Intelligence
Mysteries of the Human Brain
19/08/10 20:44 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Ray Kurzweil in an interview in Gizmodo said that we are very close to reverse-engineering the human brain, perhaps within a decade, and that the design of the brain lies in the genome. S. Pelech argues that complexity of the brain and its formation cannot be explained from purely genetic data, but must also encompass many external factors including sensory inputs, changing effector output needs depending on the environment, energy and nutrient supply, blood flow, temperature, exposure to toxins, trauma, and psychological stress. Moreover, elucidation of the linkages between proteins and other gene products within neurons will be even more challenging. Read More...
The Misunderstood Gene
09/09/10 13:03 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
University of Oxford neuropsychology professor Dorothy Bishop wanted to know where people get the idea that traits like intelligent could be determined by individual genes. S. Pelech points that intelligence is not really a single trait but the manifestation of a series of complex behaviours that arise from both multi-gene influences and the environment, and cautions that genetic profiling companies that advertise that they can identify inborn talents & personality traits from genome sequencing or SNP analyses are plainly deceiving the public. Read More...
Let the Games Begin
09/05/12 18:33 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Rebecca Boyle in Popular Science highlighted how the success of games like Foldit has shown researchers how useful it can be to put a problem in front of a wide group of gamers and science buffs to get help in solving it. S. Pelech argues that to tackle most problems in molecular biology and other life sciences, the recruitment of gamers is really impractical. Unless savants are engaged in these problems, the data are just too complex for meaningful explorations within video games on i-Pads. Read More...