Happy DNA Day!
Apr. 25th, 2003 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
itsallovernowYes, thanks to wonderful font of useless knowledge that is NPR, I know that today is DNA day. Waves to Watson and Crick and says congrats on finally winning the big one. Thanks to you we have cloned sheep! Just kidding.
The discovery of DNA and how it works really does seem to me to be one of the most significant contributions to modern science. It raises a boatload of ethical considerations, but hopefully we as a species will continue to monitor ourselves, weighing the ethical against our thirst for progress and ultimate control. I don't know, not having a lot of faith in humanity these days, but we can hope.
DNA offers the possibility to change our understanding in every field of human development. My training - varied and liberal artsy as it was - focused around anthropology, with the idea that I'd go to grad school and become a Classical archaeologist, or at least a Mediterranean archaeologist. Every first year anthro student has to take physical anthro and learn about the origins of homo sapiens. In practical terms this means that I can identify skulls - monkey skulls, ape skulls, hominid skulls, human skulls. And teeth, although I faked a lot of dental knowledge. Fortunately we didn't have to worry about teeth or bones until grad school. Skulls by themselves are way easier to deal with. It's also where I discovered my favorite monkey - the slender loris, picked solely because of the name.
The more we find out about DNA, the more we use it to uncover information about our origins, our ties to other species, the more tied together we find ourselves. It's incredible. Although, I have to admit that I'd rather read about the australopithecus, and Olduwan Gorge and the Leakey's than read about DNA strands. It's much more romantic to see Mary Leakey standing next to the footprints at Olduwan or Donald Johanson with that grin of awe on his face next to Lucy.
The discovery of DNA and how it works really does seem to me to be one of the most significant contributions to modern science. It raises a boatload of ethical considerations, but hopefully we as a species will continue to monitor ourselves, weighing the ethical against our thirst for progress and ultimate control. I don't know, not having a lot of faith in humanity these days, but we can hope.
DNA offers the possibility to change our understanding in every field of human development. My training - varied and liberal artsy as it was - focused around anthropology, with the idea that I'd go to grad school and become a Classical archaeologist, or at least a Mediterranean archaeologist. Every first year anthro student has to take physical anthro and learn about the origins of homo sapiens. In practical terms this means that I can identify skulls - monkey skulls, ape skulls, hominid skulls, human skulls. And teeth, although I faked a lot of dental knowledge. Fortunately we didn't have to worry about teeth or bones until grad school. Skulls by themselves are way easier to deal with. It's also where I discovered my favorite monkey - the slender loris, picked solely because of the name.
The more we find out about DNA, the more we use it to uncover information about our origins, our ties to other species, the more tied together we find ourselves. It's incredible. Although, I have to admit that I'd rather read about the australopithecus, and Olduwan Gorge and the Leakey's than read about DNA strands. It's much more romantic to see Mary Leakey standing next to the footprints at Olduwan or Donald Johanson with that grin of awe on his face next to Lucy.
