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Ice Age Ancestry May Keep Body Warmer and Healthier
NY Times ^ | January 9, 2004 | NICHOLAS WADE

Posted on 01/08/2004 9:00:45 PM PST by neverdem

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To: cyborg
"Are medical researchers going to start testing for particular gene markers? "

It looks that way...and to the benefit of us all. Color is just one varible in the genetic mix, and probably a minor one as it relates to the genetics of medicine.

21 posted on 01/08/2004 10:52:25 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
If it does not to lead to the government doing banana crazy things with it, then I think this idea is worth investigating. It will make them more effective, and possibly lower price (wishful thinking)
22 posted on 01/08/2004 10:55:10 PM PST by cyborg
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To: neverdem
Pangenes were what Darwin insisted (but could not prove) is the method by which evolution occurs. Genetic research was pretty young back then. Pangenes could not be observed due to lack of proper tools. However, they could not not be observed due to lack of proper tools, also. Better genetic researh than what was available during Darwin's proved that pangenes do not exist.

And so died Darwinism.

And so was born neo-Darwinism, otherwise known as the belief that evolution occurs with beneficial mutations as the method by which it occurs.
To have enough beneficial mutations occur in sequence to develop one simple adaptation (i.e. a lizard replacing its scales with feathers on the long road to becoming a bird.) is mathematically impossible. Scientist know this. So how is the problem explained?
Time.
Over a short period of time (say 100,000 years) it's mathematically impossible. But over billions of years it can happen. That is called extrapolation beyond reason.
It can't be observed due to the lack of equipment(like a time machine?). However, it CAN'T NOT be observed due the lack of equipment.

So... It's the pangenes, Stupid.
23 posted on 01/08/2004 11:08:04 PM PST by raynearhood (Evolution is not fact. A theory "proved" by a thousand theories is still a theory.)
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To: neverdem
BTW, have you ever read "The Mis Measure of Man" by Stephen Gould. One of the best books by an evolutionist on the history of the genetic study of the differences between races and how scientific methods and politics of different times shaped race relations and actual observable science up to the present.
24 posted on 01/08/2004 11:17:55 PM PST by raynearhood (Evolution is not fact. A theory "proved" by a thousand theories is still a theory.)
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To: cyborg
"It will make them more effective, and possibly lower price (wishful thinking)"

Wishful thinking, yes. More specialty = more expense. Just think, in 1900, there wasn't a specialty titled archaeologist or anthroplogist. What will there be in 2050?

25 posted on 01/08/2004 11:21:32 PM PST by blam
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To: raynearhood; All
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393314251/102-3822955-5380149?v=glance
Looks like a good book. I wonder if any of the FReepers that worship at the altar of the Bell Curve bothered to read it.
26 posted on 01/08/2004 11:22:12 PM PST by cyborg
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To: ConservativeMan55; Admin Moderator
Breaking News

- Not every story is breaking news. Breaking news should be news that affects most of us. There are some exceptions. If there is a hot current event happening, check breaking news. Most likely, it's there already, please check first, then use our search function. (explained below)

I'm glad you had a few chuckles CM55. Maybe I'm mad, but I think most of us here are politically conservative, and most conservatives have "Ice Age Ancestors" that are white males as well as the converse, and that as far as most African-Americans are concerned we're racists.

This article rebuts the notion, prevalent in the African-American community and re-inforced by the major mainstream media, that African-Americans receive inferior medical care causing them to have increased morbidity and mortality because of a racist society that provides insufficient funding of their health care needs, and a predominantly white and racist medical profession that gives them only second rate care.

Maybe it's been too long since you looked at the major media like the NY Times, CNN, ABC, CBS, and CBS. AFAIK, the last three of them had a weekly segment dealing with the big medical story of the week from the Journal of the American Medical Association or the New England Journal of Medicine, which have an issue almost every week. There have been quite a few stories from those journals that inferred African-Americans received inadequate medical care because of some latent racism on the broadcast evening news.

Don't feel bad, I rarely watch ABC, CBS or NBC either. From 6:00 PM EST, I've been watching Brit Hume on FNC for years now. But you should know what your political enemies are thinking, and that's why I still scan the NY Times. Every once in a while, you'll find stories like this, that slip through the cracks.

As far as racism goes, it's the argument of nature versus nurture, with conservatives mostly saying nature is the predominant force which determines sociological outcomes, and liberals saying it's the lack of nurture, i.e. racism, which predominates.

Since the Great Society and all the programs that followed, I can't think of anything else the "Whites" of this country could do in order to show that they are not racist, but show them the facts.

IMHO, here you have the "paper of record" giving you a new, breaking news "gift horse" that you want to shuffle off out of sight, when it deserves the widest dissemination.

