Artificial selection has resulted in plants that are more disease-resistant, cows that produce more milk, and racehorses that run faster. One must wonder what will come next. In the blog entry answer the following question - under what circumstances should humans be artificially selecting plants or animals, if any?

What is Artificial Selection, and how is it being used?

Artificial selection, or selective breeding, is genetic selection which is controlled by people, within a genetically diverse population. Artificial selection is the basis of both domestication, and modern plant and animal breeding. It’s being used to breed plants and animals that contain

all of the genetic traits that we desire, and none of the ones that we don’t. Upon first contact with the subject you might assume that artificial selection is the opposite of natural selection, however it’s not really a simple case of black and white. It’s “artificial” selection, not because it makes use of genetic engineering and tampering, but because there is an influence on the types of species that breed. Artificial selection is most prominently present in the case of domesticated animals, such as dogs. In this case, breeders would simply promote breeding between

dogs having desirable characteristics, and discourage breeding between dogs that do not. Evolutionary biologists view domesticated breeding as a type of natural selection, but with adaptive change in organisms under human control.

The proposal of this idea

The notion of artificial selection was expressed by the Persian polymath Abu Rayhan Biruni in the 11th century. He suggested the idea in his book entitled India, and gave various examples of it, some of which are described in the following statement by Biruni:
“The agriculturist selects his corn, letting grow as much as he requires, and tearing out the remainder. The forester leaves those branches which he perceives to be excellent, whilst he cuts away all others. The bees kill those of their kind who only eat, but do not work in their beehive.”

Another prominent figure that spoke of artificial selection was Charles Darwin, who used the term twice in his book, On the Origin of Species. In the first reference, he wrote about the complex and beautiful things he believes that humans can create through artificial selection. In the second reference, he used the term to describe the reasons for differences in animal breeds in countries with different development levels. Darwin, however, did not clearly define the term in his book.

The Cons

Inbred offspring are one of the potential dangers of too much artificial selection. Some traits are so rare that they may only exist in one or two family lines. If the trait is recessive, two relatives may have to be bred together in order for the trait to be expressed, or visible. In animals, this can result in genetic defects and other serious problems.
In many cases, artificial selection has been used for aesthetic improvements, while hurting the subject’s ability to function or survive. The domestication cycle of dogs being bred by their owners in order to emphasize less-aggressive traits has gone on for thousands of years, and has resulted in hundreds of different breeds that look almost nothing like their ancestor (grey wolf). Dairy cattle are also bred using artificial selection in hopes of producing more milk, but some lines now suffer from increased infections and fertility problems. Persian cats that are bred for extremely flat faces often develop respiratory problems and may have trouble eating. All of the listed traits that are bred for do not help the animals survive in the wild, but do make them more desirable to their owners.


When you hear that artificial selection can help us to create cows that produce better milk, racehorses that run faster, or dogs that are less aggressive and more obedient, your first thought will most likely be that it’s a great method of breeding, and you’ll support it entirely (unless, for some reason, you’re against progress). However, like all great things, we must still be conscientious and aware of the problems that it could cause. Not many people are aware of the seriousness of artificial selection and I believe that until it is known to more people, the only thing it can do is cause problems in the future and get way out of hand. I personally think that "oh natural" is the way to go. I Don't think it is necessary to change the growth or breeding patterns of food or animals in any way. I think science is way ahead of our time and things are getting a little bit too carried away these days.






Sources - daniella's bio blog

http://www.opbf.org/open-plant-breeding/glossary/a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_selection
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-artificial-selection.htm

Designer Babies

"Designer Babies" is the term being used by the media to describe the future of modifying or selecting our children's genes for desirable characteristics (medical and cosmetic). Are things getting out of hand with our research into genetic processes? In this blog investigate social and ethical implications of this research and technologies that have been developed from it.

What is a designer baby? A baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilisation to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics.I was in a certain state of shock when i first found out about this form of cloning. Babies are created by a man and a women,not by any Doctors and most certainly not in a little round dish.To design your baby like you would a room in your house or a baby doll is unnecessary and wrong. Call me crazy, but this all sounds a little to out of this world!

Advanced reproductive techniques involve using InVitro Fertilisation or IVF to fertilise eggs with sperm in 'test-tubes' outside the mother's body in a laboratory. These techniques allow doctors and parents to reduce the chance that a child will be born with a genetic disorder. At the moment it is only legally possible to carry out two types of advanced reproductive technologies on humans. The first involves choosing the type of sperm that will fertilise an egg: this is used to determine the sex and the genes of the baby. The second technique screens embryos for a genetic disease: only selected embryos are implanted back into the mother's womb. This is called Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).Advances in genetics have allowed parents and doctors to genetically screen embryos for any genetic disorders. This allows doctors to screen the embryos making it possible to eliminate genes associated with several genetic defects and illnesses. This modern technique has brought out arguments about ethical concerns and cause many people to really analyze the pros and cons of this medical advancement.

