The Holocaust Museum in Houston, Texas is running a new exhibit and lecture series, “Medical Ethics and the Holocaust”.  The series is being opened by James Watson the Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose 1953 co-discovery of DNA’s structure culminated this decade in the mapping of the human genome.
Watson heads an impressive roster of speakers, who include three Nobel laureates and such prominent figures as Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project, and Leon Kass, the former director of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. Topics range from pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to euthanasia in the movies to performance-enhancing drugs in …read more

Kristina at Autism Vox scooped me on the latest study (drat my need to sleep!) to come out showing that autism is most likely due to more than one gene. Dr. Gerard Schellenberg says there may be four to six major genes and another 20 to 30 genes having a minor role. This isn’t a big surprise because we know that complex diseases like autism, depression, heart disease, and cancer are the result of both genetic and environmental factors.
What I’ve repeatedly said here about genetics research on controversial diseases, disorders, or characteristics is that it is not about …read more