Poll: Iron Man or Captain America
I am collecting data for my next commentary by taking an informal poll of Catholics. I would be very much obliged if you would comment with your opinion on this question:
Who is a better role model, Iron Man or Captain America?
If you happen to read my stuff and know how I would answer, please don't let that influence yourcomment.
Thank you in advance! (Source: Mary Meets Dolly)
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - January 7, 2016 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
UK Scientific Adviser Urges Editing of Human Embryos
Last week in Washington D.C., scientists from around the world met to discuss whether or not to use new, cutting-edge gene editing techniques to alter the DNA of embryos. The stakes are very high because any editing done at early in development would be considered a germ-line modification, one that will be incorporated into egg and sperm cells and then passed down to future generations. So any genetic engineering done that the embryonic stage will affect not just that embryo, but his or her children, grand children and great-grandchildren.
Many of the scientists at this meeting are concerned. We should all be. Not only ar...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - December 22, 2015 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
The Siren Song of Genetic Enhancement
This could be the most important thing I have ever written. Please share it with your family and friends.
The Siren Song of Genetic Enhancement: Promoted as ushering in a new era of progress and freedom, genetic enhancements actually lead to coercion and the loss of human dignity. Two recent magazine covers together give us a glimpse of the possible future of humanity. They seem completely unrelated. Next to each other on a coffee table, most people would never make the connection. Yet they are inextricably linked, jointly warning us to take action before its too late. The first, which appeared on the cover of the Aug...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - December 16, 2015 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
Stem Cell Scientist Discusses Dangers of Designer Children
With the advent new DNA editing technology, many people are already fantasizing about creating designer babies. Some parents are salivating over the ability to make their children just how they desire: smart, athletic, tall, strong, beautiful.
What parents do not realize is that it is a futile endeavor; a battle no parent will ever be able to win. Whatever upgrades they put into their child will be obsolete in ten years, maybe even five years. Designer children means obsolete children - children in constant need of more upgrades just to keep up. This is a horror I hope we never experience.
Unfortunately, once one group o...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - December 14, 2015 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
Speaking at the 2016 Walk For Life Northwest
So this is happening. I feel like when your face is on a flyer with Rev. Walter Hoye, that's a big deal. Well, it is for me. If you are in the Pacific northwest, consider joining me for the 2016 Walk For Life Northwest. (Source: Mary Meets Dolly)
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - December 11, 2015 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Abortion Source Type: blogs
Prominent Stem Cell Researcher Opposes Three-Parent Embryo Technique
Paul Knoepfler is a stem cell researcher in California. His work focuses on the reasons pluripotent stem cells (both induced and embryonic) form tumors. He is also a writer and a blogger which is unusual for a research scientist. Knoepfler does not oppose embryonic stem cell research or therapeutic cloning, but he does oppose the three-parent embryo technique also called mitochondrial replacement. On a recent blog about three-parent babies at the New York Times, Knoepfler wrote this comment:I'm a stem cell researcher and one of the more vocal opponents of this technology....It comes down to 2 key issues for me.First, I don...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 27, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Reproductive Technologies Source Type: blogs
Hey Dawkins, People With Downs Are Happier than Atheists
This week atheist writer, Richard Dawkins, tweeted that parents should abort their babies with Downs and "try again." He said it was "immoral" for parents not to kill their baby if he or she had an extra 21st chromosome. (Notice how quickly a "choice" becomes an "obligation" in the Culture of Death.)After reading his comments, I wanted to write a post that was composed of just one sentence:Richard Dawkins is an ignorant bigot.But since I have always tried to rise above simple name calling, I decided against it. Instead I think I will shove some statistics in his face.I can only imagi...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 21, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Eugenics Source Type: blogs
Be Careful Where You Send Your ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Donation
You have no doubt seen a video of a friend on Facebook being doused with buckets of ice water. What would possess a human being to do something so chilling? It is the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often called Lou Gehrig's Disease. ALS is a devastating, progressive neurodegenerative disease that is fatal and has no cure. Here is how Ice Bucket Challenge works. People video themselves getting doused with ice water then share that video on social media. They challenge others to do the same in the next 24 hours. If anyone rejects the challenge they are encouraged to...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 15, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Fetal Source Type: blogs
