In a move blanketed with irony, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) unleashed his beliefs about bodily autonomy on Twitter in response to a proposed Alabama law that would require men to get a vasectomy once they reach 50 or have three children.

Vice reports the bill was proposed earlier this month by state Rep. Rolanda Hollis who, according to AL.com, said the bill is a response to last years abortion bill that passed the legislature and included anear-total ban on abortion.

In October, a federal judge blocked the abortion bill from going into effect.

The bills suggestion did not sit well with Cruz, prompting him to tweet A government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everythingliterally!

Cruz is stridently anti-abortion and does believe a small government should still have the ability to take that right away.

Yikes. A government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything...literally! Alabama Democrat proposes bill mandating all men have vasectomy at age 50 or after third child. https://t.co/PeaNUg1Joc

Last night, Cruz doubled down even further on his remarks defending his stance in a chopped up thread.

Its been a sight to behold the last 24 hours of Lefties triggering over this tweet, Cruz said, distancing himself from being labeled as pro-choice.

Its been a sight to behold the last 24 hours of Lefties triggering over this tweet. Ah ha! Youre pro choice, they exclaim. No, I believe in BOTH life and individual liberty. Four points: (1) Too many on the Left believe the Malthusian nonsense that more children are bad. 1/x https://t.co/Pcm6xqRQv4

5/x ...(4) yes, every adultman or womanhas a right to do whatever you want with your body...but that doesnt mean you have a right to do something harmful to ANOTHER persons body. Leftists refuse to admit that an unborn child is a separate human being whose life is precious.

Cruz concluded his thread by saying: Yes, every adultman or womanhas a right to do whatever you want with your bodybut that doesnt mean you have a right to do something harmful to ANOTHER persons body. Leftists refuse to admit that an unborn child is a separate human being whose life is precious.

His response to the proposed bill prompted users to call out Cruzs hypocrisy.

Further proof that if men carried the babies, abortions would be as easily accessible as Viagra, @TheTNHoller tweeted.

BUT TED CRUZ THINKS ITS PERFECTLY OKAY YO TELL A WOMAN SHE HAS TO HAVE CHILDREN !

NO , RAFAEL , ITS NOT OKAY, AND YOU ARE , AS PER USUAL , WRONG

The Guardian: Ted Cruz criticizes vasectomy bill, exposing his hypocrisy on reproduction rights.https://t.co/pWxkJoedOY

Hey Ted Cruz - So, you dont like the government telling you what you can & cant do with your sperm. Mandatory vasectomy? #Karma - what goes around comes around. Stay out of womens health decisions. We can make our own choices ~ just like men supposedly can. https://t.co/yXBkcPBJA0

Ted Cruz is offended that a Democrat in Alabama proposed a bill mandating men have a vasectomy at age 50 or after their 3rd child! But he's okay with the government dictating a woman's decisions. pic.twitter.com/F45R3Ks99n

Yes @tedcruz, it's almost like this Alabama Democrat is proposing an outlandish bill mandating all men have a vasectomy at 50, or after a third child, to prove a point about the outlandish bullshit that men propose controlling women's reproductive rights and choices. https://t.co/bNsQTyr7g2

According to VICE, Hollis bill doesnt stand a chance of passing due to Alabamas majority Republican legislature.

Prior to Cruzs outburst, a Twitter user questioned Hollis on the reasoning behind the bill, in which she stated, The responsibility is not always on the women. It takes (two) to tangle.

READ MORE:

Continued here:
Ted Cruz goes on Twitter tirade over proposed vasectomy bill - The Daily Dot

(Inside Science) -- A mysterious extinct "ghost" human lineage that was an even more distant relation than Neanderthals may have interbred with the ancestors of modern West Africans, significantly contributing to their gene pool, a new study finds.

Although modern humans are now the only surviving lineage of humanity, others once lived on Earth. Some made their way out of Africa before we did, including the familiar Neanderthals in Eurasia and the newfoundDenisovan lineagesin Asia and Oceania. It isn't completely clear whether these lineages would be considered species or subspecies, but the groups had identifiable genetic differences. Prior work estimated the ancestors of modern humans split about 700,000 years ago from the lineage that gave rise to Neanderthals and Denisovans, and the ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans diverged from one another about 400,000 years ago.

The story is a bit more tangled than the timeline suggests, as genetic analysis of fossils of these extinct lineages has revealed they once interbred with modern humans, unions that may have endowed our lineage withhelpful mutationsas we began expanding across the world about 194,000 years ago. Neanderthal DNA makes up roughly 1.8% to 2.6% of the genomes of modern humans from outside Africa, whereas Denisovan DNA makes up 4% to 6% of modern Melanesians.

Read more: A Genetic Ghost Hunt: What Ancient Humans Live On In Our DNA?

Any number of now-extinct human lineages that once existed within Africa may have hybridized with modern humans there as well. However, the sparse nature of the ancient human fossil record in Africa makes it difficult to identify DNA from such "ghost lineages" in modern humans.

Instead of hunting for ancient human fossils across Africa, the scientists looked for genetic traces of ghost lineages in modern Africans. They compared 405 genomes from modern people from West Africa with ones from fossils of Neanderthals and Denisovans, focusing on DNA that stood out from the West African genomes roughly as much as Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA did from modern human genomes overall.

The researchers detected statistical anomalies they suggested were best explained by interbreeding between West Africans and an unknown ancient human lineage whose ancestors diverged from those of modern humans before the split between Neanderthals and modern humans. Four West African groups -- Yoruba in southwestern Nigeria, Esan in southern Nigeria, Gambians in western Gambia, and Mende in Sierra Leone -- may derive 2% to 19% of their DNA from a ghost lineage, the researchers said.

"Interbreeding among highly diverged human populations has been common through human evolution," said study senior author Sriram Sankararaman, a computational geneticist at UCLA.

A number of ghost lineage genetic variants were unusually common in the Yoruba and Mende genomes, suggesting they might confer some evolutionary advantages. These included genes involved in tumor suppression, male reproduction and hormone regulation.

Previous research also hinted at interbreeding with ghost lineages in Africa, such as a 2011 study examining sub-Saharan Africa anda January paper investigating western Central Africa. The ghost lineage examined in the January study "is likely the ghost lineage we are seeing," Sankararaman said. "A broader question of the number of these ghost lineages that have survived into present-day Africans is fascinating, which we don't have the answers to."

These findings underscore how "it is not a question of whether our ancestors interacted with other hominins, but it is a question of when, where, who," said evolutionary genomicist Omer Gokcumen at the University at Buffalo in New York, who did not take part in this research. "I think we will need additional ancient genomes from Africa to more properly address these questions."

The scientists estimated this ghost lineage diverged from the ancestors of Neanderthals and modern humans up to 1.02 million years ago and interbred with the ancestors of modern West Africans from 124,000 years ago up to the present day. "One limitation of our study is that we have mainly sampled present-day West African populations," Sankararaman said. They don't know yet how far the ghost lineage spread across Africa, he said.

The scientists aim to analyze people across Africa for signs of ghost lineages. "We are beginning to understand some of the complexities of human history, but the true picture is almost certainly even more complicated," Sankararaman said.

The researchers detailedtheir findingsonline Feb. 12 in the journalScience Advances.

This article originally appeared in Inside Science. Read the original here

Go here to see the original:
Scientists Find a Mysterious 'Ghost Lineage' In the DNA of West Africans - Discover Magazine

OpinionIf you were really serious about getting a handle on our climate impacts then its the richest 10 per cent you should focus on

Wednesday, 12th February 2020, 5:47 pm

You would struggle to find someone who thinks planet Earth needs more humans. For most of human history, the global population fluctuated around the low millions. Its been the past three centuries that something remarkable happened.

Largely as a consequence of industrial revolutions, populations across the world began to rise. The 20th century saw huge increases with an additional 80 million people a year being added in the early 1970s. Since then, the total number of humans has doubled and now stands at 7.6 billion. More people need more food, water, and energy.

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And so more people means more climate change and more biodiversity loss. Its only been relatively recently that we have realised that these environmental impacts could actually impact us. Climate change becomes dangerous climate change when it threatens supplies of food, water and energy.

Organisations such as Population Matters advocate for the decrease in the global population as being an essential component in any climate policy. If you were to follow this reasoning further, you could arrive at a much more radical conclusion. For example, if harm to the planet is reduced by reducing the number of humans, then with no humans there will be no harm to the planet.

So is the only solution for climate change is letting the human race become extinct? Thats one of the rather strident claims of the book The Ahuman Manifesto by Patricia MacCormack, a professor of continental philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University. Given how incurably destructive we humans are, how much suffering we cause other animals, she argues the planet would be much better off without us.

The perennial problem with population solutions to sustainability challenges is that they assume the problem is humanity. But when it comes to climate change, the problem is largely caused by only a fraction of it. Half of all global emissions of carbon dioxide are produced by the richest 10 per cent, while the poorest 50 per cent of the global population only produce 10 per cent of global emissions. Yet it is this poorest 50 per cent that will be most harmed by climate change. If you were really serious about getting a handle on our climate impacts then its the richest 10 per cent you should focus on.

However, MacCormack is skeptical that any fundamental change is possible. She boils down her central argument to this: humankind is enslaved to the point of zombiedom by capitalism, and because of the damage this has caused, phasing out reproduction is the only way to repair the damage done to the world.

MacCormack does not advocate a violent end to the species Homo sapiens. But even a phasing-out would prove extraordinarily challenging. It would involve the complete reorganisation of societies to ensure that rapidly ageing populations would have sufficient resources to care for the most vulnerable. There is also the matter of how to deal with human reproductive rights.

Perhaps what is most remarkable about the self-extinction argument is that someone can entertain the wholesale economic, political, and social changes involved with extinction but not the alternatives to capitalism. But then can you imagine a world that is not only devoid of the combustion of coal, oil and gas, but also absent of the exponential growth of energy and material consumption driven by seeking unending economic growth? Unless that changes, humanity probably does not have any long-term future on Earth.

