Could Genomics Revive The Eugenics Movement?

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There was a time when people in America were sterilized, sometimes unwittingly, by activists aiming to create a healthier, better population. As the progress of genomics accelerates, we need to remember the lessons of the past.

It is something of an open secret in the United States that during much of the 20thcentury, the government conducted a massive eugenics campaign designed to eliminate unwanted traits from society. It is less well known just how sweeping that campaign was: more than 60,000 people were sterilizedmost against their will, many without any knowledge of what was being done to themto prevent these supposedly undesirable traits from being passed on. Many eugenics leaders in business and government used the opportunity as a thinly veiled way to target people based on race, disability, even on grounds of morality. (Hows that for irony?)

Immigrants, African-Americans, and the mentally ill bore the brunt of it; women were more often victims because people assumed they were to blame for the birth of so-called inferior children. Sterilizations took place all over the country, frequently in prisons and psychiatric hospitals, from the early 1900s into the 1960s.

(Image courtesy of the American Philosophical Society.)

This period of history is not often included in American history classes. Right now, theres a great little exhibit at New York Universitythat brings to light the tragic events of the eugenics movement, including, for example, trends and statistics on that sterilization campaign. While 60,000 people only amounts to a large town nowabout the size of Santa Cruz, Calif., or Bayonne, N.J.consider the long-term consequences of 60,000 lost bloodlines, truncated families.

One of the most interesting things highlighted by the NYU exhibit is how much was done in the name of science. The exhibit recreates the office of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a national lab on Long Island that was once at the forefront of eugenic science. Records in the exhibit document scientific work conducted to establish metrics that would determine whether someone was unfit, such as various measurements of the head.

As a champion of science, I think its important to point out that it wasnt the research that got people into trouble back then. It was the fact that people with strong biasesracism or elitism and any number of other ismsadopted the trappings of science to shore up their prejudice and to make others more willing to accept findings as fact. One stunning example of the success these people achieved is the 1927 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of forced sterilizations. In this case, justices agreed that the state of Virginia had the right to compel 18-year-old Carrie Buck to be sterilized on the grounds that she was considered feeble-minded, having had a child out of wedlock (evidently the fact that the pregnancy occurred when Buck was raped by a relative did not matter).

The NYU exhibit is more than a look back: its a timely reminder in the age of genomics that we have a social responsibility to consider not only whats medically and scientifically possible, but also the potential social consequences. Otherwise we could start making decisions that future generations would find to be as shameful as 20thcentury eugenics appears to us.

Advances in genomics are rapidly opening up new opportunities, none more fraught with ethical dilemmas than those related to analyzing and editing the DNA of embryos or fetuses. Technologies can already scan the DNA of a potential mother and father and calculate the predicted risk of various diseases in their would-be offspring. We are on the cusp of being able to accurately select only the healthiest embryos for implantationavoiding, for example, embryos carrying the gene for a rare disease. Soon after that well be able to perform genome editing, adjusting DNA here and there to silence a dangerous genetic variation or boost resistance to a common disease. Who would oppose these advances? Who doesnt want their kids to have the best shot at great health?

But such techniques are just a hop, skip, and a jump away from altering embryos for other reasonssay, selecting those with DNA linked to being tall or skinny. Go just another step: do we get to a point where were editing genomes to produce children with a specific skin color or intelligence or athletic ability? We could find ourselves right back where we started: humans trying to create a better humanity. That same desire was at the root of the eugenics movement.

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Could Genomics Revive The Eugenics Movement?

Cyborg hears colour with skull antenna

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Facebook offers users control on ads

Facebook says it will begin allowing users to see more information about the ads delivered to them.

The New York Times reports online giant Amazon is preparing to launch a streaming music service.

Google has helped opened a new workspace for Internet entrepreneurs for innovation and collaboration.

A tweet holding a snippet of computer code has spread itself through Twitter by taking advantage of a flaw.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt today unveiled plans for a new supercomputer at the Bureau of Meteorology.

The Coorong has become the first district in regional SA to connect to NBN's fixed wireless network.

Monash University graduate Ken Chen has designed an exoskeleton to help firemen battle high-rise infernos.

Researchers looking for remains of the author of Don Quixote have identified a Madrid church as a lead.

People watching a video of a woman playing an online game called authorities to report a home invasion.

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Cyborg hears colour with skull antenna

Cyborg cockroaches can help find and rescue disaster victims buried under rubble

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Search and rescue dogs, while wonderful, have their limitations namely, the inability to fit into tiny spaces. A team of researchers has come up with a solution in the form of cyborg cockroaches equipped with high-tech backpacks.

The cyborg cockroaches, or biobots, are the brainchild of researchers at North Carolina State University. The quarter-sized pack placed onto the back of a cockroach is equipped with microphones to pick up high-resolution sound. One version of the pack has one microphone to pick up sound from any direction, which is wirelessly transmitted. A second version of the pack has an arrangement of three-directional microphones to identify the direction of a sound.

Related:Want to control cockroaches with your iPhone? Theres a Kickstarter for that

These biobots are meant to be deployed in disaster areas as helpers for first responders searching for victims buried underneath rubble, for instance.

The goal is to use the biobots with high-resolution microphones to differentiate between sounds that matter like people calling for help from sounds that dont matter like a leaking pipe, says Dr. Alper Bozkurt, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and senior author of two papers on this development. Once weve identified sounds that matter, we can use the biobots equipped with microphone arrays to zero in on where those sounds are coming from.

The researchers have also developed an invisible fence technology, which keeps cyborg cockroaches within a defined radius. Keeping biobots within a disaster area and close to each other allows them to act as nodes of a mobile wireless network. This technology can also be used to steer the cockroaches to places with sunlight so their backpacks can be recharged.

