125 Big Science Questions

America’s most respected general science magazine is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The current issue of Science Magazine has essays on the top “25 big questions facing science over the next quarter century” as well as 100 other dilemmas left to ponder.

Essays related to genetics:

• Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes
• To What Extent Are Genetic Variation and Personal Health Linked
• How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended
• What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human

And other interesting genetics questions to think about:

• What roles do different forms of RNA play in genome function?

  RNA is turning out to play a dizzying assortment of roles, from potentially passing genetic information to offspring to muting gene expression. Scientists are scrambling to decipher this versatile molecule.

• What role do telomeres and centromeres play in genome function?

  These chromosome features will remain mysteries until new technologies can sequence them.

• Why are some genomes really big and others quite compact?

  The puffer fish genome is 400 million bases; one lungfish’s is 133 billion bases long. Repetitive and duplicated DNA don’t explain why this and other size differences exist.

• What is all that “junk” doing in our genomes?

  DNA between genes is proving important for genome function and the evolution of new species. Comparative sequencing, microarray studies, and lab work are helping genomicists find a multitude of genetic gems amid the junk.

• How much will new technologies lower the cost of sequencing?

  New tools and conceptual breakthroughs are driving the cost of DNA sequencing down by orders of magnitude. The reductions are enabling research from personalized medicine to evolutionary biology to thrive.

• How can genome changes other than mutations be inherited?

  Researchers are finding ever more examples of this process, called epigenetics, but they can’t explain what causes and preserves the changes.

• How much of personality is genetic?

  Aspects of personality are influenced by genes; environment modifies the genetic effects. The relative contributions remain under debate.