The world according to Brea

Why using federal funds to fund research of bacteria at the bottom of the ocean is useful

2008-02-29T00:10:00.002-05:00

Many people hear about different types of research conducted at universities and institutes across the nation and wonder, what use does it have to study a certain protein some random bacteria near a thermal vent in the bottom of the ocean makes? Or why spend billions on making particle accelerators to smash atoms together? How is this relevant? Well, if it weren't for research of bacteria that survive in thermal vents, we wouldn't have one of the 21st centuries most useful genetics research tools, PCR or polymerase chain reaction, used everyday in thousand of research labs, hospitals, and other places. Did the researchers know this when they started? No. Did they plan on finding something like this? No. But they were able to identify and make such a technology useful so that what these bacteria naturally do can be exploited by us to save thousands of lives every day. We don't always know what we are looking for in research, but some of the greatest breakthroughs have been made this way. When it comes to funding, research in consistently short changed, and more lately research funding has been more difficult to obtain. Hopefully, the climate will change to foster research and really lead us into the 21st century

Another one of the wrong wars to be in

2008-01-11T14:07:00.000-05:00

We have all heard enough about the war on terrorism, in Iraq, and all of the like. But a war which doesn't get enough attention and is costing pointless amounts of money has to be the war on drugs. I'm not advocating that drugs do not cause a negative impact on our country but the money spent has shown no positive results, if anything only detrimental. It has only led to the corrupt becoming richer off of the money that is supposedly used to fight off this stuff. What should be done is more research into why people become addicted in the first place, and offering medications that are effective in stopping addiction. We are a nation of choice apparently, and the opportunity to buy addictive substances are clearly available(cigarettes, alcohol, prescribed amphetamines to name a few) but more research should be done in how to give people help to get off these drugs. I think given the opportunity, quite a few people would take a medication to help them relieve addiction rather than go to counseling which sad to say has a very low success rate. Rather than let drugs contribute to the gang violence and incarceration of minorities, why don't we loosen up the restrictions and divert that money toward research?

Why you like your spaghetti sauce

2008-01-10T20:50:00.001-05:00

Being the ripe age of 19 that I am, I have grown up in a society where having more that one choice is the norm. But 20 or 30 years ago, this wasn't the case when you went to the supermarket. The brilliant author Malcolm Gladwell delivers an excellent lecture about why there isn't a best spaghetti sauce out there, there are only best spaghettis out there. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/20 theres the link. It poses a good question, are we moving toward less or more options when it comes to buying things. I think we may be moving the opposite way. We are now overwhelmed by the amount of choices. This is why a company like Apple does so well. They simplify things down by offering a handful of products, all simple to use. So while Malcolm's speech holds true, are we also moving away from having too many choices?

When we're all gone...

2008-01-07T19:31:00.000-05:00

I began reading The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. It takes an interesting look into how the land we are standing on, living on, sleeping on, working on was before and how it will revert back to when we leave. The best look at what an average city and region will look like when we leave is Chernobyl. After the nuclear fallout, the land has been abandoned, deemed to hazardous for any human life to live on without the risk of mutation from radiation and cancer. Since most of us will never be able to see this region, a woman by the name of Elena has ventured into the Chernobyl region and provided a photo documentary at www.kiddofspeed.com. Truly the definition of a ghost town, it is almost eerie looking at the photos. She avoids radiation poisoning by riding on the asphalt which does not retain the radiation, while the grass and soil does. Worth a look, and shows what the world will look like once we leave. But back to the book The World Without Us, the book says hypothetically what would cause us to spontaneously leave earth with almost no trace? Chernobyl seems to fit a case, where almost overnight a whole region was evacuated. Other causes could be a deadly virus which kills of humanity, but no matter what some will develop immunity. Then, one can take a fanatical viewpoint and say that aliens or the rapture will take us. But it does make one wonder...

Drug Abuse and genetics?

2008-01-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

Neurogenetics has always interested me as an individual. After reading several papers and literature on the subject, this newly emerging field has become a focus of my studies. The amount of information and potential which neurogenetics holds has strong potential for the future. With neurogentics, I also believe that genetics also affect drug addiction. Studies have shown some can become addicted on trying a drug once and ruin a life, or others can experiment and walk away. Certainly, some genetic predisposition must play into the differences among individuals. I believe that counseling isn’t the only approach to how drug addiction should be dealt with and that research may lead to discoveries that may allow for individuals to be targeted and helped early on. Also, the emerging field of epigenetics shows that our environment will also effect how our genes are expressed. Neuroepigentics may also be a large factor in how drug addiction occurs. The question now becomes how to deal with drug addiction if this is hardwired since birth. By possibly identifying genes which lead to drug addiction we may be able to silence these genes. Another aspect of drug addiction is what occurs at the molecular level when the body’s cells are exposed? How are some genes suppressed and others activated by exposure to certain compounds? These questions will become crucial to understanding how drugs affect the body at the molecular level and this may be an alternate path for how to cure drug addiction.

Your Genome on the sale

2007-11-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

One of the major goals of biotech industry is making sequencing of your genome quicker and less costly. Years ago, this was a dream among biotech companies but it soon becoming a quick reality. A few years ago, father of DNA James Watson was given as a gift for his bday his genomic sequence(which cost $1million). Now, for about $1000 dollars you can basically have the same information that only eccentric millionaires and geneticists could have. 23andme.com has recently begun selling sequencing of SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphisms for $1000 to the everyday consumer. Besides the check, all it requires is some saliva and you can unlock the secrets of your genome. You will then recieve a login to the website and be able to access your DNA and a graph of the likelyhood that you may contract certain diseases. The more novelty genes are also included, like the sprinting gene or the bitter tasting gene. But how will this be recieved and will this become mainstream? Will we converse over the different genes we have at the dinner table, or while out with friends? Or will this become a fear amongst individuals, afraid that this information will be used by health companies to screen individuals.

Genetics and the Race Card

2007-11-11T23:10:00.000-05:00

Evidently, the biggest threat to racism today has become something that we are all born with. Our genes. While the aim of genetics is to understand the function of our gene's expression and how they make us us, we are threaten by those who want to use genes to justify that we are not all equal. Yes, we all grew up or at least should have grown up with the idea that we are all equal. But this is obviously not the case when we take a look at our DNA. Not that the statement is completely inaccurate, since we share about 99% of the same DNA(most of which is repetitive and noncoding) but the 1% difference is subject to much debate as to what it codes for. The father of the double helix Watson has been denounced as a racist after being quoted to saying that blacks are not as smart as whites. This caused much uproar in the world of genetics and even as a whole causing Watson to quit his post at Cold Spring Harbour and cancel sold out lectures. Watson was not right, but cannot be disproven as well. It is not easy to say that gene XYZ means your kid is going to score a 2200 on his SATs. But clearly, kids aren't born with the innate ability as well to do that. But I do not believe cultures evolved where the more intelligent genes were dominant. Evolution is driven by survival of the fittest, and having the most offspring. If anything, when it comes to intelligence this operates in the reverse. We know that an allele which causes its host to live longer and have more progeny will be better represented. But nerds aren't exactly Don Juans. Many statistics indicate more intelligence means less offspring in most developed countries, while less intelligent families have more offspring. This invalidates the argument, which shows that race cannot be linked to intelligence since intelligence does not follow Darwinian evolution.