Another Tragic Suicide You Haven't Heard About
(Kyodo News / Associated Press)
The world is reeling from the apparent suicide of Robin Williams. As someone who has suffered with debilitating depression, I could probably add quite a bit to the already expansive commentary. All I will say is that if you feel, on a regular basis, that your family and the world would be better off without you, that is your depression LYING to you. Even though you may think that it is, your perception is not reality. Please seek help right away. And if you are already under the care of a medical professional, please tell them that you need to try something else. There is hope. You can craw...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 13, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: STAP stem cells Source Type: blogs
Thai Surrogacy Scandal: The Difference Between Begotten and Made
A surrogacy story gone wrong has recently made headlines all over the world: David and Wendy Farnell, an Australian couple, contracted with a Thai woman, Pattharamon Janbua, to carry their in vitro fertilization (IVF)-created embryos. Pattharamon gave birth to twins, a boy with Down syndrome and a girl. The Farnells took the girl home to Australia and left the boy, named Gammy, in Thailand.The Farnells say that they were told that Gammy was going to die, so they left him behind. It is telling that nowhere in the couples statements do they mention going back to get him. Pattharamon is now committed to raising Gammy as a p...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 7, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Reproductive Technologies Source Type: blogs
US: Destination for Sex-Selection
There are dozens of countries around the world that have banned sex selection. Unfortunately, the United States is not one of them. That makes the U.S. a destination spot for couples who want just the right number of girls and boys in their family.The United Kingdom is one of those places where selecting the sex of your embryos in the IVF process is prohibited. The Daily Mail reports that more and more Brits are coming to America to choose the sex of their next child.Continue reading at LifeNews>> (Source: Mary Meets Dolly)
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 6, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Reproductive Technologies Source Type: blogs
Stem Cell Cookbook of the Future has "Recipe" for Self-Cannibalism
**Now before anyone goes and reports that this a real cookbook, this is fiction people, fiction.** This author is either a visionary or he is totally crazy. The mention of self-cannibalism makes me lean toward crazy. From Dominic Skelton at the Times Live:A year after the presentation of the worlds first lab-grown hamburger a strange conceptual cookbook for stem cell food has arrived on the scene.Koert van Mensvoort, an artist and philosopher from Amsterdam is behind the In Vitro Meat Cookbook. With help from the Next Nature Foundation he decided to explore the prospects of lab-grown meat and thought about the kinds of d...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 5, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
Fight! Radical Feminsim vs. Transgenderism
To be honest, this piece at The New Yorker is one of the most fascinating stories I have read in a long time. It opened my eyes to two foreign worlds that are in a battle I never knew was going on.The radical feminists and the transgendered are fighting over what it means to be a woman. The radical feminist insists that transitioning from a male to a female is just another way men assert the privilege they were born with. (Backed by some psychology research, well-known radical feminist, Sheila Jeffreys, claims that male-to-female transgenderism is simply a sexual fetish where men find it erotic to think of themselves as fe...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 4, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
What Rubens Tells Us About Genetic Engineering
Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish painter that lived in the late 16th century. This is one of his famous paintings, The Three Graces, which I have seen at the Prado in Madrid.Likely considered to be the ideal female form at the time, these women have creamy white skin with plenty of lumps and bumps. Look at those generous thighs, those round bellies! Fast forward 500 years and this is now considered to be the ideal female figure. (I actually googled "ideal female body".)Slim, tan, and not a lump or bump to be found anywhere.Now I do not want to discuss which ideal is the best. I only want to point out that in less ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 24, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
Divergent Trilogy Tackles Genetic Engineering and Genetic Discrimination
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!!Divergent is the latest of the teen dystopian future trilogies to hit the big screen. I have read all three books, Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. Is it not my favorite trilogy in this growing genre, but I know that teens everywhere love it.I do appreciate that Veronica Roth has tackled some of the most difficult issues that will face the younger generation. The third book, Allegiant, takes human genetic engineering and genetic discrimination head on.Here is a little background. The trilogy begins in a walled city where everyone lives in 5 factions depending on their personal qualities. The Am...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 18, 2014 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
