michael Conaway begs the question, "how much of this is a definitional issue"? He questions organic standards and even insists that he "suspects that Genetically Engineered seeds will become the new organic". He blatantly suggests that legislative steps be considered to modify the language and thus re-define organic standards so that Genetically Modified crops can freely contaminate without restriction. He insists that it is merely a marketing issue and not an issue of health and safety. Conaway asks if we are just "hung up on the phrase organic, meaning something we grew ourselves in the backyard with whatever?"(2:33:00).
Concern was expressed by a number of speakers that GM crops are being promoted throughout the world as being no different than conventional crops, and if word got out that we established restrictive planting barriers, then it might be assumed that the GM crops were somehow different. That could put a damper on GM producers and their marketing potential. (30:45, 1:58:17, 2:18:47)
It was apparent, by the end of one sided discussion, that full deregulation and contamination remains unquestionable from the perspective of our democratic leaders. In other words, it is most notably a flagrant case of Contamination without Representation.
If Oregon allows GM sugar beets to be deregulated, we may not stand a chance against full federal deregulation of all GM crops. Public comments are being heard on Thursday from 4 PM – 9 PM at LaSells Stewart Center Construction and Engineering Hall 875 Southwest 26th St., Corvallis, Oregon.
Please see the full length video of the U.S House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture forum on GM Alfalfa, Jan 20 2011.
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetails.aspx?NewsID=1269If Oregon allows GM sugar beets to be deregulated, we may not stand a chance against... more-
- JanforGore
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- 6 months ago
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Switched at Birth Girls Want to Stay With Wrong Moms (Article)
A pair of 12-year-old girls who discovered they were accidentally switched at birth want to stay with the mothers who have been raising them rather than go to their real parents.
The girls have grown up just a few miles away from each other in the town of Kopeisk in the Ural Mountains of eastern Russia.
Their mothers gave birth in the same maternity ward just 15 minutes apart in 1999, and their infant daughters were inadvertently given the wrong name tags.
Their true identities were revealed after the ex-husband of Yuliya Belyaeva, one of the mothers, refused to pay for child care because his daughter, Irina, looked nothing like him. After conducting several DNA tests it emerged that neither adult was Irina’s biological parent.
“The judge couldn’t believe it,” Belyaeva told the BBC. “She said she’d only seen cases like this on TV and didn’t know what to advise us.”
The DNA tests sent Belyaeva on a search for her own daughter. She remembered that when she was giving birth, another woman was also in labor in the same ward. ...read more http://www.factoverfiction.com/article/4674A pair of 12-year-old girls who discovered they were accidentally switched at birth... more-
- factoverfiction
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- 7 months ago
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Guilty Until Proven Innocent
If you're convicted of a crime you didn't commit, good luck getting compensation for your time behind bars.
Take the case of Eric Caine. Last week, I wrote about Caine, a Chicago man tortured by police under the command of Lt. Jon Burge, wrongfully convicted of a double murder, and finally freed last March after 25 years of prison hell -- only to be legally screwed once again.
The latest travesty: a Cook County judge on October 12th rejected Caine's request for the certificate of innocence necessary to ensure compensation for his unjust imprisonment, a tidy sum of $199,000 that would have helped the penniless Caine start a new life.
Judge Michael McHale's interpretation of the state law governing such certificates was worthy of the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Wonderland. "Petitioner [Caine] must prove his innocence independent of the fact that the State currently has no evidence against him for the crimes for which he was originally tried," McHale opined. Caine's lawyers may ask the judge to stop reading Lewis Carroll and reconsider his decision, or file an appeal.
Unfortunately, Caine is not alone. Meet Nathson Fields.
Fields and another man were charged with a 1984 double homicide on Chicago's South Side. The trial judge, Thomas J. Maloney, didn't care whether Fields and his co-defendant were innocent. But the judge was perfectly willing to find them not guilty -- in exchange for a $10,000 bribe from the co-defendant's lawyer. The lawyer delivered the cash, and things were looking up.
Trouble was, Maloney discovered he was under investigation by the FBI and prudently returned the money. To further cover his tracks, Maloney found Fields & Co. guilty -- and sentenced them to death.
