The Future of Babies: Artificial Wombs and Pregnant Grandmas

Artificial wombs and experiments on human embryos grown in the lab will be commonplace and no big deal ethically in 30 years, several scientists predict.

All in the mind

Findings of an excess of de novo structural variants in cases of autism and schizophrenia have raised hopes that neuropsychiatric conditions may yet prove genetically tractable. Past experience suggests that success in finding causative variants will require exceptional rigor and caution.

JEWISH EUGENICS AND OTHER ESSAYS

THREE PAPERS READ BEFORE THE NEW YORK BOARD OF JEWISH MINISTERS 1915
Continue reading JEWISH EUGENICS AND OTHER ESSAYS…

The Future of Man, by Robert Klark Graham

A nice booklet on eugenics. Dowload it here:

futureofman.pdf

Here’s another reason why you should despise Christian crackpots, White man

A black baby. Fewer of these = safer, nicer, cleaner neighborhoods.

On the recording provided by The Advocate, an actor portraying a donor said he wanted his money used to eliminate black unborn children because “the less black kids out there the better.” [Only a fool would disagree with that.]

See also The story that started it all…

Teen pregnancy ‘our greatest danger’

I agree with this…We must keep the lower classes from breeding; the same with non-whites.

Biology & Environment of Race

I think the main question of this is how we can achieve a better society and I think the answer to this is, through better people.
Continue reading Biology & Environment of Race…

More on the Race-IQ brouhaha

Here’s Will Saletan’s third and last article at Slate. He advocates genetic engineering to equalize the races. I’ve always been skeptical about whether we have the wisdom to handle such power, and have been pleased that it appears to be farther off than I had assumed back in the 1990s. As I wrote in VDARE.com in 2005:

Age of personal genomics coming

Im­ag­ine this: you vis­it your doc­tor, take ge­net­ic tests, and re­ceive a min­ia­ture hard drive con­tain­ing your per­son­al ge­nome se­quence, which is then up­loaded on­to pub­licly ac­ces­si­ble databases.

Protein rescue to treat genetic disorders

Many genetic disorders, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and cystic fibrosis, have limited or no treatments available at present. Now, research reported in Nature has identified a small molecule known as PTC124 as a potential novel treatment to target the specific genetic defects that underlie a wide range of these diseases.

South Korea to resume human egg cloning

SEOUL, March 23 (UPI) — South Korean scientists plan to resume experiments with cloned human embryos next year, it was reported Thursday.
Continue reading South Korea to resume human egg cloning…

Inside the Pentagon’s human enhancement project

Be More Than You Can Be
Heat-resistant. Cold-proof. Tireless. Tomorrow’s soldiers are just like today’s — only better. By Noah Shachtman

The lab is climate-controlled to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and 66 percent humidity. Sitting inside the cramped room, even for a few minutes, is an unpleasantly moist experience. I’ve spent the last 40 minutes on a treadmill angled at a 9 percent grade. My face is chili-red, my shirt soaked with sweat. My breath is coming in short, unsatisfactory gasps. The sushi and sake I had last night are in full revolt. The tiny speakers on the shelf blasting “Living on a Prayer” are definitely not helping.

Full article here.

A study has found that behavioural problems are imprinted in a child’s DNA

Disruptive and aggressive children are often born that way, scientists claim.

A study has found that behavioural problems are imprinted in a child’s DNA.

The findings overturn conventional thinking on the nature versus nurture debate.

In recent years, the prevailing view has been that the environment in which children are brought up dictates how they interact with their peers.

But the study concluded that naughty youngsters aren’t simply copying behaviour they may have been subjected to at home.

Instead, traits such as bullying, lying, or being argumentative could be passed on in the genes.

The research, from the University of Virginia, indicates that some children would be badly behaved no matter how loving or caring an environment they grew up in.

The researchers compared identical twins, who share exactly the same genetic make-up, and fraternal twins, who share only half their genes.

When the twins and their children were compared, it could be seen which genes were passed on and which were not.

According to the findings, behavioural trends are inherited in the same way as eye and hair colour.

The research is an extension of the work carried out by scientists at the university in 2004.

Debra Foley, an assistant professor of human genetics, led the earlier investigation, which concluded that maltreatment combined with having a particular gene variant may put children on track for anti-social behaviour later in life.

In the 2004 study, researchers took 514 males between the ages of eight and 17 and studied their domestic environments and DNA make-up.