You may not think that a tragedy. But there is a great deal to be done before we reach that point. Billions of peoples lives, not to mention the fate of much of the rest of the biosphere, is going to depend on what we do over the next few years and decades. When it comes to doing our best to live sustainably on Earth, population does matter. But right now, inequality matters more.

Read the original:
A professor has said only human extinction will save the planet- but I have hope - inews

It is April 2017. A couple is waiting anxiously outside the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a private hospital in Karachi. The woman is peeping inside, trying to catch a glimpse of her newborn. Soon, the wait is over. A nurse asks for the mother to come inside the NICU. The woman stands stunned in disbelief. This is the first time someone has referred to her as a mother. With evident incredulity on her face and tears welling up, she enters the NICU. As soon as she holds her tiny baby in her arms, the floodgates open and a stream of tears gushes down the mothers cheeks.

Over two years later, Javaria Javed retells the birth story of her daughter to me. She speaks about her struggles and journey to adoption so clearly and with such attention to detail that her story begins to play like a movie in my head. The star of the movie is Minha, Javeds miracle baby. Javed named her baby Minha because she liked the names meaning a gift from God.

Javed believes that Minha truly is a gift for her. The young mother previously had an ectopic pregnancy a rare pregnancy complication in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. The pregnancy ended with a miscarriage and kidney damage to Javed. Being a newly wedded woman in her twenties, the loss of her unborn baby and her deteriorating kidney health were devastating for her and her family. To make matters worse, she was also advised to avoid pregnancy for the foreseeable future.

Today, it is Minha who motivates Javed to keep going despite her ailments. A year ago, the young mother had a kidney transplant, which impacted her hip bone. She can barely move without assistance now. The doctors had seen this coming. But for a young woman who was healthy until she conceived, this was a hard reality to accept. Childlessness comes with its own set of challenges but it becomes more distressing when accompanied by other health issues. Javed kept switching gynaecologists and nephrologists in her quest to find someone who could offer her some hope.

Eventually, a doctor did give her hope, just not the kind she expected. During her recurring visits to the doctor, she was advised to consider adoption. While the idea clicked with her husband instantly, Javed shrugged it off at first. In our society, adopting a child comes with its own baggage. Today, Javed clearly thinks adoption was one of the best decisions she ever made. She cannot imagine her life without her little bundle of joy, her miracle gift from God.

The Adoptive Question

Most couples who think about adoption in Pakistan are battling some sort of fertility problems. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines infertility as a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. Primary infertility refers to couples who have never conceived while secondary infertility refers to couples who are unable to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse following previous pregnancies.

Also read: Poor Outlook for HIV-Positive Children in Pakistan

Infertility affects up to 15% of reproductive-aged couples around the world. According to a study published in the Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology in 2017, the infertility rate in Pakistan is higher and stands at around 22% with 4% of these being cases of primary infertility and 18% being secondary infertility cases. In other words, one in five married couples in the country has some sort of fertility problems.

Even though the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART), such as in vitro fertilisation treatment (IVF) or intrauterine insemination (IUI) has helped millions of couples around the world to become parents, these treatments do not guarantee a successful pregnancy.

But despite the prevalence of the problem, couples dealing with infertility often find themselves alone and ill-informed about their options. While Javed had a doctor who suggested she consider adopting a child, not everyone has such guidance. Most doctors do not mention adoption as an option, and there is a lack of counselling, especially when couples are considering adopting a baby.

Although adoption is not a medical event, in many cases, gynaecologists find themselves at the centre of it because of their expertise in handling infertility, pregnancy and childbirth. The recently dissolved Pakistan Medical and Dental Council advised physicians to provide support to all parties involved in adoption. Their code of conduct had suggested that, Doctors shall remember that, in cases of proposed adoption, there are several parties involved, all of whom need continued support and counselling. Pregnant women who are considering giving up their babies for adoption shall be helped to approach advisory bodies or attorneys as the circumstances may be.

This is not the case in Pakistan alone. The Committee on Ethics of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists also urges physicians to provide free, accurate and unbiased information about adoption to appropriate patients. It elaborates that a discussion about adoption may be appropriate for patients who are infertile or for patients in whom pregnancy may be dangerous. The committee advises physicians to provide situation-appropriate information about infertility treatments, adoption and child-free living to the patient so they can make the correct decision.

Two generations

Farheen Effandi is in her early forties. She was only six months old when, in 1976, her parents came from the UK to Pakistan and adopted her. They had sought permission from the UK government for adopting a child from their native Pakistan. They raised their only child with a lot of love.

Today, Effandi is also lovingly raising one daughter like her parents. And like them, she too adopted her daughter. But even though Effandi was an adopted child herself, her road to adoption was not easy.

Effandi and her husband Omar Chaudari were married in 2004 and decided to visit a specialist after trying to conceive naturally for a few years. They were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Effandi and Chaudari considered adopting a baby from Pakistan but, being based in Australia at the time, certain legal restrictions kept them from doing so.

Currently, Australia has an active inter-country adoption arrangement with 13 countries, referred to as partner countries, and does not accept adoption visa applications for children who have been adopted from Pakistan. Effandi says that, being from Pakistan, she and Chaudari knew how many babies are abandoned and thrown in the trash in their country, and so they wanted to adopt from Pakistan. But luck was not on their side. We also requested [the Australian government] to let us adopt from Pakistan as an ad hoc adoption but we were denied, Effandi tells Eos.

After the diagnosis we went for an IVF [in vitro fertilisation treatment] but it didnt work, Effandi says. Over the years, we ended up having four IVFs. Even though the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART), such as IVF or intrauterine insemination (IUI) has helped millions of couples around the world to become parents, these treatments do not guarantee conception or successful pregnancy.

IVFs are reportedly becoming increasingly common in Pakistan too, but there is a lack of reliable data regarding the treatment. While the success ratio of fertility treatments in Pakistan cannot be determined due to the lack of statistics, according to findings provided at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryologys annual meeting last year, women who undergo IVF have a 27.1 percent possibility of the procedure resulting in pregnancy.

Dr Sadiah Ahsan Pal, the medical director at the Concept Fertility Centre Pakistan, says that patients at the centre are clearly informed about the chances of the treatment failing beforehand. Still many patients opt for the treatment.

Also read: Why Are So Many Pakistani Girls Committing Suicide?

In an attempt to conquer their ordeal, infertile couples incur huge emotional, financial and physical costs during the years of seeking infertility treatment. Then there is the anxiety and depression. According to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, patients have rated the stress of undergoing IVF treatment as more stressful than, or almost as stressful as, any other major life event, such as the death of a family member or separation or divorce.

Infertility also has a significant impact on womens mental wellbeing. They experience a roller coaster of emotions such as anger, betrayal, guilt, sadness and even hope. The depression and anxiety multiplies manifold after the failure of fertility treatment. With each announcement of pregnancy and sight of someone elses baby bump, a patients anxiety and stress can become overwhelming.

Infertility is a disease and it is not a shameful thing if you cannot have a child, Effandi says. People need to open their minds and hearts and educate themselves. Effandi got pregnant a few times but had early losses and miscarriages. I was just broken. I felt drained emotionally and physically, she says. My body got battered and bruised with injections, hormones and losses. It took a toll on me emotionally. So I said to my husband I cant do it anymore, Effandi says.

Couples dealing with infertility often find themselves alone and ill-informed about their options Most doctors do not mention adoption as an option, and there is a lack of counselling, especially when couples are considering adopting a baby.

Soon enough, Chaudari found a work opportunity in the Middle East and the couple relocated. Effandi started an early learning centre in Dubai, but working every day with children only reminded her of what she was missing. It was not long before she flew over to Pakistan to register for adoption. In 2015, she met Bilquis Edhi to complete the registration process. Surprisingly, the following day she received the good news.

I still remember bursting into tears and jumping into the car, Effandi says. We went to the Edhi Centre and this little bundle was just placed in my arms, says Effandi, her voice shaking as she speaks.

Openness is key

Effandis baby Amelia (Milley) is four now. Effandi has had conversations with her daughter about adoption. I have told her that she did not grow inside mummys tummy but she grows in her heart, she says. Amelia knows that a very special lady named Bilquis Edhi looked after her, until she found her a special home. Effandi has also shown Amelia videos of Bilquis Edhi and Edhi Centres.

Bilquis Edhi at an Edhi Centre in Karachi. Photo: Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

Tahera Hasan, a lawyer and the founding director of the Imkaan Welfare Organisation, an organisation that attempts to deal with the issue of infanticide and abandonment of children in Pakistan, also advises parents to integrate adoption in the daily lives of their infants so it no longer remains an event. She recommends openness with children since they are toddlers, using age-appropriate language, tools and mechanisms, such as making their life book or a storybook. There are books available which parents can read to their child to get some support, she says.

Effandi also hopes to write a book specifically for Pakistani children about adoption. As a miracle baby who went on to adopt a child, she thinks she has some insights to share. This is something I want to do for my daughter and I hope it may help some other children and parents, she says. Effandi knows firsthand just how tricky the road to adoption in Pakistan can be, and how Pakistani parents often find themselves without any support system at the critical juncture before adoption.

Support systems

Like many who have been in a similar position, Javed was intimidated when the doctors first suggested she consider adoption. The decision would impact not only her and her husbands lives, but that of a child. She feared she wouldnt be able to love the child like her own blood and was afraid that her family members wouldnt be able to embrace the child completely either. Her husband kept trying to reassure her, but her fears were not dispelled. It took her two more years to finally decide to take the plunge.

Fears like Javeds are not uncommon. Parents are at the deep end and they dont know what will happen. This is a challenge in itself, says Hasan. She says the social stigma related to adoption and the fear of the unknown haunts many parents. But in the 70 to 80 adoption cases that Hasan has processed as a lawyer, she has not observed a single case of bonding issues between the parents and the child.

Also read: Pakistan Kicks out Medical Charity MSF From Its Tribal Region

These thoughts can be laid to rest if prospective parents associate with people who have gone through [the same] process or a professional that can guide them, Hasan says. But getting help during the decision-making stage is not easy.