It turned out poorly for everyone. As the two men languished on Death Row, Maloney was convicted of conspiracy to commit extortion and obstruction of justice for fixing cases, and the lawyer was convicted of bribery.
The principals remained locked up until Fields won a new trial. He eventually was released on bond, breathing free air for the first time in 18 years. In 2009, a judge finally acquitted Fields in a bench trial. This time the verdict was legit.
Seeking restitution, Fields requested a certificate of innocence to qualify for the six figures he was owed under state law. The not guilty verdict convinced a Cook Co. judge to approve the certificate, and last year Fields got his check from the state.
But unhappy prosecutors appealed, and on September 30th a three-judge panel ruled that finding reasonable doubt at Field's re-trial wasn't good enough for him to collect. Now Fields will have to prove his true innocence -- or he could be forced to return the money.
Under the circumstances, what are wrongfully convicted prisoners like Eric Caine and Nathson Fields supposed to do? Confined most of their lives for crimes they did not commit, should they be saddled with law enforcement's job -- to track down the actual killers? From eight-by-twelve prison cells?
As for DNA, the magic bullet in undisputed exonerations, expecting to find it at most crime scenes is a television myth. (Sorry, CSI fans.) New alibi evidence is unlikely to emerge decades later. Recanting witnesses? Cook Co. prosecutors are threatening them with perjury for changing their stories.
Judges like Michael McHale in Caine's case, and the appellate justices in Fields' case, say they are simply following the letter of the law that compensates exonerated prisoners. Prove your innocence (or starve).
To some extent, they are right. Illinois lawmakers must amend the statute by guaranteeing funds to prisoners who are found not guilty, or whose convictions are vacated, or whose indictments are dropped. It would be inexcusable not to enact these simple remedies.
On the other hand, judges shouldn't be so quick to pass the buck. The current law recognizes that "... the court, in exercising its discretion... shall, in the interest of justice, give due consideration to difficulties of proof caused by the passage of time, the death or unavailability of witnesses, the destruction of evidence or other factors not caused by such persons or those acting on their behalf." So judges, many of whom were prosecutors (including McHale), are selectively interpreting the law.
The result is that only a handful of certificates of innocence have been approved in Cook Co., while many who should qualify are deterred from filing because of the way our state's law has been written and applied.
Nationally, the situation is worse. Only 27 states compensate innocent prisoners, and many of these states have laws with more hurdles than Illinois'.
What can you do? Plenty. Judges are elected in Illinois. If you don't believe they are acting "in the interest of justice," remember them when you go to the polls. State legislators are also elected. Support those who vote for legislation that is just. For a litmus test, tell your elected representatives about the plight of Eric Caine and Nathson Fields. More broadly, demand passage of the model legislation proposed by The Innocence Project.
Meanwhile, scream about a system that pays torturer Jon Burge his monthly $3,000 police pension while he is in prison, but robs the innocent of the restitution they deserve.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-protess/illinois-wrongful-conviction-restitution_b_1014368.html?ir=CrimeIf you're convicted of a crime you didn't commit, good luck getting... more-
- MotherForTruth
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- 7 months ago
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Surprising Siblings: Black and White Brothers Are Actually Twins
Two brothers, both alike in heritage, but as different as black and white. Ebony and ivory. Night and day. You get it. If one thing's clear about 18-year-old British twins James and Daniel Kelly, it's that they never get confused for one another.
James and Daniel are the human version of a black and white cookie. Born to Alyson and Errol Kelly, an interracial couple, they display the unusual characteristic of being a pair of one dark-skinned and one-light skinned twins, reports the Guardian.
(MORE: Why DNA Isn't Your Destiny)
So how did this genetic anomaly occur?
Dr. Jim Wilson, a population geneticist at Edinburgh University, tells the Guardian that the cause is the father's heritage. Errol, Jamaican by background, holds the genetic key to skin color variations among offspring.
"It wouldn't really be possible for a black African father and a white mother to have a white child, because the African would carry only black skin gene variants in his DNA, so wouldn't have any European DNA, with white skin variants, to pass on," he explains.
However, Wilson also tells the Guardian that people of Caribbean descent are often likely to carry European DNA. Which, if you can remember back to your high school biology unit on genetics, is enough to create a striking difference.
