I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, June 1, 2007

More Intelligent Stupid People, the New Phrenology

There's an article in the NY Times about sequencing the DNA of individuals. Some of the highlights include, (praphrased) "hey, wow, this DNA is really different compared to the human genome project," and, "well, we had to fudge the data a little (multply the DNA by growing it in baterica)," and my favorite, Dr. Watson (one of those Nobel Guys who got credited for the work done by a woman tech who had imaged the double helix structure of DNA, stuck it in a drawer, which somehow was "seen" by Watson and Crick, which lead them to think, "hey, I betcha DNA is a double helix. Quick, let's publish it!") doesn't want to have his "apolipoprotein E gene" published, because that has a link to Alzheimers. Yeah, so much for full disclosure.

So, right now it costs about $1 million to do this (compared to the cost of the Human Genome project, that's cheap). They expect with the new generation of machines to reduce that to 10%. And they also exepct to get the cost down to $10,000 soon. So everybody can have this done.

Here are some other quotes from the article.

"Dr. Venter’s (discoverer of the faster way to sequence genomes) new genome is 'a real tour de force'"

"Dr. Watson urged that more human genomes should be sequenced, including those of successful people as well as those of medical interest. "

Genome sequencing, the New Phrenology. Gattaca, here we come.

And a shout out to Dan for pointing me to the article. Also to my wife, who has a masters in Genetics from whom I've learned so much.

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