Javed tells Eos that there was no one in her close circle who had adopted a child and who could help her deal with her reservations. She was also unaware of any professional support groups. Had there been a professional to help me deal with my fears and clear all the confusions in my mind, I would not have wasted five precious years [without a child], she says.

To help prospective parents fight their fears, Hasan runs the Karachi Adoption Resource Centre (KARC), a forum that was established in 2011 and is dedicated to providing information and support, ranging from pre-adoption consultancy to post-adoption counselling for both parents and children. KARC, according to their Facebook page, aims to provide support, encouragement and information to adoptive families and families about to adopt; encourage families as they go through the adoption process; promote adoption education/awareness; and have regular get-togethers with adoptive families to provide a framework of support and sharing.

At the KARC and Imkaan Welfare Organisation, we are available for counselling, guidance and to answer any questions that parents might have, Hasan says. Parents can leave a message at their Facebook pages, email or call for assistance.

Besides KARC, a Yahoo group called Pakistan Adoption also provides support to people looking for advice on adopting a child from Pakistan. But theres only so much these groups can do. Indeed, many like Javed, are not even aware that such support systems exist.

The lucky ones

During the selection process at Imkaan, Hasan says, her organisation does not consider people who seem to consider adopting a child as a way to earn some naiki (blessings). Parents need children to complete their family more than children need parents, she believes. There are many desperate people waiting just to be parents and many more who have travelled across oceans, spent a huge amount of money and gone through rigorous processes only to be parents. We consider them, she says. Hasan says she tries to keep a balance between local and international adoptions, giving equal importance to both international and local prospective parents.

Like Hasan, Dr Mubina Agboatwalla, chairperson of a Karachi-based NGO called HOPE (Health Oriented Preventive Education) receives many adoption requests. She says she gets around two requests via email every day. The list of these childless couples is long, Agboatwalla tells Eos. People are now more open to adoptions, so childless couples are more forthcoming.

Naila, a representative of the Anjuman Kashana-e-Atfal-o-Naunehal, an orphanage located in Karachi, is also in a similar situation. She receives at least three to four adoption-related calls on a daily basis mostly from outside Pakistan. There are about 15 to 16 people in waiting from the past six years, she says. The previous applications have been discarded. Shes also had to turn away prospective parents who were in tears, pleading to be added to the list.

Other organisations like Edhi Foundation have strict criteria in place for parents considering adoption. According to the organisations child adoption form, only couples who have been married for 10-12 years are eligible to apply. Widows or couples with other children are also not allowed to apply.

Most people who are looking to adopt a child are looking for a newborn, Agboatwalla says. She also believes that it is better to give newborns for adoptions because they can bond with the adoptive family more easily. Older children start recognising their close contacts, and so it gets difficult for them to adjust in a new environment, she says.

A mother and her miracle baby. Photo: Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

HOPE follows a very meticulous process for adoption. We need a full case study and family profile besides other details. Then we meet both the parents together and separately, says Agboatwalla. We visit the homes and check their references. After we are satisfied, we give the baby for adoption after fulfilling all the legal formalities. Agboatwalla personally keeps in touch with the parents to follow the progress of the babies.

Javed considers herself extremely lucky to have become a mother just eight months after she started trying to adopt a baby. There are some very lucky people who are blessed with their own children and there are those who are not, she says. And then God handpicks some people and makes them parents even when they cannot produce their own children they are the luckiest, she says. I cant thank God enough for choosing me to be a mother, adds the young mother, who opted to quit her job and become a homemaker after Minhas birth.

Javed speaks about the life-changing call with a spark in her voice and tears of joy in her eyes. Being a first-time mother, she was not aware of the supplies she should take to the hospital. Excited and confused, she called the hospital to ask if she had to bring something for the baby and they guided her about the essentials.

Also read: Armed With Wit and Humour, Pakistani Women Take to the Streets for Aurat March

The overjoyed couple headed for the hospital two hours ahead of the given time and waited at a nearby restaurant restlessly. I can imagine the couple at the restaurant with one eye on their watches. As I listen to the young womans stories, I catch a glimpse of my own watch and realise it is time for me to leave. Even though I am unable to meet Javeds miracle baby, by the end of our conversation I have a clear picture of Minha in my mind because of all the precise details that have been shared with me. When Javed shows me Minhas photos, she looks exactly like I have been picturing her. A lean, energetic girl, with distinctive features. She has beautiful black eyes and a smile that can melt hearts, a prominent mole on her left eyebrow and tightly curled hair, which her mother alone can handle.

Javeds mobile phone and laptop are full of pictures and videos of Minha. As I swipe through them she continues telling me stories about her daughter. She tells me how she planned Minhas birth photoshoot; how she designed a pink dress and hired an event planner, and celebrated her first birthday while having three rounds of dialysis. She tells me how she joined a Facebook group only to learn to handle her childs curly hair. She tells me how she kept delaying her kidney transplant only because Minha was a small baby at the time.

Javed is a strong advocate of child adoption now. She has also helped a close friend adopt a baby by addressing her concerns and guiding her through the process. She calls Minha the missing piece of the puzzle that completed her life in ways she could not imagine. Indeed, this is a feeling many parents are familiar with.

Both Effandi and Javed believe that a lot more awareness is needed in Pakistan when it comes to adoption. They are irked when someone commends them for rescuing these children. Javed instantly corrects people making these comments. [My daughter] may have gone to another family who would have loved to take care of her but we [got] lucky, she says. We are truly blessed to have them. Meanwhile, Effandi says, These children come into our lives and heal us. The pain of all those years just evaporates. Its like it didnt ever happen. They bring smiles to our face, its magical.

This article wasoriginallypublished in Dawn on January 27, 2020, and has been republished here with permission.

Read more:
'I Told My Daughter That She Grows in Mummy's Heart': Adopting a Child in Pakistan - The Wire

10 February 2020

Researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan have revealed a potential genetic cause for infertility in a new study published in Developmental Cell.

The work, carried out in mice, reports the identification of a new gene, which appears to regulate the process of meiosis, a specialised form of cell division that occurs in the ovaries and testes, leading to the generation of gametes (eggs and sperm).Most cells in the body replicate through a process of cell division called mitosis whereby a single cell doubles its genetic information and then divides equally to create two copies of the original cell. Meiosis takes this process a step further, proceeding to a second cell division, resulting in the generation of four cells that contain half the genetic material, so that upon fertilisation the new cell has one full set of chromosomes.

In the current study the team used a mouse model to identify the gene meiosin, which appears to drive meiosis. When inactivated the researchers observed a reduced or abnormal production of germ cells in both sexes.

The scientists also observed that meiosin is only expressed at certain times in the testis and ovary, when the switch from mitosis to meiosis is taking place, which makes it unique in comparison to other genes previously thought to regulate the process.

'Our work shows that the meiosin gene is the switch that turns on meiosis, the special type of cell division that creates eggs and sperm,' said Dr Kei-Ichiro Ishiguro lead author of the study.

When investigating further, the researchers revealed that meiosin itself switches on hundreds of other genes, many of which currently have unknown functions.

'We were quite surprised to find so many genes with undefined functions lying dormant in this study. We have high expectations that the processes involved in germ cell formation will be greatly clarified as the role each of these genes plays is discovered,' added Dr Ishiguro.

While meiosin is known to exist in humans, further work will be required to determine the exact role in human fertility.

The improper division of genetic material as a result of abnormal meiosis can result in miscarriages or chromosomal disorders. Although the research is at an early stage,the authors hope that the study will lead to a greater understanding of these issues.

'If it eventually becomes possible to control meiosis, the benefits would be far-reaching for reproductive medicine, agricultural production, and even assisting rare species reproduction,' Dr Ishiguro concluded.

Read more:
Key gene in making eggs and sperm discovered - BioNews

20 January 2020

Researchers testing a new way to harvest embryosfor genetic screening have been criticised for payingwomen in Mexico to be inseminated.

The study, published online in Human Reproduction, involved 81 women at a hospital near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Each participant was paid about $1400 to be artificially inseminated and subsequentlyto undergo a procedure where the embryos were flushed from the womb and analysed for research.

Lead investigator Dr Santiago Munnsuggests the new method could offer a simpler, less expensive way to assure a healthy child for couples with high risk for passing on genetic disease, such as beta-thalassemia or cystic fibrosis.

'The advantage is that these embryos are conceived naturally, so you don't need in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to do the genetic testing of the embryos. In theory, it should be much cheaper,' Dr Munn said.

As a first step, the participants received hormone injections to stimulate their ovaries' eggproduction a standard way to increase the number ofeggs obtained in fertility treatments.

Unlike IVF, the eggs weren't extracted before fertilisation in the lab, instead fertilisation was achieved in vivo by means of insemination with donor sperm. Four to six days later, the resulting embryos were flushed out using a mechanical procedure called 'lavage' and analysed,comparing them to embryos produced via IVF.

Theresearch has been calledunethical by critics.

'What this essentially does is use a woman's body as a petri dish, and there's something about that that seems so profoundly disturbing,' Dr Laurie Zoloth,a bioethicist from the University of Chicago, told NPR.

Other issues include the payment participants received, equal to more than two month's average salary in the area, which might become coercive to participants living on the poverty line.

The study also posedhealth risks to the participating women, who received intensive hormone stimulation. In some cases the lavage did not remove all the embryos, making terminations necessary.

Editor-in-chief of Human Reproduction, Professor Lambalk, told NPR that after verifying that the research had been thoroughly reviewed, they decided to publish the study along with an editorial and a commentary to draw attention to the ethical issues it raised.

In response to the criticism, Dr Munn referred to the extensive review and subsequent approval by the Ministry of Health of the State of Nayarit, Mexico, and the Western Institutional Review Board in the United States. Furthermore, he noted that the women were fully informed ofrisks associated with participation.

Embryos produced in the study have been frozen to be used by couples experiencing infertility and have been used to produce at least five pregnancies and three, thus far, healthy babies.