27 posted on 01/09/2004 12:00:33 AM PST by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: neverdem
Lest someone think that I believe it's either nature or nurture; no, I believe it's a variable combination. The question is which is decisive. If someone thinks I'm a racist, then they would be quite surprised to see my wife.
28 posted on 01/09/2004 12:16:55 AM PST by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: raynearhood
So... It's the pangenes, Stupid.

Bear with me, the hour is late. I believe you're saying Darwin is/was correct. I hope so because natural selection from random, natural mutations explains the antibiotic resistance of formerly sensitive pathogenic organisms after exposure to a previously lethal antibiotic, i.e. to the organism, if the patient finished the prescription, e.g. a patient didn't finish the complete course of treatment prescribed by the physician because the patient started to feel much better and didn't finish her/his medicine.

29 posted on 01/09/2004 1:13:44 AM PST by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: ConservativeMan55; Admin Moderator
In today's issue of the journal Science, they report that several lineages of mitochondrial DNA show signs of positive selection.

The magazine Science is not intended for general circulation, but the NY Times is. It's too bad you can't appreciate the import. I shall try a few more times before I surrender regarding science as an appropriate topic on FreeRepublic.com. I regret you are unable to appreciate what is new information. LOL

30 posted on 01/09/2004 3:00:40 AM PST by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: PatrickHenry; VadeRetro; Piltdown_Woman; RadioAstronomer; Ichneumon
Ping.
31 posted on 01/09/2004 3:38:10 AM PST by Junior (To sweep, perchance to clean... Aye, there's the scrub.)
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To: neverdem; ConservativeMan55; Admin Moderator
IMHO, here you have the "paper of record" giving you a new, breaking news "gift horse" that you want to shuffle off out of sight, when it deserves the widest dissemination

How is it that OJ Simpson and Madonna were breaking news and a new scientific conclusion isn't.   OK, so the jocks like to make fun of the geeks, but that's only until the geeks fire them and tell them to work for someone else.

32 posted on 01/09/2004 4:22:24 AM PST by expat_panama
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To: neverdem
hmmmmm. I definitely NOT ice-age material.
33 posted on 01/09/2004 5:07:40 AM PST by Molly Pitcher (I miss Bob Bartley....)
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To: Junior
From the article:
By analyzing the changes in the DNA, they have been able to distinguish positive mutations, those selected because they are good or adaptive, from negative or harmful mutations. In today's issue of the journal Science, they report that several lineages of mitochondrial DNA show signs of positive selection.

Shocking. How can this be? The creationists keep insisting that all mutations are harmful.

34 posted on 01/09/2004 6:52:22 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.)
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To: neverdem
Until now, most genetic change in the human population since it left Africa has been thought to be either random or just the elimination of harmful mutations.

Thought by whom? Maybe some PC ideologues, but certainly not anyone with a functioning brain.

35 posted on 01/09/2004 7:20:17 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Professional Engineer
ping
36 posted on 01/09/2004 7:26:54 AM PST by msdrby (US Veterans: All give some, but some give all.)
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To: Dark Wing
So you are definitely not from around here.
37 posted on 01/09/2004 7:56:10 AM PST by Thud
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To: Junior
Dr. Wallace and his colleagues say this correlation is evidence that the lineages were positively selected because they help the body generate more heat.

Well, this makes sense empirically. All of my ancestors came from arctic regions (if you go back far enough), none that I can recall were extremely fat, most only required one blanket for sleeping even during the coldest winters, all of them lived well into their late 80s and 90s but had brittle bones. Guess I'd better start taking more calcium and magnesium.

Swedish patriarch's first comment upon arriving in America: "Ya, sure...vell, ve go north!" ROFL! I always wondered why great-grandfather Alfred didn't bring the family to Florida.

38 posted on 01/09/2004 8:44:34 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: PatrickHenry
The creationists keep insisting that all mutations are harmful.

I suppose it depends on one's point of view. Scandinavians are noted for taking very hot saunas and then immediately rolling in the snow, eating Lutefisk and Sylta (you don't want to know), and as my dearly deceased relatives would tell it - walking 10 miles barefoot in the snow each way to school (actually, I've tried walking barefoot in the snow...exhilarating!). I think it's up for debate as to whether these are the result of beneficial mitochondrial mutations or not. Then of course, my family could just be plain nuts! LOL

39 posted on 01/09/2004 8:55:34 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: PatrickHenry
The creationists keep insisting that all mutations are harmful.
That's news to me. I believe that God created everything but I'm agnostic on how He did it. There's no doubt that evolution is a fact but, as someone with degrees in both chemistry and chemical engineering, I'm just not quite sold on the popular notion that pretty much anything can happen via evolution given enough time. The chemistry is very complicated.

40 posted on 01/09/2004 9:25:51 AM PST by DallasMike
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