Nature: Scientists push for global moratorium on editing of humane genes
Eric S. Lander, et. al.
We call for a global moratorium on all clinical uses of human germline editing — that is, changing heritable DNA (in sperm, eggs or embryos) to make genetically modified children.
By ‘global moratorium’, we do not mean a permanent ban. Rather, we call for the establishment of an international framework in which nations, while retaining the right to make their own decisions, voluntarily commit to not approve any use of clinical germline editing unless certain conditions are met.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it … a bunch. Of all the sci fi dystopias out there, the one that seems all but inevitable is that pictured in the film Gattaca. Given the ability to “improve” their offspring, and knowing that they face the competition of a similarly altered generation, the temptation on parents to allow that “and now we make her two inches taller” tinkering would be crushing. See this past week’s academic scandal for a sense of exactly how far parents will go to provide any edge, even when it isn’t essential to their child’s future (if you can pay out $6 million to get your child into the right school, your child’s welfare is not dependent on what school they attend).
And still … does that mean not addressing genes that present generation after generation with challenges? Not going after inherited breast cancers? Huntington's chorea?
To be clear, our proposed moratorium does not apply to germline editing for research uses, provided that these studies do not involve the transfer of an embryo to a person’s uterus. It also does not apply to genome editing in human somatic (non-reproductive) cells to treat diseases, for which patients can provide informed consent and the DNA modifications are not heritable.
This genie is not going back in that bottle, and controlling it is going to be far more difficult than dealing with nuclear technology.
Washington Post: DNA on a pipe stem links Maryland and West Africa
Michael Ruane
One day about 200 years ago, a woman enslaved on a tobacco plantation near Annapolis tossed aside the broken stem of the clay pipe she was smoking in the slave quarters where she lived.
Clay pipes were soft and fragile, and the stem bore marks where she had clenched it in her teeth as she worked. But the stem bore something else she could never have imagined: her DNA.
This week, experts announced that DNA had been gleaned from the pipe stem and linked back to modern-day Sierra Leone, in West Africa, and probably to the Mende people who have lived there for centuries.
So little documentation remains, or ever existed, for so many of the Americans who reached these shores in chains. This DNA detective work is helping to restore the legacy of those people, and inform their descendants about their lives.
The pipe stem was recovered from the site of a slave dwelling discovered in 2015 during a dig at the old Belvoir plantation in Crownsville, Md., where slaves lived from 1736 to 1864.
“No one had known it was there,” Schablitsky said.
Along with silver and brass buttons, broken teacups, a porcelain doll, and other artifacts from the early 1800s, four broken pipe stems were found.
Ars Technica: A single dog exposed 100 people to plague.
Beth Mole
At least 116 people and 46 animals in Colorado were potentially exposed to the black plague after veterinarians struggled to diagnose a critically ill dog back in 2017.
The unusual case prompted health experts to issue an equally unusual—and perhaps startling—warning. That is, that dogs in the US may contract the deadly bacterial infection at any time of the year, and the signs may be hard to spot.
I did not know this. And … yipes.
“[P]neumonic plague, although rare, should be considered in dogs that have fever and respiratory signs with potential exposure in disease-endemic areas, regardless of season and lobar [lung] distribution,” the Colorado health experts concluded. They published details of the case and their warning this week in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
National Geographic: Why some icebergs are emerald green
Robin George Andrews
Seen in stunning pictures from either of Earth’s Poles, icebergs are most often white-blue objects. But like an artist willing to experiment with whatever resources are available, nature is also capable of creating startlingly green icebergs, and they can be found only in Antarctica.
Although the scientific literature is full of reports of these emerald ice blocks going back more than a century, no one could adequately explain where they were coming from. Now, a team of researchers may have finally cracked the case.
And the answer is two things — blue ice and yellow dust. Green icebergs turn out to be an example of color mixing on a massive scale.
New York Times: How changed in diet affected language
JoAnna Klein
New foods caused us to say the f-word. Not because we made the mistake of biting into a pickle-flavored potato chip (though … yuck), but because changes to the human diet reshaped the human mouth, and that in turn altered the way we communicate.
Thousands of years ago, some of our ancestors left behind the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and started to settle down. They grew vegetables and grains for stews or porridge, kept cows for milk and turned it into cheese, and shaped clay into storage pots.
Had they not done those things, would we speak the languages and make the sounds that we now hear today? Probably not, suggests a study published Thursday in Science.
“Certain sounds like these ‘f’ sounds are recent, and we can say with fairly good confidence that 20,000 or 100,000 years ago, these sounds just simply didn’t exist,” said Balthasar Bickel, a linguist at the University of Zurich and an author of the new research.
Lots of studies recently have shown that ancient peoples, including close relatives like Neanderthals, were much more like us than previously imagined. But here’s one way they were different — we could out swear them up one f’ing side and down the other.
Image
This week’s image is from Andy Brunning’s Compound Interest. It’s not exactly a new image … but it’s still informative and it’s new here, so that’s what counts. For a larger, easier to read version, visit his site.
Notice
In the next few weeks, you may no longer find an article called “science round-up” or “abbreviated science round-up.” This isn’t because of a decreased emphasis on science, or a loss of interest. It’s sort of the opposite. Expect to see more science articles dealing with individual topics and research, dropping at more times on Saturdays. Stay tuned.