G-Lers, I find this recent article quite fascinating. Sorry I couldn't reproduce the entire article from my online subscription (Scientific American)...but I guess the magazine should be available in most bookstores. The implications of this recent finding is far reaching; and adds to the debate about human nature and the heriditability of human intelligence. Perhaps this may further help us expound on Charles Murray's "Bell Curve" arguments about the racial factor in socio-economic disparities amongst the Americans or yet still the global community. Ebou _______________________________________________ The Unseen Genome: Gems among the Junk Just when scientists thought they had DNA almost figured out, they are discovering in chromosomes two vast, but largely hidden, layers of information that affect inheritance, development and disease. By W. Wayt Gibbs About 20 years ago astronomers became convinced that distant galaxies were moving in ways that made no sense, given the laws of gravity and the fabric of celestial objects visible in the sky. Gradually they were forced to conclude that the universe is not as empty as it appears, that in fact it must be dominated by some dark kind of matter. Although no one knew what the stuff is made of or how it works, scientists could see from its effects that it is out there. The quest to understand dark matter (and more recently, dark energy) meant revising or replacing theories, but it reenergized astrophysics and cosmology. A similar revelation is now unfolding in molecular genetics. This year biologists celebrated the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix, and the Human Genome Project announced its completion of a "final draft" of the DNA sequence for Homo sapiens. Scientists have clearly mastered DNA in the lab. Yet as they compare the DNA of distantly related species and look more closely at how chromosomes function in living cells, they are increasingly noticing effects that current theories cannot explain. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~