Delaney Blackburn, Editor-in-Chief “There is no gene for the human spirit.” – Vincent Freeman, “Gattaca.” For some Christians, genetic engineering is an unlocked door to the alleviation of human suffering. For other Christians, it’s a way for humans to “play God” by altering God’s ... Read more
Genetic modification produces genetically modified animals, plants and organisms. If they are introduced into the environment they can affect biodiversity. For example, existing species can be overrun by more dominant new species.
The three flu pandemics of the 20th century originated from birds, making it critical to fight bird flu. Breakthroughs in gene-editing chickens show promise for eliminating the disease in the future.
UC San Diego geneticists have developed a gene drive-based solution to the widespread problem of insecticide resistance. In an effort to protect valuable crops, the researchers created an “e-Drive” that reverses insecticide resistance and then disappears from the insect population.
Is it possible to bring dinosaurs back from the dead? Non-avian dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago, but could we use DNA to create a real-life Jurassic Park?
De-extinction using genetic engineering has several ethical issues. Worse, if successful, it can significantly impact global biodiversity, leading to more problems.
Bringing back woolly mammoths and dodos is a bad idea
Lol, are we placing a bet by ourselves or has our DNA already made the decision for us? Previous attempts to explain evolution had been academic and rooted in maths. Dawkins walked us through it in prose
‘As long as we study life, it will be read’: the Selfish Gene turns 40
You can be genetically closer to your siblings than your parents, but you’re considered to be about equally related to both your parents and siblings. To understand why, I looked for the science behind this question.
I had to google this as I didn’t realise what the idea was about. But yeah, I found this “When asked whether he would lay down his life for his brother, Haldane, presaging Hamilton’s rule, supposedly replied “two brothers or eight cousins” which makes sense.
BTW, Oligos are short, synthetic strands of DNA or RNA. The word oligonucleotide is derived from the Greek word olígoi, meaning “few” or “small”, and nucleotide, which are the building blocks of nucleic acids, such as those in DNA.
Oligonucleotides (or oligos for short) are one of the most important tools in modern day molecular biology. Without oligos, today’s biotechnology, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical industries simply couldn’t exist.
What is an Oligo?
To understand what is so special about oligos, we should firs... Read more
For the serious hobbyist, I guess…”If you are designing primers, cloning your genes or Do It Yourself CRISPR gene editing in Basic Research, Immuno-Oncology, Drug Discovery or any other application, check out our new custom DNA oligo prices.”
Our custom DNA Oligos are made to your specifications with rigorous quality control and validation for use in a variety of applications from PCR and sequencing to probes for gene detection.
Using genetic engineering to significantly change animal species also strays a little bit too close to “playing God.”
While promising, genetic engineering of animals and insects can seriously affect ecological biodiversity.
Genetic engineering of insects and animals can help to eradicate several vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.
There’s a startup planning to use gene editing to control populations of harmful insects.
Scientists are already using gene editing to reduce insects’ resistance to pesticides.
De-extinction efforts are technically challenging, as some animals, like dinosaurs, have been extinct for too long for their DNA to be viable.
De-extinction using genetic engineering has several ethical issues. Worse, if successful, it can significantly impact global biodiversity, leading to more problems.
Genetic engineering is also a potential solution for saving endangered animals like northern white rhinos.
A gene-editing company is also attempting to bring back to life an extinct Mauritian bird.
Check out this story about scientists’ efforts to bring the woolly mammth to life, an animal that has been extinct for about 4,000 years.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/09/world/woolly-mammoth-elephant-stem-cells-scn/index.html
This has been done! Spanish scientists brought back to life an extinct wild goat. Sadly, the cloned animal did not survive.
Gene editing, combined with other technologies like AI, can offer humanity a way to bring back extinct animals and prevent future extinction.
Lol, are we placing a bet by ourselves or has our DNA already made the decision for us? Previous attempts to explain evolution had been academic and rooted in maths. Dawkins walked us through it in prose
Although I wouldn’t gamble my life on my parents – although they share the same amount of DNA as my siblings, the siblings are more likely to propagate our shared genes. From an interesting article about it all here https://www.geneticsdigest.com/are-you-genetically-closer-to-your-parents-or-siblings/
I had to google this as I didn’t realise what the idea was about. But yeah, I found this “When asked whether he would lay down his life for his brother, Haldane, presaging Hamilton’s rule, supposedly replied “two brothers or eight cousins” which makes sense.
BTW, Oligos are short, synthetic strands of DNA or RNA. The word oligonucleotide is derived from the Greek word olígoi, meaning “few” or “small”, and nucleotide, which are the building blocks of nucleic acids, such as those in DNA.
For the serious hobbyist, I guess…”If you are designing primers, cloning your genes or Do It Yourself CRISPR gene editing in Basic Research, Immuno-Oncology, Drug Discovery or any other application, check out our new custom DNA oligo prices.”
I found this paper on these four great ideas of biology. It is a great read!
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4952585/
Check out this video, which summarises a few more big ideas of biology.