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Embryo research to reduce the need for in vitro fertilization raises ethical concerns - BioNews

Behnam Kamalidehghan,1,* Mohsen Habibi,2,* Sara S Afjeh,1 Maryam Shoai,3 Saeideh Alidoost,4 Rouzbeh Almasi Ghale,4 Nahal Eshghifar,5 Farkhondeh Pouresmaeili1,6

1Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Central Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK; 4Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran; 5Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran and Mens Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 6Mens Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Farkhondeh PouresmaeiliMens Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranTel/Fax +98 21-23872572Email pouresfar@gmail.com

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNA) play a key role in the regulation of gene expression through the translational suppression and control of post-transcriptional modifications.Aim: Previous studies demonstrated that miRNAs conduct the pathways involved in human reproduction including maintenance of primordial germ cells (PGCs), spermatogenesis, oocyte maturation, folliculogenesis and corpus luteum function. The association of miRNA expression with infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), premature ovarian failure (POF), and repeated implantation failure (RIF) was previously revealed. Furthermore, there are evidences of the importance of miRNAs in embryonic development and implantation. Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and miRNAs play an important role in the post-transcriptional regulatory processes of germ cells. Indeed, the investigation of small RNAs including miRNAs and piRNAs increase our understanding of the mechanisms involved in fertility. In this review, the current knowledge of microRNAs in embryogenesis and fertility is discussed.Conclusion: Further research is necessary to provide new insights into the application of small RNAs in the diagnosis and therapeutic approaches to infertility.

Keywords: miRNA, female fertility, male fertility, piwi-interacting RNAs, piRNAs

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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The Importance of Small Non-Coding RNAs in Human Reproduction: A Revie | TACG - Dove Medical Press

New research from UC Riverside shows scientists may soon be able to prevent disease-spreading mosquitoes from maturing. Using the same gene-altering techniques, they may also be able help boost reproduction in beneficial bumblebees.

The research shows that, contrary to previous scientific belief, a hormone required for sexual maturity in insects cannot travel across a mass of cells separating the blood from the brain unless it is aided by a transporter protein molecule.

Before this finding, there had been a longstanding assumption that steroid hormones pass freely through the blood-brain barrier, said Naoki Yamanaka, an assistant professor of entomology at UCR, who led the research. We have shown thats not so.

The study, published this month in the journal Current Biology, details the effects on sexual maturity in fruit flies when the transporter protein is blocked.

Blocking the transporter not only prevented the steroid from entering the brain, it also permanently altered the flies behavior. When flies are in their infancy or maggot stage, they usually stay on or in a source of food.

Later, as they prepare to enter a more adult phase of life, they exhibit wandering behavior, in which they come out of their food to find a place to shed their outer body layer and transform into an adult fly.

When the transporter gene was blocked, Yamanaka said the flies entered a median stage between infancy and adulthood, but never wandered out of their food, and died slowly afterward without ever reaching adulthood or reproducing.

Our biggest motivation for this study was to challenge the prevailing assumption about free movement of steroids past the blood-brain barrier, by using fruit flies as a model species, Yamanaka said. In the long run, were interested in controlling the function of steroid hormone transporters to manipulate insect and potentially human behaviors.

Currently, Yamanaka is examining whether altering genes in mosquitoes could have a similar effect. Since mosquitoes are vectors for numerous diseases, including Zika, West Nile Virus, malaria and Dengue fever, there is great potential for the findings to improve human health.

Conversely, there may be a way to alter the genes to manipulate reproduction in beneficial insects as well, in order to help them. Bumblebees, whose populations have been declining in recent years, pollinate many favorite human food crops.

Also, there is the potential for this work to more directly impact humans. Steroid hormones affect a variety of behaviors and reactions in the human body. For example, the human body under stress makes a steroid hormone called cortisol. It enters the brain so humans can cope with the stressful situation.

However, when chronic stress is experienced, cortisol can build up in the brain and cause multiple issues. If the same machinery exists for cortisol in humans, we may be able to block the transporter in the blood-brain barrier to protect our brain from chronic stress, Yamanaka said.

Its an exciting finding, said Yamanaka. It was just in flies, but more than 70% of human disease-related genes have equivalents in flies, so there is a good chance this holds true for humans too.

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Scientists short-circuit maturity in insects, opening new paths to disease prevention - UC Riverside

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Exercise improves your mood, reduces the risk of heart disease, and may keep your sperm healthy, according to a new study.

For this research, scientists looked at sperm samples from hundreds of men who qualified as sperm donors based on health and semen quality, according to the paper published in Human Reproduction. All men displayed healthy levels of sperm concentration, or the amount of sperm present in semen; sperm morphology, meaning size and shape; and motility, or how well the sperm moves to implant an egg. Guys who logged the highest amount of time being active each week and performed the most intense exercises had better sperm motility, meaning their sperm moved better, the study found.

Regular exercise may improve semen quality parameters among healthy, non-infertile men, study co-author Dr. Yi-Xin Wang of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, told Reuters.

Although exercise is undoubtedly beneficial, researchers still don't the best length of time or types of exercises that are optimal for sperm health.

Of course, physical activity can help you maintain a healthy weight, which is shown to keep sperm healthy, according to urologist Dr. Ali Dabaja.

"If you have a lot of body fat, youre going to have a lot of oxidative stress to the body," Dabaja previously told Men's Health.

Higher amounts of oxidative stress has been shown to lower sperm quality, according to Dabaja.

Maintaining an active lifestyle and healthy diet are the best ways to improve sperm health.

Men's Health

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Guys Who Exercise More Have Healthier Sperm, Says Study - Men's Health

A Campus meeting in December concluded that global access to effective fertility can be achieved, but only with the combined commitments of fertility education, affordable treatment, and the support of governments.

The solution to unequal access in fertility care lies in a package of approaches which include infertility awareness programmes, safe but affordable IVF, and a commitment from governments to respect human rights.

This was the consensus from the presenters at this ESHRE Campus meeting in December, which, while acknowledging this will not be achieved overnight, will require the cooperation of numerous groups, including medical societies, politicians and patient organisations. The consensus followed several lively open floor discussions among attendees and presenters, with everyone posing for a group selfie as part of a recently launched global fertility education campaign which ESHRE is partnering.

ESHRE's Past Chair Roy Farquharson emphasised the Societys commitment to promoting access to evidence-based practice, engaging with patient organisations and maintaining reprovigilance to protect patients from ineffective treatments (eg, costly add-ons). In addition to publishing expert guidelines and recommendations, ESHREs vision is to set a global standard for practice and research through collaborative networks that accurately design and complete trials.

Initiatives to address need and improve access include the pharma industry's collaboration with societies to produce audits highlighting inequalities, charitable projects to raise awareness among policymakers about infertility, and public campaigns. Sren Ziebe presented details of a project he led in Denmark to highlight the effect of ageing on fertility for men and women in their 30s. His message was that greater fertility awareness is needed in schools, that childbearing should be made a national priority, and for men to be targeted too with fertility education.

Petra De Sutter, from University Hospital Ghent and a member of the European Parliament, highlighted the huge variation in fertility treatment eligibility criteria. Parts of Poland have taken the extreme view of setting up LGBT-free zones, whereas France has recently agreed to grant single women and lesbians state-funded treatment for the first time. This demonstrates the ideological cleavage between political leaders on issues such as surrogacy, a topic on which even the Council of Europe has failed to reach a unified position. De Sutter pointed out the EU can influence, but only when ideology-driven agendas touch on human rights.

These differences should be set aside, she argued. Politicians and governments not the market have a hugely important role in regulation, as evidenced by the CRISPR baby scandal, and should be facilitating debate around innovation and trends in fertility treatment, according to De Sutter. They should also respect human rights and not let sexual orientation influence their decisions. As outlined by an ESHRE task force, any position on single, lesbian and gay couple rights should be considered in the light of scientific evidence.

There was also evidence that affordable treatments do offer a way forward in equalising access. As presented at ESHREs Annual Meeting, Willem Ombelets one-day diagnostic approach for The Walking Egg (TWE) programme, which has now progressed to a lab housed in a container on wheels, has resulted in 180 live births to date, with results appearing better than conventional IVF. What is urgently needed is government funding, volunteers and university support.

Low-cost mild ovarian stimulation protocols, as used by Ombelet and others in suitable patients, can also save money and reduce side effects without compromising success rates. Madelon Van Wely, from the University Medical Center of Amsterdam, in describing affordable stimulation protocols, concluded that the costs of IVF can be reduced by using lower doses of gonadotrophins through milder protocols and the concomitant use of clomiphene citrate or letrozole.(1)

A presentation by Guido Pennings, from the Bioethics Institute, Ghent, explored the ethics of IVF access concentrating particularly on the use of low cost IVF in low to middle income countries, even if (and when) efficiency is below standard. Does low cost also mean low quality, asked Pennings. However, after reviewing evidence he concluded that lower cost/lower quality treatment is acceptable when a large population is in need. Low-cost IVF maximises well-being and reduces inequality in health care, he said. 'A resource-sensitive approach takes into account the limited healthcare budget of a country and the opportunity costs of spending money on infertility treatment,' said Pennings.

In closing this two-day Campus meeting, co-ordinator of the SIG Global and Socio-cultural Aspects of Infertility Virginie Roze called for further studies in fertility care to establish better ways of legally framing ART, to recognise infertility as a public health matter and to fight against discrimination.

1. Wang R, Kim B,Van Wely M, et al. Treatment strategies for women with WHO group II anovulation: systematic review and network meta-analysis. BMJ 2017; 356: doi: 10.1136/bmj.j138.

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ACCESS TO TREATMENT - Improving global access to fertility care - ESHRE

He Jiankui, a Chinese researcher shown here at a conference last year in Hong Kong, has been sentenced to three years in prison. Kin Cheung/AP hide caption

He Jiankui, a Chinese researcher shown here at a conference last year in Hong Kong, has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET

A Chinese scientist who shocked the medical community last year when he said he had illegally created the world's first gene-edited babies has been sentenced to three years in prison by a court in southern China.

He Jiankui announced in November 2018 that he had used a powerful technique called CRISPR on a human embryo to edit the genes of twin girls. He said he modified a gene with the intention of protecting the girls against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Many scientists expressed concerns about possible unintended side effects of the genetic changes that could be passed down to future generations.

