Matthew Schuler's Profile

As the ability to control the genetic makeup of our offspring becomes more advanced, parents are morally obliged to make these changes in order to benefit their children. It is argued that throughout human evolution we have chosen our mates for their positive qualities and the use of genetic engineering to remove possible tendencies towards illness or to enhance other physical attributes is only an extension of this.

cientists from Ohio State University and the Center for Gene Therapy at Ohio’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital have successfully demonstrated the genetic enhancement of muscle growth in monkeys

In brief, the researchers used a viral vector (AAV1, adeno-associated virus 1) containing the human gene for follistatin, a glycoprotein which encourages muscle growth (by blocking myostatin). Researchers injected this vector into the right quadriceps muscle of macaque monkeys, thereby permanently genetically modifying that muscle to produce more follistatin.

by Richard Hayes, Washington Post

April 15th, 2008

If misapplied, they would exacerbate existing inequalities and reinforce existing modes of discrimination. If more widely abused, they could undermine the foundations of civil and human rights. In the worst case, they could undermine our experience of being part of a single human community with a common human future.

Think about it. In the last 100 years only three engines have made it into mass production: the gasoline engine, the diesel engine, and the rotary.

Eco Motors is the name of a new company that has come up with a radically new type of engine. It has two opposing pistons in two contiguous cylinders, connected to a common crankshaft in the middle of the engine.

In 2001, the number of people who died every 26 days on U.S. roads
equaled the number of victims in the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
approximately 3,000 individuals, the study said.

some researchers are seriously considering what it would take to shoot sun-reflecting aerosols into the atmosphere to counter climate change.

Researchers who sequenced the Blattabacterium genome have found that it converts waste into molecules necessary for a roach to survive. Every cockroach is a testimony to the power of recycling.

genes instruct the microbe to take the resulting molecules and use them to make amino acids, repair cell walls and membranes, and perform other metabolic tasks.