Here is a video of Professor Lee Silver explaining the process of Pre-implantation in depth

ADVANTAGES OF PRE-IMPLANTATION
-Genetic screening can reduce the baby's chances of being born with several serious diseases like Down Syndrome, Family hypercholesterolemia, rare blood disorders such as Diamond Black fan Anaemia, etc.

reading this makes me think of the book My Sisters Keeper by: Jodi Picoult. In this book Anna is created to save her sister Kate's life. At the age of 5 Kate was diagnosed with Leukemia and in order to keep her alive, Her parents created Anna. By the process of Pre-implantation, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for her sister.


In the process of doing research on this topic, i was able to find a real life example of a child being created by the same process as well as for the same reasons. Adam Nash was created in 2000 and was the worlds first Designer baby. He was created by pre-implantation to save his dying sisters life. Here are some links for article's on the birth of Adam and further details

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998238,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/955644.stm

DISADVANTAGES OF PRE-IMPLANTATION

-Other than eliminating genetic diseases, The process of Pre-implantation allows parents to choose the gender, eye, skin and hair color of the baby and Various other physical traits such as intelligence, beauty, height, stopping a propensity towards obesity, freedom from mental illnesses, athletic ability, etc. This is unnecessary and coasts about 18,000 a baby.
- Many think that It is unethical to create designer babies with enhanced physical ability and appearance and will divorce the procreation from the act of sexual congress.
- The Level in Biodiversity will plummet and in the end can result in long term disaster.
-Being able to create the perfect child with high intelligence, great athleticism, and good looks would give parents a certain control that will be taken advantage of. This would take away from the child’s say in their own life as well as the child’s freedom to develop the skills in which they would need to succeed in whatever paths they may choose.
- This would cause huge problems in today’s society. Discrimination would just become a bigger problem as most would be created without any genetic defects. Due to the coast of pre-implantation, not everyone would be able to benefit from its advantages. In the end this will cause a wall to build between those who are genetically perfect and those who are not. this could lead to discrimination of both gender and race.

This kind of technology is to much for our society to handle at this point in time. There are many way's in which this can cause our society to break apart and possibly become more chaotic then it already is. Due to the fact that this is a very expensive procedure, the division between those who can afford it and those who cant would be a huge problem. there would be new classes of rich and poor and those who were not genetically engineered would be discriminated against. We as a society have grown together accepting the fact that our world is full of imperfections. When we start taking away those imperfections, we will forget the true meaning of anything other then people's looks and metal, and physical capabilities.

I Personally think this is ridiculous and that science is getting way to out of hand. The point of having a baby is the fact that it is made from the chromosome's of the mother and the father. When I think about this I imagine a couple sitting in an office and choosing their child characteristics from a book! To me, the beauty of having a child is the surprise of finally seeing what they look like when they are born, teaching then how to be good at sports and pressuring them to study and become successful. With the advances in science and pre-implantation, these things would already be inherited and the connection between the parent and child would be lost. This genetic process defeats the purpose of a family and ones personal, physical and mental development. Its time to wake up and realise that there are much bigger problems that should be solved before we start making the creation of the "perfect child" our number one priority.

Sources

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998238,00.html

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_intro.htm

http://www.infertile.com/infertility-treatments/pgd.htm

Are we really stewards of the world?

Many Scientist consider humans as the most invasive species, as humans can greatly change and environment and impact living things that reside there. Are we being stewards of the world? Take a look at an issue in which human activity has positively or negatively affected the biodiversity of our ecosystems.

As Humans i feel that it is our responsibility to take care or our planet and the plants animals and land on it. Now, as a sixteen year old girl living in the present day, I think we have done a horrible job in doing so. We are slowly killing every possible living organism with deforestation , greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide, Urban development, etc. The problem is that not enough poeple know what is happening to the earth. Yes i know that it won't severely affect us but it will affect humans of the future and could potentially destroy the earth. The ecosystems and living things all around the world are connected. Just think of it as the domino effect, when one things falls...so do the rest of us!




"We are upsetting the atmosphere upon which all life depends. In the late 80s when I began to take climate change seriously, we referred to global warming as a "slowmotion catastrophe" one we expected to kick in perhaps generations later. Instead, the signs of change have accelerated alarmingly"
David Suzuki

Our planet is very unique and is able to support all kinds of life. However, we humans have contributed to a number of disastrous climate change triggers. Over the past years there have been drastic increases in Carbon Dioxide levels, Greenhouse Gas levels, and in Land, water and air pollution levels around the world. Due to fossil fuel combustion, release of aerosols, and extensive land use and deforestation, the place we call home is slowly being destroyed. How many times have you seen a poster or heard someone talking about global warming? Global Warming refers to the increase in the temperatures of the earth due to release of greenhouse gases and methane from industries and vehicles. This is causing the glaciers to melt at an extremely fast rate. The problem is, most people will read this and think that it does not matter and it is not going to affect us... but they are wrong. Even the polar ice caps are melting at a faster rate, faster than it takes for them to form. So you may be wondering how we are causing these things to happen. Well, here is the answer. The gas from our cars, Smoke emissions from factories, and increasing pollution all affect the rise in the sea level, this in itself can cause the drowning of low lying areas. If the sea levels keep rising areas like Bangladesh, parts of Africa and even major cities like London and New York will eventually be underwater.