Last fall, He also indicated there might be another pregnancy involving a gene-edited embryo. The court indicated that three genetically edited babies have been born.

The closed court in Shenzhen found He and two colleagues guilty of illegal medical practice by knowingly violating the country's regulations and ethical principles with their experiments, Xinhua news agency reported. It also ordered He to pay a fine of about $430,000.

He's colleagues, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, were handed lesser sentences and fines.

"None of the three defendants acquired doctor's qualifications. [They] craved fame and fortune and deliberately went against the country's regulations on scientific research and medical management. [They] went beyond the bottom lines of scientific research and medical ethics," the court stated, according to the South China Morning Post.

He has defended his controversial work by saying that it will help families. "I understand my work will be controversial," he said, as NPR's Rob Stein reported. "But I believe families need this technology. And I am willing to take the criticism for them."

At the time, scientists had previously genetically modified human embryos, but none had publicly claimed to have implanted embryos in a woman's womb in an experiment that resulted in human babies.

Chinese police detained He in January and, as the Post reported, an initial investigation concluded that he "organised a project team that included foreign staff, which intentionally avoided surveillance and used technology of uncertain safety and effectiveness to perform human embryo gene-editing activity with the purpose of reproduction, which is officially banned in the country."

The gene that He edited, CCR5, is known as a pathway for HIV to infect immune system cells. But as Stein notes, research carried out since He's stunning announcement has suggested that the genetic changes he made could cause more harm than good to the babies' health.

A study in Nature Medicine analyzed the DNA of more than 400,000 people and found that the changes that He made could make people more vulnerable to viruses such as West Nile and influenza.

"This is a lesson in humility," George Daley, the dean of the Harvard Medical School, told Stein. "Even when we think we know something about a gene, we can always be surprised and even startled, like in this case, to find out that a gene we thought was protective may actually be a problem."

Marcy Darnovsky, the executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, said in an email to NPR that He's "reckless and self-serving acts should highlight the broader and deeper risks and the pointlessness of any proposal to use gene editing in human reproduction."

William Hurlbut, a scientist and bioethicist at Stanford who had attempted to persuade He (who is nicknamed JK) not to do the experiment, called his arrest a "sad story."

"Everyone lost in this (JK, his family, his colleagues, and his country), but the one gain is that the world is awakened to the seriousness of our advancing genetic technologies," Hurlbut said in an emailed statement. "I feel sorry for JK's little family though I warned him things could end this way, but it was just too late."

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Chinese Researcher Who Created Gene-Edited Babies Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison - NPR

The disgraced Chinese scientist who led the genetic editing of human babies was sentenced to three years in prison today for undertaking illegal medical practices.

He Jiankui shocked the scientific community when he announced in 2018 the birth of twins whose genes he claimed had been altered to confer immunity against HIV.

According to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, Dr He was also issued with a fine of three million yuan (around 327,900 / $429,300).

The court in Shenzhen, China, sentenced Dr He for illegally carrying out the human embryo gene-editing intended for reproduction, Xinhua reported.

Two of DrHes fellow researchers were also sentenced.

Zhang Renli was handed a two-year jail term and was fined to the order of one million yuan (109,200 / $143,100).

Meanwhile, his colleague Qin Jinzhou was given 18 months in jail, a two-year suspension and a fine of 500,000 yuan (54,600 / $71,600).

The court determined that the trio had not obtained qualifications to work as doctors and had knowingly violated Chinas regulations and ethical principles, Xinhua reported.

They had acted in the pursuit of personal fame and gain and seriously disrupted medical order, the court had said in its verdict.

In addition, Xinhua have reported that a third gene-edited baby was born as a result of Dr Hes experiments a fact that had not previously been confirmed.

Dr He announced the birth of the worlds first gene-edited babies twin girls nicknamedLulu and Nana in the November of 2018.

The Chinese team hadaltered the twins DNA to prevent them from contracting HIV by deleting a certain gene using the CRISPR gene-editing technique.

The claim shocked scientists worldwide, raised questions about bioethics and shined a spotlight on Chinas lax oversight of scientific research.

Amid the outcry, Dr He became the subject of police investigation, the government ordered a halt to his research and he was fired from his post at ChinasSouthern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen.

Gene-editing for reproductive purposes is illegal in most countries.

Chinas health ministry hadprohibited the gene-editing of human embryos in regulations issued in 2003, although the procedure is permitted for non-reproductive purposes.

The Chinese teams gene editing was supposedly meant to immunise the twins against HIV, with Dr He claiming that his medical breakthrough could control the HIV epidemic.

However, following the publication of the original research earlier this month, scientists said that the workmay in fact have failed in its purpose, while also potentially creating unintended mutations.

While the team targeted the right gene, they did not replicate the so-called Delta 32 variation required to confer HIV resistance, experts told the MIT Technology Review.

Instead, they created novel edits whose effects are not clear.

Moreover, CRISPR remains an imperfect tool because it can lead to unwanted or off-target edits, making its use in humans hugely controversial.

We had been wondering what had happened to He Jiankui, commented geneticist Robin Lovell-Badge of the Francis Crick Institute in London.

In that sense alone, the information now released is reassuring [] both prison and a fine would have been the likely penalties if someone had done whatHe Jiankui did in the UK, he added.

It would seem appropriate that others were also sentenced by the court;He Jiankui could not have carried out all the technical aspects of the work alone and at least someone at the IVF clinic that was involved would be complicit.

It is far too premature for anyone to attempt clinical application of germline genome editing; indeed, at this stage we do not know if the methods will ever be sufficiently safe and efficient.

It is also important to have standards established, including detailed regulatory pathways, and appropriate means of governance.

Continued here:
Disgraced Chinese scientist who genetically edited human babies sentenced to three years in prison - Infosurhoy

The End of Babies.

That was the arresting headline on a hefty and significant lead article in The New York Times Sunday Review section for Nov. 17 about spreading international reproductive malaise, a.k.a what some are now calling the Baby Bust.

This is big stuff. Yes, there are religious implications here.

The Guy is old enough to remember apocalyptic journalism about a lethal population explosion heading our way. Now social analysts are issuing the opposite warning for some countries. Among other ills, when average ages rise this causes labor shortages, lack of children to care for aged parents and deficits in public and private pension funds with fewer younger wage-earners to carry the oldsters.

Government interventions to skew population can cause trouble.

China feared increasing hordes and long forced couples to have only one child. Combined with open abortion and gender favoritism, that has produced a dire shortage of marriageable women. David French of thedispatch.com notes the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Californias paid family leave, which youd think would encourage more births, apparently reduced childbearing.

To keep the population from shrinking, a nation needs an average of 2.1 births per woman resident. Numbers fall well below that in e.g. Taiwan (1.13), Japan (1.42), Thailand (1.52), China (1.6), the United States (an all-time low of 1.7) and numerous well-off European nations like Denmark (also 1.7).

Denmark is a major puzzle in the Times piece by Anna Louie Sussman, working in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Affluent Danes are better able to cover the costs of child-rearing than parents in many countries. Denmarks welfare state makes it as easy as possible to have children, with 12 months of family leave after birth, government funding for in vitrofertilization, and heavily subsidized day care.

So what gives?

Better career opportunities for women are one factor. A culture in which legalized abortion is a given is another.

Reflecting the socio-political Left, Sussman thinks the climate crisis and income inequality make many couples reluctant to bring children into this world. She says capitalist economies are the big driver, providing wealth that makes many prefer recreation to bothering with kids, and turning employees into workaholics who feel they lack the time and energy for parenting.

Journalists will consider that theres a major religious angle to focus on, as usually with societal trends. Couples without children feel less incentive to be active in religious congregations, which dwindle as a result. On the other hand, Sussman observes, declining religiosity generally means fewer births. Secularism fosters materialism fosters childlessness.

Some faiths are notably invested in producing children, for instance the Amish, Hasidic Jews and Latter-day Saints. Healthy birth rates are a major reason some demographers predict Islam will surpass Christianity as the worlds largest religion later this century. Growing religious flocks tend to make converts, retain their young people and encourage families with multiple children. Do the math.

Fortunately for religion writers, the Times feature appears simultaneously with a vigorous pro-reproduction religious proclamation titled The Gift of Children. It was issued by 24 American thinkers in the Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) project, which has produced a series of joint statements since 1994 expressing traditional Christian teachings on cultural and religious issues.

Some journalists will want to report how these Catholics and Protestants jointly treat news topics like birth control, abortion, same-sex marriage and artificial methods of human reproduction. But here The Guy will note only their slant on the birth dearth.

In the Bibles view, the statement notes, God says to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28), Moses admonishes Israelites to choose life that you and your descendants may live (Deuteronomy 30:19), and children are a heritage from the Lord and a reward (Psalm 127:3). ECT says that to have a child is to have a future through committing ourselves to renewing and caring for the forward-flowing stream of life.

ECT asserts that being a parent is natural and an act of faith even for non-believers, and fundamental to what it means to be human. For believers, it is nothing less than a divine commandment where possible. Deliberately to refuse the gift of children implicates us in a turn away from the living God, so much so that were told clergy should not perform weddings of couples that intend to be childless.

Yes, Christianity does uphold those who are single or who enter celibate church vocations. But for ECT that does not endorse the sterility of the present age. The chaste single life does not refuse the gift of children for the sake of present pleasures or out of anxieties about a future we cannot control. Singles can function as parents for the children in their families, churches and communities.

Much generation-shaping material here for writers and their sources to examine.

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Big-think story: What does religious faith have to do with slumping global birth rates? - GetReligion

Robert Jensen, For the Express-News

This photo of transgender activist Ashley Smith with Abbott went viral. Such activists have argued that their gender identification trumps their gender of birth, but some say that should not be so.

This photo of transgender activist Ashley Smith with Abbott went viral. Such activists have argued that their gender identification trumps their gender of birth, but some say that should not be so.

Critical questions need to be answered in transgender debate

Now that the bathroom bill has died in the Texas Legislature and the political fireworks are over for the moment we should step back and consider what makes the transgender issue so vexing.

