Two Major Themes of Human Genetics

Hi everyone, and my dear IBs :)


Today, our question is


'Do you think the advances in genetics and what we know about human genetics prove that humans are more similar to each other, or that humans are more different from each other?'


'Are we all same or not?'


As we all learned in genetics unit, there is a very small number of DNA bases which make one person different fro any other person in the world. As human beings, we all have the same number of chromosomes, same bases of DNA, same structure of body, etc. But the thing is, the properties which make us humans are not just structures. Do you know what is the thing which make us different than animals? We have the ability of thinking. We also have different characteristics, we all have different appearances, we all have different dreams, different lives, different emotions. Yes, maybe the things which states our characteristics, our skin color or resistance to diseases are very simple things. Yes, maybe there are just 4 bases which build our DNAs. But, even though the  constituents of us are the same, the results are all different. 


I do not support discrimination, for example to the black people. This is something else. This idea belongs to some rude people' thoughts. I mean we all live under the same sun:) 

But, come on! If we say that we are all same, so what is the purpose of living? What would inspire us? What would be the value of our individualisms? 


Also, if we all the same, we would look like them :) 

Karyotyping

Hi there,
First of all, I would like to give some information about what is karyotyping. A karyotype is like a picture of a person's chromosomes. It is being done before a child has born to find out if there is a genetic abnormality or not. Karyotyping is very expensive and risky. The methods can harm the mother or the child while doing karyotyping. Anyway, it is a good way to find out the baby's genetic information. Now,  I'm gonna answer some questions about it but bear in mind that all answer's are belonging to my beliefs so I hope you won't judge them.

Should there be laws governing this?
We all know that karyotyping can harm both lives of a mother and a baby, so some people would think that it would be illegal, the other region of people might think that it is beneficial and it should be legal. This is a personal question, so government has nothing to do with that issue. Adults can decide on having a baby or not, either they can decide on if they should do a karyotyping or not by asking to a doctor. This is very personal, the baby will not be the government's :) By the way I think the same thing about abortion as well.

Should expectant mothers over a certain age be obliged to get a karyotype?
In my opinion, the women over 35 years old should not have babies. Not just because it is very risky that there is a more chance of genetic abnormalities, it is also a woman over 35 years old would not be enough efficient to her baby. We all know that people are starting to loose their health year by year. Also, there are so many humans in the world. Natural sources will not be able to fulfill our needs after a short while. Nobody should have more than 2 babies, and the women over 35 years old should not have babies. There should be a law for this. If they have a baby they should pay a tax.


If one government were to make karyotyping illegal, should it also be illegal to travel to another country to have a karyotype?
Nothing should be illegal about karyotyping. Human life is very cheap and short, come on. There is nothing to take so seriously. Not just karyotyping, everything can harm a living. It is also beneficial to identify.

Who should decide when a karyotype is necessary? Who should decide whether to keep or abort the babies which present chromosomal anomalies?
I think every mother candidate has a right to decide it, also they can take this decision according to their doctor's decisions. The decision of abortion is very personal too, again the doctors and future parent should decide it together.

If you found out that your future child had a chromosomal anomaly that would make him very different from other children, what would you do?
Personally, I will not have a baby. But if I have a child which has chromosomal anomaly, I would give a decision of abortion because I cannot handle it. I would think that it is my guilt. Everybody deserves an healthy life, so I think abortion is a good decision at this point. Again, I do not plan to have a baby :)


Have a nice week my dears, 

aylinsenem.

Sickle Cell Anemia vs. Malaria

Hi everyone!




It's been a long time since I wrote something here. We've learned about sickle cell anemia and malaria diseases this week, and these two diseases have a connection. This is an example of correlation.
Here is a video which shows an ordinary day of red blood cells:) You will have fun!

Sickle cell anemia provides a protection against malaria. Sickle cell anemia occurs when an offspring inherit a normal hemoglobin from one parent and a sickle hemoglobin from another. As we all learned from the video, red blood cells are oxygen carriers in our body, so sickle cell anemia causes so much pain for people. However, sickle cell anemia is an advantageous thing for malaria. This is an act of natural selection on the genetic resistance to malaria.

I will post some photos which will be helpful to have some extra information about malaria and sickle cell anemia.

This is the mosquito which carries malaria disease.

Here you can see the difference between normal rel blood cells and the ones with anemia.

Here is the symptoms of malaria.

Finally, it is the cycle of malaria.

Have a nice week of IB my dear friends :)

Protecting Nature or Protecting the Livelihoods

Since I learned that 95% of global warming is caused by human activities, I feel really disappointed. Of course some amount of the natural areas have to be used by humans to build up livelihoods, but I see that humans damage the nature more than their needs. They are not aware of the fact that we need more plants, more oxygen in order to survive from global warming. Actually, they don't care. It is in human nature. Some people don't even care about these issues. They don't prefer to keep the nature healthy for their future generations. We face the problems that our past generation caused, and if we don't try to fix it like by recycling our future generations will see the problems that we caused. I am not saying that we should protect 100% of nature, but I'm just saying we should protect it as much as we can. The percentage doesn't matter. Every single action will make the future more clean. Living in an healthy world is the future generations' right as well as ours, so first we have to protect the nature for ourselves, than for the future generations. We have to be aware of our responsibilities to our nature. What about the livelihoods such as hospitals? Yes, they do have to exist too, but not by damaging many amount of the nature. Again, we need it more than we need shopping malls, cinemas, football fields, etc.

Great news for the ones who want to contribute to the issue! Tarsus American College Student Council's environmental committee put some recycling boxes around the campus. I hope you will put your wastes in them:) Love all of you. 

aylinsenem

Totally Unethical!

In order to measure biomass, destructive techniques are used. Trees are cut down and plants are destroyed. Is is unethical?


In my opinion, this is totally unethical. Today, we live in a world of global warming and this is a fact that we need the plants more than anything. I do not think that the amount of the plants are enough for all the world. Because of it people try to increase the numbers of plants in the whole world but on the other hand some of us are destroying them. There is already a destroyement of trees because of the productions of sheets. I get angry about that issue as well. We have to recyle the papers. Cutting down and destroying the life sources cannot be ethical. Anyway, biologists use mathematical table for the other plots but still, this is not an excuse. We need oxygen which we cannot reach by destroying the producers. Also, there is a natural disaster called erosion. It we cut down the trees and destroy the plants for any reason , they cannot hold the soil with their roots so erosion occurs.

At least, we use the papers for beneficial things but I think we can still live without measuring the biomasses of the innocent organisms and plants :) 

Has anyone seen a racist around there?

Carl Linnaeus, thank you for your all discoveries such as classification and taxonomy. Today, we still use them, but I am a little concern about your classification of homosapiens.

American: copper-coloured, choleric, regulated by custom
Asiatic: sooty, melancholic, governed by opinions
African: black, phlegmatic, governed by caprice
European: fair, sanguine, governed by laws

This might be your opinion, not a statement. As human beings, we have a skill which is adaptation. We are trying to adapt to our living conditions. For example when we look at the serial killers' lifes, we see that their family life are horrible. Some of them raped by their own fathers, some of them even don't have a father. This is a simple example but we can think of lots of examples on that issue. Not our race builds our characters, the conditions build our characters so I think that classifying the humans is impossible. What if an Asian and an African person have baby? What can you say about the offspring's character? You cannot know homosapiens by their races. I heard from the gossips that you were known as a racist people in your social life too. I didn't get surprised when I heard it. Sorry but, I think so. Again, thank you for all the discoveries which we still use. Rest in peace.