At various points throughout the study, levels of the gene monoamine oxidase A - which is associated with antisocial behaviour - were measured.

It was discovered that the gene’s strength could seriously affect the way a child behaved.

Should the gene be less active and the child be exposed to an abusive or antisocial upbringing, then he was far more likely to exhibit those traits in his own behaviour.

But if the gene was highly active, then the child was less likely to behave in an anti-social way, regardless of his environment.

Researchers also looked closely at adopted children and discovered that again, the environment the child was growing up in coupled with the strength of a particular gene determined their behavioural patterns.

In previous research, scientists from the National Institute of Health in Washington identified at least four genes which make their carriers predisposed to criminal activity.

At the time, an institute spokesman predicted that in future, parents would be told whether their unborn child is carrying the genes.

“The families should be given the information and be allowed to decide privately how to use it,” the spokesman said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=433824&in_page_id=1774&ito=1490

Forces Shaping the Fastest Evolving Regions in the Human Genome

Forces Shaping the Fastest Evolving Regions in the Human Genome

Comparative genomics allow us to search the human genome for segments that were extensively changed in the last ~5 million years since divergence from our common ancestor with chimpanzee, but are highly conserved in other species and thus are likely to be functional. We found 202 genomic elements that are highly conserved in vertebrates but show evidence of significantly accelerated substitution rates in human. These are mostly in non-coding DNA, often near genes associated with transcription and DNA binding. Resequencing confirmed that the five most accelerated elements are dramatically changed in human but not in other primates, with seven times more substitutions in human than in chimp. The accelerated elements, and in particular the top five, show a strong bias for adenine and thymine to guanine and cytosine nucleotide changes and are disproportionately located in high recombination and high guanine and cytosine content environments near telomeres, suggesting either biased gene conversion or isochore selection. In addition, there is some evidence of directional selection in the regions containing the two most accelerated regions. A combination of evolutionary forces has contributed to accelerated evolution of the fastest evolving elements in the human genome.

Continue reading Forces Shaping the Fastest Evolving Regions in the Human Genome…

Good post by the great Rushton

O’Gorman writes < >

Very wrong and quite outdated with that old carnard about five fingers being 100% heritable. Height is 80% heritable but variance remains. Birds all have beaks but beak shape variance remains and is highly, highly heritable.

Continue reading Good post by the great Rushton…

Childhood developmental disorders

Nature Neuroscience presents a special focus on childhood developmental disorders, which contains four perspectives exploring the overlap between normal and abnormal development, as well as the commonalties between different disorders. Disorders covered include autism, specific language impairment, dyslexia, and the mental retardation syndrome fragile X. Thanks to generous support from our sponsors, the March of Dimes, Autism Speaks and Cure Autism Now, this focus will be freely available online through December 2006 here.

Eugenics: this is your future

I’m predicting human application not very far off if these experiments fly.

Can woolly mammoths be resurrected?
Japanese researchers suggest using sperm from frozen specimens
By Randolph E. Schmid
The Associated Press

Updated: 3:04 a.m. ET Aug 15, 2006
WASHINGTON - Descendants of extinct mammals like the giant woolly mammoth might one day walk the earth again. It isn’t exactly Jurassic Park, but Japanese researchers are looking at the possibility of using sperm from frozen animals to inseminate living relatives.

Continue reading Eugenics: this is your future…

Food for thought…on race, intelligence, behavior, and genetics

A recent review of research on the genetics of intelligence here

and

Linda Gottfredson’s Egalitarian Fiction and Collective Fraud here.

You’re only as old as your genes

More good news for health fanatics such as myself who eat healthy, exercise strenuously sever times a week, and don’t smoke, never drink, and stay away from narcotics.

You’re only as old as your genes
Genetic fingerprint could pinpoint fittest organ donors.
Helen Pearson

Close up: ageing can be seen in our cells, chromosomes and genes.

A fingerprint of gene activity could reveal the true ‘youthfulness’ of our kidneys, hearts and muscle, regardless of our biological age. The technique might one day be used to find healthy organs for transplants or to warn us of impending disease.

Continue reading You’re only as old as your genes…

Genetic catastrophe: More than 25 million Americans have puzzling disorders

Genetic catastrophe: More than 25 million Americans have puzzling disorders

Continue reading Genetic catastrophe: More than 25 million Americans have puzzling disorders…