24 October 09 (non-football)

Genome analysis: helps cure a child:

Richard Lifton, of Yale University Medical School who co-ordinated the research with teams in Beirut and Turkey, said: “The boys physicians sent a blood sample – they only had a very broad diagnosis of what was happening to this five-month-old child and were suspicious that he had a genetic disorder affecting his kidneys.

“Rather than looking one gene at a time hoping to guess which was the right gene causing the problems, we used a new method were we could look at all the genes in the genome simultaneously.

“We identified a particular gene which had mutations on both copies and which causes a fundamental problem meaning that the child could not absorb water or electrolytes through his gastrointestinal tract.

“We went back to the physicians in Turkey and said we think this is the problem and they confirmed it and are now able to give him better treatment.”

Are humans still evolving? The evidence suggests “yes” but it is impossible to say for sure which changes we are undergoing are due to evolution and which are due to other factors. Jerry Coyne’s article is interesting reading:

Whenever I give a talk on evolution for the public, I always get this question: “Are we still evolving?” People want to know if our species is changing. Are we getting smarter or better-looking? Or are we degenerating as medicine keeps alive many of us who would have been ruthlessly culled on the savanna?

My answer usually goes like this: “Yes, many of the genes that would have been eliminated now persist. I am myopic, and wouldn’t have been a good hunter. Genes for nearsightedness are undoubtedly accumulating in our species. So in some respects we are genetically degenerating. But so long as there are sources of mortality — and the genetic variation to resist them — we will continue to evolve. In Africa, for instance, thousands of children die yearly from infectious diseases. It’s highly likely that genes for resistance to those diseases are becoming more numerous.”

Now this answer is speculative, based on evolutionary theory. There’s not a lot of evidence about whether and how fast the human species is changing. But a new paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences goes one step further: it not only demonstrates genetic variation for sources of mortality, but shows that that variation is correlated with reproductive output. If both of these hold, then we must be evolving. The paper goes on to predict how much genetic change for several traits that Homo sapiens will experience over the next ten generations.

Surf to the link to read more; Coyne highlights some interesting things.

Religion and Society: Friendly Atheist talks about a billboard which went up in Tennessee:

However, this billboard really isn’t an atheist billboard. For example, my late father was NOT a religious man. But he was no atheist either; he was a “well, there must be a watchmaker” type of person but he viewed religions as groups being lead by groups of humans who attempt to control others. He rejected organized religion, the Bible and other holy books.

Politics
Arlen Spector: might not win the primary, or if he does, he might not win the general election:

Frankly, I think that the Democrats will lose seats in 2010 in both chambers. But I will NOT lament the loss of some of these; it isn’t as if the “magic 60″ in the Senate means that much, does it?