Word: molecular
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...theoretical level recombinant DNA experimentation is highly sophisticated. Procedures developed in the last five years use special enzymes to slice up and reassemble pieces of genes in the form of deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA. By mixing DNA from viruses, bacteria, and animals, molecular biologists can create novel hybrid organisms. Fear about the creation and accidental release of dangerous new forms of viruses and bacteria has been one focus of the recombinant DNA debate...
Lacking a firm grasp of the molecular genetics base, the reader must rely on the author to sort out the question of biohazards. This Rogers does rather gingerly, rarely removing himself from the narrow conceptual framework of the science he is analyzing. He belittles both the character and concerns of many of the research's critics, portraying them as nameless clones of recently forgotten sixties radicals...
...most important reason that most geneticists and molecular biologists now oppose the legislation is a growing conviction, based on continued experiments, that current recombinant DNA research is safe. Some strains of E. coli normally reside in billions in the human intestine, a fact that encouraged the fear that new laboratory forms would spread like the plague among human beings. But research has shown that E. coli K12, which traces its ancestry to bacteria taken from a human patient at Stanford University in 1922, altered genetically during its life in the labs; among other changes, it can no longer colonize...
...conduct the life-or-death evolutionary struggle. This gene-based view of life is compatible with a finding made independently by researchers in a widely divergent branch of science. Rutgers Biochemist George Pieczenik has discovered patterns in DNA coding that he sees as evidence of selection occurring at the molecular level (TIME, April 4). "What this means," he says, "is that the DNA sequences exist to protect themselves and their own information. It's not the organism that counts. The DNA sequences don't really care if they have to look like a lowly assistant professor or a giraffe...
...sociobiology did not arise from molecular studies but as an answer to a century-old gap in Darwinian theory: Darwin could not fully explain why some organisms help other members of their species. His theory held that every organism fights for its own survival and chance to reproduce, not that of others. Since altruistic behavior reduces an organism's chances to survive, evolution should be expected to breed it out of all species. Still, some birds risk their lives for the flock by crying out to warn of the presence of a predator?thus chancing attracting the attention...