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Cyborg cockroaches can help find and rescue disaster victims buried under rubble

Watch: State Attorney says no charges in June 26 beaches shooting – Video

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Watch: State Attorney says no charges in June 26 beaches shooting
State Attorney Angela Corey said no charges will be filed against Kristopher Stone for the June 26 shooting death of Zachariah Tipton outside Nippers Beach Grille, citing justifiable homicide...

By: jaxdotcom

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Watch: State Attorney says no charges in June 26 beaches shooting - Video

UPDATE: Fears new bathing water standards could scare tourists off

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Castle Cove beach, which is one of seven Dorset beaches DEFRA say would fail new water quality standards

BASIC: Castle Cove Beach in Portland Harbour

First published in News by Liz Jackson

SEVEN Dorset beaches would fail basic bathing water quality standards under new standards being implemented in 2015, new research from DEFRA shows. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs released a report entitled 2014 Compliance Report For Bathing Waters In England, which reveals a number of Dorset beaches would fail the new stricter standards on bath-ing water quality. These are: Castle Cove beach and Sandsfoot Castle beach in Portland Harbour, Seatown beach near Bridport, Church Cliff Beach and Front Beach in Lyme Regis, and Highcliffe Castle beach and Avon Beach in Christchurch. Cllr Ian Bruce, Weymouth and Portland Borough Councils briefholder for community facilities, said that he would be interested to know how the beaches were monitored as things like currents and flooding can have a significant bearing on results. He said he would not like to see stricter standards putting off people from the boroughs beaches if the water was still safe to swim in. Cllr Bruce said: Its a strange situation if people have been perfectly safe and we have not had any problems then somebody comes and says we are going to keep tightening the standard. Clearly we do want to make sure everything is safe but we dont want to scare people off going to a particular beach. The results also show that Lyme Regiss Church Cliff Beach has failed current mandatory standards for bathing water, which comes after a previous pass result in 2013. Bathing waters are defined as beaches, lakes or ponds that are used by a large number of bathers and have been designated under the bathing waters directive. From 2015 a revised bathing waters directive will be issued, using stricter standards. These are effectively the same standards DEFRA has used to decide if the beaches would fail, which they have called guideline compliance for the transition period between the old directive and the new directive. The report says 84.5 per cent of South West beaches would pass the new standards, putting the seven Dorset beaches in the regions bottom 15.5 percent. It would also put them in the bottom fifth (19.3 percent) of beaches across England. In addition, DEFRA has said on its website that it is surveying the number of users of Church Cliff Beach in Lyme Regis. The beach is one of 12 across the country that will be surveyed, and if the number of bathers using the beach is considered to be low, DEFRA will consult whether to remove the beach altogether from their list of bathing waters. The full report can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/1EpdjNC.

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UPDATE: Fears new bathing water standards could scare tourists off

Lifeguards in Goa to go on strike

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The safety of Goas tourist beaches could be temporarily jeopardised for 48 hours from November 21.

This is following a strike notice given by the Goa Trade & Commercial Workers Union (AITUC), representing lifeguards and workers in other categories, to Drishti Lifesaving Pvt. Ltd., contractual agency manning the beaches, against its hire and fire approach of the management.

The Department of Tourism, government of Goa, through a contractual agency, mans Goas beaches for safety. Christopher Fonseca, general secretary, AITUC, Goa, on Saturday demanded that 11 workmen/lifeguards whose services were allegedly illegally terminated be reinstated with full back wages and continuity in service with immediate effect. The management has repeatedly denied the allegations, he said.

He also demanded that the Department of Tourism and Drishti Live-saving Pvt. Ltd. stop harassing and victimising the workmen/lifeguards. The trade union has also raised issues, including demands pertaining to payment of salaries without delay, resolving all the cases pending before the State Labour Commissioner and payment of higher salaries to lifeguards with commensurate seniority weightage for every year of service, Mr. Fonseca said.

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Lifeguards in Goa to go on strike

Miss Earth bets shocked at PH traffic

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By ROBERT R. REQUINTINA

Manila, Philippines Churches and beaches are on the wish list of must-see places in the Philippines for some candidates in the 2014 Miss Earth beauty pageant.

Some of them have arrived early for the environment-driven beauty contest such as Austria, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Myanmar, Samoa, South Africa, Switzerland, Tonga, United States, and Zambia.

But some of the candidates were shocked at the traffic in Metro Manila.

Traffic is so heavy. But the people are so nice and smiling, said Miss USA Andrea Neu, 23, of Colorado.

Miss Zambia Cartier Zagorski of Lusaka also noticed the citys heavy traffic.

The people here are simply amazing! Oh my God! The traffic! said Zagorsk during a welcome dinner tendered by Yoshinoya Restaurant in Glorietta, Makati City Friday night.

Pageant organizers said the welcome dinner is the first public appearance for the candidates of Miss Earth contest.

It was also the third time that the Japanese fastfood chain gave a welcome treat to early arrivals of the beauty contest, said Yoshinoya Century Pacific Inc. President Timothy Yang.

At the mall, heads turned as customers and shoppers with tablets and cellphones with cameras stopped and posed for souvenir photos with the girls.

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Miss Earth bets shocked at PH traffic

New Astronomy Technique Reveals Monster at the Center of the Milky Way – Video

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New Astronomy Technique Reveals Monster at the Center of the Milky Way
Stripping away the Milky Way #39;s stars, planets, rocks and dust reveals a massive black hole lurking just 26000 light years from Earth. | For more STRIP THE COSMOS, visit http://www.sciencechannel.c...

By: Science Channel

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New Astronomy Technique Reveals Monster at the Center of the Milky Way - Video