Debates about gay rights and other hot-button culture war issues have long been divisive, but theres something distinctive about this one: A large number of people are simply confused, for good reason. Many people dont understand transgender activists claims about sex and gender, and the transgender movement has yet to offer a coherent explanation.

What does it mean for people born unambiguously male biologically that is, not with one of the rare intersex conditions, a separate question from transgenderism to claim to be female, or vice versa? As a matter of biology, male and female are categories defined by different roles in reproduction; a male human cannot be, or become, a female human. Hormones and surgery can create the appearance of a sex change but cannot transform a person into someone of the other sex category.

If the focus is on socially defined gender the meaning a society makes of male/female sex differences its easy to understand how someone born male might feel at odds with the norms of masculinity and more comfortable with the norms of femininity, or vice versa. People have a right to look and behave as they like without the constraints of patriarchal gender norms, but that does not require anyone to claim to have changed sex categories.

People who identify as transgender typically describe an internal subjective experience of belonging in the other category, and I am not challenging those self-reports. But an internal subjective experience doesnt change physical realities in the world. For example, people who are dangerously underweight sometimes report an internal subjective experience of being overweight, but we dont embrace that as reality and encourage them to diet.

When males who identify as transgender assert that they are female and, therefore, should be allowed in all-female spaces such as changing rooms or bathrooms, its no surprise that many people say, I dont understand. Thats legitimate confusion, not bigotry or hate. But simply acknowledging the confusion can, in some places, lead to being labeled transphobic, and so many people keep quiet about their concerns.

This is very different from the debate over the status of gay men and lesbians. People who oppose gay marriage understand what same-sex attraction and intimacy is, even if they have not experienced it.When I argue for lesbian/gay rights, no one on the other side has ever said, I dont understand what it means to be attracted to someone of the same sex.

The responses of transgender activists and supporters vary widely. Some argue that not just gender but even sex categories, male and female, are socially constructed, a claim that seems nonsensical to me and many others (the realities of sexual reproduction do not change based on social norms). Others propose that there can be a disconnection between chromosomal/gonadal/genital sex and brain sex, which could make sense only if there are meaningfully distinct male and female brains, which there arent. Others reject the idea of a binary, but human reproductive cells (called gametes) are either egg or sperm, which is a binary that cant be wished away.

Let me be clear: I am not rejecting the internal subjective experiences reported by people who identify as transgender, nor am I suggesting that bigotry or violence against people who identify as transgender is acceptable. But until there is a coherent explanation of the transgender movements claims, its not discriminatory to maintain certain sex-segregated facilities, especially those that give girls and women privacy and safety from the routine intrusions of a male-dominated culture (not because transgender people are a distinctive threat, but because blurring the lines based on individuals unchallengeable assertion of an identity will lead to predators exploiting the ambiguity).

The underlying problem, from a critical feminist perspective, is institutionalized male dominance, what has long been called patriarchy. If we ever transcend the rigid, repressive and reactionary gender norms of patriarchy which constrain all our lives people would feel free to live authentically without claiming they belong in a sex category that is contrary to the physical reality of their bodies.

Transgender activists acknowledge that we know little about the etiology the cause or causes of transgenderism. Within the transgender movement there is disagreement about whether this is a condition that requires medical treatment or just an aspect of identity like any other. Based on current knowledge, responsible public policy should approach transgenderism with a mental health model that explores peoples distress without immediately making assumptions about what the symptoms mean for identity. As long as the movement demands that we accept transgender as an identity that cannot be questioned, the policy questions not only bathrooms, but whether it is ethical to give children powerful drugs to suppress puberty as a treatment for gender dysphoria will be not only unresolved but unresolvable.

The transgender movement normalizes dramatic interventions into the body without a coherent explanation for the treatment, suggesting anyone who hesitates to endorse this is a bigot. If this continues, will children who show any signs of gender nonconformity routinely be encouraged to identify as transgender, hence in need of treatment, rather than challenge patriarchal gender norms? Will girls and women be expected to abandon their legitimate interests in privacy and safety based on a claim they cant understand?

Pressing these questions is evidence of critical thinking and a commitment to justice for girls and women, not bigotry. We can recognize the distress and needs of people who identify as transgender, and at the same time ask these crucial questions and offer a feminist challenge to repressive gender norms. Debates in which people are condemned for thinking critically are unlikely to lead to responsible public policy.

Robert Jensen is a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men.

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Critical questions need to be answered in transgender debate - mySanAntonio.com

CreditArmando Veve

As an ob-gyn, Ive personally encountered many fertility myths in my office or online some of them even during my training. Why do they persist? Sex education, particularly about the physiology of reproduction, is typically incomplete and subpar. And when we do talk about fertility and reproduction, we dont talk about it directly euphemisms for the uterus, menstruation, the vagina and the vulva are still common, and when you cant use a word, the implication is that the body part is shameful. And, of course, many myths persist simply because theyre alluringly fantastical, and were inclined to believe these tall tales over the stodgy facts. Here are seven fertility myths that need to be forgotten.

This is not an uncommon belief some women even refer to menstruation as their moon time. The confusion is understandable: The 29.5-day lunar cycle (from new moon to new moon) is very close to the average 28-day menstrual cycle. But studies show no connection between the moon and menses. Moreover, it is hard to envision how a moon-menstruation connection would be biologically beneficial to human reproduction.

This is a common modern myth in gynecology exam rooms all across North America and it results in a lot of unnecessary testing of hormone levels. The truth is that, for women of reproductive age, the hormone levels for FSH, LH, estrogen and progesterone change not only day to day, but also often hour to hour. When a woman has certain symptoms for example, an irregular menstrual cycle or infertility hormone testing may be recommended to make a diagnosis. But in these situations, doctors will look at individual levels in conjunction with symptoms, rather than comparing levels with some mythical balance. Being in balance may sound natural, like a person who is in tune with her body. But it is simply not a factual statement, or even a good analogy, for what happens biologically.

How long should I lie flat after sex? is one of the most common questions asked of OB-GYNs. The myth is that sperm will rush back out of your body once youre standing up because of the effects of gravity. But most sperm with any chance of fertilization have gone past the point of no return almost immediately. There are no studies that establish a correlation between the length of postcoital recumbent time and subsequent pregnancy rates but there is a large study that examined pregnancy rates after insemination in a doctors office. That study concluded there was no difference in pregnancy rates between people who spent 15 minutes lying flat versus those who got up and moved around as soon as the procedure was completed.

[Read our guide to fertility and getting pregnant.]

The myth is that menopause isnt natural because for most of history women did not live long enough to experience it a misconception born both of a mischaracterization of life expectancy and of the way that society has historically tied a womans worth to her reproductive capacity. Although its true that for centuries the average life expectancy for women was less than 50 years, its not as if women were dying en masse at 50, having lived long enough to satisfy evolution. In fact, if you exclude infant and childhood mortality (which were largely due to a lack of basic medical care, sanitation and immunizations), the life expectancy of women, even before 1900, rises sharply. Women in the 17th century who survived the traditionally perilous gantlet of childbirth had an average life expectancy of 60 years. For that matter, the life expectancy for men was never much longer yet for some reason society has never needed an explanation for the age-related decline in reproductive function in men.

The bulk of the evidence tells us that female orgasm does not affect conception one way or the other. If it did, orgasms would most likely almost always occur with penile penetration; but the reality is that they occur only 25 percent to 33 percent of the time. For orgasm to affect sperm transport and hence conception it would also have to occur immediately before or during the male orgasm, which, well, is uncommon. In reality, many women achieve orgasm once or more before their male partner does or after, or not at all.

Myths and fears about vaccinations have been around almost as long as vaccines have, and fertility-related myths are no exception. This myth was propagated by six cases of premature ovarian failure that were described in the HPV vaccine literature, in what is known as a case series. But this is not proof although it did prompt a number of provocative headlines that gave birth to this myth. Fortunately, a much larger study, involving more than 199,000 women, tells us that there is no association between HPV vaccination and premature ovarian failure.

Its a common myth that all men can reproduce until their 80s. And its true that we see some celebrities in their 50s, 60s and even their 70s announcing their new fatherhood (almost always with a much younger female partner). But both sexes experience an age-related decline in fertility. For women, the decline begins in their 30s, and by their mid-40s, pregnancies without reproductive assistance are rare. For the aging male, erectile dysfunction increases with age, and the quality of seminal fluid and sperm also declines. Men over 51 (notably, this is also the average age of menopause for women) experience a significant decrease in success with infertility therapies. It is true that men dont experience the same absolute reproductive cutoff that women do, but every discussion about age and fertility should also include men.

[Read more about male infertility.]

Jen Gunter, M.D., an OB-GYN, is a regular contributor to The New York Times, the host of the web docuseries Jensplaining and the author of The Vagina Bible.

Continue reading here:
7 Fertility Myths That Belong in the Past - NYT Parenting

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Id like to try to answer this by asking myself four key questions:

Jesus once spoke about marriage, drawing on the Book of Genesis: Havent you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one? What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder (Mt19:45).

Jesus laid down the basis of Christian living with what he called his new commandment: That you love one another even as I have loved you (Jn 13:34). The hard part of Christian love is that little word, as, which for Jesus means that Christians, including spouses in marriage, are ready to lay down their life for each other. Jesus is only asking us to do what each Person of the Blessed Trinity are doing for one another. So Pope Francis has said that marriage is the icon [or image] of God, created for us by him, who is the perfect communion of the three persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is definitely not obsessed with sexhes only said one sentence about it, which sets such a high standard I think it refers to any and every sexual failure we humans can fall into: Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28). As St John Paul II explains, heart means the full depth of the person as loved by God, where God loves each of us for our own sake, not for what he gets out of us. If I dont love you other unconditionally and purely for your own sake, and treat you as an object to provide myself with pleasure, Im committing adultery in my heart.