"The Caribbean father will have less European DNA than African DNA, so it's more likely he'll pass on African DNA – but rarely, and I've worked it out to be around one in 500 sets of twins where there's a couple of this genetic mix, the father will pass on a lot of European DNA to one child and mostly African DNA to the other. The result will be one white child and one black."
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/27/surprising-siblings-black-and-white-brothers-are-actually-twins/#ixzz1ZACxvWLO
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/27/surprising-siblings-black-and-white-brothers-are-actually-twins/?xid=rss-politics-huffpoTwo brothers, both alike in heritage, but as different as black and white. Ebony and... more-
- mab001
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- 8 months ago
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Kim Kardashian and Twitter saved Troy Davis From Execution Today
Perhaps it's the power of social media--or the power of Kim Kardashian--but an aggressive social media campaign led by the reality show queen and other stars has helped to grant a delay in the execution of Troy Davis today, according to reports from "USA Today."
Davis, whose supporters say was handed down a death sentence for the 1989 killing of a Savannah, Ga. police officer despite no DNA, no gun and no physical evidence, was scheduled for execution at 7 p.m. est. today.
But thanks to stars like Kim Kardashian, Outkast's Big Boi, Heavy D, other celebrities, and a grassroots Twitter campaign, his advocates helped to persuade a judge to grant a temporary stay moments before he was to meet his end.
Observers on Twitter are calling it a miracle.
http://www.star941fm.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=438810&article=9144460Perhaps it's the power of social media--or the power of Kim Kardashian--but an... more-
- knowandtell
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- 8 months ago
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'Missing' genetic link found in Dundee
Scientists in Scotland have discovered a "missing link" which helps them understand how human cells decode genes important for cell growth and multiplication.
The University of Dundee researchers are studying the process of transcription, in which cells copy the DNA of genes into Ribonucleic acid or RNA, ultimately leading to the manufacture of proteins.
RNA is one of the three major macromolecules - along with DNA and proteins - that are essential for all known forms of life.
Transcription must be tightly controlled because otherwise the cells can die or grow and multiply without restraint, as seen in certain human diseases including cancer.
Dr Joost Zomerdijk and his team have discovered a previously hidden link within the components of the transcription machinery.
He said: "My lab and I are extremely excited to have discovered this important missing link.
"Furthermore, this research, funded primarily by the Wellcome Trust, advances our understanding of how normal transcription is maintained and controlled in human cells, which will help us to work out how transcription becomes deregulated in certain diseased cells and, potentially, how we can reverse such deregulation."
Human cells contain three separate transcription machineries, each of which is important for transcription of a subset of genes within the cells.
Each of the three is made up of one specific RNA polymerase enzyme and several other groups of proteins that direct and control transcription activity.
While TFIIB proteins, or similar proteins, were found in the transcription machineries containing RNA polymerases II and III, a similar protein had not been identified as a component of the RNA polymerase I transcription machinery.
However the scientists have now discovered that the protein TAF1B, one of a group of proteins that directs the RNA polymerase I enzyme, is similar to TFIIB in structure and function.
Dr Zomerdijk said: "This discovery indicates that the three transcription machineries of human cells, which are likely to have evolved from a common ancestor, are even more similar than previously realised."
He and his colleagues work at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Gene Regulation and Expression in the College of Life Sciences at Dundee University.
Details of their findings are being published in a research paper in the journal Science.Scientists in Scotland have discovered a "missing link" which helps them... more-
- pdy
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- 9 months ago
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Ancient humans interbred with other species
WWH, That still doesn’t explain Rick Perry!
tgdaily.com - Our ancient human ancestors interbred with other early hominids as well as Neanderthals, new research indicates.WWH, That still doesn’t explain Rick Perry! tgdaily.com - Our ancient human... more-
- joeeddy
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- 9 months ago
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Hidden Soil Fungus, Now Revealed, Is in a Class All Its Own
A type of fungus that's been lurking underground for millions of years, previously known to
science only through its DNA, has been cultured, photographed, named and assigned a place on
the tree of life.
link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110811142819.htmA type of fungus that's been lurking underground for millions of years,... more
