Our Genes

Our Genes PDF Author: Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316762092
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes explores historical practices, investigates current trends, and imagines future work in genetic research to answer persistent, political questions about human diversity. Readers are guided through fascinating thought experiments, complex measures and metrics, fundamental evolutionary patterns, and in-depth treatment of exciting case studies. The work culminates in a philosophical rationale, based on scientific evidence, for a moderate position about the explanatory power of genes that is often left unarticulated. Simply put, human evolutionary genomics - our genes - can tell us much about who we are as individuals and as collectives. However, while they convey scientific certainty in the popular imagination, genes cannot answer some of our most important questions. Alternating between an up-close and a zoomed-out focus on genes and genomes, individuals and collectives, species and populations, Our Genes argues that the answers we seek point to rich, necessary work ahead.

Our Genes

Our Genes PDF Author: Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316762092
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Get Book

Book Description
Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes explores historical practices, investigates current trends, and imagines future work in genetic research to answer persistent, political questions about human diversity. Readers are guided through fascinating thought experiments, complex measures and metrics, fundamental evolutionary patterns, and in-depth treatment of exciting case studies. The work culminates in a philosophical rationale, based on scientific evidence, for a moderate position about the explanatory power of genes that is often left unarticulated. Simply put, human evolutionary genomics - our genes - can tell us much about who we are as individuals and as collectives. However, while they convey scientific certainty in the popular imagination, genes cannot answer some of our most important questions. Alternating between an up-close and a zoomed-out focus on genes and genomes, individuals and collectives, species and populations, Our Genes argues that the answers we seek point to rich, necessary work ahead.

Beyond Our Genes

Beyond Our Genes PDF Author: Raffaele Teperino
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030352137
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
The genotype/phenotype dichotomy is being slowly replaced by a more complex relationship whereby the majority of phenotypes arise from interactions between one’s genotype and the environment in which one lives. Interestingly, it seems that not only our lives, but also our ancestors’ lives, determine how we look. This newly recognized form of inheritance is known as (epi)genetic, as it involves an additional layer of information on top of the one encoded by the genes. Its discovery has constituted one of the biggest paradigm shifts in biology in recent years. Understanding epigenetic factors may help explain the pathogenesis of several complex human diseases (such as diabetes, obesity and cancer) and provide alternative paths for disease prevention, management and therapy. This book introduces the reader to the importance of the environment for our own health and the health of our descendants, sheds light on the current knowledge on epigenetic inheritance and opens a window to future developments in the field.

Am I My Genes?

Am I My Genes? PDF Author: Robert Klitzman
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199837163
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
In this volume, the psychiatrist Robert Klitzman explores how individuals confront the complex issues associated with genetic testing in their daily lives.

Our Genes, Our Choices

Our Genes, Our Choices PDF Author: David Goldman
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 9780123969521
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Our Genes, Our Choices: How Genotype and Gene Interactions Affect Behavior - First Prize winner of the 2013 BMA Medical Book Award for Basic and Clinical Sciences - explains how the complexity of human behavior, including concepts of free will, derives from a relatively small number of genes, which direct neurodevelopmental sequence. Are people free to make choices, or do genes determine behavior? Paradoxically, the answer to both questions is "yes," because of neurogenetic individuality, a new theory with profound implications. Author David Goldman uses judicial, political, medical, and ethical examples to illustrate that this lifelong process is guided by individual genotype, molecular and physiologic principles, as well as by randomness and environmental exposures, a combination of factors that we choose and do not choose. Written in an authoritative yet accessible style, the book includes practical descriptions of the function of DNA, discusses the scientific and historical bases of genethics, and introduces topics of epigenetics and the predictive power of behavioral genetics. First Prize winner of the 2013 BMA Medical Book Award for Basic and Clinical Sciences Poses and resolves challenges to moral responsibility raised by modern genetics and neuroscience Analyzes the neurogenetic origins of human behavior and free will Written by one of the world's most influential neurogeneticists, founder of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institutes of Health

Are We Slaves to our Genes?

Are We Slaves to our Genes? PDF Author: Denis R. Alexander
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108426336
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Genetic differences can influence differences in our human behaviours, but only occasionally undermine the reality of our free will.

What's in Your Genes?

What's in Your Genes? PDF Author: Katie McKissick
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440567646
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Get the low-down on genetics with easy-to-understand terms and clear explanations. From interpreting dominant and recessive genes to learning about mutations, this book shows the different factors that can determine a person's DNA.

Living with Our Genes

Living with Our Genes PDF Author: Dean H. Hamer
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385485840
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
"A lucid, thought-provoking account of the case for 'nature' as a determinant of personality."—Peter D. Kramer, Author of Listening to Prozac and Should You Leave? Nowhere is the nature-nurture controversy being more arduously tested than in the labs of world-renowned molecular scientist Dean Hamer, whose cutting-edge research has indisputably linked specific genes to behavioral traits, such as anxiety, thrill-seeking, and homosexuality. The culmination of that research is this provocative book, Living with Our Genes. In it, Dr. Hamer reveals that much of our behavior—how much we eat and weigh, whether we drink or use drugs, how often we have sex—is heavily influenced by genes. His findings help explain why one brother becomes a Wall Street trader, while his sibling remains content as a librarian, or why some people like to bungee-jump, while others prefer Scrabble. Dr. Hamer also sheds light on some of the most compelling and vexing aspects of personality, such as shyness, aggression, depression, and intelligence. In the tradition of the bestselling book Listening to Prozac, Living with Our Genes is the first comprehensive investigation of the crucial link between our DNA and our behavior. "Compulsive reading, reminiscent of Jared Diamond, from a scientist who knows his stuff and communicates it well."—Kirkus Reviews "A pioneer in the field of molecular psychology, Hamer is exploring the role genes play in governing the very core of our individuality. Accessible . . . provocative."—Time "Absolutely terrific! I couldn't put it down."—Professor Robert Plomin, Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Research Center, Institute of Psychiatry

The Society of Genes

The Society of Genes PDF Author: Itai Yanai
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674425022
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Since Dawkins popularized the notion of the selfish gene, the question of how these selfish genes work together to construct an organism remained a mystery. Now, standing atop a wealth of new research, Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher—pioneers in the field of systems biology—provide a vision of how genes cooperate and compete in the struggle for life.

Not in Our Genes

Not in Our Genes PDF Author: Richard Lewontin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781608467273
Category : Behavior genetics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Three eminent scientists analyze the scientific, social, and political roots of biological determinism.

Genetic Twists of Fate

Genetic Twists of Fate PDF Author: Stanley Fields
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262289008
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
How tiny variations in our personal DNA can determine how we look, how we behave, how we get sick, and how we get well. News stories report almost daily on the remarkable progress scientists are making in unraveling the genetic basis of disease and behavior. Meanwhile, new technologies are rapidly reducing the cost of reading someone's personal DNA (all six billion letters of it). Within the next ten years, hospitals may present parents with their newborn's complete DNA code along with her footprints and APGAR score. In Genetic Twists of Fate, distinguished geneticists Stanley Fields and Mark Johnston help us make sense of the genetic revolution that is upon us. Fields and Johnston tell real life stories that hinge on the inheritance of one tiny change rather than another in an individual's DNA: a mother wrongly accused of poisoning her young son when the true killer was a genetic disorder; the screen siren who could no longer remember her lines because of Alzheimer's disease; and the president who was treated with rat poison to prevent another heart attack. In an engaging and accessible style, Fields and Johnston explain what our personal DNA code is, how a few differences in its long list of DNA letters makes each of us unique, and how that code influences our appearance, our behavior, and our risk for such common diseases as diabetes or cancer.