The only way a same sex married couple could have children would be through adopting or fostering a child of other parents, or through another partner. Ill leave a discussion of Same Sex Marriage adoption/fostering for another day. Lesbians are likely to access donor-assisted human reproduction, while gay men desiring children have to adopt, foster, or use surrogacy. Donor-assisted reproduction, or the use of surrogacy, seems to be a terrible injustice to children acquired in this way, intentionally depriving them of at least one biological parent.

U-S childrens rights Heather Barwick, born to lesbian parents, has an interesting take on this: I dont support gay marriage. But it might not be for the reasons that you think. Its not because youre gay. I love you, so much. Its because of the nature of the same-sex relationship itself. Same-sex marriage and parenting withholds either a mother or father from a child while telling him or her that it doesnt matter. That its all the same. But its not. A lot of us, a lot of your kids, are hurting. My fathers absence created a huge hole in me, and I ached every day for a dad. I loved my mums partner, but another mum could never have replaced the father I lost.

Originally posted here:
Ask A Priest - Why is the Church opposed to same sex marriage? - The Catholic Weekly

Darwinian biologist P.Z. Myers has replied to my observation that the coronavirus pandemic is a dramatic example of the destructive power of natural selection. Natural selection is analogous to entropy it degrades functional complexity.

Myers disagrees, and insists that the COVID-19 virus is a fine example of the constructive potential of random variation and natural selection:

What was undergoing natural selection here was the virus, not us, and it has acquired attributes that make it wildly successful it is now colonizing vast fields of billions of human beings, producing uncountable numbers of progeny, infecting more people at an accelerating rate. The virus is stronger and thriving thanks to those features, and doing very well thank you very much. Humans are now possibly undergoing a round of natural selection in response.

These are truisms for the most part. Obviously, if the virus werent wildly successful, generating uncountable progeny, we wouldnt be talking about it. Undeniably, it thrives by thriving. But Myers misunderstands Darwins theory and he misunderstands the dynamics of whatever minimal evolutionary change can occur by undirected processes.

Darwin didnt discover heritable variation and differential reproduction. Men have known since prehistory that offspring vary and some are more successful than others. Breeders mimicked the essentially metaphysical fact about nature possibilities can be actualized and they imitated nature and selected and bred the best of their herds. It was not news to them that something like breeding may happen naturally. They learned to breed by observing nature.

What Darwin proposed was far more radical. He proposed that all adaptation is the result of mundane unintelligent variation and selection. Darwin proposed that nature did what breeders do breeders already knew that but Darwin made the radical and astonishing claim that nature did it all without purpose. Darwin claimed that what breeders did deliberately in a human lifetime to their herds nature did in eons to all of life, except that what nature did was without design.

We need to remember what Darwin actually claimed and what Darwinists actually believe. Darwin didnt propose a theory that populations change by heritable variation and differential reproduction. Thats a trivial observation known to all. Darwin proposed that life can be fully explained by heritable variation and differential reproduction and nothing else. He proposed that heritable variation and differential reproduction was the only cause of evolution of a microbe in a warm little pond into a fish and a bird and a mammal and a man. He proposed that heritable variation and differential reproduction is the origin the only origin of species.

In terms of our present viral pandemic, what Myers and other Darwinists claim is that all lifes diversity arose by the same mechanism that this pandemic arose chance mutation and undirected reproductive wildfire. In other words, to Myers, evolution is pandemics, all the way down. Randomness and survival of survivors explains all.

Yet a careful look at the coronavirus shows why viral evolution is not an example of evolution of new species nor an example of how lifes complexity evolves. It is doubtful that a virus is even a living thing. The coronavirus is essentially a non-living parasite. It depends wholly on the biological mechanisms of immeasurably more complex living organisms us and bats to persist and replicate. Without humans (or bats), coronavirus disintegrates in hours or days. Whatever its exact (as yet unknown) lethality, the coronavirus doesnt succeed when it kills. A virus that kills its individual host has failed, because the virus disappears if its host dies. Viruses need living hosts for their very existence. The coronavirus does kill some hosts, but since hosts usually survive it is on the whole successful. And if a virus isnt alive, then viral mutation and differential reproduction is not an example of the evolution of life anyway.

The coronaviruss evolution the pandemic depends on the living specified complexity of humans and bats. Intelligent design in nature is the prerequisite for all natural selection nature without teleology would be chaos, and no evolution at all.

Aristotle saw this in his definition of chance in nature chance is the accidental conjunction of purposeful events. Without purpose there can be no chance. His example is instructive: he considered a farmer who ploughs his field and by chance discovers a treasure buried by someone else. The treasure is discovered by chance, but everything else the farmers ownership of the field, his decision to plough it, the accumulation and burial of the treasure by the other man is purposeful, and in fact the only reason the accident of discovery happened is because it is embedded in a world of purpose. Chance cant happen the word has no meaning in an entirely accidental world. Chance presupposes design.

The novel coronavirus evolved (it appears) by chance and necessity by mutation and natural selection but evolution by mutation and natural selection presupposes a framework of purpose and design. Moreover, the virus depends entirely on the design of more complex living organisms (like us and bats) for its existence, and the virus would not and could not evolve or even exist were it not for the intricate specified complexity of its living hosts.

Undirected natural selection cant lift itself by its own bootstraps accidents cant happen in nature except in a sea of design. The evolution of the COVID-19 virus is a clear and terrible example of the undeniable teleology in nature. Darwinian random variation and selection, when it happens, is parasitic on biological and natural design.

Photo: A coronavirus, by CDC/ Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAM / Public domain.

See the original post:
Evolution Presupposes Intelligent Design: Case of the Coronavirus - Discovery Institute

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Originally posted here:
Abortion Care Is Essential Health Care - Slate

Pandemic /pandemik/ (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has.

Todays visualization outlines some of historys most deadly pandemics, from the Antonine Plague to the current COVID-19 event.

Disease and illnesses have plagued humanity since the earliest days, our mortal flaw. However, it was not until the marked shift to agrarian communities that the scale and spread of these diseases increased dramatically.

Widespread trade created new opportunities for human and animal interactions that sped up such epidemics. Malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, smallpox, and others first appeared during these early years.

The more civilized humans became with larger cities, more exotic trade routes, and increased contact with different populations of people, animals, and ecosystems the more likely pandemics would occur.

Here are some of the major pandemics that have occurred over time:

Note: Many of the death toll numbers listed above are best estimates based on available research. Some, such as the Plague of Justinian, are subject to debate based on new evidence.

Despite the persistence of disease and pandemics throughout history, theres one consistent trend over time a gradual reduction in the death rate. Healthcare improvements and understanding the factors that incubate pandemics have been powerful tools in mitigating their impact.

In many ancient societies, people believed that spirits and gods inflicted disease and destruction upon those that deserved their wrath. This unscientific perception often led to disastrous responses that resulted in the deaths of thousands, if not millions.

In the case of Justinians plague, the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea traced the origins of the plague (the Yersinia pestis bacteria) to China and northeast India, via land and sea trade routes to Egypt where it entered the Byzantine Empire through Mediterranean ports.

Despite his apparent knowledge of the role geography and trade played in this spread, Procopius laid blame for the outbreak on the Emperor Justinian, declaring him to be either a devil, or invoking Gods punishment for his evil ways. Some historians found that this event could have dashed Emperor Justinians efforts to reunite the Western and Eastern remnants of the Roman Empire, and marked the beginning of the Dark Ages.

Luckily, humanitys understanding of the causes of disease has improved, and this is resulting in a drastic improvement in the response to modern pandemics, albeit slow and incomplete.

The practice of quarantine began during the 14th century, in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics. Cautious port authorities required ships arriving in Venice from infected ports to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing the origin of the word quarantine from the Italian quaranta giorni, or 40 days.

One of the first instances of relying on geography and statistical analysis was in mid-19th century London, during a cholera outbreak. In 1854, Dr. John Snow came to the conclusion that cholera was spreading via tainted water and decided to display neighborhood mortality data directly on a map. This method revealed a cluster of cases around a specific pump from which people were drawing their water from.

While the interactions created through trade and urban life play a pivotal role, it is also the virulent nature of particular diseases that indicate the trajectory of a pandemic.

Scientists use a basic measure to track the infectiousness of a disease called the reproduction number also known as R0 or R naught. This number tells us how many susceptible people, on average, each sick person will in turn infect.

Measles tops the list, being the most contagious with a R0 range of 12-18. This means a single person can infect, on average, 12 to 18 people in an unvaccinated population.

While measles may be the most virulent, vaccination efforts and herd immunity can curb its spread. The more people are immune to a disease, the less likely it is to proliferate, making vaccinations critical to prevent the resurgence of known and treatable diseases.

Its hard to calculate and forecast the true impact of COVID-19, as the outbreak is still ongoing and researchers are still learning about this new form of coronavirus.

We arrive at where we began, with rising global connections and interactions as a driving force behind pandemics. From small hunting and gathering tribes to the metropolis, humanitys reliance on one another has also sparked opportunities for disease to spread.

Urbanization in the developing world is bringing more and more rural residents into denser neighborhoods, while population increases are putting greater pressure on the environment. At the same time, passenger air traffic nearly doubled in the past decade. These macro trends are having a profound impact on the spread of infectious disease.

As organizations and governments around the world ask for citizens to practice social distancing to help reduce the rate of infection, the digital world is allowing people to maintain connections and commerce like never before.

Editors Note: The COVID-19 pandemic is in its early stages and it is obviously impossible to predict its future impact. This post and infographic are meant to provide historical context, and we will continue to update it as time goes on to maintain its accuracy.

Update (March 15, 2020): Weve adjusted the death toll for COVID-19, and will continue to update on a regular basis.

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Read more from the original source:
See Which Countries are Flattening their COVID-19 Curve - Visual Capitalist

Interested in the arts? Check out this comprehensive preview of arts-related events happening on campus this month.

Since Tomas Lopez was a young boy, he always had a fascination with photography. Fast forward years later, and Lopez has made it his mission to use his passion for photography to document little known aspects of history. His latest exhibition, The Forgotten ExodusAn American Refuge, is made up of 24 portraits of the last generation of Sephardi Jews born in North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran.

The project focuses on people who were kicked out of their country. There has been very little written in history about diaspora, said Lopez.

