The Human Genome Project- The Truth Revealed

In this video The Human Genome Project is explained. In addition to that, he also addresses the "3 sad surprises"about DNA that were discovered during this experiment: the sequencing of our genome has not contributed to finding the cure to cancer, the human genome has a lot fewer genes that actually code for proteins and perform things than expected, and finally these genes only make up 2% of our entire genome.

23andMe: Human Genetics

When thinking about human genetics, I cannot help but talk about the things available to retrace our genetics makeups. My father over winter break submitted a swab of his spit to 23andMe to see if our family was predisposed to any diseases that we should be aware of. The results that we received were shocking. We discovered that he was a carrier of a blood mutation that my brothers and I were all tested for and also have. I was on medication that would cause me to have a blood clot, so thank God we did the 23andMe and found out before something horrible happened. I think it is amazing how with a swab of spit we can trace our entire genetic makeup. In the top right corner is an example of some of the things 23andMe test for such as certain responses to drugs and inherited traits. The fact that we have the technology to analyze the entire genetic makeup of human beings is amazing. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for technology and telling us about our past.

The women behind the screens

https://www.sfu.ca/wwest/WWEST_blog/meet-the-women-of-silicon-valley.html

Growing up, I always thought technology was a field for only men to pursue. In middle school and high school, I only learned about scientists like Einstein, Darwin and Newton, which led me to assume that only men worked in technology. It was only until the movie "Hidden Figures" came out this year did I learn that women played a significant, if not larger role in technology than men did. The article I attached talks about the blog that was started by Lea Coligado called the "Women of Silicon Valley." Lea got this idea from the Instagram account "The Humans of New York," which documents pictures of people in New York City with captions about what they are doing or what they would like to say to the world. Lea interviews women that work for start up companies in the San Fransisco Bay Area, or large companies like Google and Facebook. One of her stories features a young woman named Adriana Gascoigne. Adriana has worked for over twenty start-ups and started a non-profit organization called "Girls in Tech." Girls in Tech strives to promote empowerment, engagement, and education for women in the technology industry. Adriana began it in San Fransisco, however Girls in Tech now has chapters in Australia and the Middle East. Girls in Tech have events such as hackathons where they sit in rooms together and try to hack servers and do not have to feel pressured by a male figure to finish their job on time. It gives women time to do the thing they love surrounded by other women. Women of Silicon Valley features many other impressive stories like Adriana's. The article broke the image that I had that only men could succeed in technology and was very empowering.

Human genetics

The study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings is known as human genetics. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields. The common factor of the qualities of most human-inherited traits are genes. The study of human genetics is useful because it can answer questions about human nature, understand the diseases and development of effective disease treatment, and understand genetics of human life.

Women, science, technology

In today's era women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, however, there are so few women scientists and engineers. Accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers-including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities- continue to block women's progress in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). To increase the number of women scientists and engineers, it is recommended to get girls interested in science and engineering by spreading the word about girls' and women's achievements in math and science, help girls recognize their career-relevant skills, and encourage high school girls to take math and science classes when available.

Women and Eugenics

The intimate connection between women and eugenics begins with Victoria Woodhull. Being the first ever women to run for president in 1872, she was a leader of the woman's suffrage movement, the first female stockbroker and the first person to publish the Communist Manifesto in English in her paper Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly. The paper was famous for promoting sort skirts and licensed prostitution along with other feminist ideas and included writings regularly from other prominent feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was perhaps the most influential of them all. The idea that marriage should be prevented by the government was pushed regularly by Woodhull. The term "eugenics" was defined by Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Darwin. It basically meant controlling human reproduction using the institutions of the state and the scientific establishment to prevent the lower class from breeding and to favor the breeding of the upper class or what they deemed genetically fit.

Designer Babies and Eugenics: are we playing God too much?

Over the past few years, the concept of designer babies is becoming an up and coming theme with celebrities and millionaires who have the money to take advantage of this type of medical technology. A designer baby is just like any other baby in the womb, except its genes are manipulated to change simple things such as hair color or eye color, but could advance to things such as preventing autism, cancer and have a certain IQ. Designer babies are very controversial because Catholics believe God is supposed to control what your baby looks like or if it has any deformities. I feel as though if I knew my child was going to have a disease or some sort of genetic issue that would prevent them from living a normal and happy life, I would take advantage of using the designer baby method. A couple who was hated in the media for it was John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen. They did something as simple as pick the gender of their baby. Chrissy was having issues with conceiving and was put on IVF to increase her chances of getting pregnant. As she was put through several rounds of IVF, they offered her the opportunity to pick the gender of the baby. If I was Chrissy Teigen and I had the option to pick my babies gender, I would absolutely take advantage of that, especially under the stress of not being able to conceive to begin with. A large issue in today's society is that more people are realizing that religion is not as large as a savior as technology is, and there is a divide between people who are still very religious and people who are not at all. The Catholic community jumps on every opportunity to criticize a prominent figure for doing something slightly controversial and I just feel it is wrong. If everyone would mind their own business, we would be a much happier united society.