Robert W. Sussman, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, says that science has struggled to understand the mysteries of “less-than-human” beings since the late 1400s when the Spanish Inquisition first formalized state persecution of Jews and Muslims. And while the horrors of Nazi Germany exposed fatal flaws in science’s quest to build the master race, the…
Congratulations to ISG faculty Stefan Timmermans and Mara Buchbinder on the publication of their book, “Saving Babies?: The Consequences of Newborn Genetic Screening (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries)”. Abstract: It has been close to six decades since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA and more than ten years since the human genome was decoded. Today, through the collection and analysis…
Regular old selective breeding can create monsters like the industrial turkey, giant with grotesquely over-sized breasts and muscles. This raises the obvious ethical question: Just because we can breed this turkey, should we? The turkey lives a short, miserable life but we get an affordable, healthy source of protein. It is obvious which choice we’ve made as a society, but…
Excerpt: “Gender equality has been more of a national focus than usual in the United States over the past few months, thanks to the 2012 presidential election. But how does the United States stack up against other countries when it comes to said gender equality? According to the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report, released on October 23rd by the World Economic Forum,…
Geneticists from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland reported Wednesday(10/24) that they had crossed a threshold long considered off-limits: They have made changes in human DNA that can be passed down from one generation to the next. NPR has the story
Excerpt: Colman Chadam, an 11-year-old California boy, has been ordered to transfer from his current school to another one miles away because of his genetic makeup. Now, his parents are taking the issue to court. Colman carries the genetic mutations for cystic fibrosis, a noncontagious but incurable and life-threatening disease. Despite the gene’s presence, the Jordan Middle School student in Palo…