In the years following the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, close to a million Jews fled their native Arab lands. Hostility and expulsion brought an abrupt end to the once vibrant communities, scattering inhabitants to the four corners of the earth. Until recently, little has been formally documented, leaving a significant part of Jewish history largely untold.

Theres a kinship I have with everyone I have photographed, we all know what its like to not be at home, Lopez said.

The Forgotten ExodusAn American Refuge was photographed entirely in South Florida and curated by Henry Green, professor in the University of Miamis Department of Religious Studies, and David Langer, media director.

We began photographing three years ago after Henry Green introduced me to this project. It deals with the human condition of displacement and loss, which is more common than people are aware. When you hear the stories of pain and suffering of the people affected by it, you have to care. Henrys passion for this project piqued my interest and I signed on, said Lopez.

Through Lopezs exhibition, he hopes to illustrate that you can archive history not only with words, but often more eloquently with photography. For those he has photographed, he looks forward to seeing their reaction during the opening of the exhibition.

Im interested to see what they think when they see their photographs in such a large scale, he said. As an artist all you can do is the work and let the chips fall where they are meant to be.

THE FORGOTTEN EXODUSAN AMERICAN REFUGE will be on view at the University of Miami Gallery, 2750 NW 3rd Ave., Suite 4, Miami, Florida 33127.

Visit https://art.as.miami.edu/exhibitions/index.html for more information.

Lowe Art Museum

Through March 2020

ArtLab @ the Lowe: Russia Unframed

Russia Unframed seeks to highlight the impact of Russia's immense cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity on the arts, both within its borders and throughout the diaspora. Now in its 10th year, ArtLab @ the Lowe is an annual student-curated exhibition that provides University of Miami students with hands-on experience in the curatorial and museum fields.

Through May 3, 2020

Carlos Estvez: Cities of the Mind

The most recent project of renowned Cuban-American artist Carlos Estvez, Walled Cities features nine, large-format circular paintings that reference the artists fascination with city plans. Inspired by the Havana of his youth, the Medieval European cities to which he has traveled extensively as an adult, and his abiding interest in symbolic cosmology and origin stories, Estvez has created in this body of new work personal maps of the human mind influenced by ancient cartography. Guest curated by Dr. Carol Damian, a former professor of Art History, Florida International University.

Thursday, Feb. 6, 79 p.m.

Lowe After Hours

The Lowe's signature social event is free and open to the public. Come explore the Lowe's galleries and exhibitions, and enjoy food, entertainment, and refreshments by Bacardiafter hours!

Thursday, Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Gallery Talk with Carlos Estvez

Join us for a gallery tour of the exhibition Carlos Estvez: Cities of the Mind, led by the artist. During the Lowe After Hours 79 pm. Free admission.

Saturday, Feb. 8, 123 p.m.

Art making workshop with Carlos Estvez

Join us for a gallery tour of the exhibition Carlos Estvez: Cities of the Mind and for a hands-on art workshop with the artist.

Thursday, Feb. 13, 7:00 p.m.

"Madwomen on the Slave Ship: Reproduction and Racial Capitalism"

In this presentation, Professor Jennifer Morgan explores the connections between the slave trade, the concept of kinlessness, and the origins of Atlantic capitalism. Drawing on the ideological work of gender and reproduction in the early modern Atlantic, Morgan writes that notions of kinship and its absence were crucial in both justifying racial slavery and in the practices of accounting, demography, and valuation that subtended the rise of capitalism as discourse and practice. Building on the critical work of Cedric Robinson, Morgan argues that the roots of racial capitalism are entwined with the harnessing of African womens reproductive capacities to the economies of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Thursday, Feb. 20, 79 p.m.

Opening Reception of History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence

The History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence provides a comprehensive overview of influential American artist Jacob Lawrences (19172000) printmaking oeuvre, featuring more than 90 works produced from 1963 to 2000. This exhibition is organized by the SCAD Museum of Art and is made possible with support from the Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation.

Saturday, Feb. 22, 79 p.m.

Opening Reception of NEXUS: Contemporary From Leading Miami Collections

A celebration of the Lowes 70th Anniversary, NEXUS features select works of stellar contemporary art generously lent by Miamis top collectors. These paintings and sculptures embody our citys now irrefutable importance in the realm of contemporary as well the intimate connection these collections share with artists whose work they steward, with one another, and with the broader community.

Jerry Herman Ring Theatre

The Trojan Women

Feb. 2029

A war to retrieve the beautiful Helen of Troy has ended. The city has been laid to waste; its men slaughtered. Its women have been forced to the beach where the Greeks will soon enslave them as the spoils of war. As they await their fate, Queen Hecuba, her daughter Cassandra, and the other women confront the travesties and devastation of war. Ellen McLaughlins contemporary adaptation of Euripides centuries-old drama is a lucid and humbling perspective on the refugees of war.

Visit https://ring-theatre.as.miami.edu/ for more information.

Frost School of Musics Maurice Gusman Concert Hall

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m.

Boston Brass, The Stamps Brass Quintet

Boston Brass and the Stamps Brass Quintet perform together for an evening of music and entertainment. Boston Brass aims to play a wide selection of musical styles in unique arrangements in a friendly and fun atmosphere. The Stamps Brass Quintet is simply one of Frosts elite ensembles. Expect brilliance when both quintets join efforts on pieces such as the Duke Ellington Suite, arranged by James Hudson, drawing from Take the A Train, and other classics.

Thursday, Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Strausss A Heros LifeFrost Symphony Orchestra

Gerard Schwarz, conductor

The centerpiece of the evening is Richard Strausss tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Heros Life). It stands as the culmination of 19th-century romanticism and as an autobiographical statement, as Strauss quotes from several of his previous works. This program also includes Walter Pistons Three New England Sketches and the unveiling of a new work by a Frost student composition competition winner.

Saturday, Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m.

CNCO!

In just three years, CNCO has become one of Latin pops most influential and prolific hit-makers. With two No. 1 albums under their belt, the group has garnered numerous awards including: Latin American Music Awards, Premios Juventud, Billboard Latin Music Awards, Premio Lo Nuestro, Premios Tu Mundo, iHeartRadio Music Awards, Kids Choice Award, and a Teen Choice award. With more than 3 billion cumulative streams, 6.5 billion total music video views, 12 Gold and Platinum certifications in the U.S. alone, and countless sold out shows, their influence can be felt in nearly every corner of the globe.

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Bang on a Bassoon

Brett Dietz, director, Shelly Berg, piano, Andrew Riley and Matthew Nichols, percussion, Hamiruge, LSU Percussion Ensemble

No, youve never heard the bassoon sound quite like this before. Frost faculty artist and bassoonist Gabriel Beavers, as well as Frosts Dean and pianist Shelly Berg, call on their superior technique and varied experiences for Gernot Wolfgangs and James Lassens challenging works, in which the bassoon is treated like a rock guitar. Brett Dietzs Behold a Pale Horse, for amplified bassoon and percussion quartet puts the bassoon through a guitar pedal effects. And, Theodor Burkalis TRaInspOrt, is a fiery piece for bassoon and two percussion.

Feb. 24. 7:30 p.m.

Lieder-Spirituals-Jazz: In Honor of Black History Month

Alan Johnson and Shelly Berg, pianos; Jeanette Thompson, soprano; Robynne Redmon, mezzo-soprano

Frost voice faculty artists Jeanette Thompson and Robynne Redmon join Frost pianists Shelly Berg and Alan Johnson in a voice recital, which will include honoring the history and evolution of the spiritual. A product of the introduction of Christianity into slaves lives, spirituals also became a coded means of communicating resistance and escape. In time, spirituals became a formative piece in the development of jazz and blues and has remained a source of inspiration to many jazz artists today.

Center for the Humanities

Thursday Feb. 6, 7:00 p.m.

"On complaint" by Feminist Scholar and Author Sara Ahmed

Kislak Center

This lecture draws on interviews conducted with staff and students who have made complaints within universities that relate to unfair, unjust, or unequal working conditions or to abuses of power such as sexual and racial harassment. Making a complaint requires that an individual become an institutional mechanic: one has to work out how to get a complaint through a system. It is because of the difficulty of "getting through" that complaints often end up being about the system. The lecture explores the significance of how complaints happen behind closed doors, and shows how doors are often closed even when they appear to be open.

Friday Feb. 7, 12:301:45 p.m.

Stanford Lunch Seminar

Following her public Stanford Lecture on February 6, Sarah Ahmed will offer a lunch seminar for faculty and students.

Tuesday, Feb. 18 3:305:00 p.m.

"Explanation: The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful" by Tania Lombrozo

Richter Library: Flexible Learning Space

Like scientists, children and adults are often motivated to explain the world around them, including why people behave in particular ways, why objects have some properties rather than others, and why events unfold as they do. Moreover, people have strong and systematic intuitions about what makes something a good (or beautiful) explanation. Why are we so driven to explain? And what accounts for our explanatory preferences? In this talk presented by Lombrozo, she presents evidence that both children and adults prefer explanations that are simple and have broad scope, consistent with many accounts of explanation from philosophy of science. The good news is that a preference for simple and broad explanations can sometimes improve learning and support effective inferences. The bad news is that under some conditions, these preferences can systematically lead children and adults astray.

Thursday, Feb. 20, 12:0012:50 p.m.

"A Database of Religious History"

Lau Founders Hall, Room A

The Center for the Humanities and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) present a series of four brief lectures on humanities disciplines, including history, religious studies, English, and philosophy. In keeping with OLLI programming, these talks are designed for community members aged 50 and older, but limited seating may be available for other guests.

Cosford Cinema

Showings this month include Oscar Shorts-Animation, Oscar Shorts-Live Action, Oscar Shorts-Documentary, Liberty in a Soup, Knives Out, La Belle Vie, The Curious Cinema of Agnes Varda, Varda by Agnes, La Pointe Courte, Joker, My Fathers Land and The Lighthouse.

Visithttp://www.cosfordcinema.com/ for showtimes and tickets.

Original post:
February guide to the arts at the U - University of Miami