Monthly Archives: February 2012

Childs Play

Posted on February 29, 2012 by genotopia

It’s February 29, the birthday of the great pediatrician and medical geneticist Barton Childs. Born in 1916, he would have had 24 candles on his cake today. Childs was adopted as a baby. An irony for a medical geneticist, he … Continue reading →

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The genetic medicine bubble

Posted on February 28, 2012 by genotopia

“The medical world is holding its breath, waiting for the revolution. It will be here any minute. Definitely by the end of the decade. Or perhaps it will take a little longer than that, but seriously, it’s right around the … Continue reading →

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Dorkins DNA may reveal slaveholder gene

Posted on February 20, 2012 by genotopia

Prominent atheist and genome advocate Dick Dorkins is genetically hardwired to treat human beings as chattel, according to some interpretations of preliminary results from the amateur analysis of his genome. The findings come from Project Dick, the widely publicized effort … Continue reading →

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The Master-of-the-Universe Gene

Posted on February 14, 2012 by genotopia

Jonah Lehrer has a new post in the Wall St. Journal on the applications of genetics to finance. For several years, two neuroscientists at Claremont Graduate University have been studying genetics, neurophysiology, and investor behavior. Their latest paper suggests that in … Continue reading →

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Diseases as verbs

Posted on February 12, 2012 by genotopia

Last week I reread Owsei Temkin’s classic essay from 1963, “The scientific approach to disease: specific entity and individual illness,” for a course I am co-teaching on individuality and medicine. (I have not found the Temkin essay online. If you … Continue reading →

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