The issue of Global Warming is never going to go away unless we humans act now and start to change. As serious as the melting of the polar ice caps are, there are more issues that are triggered by pollution and greenhouse gases. Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans. I’m sure everyone is thinking warmer weather would be nice but that is only because we are not educated about what is actually happening to the earth’s atmosphere. Temperatures around the world are rising and weather patterns are becoming unpredictable. In fact, 1998 and 2005 were the hottest years in the history of the Earth. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C between the start and the end of the 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclude that most of the temperature increase since the middle Of the 20th century was caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases due to human activity such as Fossil fuel burning and deforestation.

The climate and we Humans are not the only things affected by Global Warming, Plants, Animals, the land and pretty much any living thing on this earth can easily be destroyed if things get to the point where we cannot control them. In fact, some species of plants and animals are already on the verge of extinction. Studies indicate that around 15 to 37 percent of plant and animal species will be wiped off the planet by the year 2050.Due to melting glaciers, see levels are rising and animals like Polar Bears, Penguins, and the Arctic Fox, caribou, butterflies, hibernating animals, migratory birds and various fish species as well are headed for extinction because their habitats are being destroyed. Polar bears depend on ice formed on the sea when hunting. If the ice melts, the hunting range of polar bear will decrease, this along with the loss of habitat will eventually lead to a decline in the polar bear population. Melting sea ice will also decrease the growth of algae, which will result in decline of tiny organisms, such as krill shrimp, which are a very important part of the penguin diet. Therefore, due to lack of food and loss of habitat, the penguin species will head towards extinction. The warmer temperature have been leading the Arctic fox further north in search of a cooler habitat, but the rate at which we are losing colder regions, the Arctic fox is unable to find liveable land to survive off of. With an increase in the gases like carbon dioxide, ozone, nitrous oxide, methane and water vapour in the atmosphere, the Earth has gotten nearly 14% hotter than what it used to be 50 years ago. Global Warming does not only affect ecosystems and Animals who strive on cold temperature to live, it also affects animals that depend on rainforest's, grasslands, and even deserts. With deforestation, many trees and other plants that provide food to herbivorous animals no longer exist, causing death because of starvation and lack of nutrition. This in turn has taken its toll on all other omnivorous and carnivorous animals too, making the entire animal life prone to extinction.

Drastic changes in temperature levels have caused many plants to have trouble adapting to the areas they depend on survival. The growing season of some plant species has also been affected, which has disturbed the reproduction cycle of the species and in result has caused changes the plant population. Even the changes in precipitation can also lead to serious effects on various plants. for example;Global warming effects on agriculture cause Frequent rains which lead to flooding, whereas less rain will result in drought. Both of these changes can lead to the destruction of agricultural fields. Hurricanes( also caused due to global warming), can also have a serious effect on plant life. Here are two more examples of the domino effect that i mentioned earlier; (1) The extinction of tiger will result in the increase of number of herbivores which will lead to excessive feeding and will result in depletion of the forest cover.(2) Extinction of birds will affect the pollination process and will affect the reproduction in plants. The bottom line is that taking all these things into consideration,Plant species are also expected to become extinct by the end of this century.

Out of all the species mentioned above, Humans would be the worst effected because we are dependent entirley on every single component our environment.When Animals and plants become extinct, it wont be to long before humans become extinct as well. Irregular weather like Warmer summers will mean more allergies and disease spreading insects, Unnatural precipitation will affect crops and agriculture, and rising temperatures will lead to warming of ocean which will increase the frequency of hurricanes. Destruction of coral reefs will lead to loss of marine life including fish which as everyone knows, are important to the human diet. the rising sea levels with have a heavy impact Coastal areas and the poeple living their.Glaciologist's estimate that if melting of glaciers at the present rate continues, around 20 percent of Bangladesh will get submerged in the sea by 2020. If these facts are not enough to change the habits of poeple around the world, then we better get ready to say goodbye to the planet earth. Climate change and global warming are irreversible so we all need to act now before it’s too late. I think we all need to think twice before we get into the car to drive somewhere that is walking distance and stop releasing harmful pollutants into the air.


"People tend to focus on the here and now. The problem is that, once global warming is something that most people can feel in the course of their daily lives, it will be too late to prevent much larger, potentially catastrophic changes"
Elizabeth Kolbert

sources

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-do-humans-affect-the-environment.html
http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions
http://www.hobart.k12.in.us/jkousen/Biology/impact.html

http://www.globalwarming.org/