Sunday, May 04, 2003

Mother Nature's Little Practical Joke On Cloners   Missing from their online edition, New Scientist had a very interesting piece on the editorial page of April 28 ... remember cloning? That's what we may find ourselves saying, soon. It seems, according to soon-to-be-published work by researchers at North Carolina State and Texas A&M, that when you clone multiple copies of an original organism, you don't get the same results. In fact, the siblings are as different as they would be in an ordinary generation, litter or whatever. And, the variations are not purely behavioral, but cover a whole range of possibilities. Reason: 'epigenetic' variations. Genes don't all click on it order, like some computer program. Some things are left to chance. Thus genes don't determine everything, but nuture and environment play a part. This finding ought to sink several hundred million dollars worth of opportunist research grants. And of course, give some encouragement to others. It certainly tells you that the old 'nature versus nurture' debate has been resolved in the most obvious way: neither is strictly true, and only the unimaginative thought so. Oh, and forget cloning humans or favorite pets, or cloning yourself for 'spare parts.' This finding demonstrates it won't work with our present state of knowledge, and quite possibly, never will. It also torpedoes the idea of cloning 'identical' lab test animals. Can't be done! Walking this morning with an academic buddy, he commented on this, after I described it, as "the best news we've had in a while." 7:01:52 PM    comment []

Something We Intuitively Know Is True   Back from a one-week vacation, with some assorted (non-Iraq or such stuff) items. Starting with this one, from New Scientist, telling us something 'we all knew,' but decided to suppress for the usual political correctness motives ... : "Songs with violent lyrics increase aggressive thoughts and emotions, suggests a study in US college students. The study contradicts a popular suggestion that music loaded with violent imagery, such as some rap and heavy metal, are cathartic in venting aggression. Craig Anderson at Iowa State University and colleagues found that students who listened to songs with violent lyrics were more likely to make aggressive associations in subsequent psychological tests. Although, the effects were measured over a short time only, the team believes listening to violent lyrics could have a long-term effect - contributing to the development of a more aggressive and confrontational personality. "Aggressive thoughts can influence perceptions of ongoing social interactions, colouring them with an aggressive tint," said Anderson. "Listening to angry, violent music does not appear to provide the kind of cathartic release that the general public and some professional and pop psychologists believe." Anderson stresses that "content matters" when it comes to violent media - a finding backed by many other studies on the effects of violent television or video games. "The message is important for all consumers, but especially for parents of children and adolescents," he said." As in, oafish music and oafish behavior are associated. The full story tells you more about the methodology, which seems fairly reasonable. 6:33:36 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Peter Savage.