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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:21 |
 Charles Darwin
This asymmetry creates an enormous amount of competition between the sexes. And that pressure has consequences.
Professor Cherry will be presenting a Darwin Seminar at the University of Cape Town on 6 August. The series is a joint initiative of the Africa Genome Education Institute and the Division of Human Genetics at the University of Cape Town. His topic is "Sexual Selection -Darwin's Second Theory." |
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Read more... [Darwin's Second Theory: sexual selection and genetic evolution]
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:22 |
The revolution in biotechnology has been less flashy and slower than the one in information technology which slammed into the world like a tsunami back in 1994. It was more than half-a-century ago that James Watson and Francis Crick, working in Cambridge in 1953, unlocked the structure of DNA and related it to genetic inheritance.
Yet, in terms of potential to change everything we know and experience, genetic engineering is by far the most important area of scientific endeavour. It touches on every aspect of world affairs: from the need from alternative fuels, to disease research, to ending hunger by producing high-yield crops.
South Africa has produced four Nobel prize-winners for science. Sydney Brenner is the most recent recipient. His efforts in elucidating controlled cell-death during organ development won him the 2002 award, after CAT scan co-inventor Allan Cormack, Max Theiler for his research on yellow fever, and Aaron Klug on macromolecules.
These four also, between them, indicate South Africa's greatest obstacles to becoming a world-leader in biotechnology. All four may have been born in South Africa but all completed their most seminal works in laboratories outside of the country. |
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Read more... [Review "Biotechnology and Health]
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:19 |
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The Africa Genome Education Institute, supported by local genealogy website Ancestry24.com, has initiated on a multi-year project to trace the ancient origins of all South Africans; no matter what their language, ethnic origins, or skin colour. The study will fill a gap in the current DNA databases available world wide and establish the diversity of ancestry in the South African population. Molecular anthropology is a fast-growing field which is generating popular interest world wide. Vanity Fair, in July 2007, features an article that outlines the migration route of U2 front-man Bono's ancestors from east Africa to Ireland. Looking at what is known as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA, scientists are able to reconstruct the hereditary lineage of individuals and their families as far back as 100,000 years. The limitation of this approach is that those ancestors who did not pass on their genes by having surviving children are excluded from the studies. ‘Still, we are able to enrich beyond measure our understanding of who we are and where it is we come from’ said Dr Wilmot James, the co-leader of the studies. |
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Read more... [Ancestry24 teams up with the Africa Genome Institute to map SAs genetic history]
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October Lecture