•At the Sanger Centre, near Cambridge, the complete sequence of chromosome 22 is finished. • There is a gene on chromosome 22 called HFW which endows human beings with free will. • I am a free agent, equipped with free will because of this gene. • According to many people, freedom equals the parts of … Read more
•Chromosome 21 is the smallest human chromosome, and as a result, it is often called chromosome 22. • Children born with an extra copy of chromosome 21 are healthy, but they are not considered ‘normal’. • The father of eugenics was Francis Galton, who believed that human beings could be bred to improve the race. … Read more
•The fuel which science runs on is ignorance – there are always more mysteries to solve. • Scrapie is an incurable disease that affects sheep, causing symptoms of lunacy and eventual death. • For many years, the cause of scrapie remained a mystery to scientists. It was eventually determined that the disease was transmissible, but … Read more
•The improvement of medical technology creates a moral dilemma of whether to use the technology or not, even if there are risks. • In the past, we have had no choice but to watch our relatives die from diseases. • After Jenner perfected vaccination, we were derelict in our duty if we did not vaccinate … Read more
•As the third millennium dawns, we are for the first time in a position to edit the text of our genetic code. • It is no longer a precious manuscript; it is on disc. We can cut bits out, add bits in, rearrange paragraphs or write over words. • The obvious destination towards which genetic … Read more
•The brain is born with too many connections between cells, which are later lost as it develops. • This loss happens because of experience and the environment, which sharpens the skills of the brain. • Cells in the body are constantly committing suicide for the greater good of the body. • Mutiny is a perpetual … Read more
•The human genome is like a book that, if read carefully, can be used to create a complete human body. • However, for the body to be truly alive, it must be able to adapt and respond on its own – something that genes cannot do. • Learning is what allows humans to take the … Read more
•In the Prado Museum in Madrid hangs a pair of paintings by the seventeenth-century court painter Juan Carreno de Miranda, called ‘La Monstrua vestida’ and ‘La Monstrua desnuda’: the monster clothed and the monster naked. • They show a grossly fat but very unmonstrous five-year-old girl called Eugenia Martinez Vallejo. • With hindsight, it is … Read more
•The genome is immortal, meaning it can be passed down through generations with no breaks or fatal mistakes. • However, becoming an ancestor is difficult, and natural selection requires it to be difficult. • If the human race does not survive (most species last only about 10 million years), none of us alive today will … Read more
•The surprising similarity of embryological genes in worms, flies, chicks and people sings an eloquent song of common descent. • D N A is a code written in a simple alphabet — a language. We compare the vocabulary of developmental genes and find the same words. • On a completely different scale, but with direct … Read more